Revisitar a WCW

At the time of Hall and Nash's departure from WWE, there was something in the industry called "Sting Money". Basically, WCW top guy Sting made more money than anyone else did ($750,000). If you could get Sting Money, or close to it, you were among the highest paid guys in the business. But when Turner bought WCW, the talent budget exploded. When Hall signed with WCW, he told Nash that he was making "better than Sting Money" and that because he was only an IC champ and not a world champ, Nash would make even more than he did. Plus, there was a Most Favored Nations clause in Hall's contract (and pretty much every top talent in WCW) that stated that his pay would get bumped up to match anyone who came in after him. So when Nash came in, Hall got a raise.

When Hall and Nash "invaded" WCW with aluminum baseball bats and got into a standoff with WCW talent, it put the crowd in a frenzy and was a huge moment for the Outsiders and WCW. When Nash talked to Bischoff backstage, Bischoff said "I think we really have something here." Nash told him "You know what you got? You got an audience who thinks that two WWE guys with little league bats could beat the crap out of your whole locker room."

Kevin Nash's parody of Arn Anderson's retirement speech got him and everyone involved MAJOR heat. Not just in WCW, but throughout the business. JR said he was furious about it, then realized that he got worked by it and thought it was an effective segment. Nash said he talked to Arn beforehand and got his blessing, but Arn changed his mind later when he saw it and when Arn confronted him about it, Nash watched Arn's chest the whole time, waiting for him to take a swing. Nash also said that the cooler he brought out with him was Arn's. Later on (weeks, months, whatever), Nash had a match that involved Arn interfering and hitting him in the back with a pipe. Nash said that it was the biggest receipt of his career.

Hogan did NOT want to be the third man of the NWO. The second choice was Sting, which made no sense since he was WCW through and through, but the assumption was that the novelty of WCW's mega-babyface turning on WCW would be enough to make it work. However, Sting ALSO did not want to be a third man. Nash and Hall were pretty angry at that point, since they had been teasing a third man and if it was a bust, it would drag down not only the angle, but Nash and Hall's credibility in the eyes of the fans. Hogan finally agreed to it shortly before Bash at the Beach, since he was being booed consistently and saw big money in the NWO. There was also a fear that if Sting was the third man, the NWO would be disposed of within a year by a babyface Hogan, which obviously would have been terrible and a massive missed opportunity.

Hogan has trouble changing his character. The famous "THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN PAID FOR BY THE NEW WORLD ORDER" black and white promos were supposed to be cool. Cooler than cool, like nothing pro wrestling had done before. Hall and Nash spoke very casually, but Hogan kept sounding like a typical wrestling promo. If you watch the early black and white promos, Hogan is very energized in comparison to Hall and Nash. He sounds like he's ready to jump into "WHATCHA GONNA DO???" at any moment. But in the end, Hollywood Hogan worked out fine.

The "THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN PAID FOR BY THE NEW WORLD ORDER" promos came about when WCW wanted the stable to do promos, but it made no sense for WCW to air promos for an organization that was not a part of WCW. In fact, the NWO couldn't appear on any taped segment, since why wouldn't WCW edit them out? The workaround was taping empty-arena matches and airing them under the kayfabe explanation that the NWO bought their own time on the show.


When Jim Ross announced on Raw the upcoming return of Diesel and Razor, WCW panicked. Nash and Hall were still working on Deal Memos, which were basically contracts that stated that WCW would agree to A, B, and C. The Deal Memos had a backdoor that Nash and Hall could take at anytime if they felt like WCW was not holding up their end of the deal. In short, it was a gesture of good faith by WCW. After JR's announcement, lawyers at Turner were scared that the returning Diesel and Razor would be Nash and Hall (after taking the backdoor in their contract) and scrambled to sign them to hard contracts. Nash and Hall flew on a the company jet to Turner HQ, had contracts laid in front of them for $400,000 more each, and signed on the dotted line. Nash and Hall stood in the TV truck with Bischoff and watched JR bring out Fake Diesel and Fake Razor. When they walked out, Bischoff apparently looked at the screen, then at Hall and Nash, then back at the screen, and sighed. He just spent $800,000 of Ted Turner's money to sign two guys he already signed.

