WCW SUPERBRAWL: Thumbs up 84 (70.0%), Thumbs down 20 (16.7%), In the middle 16 (13.3%).

WCW may change its plans once again this week, this time with Eric Bischoff perhaps deciding against a shutdown in April.

Bischoff's thoughts were based on the idea that he didn't want to present a stale product and allow the fans to get more apathetic by basically struggling along with no storylines and no stars until the planned re-launch in May. Most likely the ratings from the past week may have played a part in the decision, because if the ratings would have held steady at the 2.5 level to build for a re-launch, it would have been acceptable, but when 2/12 came in tying the record low for a Nitro live show in the regular time slot (2.08), that was no longer an acceptable level to stay at, or even probably drop from since the storyline they were building toward, for better or worse, required keeping some of the biggest stars on the sidelines for nearly two more months. There is also the feeling that with the WWF's problems with the XFL, that so much of Vince McMahon's focus will be on football for the next two months that it's not the time to sit out waiting to make a move, although WCW's problems at this point are not greatly contingent of the focus of McMahon and the storylines of the WWF being stale or not. No doubt with TBS and TNT having to do make goods on advertising due to the declining ratings, the networks would also be adverse to shutting down for the same reason Time Warner vetoed Bischoff's original plan to shut down starting this week. Bischoff at press time said he would make the final decision later this week and another main factor would be based on exactly when the closing of the Fusient purchase of WCW in finalized since Time Warner nixed his previous shutdown plan.

The current storyline is to virtually eliminate the top babyfaces from the roster, to present Diamond Dallas Page as the last major survivor against Scott Steiner on the 3/18 PPV in Jacksonville. If there is no shutdown, most likely, either on that show, or perhaps on the Nitro the next night in Gainesville, FL, shoot the big angle that was planned for early April by having the new owners take over and foil Ric Flair's plans by bringing back all the stars (Bill Goldberg, Sting, Kevin Nash, Booker T and possibly Hulk Hogan and perhaps others if deals can be made) and build seven weeks of television hype, more time than WCW has devoted for one specific show in years, for the 5/6 PPV show which would be something of a major coming out. Sting and Booker T are already healthy and ready to go, while Goldberg, after shoulder surgery, won't be able to wrestle until the PPV, but will likely be used on television from late March until that date to build for his return match.

The idea of the shutdown would have enabled the company to show up with a new set, new look and new talent and somewhat make another attempt at a fresh start after numerous similar failures over the past two years. At this point the plan looks to be to change the look of the show in May or June if it's possible, but without taking a break. The money aspect regarding not running being a financial drain isn't as big a deal as one would think because at this point the company loses money at this point just doing Nitros due to the production costs as well as doing road shows, which is why they don't do road shows, so by not doing them, it is actually a short-term savings. Again, it needs to be pointed out that WCW's money loss problems are not entirely due to the big contracts, because if every wrestler on the roster had worked in 2000 for free, hence no talent costs, the company's losses would still have been more than $20 million.

There are positives and negatives in the decision. Clearly WCW had its momentum (well, momentum isn't quite the right word, but you know what I mean) hurt by all the televised pre-emptions of Nitro in the regular slot in December and January and wrestling is traditionally not a seasonal business. After pre-emptions in recent years, historically both WCW and WWF have had minor short-term ratings drops before getting back to normal (whatever normal is at that time) levels generally by the second or third week back. However, there were territories, such as St. Louis, that ran seasonal businesses seemingly forever and fans accepted shutdowns and re-starts in the same way sports fans do and television fans so with season ending and season openings. In fact, the first and last show of the season just being first and last often ended up being drawing cards in successful television shows (season ending sports events often mean nothing unless a championship race is involved but season openers are traditionally huge draws). WCW last year, when the Kevin Sullivan regime was dumped for Bischoff and Vince Russo, grew from a 2.60 to 3.06 on Nitro and a 2.05 to 3.11 on Thunder the first week back after one week off with a taped show promising a new beginning. Thunder remained above the old levels for several months, largely because of the improved star power, but Nitro was back below the Sullivan levels by the second week, doing a then record low 2.47 (Sullivan's shows never fell below a 2.52), showing the new viewers of Nitro showed up for the hype, but didn't stay, but it really wasn't until the summer after the Bash at the Beach angle, where the ratings took a consistent dip to the current levels.

