Eric Bischoff's proposed shutdown of World Championship Wrestling starting with Sunday's PPV was nixed by Time Warner management last week because of commitments already made to advertisers.

Bischoff was planning on running a major angle to end the 2/18 PPV show in Nashville, which would result in the company ceasing all operations until probably Nitro on 3/12, when it would resume, theoretically with an influx of new major stars, to build for a 3/18 PPV show. There were problems during the week between the sides because Time Warner, which still owns the company, refused to cancel the Nitro and Thunder shows during that period because advertising commitments had already been made and the company already has problems in that vain because of the ratings. Both Nitro and Thunder had advertising sold, some as much as one year in advance, promising a level of ratings that wasn't achieved, so both shows contain a lot of "make-good" ads as well as new ads that had already been purchased.

Because of this, the angle scheduled for the PPV show was nixed, and likely a similar angle will take place on a Nitro show in late March or early April, tentatively scheduled for a 4/2 Nitro, which at this point, no location has been decided but Bischoff wants it in the best city possible which makes Chicago the leading choice. No dates for any shows except a 5/6 PPV date in Las Vegas, which is tentatively expected to feature some international wrestlers as well, although no deals have been reached as of yet, have been made after the end of March by either side pending the closing of the sale of the company to Fusient Media Ventures.

All shows on the books that at one point were planned to be canceled in late February and early March will take place as advertised. Tickets had been sold and publicity was out in all the markets, which would have made canceling the events difficult, although the cancellation was still the plan until one week ago when Bischoff was unable to go through with his plan because his company didn't own the product.

Fusient and Time Warner are currently in the final stages of due diligence on the sale, and Fusient management are scheduled for final meetings with Turner management this week in Atlanta. At press time, the plan for finalization of the sale was hoped for to be by 2/28, but sources close to the situation say that may be delayed several days after that because the process is taking longer than both sides had expected, and there would still have to be regulatory approval after both sides completed due diligence. If there is a potential snag in finalization of the deal, apparently there has been a change in thought at Turner regarding shutting the company down. Originally, if the deal couldn't be completed, the company was going to be shut down at the end of March. Now, there are back-up plans that have been implemented and if the sale falls through, it appears the company won't fold. Many in the company are hopeful of this scenario, feeling being part of the Turner family, even with the weaknesses of the operation as it regarded wrestling for so long, has more long-term potential than a sale to a less well heeled company.

Bischoff said that the current WCW product, which he said would limp along for the next six or seven weeks in this form, is not what WCW will wind up being as this is a work in progress, and at this point the company would remain limping along with the same basic players in the key positions, with the main events largely based around Scott Steiner defending his title against either Kevin Nash or Diamond Dallas Page.

It is believed an angle similar to the one scrapped for 2/18 will take place on 4/2 leading to a shutdown until 4/30 (all these dates are tentative) to build toward the 5/6 PPV show as something of a new beginning. That show is expected to be where Sting, Goldberg and Booker T return, as well as potentially Hogan and any other major acquisitions between now and then.

After losing the retirement match, Goldberg underwent what was thought to be arthroscopic surgery on his chronic shoulder problem which would keep him out of action for one month. The storyline that has been pushed on television in subtle hints was that the new ownership when they came in, would review the situation and bring Goldberg back. However, it turned out Goldberg suffered a torn rotator cuff and the surgery was more serious, so under the old plan it would have been impossible to implement it anyway as Goldberg couldn't return for the March PPV as planned. At this point they are hopeful of his first match back being on the May PPV show.

