They had arranged a meeting for the whole of WCW roster to join them at a hotel conference room. It was a challenge to find one that could hold over eighty people without it being a code violation. Steve, Randy, Luger, Page and Booker were sat at the front, with hundreds of eyes pointed in their direction. The atmosphere in the room was difficult to case. Eric Bischoff was stood to the side, leaning against the wall, showing off his Hollywood smile. Eric hadn't said a word to Steve or the others since his announcement, which was very unlike him. It only made Steve uneasy.
"We'd like to thank you guys for joining us today. Those that couldn't fly here are with us via conference call." said Steve. "I know we've all got lots of questions, and we hope to address all of them. As you all now know, we are officially the new owners of WCW. However, we'd like you to know that we are not in this for a quick buck. Our aim is to bring WCW back to the top in the ratings, securing a good future for all of us. We are working closely with AOL Time Warner who will continue to air Monday Nitro and Thunder. But there are going to be some major changes."
"Like what?" came from the back.
"Well," said Luger "there is going to be some re-structuring needed."
"You mean you're going to lay people off." said Scott Steiner. Everyone in the roster began to talk among each other. People began shouting 'bullshit!' and other expletives. As they felt they were losing the room, Randy slammed his hand on the table. The room fell silent again.
"Shut the hell up and listen." said Randy "How many of you have had matches in the last month?" Out of the eighty or so people, barely a quarter of them raised their hand. "Exactly, and you still been paid, haven't you? Do you think it's fair that while some of you bust your ass working in the ring, that others get the same paycheque for doing diddly squat."
"That's it then? We lose our jobs because we haven't been given an opportunity." said Rey Mysterio Jr.
"Not at all." replied Page. "We are going to review every single contract and conduct one-to-one interviews with everyone before determining who will make the cut. To be honest, after the review we may not even feel there is a need to let go of anyone."
"Review contracts? What does that even mean?" asked Rick Steiner.
"We're rescinding all creative control clauses from contracts." before Page could finish, the room was being divided. The big stars in the promotions used the creative control card when they didn't want to drop a title or snatch a win. This meant the new talent got overshadowed by those who already had made a name for themselves. "This doesn't mean you will not have a say in what happens in the storyline. Randy will be taking on the role as a creative head, and if you have any suggestions, he will be happy to hear them." Randy gave a forced smile that left as quickly as it came.
The younger talent began talking among each other with hope, as were some of the established ones. Steve felt that they had won back the crowd, but then a slow sarcastic clap began near the front of the room. Everyone turned to see Hollywood Hogan unamused.
"You got something to say, Terry?" asked Steve.
"No, brother. I guess anybody can headline main event now." said Hogan.
"Not just anybody. Only promising talent." replied Steve.
"And who decides that?" asked Hogan.
"Not you, brother!" said Randy. "You got a problem with that then there is the door." Hogan stood up, kicking over his chair.
"You're lucky I'm here, brother." said Hogan, pointing his finger at Randy. "There's a reason I am at the top of the card. You want to be at the top then beat me fair and square."
"It's a bit rich, ain't it? You talking about fairness?" said Stevie-Ray.
"That's ENOUGH!" said Steve, authority booming in his voice. "We aren't here to point fingers. We are here to move the company into the next phase. And to do that we will need to work together." Both Randy and Hogan sat back down. "We're going to roll out the interviews ASAP to move forward quickly. Are there any questions so far?"
"I have a question." said Jeff Jarrett. "Will we still get our guaranteed money?" Steve turned to Luger, sharing a glance. Only shortly before the meeting began, Steve had told Luger that guaranteed pay will stick it's ugly head within the first half hour of the meeting. He was right.
"We will honour existing guaranteed money contracts, however, we will expect a guaranteed return on our investment." replied Luger. "This means if you're guaranteed an amount that are expected from main event talent, we will expect you to give us a main event level performance. If we feel that your performance doesn't warrant the guarantee, then we will have to amend your contract." The roster was less upset about this than expected. The consortium had agreed that the guarantee money most talent was promised was haemorrhaging money out of WCW. This didn't mean that the talent didn't deserve the amount. After all, your talent was your biggest asset in the wrestling business. But there were six-figure salaries for talent that only wrestled for a few minutes in the ring any given night. "Again, this is something which we will be reviewing regularly." Luger looked at Steve, who turned the next page in the agenda.
"We're also going to work with a firm to collect data about our demographics." said Steve. "I think we can all agree that the only way we can go forward is by knowing what our viewers want. At the next few shows, we're going to run surveys, interviews and focus groups with the fans. In return they will receive free merchandise. The data we collect will also play a part in our review of talent."
After another hour of back and forth, they adjourned their meeting and firmly believed it was the first positive step in their plan. As the consortium left the conference room, they saw Hogan, Nash, Hall and a few others huddled in the hotel lobby. The days following, they continued the schedule that had been planned prior to the acquisition. The existing storylines were played out but with a few select changes. Hogan and Flair's feud continued, however it was decided that the storyline will end after their main event at WCW Uncensored. As well as this, Booker had noticed there was a new air of excitement among the mid-card talent. They had been pushed back in the shadows for so long, that they had lost all hope of building their career. So it only made sense to use that positive energy into something productive.
