All language subtitles for Who Killed WCW - EP-01 - Where The Big Boys Play

[TV Crew]
Standby.

Here we go, in 5...

4, 3...

2...
Roll it, Drew.

[Crackling &
popping fireworks]

[Commentary] This is the last
Nitro on the Turner Network,

and we're going out
with a bang!

How do we all, on this very
surreal day for all of us

at World Championship
Wrestling,

a historic day in sports
entertainment,

and it goes down on our
very last telecaster.

Where does WCW
go from here?

What's in the cards?

What's, what's
going to happen?

[Eric] If I'm giving a
eulogy for WCW,

what would I say?

[Ric Flair]
We were WCW!

We lived, we breathed!

We sweat!

We paid the price!

To be the best!

[Cheering]

[Madusa]
We gather here today

to bid farewell to a
wrestling company.

[Booker T] A company
that grew from the ashes,

rose to become the phoenix
of professional wrestling.

[The Rock] The legacy
of WCW is iconic.

I have just such a tremendous
amount of reverence and

respect for everything
that they were able to do.

[Bill] To know that it
went from that...

to being out of business,
is a tragedy.

[Konnan] People thinking about
themselves and not the

good of the company
led to the death of WCW.

[Kevin Nash]
Thanks to the cash.

[Bret Hart] Thanks for nothing.
Go fuck yourselves.

[Off-screen]
[Laughing]

I think that
would sum it up.

[Eric] You know, if I
looked back and

tried to describe
the journey-

the ups, the downs,
the twists, the curves-

the ride all
along the way was a rush.

[Clap]

WCW innovated so many
things that are still

so much a part of the
wrestling programming

that we watch today.

Going back to the
80s, early 90s,

it was a little company that
nobody thought was

ever going to
be successful.

Boom!

Any time anybody talked
about professional wrestling

in mainstream
media...

they didn't refer to it as
"professional wrestling".

They referred
to it as "WWF".

The World Wrestling
Federation!

If you look at where
WCW started from...

Tonight! On World
Championship Wrestling!

We were in a
different universe,

and not a favorable one.

That's how far
behind we were.

Everybody was very happy
to be a distant #2.

Except for me.

Nitro!
It's on the air!

The difference between
WCW in '93...

Take a look
at the crowd!

And '98...

Over 40,000 fans are
jammed in the Georgia Dome!

We became the most
successful wrestling company

in the world,
almost overnight.

Gentlemen!
Start your engines!

WCW was able to
transcend pop culture.

Wow!
The Sting!

Timmy.

Here comes the NWO,
the greatest faction ever.

I don't think I'd seen
anything that's

hotter than NWO.
I was like,

"Wow, this company's gonna
go through the roof."

We were standing on top
of the mountain, going,

"How did we get here?"

And then, little by little,
we just fell.

Good night!

It was like me
having a puppy,

raising him to be
a full grown dog,

and I watch him run
across the street and

he gets hit by a bus.

Ugh!

Egos, egos, egos.

A lot of jealousy,
a lot of problems.

Do I got your attention now,
Eric Bischoff?

Think about it-
what are wrestlers?

They're a bunch of
pathological liars.

What a big word
for a suit and tie.

The death of WCW is really
death by 1,000 cuts.

So, what really
happened?

Who's responsible
for killing WCW?

That's always gonna be the
million-dollar question:

Who killed WCW?

Well, the easy answer
is Vince Russo.

It's just idiotic.

Turner.

The organization,
or lack of.

The talent killed WCW.

Ha-ha-ha!
This is preposterous to me.

It would have to be the
person with the chequebook.

It'd have to be
Eric Bischoff.

Oof.
[Sighing]

Sometimes more than
one thing can be true.

There's too much
blame to go around.

You want to hear
the real story,

or you want to hear
the bullshit story?

[Indistinct,
overlapping dialogue]

You cannot sweep this
under the rug!

...this is a fucking
television show...

...I don't understand
what he's doing...

The real reason...

[Flatlining extended beep]

♪ [Dramatic
instrumental] ♪

[Dial up internet
beeping & squawking]

Back in the day,

back prior to
social media...

there was still an
internet culture for the

wrestling fan scene
to congregate,

and it had a desperate need
for an understanding

of what happened
to WCW...

who have convinced a certain
percentage of the audience

that it ultimately
comes back to me.

♪

[Birds chirping]

If someone were to come
to me and say,

"Okay, here's a tape."

"I want you to watch
this whole tape,

and it's gonna be the
entire WCW journey,

and you can decide if you want
to do it all over again."

What would I say?

♪

In a heartbeat...

In a heartbeat.

You know, it's really
interesting and almost

embarrassing- before
I was hired by WCW,

I didn't know
what WCW was.

World Championship
Wrestling.

I was an outsider
to the business.

I was...

a sales guy.