Appearing on Wrestling Observer Live on 2/12, Bischoff said that he hopes to take a trip to Japan in early March to negotiate with New Japan as well as with Ultimo Dragon, and talked about keeping the cruiserweights separate from the heavyweights, and bolster the division with international talent. He said the idea for Scott Steiner beating Evan Karagias & Jamie Knoble & Jung Dragons on 2/5 was executed poorly and didn't help Steiner, and hurt the cruiserweights in the process. The idea was supposed to be that the cruiserweights would be told by Nash as part of a show long set up not to try and beat Steiner, but to work a fast pace to tire him out, with the storyline being that he was blown up from that match, and injured from the diamond cutter, to make it appear he had no chance to do anything but lose the title in the main event to set up the Rick Steiner turn. Obviously that didn't take place and the end result was a disaster, although those close to the situation in Baltimore say the match as it took place was exactly as it was laid out. If the storyline was supposed to be different and an interview with Nash and the cruiserweights was supposed to take place, it never was discussed like that with the wrestlers involved. He also talked about setting up a cruiserweight tag team title as another way to keep them separate from the heavyweights.

Bischoff was in Los Angeles over the past week looking for new people to work behind the scenes, including new producers and writers. He was not at the Nitro and Thunder tapings on 2/12 in Biloxi, MS, but had input into the booking of the major angles on those shows.

Until the sale goes through, WCW is handcuffed when it comes to bidding for new and top talent. There have been wrestlers, such as Michael Ciriglio (Michael Modest) signed when WCW cut several of the women and the company was allowed to sign wrestlers to deals to make up for the money saved by cutting other pieces of talent, but no increase in budget expenditures for talent would be approved by Turner.

 Nitro on 2/12 from Biloxi, MS ended up being a decent show, although it seems like 100 weeks in a row with the Steiner vs. Nash main event, and now they expect after all those matches for people to pay for it on Sunday. Matches were longer than usual, and in most cases that was good. Show opened with Rhodes vs. Rick Steiner in the ring. Came across like two out of shape older guys even though Rhodes is only 31. Flair, Animal and Sanders came out and Flair ordered the match stopped and ordered security to throw Rhodes out. Cat came out, but Flair ordered Storm vs. Cat for the commissioners job with Sanders as ref. That lasted all of 95 seconds with a bunch of mistimed spots, Cat attacking Sanders, but Sanders getting up and signalling for the bell when Storm got the half crab on, even though Cat never submitted, doing that same tired old Survivor Series offshoot finish, so Storm is the new commissioner. Storm then never appeared for the rest of the show and did nothing commissionary. Flair ordered all the heels to beat up on Cat, but Nash appeared on the screen, having kidnapped David Flair and they put make-up on him to look like he'd been worked over. Ric, who this week cares about David, ordered everyone to stop and agreed to do whatever Nash wanted. Turned into a show-long skit where Nash asked for Rhodes vs. Rick Steiner and if Rhodes won, then Nash would get a title shot at Scott. Rhodes refused to do the match unless if he won, he'd get a title shot at the PPV and be reinstated. Luger & Bagwell invited O'Haire & Palumbo to join the Magnificent Seven, which would ruin the math, and came off like a swerve. Yang pinned Leroux in 9:22 with this crazy looking corkscrew moonsault. These guys worked real hard. Yang missed some spots and the communication wasn't always perfect but they made up for it with effort and total Johnny Ace finish with the near falls. Rhodes pinned Rick Steiner to set up the U.S. title match on PPV. Rhodes got a bloody nose. Several near falls until a ref bump. Animal came out, but Douglas came out as well and hit Steiner with his cast and Rhodes pinned him in 8:01. After the match, Steiner and Animal did the chair to Douglas' left wrist, so they gimmick broke his other wrist to give him time off for a new character. Not a good match, but better than you'd expect out of these two. Kidman pinned Skipper with the kid crusher. Lots of near falls. A hell of a match to the point the crowd was really popping and on its feet and a huge pop for the finish. Raw was the better show this week, but once again, Nitro had the match of the night easily here. Stasiak pinned Palumbo in 7:59 with a schoolboy holding the tights. Lacked emotion as both these guys have a ton to learn about working the crowd, but athletically it was fine with a lot of near falls. They tried doing things a little bit over their heads at times and when their spots got complicated, they looked really green. It appeared the finish was supposed to be Stasiak rolling through on Palumbo's rolling reverse and holding the tights, but they were all messed up in the ropes and it looked bad so the ref wouldn't count. They stood there for a second not knowing what to do, and then went right to a similar looking finish, this time a schoolboy holding the trunks instead of a rolling reverse. DDP did an interview mainly ripping on Kanyon. Jarrett came out on the stick, allowing Kanyon to jump Page, but Page gave Kanyon the diamond cutter to lay him out, which allowed Jarrett to hit Page with a guitar shot and the stroke. Nash brought David out and Flair said he fulfilled his end of the bargain and asked for David to be returned to him. Nash power bombed David anyway. Nash beat Scott via DQ. Flair ordered all the heels to do a run-in, but Rhodes, Cat and Kronik blocked the way so the match continued. The announcers made a big deal about Clark being there, saying he's injured and shouldn't be out there. Only problem is he's been on every TV show since the injury. Flair finally did a run-in on Nash for revenge on David and came off as incompetent again. Nash no sold a haymaker by Flair, laughed off his chop, and power bombed him. They'll never get it, will they? Steiner attacked Nash with several pipe shots to the knee as the show went off the air

