Notes: Still Dannys' POV. Jeff Katz worked for WCW back in the 90s. He was hired when he was 17 can you believe it? some people have all the luck ;).
"You sure about this Shane?" I asked from my spot crouched in the back. Shane was about to give his father what he deserved and had 'dragged' me along for the ride. Well he did ask first. We were sort of trying to stay out of sight until we got the link to RAW. They did it back in 2001 according to Shane. Though that had been planned by Vince.
"It's about time I returned to Nitro." He chuckled. "And there is a way to do this without them finding out about the others."
I had something in my ear that was telling me what was going on in the production truck. "Shane you've got about a minute. When RAW comes back from commercial they are plugging Nitro in."
"I'm just glad Kim was able to get TNN to agree to this without Vince finding out. I guess we can thank Eric for that."
'Go! Go! Go! Play the music! It's a go!' The person who was my connection to the truck was yelling in my earpiece. Here Comes the Money came through the arena. The arena became silent.
"Go Shane!" I said.
He walked out and I could hear the fans start screaming. I wasn't going out there. I'd watch from the monitors. Also I was going to keep an eye on RAW. I had access to Jeff Katz's earpiece and he could tell Shane if something went wrong.
I paced backstage watching RAW and Nitro on the monitors. Shane had to get the fans down to a dull roar before he tried to speak. There was a constant chant of welcome back!
"It feels good to be back in Florida where this all started. We're in Daytona Beach this time though. Say hello to RAW everyone." That caused the fans to start yelling more. And a chant of "Fuck you Vince fuck you!" Started up. "Have to love WCW fans. Anyway everyone must be wondering where I've been the last ten years and well I can't say but it feels damn good to be back on TV."
Oh shit! Vince wasn't on TV. My phone started ringing. "Hello?"
'Danny it's Eric!' A frantic but quiet voice was saying. 'Vince isn't here!'
"What? You are kidding right? You guys are in Oakland!"
'Danny he hasn't shown up at all! Let Shane know somehow! I've got to go.' He hung up.
I grabbed the headset. "Jeff tell Shane Vince isn't in Oakland. Tell him now!"
Just as I got that out, I felt myself being lifted off the ground. I wiggled free and landed back down. I turned around to see HHH standing there. Well I can now guess where Vince is. I dove at him and started punching him. Two pairs of hands pulled me off.
"You need to chill kid." HHH said. "And watch."
I looked at the monitors and wondered what the hell was going on. Vince was on RAW. The two people holding me were the Rock and HBK. Now Stephanie was headed to the ring on Nitro.
I tried to get loose again. Something was really wrong here. I still had the earpiece in. It's small enough I don't think they saw that I had it.
'Where is he? How close is he? Danny can you hear me? Vince is in the building! What's on RAW is pre-taped. Someone tell Jeff something's wrong! Ric? Get to the ring then! And see if Danny's okay while you are at it.'
Ric's here? I didn't have much time to think anything else as I was nearly knocked down when HBK was knocked down. There was a big brawl in the back now. I'd have to thank Matt Hardy later for all the info I got over the earpiece. I now knew Vince was here but I don't know where. I dashed out to the ring leaving Arn, Ric, Perry, and Dean to brawl with the former WWE wrestlers.
I dove into the ring. I doubt anyone in the crowd knew who I was but I could have cared less. I was having a very fast whispered conversation with Shane about what Matt had told me. He nodded.
"Vince I know you are here. Come out here and face me."
Stephanie was still standing over at the commentator's table. I don't know what that was about.
'Danny nod if you can hear me.' Matt was saying into my earpiece. I gave a slight nod. It was a good thing Shane was talking or someone might wonder what I was nodding about. 'Okay what you need to know is that there's more people in this arena then Stephanie, Vince, HBK, HHH, the Rock, Ric, Arn, Perry, and Dean. And fortunately, I think it'll work for you. Still no one seems to know where Vince went. Is Amy okay?' Amy? Uh work with me here Matt I don't watch WCW! Too bad I couldn't tell him that. He chuckled. I think he realized that. 'Sorry. The woman doing commentary.' I gave another nod. 'Okay I need to get back to this. Oh shit!' And that was all I heard.
I tapped Shane on the shoulder and whispered in his ear that Matt was cut off. "Where are you Vince?"
"I'm right here Shane." A voice said from the screen. We looked and saw Vince on RAW.
I left the ring. Something was going on. 'Whoever's on the other end, if you can hear me Vince is not there!' That wasn't Matt. Who was it?