Right about that time,

through a good friend
of mine- Sonny Onoo-

this little thing called
Ninja Star Wars

came into my life.

You put these vests on, and
you put one on, I put one on,

we chase each other
around the house,

and if I hit you with three
of my stars you're out,

just like laser tag,
only with these little stars.

Oh!
[Laughing]

Then it was like...
[Clappig]

All right.
How do we sell 'em?

At the time, the AWA was
on Monday through Friday,

and the AWA was
Verne's business.

Verne Gagne,
thanks for being out here.

Well, my pleasure, and I'm
glad I got out here because...

[Eric] Verne Gagne-
professional athlete,

wrestler, promoter.

Don't you dare miss it.

Verne did it all.

Verne Gagne's
pro wrestling report.

Here's how to order.
Mail 14.95!

I thought, I'm gonna
call Verne Gagne.

If Verne runs to commercial
in his wrestling program

that's seen nationwide,
we'll split 50/50.

I took one of the games,
and went to meet Verne.

I thought I was gonna
get the deal, right,

that I was looking for-
which I did,

but I was also
offered a job.

Welcome to AWA
Championship Wrestling.

So, my job was to travel
around the Midwest,

and talk independent
television stations into

carrying AWA shows.

It's a sales job.
Sales is sales.

And I think we're gonna
erase any doubts

you've ever had.

I had never met
anybody like Eric.

If he thought something
was a really good idea,

then he would start
to take action,

to breathe life into it.

[Eric] I'd always been curious
how television works.

At night, I just
sat in and learned.

Then eventually
I was on camera.

My name is Eric Bischoff,
and you-

All this took place over the
course of about a

year and a half, two years,
while I was in AWA.

Buckle up real tight
because you're going for

a hard, bumpy ride,
I promise.

The last six or eight months
of it I didn't get paid.

He couldn't
afford to pay me.

My wife and I-
and our kids-

suffered financially.

Now we have two
little ones and,

we are literally bouncing
checks to buy diapers,

and barely making rent.

That's how bad it was.

Heavyweight champion!

He is the living legend,
Larry Zbyszko!

Larry Zbyskzo had
worked with me in AWA,

we had become friends.

He left AWA,
was working in WCW.

Larry told me that,
"Hey, they're looking for

announcers down here."

And, within days,
I got a call.

See you next time.

I got to WCW, man,
I was the happiest...

third-string announcer
that had ever put on

a pair of shoes.

♪

I came into WCW
so wide-eyed,

because I was working for
Turner Broadcasting.

He was very nice.
He was,

just seemed like he was-
not a fish out of water,

but he was kind
of uncomfortable,

is the way it seemed
to start with.

He's got a suit on,
and he's got,

you know,
perfect black hair.

He looked like a Ken doll.

I'm here with
Diamond Dallas.

The talent
within WCW...

unbelievable.

There was Dusty Rhodes,
and Gordon Solie,

and Kevin Sullivan and,
certainly, Ric Flair.

Woo!

And there was
a new generation.

Guys like Sting,
Diamond Dallas Page.

Scott Hall was
the Diamond Stud.

On 3-
1, 2, 3!

Rip it off!

Scott was working in
WCW when I was hired.

So was Kevin Nash.

Good-looking guy,
great physique.

Fuck yeah.

Poor Kevin Nash had so
many different characters

in the beginning.

They didn't know
what to do with him.

Cowabunga!

[Growling]

I just shot Ninja Turtles.

And then, I believe
Dusty took acid.

And he said,
"Baby, you're gonna be Oz."

I said, "You do realize that
the movie is called

'The Wizard of Oz'?"

I am Oz!

You can be the wizard,
but you can't be Oz.

Oz is the
geographical region.

"No, baby,
you gonna be Oz."

And I was just like,
"All right."

World Championship Wrestling
is bringing it to you, baby.

We're taking
a look at Oz.

I just show up in this
lime green outfit,

in an old man's
rubber mask.

And then they wrestle...

a geographical region.

Look at this
move right here.

They were trying to put a
round peg in a square hole.

They tried to do the gimmicks.

It looks like something's
going on down here.

They would bring,
you know, RoboCop.

What strength
by RoboCop!

But they really didn't work.

It didn't work.

It was an absolute shit show.

He's getting cooked!

And I think he's
well done, guys!

The crowd here,
going crazy!

WCW had a loyal following.

But, the Turner executives
regarded the WCW audience

as being downscale.

It was downscale.

Very sort of, um...

Southern and Midwestern.

I didn't care about it,
I wasn't a fan of it.

80% of the people who worked
at Turner weren't really

wrestling fans to start with,
except for Ted.

Ted Turner wears many hats
for his many colorful careers.

He is the owner of the
baseball Atlanta Braves.

[Cracking bat,
cheering fans]

Basketball Atlanta Hawks.