For Thunder after Nitro, Knoble & Karagias beat A.J. Styles & Air Paris in their TV debut match in prime time. Said to be real good, including Styles doing his shooting star plancha outside the ring. Karagias pinned Paris. The two winners advance to the six-man cruiserweight elimination match on the PPV along with Jung Dragons, Kidman and Moore. O'Haire pinned Jindrak clean with the seanton bomb. Sanders pinned Kwee Wee holding the trunks. Awesome beat Cat with a frog splash. Cat went for the kick outside the ring but instead kicked the post. Wall & Chavo beat Misterio Jr. & Morrus when Wall pinned Misterio Jr. after a choke slam. Said to be not as good as Misterio-Wall the previous week, but not bad. Bagwell pinned Konnan with the blockbuster after Luger distracted Konnan. This was said to be bad. Main was Jarrett & Rick Steiner over DDP & Rhodes which included a Scott Steiner run-in and Jarrett pinning DDP with the stroke. Scott did the broken leg gimmick with a security guard. Report was that it overall wasn't a good show. At least from those there live, there was no sign of Nash on Thunder, and apparently the selling point of the show is that they don't know if Nash will be ready for the PPV or how ready he'll be, which is a very strange way to try and hook people to buy a show by telling them that the babyface isn't going to be ready for his title match

WCW is attempting to get the racial discrimination lawsuit filed by 14 former wrestlers thrown out this past week. The judge will rule some time this week on the motion. The main evidence was Vince Russo's famed interview where he said nobody cares about Japanese wrestlers and I'm an American and I want to see Americans and that no Japanese wrestler will ever get over in the U.S

For the first time I've ever seen in a demo breakdown, the audience under the age of 17 for WCW Nitro in the head-to-head hour was less than 10% of the total audience, which is not a good sign for the future. Generally, the average age of a Nitro viewer is 34-35. Now, because of the loss of the young audience (and why could that be by chance?), the average viewer on 2/5 was a 39 year old male. Actually that's no different from the NFL, but skews every old for pro wrestling. The scariest period was the Bagwell vs. Adams match which only drew 48,000 teenagers over the entire country, or basically one out of every 385 teenagers that gets TNT watched that match. Think about when you were a teenager and how many wrestling fans you knew at that age to recognize just how incredibly low a figure that is

It is expected that Steve Corino will be offered a contract. Eric Bischoff at press time had already contacted Diana Meyers to start preparing a contract for him. Pat Kenney (Simon Diamond), who also went to Baltimore and briefly met with Bischoff, is expected to be given a try-out match for the company to evaluate him. It doesn't appear they are interested in Dawn Marie, having just cut most of the women working for the company. Super Crazy had not heard from WCW over the past week and didn't attend the show in Biloxi, MS, but it still, if an offer comes his way, leaning toward WCW. There have been feelers sent his way, provided Paul Heyman does take a position with WWF, he may be able to get Crazy in. McMahon himself at first wasn't interested in Crazy and thus the WWF has taken no steps to sign him