The main positive is without the weekly pressure of having to put together four hours of television every Monday, they can use that time to focus directly on improvements needed, a luxury of time they won't have by continuing to run. The negative is the out-of-sight, out-of-mind nature of pro wrestling and the current fans, and that unlike the St. Louis promotion under Sam Muchnick, this is not a monopoly business and it's a company that is in a very distant second place with a competitor who won't be shutting down.

An interesting column from Lance Storm's website (stormwrestling.com):

"I'm going on a bit of a tirade this week. I keep hearing how people in ECW are offended about WCW asking them to do a tryout match, and because of this may not be taking the tryout. I'm going to give you my take on this story. I will likely offend a few of my former co-workers, but so be it. I've always spoken my mind and I've even spoken with a few of them and told them as much to their face.

Take the tryout match! ECW has no shows booked and you are not currently getting paid. Now is not the time to think you are a wrestling superstar, whose work should be world-renowned. Let's be honest. ECW isn't even on TV anymore and our man in charge, was in Japan when ECW was on TNN.

We also need to consider what succeeding in ECW really means. Paul has managed to get people over that no one else ever could. Paul has a talent for finding something in people and capitalizing on it. He is a bit of a genius in this regard. ECW also has a rep for being far more lax as far as locker room and personal conduct than any other company. Look at the track record of some past ECW acquisitions by WCW, Public Enemy, Sandman and Chris & Tammy, to name just a few. None of these acquisitions turned out as WCW had hoped for, all for different reasons.

The question everyone is likely asking now is, would I have done a tryout match when I first joined WCW? The truth is, likely not. But things were different then. ECW had a full schedule of shows, a national TV show, and my pretty decent paycheck was fed-ex'd to my house every two weeks without fail. At the time I didn't need WCW, and I could afford to wait until they really wanted me. That isn't the case anymore.

The point that a lot of people are missing is that it's just business. WCW wants to see what everyone has to offer so they can spend their money accordingly, and everyone should take the opportunity to see what they might be offered. Letting someone know you've been offended by turning down a tryout is career suicide at this point. Vince McMahon is a very, very, smart businessman. If he's the only buyer at an auction, he isn't going to be throwing out high bids. If ECW folds, which unfortunately it looks like it might, everyone working there is up for auction and there are really only two bidders.

Is being asked to prove your worth more offensive than being out right offered less than your worth? If you don't do business the right way, that's what's going to happen. This business isn't about what you're worth as it is about what leverage you have to get it. Don't let an ego eliminate the only leverage you have. No matter what you've done in this business, you are only as good as the position you currently hold."

JANUARY BUSINESS COMPARISONS

WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION

Estimated average attendance 1/00 11,801

Estimated average attendance 1/01 12,263 (+3.9%)

December 2000 10,353



Estimated average gate 1/00 $316,259

Estimated average gate 1/01 $401,133* (+26.8%)

December 2000 $307.979



Percentage of house shows sold out 1/00 60.0

Percentage of house shows sold out 1/01 62.5

December 2000 50.0



Average Monday night rating 1/00 6.46

Average Monday night rating 1/01 5.14 (-20.4%)

December 2000 4.85



Major show 1/00: Royal Rumble (19,231 sellout/16,629 paid/$1,142,540/est. 1.58 buy rate/est. $7.34 million)



Major show 1/01: Royal Rumble (16,056 sellout/13,481 paid/$666,700/est. 1.35 buy rate/est. $7.31 million)



Est. buy rate -14.6%; Est. overall event revenue -5.9%



*Denotes all-time record for the promotion for average over a one month period



WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING

Estimated average attendance 1/00 3,593

Estimated average attendance 1/01 2,342 (-34.8%)

December 2000 2,726



Estimated average gate 1/00 $86,575

Estimated average gate 1/01 $63,823 (-26.3%)

December 2000 $73,508



Percentage of house shows sold out 1/00 5.6

Percentage of house shows sold out 1/01 0.0

December 2000 0.0



Average Monday night rating 1/00 3.10

Average Monday night rating 1/01 2.35 (-24.2%)