He has pioneered television
with his own cable network,

which broadcasts
24 hours of news.

Playboy Magazine
called him a bonafide

larger-than-life
character.

Captain Outrageous, that
was one of his nicknames.

He will say anything
he wants to,

any time he wants to.

You said, "Network
presidents should be..."

-"...lined up and shot."
-And shot.

My kinda guy.
[Chuckling]

Ted enjoyed the fact that,
"I know that you don't like

my wrestling, and that's
exactly why I like it."

It started when Dad bought
a little TV station

here in Atlanta, and he
built an international

broadcasting empire
in a few years.

And wrestling was one of
those things that helped

build TBS and the
entire network.

I mean, you go back to the
beginning of television,

wrestling was there.

It was a lifeblood of
programming for

local television stations.

Oh!

It could command
a loyal audience

into millions of viewers.

So, Ted believed in the
power, in the loyalty...

and the size of the

professional
wrestling audience.

Ted launched WCW
as a result of

purchasing
Jim Crockett Promotions,

which was a Southern
wrestling company.

Jesus Christ!
[Shrieking]

WCW was seen as sort of the
long-suffering distant #2,

trailing behind the WWF.

The winner of the match...
The Diamond Stud!

Scott Hall,
Kevin Nash...

they left,
they go to the WWF.

Scott Hall becomes
Razor Ramon,

he becomes a big star.

Kevin Nash
becomes Diesel.

Boom, big star.

From a standpoint
of the talent,

we always considered
WWE the show.

There's no comparison.

From a production
value perspective...

from a talent
roster perspective,

from a marketing perspective,
from a financial perspective.

WCW lost millions of
dollars, every year.

I had been warned by
my boss, you know,

"Don't help WCW."

Why? If I help 'em
make money?

"No, you don't understand."
Executive mangement

hates wrestling and
wants to get rid of it,

and if you're perceived
as trying to help them,

that's career
suicide for you."

I was like, "Huh."

[Eric] Other than Ted Turner,
there was not an executive in

Turner Broadcasting that
wanted WCW to be

in the Turner portfolio.

Put yourself in the position
of a television executive

within that corporation.

You have this division that
is losing as much as

$10 million on a yearly basis,
and we don't really

get the appeal of this
entire genre to begin with.

So, of course, that was
going to create

a lot of resentment and
confusion as to,

"Why do we even have this
on the air waves?"

Makes my blood
boil too!

That's what really set
the conditions for this

dysfunctional relationship
between TBS and WCW.

♪

Bill Shaw was the Vice
President of Human Resources

for Turner Broadcasting.

He was given responsibility
to take over WCW

as effective
president of it.

So, Bill came in. He said,
"Ted Turner has made a

decision that this company is
going to either turn a profit,

or Ted's gonna
pull the plug."

Ted had made up his mind
that enough was enough,

and he was gonna give WCW
one last shot.

And, we're going to hire
an executive producer...

who is going to take WCW

from a wrestling company to
a television property.

Wrestling was seen by
the wrestling people

as an arena business.

The only other person
besides Ted that

saw it as television
was Eric.

So, I threw my
name in the hat.

A month or so later,
I'm the executive producer.

This is your chance
to be a part

of professional
wrestling history.

What the hell
am I gonna do?

From Harlem!
The Harlem Heat!

Who comes down in the
hands of the Heat.

And don't forget that,
sucker!

[Laughing]

The way my brother and I came
into WCW was a good old boy

system gimmick, you know,
for two Black guys.

This is a spectacular team!

But, you could tell the
difference going from the

good old boys era to the
Eric Bischoff era just by

the way he tried to
create something.

[Eric] I was hired as the
executive producer.

My responsibility was solely
the look and feel of the show.

Saturday Night!

The biggest challenge that
we had was the fact that

we couldn't attract
an audience.

It looked horrible because
you had to turn the

lights down to hide the fact
that nobody was there.

How do we fix that?

That's when I decided I was
gonna shoot the shows

down at the Disney
MGM Studios.

They had sound stages,

so I could control the look
of the environment.

And I had a fresh audience
coming through five times

a day, so I could shoot
five or six shows with

a fresh audience each
and every time.

Spin 'em up- lights,
camera, action.

[Cheering]

I think Eric Bischoff
really wanted to

take WCW away from being

a Southern [accented]
'wrastling' company.

You could see
the difference.

You could feel it.

In '94, I ascended from
Executive Producer to

Vice President and,
at that time,

nobody thought WCW
would ever be

competitive with WWF.

I needed people to
take WCW seriously.

I needed Hulk Hogan.

[Cheering]

Hulk! Hogan!

I don't think we'd be here
if there was no Hulk Hogan.

In the 1980s, Hulk Hogan is
the patriotic, ultra-good guy.