Damn it where was Vince? Wait a minute. I headed to the back. Probably a stupid thing to do but something was really wrong here. I was supposed to be keeping an eye on backstage. I went to the production truck and found it empty. Who was running the show? Then I realized something. We were no longer on the air.
"Jeff! Michael! Amy! Anyone! We aren't on the air!" I said into one of the headsets.
I went out of the production truck and walked back around. The wrestlers were all standing there not looking sure of what was going on.
Ric told me that they locked HHH, HBK, and Rock into a locker room. The people who should be in the production truck were forced out but no one seems to know by who or where they went. The show was being held hostage. Turner Sports was going to kill Dustin or Shane. Speaking of which where was Dustin?
All of the WCW wrestlers, Ric, Arn, Dean, Perry and I walked out to the ring.
"There he is!" Reid Flair called pointing at the audience. We all craned our necks to see him. He was there sitting on one of the steps.
"Get down here!" Shane demanded.
Vince got up and walked down slowly. He grabbed a mic from Stephanie. "What's the matter Shane? I ruin Nitro? I ruin your surprise? For all that don't know, Nitro is no longer on TNT. But you can see it on TNN. Of course, they most likely figured that one out. Shane when are you going to realize nothing gets by me. I own part of Viacom. They told me what you were planning."
"Fine I can make that announcement here. Dustin can you come out here?"
Dustin Runnels music started playing. His daughter Dakota wrestled for WCW and was already in the ring. Dustin came down and handed Shane a piece of paper. I wonder what that was. No one told me about it. Then I saw what it was. It was a contract.
"This piece of paper is a contract. When I handed over control to Dustin, I put in a clause that I could take the company back. Oh and Vinnie Mac something you don't realize. I've owned WCW since 2005."
"What!" Vince took a step forward and several wrestlers got between him and Shane.
Dustin handed over another piece of paper. "Here Dad." He spat out the word dad. "Is a copy of it. Now get off my show and take the trash with you." Stephanie didn't look one bit happy about that comment. "That includes Steph."
They stormed out of the arena. "That felt good." He told me. "I've been wanting to do that for ten years." We followed the others to the back and found indeed that Vince and the others were gone. We also found the people that were in the production truck back in the truck trying to put Nitro back on the air. It seems that they were ordered out of the truck and into another room.
I really hope my mother didn't watch Nitro. After the conversation yesterday I'm not sure who she'd kill me or Shane.
"You sure about this Shane?" I asked from my spot crouched in the back. Shane was about to give his father what he deserved and had 'dragged' me along for the ride. Well he did ask first. We were sort of trying to stay out of sight until we got the link to RAW. They did it back in 2001 according to Shane. Though that had been planned by Vince.
"It's about time I returned to Nitro." He chuckled. "And there is a way to do this without them finding out about the others."
I had something in my ear that was telling me what was going on in the production truck. "Shane you've got about a minute. When RAW comes back from commercial they are plugging Nitro in."
"I'm just glad Kim was able to get TNN to agree to this without Vince finding out. I guess we can thank Eric for that."
'Go! Go! Go! Play the music! It's a go!' The person who was my connection to the truck was yelling in my earpiece. Here Comes the Money came through the arena. The arena became silent.
"Go Shane!" I said.
He walked out and I could hear the fans start screaming. I wasn't going out there. I'd watch from the monitors. Also I was going to keep an eye on RAW. I had access to Jeff Katz's earpiece and he could tell Shane if something went wrong.
I paced backstage watching RAW and Nitro on the monitors. Shane had to get the fans down to a dull roar before he tried to speak. There was a constant chant of welcome back!
"It feels good to be back in Florida where this all started. We're in Daytona Beach this time though. Say hello to RAW everyone." That caused the fans to start yelling more. And a chant of "Fuck you Vince fuck you!" Started up. "Have to love WCW fans. Anyway everyone must be wondering where I've been the last ten years and well I can't say but it feels damn good to be back on TV."
Oh shit! Vince wasn't on TV. My phone started ringing. "Hello?"
'Danny it's Eric!' A frantic but quiet voice was saying. 'Vince isn't here!'
"What? You are kidding right? You guys are in Oakland!"
'Danny he hasn't shown up at all! Let Shane know somehow! I've got to go.' He hung up.
I grabbed the headset. "Jeff tell Shane Vince isn't in Oakland. Tell him now!"
Just as I got that out, I felt myself being lifted off the ground. I wiggled free and landed back down. I turned around to see HHH standing there. Well I can now guess where Vince is. I dove at him and started punching him. Two pairs of hands pulled me off.