December 2000 2.15



Major show 1/00: Souled Out (14,132 sellout/7,323 paid/$238,529/est. 0.26 buy rate/est. $1.22 million)



Major show 1/01: Sin (6,617/4,631 paid/$162,578/est. 0.17 buy rate/est. $901,000)



Est. buy rate -34.6%; Est. overall event revenue -27.4%


The Greed PPV on 3/18 in Jacksonville looks to be something like Scott Steiner vs. Page for the WCW title, Rick Steiner vs. Hugh Morrus for the U.S. title, Cat vs. Kanyon, Rhodes vs. Jarrett, Palumbo & O'Haire vs. Bagwell & Luger for the tag title, Guerrero vs. Helms for the cruiserweight title, Kronik vs. Team Canada and the tournament finals for the cruiserweight tag team title

Nitro on 2/19 in Huntsville, AL was just a show. Not terrible, although it lacked in star power. The angles at least made sense to build to the PPV. It opened with a funeral for the career of Nash, and bringing up Goldberg, Sting and Booker T to build for their return. All I know is if I die, I want Flair delivering the eulogy. He, with a straight face, said that Nash was a special kind of athlete who comes around once in a lifetime. Kanyon ended up in the coffin. Page was in the crowd having a verbal duel with Steiner to start the build for the PPV. Cat announced an eight-team cruiserweight tournament starting 2/26 with the finals on the PPV. Moore pinned Knoble when Karagias turned on Knoble and DDT'd him. Well, that was the idea I think. I really have no idea what it was he did to him, so set up Moore doing the bottoms up. Moore & Karagias started dancing together after Karagias and Moore doubled on Knoble afterwards, apparently to form a tag team for the tournament since Helms is doing singles. They worked hard but this match wasn't as good as you'd think. Clark beat Awesome in 58 seconds. Very strange. Skipper interfered immediately right in front of the ref who didn't call for a DQ. Since cruiserweights aren't allowed to get any offense on big guys, I guess it's not a DQ when they do run-ins. Then Storm interfered and Awesome was DQ'd. Adams made the save. Storm got away but they did the High Times on the other two. They did a video promo on Kid Romeo, who debuts next week. First time they've ever hyped ahead of time a cruiserweight coming in. The video was actually shot more than one year ago when they were planning on debuting Romeo with a push, and well, it didn't happen then. Konnan & Kidman beat Guerrero & Animal in a long match. Konnan and Animal brawled backstage for several minutes while Kidman and Chavo were in the ring. At one point Animal was selling after being hit with a brutal piece of cardboard. Match was going okay since Kidman and Chavo were the focus, until this point when Konnan and Chavo were on different planets when Konnan did the face jam and killed the match dead in its tracks. Finish saw Misterio Jr. come out and Kidman pinned Chavo clean with the kid krusher. Cat tried to talk Bagwell into turning babyface because he loves his mom and has a good heart. He asked the fans in Huntsville if Bagwell should turn. They said he should. Luckily they did this in the South. Bagwell agreed, then jumped Cat. They had a match which saw Kanyon interfere and Bagwell won with the blockbuster. After the match, Kanyon used the cutter on Ms. Jones which was the storyline reason to get rid of her. She went out on a stretcher into an ambulance. Rick Steiner pinned LeRoux after three DVD's. They tried to push Steiner as a brutal killer real hard in commentary. Some of the stuff still isn't good, but at least watching it you can see the purpose in what they are trying. They sold Leroux as being injured and Morrus is looking for revenge. I thought MIA broke up. Morrus pinned Storm clean with a moonsault. Fans were more into Morrus than any time I can recall and he showed more personality in the ring in that 70s Bugsy McGraw kind of way. Jarrett did a segment where he came out like he was Eddie Murphy in Nutty Professor with all the fat padding to imitate Dusty Rhodes. The idea was good. But the segment was terrible and seemed like it would never end. Crowd didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Jarrett did a bunch of ridiculous Dusty spots on some job guys to take bumps for him the way the Horseman used to in the 80s. That should have been funny, but for some reason, it wasn't. Jarrett just isn't funny, even with good material. Jarrett gave one of the guys the shattered dreams. Dustin came out for the save, but Rick Steiner attacked him allowing Jarrett to clock him with a guitar. You can make fun of his dad for 20 minutes, but steal his move, and then you're in trouble. Schiavone and Hudson talked about the death of Dale Earnhardt the previous day in Daytona. They gave this more time and emotion that virtually all the wrestlers deaths on TBS and TNT have gotten over the last 20 years. Main event was Page pinning Kanyon with a diamond cutter. Not as good as the previous night, but easily the best wrestling on this show