He's coming out waving
an American flag,

fighting off these
evil foreigners.

Hulkster tearing it to pieces!

He was the one who broke
professional wrestling

wide open!

Commercials, cartoons.

Kids loved him.

Everybody knew Hulk Hogan.

Whether you're a
professional wrestling fan

or not,
you knew the name.

Eating your vitamins,
saying your prayers.

Say your prayers!
Eat your vitamins!

Ric Flair's the greatest
wrestler of all time.

But the guy that was
on Sports Illustrated,

he's the guy.

He is truly a real American.

Coincidentally, while we
were shooting WCW at

the Disney MGM Studios,

Hulk Hogan was down at
Disney shooting a

new series called
"Thunder In Paradise".

Now, Hulk had been out of
wrestling for some time

because of the steroid trial.

[Cartoon] ...a good role model
'cause he just, like,

did whatever it took
to get big, like,

he took those
steroid pills.

And I thought, why not at
least try to get a meeting?

But he didn't
know who I was.

So, I went to Ric Flair.

Hello?

I said, "Ric, do you think
you can set up a call or

meeting between
Hulk and I?"

One night,
I was sound asleep,

and the phone rings and
I'm picking up the phone,

and it's-
"Hey, Brother."

Whoa! Wake up!
It was Hulk.

Welcome Hulk Hogan!

[Eric] Being able to work
with Hulk Hogan,

being on the same roster
as Hulk Hogan

elevated
everybody's career.

And it had
immediate impact.

All of a sudden,
people were

returning phone calls
much faster.

It's all perception.

That's why we're here today,
for a match between

two of wrestling's
biggest superstars-

Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair.

So, Hulk's original deal
included four Pay Per View's

a year, and he had
creative control.

Essentially means that he
gets a thumbs up or

thumbs down as to whether
or not he wants to do it.

1, 2...

[Match bell ringing]

WCW is about to
dominate the globe

in professional wrestling.

Talent began to get a little
confident that this

Turner guy over here is
starting to get serious.

Dad always loves
competition.

So, you get a
Vince McMahon who says,

"Oh, this is
my territory."

Yeah, there's
gonna be problems.

[Eric] Keep in mind, at that
point, I had never had a

one-on-one meeting
with Ted Turner.

And, I walked into
the meeting- my boss,

Harvey Schiller, he was
already sitting there.

Scott Sassa, the heir
apparent to Ted Turner

at the time,
he was in the room.

So, I sat down and,
immediately: "Eric...

Let me ask you a question."

I can't do a good Ted Turner
impersonation.

"Ah, Eric...

what's it gonna take for

WCW to be competitive
with WWE?"

[Ticking clock]

In what seemed like
20 minutes-

it was maybe
milliseconds,

but it was like watching
your life pass before you

right before
the train hits you.

I don't know what
the answer is.

[Eric] What are my options?
I can't bullshit Ted Turner.

He'll see through
that so fast.

Tell the truth.
Truth usually works.

So, I'm just going to
tell him the truth.

So, I said, "Ted,
they're on prime time.

Monday night,
coast to coast.

We're 6:05 Eastern,
3:05 Pacific

on a Saturday.

We can't be
competitive with that."

Ted looks over to
Scott Sassa, and says,

"Ah... Scott!

Give Eric two hours every
Monday night,

head-to-head.
WWE."

I thought, how am I
gonna do this?

And I walked out
of Ted's officed...

locked myself in my room,

sat there with a
yellow legal pad

and said,
"Start thinking of ways."

[Laughing]

So, at this time, you know,
Monday Night Raw

was the primary show
for the WWF.

And the WWF was,
at that time,

the first company to have
that prime time show

on Mondays.

Welcome to
Monday Night Raw!

When Ted said,
you know,

"I want to move WCW to TNT,"

it was like, "What?
Are you kidding me?"

I'd been killing myself
to build this brand that

we were known as the premium
network on basic cable.

When I tried to fight Ted
on it, I lost that battle.

How can I be better
than the WWF?

[Snorts]
I can't.

Their production
value was much better.

The story telling, it was
cleaner, easy to follow...

and built everything to
feel larger than life.

WCW always looked like it
was trying to

catch up to the wheel
that just fell off.

But if I can give people a
reason to watch me

instead of them,

I got a shot.

Their one vulnerability was
that they were taped

every other week.

We should be live.

I went to Brad Siegel,
and said,

"I want to do this
live every week."

We were so competitive
with USA Network.

If we go up against them,
we're gonna hurt their

highest rated show,
Raw, on Monday night.

It would be the way that
we could win as the

#1 basic cable network.

He said, "We've got a block
of action programming

called 'Nitro'.

Why don't we thematically
keep it the same?

We'll call the show Nitro."
"Hell yeah!"

WCW Monday Nitro.

But we could not
give tickets away.

Keep in mind,
this is the first Nitro.

