“From the little bit that I’ve been exposed to Vince McMahon, I can’t imagine a world where he doesn’t want to have the last say about his legacy and his reputation and at least make an attempt to resurrect it or reposition it. Let’s put it that way. Rewrite history probably will flow into it as well because he’s very good at that. We’ve seen that over the years. Vince is quite capable of rewriting history.”

“I mean, I don’t know the rest of the board, right? I don’t know Ari Emanuel. I don’t know any of them. So, it’s hard to really say. From my perspective, I don’t see that either. In fact, I see that even being more remote.

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“I respect the hell out of Roman. It has nothing to do with respect. I look up to him in a lot of ways, you know, as a human being. Look what he’s overcome. Look at his priorities. I don’t know Roman. I’ve maybe said four words to Roman in my life. So I don’t know him, but I know of him and I know what a priority his family is. I know what he’s gone through.

The post Eric Bischoff on Roman Reigns: “I’m bored with him, I don’t see a character evolving” appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.

“That was a Vince McMahon idea. Here’s my interpretation because we didn’t spend more than a couple weeks on that idea, from what I remember, maybe a month, month and a half at the most, any serious conversation.

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Folks, this is the consistent pattern that has RUINED professional wrestling… Anytime it becomes more corporate, it starts to suck.

Everyone rejoiced during June 2022 when Vince McMahon stepped down and Triple H resurrected his executive career by returning to oversee talent and creative. Vince, especially since returning to the USA Network during the late 2000s, had become a total yes-man to corporations and they helped dictate his content with the PG era and trying to push squeaky clean babyfaces at the top. He even let a toy company help him terminate Mandy Rose.

Triple H had a great 2022-2023 run… Just as he was about to have another great year with 2024, the TKO Corporation, which was formed to serve as a holding company by Endeavor to oversee both UFC and WWE, placed The Rock on the TKO board of directors. Suddenly, creative was forcibly changed for Wrestlemania 40 (lucking out for the better on that event), but since Wrestlemania 40, WWE has been a bit wobbly. Creative has been micro-managed by TKO’s executives, especially since Endeavor actually represents several WWE wrestlers as talents, and TKO has shown their greedy side by jacking up the prices on everything.

Now, the WWE is offering major discounts on SummerSlam seats, as nosebleeds were $76 that reduces it down to $25. That’s a MASSIVE 67% discount and a major admission of defeat for (a) absurd price gouging of WWE fans and (b) creative micro-managing that has caused your top stars to DECLINE in value. 2 years ago, WWE has more equity in Roman Reigns, CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Gunther, and others on that WWE roster. Now, each are worn out and tired after working in front of worn out and tired WWE fans who have lost chunks of their disposable income supporting this overpriced promotion.

F around and find out, TKO… In just two freakin’ years, you have already ruined the AWESOME ATM machine that was WWE with the Bloodline receiving better creative with Triple H in charge during 2022-2023.

And as we’re finding out, Vince McMahon sold out to Endeavor to help protect him financially against any legal issues coming Vince’s way from HIS own bad behavior.

Getting back to TNA, I always wonder if Dixie Carter was influenced by the McMahon family who put themselves on television as the authority figure. Dixie did that, as well as taking more power backstage. As you saw from the TNA documentary, which can be easily proven as fact, Jeff Jarrett was sent home during July 2009 after Dixie Carter felt betrayed that Jeff would start dating Karen Angle without telling Dixie about it. However, it appears that Dixie may have been planning this for a while OR a bunch of people were inducing her to cause such a powerplay. Let’s see, here, who benefitted from Jeff being sent home along with eventually Dutch Mantell and Jim Cornette.

Well, obviously Vince Russo. The thing that this documentary confirmed more than anything was how political Vince Russo was behind closed doors or possibly privately on the telephone. He’s one of those employees who are constantly badmouthing other employees to management, and then seduces management with whatever “better way” scheme that he could sell them to use instead. Then, Vince acts all innocent to the people he cuts behind the scenes which is why several co-workers distrust Russo to this day. In WWE, he used their ratings situation to point towards other members of the creative team at causing the issue. No, WWE had a TALENT problem and that would quickly improve with Jim Ross taking over Talent Relations duties. For WCW, he seduced Time Warner executives that he was the magic solution to repair WCW’s ratings woes. However in WCW, he didn’t have amazing talents like Austin, Rock, Undertaker, Triple H, and Mick Foley along with a deep midcard with younger talents to book unlike what had in WWE. For TNA, he was repeatedly going behind Jeff Jarrett’s back to speak with Dixie Carter directly about company ideas and how his assistants, Dutch Mantell and Jim Cornette, were not good for TNA. Jeff, Jim, and Dutch were each dropped by TNA during 2009 while Russo remained.