Thunder notes after Nitro that evening. Hayashi beat Kwee Wee in a match said to not be that good. Some clash in styles, plus Hayashi was pretty banged up from his match at the PPV. Styles & Paris beat Wright & Disqo. Styles & Paris didn't get to show much because of the match story, which was them being squashed but sneaking over at the end. You can imagine how silly it looked with Paris vs. Wright. After the upset, Wright & Disqo blamed each other and apparently broke up their tag team. Stasiak beat Vito with the vertabreaker. Page & Cat beat Bagwell & Kanyon. Jarrett beat Crowbar. Rhodes did a run-in after the match. Palumbo pinned Luger clean with an inside cradle. They are trying to establish Palumbo & O'Haire as babyfaces. Main event was Scott Steiner vs. Morrus. Don't know exactly what the finish was, but it was something along the lines of Page & Morrus being established as the top two babyfaces still left in the company against the top heels

Some Thunder notes from the show that aired on 2/14. Knoble is really turning into a tremendous worker as noted in the opener where Air Paris and A.J. Styles debuted. Paris, who is very small, was wearing a very minor league looking costume which hurt people taking him seriously. Styles can do some good spots but needs a lot of work on crowd interaction. The show itself came off like watching indie guys doing longer matches than they should on TV. O'Haire vs. Jindrak didn't help either guy's cause. O'Haire has so much potential but they need to send him somewhere so he can learn from veterans. He and Jindrak both would benefit greatly by going to Japan as a tag team for several tours (that's only half the battle because they also need to be able to project themselves on interviews) because virtually everyone they would work against would be a veteran with good basics. Both guys have good size and great athletic ability but need to be working four of five nights a week to get that polish in the ring that fans could see they are lacking. This is where WCW's schedule really hurts, because the young guys are the future of the company, but without working 200 nights like the WWF young guys do, they aren't going to progress as fast and won't be able to surpass the veterans, who are burned out and can't draw. Cat vs. Awesome was a bad match, but really funny. Cat kicked the ringpost and started selling his shin, higher on his leg, and then his knee. The longer the match went, the higher on the leg he was selling, like the injury was traveling up his leg

At this point the target date for doing weekly tapings from one location looks to be around June, and Las Vegas seems to be the front running city with various locations being talked about including the idea they would build their own small arena/studio at a popular site. Most of the talk seems to be the company offices will be located in the Los Angeles area

Corino has all but been given a contract and was on a radio show this weekend saying that he doesn't know if ECW will have a PPV on 3/11, but that it's 99 percent sure if they do, he won't be on it, but he wishes them the best

The Thunder show had to be re-voiced over on Tuesday because the announcers sold it on the original taping as if Nash was going to be ready for the PPV and Bischoff wanted it portrayed as if it was a mystery whether Nash would even be able to perform as the last thing the fans heard. I know that doesn't seem to make sense on the surface for getting fans to buy the show (the pre-game show pushing the same angle could certainly be said to do the same thing, but they're still in the mentality that rather than sell as many buys for the show and maximize income, they'd rather get the pop by teasing the broken leg and have the guy get out of the wheelchair. That's part of the mentality that got ECW and WCW where they are today. Because of this, the plan seems to be now to no longer do the commentary live on Thunder and just do voice-overs closer to air date in the studio

Bischoff is scheduled to meet with New Japan officials in Hawaii on or around 3/21. At this point he has no plans to go to Japan