Nobody's ever
heard of it before.

Well, if I can't put it in
an arena where

it's going to look cool...

what about
Mall of America?

Mall Of America at the time
was like a big damn deal.

The bargains are coming!
The bargains are coming!

Back then, Mall Of America
was kind of a destination.

Still, they're the largest
mall in the United States.

Just about big enough to
hold WCW and

its debut broadcast
of Monday Nitro.

My hope was that I'd get
enough people that were

walking by in the mall that
would stop long enough and

watch that I could get kind
of a couple beauty shots.

And it worked great.

It looked like a really
cool fight club for yuppies.

[Laughing]

[Cheering]

If you want surprises,
this is where you come,

because our show is live,

and you never know
who's gonna show up.

[Chanting]
Luger!

Lex Luger, everybody thought
that Lex was under contract.

He had just been on
WWE the night before.

WWE had no idea.

And it set the tone for Nitro.

When I came there,
Eric was testing the waters.

I am Madusa.

I was WWF's champion.

I'm like,
I got an idea.

And that's what I
think of the WWF

Women's Championship belt.

That shock value is
what we really needed

to get the attention.

That's the magic of live.

That's what will
make us competitive.

♪

[Hulk Hogan] I'm focused on
that big, nasty giant.

But the main thing,
like you said... [Fading]

is to get in that ring,
brother...

[Fading out]

[Kevin Sullivan]
In this country...

we love to
build people up.

We love to
tear them down.

And then, we love them to
rise from the ashes again.

[Eric] We weren't seeing the
gains in terms of ratings

that we had anticipated.

We had kind of leveled out.

Hulk could sense,
I think,

that the Hulk Hogan
character...

it was losing steam.

They are taking him apart.

[Eric] The audience still
reacted to it,

but not the same way.

I started to hear "boo's".

Hulk Hogan making
his way to the ring.

[Booing]

The 80s were done.

I needed to change the
perception of Hulk Hogan...

and forever.

[Surprised shouting]
What is he doing?

Hulk Hogan has
betrayed WCW!

[Commentary] Randy,
what's going on here?

May 27th of 1996...

Scott Hall debuted
on WCW television.

You people...

you know who I am.

[Eric] Scott Hall worked and
performed for WWF

as Razor Ramon.

But you don't know
why I'm here.

[Eric] Then Kevin Nash
shows up.

Everybody knew
they were WWF guys.

Oh, my god!
No, no! Turn it over now!

Razor Ramon and
Diesel are on Nitro!

Are they the WWF?

You want a war?
We are taking over.

They were bad guys that were
like invading the company.

[Booker T]
This is different.

This is something that
we have never seen

in professional wrestling.

[Eric]
By not dissuading people,

that's what created the
perception that

perhaps
this was an invasion.

But of course it wasn't.

They didn't want to renew
their contract with WWE.

I'm thinking, ah, I need
a reality storyline.

Admittedly now, you know,
enough time has gone by-

[Laughing] I, admittedly,
allowed them to think that

they were showing up
on behalf of WWE.

Do you work for the WWF?

No.

And then they alluded
to a third man.

You tell billionaire Ted to
break out the money and

get anybody he can
because the big "mang",

and the medium-sized "mang",
and our surprise buddy

are gonna
carve them up.

[Eric] Big surprise coming in.
Who's the third man?

All while that's going
on on television,

Hulk Hogan's in California
doing a movie called

"Santa With Muscles".

Keep the milk
and cookies warm.

-Classic.
-[Phone ringing]

I get a phone call
from Hulk: "Brother..."

"Any way I could get
you to come out?

I want to talk to you
about creative."

Got to his trailer,
he's waiting for me.

He says, "Brother,
who's the third man?"

What have we got here,
The Sting!

I already spent two weeks
convincing Sting to

turn heel and be
the third man.

I didn't want to tell Hulk,

but I didn't want to
lie to him either.

"Who do you think
it should be?"

"You're looking at him,
brother." Oh, wow!

World Championship Wrestling
presents the

Bash at the Beach!

I didn't want him to
come to the building

until the very
last minute.

I talked to Kevin Sullivan
about the best way to

try to achieve that.

Kevin Sullivan sequestered
Hulk in Daytona Beach.

He had to babysit him
for like a whole night

'cause he was afraid that
Hogan might not show up

as a mystery third man.

There were a lot of risks
to Hulk turning heel.

You have to put
yourself in his shoes.

[Kevin Sullivan]
Hulk is a very loyal guy,

and he was carrying
a lot of people.

If he lost his endorsements,

if he lost movies...

Maybe their pocketbook
would be hurt.

[Eric] I knew that there
was a chance with the

people around Hulk,

he could possibly
second guess himself.

We don't know yet
who the third man is.

[Kevin Sullivan]
We didn't leave my house

'til the first
match started.

