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March 23rd
On this day in history in ....
1952 - Villano III is born.
1970 - Former WCW valet Midajah is born.
1971 - Hiroyoshi Tenzan is born.
1976 - Tomko is born.
1979 - Ray Gordy aka Jesse of Jesse and Festus is born.
1984 - Ric Flair defeated Harley Race to win the NWA World title in New Zealand, one of a pair of "forgotten" title changes.
1992 - Brian Christopher defeats Jimmy Valiant for the USWA Southern Heavyweight Title in Memphis, Tennessee. This would be the first of 25 runs with the title for Christopher.
1997 - Wrestlemania XIII takes place. Mike Johnson penned the following:
WRESTLEMANIA XIII
March 23, 1997
Location: Chicago, IL
Location: Rosemont Horizon
Announced Attendance: 18, 211
*The Headbangers defeated The New Blackjacks (Barry Windham and the debuting Bradshaw), Doug Furnas & Phil Lafon and The Godwins to win a WWF Tag Team championship bout on Raw the next night.
*WWF Intercontinental champion Rocky Maivia pinned The Sultan with a rollup. The crowd isn't into Maivia at all, which is amazing to watch seeing how things change in a few years. The Sultan is longtime WWF performer Fatu (now Rikishi) and was managed by Bob Backlund and The Iron Sheik. Maivia's father Rocky Johnson saves his son afterwards from a beating.
*Hunter Hearst Helmsley (with the debuting Chyna and wow she looks different) pinned Goldust with the Pedigree
*WWF Tag Team champions Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith fought Vader & Mankind to a double countout. The Vader/Mankind duo was to build to a WWF feud between the former WCW rivals but it never happened. Paul Bearer managed the Foley-Vader duo. This would be Foley's first Wrestlemania appearance as well. .
*Bret Hart defeated Steve Austin in a No Holds Barred I Quit match with Ken Shamrock as the special referee. An amazing must see match and the match of the night. Austin bleeds a gusher here, which runs down his face as he struggles to get out of the Sharpshooter in one of the most famous scenes in Wrestlemania history. He blacks out and Shamrock stops the match. A great brawl around the building with the excellent storyline of anti-hero Austin being cheered while Bret Hart, the bastion of integrity for the company for years, turns heel as the crowd rejects him. This was the match that saved the company.
*The Legion of Doom & Ahmed Johnson defeat The Nation of Domination, Farrooq, Crush & Savio Vega in a Chicago Street Fight. The inspiration here is ECW as there are tons of weapons used and tables broken. A fun brawl.
*The Undertaker pinned Sid to win the WWF championship. Shawn Michaels, who "lost his smile" during the build to the PPV, does commentary. Bret Hart shows up before the match and cuts promos on everyone, upset about earlier. Sid powerbombs him for his troubles. This would be Sid's last Wrestlemania appearance.
Celebrities: Nada.
Kevin Kelly on Wrestlemania 13: WrestleMania 13 was my first with the company and to be quite honest, I was underwhelmed. It didn't feel like a bigger show than normal and certainly not what I had imagined a Mania to be like. Maybe it was the venue... The Rosemont Horizon was quite a dump and still is today. That being said, the Austin-Bret Hart match still gives me chills when I think about it. That match was so perfect, as Austin was made as a top guy and a babyface in one night. Whiny babyfaces like Bret and Shawn never did well with smart crowds who loved the heels but this was different. Bret and Austin turned simultaneously without doing a thing. That is when a turn is special. That Chicago Street Fight nearly meant the end of the French announce team as a chemical fire extinguisher was used as a prop instead of a CO2 style. The powder flew everywhere and Ray Rougeau and his partner got choked by the stuff.
Notes: Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross, and Vince McMahon were the hosts. It would end up being the last Wrestlemania McMahon would host as his Mr. McMahon character would take off soon enough....In the Free-For-All match on the PPV countdown, Billy Gunn pinned Flash Funk (2 Cold Scorpio) with a tornado DDT in a decent bout....Brian Pillman made his only Wrestlemania appearance here, hosting 900 line segments backstage....The promotion did another Slammy Awards as well as a fashion show with talent at a local mall as Wrestlemania weekend events....The Undertaker plaque that was issued for this PPV is pretty hard to find. It has rarely, if ever, popped up on Ebay.