As Nash and Hall were outsiders, their merch (and eventually, NWO merch) couldn't be sold by normal means. The perception was that they didn't work for WCW, so WCW selling their merch alongside WCW merch would destroy that perception. WCW had trouble wrapping their mind around this, so Nash and Hall proposed they just rent a truck, put an "NWO" sign on it, and have it sell shirts out in the parking lot. The shirts sold hand over fist. Eventually, once Ted DiBiase joined the NWO, they had their own "NWO" merch stands in the venues, with the kayfabe explanation of DiBiase being their financial backer.

WCW talent did not get a percentage (or a large percentage, at least) of merch sales. WWE talent did. Nash talked to Bischoff about it and explained that he was now missing a huge source of income that he used to get. WCW could not change their merch policies, so Bischoff just made Nash's contract bigger again. And eventually, everyone's contract got bigger for the same reason.
When WCW folded and Nash was paid to sit out the rest of his contract, his yearly contract had exceeded $2.5 million. That was definitely the rule at that point, not the exception.

Scott Hall put over Chris Jericho in a match, which infuriated WCW officials. Bischoff yelled at both Hall and Jericho for it. Apparently, Hall pitched the idea to Bischoff, Bischoff said no, and Hall did it anyway.

DDP seemingly joining the NWO, only to hit a Diamond Cutter on Hall was a huge moment at the time. The NWO seemed untouchable, so giving that rub to DDP did wonders for his career. DDP got Hall into WCW during his first run, so Hall felt like he owed his entire career to DDP. When Bischoff wasn't sure about the idea (he liked DDP a lot, but that was a massive rub), Hall spoke to Bischoff privately and just said "I owe him, this is happening."

Dusty Rhodes lobbied hard for DDP to beat Goldberg at Halloween Havoc (ending his undefeated streak) and push him as a top babyface as Goldberg developed. DDP credits Dusty as being a massive part of his success and a huge influence.

During the DDP/Goldberg match at Halloween Havoc, Goldberg botched the missed-spear-into-the-corner-hit-the-ringpost spot by actually doing it at full speed. He injured his shoulder and favors it the rest of the match. At the finish, when he goes for the jackhammer and can't get DDP up the first time, that's not a work. He really couldn't do it the first time. When he hit DDP with the spear later, he did it too hard and hit his head on the mat (basically a real-life DDT). He knocked himself out for a moment and likely suffered a concussion. When DDP hits the Diamond Cutter on Goldberg, DDP took his sweet time covering him (because he knew Goldberg was kicking out and wanted to protect his finisher), but Goldberg kicked out VERY quickly for a false finish. Barely a two count. DDP was pissed and talked to him about it afterward, but Goldberg was still dazed and told him "Dallas, I have no memory of that at all." DDP laughed and hugged him and said it was cool.

J.J. Dillon (who is super interesting and criminally underrated as a veteran of the business) said that the first time he met Bischoff, Bischoff asked him how long he thought Vince would last. Dillon just shrugged, but later said that moment was a clear as day sign that WCW was doomed. Because Dillon knew that Vince could not be beaten. He would not be beaten. He would just refuse. Beating Vince was an impossible goal. Ted Dibiase has a similar story. Bischoff asked him if he thought Vince was almost done, DiBiase just said "You do not understand that man."

Dillon had huge fears about WCW's future all throughout its successful run in the ratings. WCW was not run by wrestling people, but TV people (including Bischoff). To them, ratings were king. But Dillon knew that although WWE lagged in the ratings, they always had a strong foundation and steady income in Pay-Per-View. WCW did not. None of WCW's PPV earnings went to WCW, they went to Turner Broadcasting. On top of that, WWE's live one week, taped the next-policy kept their costs down. Compare that to WCW's everyone gets pyro, let's give X-Pac a monster truck entrance-policy, which just pissed money away. Dillon watched Goldberg vs. Hogan on Nitro in the packed Georgia Dome and knew that WCW was a sinking ship. Because although WCW didn't get its PPV revenue, they would be able to use their PPV revenue to justify their enormous costs to Turner Broacasting.