There are no plans at present to use Dusty Rhodes on television again, even with the pop and rating he drew. According to Bischoff, he feels Rhodes can be used effectively maybe two or three times per year on television to get the nostalgia pop, but his appearance in Baltimore was designed as a way to help get Dustin over

Vampiro was fined $5,000 for his appearance on Wrestling Observer Live where he ripped the company under the belief he was no longer working for the company at the time. He's still under contract, but his pay has been cut back to either half or one-third due to his injury

At the 2/17 NWA Wildside TV tapings in Cornelia, GA, they are going to do a run-through with Jindrak & Stasiak vs. O'Haire & Palumbo to get ready for the PPV match the next night. Also on the show will be Leroux, Kwee Wee, Sanders, Skipper, 3 Count, Dragons, David Flair and the developmental crew (Robbie Rage, Dan Factor, Sam Greco, Omen). Main event is Joey Matthews & Christian York defending the NWA tag titles against former champs Rick Michaels & David Young. None of the WCW talent can appear on Wildside TV, but their matches are taped and then sent to Terry Taylor and J.J. Dillon

Dustin Rhodes was put into Douglas' slot after the Rick Steiner turn when Douglas suffered a cracked wrist and broken finger. There will be an attempt made to revamp Douglas' character before he returns

Billy Gunn was on a radio show this week and said that Road Dogg had cut a deal with WCW. Bischoff claims that isn't the case, saying there would be no deal with Brian James at any time in the near future until he's cleaned up his problems. He said that if his problems were significant enough that WWF would get rid of him, he wouldn't want to take him until there is an indication he's beaten his problems

Bischoff categorized the loss of Meng with the hardcore title and as a focal part of the show as the company "being asleep at the wheel" and "typical of everything that went wrong." He said he was upset that it was allowed to happen, although he was happy Meng got a job that can support his family because his daily deal with WCW didn't allow him that and he doesn't blame Meng for the decision he made, or WWF for raiding him at the time saying that if the roles were reversed, he'd have done the same thing, but was upset that it was something that was allowed to happen

With the sale, the salary structure is going to be revamped greatly. The attempt is that all contracts will be re-done when they can be re-done, and a salary structure similar to what WCW was paying circa 1993, when business was at similar levels that it is now, will be implemented. There will probably be things worked into it based on money per appearances, per PPVs, etc. so it is somewhat incentive based

Hugh Morrus was surprisingly open on an interview this week on the Between the Ropes show in Orlando. Surprisingly, because with the new management, all the wrestlers, even the usually outspoken ones (besides the guys like Hogan who do their own angles) have been very careful about what they say publicly. Morrus said in regard to the MIA merchandise doing well (is any WCW merchandise actually doing well?) that getting over and selling more merchandise than the top guys is like signing your own death warrant. He said that once that happens, they change your character and start you from scratch. He said that he and the rest of the MIA knew they were in trouble once their merchandise started selling. Said he hated the name Hugh G. Rection (when they first gave him the name, he vowed he would never sign an autograph with that name and couldn't even explain the name to his own kids). Said he's learned to take the moonsault on his big toes to protect his knees, since he's a big guy doing a move that destroyed the knees of its most famous practitioners like Muta and Kenta Kobashi. Praised Storm and said that the Bagwell comments helped him get over a little more

Madusa is also still under contract to WCW. She had been training the women on TV at the Power Plant some basic wrestling spots

House show on 2/11 in Baton Rouge, LA at the Centroplex drew 1,490 paying $32,980. Nitro/Thunder taping on 2/12 in Biloxi, MS drew 6,145 fans, which was 2,521 paying $54,135. In Baton Rouge, they went with a 2-on-3 with Nash & Adams over Bagwell & Luger & Scott Steiner as the main event in what was apparently the worst match on the entire show (good way to end the show with three of your worst workers) due to interference from Clark. Overall show was said to have been decent with the people you'd expect to have the best matches being the ones having the best matches.