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Post by nickcave on Aug 27, 2019 10:21:06 GMT -5
I was watching the last episode of Thunder and it’s a very bizarre experience. Outside of acknowledging it’s the “season finale” on commentary a few times there’s not a lot of feeling that this is a company about to go out of business. Kid Kash even debuts and has his only WCW match on this episode which is weird to me that they would spend time debuting and introducing new characters if they had suspicions they would be shutting down in a few days.
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Post by cabbageboy on Aug 27, 2019 11:29:41 GMT -5
I can't even remember this episode but I usually suffered through most Thunders back in the day. I think there was a denial about the whole thing to be honest. Most of the people involved figured WCW was going to survive in some form, even as a WWF owned entity.
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Post by thegame415 on Aug 27, 2019 14:18:16 GMT -5
I believe the last episode of Thunder aired before the announcement came that Vince was buying WCW.
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cjh
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Post by cjh on Aug 27, 2019 14:22:07 GMT -5
I believe the last episode of Thunder aired before the announcement came that Vince was buying WCW. That's true, but it was already known that TBS and TNT had canceled WCW programming and no more events were scheduled besides the next Monday's Nitro. |
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Post by Milkman Norm on Aug 27, 2019 15:35:07 GMT -5
I believe the last episode of Thunder aired before the announcement came that Vince was buying WCW. That's true, but it was already known that TBS and TNT had canceled WCW programming and no more events were scheduled besides the next Monday's Nitro. Did they though? I thought Thunder used to tape on Tuesdays. When did the news that Vince bought WCW break? I think I remember it being later in the week. I for sure remember going to the WWF website and seeing it on the front page. |
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cjh
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Post by cjh on Aug 27, 2019 15:38:07 GMT -5
That's true, but it was already known that TBS and TNT had canceled WCW programming and no more events were scheduled besides the next Monday's Nitro. Did they though? I thought Thunder used to tape on Tuesdays. When did the news that Vince bought WCW break? The news broke on Friday, two days after Thunder aired. At the end of WCW, Thunder was taped on Mondays with Nitro. |
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Post by Joe Neglia on Aug 27, 2019 21:04:50 GMT -5
I was watching the last episode of Thunder and it’s a very bizarre experience. Outside of acknowledging it’s the “season finale” on commentary a few times there’s not a lot of feeling that this is a company about to go out of business. Kid Kash even debuts and has his only WCW match on this episode which is weird to me that they would spend time debuting and introducing new characters if they had suspicions they would be shutting down in a few days. At that point in time, most everyone in WCW were confident Bischoff and Fuscient were about to buy it and take over. The "season finale" was supposed to be just that, while the new owners got things under control and started up again. When TimeWarnerAolTedTurnerWhatever told Bischoff AFTER Thunder aired that it wasn't just a season finale, it was done and over with on their channel, the deal fell through. So basically, while they knew change was coming and some of their programming was going dark temporarily, most everyone thought things were going to keep on rolling as they had. |
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agent817
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Post by agent817 on Aug 27, 2019 21:18:50 GMT -5
If you guys want to see something surreal, look up the ending to the final Worldwide episode.
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cjh
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Post by cjh on Aug 27, 2019 21:37:00 GMT -5
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Post by Milkman Norm on Aug 27, 2019 21:38:22 GMT -5
If you guys want to see something surreal, look up the ending to the final Worldwide episode. I want that to show up as a Hidden Gem some day if WWE can find a master or a good copy. Only version I've seen on Youtube has been in horrible condition. But it's worth it just for Scott Hudson's Outro. |
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Post by Joe Neglia on Aug 27, 2019 21:56:03 GMT -5
That doesn't quite jibe with my memory, but I have to defer to it as it's right there in front of me. Meh, twenty years and a few breakdowns will get you that. |
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Mozenrath
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Post by Mozenrath on Aug 27, 2019 22:11:09 GMT -5
I totally get why they didn't do it, the reasons were legion, but I have to wonder what things turned out like in some alternate reality where Vince successfully sells WCW as a brand to a channel. Guessing there would have had to still be some layoffs, with a lot of stars waiting out contracts or out injured, but could it have worked if he dialed the spending back? Guessing Vince still would burn himself out if he couldn't stop touching it and not let a booker handle it.
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Post by Surfer Sandman on Aug 27, 2019 22:11:40 GMT -5
All I remember were goosebumps when Shane went on the air that night. Due to large swathes of my memory at that time missing (and I'm still finding them to this day), I didn't see it coming when WWF took over WCW. I was caught up in a love triangle and it didn't set in until that fateful night with the dual-cast.