The racial discrimination lawsuit is actually 14 different lawsuits filed by 14 different people, all based on the same thing, in specific suing Time Warner for hiring Vince Russo and Vince Russo for discrimination, using the Ben Miller interview (which Russo did while he worked for the WWF and was knocking WCW for pushing so much foreign talent). The fact that Russo made those statements and then got rid of a lot of foreign talent is what they are going after. Time Warner is investigating the charges of racism in booking. I think anyone with a brain knows there have been numerous wrestlers not given a chance no matter what their talents were because of their ethnic background (then again, the same points of talented guys not getting pushed can also be made for guys who weren't of a minority background), but there are also people involved in this lawsuit where race isn't an issue as they weren't going to be pushed no matter what their background was because they didn't have the talent or charisma. Randy Anderson, the former ref and childhood friend of Marty Lunde (Arn Anderson) is a key witness with allegations of racist statements by Lunde and Taylor and claims that Orndorff and Jody Hamilton at the Power Plant were racial. For better or worse, and this is no defense, but anyone who has been around wrestling for any length of time knows minorities are routinely called derogatory names "among the boys" just as when guys get together on Saturday night and drink, some guys are going to make ignorant racial comments that years later would look really bad if, say, they were up for public office. It's probably smart to keep racial comments to yourself and even smarter to realize that people who you think are your friends, in most cases, but not all, can end up becoming your worst enemies. Cary Ichter, Onoo's lawyer, also brought up that Flair was making racial slurs at African American fans at a house show, which is something that heels in the South used to do to draw heat for decades, not saying it's right because it isn't, but it is how heels were taught to draw heat more than actual acts of real racism. It is equivalent to going to court when Flair would tell someone he was with their momma last night for $10 as a lawsuit proclaiming Flair inferred really that his mother was a prostitute. It would probably be better off if those tactics weren't used anymore being that it is 2001 and insults shouldn't be racial, and not only because lawsuits like these as things that happen in this world, but it is also wrong to use comments heels are making as evidence wrestlers didn't get pushes they deserved. Not that some guys didn't get pushes they deserved, both minorities and non-minorities, because that also is a part of wrestling

David Cash (Kid Kash), Jason Broyles (E.Z. Money) and Jim Mitchell (Sinister Minister) were at the Nashville PPV looking for work. Cash didn't endear himself to anyone but is expected to get a try-out on 2/26 or 3/5 and I'd presume Broyles would at some point as well. They aren't going to make concrete offers until seeing guys perform live. Mitchell's chances of getting a job are slim as Bischoff didn't think highly of him as a talent when he was there before and thinks less highly of him because of comments he's made about Bischoff since leaving

Brian Heffron (Blue Boy) and Jasmine St. Clair were at the show in Huntsville the next night looking for work. Since WCW just got rid of all its women, I'd say her chances don't look good, and even if they hadn't, her background as a porn star probably won't help her

Moore seemed to have injured his ankle in the Nitro match with Knoble

After this week, all the women are history. Stacey Keibler, who is still under contract, but paid on a nightly basis, is not being planned to be used. Melinda O'Hearn (Midajah) and Carmel Macklin (Ms. Jones) were taken off TV temporarily due to their "injuries." There are no plans to bring them back, or any women in at this point unless they can wrestle

Regarding the funeral segment, which ended up being very controversial due to the timing of the Dale Earnhardt death, it was scripted before the death. The death was brought up before the show and there was a discussion about not doing it because of that, but the decision was made not to change the planned opening of the show with the idea that it was playing off the previously done Goldberg skit. I had a problem with the Goldberg skit because wrestling has had too many deaths to get away with a mock funeral. My thoughts on this one were it was the same thing except when they did the Kevin Nash RIP on the video screen, it hit me that imagery did cross the line

Bischoff ordered Rhodes to get out of that black singlet after Nitro last week

At this point, Ed Ferrara is still writing the television shows but there is more influence by Bischoff and Ace over the main programs and direction

There is talk of assigning a specific booker or even bookers to the cruiserweight division so the guys wouldn't be treated as an afterthought by bookers who spend most of their time programming the top of the card

There will probably be an announcement made within the next month regarding attempts to find and sign up new talent

Nitro/Thunder tapings on 2/19 in Huntsville, AL drew 3,547 fans, which was 2,431 paying $71,269.