Then later, Hulk Hogan seduced Dixie Carter. Yeah, Hogan was the “Babe Ruth of wrestling”, but by 2009, he was Babe Ruth but 10 years beyond his prime (minus the hot dogs, as Hogan always has the 24-inch pythons ready, dude!). However, in a creative role, Hogan could only get himself over and wasn’t good at getting other talent over if and when he managed their creative. TNA became a total disaster under himself and Eric Bischoff, as Eric is another person who seduces people into thinking he’s great. It’s AMAZING to me how effective Hulk Hogan was in getting both Dixie and Eric wrapped around his finger, as both forgot how to manage companies when Hogan was around. The lust of re-creating Hulkamania was just too much for them, I suppose?

The veterans reportedly swarmed Dixie, often after events during meals or at the hotel bar. Like most with money, she loves the flattery and will later cater towards anyone being overly nice to her or kissing her arse. She was just repeatedly manipulated by the wrong people and hence by 2010, TNA started losing money after profits were reportedly earned between 2007-2009. Creative went to hell without Jarrett, Dutch, and Cornette filtering out bad ideas and roster costs went up from Dixie’s signings and re-signings. From 2010 and beyond, TNA became WCW and were ironically led by Eric Bischoff, Hulk Hogan, and Vince Russo, the same Three Stooges we witnessed at WCW Bash at the Beach 2000 that embarrassed the entire company (but thank you for the Booker T victory, Vince).

Now, Anthem owns them and they’ve been shuffling up the backstage staff and talent deck for years. Anytime the TKO-owned WWE wants something, they now ask “when?”. And I’m sure AMC would never let anything close to the TNA of the 2000s appear within the TNA of the 2020s.

Even All Elite Wrestling (AEW) has their own corporate interests. Remember, Warner Bros. Discovery owned up to 10% of AEW. You don’t think that has any trade-offs? AEW Collision and CM Punk returning during 2023 don’t happen without WBD demanding it. Right now, the Khans are probably sweating bullets as this Skydance Paramount acquisition of Warner Bros. is ongoing and might be for a while as its size and scope will see multiple legal fights in court. The Ellisons, who owned Skydance and purchased Paramount, have completely upended CBS’s news division and not for the better as they used to be a reasonably fair news organization. Now, they are under chaotic management and have been caught, repeatedly, withholding breaking stories out of fear of political retribution or upsetting the Ellisons.

Once the Ellisons complete their acquisition of Warner Bros., they could very well take the almost 10% stake in AEW and sell it back to AEW. They could also trash the television deal if completed before the year-end 2027 expiration date (though an option to extend 1 more year through 2028 exists). Both the almost 10% stake and the AEW television contract could be destroyed and then placed as “merger and acquisition costs” expense line items of an income statement. In other words, the stake in AEW and the television contract might end up as tax write-offs for the Ellisons and they’ll gladly do it.

Oh, and there’s this problem with HBO Max and Paramount+ co-existing… One has to go… While HBO Max has more subscribers, the content it hosts (especially producing original content) is far more expensive than Paramount Plus. Their streaming days on HBO Max could be over, especially as I predict that WWE is hopping to Paramount Plus after opting out early of their Netflix deal by 2029.

The corporate destruction blueprint for all of this was there with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and repeatedly throughout the years.

National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) – Mid Atlantic was owned by the Crockett family and thanks to attempting to expand too quickly (purchasing Bill Watts’s declining promotion, expanding to Dallas, buying private jets, and possibly overpaying their talents to fulfill extravagant lifestyles), the Crocketts sold their promotion to Ted Turner and were absorbed into his corporation. While it saved the company and rebranded it to “World Championship Wrestling (WCW)”, Ted put the biggest corporate stooges in charge of it. Jim Herd had ZERO wrestling experience, let alone any live sporting event experience, yet he was placed in charge of WCW. YEARS of poor operations followed and made WCW a financial failure.

Then, to his credit, Ted Turner gave Eric Bischoff a chance after he presented himself well in interviews and within 3 years, Bischoff had WCW making a profit for the first time. Bischoff reduced the operating costs but then made key signings of Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Scott Hall, Lex Luger, Kevin Nash, and many unseen by United States audiences wrestlers from Mexico, Japan, and ECW. Bischoff stopped the goofy storylines seen throughout 1995 and early 1996 to the begin reality-based storylines through mid-1996. It worked… New World Order storyline began, Cruiserweight division was taken very seriously, and literally every WCW title belt mattered with wrestlers caring to fight for them. Total domination by WCW followed, as WCW Nitro defeated WWE Monday Night RAW for 83 straight weeks from mid-1996 through mid-1998.

However for WCW, some more corporate pain was coming. During the mid-1990s, Ted Turner and Time Warner were in talks to merge their corporations. The deal was finalized through October 1996, but it probably took a year of sorting things out and shuffling the organizational chart. By early 1998, WCW had new standards and practices policies for their company, meaning that they had to reduce the adult themes in tone such as violence, language, or anything alluding to sex or overly exploiting the many beautiful ladies on their roster. WCW suddenly became squeaky clean at a time when WWE had pure creative freedom to basically do anything during 1998.

