Late June, 1998
BREAKING NEWS
WCW HAS NEW PRESIDENT
The rumors have been circulating for a few months that big changes might be in store for WCW, but itis now official; Eric Bischoff is no longer the president of WCW. After the fan backlash that came from the end of Starrcade 1997, the rumor has been that now former president Eric Bischoff has been treading water. Well, today it has been announced that while Easy E will still be an on-air character and a member of the creative board, he has been replaced by relative newcomer Aurora Edwards. After some Turner suits discussed the legal stuff and business side of the decision, President Edwards took the stage and discussed some of her plans for the new WCW.
First off, Aurora discussed the state of the roster. She made it known that she intends to release quite a bit of the current WCW talent. She lists a few reasons for this; Some of the people, in her opinion, are too old to make a major impact in WCW today (she mentions that she is not talking about names like Hogan or Flair, but more so the midcard-and-lower people). There are some members of the roster that Aurora says don't really add much to the product, or that she doesn't see making a big splash any time soon, so she'd rather have those names honing their craft in the indies so they can maybe come back later reinvigorated. Then there are names that are never used and there to collect a check and nothing else. In their place, Edwards states that she has a list of fresh talent that she'd like to bring in, though she did not go into further detail.
Next, she discussed the current state of WCW television. She immediately made it known that nothing can be done in the short term, as Nitro, Thunder and Saturday Night are locked in contracts. That said, she did say that six hours of television a week (9-10 hours if we include pay per views) is just way too much overexposure, and once she can, she wants to cut Nitro down to two hours, Thunder down to one hour and possibly eliminate Saturday Nights altogether- though she mentioned that she wasn't 100 percent sure about Saturday Nights yet and that would have to be a decision she made down the line.
President Edwards also talked a good bit about the Power Plant. She made it known that she has nothing but good things to say about the Power Plant, and that she believes it could help build the future of WCW, referencing Goldberg in her bit about this. However, she did mention that, at some point down the line, she would like to have some sort of developmental company to accompany the Power Plant so that Power Plant trainees can get experience working in front of a crowd, instead of going straight from the Plant to WCW television.
Lastly, she discussed some of her ideas for WCW creatively. She first mentioned that she plans for the nWo storyline to continue for a while. She also mentioned that top WCW names like Hogan, Flair, Nash, Hall, Giant, ext aren't going anywhere. “These are the names that helped WCW become what it is, and I will not be throwing them out any time soon.” However, she also mentions that she intends on bringing up a new wave of younger stars to mix it up with the established WCW main eventers. Again, she mentions Goldberg, but she also brings up names like DDP, Booker T, Konnan, Scott Steiner, Eddie Guerrero, Raven, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho as future main-event players. She also mentions that, over the course of the next few months, she would like to put more emphasis on the Cruiserweight Division (“These talented young men have been used to kick off great shows, and it's time that they get the respect that they deserve”), the Tag Team Division (“The state of Tag Team wrestling in WCW right now is an embarrassment, especially when you compare it to our competition”) and maybe even bringing back the Women's Division (though she does mention that this would be later on down the line.)
Clearly, Edwards has a lot of ambition going forward, and we're excited to see where some of that ambition takes WCW, but not everyone is happy. The locker room right now is in a state of paranoia. Her words of releasing talent has quite a few people backstage terrified, and her plans of focusing on younger talent has a lot of older stars worried that she's going to chop their legs off. Only time will tell whether this is a good move for WCW.
Edwards will fully take overstarting the first week of July.