I didn't want anybody
to get to him.

Hulk shows up
at the building.

I still don't know at this
point where his head is at

'cause we hadn't
talked all day.

Lex Luger!

The Macho Man
Randy Savage!

And Sting will represent
WCW to beat these outsiders.

Oh!

When Hogan came
down the ramp,

I still wasn't 100% sure.

Hulk Hogan is here!
Hulk Hogan's here!

Hulk comes down,
we clear out.

He hits the rope,
drops the leg.

Oh, oh, oh!
What is he doing?

Oh, my god!
Is he the third man?

He's the third man!

The production truck erupted
with elation for what just

went down and how the
crowd reacted to it.

It was a roar like we
hadn't heard before.

[Roaring cheering]

And it got louder
and angrier,

and it was building.

They were pissed!
Really pissed.

What do we got here?
We got a fan coming in.

He's a hero, and now the
hero's standing in the

middle of the ring that was
filling up with garbage,

telling every one of those
fans he was only in it

for the money.

[The Rock] It would be like Babe
Ruth telling all the fans

who had followed him for
years, and years, and years

to stick their support
right up their ass.

[Laughing]

All this crap in the ring

represents these
fans out here!

It was the biggest turn in
the history of wrestling.

Saved his career.

And then it becomes the
three guys, with Hulk.

Now it's like,
who are they?

You can call this...

The New World Order
of wrestling, brother!

I didn't know what the
NWO was about to become.

NWO, take one.
[Claps]

NWO's the thing that
really broke everything.

What was happening
in pop culture,

they were representing it
with their spin on it.

It was like street.

We can't have them have
any association

with WCW whatsoever.

This is our show!

We're doing it our way!

Those small elements-

the way we shot the
NWO interviews-

we shot in
black and white.

"Black and white?"

"Why are you doing
black and white?"

Trust me, black and
white'll be cool.

Not only was it
pretty fucking cool,

but also,
disruptive.

And, those guys were the
right talent to pull it off.

They did whatever the
fuck they wanted to do.

[Indistinct shouting]

Didn't care whether
you cheered them

or you booed them.

-Oh, my god!
-Zero fucks to give.

NWO!

For life!

Those guys really set
the world on fire.

Woo!

My son came home from school
and asked me if I could

bring him four or five NWO
shirts so he could take them

to school the next day, and
I said, "Why?" He said,

"All my friends want them."
Well, absolutely!

That's what we began
to see emerging

with Eric's version of
what the NWO was.

They were bad,
but they were cool.

To this day,
there's still NWO shirts.

I don't see any other
shirts from WCW.

The fans were so...

intoxicated with NWO.

It made
everything bigger.

And, when something
gets too big, too fast,

shit's gonna hit the
fan at some point.

And then it did.

Oh, they're in the
control room now!

Hold on,
what do we got here?

-What does that do?
-Don't touch that.

Whoa!
Fade to black!

Shouldn't have
bought that cheap TV!

[Laughing]

You go back, and you look
at Nitro ratings from the

premiere episode all
the way up until

the NWO was revealed.

We were doing fine.

We'd win a week or two.

WWE would win
a week or two.

We were essentially even.

Until the NWO.

Legitimately, the NWO
was responsible for

80% of our growth.

And I thought, okay,

I've gotta find a way
to maintain the reality.

New World Order,
punk.

Something that the
audience can't tell

whether it's real,
or whether it's not.

Worst thing you can do
on earth in

professional wrestling is
have a backstage fight.

Hey!

Everybody that throws
a punch backstage...

goes,
"Ugh! Ooh! Uh!"

It's so bad.

We wanted to make the
back look completely real.

Not a wrestling program.

Oh, no!

Neal Pruitt came up
with the idea of the

production people helping.

Up until that time, I never
had gone to a producer

and said,
"What kind of shot?"

But I went to him.

Konnan up on the middle
turnbuckle, climbs the top.

Nicely done.

There was that one night
we were in Orlando

at the Disney tapings.

[Cheering]

We wanted to make it
look like NWO

just came and
wreaked havoc.

And, took over.

We need somebody
in the back! Please!

What is he talking about,
need somebody?

He's trying to
get a cameraman-

We were inspired a bit
by Hill Street Blues,

as far as the way you moved
throughout a scene

with one camera.

We were all about
making it work.

Making what looked
like reality happen.

Craig can hear us.

Craig, are you gonna send a
cameraman back there or not?

They're coming
around the corner.

Wait a minute,
we go to the back!

And we had baseball bats.

They got baseball bats!

All the carnage has
already taken place.

It's the old Hitchcock.

See the knife and
then you see the blood.

You let the mind
create the violence.

[Indistinct shouting]

[Eric]
They're picking up props.

They were nailing it.

They all worked their asses
off to make it look

as believable
as it could.