With expensive merger costs, Time Warner executives began to look at WCW’s expenses more closely and they started to observe how intense labor costs were for the wrestling promotion. Then, as 1998 wore on, the revenues began to dry up and began to create problems for WCW during 1999. WCW operated on a loss during 1999 and was projected to have an even larger loss during 2000. On top of all of that, AOL was about to acquire this newly merged Time Warner/Turner company and would do so as the “dot com bubble” was about to burst (online firms expanded too quickly back then, causing false hope that it could keep expanding forever). By early 2001, it was apparent that this new AOL/Time Warner combined corporation needed resources especially as an economic recession happened that year and then prolonged consumer confidence pain after the tragic events of 9/11/2001. Thus, the new AOL/Time Warner executives decided to cancel WCW off their networks and then sold to the WWE for less than $4 million.

Ironically, WWE became a publicly-traded corporation through 1999 to expand their capital opportunities to fully defeat WCW as a promotion. To be honest, the WWE has declined in quality ever since. NOTHING will be as amazing as 1998-1999 for WWE, as they went from 6-8 million North American viewers to under 2 million in just 15 years. WWE is chalk full of corporate stooges from non-wrestling backgrounds holding Executive Vice President, Senior Vice President, and Vice President titles.

Even Extreme Championship Wrestling wasn’t immune to corporate pain. Taking WWE money meant special favors, such as taking on several of WWE’s wrestlers who struggled in WWE. Yes, Al Snow worked out well but he was a talented performer who just needed a better gimmick. But I can give you Brakus, whom the WWE hired based on his physique only. The company that signed them up for Pay Per Views kept delaying their revenues and were never held accountable for such delays. Then, ECW made a deal with Viacom during 1999. After getting hassled all year by Viacom for what should or shouldn’t air, Viacom ended up dumping ECW in favor of WWE RAW during 2000. All of those attempts by Paul Heyman to cater towards the WWE, the Pay Per View company, and Viacom meant nothing in the end. One of his deals with WWE during 2000 actually gave WWE deal matching rights on any potential buyers, hence why WWE owns ECW to this very day.

Of course, any company who doesn’t go corporate gets destroyed by the companies who do. Yeah, all of that money from the stock market, media conglomerates, and sponsors sort of matters financially these days.

TKO has ruined the WWE and have since early 2024 when they began micro-managing Triple H’s creative team and started raising prices on everything. Then when everything is so expensive, WWE has to rush bigger matches on each of the Premium Live Events just to sell those higher priced tickets. Here we are in 2026 and WWE lacks refreshing match-ups or wrestlers today are worn out from wrestling big matches and big schedules prior to this point. We’ve seen Roman, Seth, Cody, and CM Punk literally do everything possible in the WWE for the past 4 years. Meanwhile, TKO’s micro-managing has also made WWE thirsty for veterans. Oba Femi losing to Brock Lesnar after their Wrestlemania 42 match, Jacob Fatu being dispatched by Roman Reigns, and Bron Breakker getting swallowed in Seth Rollins’s wake has boosted the need to depend on veterans. Gunther has some bad losses that he’s still recovering from.

For WWE, there’s no going back. The Endeavor folks are corporate folks to the extreme, and love to buddy-buddy up with other corporates to make as much money as humanly possible… BUT NOT FOR THE PERFORMERS, but for themselves as executives and shareholders. To them, TKO is an ATM network with WWE and UFC as their ATM devices. They’re all getting rich while their hard-working fans who just want to be entertained are performing redistribution of their own income to this pathetic TKO corporation.

I don’t see a strong future for WWE. Once this crop of veteran talent get exhausted and begin to retire, WWE is totally screwed. The generation of talent behind them just aren’t as exceptional, yet, with star power to draw strongly at the top of any WWE card. I’m just not seeing any breakout stars in the women’s division, either, that could possibly one day make that division bigger. Many female wrestlers work and act exactly the same compared to the crop of female talent that came out of the 2010s.

If you want to see what corporate wrestling does to someone, look no further than Bayley. Go watch her stuff from 2015. Completely incredible stuff, as Bayley was literally “female John Cena” as a babyface. Her merchandise exceeded all of the female talents back then, and that included the Bella Twins who had a ton of merchandise offerings. She continued her great NXT work through the first half of 2016 but then debuted on the WWE roster during July (PLE) and August (RAW) that year. While it is true that getting over in NXT and WWE are different things, Bayley was a tremendous wrestler who was full of charisma and personality to get over anywhere. The Vince McMahon micro-managing creative team just did her no favors, making her look like a wimpy babyface despite the positivity that her character used to bring. By 2019, they turned her into a heel and that shell version of a character is what you see to this day. WWE ripped the enthusiasm out of her and now, she may very well leave and join her buddy Mercedes for AEW.

Corporations are too image conscious, too public relations savvy, and just lack balls to try anything risky. On top of that, they want everything to be all-inclusive because their end game is that if they can micro-manage the entire audience, they can then start setting higher prices.

