NITRO: The Incredible Rise, Inevitable Collapse and Improbable Rebirth of WCW

[olivertaylor276]

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BREAKING: JARRETT BUYS WCW

 

Wednesday, March 28, 2001

 

 

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_pyVGTjwWvWA/TUHMDWyyXrI/AAAAAAAACWY/9yAZ26FY9jQ/s1600/PWInsider_logo.bmp

 

A cross-promotional press conference led by Jerry Jarrett, J.J. Dillon, Lenita Erickson, Turner Entertainment president Brad Siegel and Fox Sports Net executive vice president George Greenberg today revealed the sale of World Championship Wrestling’s brand, tape library and other associated intellectual properties to J Sports & Entertainment, LLC and the imminent debut of a new wrestling show on Fox Sports Net in May.

 

Harkening back to the days of Jim Crockett Promotions, WCW will present a new one-hour programme named after the company itself - World Championship Wrestling - every Saturday at 6:05pm EST starting on May 19.

 

Jarrett, Dillon and Erickson each own a minority stake in J Sports & Entertainment, LLC and will serve as executive vice presidents. They will control all day-to-day operations related to the company’s wrestling programming.

 

The trio will answer directly to a consortium of anonymous financial backers. Rumoured names include Ultimate Fighting Championship co-founder Bob Meyrowitz, Randy Savage and various groups from Germany and Japan.

 

One significant major backer is believed to be investment banker John Corcoran, who previously worked in the wrestling industry as a consultant to the American Wrestling Association.

 

While Jarrett and Dillon are known entities in the wrestling industry, Erickson’s prominent role in the company has shocked many.

 

Erickson has been under contract to WCW since last October. In 1999, she pioneered and anchored a female-driven talk show on TNN with Olympics swimmer Dara Torres, NASCAR reporter Jamie Little and Playboy model Lauren Michelle Hill. While negotiating the talk show’s broadcasting rights with multiple top sport networks – including ESPN, ABC Sports, NBC Sports, CBS Sports and MTV Sports – she met Greenberg.

 

New Turner Broadcasting CEO and chairman Jamie Kellner made the decision to cancel all wrestling programming on TBS over the Christmas and holiday season, severely limiting interest from other potential buyers at the peak of sale negotiations. However, WCW’s new ownership group were able to verbally agree to a new broadcasting deal with Fox Sports Net before the completion of the sale through Erickson’s pre-existing relationship with Greenberg.

 

While answering questions from the media, Greenberg said: “Jerry and J.J. both possess a remarkable understanding of the wrestling business from a production and operational standpoint, while Lenita is an excellent television producer as seen with her successful talk show.

 

“I think their unified vision of how they want professional wrestling to be presented will be widely accepted by the Fox Sports Net audience. I fully anticipate a healthy and long-standing relationship between WCW and our network.”

 

Erickson quickly shot down a question about World Wrestling Federation owner Vince McMahon’s attempt to purchase WCW and the famous Monday Night Wars between the two companies could be reignited: “We have no interest in any competition right now. We are solely focused on establishing our talent, establishing our product and establishing our programming.

 

“There is no war. Simple as that.”

 

Ending the press conference, Jarrett said: “We are incredibly excited to present a fresh wrestling product to the most loyal fans in the world: WCW fans.

 

“We want to thank Mr. Siegel and Turner Entertainment for this business deal and Mr. Greenberg and Fox Sports Net for this opportunity.

 

“We hope all of WCW’s loyal fans will join us on our new journey on Saturday nights. We promise to deliver total, nonstop action.”

 

The future of WCW looked more uncertain than ever as Ric Flair and Sting embraced to end the final Monday Nitro two days ago, but it seems the company has been handed a new lifeline under new ownership.

 

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Admin: Hello! I'm Oliver. This is an alternate reality save in which a consortium led by Jerry Jarrett, J.J. Dillon and Lenita Erickson purchased WCW from under the nose of Vince McMahon. The background of this save is heavily inspired by the NITRO: The Incredible Rise and Inevitable Collapse of Ted Turner's WCW book by Guy Evans, which I would highly recommend to all wrestling fans. I think I'm going to write another background post or two before diving into the first episode of World Championship Wrestling, although I've already booked the first four episodes in the game. Until then, I hope this teaser is intriguing enough to get a few people interested!

[DGenerationMC]

This definitely has my attention!

[evileddie10]

Would love to see the cruiserweight divisions really get focused on, with TNA building the X Division, would love to see Jarrett build up the cruiserweight tag team division up, considering that is a unique division for WCW. Whenever I play WCW 2001 I always really focus on the cruiserweight divisions so I am excited for this.