And I don't know if it was
planned in advance-

only Kevin Nash
or Rey Mysterio

could tell you that.

Nash picked up Rey Mysterio
and threw him

against the trailer
like a lawn dart.

Whap!

We're gonna have
Kevin Nash standing there.

And, they're gonna have Rey
Mysterio Jr. jump on him.

And there's Rey Mysterio-
Hey! He dove!

Rey says, "Do you think
you can throw me

through that window?"
"No, dude.

It's a window." [Laughs]
"You'll die."

I said, "Let me just
throw you off the trailer."

-Ugh!
-Oh! Headfirst!

So, we were doing things
that nobody had ever seen.

[Eric] It looked like a
giant crime scene.

[Shouting]

Creates emotion
in the audience.

Please,
somebody help him!

And they forget that

they're watching
professional wrestling.

We're gonna try to get
this all back together.

And, ah,
we'll be back.

WCW really started to leave
their competition in the dust,

and that was the vaunted
83-week winning streak.

We were pro wrestling.

And they were playing
catchup for the first time.

I remember when
that happened.

I remember thinking,

"We should do more
shit like that."

That freedom,
we did not have.

[Diamond Dallas Page]
And to see the company,

not only compete
with the WWE,

but knock 'em on their
ass for 83 weeks,

like,
straight weeks...

Wow!

It is the #1 professional
wrestling program

around the world!

Once those ratings started,
there was no stopping him.

I think the war with WWF
was personal with Eric.

He was always
tracing ratings.

Eric cared more about ratings
than advertising dollars.

This is a television company.

And we're going to run WCW
like a television company.

It was this
maniacal desire

to be #1 and to beat WWF.

There was a competitive
pressure that I put on myself.

So, Vince McMahon,
this is for you.

And I said something like,
"I'm not gonna stop

'til I drive a stake
through the heart of

Vincent K. McMahon!"

I may have gone
a little over the top.

[Buzzing] "Er".
Back up. 1996.

I keep hearing how
Vince McMahon

plans his stuff out a
year in advance.

He knows what he's gonna
have in next year's

WrestleMania ten months
before it happens.

Why can't we do that?

And I saw Sting as the
opportunity to do that.

And the Stinger making
his way to the ring!

One night, Scott Hall
started explaining

this idea that he had
for a new version of

the Sting character,
based on the

Brandon Lee character in
the movie The Crow.

And he goes,
"You're the scary Sting."

And I looked
over at Sting,

and his eyes were
like this big.

The Sting Crow
character was born.

-That's Sting.
-It is, but...

Once he went up
in the rafters,

that built the anticipation
that was needed to

really put that
character over.

That started what became
an 18-month story.

Oh, my! Sting!

And he started
showing up and

scaring the hell out of
everybody in the NWO.

He's got everybody!

Sting would finally
confront Hogan.

They'd have the match
for control of WCW.

-He's pointing at me!
-Don't worry about it!

It was something, really,
that had not been done to

this degree before in
the history of wrestling,

which was making
the decision that...

we're actually not gonna pay
this off next week or

next month, but we're gonna
keep this going until the

end of the year in our
Starrcade Pay Per View.

Welcome to Starrcade!

1997!

An event 18 months
in the making!

Sting is gonna
lead Hogan clean.

WCW's gonna
come out on top.

Then it's gonna be up
to NWO to kind of

rebuild from
the ground up.

That was the plan.

Sting has returned to
the wrestling ring...

to reclaim WCW's
title from the NWO.

The original finish,
it got convoluted and

compromised
throughout the day.

There was supposed to be
the big boot by Hogan,

the leg drop on Sting,
the cover.

But, the referee's supposed
to do a fast count.

It wasn't a fast count,
but Bret Hart came in,

restarted the match with
himself as the referee.

That was three.
Hey, what are you doing? Ah!

Well, even the idea, the
referee and the fast count

and the whole thing,
I remember when they

gave it to me, it was like,
"Really?"

Like, that is the
lamest ending.

Bret Hart is here
tonight as the referee.

Is that right?
Is that correct?

It's an awful,
stupid, and very...

convoluted ending
for the match,

but I remember
Eric Bischoff insisting

how it was gonna
be fantastic.

Hart's right in
Hogan's face!

[Bell ringing]

And the crowd reacted the
way you wanted them

to react,
initially.

"Yay!
Sting finally won."

Heavyweight Champion
of the World!

Sting!

It wasn't until afterwards
that people started to

realize what a
convoluted finish it was.

In our business,

you can screw up
the whole match.

Do not fuck up the finish.

Then all hell
broke loose.

♪

[Eric]
Back in internet world,

all the purveyors
of truth out there, they-

all of a sudden-
became so obsessed over

the finish of
Starrcade '97.

'What really happened
between Sting and Hogan?"

"Why did it happen?"