I remember writing a controversial column during 2015 about how we might not see pro wrestling around in its current money-making form in 10 years based on the lack of strong competition back then PLUS the inability to develop the next big star. To WWE’s credit, they found their next big stars with Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman, and the Bloodline… BUT THEY MESSED THAT UP before and then after Wrestlemania 40. Thus, I’ll give WWE a few extra years between 2021 through early 2024…

TKO is gonna kill the longevity of the WWE. While UFC will always have people willing to physically fight someone, WWE is more about performance and their feeder systems aren’t going to effectively replace many aging veteran stars. Now, if WWE and UFC would share the revenues with their performers, then maybe we’d see booming motivations by the performers of both and things could greatly improve. However, executives at Endeavor only care about padding their bank accounts as much as possible until the ride officially ends. Trust me, they are scoffing at the idea of lowering ticket prices for WWE SummerSlam 2026 in Minneapolis because it reduces they money they could potentially earn themselves with higher ticket prices.

The TKO corporation has around $5 billion in debt, while Endeavor had over $6 billion in debt before Silver Lake acquired them. Despite both WWE and UFC bringing in bags of cash, Endeavor/TKO sure seems to have a lot of debt to pay off… Hmmm, that won’t be good if revenues have peaked for WWE.

How is that prediction to start off your weekend? Corporations weaken wrestling promotions!

Go ahead, WWE marks, and pray that Vince McMahon somehow returns. Bury your head in the same for how he turned WWE into an IPO, catered to Comcast repeatedly (hello PG Era) and corporate sponsors, began hosting events in Saudi Arabia, and or sold out to Endeavor. Remember, Vince McMahon was Vice Chairman for all of 2023 as many of these corporate plans to go deeper into Saudi Arabia, sell out to ESPN for PLEs, the Netflix deal, and price gouging were put into place. Keep wanting Vince “NDA” McMahon to return, ya clowns! Years after complaining about how terrible his creative was for most of the 2000s and 2010s, you somehow want him back in 2026. You make me sick, and it’s easy to see how corporations exploit YOU as wrestling fans.

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

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“Let me make one thing really clear. I had zero, zero operational control of TNA. I couldn’t hire anybody. I couldn’t fire anybody. I couldn’t give anybody a raise. I couldn’t fine anybody. Nor did I freaking want to.”

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“I think Dixie deserves a lot more respect and credit than she gets. I’ll be honest, I’ve been a little hard on Dixie from time to time when this subject comes up, but I don’t think I’ve been unfair.

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“I’m a huge UFC fan. I love the business. I love the sport. I’m just not one of those fans that follows it and is fluent in every aspect of the current champions and so forth. But I do love the sport.

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“I think the Bloodline storyline is absolutely the best storyline that’s ever been written and produced in this industry. Nothing’s even close. That doesn’t mean it’ll have the same impact on the industry as the nWo did for a lot of other reasons that have nothing to do with the quality of the story.”

Bischoff also commented on the Bloodline reboot in 2026 and if it can be successful despite the involvement of WWE’s parent company TKO…

“I do think that WWE will get through this hump with TKO. I think creative will settle into a rhythm and things will be just fine. And if I’m right, the Bloodline could be really, really good, and we’ll be talking about what a success it is. If it’s not—if they can’t kind of get where they need to be creatively and corporately—then yeah, it might be a miss. We’ll see.”

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Former WCW President Eric Bischoff addressed the reports during his podcast…

“You know, it’s funny. I had a couple people — well, one in particular, Sean Waltman — reach out to me and say, ‘Hey, did you ever hear anything about this?’

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Before May 27th, 1996, WCW was doing OK but they strongly rehashing WWE’s storylines of the past with the older stars they acquired, especially Hulk Hogan and “Macho Man” Randy Savage. In fact for Hulk Hogan, WCW fans were booing him because it was the same old WWE red & yellow act. Meanwhile, other bad storylines and feuds involved the Dungeon of Doom, which was a total collection of misfits that the likes of a tired babyface Hulk Hogan had to feud with. While the Dungeon did provide a brand new young star with “The Giant” (Paul Wight, later Big Show), that stable was mostly a JOKE. If you watch Uncensored 1996, you’ll see a collection of BAD ideas coming together with the “Doomsday Cage” main event. That was the last we saw of the red & yellow babyface Hulk Hogan until he’d later resurface with the NWO in July…

While WCW Nitro was a great idea, the storylines and the older wrestlers pushed weren’t. So, Eric Bischoff took charge and wanted to incorporate “reality-based” storylines. Eric, through his partnership with New Japan Pro Wrestling, observed how they were drawing massive crowds and that was mainly due to the fans feeling a part of storylines that felt very real. New Japan also had a hostile takeover storyline that Eric enjoyed. This influence was massive and the gears began to turn in Eric’s head how to improve WCW after the disastrous Uncensored 1996 Pay Per View.

