Wrestling is Attitude Attitude is wrestling

WWE Producer Bruce Prichard recently shared his insights on the ill-fated WCW “invasion” angle during an episode of his Something To Wrestle With Podcast, shedding light on the reasons why WWE should never have pursued the storyline following the acquisition of WCW’s assets in March 2001.

"I wouldn’t have done it…. it was never the idea that the likes of Kevin Nash, Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, Sting, Ric Flair, all those guys… they weren’t coming. So from our vantage point, we were not interested in the talent. We were interested in the tape library and IP, and the TV slot on TNT. When it came down to it, the TV slot was not in play as the Time Warner people didn’t want to have anything to do with wrestling."

The absence of key WCW figures joining WWE immediately posed a significant challenge, as negotiations with talent holding lucrative guaranteed contracts proved infeasible.

"We took other physical things such as their rings but the talent was a completely separate deal. If you want them, here’s the contracts, you can negotiate to buy these contracts and continue to honour them but some of them were so outrageous that we weren’t gonna touch that. We didn’t want the headaches that came along with it at the time that were rumoured to be."

Prichard also emphasised the swift and hasty nature of the decisions made following WWE’s commitment to acquiring WCW. The perceived urgency of the situation, compounded by the lack of clarity and insight into the assets acquired, led to a rushed approach in forming the invasion angle.

"The perception of war and an invasion which we did, making hasty decisions inside of a week. The decision to buy WCW went back and forth and back and forth within a week. But we didn’t know what we really had at that point, we were blind. We decided to cherry pick some young talent and went from there. But without the WCW stalwarts I don’t think an invasion would have worked and obviously it didn’t with what we had."

Despite attempts to salvage the idea by incorporating ECW into the WCW invasion storyline, the angle was deemed a failure and was ended after 6 months, coming to an with a Winner Take All match at Survivor Series 2001.

In an interview featured in the January 1993 issue of WCW Magazine, 'Stunning' Steve Austin was questioned about his bold claim of being the "world's greatest athlete" despite not having captured the World Championship at that point in his career.

With a self-assured response, Austin drew a compelling parallel to the boxing world, stating, "Mike Tyson was called the world's greatest boxer long before he won the heavyweight title in that sport. Pacing and seasoning are important in wrestling, as they are in any sport. I will decide when the time is right to win the World title."

Austin's words proved prophetic, as years later, he found himself sharing the ring with Mike Tyson in one of the most memorable and talked-about segments in Monday Night Raw history.

At WrestleMania 14, Steve finally won that World Championship when the timing was right.

Big” Jim Dotson was a well known face during the Attitude Era, regularly appearing on our screens and having a prominent position at live shows. Dotson was the WWE’s head of protective services from 1995 to 2001. You would often see glimpses of him in the stands making sure fans didn’t get too close to the wrestlers. Despite the brief glimpses of him on camera….Jim Dotson became just as recognizable as any of the wrestlers during the Attitude Era.

https://ringthedamnbell.wordpress.com/2015/07/17/whatever-happened-to-jim-dotson/