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Post by nickcave on Aug 28, 2019 1:59:20 GMT -5
Having not watched really any of 2001 WCW I was really impressed with their cruiserweight matches on this episode and it looked like that’s a big direction they would have gone in if the reset had happened with the introduction of the tag titles. The Air Raid/Jung Dragons match, Kid Kash vs. Jason Jett and the 6 man cruiserweight tag match all being really good. All the other non-cruiserweight stuff was garbage though. Dustin Rhodes cut an awful promo on Ric Flair and wrestled a forgettable handicap match against Scott Steiner and Jeff Jarrett in the main event. Kanyon and Road Warrior Animal of all people team up to wrestle M I Smooth (formerly Ice Train) and Ernest Miller in a really bad match and Shane Douglas sets up an angle with Rick Steiner and Flair (continuing to drag out the Flair stuff which is all he had at this point in his career) that was supposed to set up a match with him and Steiner at the final Nitro that thankfully was dropped and forgotten about.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2019 2:10:27 GMT -5
I was without TV at the time so I completely missed between Rikishi being revealed to have run down Austin to the leadup to Invasion. Just kind of one day turned on Raw and saw them talking about WCW attacking people and that was just sort of a thing now.
Actually I think first show I might've seen making me aware of this was the one with the ECW merger.
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Post by XaviersSS2015hair on Aug 28, 2019 3:11:52 GMT -5
If you guys want to see something surreal, look up the ending to the final Worldwide episode. I want that to show up as a Hidden Gem some day if WWE can find a master or a good copy. Only version I've seen on Youtube has been in horrible condition. But it's worth it just for Scott Hudson's Outro. Has that Worldwide episode ever been addressed by Bischoff or anybody? I don't understand how it even came to be. How did it air days after WCW "died"? When was it filmed? Did it air in that terrible condition on purpose? I was unaware that that Worldwide even aired until probably early last year. |
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Post by The 1Watcher Experience on Aug 28, 2019 3:17:01 GMT -5
It was definitely announced that WCW was shutting down early. I remember it well. I actually heard it on the radio of all things. I was so bummed out. I had a heads up for the ECW invasion of Raw too. Those were probably the only episodes of Raw and Nitro that had my mind running with anticipation way back when. Just knowing something was coming but not knowing how it would play out. |
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Post by timelimitdraw on Aug 28, 2019 4:43:36 GMT -5
If I remember correctly, Bischoff did a call-in on the second-to-last Nitro admitting that they weren't sure where the deal was going - trying to put a positive spin about continuing to negotiate, but his voice gave away the fact that the deal was dead unless they found a TV home ASAP.
At the time, folks weren't 100% sure the deal was dead - remember, some folks who worked for WCW didn't even believe WWE actually bought the assets until an all-staff meeting after the last Nitro - which is why they went ahead with the planned Thunder.
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cjh
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Post by cjh on Aug 28, 2019 5:34:52 GMT -5
I want that to show up as a Hidden Gem some day if WWE can find a master or a good copy. Only version I've seen on Youtube has been in horrible condition. But it's worth it just for Scott Hudson's Outro. Has that Worldwide episode ever been addressed by Bischoff or anybody? I don't understand how it even came to be. How did it air days after WCW "died"? When was it filmed? Did it air in that terrible condition on purpose? I was unaware that that Worldwide even aired until probably early last year. - The YouTube video of the end of the show is just a bad TV recording. It did not air that way. - Worldwide aired on a 1-week delay in terms of what it covered, so even though it aired after the final Nitro had happened, it was taped 4-5 days before it. If I remember correctly, Bischoff did a call-in on the second-to-last Nitro admitting that they weren't sure where the deal was going - trying to put a positive spin about continuing to negotiate, but his voice gave away the fact that the deal was dead unless they found a TV home ASAP. At the time, folks weren't 100% sure the deal was dead - remember, some folks who worked for WCW didn't even believe WWE actually bought the assets until an all-staff meeting after the last Nitro - which is why they went ahead with the planned Thunder. The last Thunder was taped at that Nitro with the Bischoff call-in and aired 2 days later. Separate tapings for Thunder had been dropped in October 2000 to save money. There was apparently a staff meeting at the Power Plant on March 28 to inform everyone that the company was shut down. WWE apparently had people there to make sure the staff only left with their personal belongings and to start the process of gathering the physical WCW property they had purchased (like the tapes). |
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Post by realist on Aug 28, 2019 7:49:27 GMT -5
That doesn't quite jibe with my memory, but I have to defer to it as it's right there in front of me. Meh, twenty years and a few breakdowns will get you that. That makes sense. If I remember correctly, people always say that Vince got the company for so cheap because without a TV deal, it was essentially worthless to any other buyer. All they really had to offer was a tarnished brand name, a couple of rings, and a video library. This, of course, was right before Vince showed them how to make money off the video library with DVDs and eventually, a network. |
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