As luck would have it, two key WWE wrestlers were becoming Free Agents and just one week apart. Scott Hall, who played Razor Ramon in WWE, felt that his pay had plateaued and wanted more guaranteed money and higher percentages of merchandise sales. Vince McMahon refused, so Hall began discussing the idea of returning to WCW through his longtime friend Diamond Dallas Page. Through DDP as the intermediary, Hall received a verbal offer from Eric Bischoff which provided substantial amount of guaranteed money PLUS working much fewer dates than the rigorous WWE schedule. Hall’s buddy Kevin Nash, who was playing Diesel for the WWE, was also getting burned out from the WWE schedule, looked at Hall’s offer and was shocked… Nash then inquired what he could get, as his contract was set to expire 1 week after Hall’s.

Scott Hall signed with WCW and gave his 90 day notice. Nash didn’t want to leave for WCW, as he had fond memories of being “Oz” and “Vinnie Vegas”, among other bad gimmicks and storylines, but the “straw that broke the camel’s back” was Bret Hart being petty over a finish of a match before Wrestlemania 12. Nash immediately signed with WCW, too, and thus Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were set to return to WCW. On their way out, Nash put over Undertaker and Shawn Michaels while the WWE drug tested Scott Hall and the result made him miss Wrestlemania 12. Then, Hall and Nash wrestled their last matches at Madison Square Garden where the pair, plus their 2 other clique buddies Shawn Michaels and Triple H, saluted the crowd known as the “Curtain Call”.

After that MSG event, Hall was free to begin working with WCW and that was on May 27, 1996 in Macon, GA. Hall laughed, saying he went from working in MSG the night before to working in Macon, GA. However, the ironic thing is that both events created long impacts on the business forever. The “Curtain Call” salute broke script and caused someone like Triple H to get depushed, causing Steve Austin to win King of the Ring 1996 in his place and Austin unleashed with the “Austin 3:16” promo. Hall’s return to WCW, though, changed wrestling forever from a creative and business standpoint which every wrestler, today, needs to be thankful for.

”You know who I am, but you don’t know why I am here.”

Scott Hall’s return to WCW was genius on the 5/27/1996 edition of WCW Nitro. Steve Doll and the “Mauler” Mike Enos were having an undercard match. Then, from the crowd, Scott Hall was seen walking down the steps in the aisle way and the crowd seriously erupts. After all, in their minds, he was still working with WWE because nothing was officially announced by WCW that Hall had joined the company. Hall was dressed in blue jeans with a blue jean vest, nothing indicating that he was Razor Ramon. However, he didn’t call himself Scott Hall. He just grabbed a microphone and entered the ring to cut a promo without attacking the wrestlers.

And that’s the genius of Hall’s return… It’s the subtleties that made it perfect. According to Scott Hall, it was Larry Zbyszko, who was announcing at the time with WCW (also there ringside with Tony Shiavone as it happened) that advised Hall to not attack the wrestlers. Just grab a mic and start talking… This made it seem real and random, as both Doll and the Mauler were complete baffled as to why Scott Hall entered the ring and began talking. This SOLD the possibility of it being a “shoot”, as if a real WWE wrestler was invading WCW.

Then, Scott’s own words iced it… Here is exactly what he said on 5/27/96:

“Hey, you people, you know who I am. But you don’t know why I’m here. Where is Billionaire Ted? Where is the Nacho Man? That punk can’t even get in the building. Me? I go wherever I want, WHENEVER I want. And where oh where is Scheme Gene? ’cause I got a scoop for you. When that Ken Doll look-a-like, when that weatherman wannabe comes out here later tonight, I got a challenge for him, for Billionaire Ted, for the Nacho Man, and for anybody else in uh WCW, huh huh huh. You wanna go to war? You want a war? You’re gonna get one!”

That seems like a short promo, but Hall’s delivery and tone did more with these words than expected. He literally acted like he was a rogue agent of WWE and was invading WCW. That opening phrase of “you know who I am, but you don’t know why I am here” is perfectly said and sent chills down the spines of most wrestling fans. Why is this WWE wrestler here? And then by bring up the “Nacho Man”, “Scheme Gene”, and “Billionaire Ted”, it creates the impression that he’s here to get revenge on behalf of WWE. Making fun of Eric Bischoff, aka “Ken Doll look-a-like” and “weatherman wannabe” further ices that Hall is there to get revenge on behalf of the WWE.

From the start, though, Hall alludes to a “challenge”. “I got a challenge for him”, which Hall would later reiterate at the end of WCW Nitro on 5/27/96.

Wrestling fans in high schools, colleges, and the early elements of the internet were buzzing. “Wait, is the WWE invading WCW?!?”

See, I remember in the early days of the internet seeing scoops about Razor and Diesel leaving for WCW. Back in 1996, I would go to libraries, schools, or friend’s houses who had the early dial-up internets to pull insider stories. However, Scott Hall appearing randomly on WCW Nitro and being totally nameless created doubt, even in the “smart” fans’ minds. Why? Because Scott Hall was THAT DAMN GOOD and convincing. Hall set the tone for the first promo on 5/27/96 and said the perfect words, especially the “you know why I am here, but you don’t know why I am here” phrase. Then, Hall is intimidating towards Eric Bischoff and threatening towards him during those end-of-Nitro segments.