WCW got zero dollars in ticket sales for its outdoor events (Road Wild, Hog Wild, etc.).
Everyone at Turner Broadcasting hated WCW, except Ted Turner. Turner bought WCW as a kind of thank you for the ratings it gave his Superstation when it was just starting out. He knew there was money in pro wrestling and was a competitor, so he built WCW to compete. He had very little input on WCW, short of giving them primetime and putting Bischoff in charge. The narrative of the Monday Night Wars being a showdown between Vince McMahon and Ted Turner is blatantly false. There was some animosity there (mostly on Vince's end), because Vince didn't sell the WWE to Turner, but Turner never wanted to put Vince out of business. He just wanted to have top ratings and make money. He's a businessman, after all.

Nash compared being the booker of WCW as "doing a puzzle of blue sky". The Fingerpoke of Doom was supposed to condense the NWO (which was so fucking watered down by that point) to a core group of eight or so guys and act as a heel machine for Goldberg to run through one-by-one, similar to babyface Hogan booking. However, it didn't work out for a number of reasons. For starters, Goldberg's luster was wearing off. Pitting him against Nash at Starrcade was a mistake. Nash was a top babyface in the company as leader of the NWO Wolfpac and arguably more over than Goldberg. On top of that, the months that followed were typical WCW what-the-fuck-is-this-shit booking that fans grew tired of. Ladder matches to grab a tazer, that sort of thing. Meanwhile, WWE was at its best.

The night Goldberg injured his hand (which some see as the the official "it's all downhill from here" moment for WCW), WCW officials told Hall NOT to take a survey. "Whatever you do, Scott. Don't take the survey." So Scott Hall takes the survey. "WHO'S HERE TO SEE BILL GOLDBERG?" and the boos are LOUD. Goldberg wasn't hot anymore. WCW was left with no credible babyfaces.
A few people believe that Goldberg was hot-shotted to the top before he was ready due to his resemblance to Steve Austin. Basically, WCW thought a guy who looked like Austin, but had a better body and bonafide athletic background would outshine Austin. He didn't.

William Regal says that his match with Goldberg (which got him screamed at backstage because Goldberg's inexperience was very exposed during it) was the result of a miscommunication. WCW wanted a squash, Regal was told to have a competitive 8-minute match with him. Regal went out there and to have a competitive 8-minute match, Goldberg went out there to have a squash. The confusion lead to Goldberg doing very little, looking a little lost, and forcing Regal to hit Goldberg with about 400 European uppercuts. Because as Regal puts it, "I can't wrestle myself."

Jim Ross breaks down Tony Schiavone's announcement of Mick Foley's title win rather well. Basically, longtime WCW fans who remember Foley as Cactus Jack will tune in to see the guy they remember win the title. Guys who watch both will go "HOLY SHIT FOLEY'S WINNING?!" and tune in. And people who don't know who Mick Foley is will hear the disgust at the notion of this Foley guy winning the title and tune in for the car wreck...and instead see a really incredible moment that highlights all of WWE's talent at the time. DX, Foley, Rock, Kane, Vince, and Austin. It was perfect for WWE.

Crow Sting came from Scott Hall. There's no story, really. He just pitched it and everyone liked it. Hall is universally praised as having an incredible mind for the business. Anyone who watches a Scott Hall match can see that.

Bischoff never asked Bret Hart to bring the WWE title to WCW. In fact, when Hart asked him for some more time to drop the belt properly, Bischoff told him to take all the time he needed. Bret Hart was NOT scheduled on the following Nitro after the Montreal Screwjob. In fact, he still had a few weeks left on his WWE contract.

Nobody was really in charge of who was in or out of the NWO. People just kinda put their friends in, regardless of their status on the card. It quickly lost it's exclusivity. Because of this and the nature of the guaranteed contracts combined with the glass ceiling put on lesser-known WCW stars, the status of everyone backstage was very muddled. So-and-so may be at the bottom of the card, but he's also part of the NWO, so he's higher up than this non-NWO cruiserweight in the midcard. This confusion extended to contracts, and many people were likely paid far more than they were worth.