THE ROSTER
FACE
Bill Goldberg
Booker T
Chavo Guerrero Jr
Chris Benoit
Chris Kanyon
Davey Boy Smith
Dean Malenko
Diamond Dallas Page (w/KimberlyPage)
Evan Karagias
Glacier
Jim Duggan
Jim Neidhart
Juventud Guerrera
Kevin Nash
Konnan
La Parka
Lash LeRoux
Marty Jannetty
Meng
Norman Smiley
Perry Saturn
Rey Mysterio Jr
Ric Flair (w/Elizabeth)
Rick Steiner
Sting
Super Calo
The Great Muta
FACE MANAGERS
Elizabeth
Kimberly Page
FACE TEAMS
Davey Boy Smith & Jim Neidhart
HEEL
Alex Wright
Billy Kidman
Bobby Duncam Jr (w/Jimmy Hart)
Bret Hart
Brian Adams
Chris Jericho
Curt Hennig
Damien
Disco Inferno
Eddie Guerrero
El Dandy
Fit Finlay
Hector Garza
Hollywood Hogan
Hugh Morrus
Johnny Swinger
Kendall Windham (w/Jimmy Hart)
Masahiro Chono (w/Sonny Onoo)
Psicosis
Randy Savage
Raven
Silver King
Scott Hall
Scott Steiner
The Giant
Ultimo Dragon (w/Sonny Onoo)
Wrath
HEEL MANAGERS
Jimmy Hart
Sonny Onoo
HEEL TEAMS
The Boogie Knights (Alex Wright &Disco Inferno)
West Texas ******** (Bobby DuncamJr & Kendall Windham)
HEEL FACTIONS
new World order (Curt Hennig, Eric Bischoff, Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall, Scott Steiner & The Giant)
AUTHORITY FIGURES
JJ Dillon- WCW President
Eric Bischoff- WCW Commissioner/nWo President
BOOKING TEAM
Eric Bischoff, Kevin Sullivan, Roddy Piper, Terry Taylor
ROAD AGENTS
Arn Anderson, Dusty Rhodes, Kevin Sullivan, Paul Orndorff, Terry Taylor
ANNOUNCE TEAMS
Monday Nitro/Pay Per View- Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay & Dusty Rhodes
Thursday Thunder- Larry Zbyszko, Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes
WCW Saturday Nights- Scott Hudson, Gene Okerlund, Tony Schiavone
TITLES
WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Hollywood Hogan
WCW United States Champion: Bill Goldberg
WCW Television Champion: Booker T
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Chris Jericho
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Kevin Nash & Sting
PPV SCHEDULE
Souled Out- January Week 4
Superbrawl- February Week 4
Uncensored- March Week 3
Spring Stampede- April Week 3
Slamboree- May Week 3
Great American Bash- June Week 3
Bash at the Beach- July Week 2
Road Wild- August Week 3
Fall Brawl- September Week 2
Halloween Havoc- October Week 4
World War 3- November Week 4
Starrcade- December Week 4
NOTES: Okay, it's been quite awhile since I've run a BTB, so forgive me if I'm a little rusty. I'm using TEW 2005 as a rough outliner for the shows because, hey, it should help to have something to help me figure out times, dates, who is and isn't available to get hired and it'll also throw in things I can't predict like injuries and addictions. Plus, I've never run a BTB with TEW, so it's something new to me. Until I get back in the swing of things, I'll be writing pretty much all of this recap style, including the pay per views. As much as I want to get in full detail with PPV's, I just don't have the time to write out a whole PPV, and I don't want this to be a project I have to give up due to time restrictions. By the time you see this, I should have a few shows written, so it won't be too long until you see a show up. In closing, let's do this shit!
BREAKING NEWS
WCW HAS NEW PRESIDENT
The rumors have been circulating for a few months that big changes might be in store for WCW, but itis now official; Eric Bischoff is no longer the president of WCW. After the fan backlash that came from the end of Starrcade 1997, the rumor has been that now former president Eric Bischoff has been treading water. Well, today it has been announced that while Easy E will still be an on-air character and a member of the creative board, he has been replaced by relative newcomer Aurora Edwards. After some Turner suits discussed the legal stuff and business side of the decision, President Edwards took the stage and discussed some of her plans for the new WCW.
First off, Aurora discussed the state of the roster. She made it known that she intends to release quite a bit of the current WCW talent. She lists a few reasons for this; Some of the people, in her opinion, are too old to make a major impact in WCW today (she mentions that she is not talking about names like Hogan or Flair, but more so the midcard-and-lower people). There are some members of the roster that Aurora says don't really add much to the product, or that she doesn't see making a big splash any time soon, so she'd rather have those names honing their craft in the indies so they can maybe come back later reinvigorated. Then there are names that are never used and there to collect a check and nothing else. In their place, Edwards states that she has a list of fresh talent that she'd like to bring in, though she did not go into further detail.
Next, she discussed the current state of WCW television. She immediately made it known that nothing can be done in the short term, as Nitro, Thunder and Saturday Night are locked in contracts. That said, she did say that six hours of television a week (9-10 hours if we include pay per views) is just way too much overexposure, and once she can, she wants to cut Nitro down to two hours, Thunder down to one hour and possibly eliminate Saturday Nights altogether- though she mentioned that she wasn't 100 percent sure about Saturday Nights yet and that would have to be a decision she made down the line.
President Edwards also talked a good bit about the Power Plant. She made it known that she has nothing but good things to say about the Power Plant, and that she believes it could help build the future of WCW, referencing Goldberg in her bit about this. However, she did mention that, at some point down the line, she would like to have some sort of developmental company to accompany the Power Plant so that Power Plant trainees can get experience working in front of a crowd, instead of going straight from the Plant to WCW television.