The following week, June 3, 1996, Hall didn’t appear at all during the show until the very end. At the end of Nitro, Hall appears again at the announcer’s table and is intimidating Eric Bischoff. This time, however, Eric had back-up in the form of Sting who actually slapped Scott Hall. Immediately, and this is key, the POLICE stormed the set and kept the two apart from fighting. Hall then promises a “BIG SURPRISE” for the following week.

On the following Nitro on June 10, 1996, Scott Hall didn’t appear until the very end, once again, and is there to confront Eric Bischoff (love Bobby Heenan running away and getting out of there). Eric tries to talk down Scott, asking “where is the big surprise” and Hall points behind him with a BIG smile on Hall’s face. All of the sudden, Kevin Nash appears. Surprise 100% delivered! Now, WCW has both Razor and Diesel “invading”. Holy cow! They reiterate the challenge and Kevin Nash questions things about the adjective of “play”. Eric states that he needs to stop by the Turner offices and work out the details for this 3 on 3 challenge and would have answers at the Great American Bash 1996 WCW Pay Per View on June 16, 1996. Eric invites both Hall and Nash to appear at such event.

At WCW Great American Bash 1996, Eric first asks the duo if they “still work for WWE?” to which both Hall and Nash answer “no”. But if you watch closely, they blow through the question and act like the question doesn’t matter. This is key to keep the fans believing, because after all, there’s a mystery 3rd man now hyped and it’s a fact that WCW is now enjoying Razor and Diesel in their promotion. In my opinion, though, what saved any doubt to the storyline was the third man… Bischoff then said he had 3 wrestlers for their match, but wouldn’t give away the names. That angered Hall and he punched Bischoff in the stomach and then Nash powerbombed Bischoff through the table platforms near the stage.

Folks, this was June of 1996… Unless you watched ECW, you didn’t see people getting thrown through tables back then. These days on RAW, Smackdown, Dynamite, or any PLE/PPVs, it’s actually uncommon for a wrestler to NOT get slammed through a table. Hence why anyone getting thrown through a table isn’t remembered or lacks impact. Back during June 1996, you never saw wrestlers going through tables, LET ALONE a freakin’ announcer or non-wrestler.

Look at the subtlety of the 4 weeks that we’ve described… Hall, alone, appears twice on the 5/27 Nitro. First time, he says “you know who I am but you don’t know why I am here” and then harasses Eric at the end of Nitro. He’s already alluding to a special challenge, too. Then on 6/3, Hall only appears at the very end to threaten Bischoff again, but Sting is there to confront and slap Hall. Hall promises “big surprise” and delivers that on the next week on 6/10 with Kevin Nash returning to WCW as Hall’s buddy. Then, just 6 days later at the Great American Bash, Hall and Nash attack Bischoff.

4 weeks of a slow build… And folks, it only gets better from there.

Now, we have the threat of the 3rd man while Hall & Nash are physical threats to the entire WCW roster. For example, there was one night when Hall and Nash stormed the ring with baseball bats and the wrestlers performing were protected by an entire police force ready to draw their own pistols. It was THAT intense!

Hall and Nash set the table for the great storyline, but the pressure was now on to secure a great reveal for the third man.

Throughout 1996, Eric Bischoff asked Hulk Hogan about possibly turning heel. Hogan’s response was usually “try to live a mile in my boots, brother” because he’s been a babyface for so long, did lots of charity work with kids, and was relied upon for appearing at corporate events. Plus, Hogan was trying to still make movies and TV shows. With Hogan initially not interested in being the third man, Sting was reportedly sought to be that guy. After all, Sting was the loyal WCW worker and he’s been a babyface since joining WCW during 1987 per the UWF merger with NWA Mid-Atlantic. It could have been shocking, BUT by having Hulk Hogan as the third man, it kept the “WWE invasion” feeling alive. Plus, like Sting, Hulk Hogan has been a babyface for a long time, too, so thus a heel turn would be shocking too.

As Hulk Hogan saw what Hall and Nash were doing weekly, his interest in turning heel grew. Then, he decided and became the third man at the July 7, 1996 WCW Bash at the Beach Pay Per View. WCW selected Macho Man Randy Savage, Sting, and Lex Luger to face Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and the 3rd man who didn’t appear with Hall & Nash when the match started. Immediately, that set the tone of MAYBE Sting, Macho, or Lex being the third man ESPECIALLY when Lex Luger got injured early in the match. Great storytelling, but it allowed the match to become 2 on 2 versus 3 on 2…

Back then, Hulk Hogan was suspected as being the third man, but many had doubts that WCW would do that because again, Hogan as a babyface was a gravy train of merchandise. Plus, we didn’t see Hogan since the WCW Uncensored 1996 PPV debacle that happened on March 24, 1996. Thus, it was still a mystery as to who the third man was and even the dirt sheets struggled to accurately predict who it could be. For example, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer reported that Mabel (later Viscera) was “in discussions” with WCW to be “considered” to be the third man. While I’m not here to pile on Dave, I’m just using it as an example of how good WCW created doubt that it would be Hulk Hogan.

