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There were a lot of contracts like that. Nash and Hall had contracts that were linked so that as long as at least one of them was working, they would both get paid. So Nash would work while Hall was injured, so he could just sit at home drinking.
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May 7, 2013 05:22
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1st AD posted:Didn't Lanny Poffo get paid a bunch of money to sit around and do nothing? Yes he did. Also, Say Nothing might be thinking of Scott Steiner, who got suspended for a good while for being Scott Steiner, but was still collecting paychecks because nobody in their right mind was gonna tell Scott Steiner he's not getting paid.
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May 7, 2013 05:25
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1st AD posted:Didn't Lanny Poffo get paid a bunch of money to sit around and do nothing? The same thing went down with a bunch of top WCW talent (Hogan, Nash, Goldberg etc) after the WWE buy-out.
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May 7, 2013 06:20
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Scirocco Griffon posted:Yes he did. Though he got suspended like half a dozen times in 1999-2001, so these may be true for two different suspensions. It was a magical time.
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May 7, 2013 06:45
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I think there was one time when the Turner Execs found out how much he was getting paid while being suspended, and made WCW unsuspend him and start using him to justify his cost.
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May 7, 2013 10:17
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There was also the time they signed Mikey Whipwreck, didn't do anything with him and then forgot they signed him.
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May 7, 2013 12:21
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Wasn't Steiner on probation for literally running someone down with his car?Numero6 posted:My favorite match in those Spring Break shows was Ric Flair vs Rey Misterio Jr. where I was almost convinced he'd win the WCW world title after hitting the hurricanrana from the top-rope. They had this big draw to see who would face Flair for the title that night. They gave numbers to all the jobbers and then had one of those big barrel tumblers full of number-balls. The jobber that won the draw had a broken arm and gave his number to Rey. Flair lost his poo poo when Rey came out and there was a huge pop. It was a great moment. *Sigh* Then a few months later WCW totally went off a cliff and never recovered. I can't find a video of the draw and all that. It's too bad. I miss those storylines that took place over the course of one-night WCW and WWE used to do. WWE Still does the scattered one, I guess. They're just not very, I dunno, good. Zack_Gochuck fucked around with this message at 12:57 on May 7, 2013 |
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May 7, 2013 12:52
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Say Nothing posted:Who was the wrestler who was fired, but continued to get paid for about 6 months after, because nobody bothered to inform the front office? I think Honky Tonk Man. WCW events had a sign in sheet for all the talent when they showed up for a show. That was how they knew who to pay for the night. Honky Tonk had someone keep putting his name on the sheet.
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May 7, 2013 14:55
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BigRed0427 posted:I think Honky Tonk Man. WCW events had a sign in sheet for all the talent when they showed up for a show. That was how they knew who to pay for the night. Honky Tonk had someone keep putting his name on the sheet. If true, I really gotta wonder who in the hell was convinced by HTM out of all people to do that? Who wouldn't either be like "gently caress you, dude!" or "Hey, that's actually a great idea! I'll go find my own dummy to do that for me!" and then eventually end up with a sign in sheet full of names and zero talent actually present at the show 
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May 7, 2013 15:23
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Probably somebody who he used to ride with in WWF, lord knows there's lots of people who worked late 80's WWF who had a WCW contract at the time.
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May 7, 2013 15:35
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abraxas posted:If true, I really gotta wonder who in the hell was convinced by HTM out of all people to do that? Who wouldn't either be like "gently caress you, dude!" or "Hey, that's actually a great idea! I'll go find my own dummy to do that for me!" and then eventually end up with a sign in sheet full of names and zero talent actually present at the show
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May 7, 2013 15:43
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The most insane thing to me was always the buying plane tickets for all the wrestlers thing. Did WCW employ some sort of crazy accounting to hide that they were doing this, or did Turner just not give a poo poo or have any oversight at all? Did WCW wrestlers never travel from show to show in their cars like WWF wrestlers did? The size of the expense and the fact that it was 90% unnecessary...it's just...mind boggling that anyone could run a company so incompetently.
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May 7, 2013 18:13
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Strenuous Manflurry posted:That's how I remember it! loving loved that concept. It needs to be brought back for a one shot episode of RAW if not a PPV. You can't tell me Heath Slater getting thrown over the guard rail and into a pool wouldn't be hillarously awesome?
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May 7, 2013 18:14
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I'd actually love if TNA did weird small shows like that, at pools or subway stations or malls like the good old days. They can't sell any tickets to arenas, so why not do some memorable weird stuff before they go under.