"How did you
let that happen?"

I mean, I still get
heat for that.

[Konnan] Bischoff had kind of
hitched his wagon to Hogan,

he kind of listened
to what he said

more than the
other guys.

[Eric] On the day of the
Sting-Hogan match,

it was apparent to both
Hulk and I that Sting didn't

appear to be nearly as
excited about the opportunity

that we'd been working
on for 18 months.

There was something about
him that day that was off.

Sting left the room,

and Hulk and I kind
of looked at each other,

and I said, "What are
you thinking?"

And he goes,
"Not today, brother.

Not today.
His head's not right."

Hulk just wasn't
feeling it so,

we changed the finish,
or lack thereof,

of a clean finish,

because Hulk Hogan
has creative control.

He had creative control,
he didn't give two shits.

He'd walk in at 7:30,
read the TV and say,

"Doesn't work
for me, brother."

Yes, you know, free right
to pretty much do

whatever he wanted,
and he has no interest

in that company
other than himself.

That right there
can really start

turning things
a certain way.

I think the only guy that

was not political was Sting.

Sting didn't seem to
be part of that group.

I think Sting had been
convinced that Hulk was

gonna pull the rug out
from underneath him

at the last minute.

He walked into that
meeting expecting it.

And it actually
manifested it.

When guys got those
kind of agendas,

thinking about themselves,
that's what happens.

And, ah, that's pretty much
when the ship start-

started to go down.

[Eric] Starrcade '97,
Hogan and Sting,

is gonna haunt me for
the rest of my life.

We had the audience in
the palm of our hands.

But unfortunately,
the end didn't

live up to the
rest of the story.

And certainly wasn't
what the fans wanted.

You'll find people who think
that was the reason

WCW kind of
went downhill.

Whatever,
wrestling fans.

♪

The WWF had really
established a strong

creative foundation
throughout '97.

If you go back and
look at the numbers,

you can start to see that
gap getting ever closer.

Vince McMahon went
on camera, and said,

"We're gonna change
the way we do things.

We're not gonna insult the
audience's intelligence."

The World Wrestling
Federation has been an

entertainment mainstay
here in North America,

and all over the world.

As the times have
changed, so have we.

I'm happy to say
that this new,

vibrant creative direction
has resulted in a

huge increase in
television viewership.

He's saying, "We're gonna
do what those other guys are

doing because it's really
kicking our ass and

it's beginning to hurt."

Vince brings Mike Tyson
into WrestleMania...

knowing that anything
that Tyson does,

it's a million bucks.

[Cheering]

Tyson!

The next night
I saw Kevin,

first thing I said
to Kev was...

"You feel the water?
It's getting cold."

In other words, we're on
our way to the iceberg.

Me and Disco Inferno,

we thought
The Rock was cool.

And we thought
Steve Austin was cool.

And me and Disco were always
in the back watching them,

you know, backstage,
and we would get heat:

"Why are you
watching the show?"

"'Cause it's
better than ours."

You know, at that time,
I really did not give a fuck.

Bischoff, he remembers
the big crowds and

he was the king pin.
But the truth of it is,

he never knew anything
about wrestling.

And then towards
the end, basically,

he was just
yes-ing to Hogan.

It was a disaster.

Hogan was the
bigger talent.

Hogan was the guy that
he was gonna go with.

No matter what.

That's the bond right there,
Hogan and Bischoff.

They're both accountable
to each other.

That's the secret, is that
Hulk Hogan was basically

the puppet master
to Eric Bischoff,

and Erich Bischoff...

he was just a prop and,

that's what killed WCW.

[Eric] Everything looks easier
from the outside,

but once you get inside,
you realize just how

complicated and nuanced some
things that appear to be

so easy and so
simple really are.

Who's responsible
for killing WCW?

Just look at some of the
names who were floating around

at the highest levels
within Turner Broadcasting.

They wanted
WCW to go away.

And they got
their wish.

♪

Whenever you're leading a
night and now you're not

leading a night, there's
reason for concern.

We hit a small brick wall.

The wheels started
falling off, creatively.

What the fuck is this?

WWE's answer
was Attitude.

Oh!

They were willing to
go further creatively.

That's exactly what we're
gonna do to kill you off.

Why are we doing this?

Is this "classy" enough
for our networks?

That pissed me off.

They started to handcuff us
with Standards & Practices.

Can you say
"butt" on TBS?

I'm not convinced that wasn't
an orchestrated hit job.

I don't think
that's debatable.

There were too
many conspiracies

behind the scenes trying
to knock him off.

Once you have the
monkeys running the zoo,

you're in trouble.

Woo!

The blood was in the water,

and the sharks were
coming to get it.

That's the name
of the game.

People will try
to manipulate.

And who prevailed?
[Clicking tongue]

[Loud popping]

He is in the house!