Towards the end of the Bash at the Beach 1996 main event, we had a moment where Macho/Sting appeared to get the upper hand but then Kevin Nash delivered a distracted nutshot to Randy Savage. At that very moment, Hulk Hogan arrived to a massive pop, with cheering fans thinking he would just be a substitute for the injured Lex Luger. Hogan was dressed in full red and yellow colors, too, though he didn’t have the trademark handlebar mustache, too which I felt was odd when I watched it live. Still, after seeing over 10 years of red & yellow Hulkamania, nobody believed the heel turn was coming.

And then, Hogan dropped the leg on Randy Savage. JAWS DROPPED. And then another legdrop. Hogan tosses out poor referee Randy Anderson to ice that heel turn and then drops another legdrop on Savage. Kevin Nash has advised that the referee was supposed to count Hogan pinning Macho, but in my opinion, Hogan tossing out the referee and having Scott Hall counting the 1, 2, 3 is the better heel move to taunt WCW and make Hogan look like a better newly turned heel.

And then Hogan KILLS IT with a heel promo that rips fans and WCW HARD. Best promo that Hulk Hogan ever cut and he got the fans so riled up that they began throwing trash and beverages into the ring (poor Mean Gene was busted open from it!). Eric Bischoff had Hogan say the phrase “New World Order”, which was a PERFECT stable name. After all, there were threats that top countries in the world would band together and create a large authority over everyone on the planet. People panicked when President George H.W. Bush was actually quoted talking about the “New World Order”.

So here we are through July 1996… Perfect slow build introducing Scott Hall, then revealing Kevin Nash, attacking Bischoff, posing a real physical threat to WCW wrestlers, and then revealing the 3rd WITH the perfect stable name of “New World Order” with an abbreviation that rolls perfectly off the tongue in “NWO” (which my Microsoft Word always autocorrects as “now”). Eric Bischoff worked with Disney’s graphic design staff to create the PERFECT New World Order logo and then pulled the PERFECT theme music from the Turner library from an artist named Frank Shelley. It’s literally different Jimi Hendrix songs merged together and works perfectly for NWO’s black & white commercial segments.

Hulk Hogan would defeat the Giant at WCW Road Wild 1996 for the WCW World Title and afterward, Hogan spraypainted “NWO” on the title. Perfection!

In the coming weeks and months, the NWO added a few more members. Ted Dibiase was a free agent and joined WCW. It was thought that he was the “money man” behind the NWO, which made perfect sense. Sean Waltman appeared and joined the NWO as “Syxx”, a play on Motley Crue’s bassist and being the 6th member. Waltman was 6th after Dibiase joined and The Giant (Paul Wight, later Big Show) turned and joined the NWO with the idea of “if you can’t beat them, join them”. Personally, I didn’t like the Giant addition to the NWO, BUT it created the fear that ANYBODY from the WCW roster could join. Plus, Giant turning was on WCW Nitro… Thus, keeping the allusion that Nitro was “must watch” and the fear that more WCW wrestlers would defect.

Then you had 2 of the wrestlers from that Bash at the Beach 1996 match, Sting and Macho Man Randy Savage. NWO, through Fall Brawl 1996, tried to make it like Sting joined the NWO but he didn’t… It was a bogus Sting and after Fall Brawl 1996, when many WCW wrestlers doubted Sting’s allegiance, he said the “thing about Sting these days is that nothing’s for sure”, and walked away from the NWO stable who wanted sting to join their group. For over 1 year, Sting would hang out in the rafters and become Crow Sting. PERFECT evolution for his character.

With Macho, he was the perfect foe for Hogan at WCW Halloween Havoc 1996 because you could do the REVERSE Mega Powers colliding story! Of course, Macho couldn’t win against the strength in numbers, but the fact that the story led into Macho vs. Hogan was perfection again. Macho also took the approach of “can’t beat them, join them” and he was the perfect foil for Diamond Dallas Page throughout 1997, a real Scott Hall and Kevin Nash buddy who turned them down to join their group. Those Macho vs. DDP matches were epic.

After Hogan defeated Macho at Halloween Havoc 1996, Hogan was celebrating when bagpipes played… HOLY COW, ”Rowdy” Roddy Piper just joined WCW to confront Hulk Hogan. Again, we have another great feud but in REVERSE with Hogan now as a heel and Roddy Piper as a babyface. “I’m the only one that you’ve never been able to beat” phrase crushed Hogan hard as a quote by Piper.