"You need to chill kid." HHH said. "And watch."
I looked at the monitors and wondered what the hell was going on. Vince was on RAW. The two people holding me were the Rock and HBK. Now Stephanie was headed to the ring on Nitro.
I tried to get loose again. Something was really wrong here. I still had the earpiece in. It's small enough I don't think they saw that I had it.
'Where is he? How close is he? Danny can you hear me? Vince is in the building! What's on RAW is pre-taped. Someone tell Jeff something's wrong! Ric? Get to the ring then! And see if Danny's okay while you are at it.'
Ric's here? I didn't have much time to think anything else as I was nearly knocked down when HBK was knocked down. There was a big brawl in the back now. I'd have to thank Matt Hardy later for all the info I got over the earpiece. I now knew Vince was here but I don't know where. I dashed out to the ring leaving Arn, Ric, Perry, and Dean to brawl with the former WWE wrestlers.
I dove into the ring. I doubt anyone in the crowd knew who I was but I could have cared less. I was having a very fast whispered conversation with Shane about what Matt had told me. He nodded.
"Vince I know you are here. Come out here and face me."
Stephanie was still standing over at the commentator's table. I don't know what that was about.
'Danny nod if you can hear me.' Matt was saying into my earpiece. I gave a slight nod. It was a good thing Shane was talking or someone might wonder what I was nodding about. 'Okay what you need to know is that there's more people in this arena then Stephanie, Vince, HBK, HHH, the Rock, Ric, Arn, Perry, and Dean. And fortunately, I think it'll work for you. Still no one seems to know where Vince went. Is Amy okay?' Amy? Uh work with me here Matt I don't watch WCW! Too bad I couldn't tell him that. He chuckled. I think he realized that. 'Sorry. The woman doing commentary.' I gave another nod. 'Okay I need to get back to this. Oh shit!' And that was all I heard.
I tapped Shane on the shoulder and whispered in his ear that Matt was cut off. "Where are you Vince?"
"I'm right here Shane." A voice said from the screen. We looked and saw Vince on RAW.
I left the ring. Something was going on. 'Whoever's on the other end, if you can hear me Vince is not there!' That wasn't Matt. Who was it?
Damn it where was Vince? Wait a minute. I headed to the back. Probably a stupid thing to do but something was really wrong here. I was supposed to be keeping an eye on backstage. I went to the production truck and found it empty. Who was running the show? Then I realized something. We were no longer on the air.
"Jeff! Michael! Amy! Anyone! We aren't on the air!" I said into one of the headsets.
I went out of the production truck and walked back around. The wrestlers were all standing there not looking sure of what was going on.
Ric told me that they locked HHH, HBK, and Rock into a locker room. The people who should be in the production truck were forced out but no one seems to know by who or where they went. The show was being held hostage. Turner Sports was going to kill Dustin or Shane. Speaking of which where was Dustin?
All of the WCW wrestlers, Ric, Arn, Dean, Perry and I walked out to the ring.
"There he is!" Reid Flair called pointing at the audience. We all craned our necks to see him. He was there sitting on one of the steps.
"Get down here!" Shane demanded.
Vince got up and walked down slowly. He grabbed a mic from Stephanie. "What's the matter Shane? I ruin Nitro? I ruin your surprise? For all that don't know, Nitro is no longer on TNT. But you can see it on TNN. Of course, they most likely figured that one out. Shane when are you going to realize nothing gets by me. I own part of Viacom. They told me what you were planning."
"Fine I can make that announcement here. Dustin can you come out here?"
Dustin Runnels music started playing. His daughter Dakota wrestled for WCW and was already in the ring. Dustin came down and handed Shane a piece of paper. I wonder what that was. No one told me about it. Then I saw what it was. It was a contract.
"This piece of paper is a contract. When I handed over control to Dustin, I put in a clause that I could take the company back. Oh and Vinnie Mac something you don't realize. I've owned WCW since 2005."
"What!" Vince took a step forward and several wrestlers got between him and Shane.
Dustin handed over another piece of paper. "Here Dad." He spat out the word dad. "Is a copy of it. Now get off my show and take the trash with you." Stephanie didn't look one bit happy about that comment. "That includes Steph."
They stormed out of the arena. "That felt good." He told me. "I've been wanting to do that for ten years." We followed the others to the back and found indeed that Vince and the others were gone. We also found the people that were in the production truck back in the truck trying to put Nitro back on the air. It seems that they were ordered out of the truck and into another room.
I really hope my mother didn't watch Nitro. After the conversation yesterday I'm not sure who she'd kill me or Shane.