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May 7, 2013 18:17
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Zack_Gochuck posted:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xzo5zl_rey-mysterio-jr-vs-ric-flair-title-match_sport#.UYk6zLVkNsI Can't not hook people up.
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May 7, 2013 18:43
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MrBling posted:http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xzo5zl_rey-mysterio-jr-vs-ric-flair-title-match_sport#.UYk6zLVkNsI
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May 7, 2013 18:47
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It's hard not to love everything about the Booty Man, but one thing stands out above the rest of the things I love. I love the claim that the Booty Man was a "spy" in the Dungeon of Doom. He was the worst spy ever, given he was openly questioning whether he should attack Hogan and even defending him.
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May 7, 2013 20:26
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I've been working for a mid size "corporate" company for about 6 months now and while the plane ticket stuff is asinine, I can totally see it happening in a mega-corp that shits money. The company I work for is tiny compared to something like Turner (we make CNC equipment for large factories) but the amount of money they piss away and ignore on stupid stuff is astounding so I can only imagine what it was like back at WCW with a booming economy and Uncle Ted writing blank checks. I'm sure it was some book keeper at corporate HQ that was just following standard protocol (i.e. insure all talent had transportation to event) who had no clue how wrestling worked nor gave a gently caress. It was most likely in the years travel budget so that was all they needed to know. Extremely stupid yes, but I'm sure poo poo like this goes on today at dysfunctional companies. As far as Bischoff is concerned, I'm sure that earlier post where it was said that his obsession with ratings was related to good ones keeping the parent company off his back (and the money flowing) are spot on . Even at my company its amazing how managers/executives literally give no fucks if what they are doing is correct/wasteful/ignorant as long as their superior is happy. WCW is a perfect example of what happens when a company goes completely out of control. It's why it's so fascinating all these years later (well, and some good wrestling too).
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May 7, 2013 21:05
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ColonelJohnMatrix posted:I've been working for a mid size "corporate" company for about 6 months now and while the plane ticket stuff is asinine, I can totally see it happening in a mega-corp that shits money. The company I work for is tiny compared to something like Turner (we make CNC equipment for large factories) but the amount of money they piss away and ignore on stupid stuff is astounding so I can only imagine what it was like back at WCW with a booming economy and Uncle Ted writing blank checks. I'm sure it was some book keeper at corporate HQ that was just following standard protocol (i.e. insure all talent had transportation to event) who had no clue how wrestling worked nor gave a gently caress. It was most likely in the years travel budget so that was all they needed to know. Extremely stupid yes, but I'm sure poo poo like this goes on today at dysfunctional companies. An important thing to understand about Bischoff is he didn't just care about ratings. He cared about having higher ratings than the WWF. In 1998, WCW's business was up compared to 1997. Nitro's ratings were way up in 98, but Raw caught up and surpassed them. This drove Bischoff insane. So while Time Warner was thrilled with the ratings and having a huge Georgia Dome crowd shown to them in person, Bischoff felt all was lost because he was losing to Vince and started pulling desperation tactics to try and keep up.
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May 7, 2013 21:40
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Yeah, I forgot that he obviously had an obsession with beating Vince. As an aside...I actually work with a guy named Eric Bischoff. ColonelJohnMatrix fucked around with this message at 22:00 on May 7, 2013 |
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May 7, 2013 21:57
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MassRanTer posted:An important thing to understand about Bischoff is he didn't just care about ratings. He cared about having higher ratings than the WWF. In 1998, WCW's business was up compared to 1997. Nitro's ratings were way up in 98, but Raw caught up and surpassed them. This drove Bischoff insane. So while Time Warner was thrilled with the ratings and having a huge Georgia Dome crowd shown to them in person, Bischoff felt all was lost because he was losing to Vince and started pulling desperation tactics to try and keep up. I get that the ratings were important to Bischoff, but I just don't understand pissing away what I'm assuming would be a huge PPV buy for Goldberg v. Hogan and just giving it away on Nitro, with no advance buildup other than that night, if I remember correctly. You wouldn't even need to build a real program; you could probably have just gone "Oh by the way, at [next PPV] it's going to be Goldberg versus Hogan" and people would have bought it. And you'd still get a good rating for the next Nitro for people who wanted to see what happened.