Through Halloween Havoc 1996, the rest of WCW was also cooking. You had a STACKED Tag Team division with peak Steiners and Harlem Heat. The Cruiserweight Division was LOADED Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko, Chris Jericho, Ultimo Dragon, and many others. TV Title had many contenders and was well defended. U.S. Title had many contenders and was well defended. In addition to signing Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Roddy Piper, Eric Bischoff raided ECW, Mexico, and Japan for talent and added incredible depth of wrestlers. Those 2-hour WCW Nitro shows moved smoothly because the roster suddenly became great and the action was exciting.

In my opinion, Halloween Havoc 1996 is the PEAK of WCW. Yes, they’d go on to have a very successful 1997 year and keep business growing throughout 1998… But they crashed HARD after July of 1998 to become high in debt and ready to be sold by March 2001.

During November 1996, big mistake #1 was made. NWO was thought to be bankrolled by Ted Dibiase. Nope, Eric Bischoff was revealed to have joined the NWO and was using his access to Turner/Time Warner resources to bankroll them. Thus, that negated Ted Dibiase and his relevance to the group. Bischoff joining the NWO created long-term issues because as an NWO member, he had every personal incentive to keep the NWO strong. Hence why they were overbearing throughout 1997 and why Bischoff placated the career of Hulk Hogan even further. It was in Eric’s best interests as a television character to keep the NWO strong and he often did that by keeping Hulk Hogan strong. Hence the BOTCHED Starrcade 1997 finish, getting the title back around Hogan’s waist during the Spring of 1998, and then the title back around Hogan’s waist during January 1999. All the while, pushing the NWO group hard throughout 1998 and creating the supergroup NWO to start 1999.

And then signing any older WWE wrestler to the WCW roster to join the NWO and to further keep the group strong. The Curt Hennig signing was the worst, as he was a PERFECT person to wrestle and be respected within the Four Horsemen group. Then, Hennig turned and joined the NWO… But what did that group actually do for him and his career? Many of the wrestlers within the NWO signed massive extensions to remain prominent with the group, as did many in opposition to the NWO (Sting, Luger).

The expenses kept growing from there… Adding WCW Thunder and giving it an expensive set. The Tonight Show parody set, I’m told, was very expensive. The new 1999 WCW logo and set were massive expenses incurred.

The effective manager that Eric Bischoff was through 1996 was dissolved as he became personally impaired by an inflated ego and desire to be a TV star as a member of the NWO. Fewer eggs were placed in the managerial basket, while more eggs were placed in the creative of HIS character and keeping Hogan/NWO strong. Suddenly, things that were carefully looked at during 1996 weren’t watch over thanks to an impaired manager of the company. Storylines were done on the fly, new wrestlers were constantly brought in, and everything was too pro-NWO and pro-Hogan. The creative was so impaired that it rushed a very green Bill Goldberg to the top but then had nothing for him to do afterward. Then, wrestlers could join the creative team and that muddied things up.

Blows my mind that the same man who gave us 1996 WCW could also give us botched Starrcade 1997, all of the crap in 1998, and the fingerpoke and terrible NWO reunion of 1999. What happened to this guy? No matter who followed what happened in WCW during 1998 through mid-1999, WCW was destined to fail due to the high expenses and the upcoming AOL/Time Warner merger that needed cash and NOT expenses to immediately crumble throughout the 21st Century. You can blame Vince Russo all you want, but WCW was “dead already” through mid-1999 thanks to LOSING the fans’s trust and from EXPENSIVE WCW contracts in place with guaranteed money.

Go rewatch WCW from late May 1996 through late October 1996. It’s PERFECTION, all started by the tone and words that Scott Hall said 30 years ago from this day.

I don’t want to bash Bischoff too much here… After all, what he did during 1996 that kept momentum going during 1997-1998 caused MUCH NEEDED CHANGE in the industry. WWE got a much needed kick in the arse and creatively overhauled their entire company while empowering new people to add their ideas to improve WWE (Russo, Ross, and Cornette). Wrestlers were getting paid much better than ever and with guaranteed money versus having to earn every single penny (killed lots of wrestlers working injured and being on pills). The Monday Night Wars drew more corporate money and merchandise opportunities into the fold. PERMANENT changes that pushed more money into the promotions.

Trust me, the WWE that you see today wasn’t the WWE that existed 30 years ago. WWE during May 1996 SUCKED with Shawn Michaels as the WWE babyface champion. WCW came along, shocked the world with the NWO storyline, and caused WWE to re-think what they were doing and EVOLVE.

And it all started when Scott Hall returned to WCW and made his Nitro debut by saying “you know who I am, but you don’t know why I am here”. What a great time!

RIP Scott Hall… And thank you to DDP for not only helping Hall join WCW, but for keeping him alive for another 10 years for all of us to enjoy the “bad guy”. Hey yo!

Watch this great Scott Hall moment, 30 years ago on 5/27/96, for yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TcAfnVxEYo

Mr. Tito Column Archive @ NoDQ

The post On This Day in Pro Wrestling History… 30 Years Ago on 5/27/96, Scott Hall Returns to WCW to Begin the New World Order (NWO) Storyline appeared first on NoDQ.com: WWE and AEW Coverage.