p class="p1"WCW Intro/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"The news that the WWF was buying WCW from the newly merged AOL-TimeWarner sent shockwaves that rippled throughout the wrestling world. The once molten was between two wrestling companies was over, with WWF superstars claiming a sudden, decisive victory. WWF found themselves with a new type of quandary: shutter WCW once and for all, or continue with the operation on their TV with a mix of WCW mid carders and underused guys from their own TV. The answer seemed to come more quickly than anyone dared hope; Shane McMahon, son of WWF chairman Vince, volunteered to run World Championship Wrestling himself, freeing up his father to run the WWF without distraction. Shane was given a budget for talent, was allowed to pick a few of the WWF's vaunted production team to form the backbone of his own team, and began making calls to arrange buyouts for certain other talent he wanted for his show. Very few guys were off limits. Goldberg, Sting, Shane Douglas, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Hulk Hogan were on the rumored "banned" list. Just about anyone else was fair game. The purchase of WCW had included 24 contracts, but anyone could see that there very few true stars in that group./p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"Shane's first call wasn't to a wrestler at all, but to former ECW owner Paul Heyman. Heyman, who'd recently sold his bankrupt company to the WWF, agreed to come on as Shane's assistant manager and head of the creative team of WCW. Jim Cornette was brought in to assist with creative, and to help manage talent, both on and off screen. On the advice of Heyman, McMahon also brought in young Scott D'Amore, founder of Border City Wrestling in Canada and widely considered at that time to be one of the brightest young minds in the business. D'Amore was also building a reputation for training quality young wrestlers, and WCW was always in need of quality, cost-controlled class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"Most people assumed that WCW would be built a round Booker T, who'd taken a buyout and signed a new contract just days after the WCW acquisition, Diamond Dallas Page, who'd wanted one WWE run before retiring, young WWF star (and Shane McMahon favorite) Andrew "Test" Martin, and ECW alum and the first free agent signing of the new WCW Rob Van Dam. What people didn't know was that Scott Steiner, running short of viable options and anxious to make money, would take a buyout from his Time Warner deal and sign for half of what he was guaranteed in the old WCW to get to work on his new deal. More surprises would follow, as both members of the tag team Kronik would take new deals, as well as latin superstar Konnan, took buyouts to get back on TV ASAP. It was rumored Konnan was brought in as much for his contact with other hispanic workers as it was his own declining ability. Shane McMahon was willing to go to get lengths to bring in cheap performers for his tv show./p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"The TV show itself was another matter altogether. Clearly not welcome on Turner programming, WCW had limited options. WWF's own programming outlet, Spike, didn't want another wrestling show, and as WCW was now a subsidiary of WWE, they couldn't go outside Viacom to get a TV deal. Viacom stepped in and gave WCW a 9-11 PM slot on tuesdays on Spike, as well as an 8-10 PM spot on saturdays on the TVLand network. The TV Land spot was seen as a challenge, but Shane vowed he'd find a way to make it work. br / br / So the stage was set. WCW was set to make its return in May of 2001, just 5 weeks after the final Nitro on TNT. A roster of misfits vowed to make the most of the second chance they'd been given, and the wrestling world awaited their class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"The news that the WWF was buying WCW from the newly merged AOL-TimeWarner sent shockwaves that rippled throughout the wrestling world. The once molten was between two wrestling companies was over, with WWF superstars claiming a sudden, decisive victory. WWF found themselves with a new type of quandary: shutter WCW once and for all, or continue with the operation on their TV with a mix of WCW mid carders and underused guys from their own TV. The answer seemed to come more quickly than anyone dared hope; Shane McMahon, son of WWF chairman Vince, volunteered to run World Championship Wrestling himself, freeing up his father to run the WWF without distraction. Shane was given a budget for talent, was allowed to pick a few of the WWF's vaunted production team to form the backbone of his own team, and began making calls to arrange buyouts for certain other talent he wanted for his show. Very few guys were off limits. Goldberg, Sting, Shane Douglas, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and Hulk Hogan were on the rumored "banned" list. Just about anyone else was fair game. The purchase of WCW had included 24 contracts, but anyone could see that there very few true stars in that group./p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"Shane's first call wasn't to a wrestler at all, but to former ECW owner Paul Heyman. Heyman, who'd recently sold his bankrupt company to the WWF, agreed to come on as Shane's assistant manager and head of the creative team of WCW. Jim Cornette was brought in to assist with creative, and to help manage talent, both on and off screen. On the advice of Heyman, McMahon also brought in young Scott D'Amore, founder of Border City Wrestling in Canada and widely considered at that time to be one of the brightest young minds in the business. D'Amore was also building a reputation for training quality young wrestlers, and WCW was always in need of quality, cost-controlled class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"Most people assumed that WCW would be built a round Booker T, who'd taken a buyout and signed a new contract just days after the WCW acquisition, Diamond Dallas Page, who'd wanted one WWE run before retiring, young WWF star (and Shane McMahon favorite) Andrew "Test" Martin, and ECW alum and the first free agent signing of the new WCW Rob Van Dam. What people didn't know was that Scott Steiner, running short of viable options and anxious to make money, would take a buyout from his Time Warner deal and sign for half of what he was guaranteed in the old WCW to get to work on his new deal. More surprises would follow, as both members of the tag team Kronik would take new deals, as well as latin superstar Konnan, took buyouts to get back on TV ASAP. It was rumored Konnan was brought in as much for his contact with other hispanic workers as it was his own declining ability. Shane McMahon was willing to go to get lengths to bring in cheap performers for his tv show./p
p class="p2" /p
p class="p1"The TV show itself was another matter altogether. Clearly not welcome on Turner programming, WCW had limited options. WWF's own programming outlet, Spike, didn't want another wrestling show, and as WCW was now a subsidiary of WWE, they couldn't go outside Viacom to get a TV deal. Viacom stepped in and gave WCW a 9-11 PM slot on tuesdays on Spike, as well as an 8-10 PM spot on saturdays on the TVLand network. The TV Land spot was seen as a challenge, but Shane vowed he'd find a way to make it work. br / br / So the stage was set. WCW was set to make its return in May of 2001, just 5 weeks after the final Nitro on TNT. A roster of misfits vowed to make the most of the second chance they'd been given, and the wrestling world awaited their class="Apple-converted-space" /span/p