Lastly, she discussed some of her ideas for WCW creatively. She first mentioned that she plans for the nWo storyline to continue for a while. She also mentioned that top WCW names like Hogan, Flair, Nash, Hall, Giant, ext aren't going anywhere. “These are the names that helped WCW become what it is, and I will not be throwing them out any time soon.” However, she also mentions that she intends on bringing up a new wave of younger stars to mix it up with the established WCW main eventers. Again, she mentions Goldberg, but she also brings up names like DDP, Booker T, Konnan, Scott Steiner, Eddie Guerrero, Raven, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho as future main-event players. She also mentions that, over the course of the next few months, she would like to put more emphasis on the Cruiserweight Division (“These talented young men have been used to kick off great shows, and it's time that they get the respect that they deserve”), the Tag Team Division (“The state of Tag Team wrestling in WCW right now is an embarrassment, especially when you compare it to our competition”) and maybe even bringing back the Women's Division (though she does mention that this would be later on down the line.)
Clearly, Edwards has a lot of ambition going forward, and we're excited to see where some of that ambition takes WCW, but not everyone is happy. The locker room right now is in a state of paranoia. Her words of releasing talent has quite a few people backstage terrified, and her plans of focusing on younger talent has a lot of older stars worried that she's going to chop their legs off. Only time will tell whether this is a good move for WCW.
Edwards will fully take overstarting the first week of July.
THE ROSTER
FACE
Bill Goldberg
Booker T
Chavo Guerrero Jr
Chris Benoit
Chris Kanyon
Davey Boy Smith
Dean Malenko
Diamond Dallas Page (w/KimberlyPage)
Evan Karagias
Glacier
Jim Duggan
Jim Neidhart
Juventud Guerrera
Kevin Nash
Konnan
La Parka
Lash LeRoux
Marty Jannetty
Meng
Norman Smiley
Perry Saturn
Rey Mysterio Jr
Ric Flair (w/Elizabeth)
Rick Steiner
Sting
Super Calo
The Great Muta
FACE MANAGERS
Elizabeth
Kimberly Page
FACE TEAMS
Davey Boy Smith & Jim Neidhart
HEEL
Alex Wright
Billy Kidman
Bobby Duncam Jr (w/Jimmy Hart)
Bret Hart
Brian Adams
Chris Jericho
Curt Hennig
Damien
Disco Inferno
Eddie Guerrero
El Dandy
Fit Finlay
Hector Garza
Hollywood Hogan
Hugh Morrus
Johnny Swinger
Kendall Windham (w/Jimmy Hart)
Masahiro Chono (w/Sonny Onoo)
Psicosis
Randy Savage
Raven
Silver King
Scott Hall
Scott Steiner
The Giant
Ultimo Dragon (w/Sonny Onoo)
Wrath
HEEL MANAGERS
Jimmy Hart
Sonny Onoo
HEEL TEAMS
The Boogie Knights (Alex Wright &Disco Inferno)
West Texas ******** (Bobby DuncamJr & Kendall Windham)
HEEL FACTIONS
new World order (Curt Hennig, Eric Bischoff, Hollywood Hogan, Scott Hall, Scott Steiner & The Giant)
AUTHORITY FIGURES
JJ Dillon- WCW President
Eric Bischoff- WCW Commissioner/nWo President
BOOKING TEAM
Eric Bischoff, Kevin Sullivan, Roddy Piper, Terry Taylor
ROAD AGENTS
Arn Anderson, Dusty Rhodes, Kevin Sullivan, Paul Orndorff, Terry Taylor
ANNOUNCE TEAMS
Monday Nitro/Pay Per View- Bobby Heenan, Mike Tenay & Dusty Rhodes
Thursday Thunder- Larry Zbyszko, Tony Schiavone, Dusty Rhodes
WCW Saturday Nights- Scott Hudson, Gene Okerlund, Tony Schiavone
TITLES
WCW World Heavyweight Champion: Hollywood Hogan
WCW United States Champion: Bill Goldberg
WCW Television Champion: Booker T
WCW Cruiserweight Champion: Chris Jericho
WCW World Tag Team Champions: Kevin Nash & Sting
PPV SCHEDULE
Souled Out- January Week 4
Superbrawl- February Week 4
Uncensored- March Week 3
Spring Stampede- April Week 3
Slamboree- May Week 3
Great American Bash- June Week 3
Bash at the Beach- July Week 2
Road Wild- August Week 3
Fall Brawl- September Week 2
Halloween Havoc- October Week 4
World War 3- November Week 4
Starrcade- December Week 4
NOTES: Okay, it's been quite awhile since I've run a BTB, so forgive me if I'm a little rusty. I'm using TEW 2005 as a rough outliner for the shows because, hey, it should help to have something to help me figure out times, dates, who is and isn't available to get hired and it'll also throw in things I can't predict like injuries and addictions. Plus, I've never run a BTB with TEW, so it's something new to me. Until I get back in the swing of things, I'll be writing pretty much all of this recap style, including the pay per views. As much as I want to get in full detail with PPV's, I just don't have the time to write out a whole PPV, and I don't want this to be a project I have to give up due to time restrictions. By the time you see this, I should have a few shows written, so it won't be too long until you see a show up. In closing, let's do this shit!