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May 7, 2013 22:24
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MD2020 posted:I get that the ratings were important to Bischoff, but I just don't understand pissing away what I'm assuming would be a huge PPV buy for Goldberg v. Hogan and just giving it away on Nitro, with no advance buildup other than that night, if I remember correctly. If I'm remembering right, Goldberg-Hogan at Georgia Dome was originally advertised as non-title (maybe the dark match?) and then it was changed to a title match on TV a week or two before it happened.
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May 7, 2013 22:25
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MD2020 posted:I get that the ratings were important to Bischoff, but I just don't understand pissing away what I'm assuming would be a huge PPV buy for Goldberg v. Hogan and just giving it away on Nitro, with no advance buildup other than that night, if I remember correctly. No one will ever be able to properly rationalize why he gave away the biggest match they could do on 4 days notice with no possibility of ever doing a rematch.
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May 7, 2013 22:26
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EugeneJ posted:If I'm remembering right, Goldberg-Hogan at Georgia Dome was originally advertised as non-title (maybe the dark match?) and then it was changed to a title match on TV a week or two before it happened. I hate non-title matches. That's what's eating away WWE today, and it reminds of WCW in the worst possible way. As far as Bischoff goes, I think we need to look at his personality to explain his actions: I've always felt he's the kind of guy who had never met anyone smarter than him, in any field of work. Thus, in his mind, his decisions were infallible. But speaking as a fan from Europe, this obsession with US ratings was (and still is) just plain ridiculous. And I remember Vince or someone mentioning that the WWF never declined in ratings in Canada, that Raw was always more popular than Nitro over there. Anyone have any more details on this?
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May 7, 2013 22:38
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MassRanTer posted:No one will ever be able to properly rationalize why he gave away the biggest match they could do on 4 days notice with no possibility of ever doing a rematch. Has Eric ever commented on this?? It just seems so...WCW
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May 7, 2013 23:04
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Rad R. posted:And I remember Vince or someone mentioning that the WWF never declined in ratings in Canada, that Raw was always more popular than Nitro over there. Anyone have any more details on this? Nitro wasn't even shown in Canada until pretty late in the game, and then it was shown on Wednesdays instead of live. Winning the ratings battle in Canada wasn't a great accomplishment.
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May 7, 2013 23:19
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ColonelJohnMatrix posted:As an aside...I actually work with a guy named Eric Bischoff.
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May 8, 2013 00:06
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TheCool69 posted:Has Eric ever commented on this?? It just seems so...WCW He does in his book. He basically says "It is a good idea to do explosive things on free TV to get people to sample your product..." and "if the dirt sheets criticized me for something I knew I was doing it right."
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May 8, 2013 00:10
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Was WCW ever a profitable company during the Turner-owned years? It seems like Bischoff's obsession with ratings relative to Raw really missed the forest for the trees.
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May 8, 2013 00:14
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MassRanTer posted:He does in his book. He basically says "It is a good idea to do explosive things on free TV to get people to sample your product..." and "if the dirt sheets criticized me for something I knew I was doing it right." I think the Goldberg-Hogan match was supposed to be a non-title dark match, but they moved it to Nitro because the advance for the show was strong, but they wanted an extra push to sell it out for the Turner execs. No idea how far ahead of time the Georgia Dome was booked, but it's possible Goldberg wasn't even A Thing when they planned it. Kind of reminds me of Punk-Cena in Chicago in that the stars just kind of aligned with the hometown favorite having the perfect setup for a title win.
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May 8, 2013 00:15
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EugeneJ posted:I think the Goldberg-Hogan match was supposed to be a non-title dark match, but they moved it to Nitro because the advance for the show was strong, but they wanted an extra push to sell it out for the Turner execs. The story is the Georgia Dome show had a huge advance and Bresloff told Hogan. Hogan went to Bischoff and suggested a dark match main event where he puts over Goldberg clean. Hogan figures this will impress the Turner brass at the show, they'll think he drew the gate and no one outside of the live crowd will ever see him do the job. He already has title matches planned for Nash and possibly for Hart, so there is no intention of taking the belt off him. The week before Raw beat Nitro by 1.3 ratings points, including just crushing Nitro head to head. Bischoff freaked out and got Hogan to agree to drop the belt clean in the middle. In return Hogan would get to end Goldberg's streak. I guess in a way they worked Hogan on that one, but it didn't matter. They announced the title match on Thunder. This is notable because I think Goldberg's US title shot was announced on Thunder, which was before a planned DDP to Raven US title switch, so Raven knew in advance he was going to be a one day champion. quote:Was WCW ever a profitable company during the Turner-owned years? It seems like Bischoff's obsession with ratings relative to Raw really missed the forest for the trees. They sort of turned a profit in 95. By putting Hogan's salary on the Turner Home Video division and moving some 95 expenses to fiscal 96, they squeezed out a tiny profit. They made legitimate profits in 96, big profits in 97 and even more in 98. 99 was a loss, 2000 was a mega loss, and 2001 was heading for a slightly smaller mega loss. If the company had the same agreement with TBS that Bischoff got where TBS paid WCW for TV, they would have posted small profits in several years from 89-93 for whatever that is worth. In reality they had three legitimately profitable years, the most profitable of which made Bischoff depressed because he was losing to Vince.