"Welcome back to WCW Monday Nitro. I am your host Tony Schiavone. We are heading to the ring where Mean Gene Okerlund is with the new owner of WCW. Over to you Gene."
"Thank you, Tony Schiavone. That is right, I am here with the icon who is now the boss. Sting" said Gene. As the camera brought Sting in the frame, the crowd went wild. "Sting, after your bombshell of an announcement last week and firing of Vince Russo, we all have the same question on our minds; What does this mean for WCW?"
"Thanks, Gene. Over the years we have forgotten what WCW does best. We produce world class wrestling programming, with an edge that separates us from our competition. Most of all, we are going to give YOU, the fans, what they want. Eric Bischoff has kindly vacated the WCW cruiserweight championship. So tonight, we are going to hold a cruiserweight tournament!" Any hesitations Steve had about his decision were all dissipated from the wave of roars from the fans. "This tournament will feature the best talent in the business fighting it out for the opportunity of having the cruiserweight gold around their waist." The idea for the tournament came from Randy. Out of all the things that annoyed him, he hated seeing gold around the waist of non-wrestling talent the most. So when it came to vacating the title, Randy was more than happy to approach Bischoff. Bischoff handed over the title without a fight which was another out of character thing he had done.
"That sounds amazing! Are there any other changes that the fans should anticipate?" asked Gene.
"Gene, we've only just begun. Just you wait and see. Woooo!" said Sting, walking out of the ring. As he walked up the ramp to head backstage, he saw several fans holding banners that read 'WCW IS BACK' and 'WATCH OUT VINCE!', bringing a smile to Sting's lips. As planned, the tournament kicked off with a match between Rey Mysterio Jr and Psicosis. Both superstars wrestled in the Lucha Libre style. So this was not only a fight between two individuals but also a showcase of what modern Luchas can do.
Steve couldn't have chosen two better people for the first match in the tournament. Throughout the whole match, Mysterio and Psicosis failed to miss a beat. The crowd was on the edge of their seats throughout the whole twenty minute bout, as were the consortium watching the match backstage. Near the climax of the match, Psichosis leapt off of the top turnbuckle for a drop kick, but in a split second, Mysterio jumped out of the way and without hesitation executed his finishing move; the Tornado DDT. With Psichosis lying on the canvas, Mysterio pinned him for 1...2...3! The bell rang and Mysterio was one step closer to holding the cruiserweight title.
The rest of the show featured another two matches from the cruiserweight tournament, which would continue over on Thunder. The final match from the tournament was pencilled into the card for WCW Uncensored. This didn't just add value which the title had lost in the past few months, but also gave the fans a finish to an exciting competition. Steve was sat in his office, looking over copies of contracts and making notes when Rey Mysterio Jr. knocked on his open door.
"Can I come in?" asked Mysterio.
"Sure." said Steve, standing up from his chair and putting his hand forward. "Great match tonight." Rey shook his hand.
"Thanks. I just wanted to come in and thank you for the opportunity."
"Don't be like that, man. You're here because of your talent."
"I'm glad you see that, because the last year has been hard."
"I know, Rey."
"I wanted to ask you something, though."
"Go on."
"You remember SuperBrawl nine? When I was forced to remove my..." Rey said, pointing to his mask. He paused for a moment, trying to hold himself together. "Don't make me or anyone else go through that again. A mask is not a cosmetic thing for us. It represents a legacy and is part of our identity."
"Rey, I'm sorry that happened. I hated it too. But you don't need to worry about that anymore." said Steve, assuring Rey. "You just continue giving performances like that and there won't be anything stopping you from reaching the top of the card."
Another knock came at his door. Both Rey and Steve turned and felt the same dread when they saw Bischoff. "You busy, Steve?" asked Bischoff.
"It's cool. I'm done here, anyway." said Rey, walking out of the office, brushing past Bischoff. Steve gestured to the chair opposite to him for Eric, as he settled into his seat.
"What can I help you with?" asked Steve.
"I'm here to congratulate you." replied Bischoff.
"I think it's a little early for congratulations."
"I don't think so. I have been trying to acquire WCW for the last six months and Time Warner wouldn't let me have a sniff of it. I have business acumen and a proven track record. Yet, they hand over WCW to you on a silver platter. How did you do it?"
"Eric, I don't know what to tell you. You're asking the wrong person here." said Steve, trying to stay calm. He knew Bischoff was trying to push his buttons.
"Don't I know it." smiled Bischoff. "The question on my mind is, how did you get them to give you creative control? When I was working with them, my ideas had to be signed off by twenty-five different people. Not a single one of them had even watched twenty-five seconds of wrestling. How'd you get them on board? Did you bribe them? Did you have to sleep with anyone?"
"You're crossing the line now, Eric." said Steve, struggling to keep his cool.
"You're the one who crossed the line." Bischoff's smugness was slowly fading in to anger. "You knew very well that I wanted to put in a bid for the WCW. Hell, I even showed you the memo of the sale. What do you do? You go and throw your stinking hat in the ring."
"Like I said, Eric. I'm not the one you need to talk to. Your issue is with Time Warner, not me. Now if that is all there is." said Steve. Bischoff stood up from his seat and was about to exit Steve's office when Steve spoke. "You know, we both have the same goal, Eric. To save WCW. Does it make a difference who is at the helm?"
"It does to me." said Bischoff, before leaving Steve's office.