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May 8, 2013 00:25
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abraxas posted:If true, I really gotta wonder who in the hell was convinced by HTM out of all people to do that? Who wouldn't either be like "gently caress you, dude!" or "Hey, that's actually a great idea! I'll go find my own dummy to do that for me!" and then eventually end up with a sign in sheet full of names and zero talent actually present at the show Konnan actually talked about these sign-in sheets on his last podcast. The wrestlers hated them, because it was a way to make sure they showed up at the right time (like 6 hours early) for Nitro and people got really bored sitting around for that long, so they'd always show up and sneak out, or get their friends in the back to sign their names for them. Eventually, Johnny Ace got tired of this and got them to install machines that took a thumb print to verify who was there. Rick Steiner put his dick in it.
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May 8, 2013 00:34
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Tuesday Nitro in 20 minutes: http://sync.coconono.org/r/greatestnitroinhistoryofoursport come for the Z-Gangsta, stay for the other guy.
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May 8, 2013 00:39
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Swagger Dagger posted:Konnan actually talked about these sign-in sheets on his last podcast. The wrestlers hated them, because it was a way to make sure they showed up at the right time (like 6 hours early) for Nitro and people got really bored sitting around for that long, so they'd always show up and sneak out, or get their friends in the back to sign their names for them. Eventually, Johnny Ace got tired of this and got them to install machines that took a thumb print to verify who was there. Rick Steiner put his dick in it. I feel like there's probably a lot of stories that end with "and Rick Steiner put his dick in it" from WCW's glory days.
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May 8, 2013 01:38
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MassRanTer posted:It's hard not to love everything about the Booty Man, but one thing stands out above the rest of the things I love. I love the claim that the Booty Man was a "spy" in the Dungeon of Doom. He was the worst spy ever, given he was openly questioning whether he should attack Hogan and even defending him. ugh gently caress you for helping me remember the booty man vs ddp feud.
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May 8, 2013 03:04
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It was mentioned earlier that Bischoff was so obsessed with the weekly ratings that he didn't care about what the attendance numbers at the shows were. That seemed odd to me, but I just realized that when you take into consideration his first real shot at booking was when the AWA was reduced to putting on shows in an empty warehouse where there was no live audience at all to deal with, it kind of puts things into perspective a little. I guess it also sort of explains why he thought keeping the crowds in the arena oblivious to backstage happenings would work as well.
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May 8, 2013 03:22
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I always thought Booty Man's crowning achievement was trying to join the NWO by presenting Hogan with an NWO themed cake.
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May 8, 2013 03:38
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bartok posted:I always thought Booty Man's crowning achievement was trying to join the NWO by presenting Hogan with an NWO themed cake. I always thought it was how many high knees he did. Get it? Get it? Because if not, the announce team was going to tell you repeatedly.
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May 8, 2013 03:49
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cool-haired luke posted:ugh gently caress you for helping me remember the booty man vs ddp feud. We will be watching their Uncensored match next week!
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May 8, 2013 04:05
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Here are some stats just to show how completely insane Bischoff was for thinking everything was lost in 98. I already said they made their biggest profits, but how much did business grow? PPV buys were up 18% Live attendance was up 47% Ratings were up 57% They sold out 49% of their house shows. The night of the Fingerpoke WCW set its all time gate record, after a string of huge dome shows where they did some of their biggest gates ever. They were winning every demographic in the ratings except for children (where they lost big enough to lose the ratings week in and week out, but still.) These are the kind of figures that left Bischoff crazed and feeling the company was doomed, and writing things were too far gone to matter in his book. Absolute insanity.
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May 8, 2013 07:52
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