Mike Johnson: The most important Wrestlemania ever, although one of the worst in terms of the actual show. I say most important because this was the night Steve Austin turned the corner and took off. "WWE Attitude" was built on his shoulders and the company went to heights it never before reached. The show also featured the debuts of The Rock (who was completely hated by the fans while working as Rocky Maivia) and Mankind, who would be responsible for being three of the major building blocks for the company as it rose to take on and defeat WCW. Without Austin vs. Bret Hart though, all would have been lost in a matter of time. This was an interesting show as well because it was at a point the company was beaten down so low in the Monday Night Wars, that there was no way to go but up and up they went. As a show itself, this is a skip beyond the I Quit match.
Dave Scherer: Mike is absolutely right here. The show itself wasn't anything to write home about, but they turned the corner as far as the overall tone of the company. They finally showed that they were going to lay there and get beaten up by WCW, and that was the most important part of the show for me.
Buck Woodward: If ever there was a "one match Wrestlemania" this was it. Hart vs. Austin is easily one of the greatest WWF matches ever, and arguably in the top three Mania matches. The double-turn, the way the match was worked, the visuals of Austin bleeding in the Sharpshooter. This match made Steve Austin's career, and was the beginning of Bret Hart's heel run. ... I liked that the winner of the opening tag match got a title shot the next night. It gave an otherwise throwaway match meaning. ... Boy, was The Rock anything but "electrifying" at this point. If it wasn't for his dad doing the run-in, I think the fans would have been happy to see Sultan squash him. ... Chyna was such an Amazon at this point. The footage of her swinging Terri around in a bearhug that lead to this match was wild. ... The heel vs. heel tag title match seems to just leave the fans without anyone to cheer. ... The streetfight was cool because of the LOD being in their gimmick hometown of Chicago, so the fans were really into it. ... The Undertaker vs. Sid was cool in that Taker went "old school" and finally got to headline a Mania, which he deserved, but the circumstances surrounding it was the real story. Shawn Michaels was supposed to return the favor to Bret Hart for Mania 12, and he instead "lost his smile" and set into motion the chain of events that would eventually result in the Montreal incident.
2001 - The announcement that shook the wrestling world is made:
STAMFORD, Conn., March 23, 2001 - World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: WWF) today announced its purchase of the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) brand from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS Inc.), a division of AOL Time Warner.
The purchase of WCW creates a tag team partnership with the World Wrestling Federation brand that is expected to propel the sports entertainment genre to new heights.
In keeping with the company's strategic alliance with Viacom, new WCW programming is anticipated to air on TNN in the near future. The possibility of cross-brand storylines and intrigue, however, may start as early as Monday night during WWF Raw Is War on TNN and the final performance of WCW Monday Nitro Live on Turner Network Television (TNT).
The binding agreement provides World Wrestling Federation Entertainment with the global rights to the WCW brand, tape library, and other intellectual property rights.
"This acquisition is the perfect creative and business catalyst for our company," said Linda McMahon, Chief Executive Officer of World Wrestling Federation Entertainment. "This is a dream combination for fans of sports entertainment. The incendiary mix of World Wrestling Federation and WCW personalities potentially creates intriguing storylines that will attract a larger fan base to the benefit of our advertisers and business partners, and propel sports entertainment to new heights."
"The acquisition of the WCW brand is a strategic move for us," said Stuart Snyder, President and Chief Operating Officer for World Wrestling Federation Entertainment. "We are assuming a brand with global distribution and recognition. We are adding thousands of hours to our tape library that can be repurposed for home videos, television, Internet streaming, and broadband applications. The WCW opens new opportunities for growth in our Pay Per View, live events, and consumer products divisions, as well as the opportunity to develop new television programming using new stars. We also will create additional advertising and sponsorship opportunities. In short, it is a perfect fit."
Following that, WCW head Brad Siegel, who had become hated amongst WCW employees for essentially not letting his employees know what was going on, issued the following memo internally.
"Today, World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. is announcing that we have reached an agreement for the sale of WCW. This agreement with WWF holds tremendous potential for the WCW brand and assets. The press release announcing the news is attached.
As we told you last week, WCW programming will not appear on TNT and TBS Superstation after March 27. We will share more information with you about the WWF's immediate plans for WCW in the all-staff meeting scheduled for Wednesday, March 28, at 10 a.m. at the Power Plant. Thank you."
Linda McMahon and Stuart Snyder, WWF's President and COO, held a press conference call later that day. Dave Scherer filed the following recap of the conference:
When asked for the purchase price of WCW, Linda said that she would not address that and would respect AOL's privacy policy on that.
When asked about contracts of wrestlers, Linda said that they would be assuming some of the contracts, but not all. That is part of the final details that the sides are working out now.
Any old WCW advertising deals that AOL had are their problems, not the WWF's.
Linda said that creating more wrestling product for WCW was exciting, not a daunting task.
When asked if they would have separate TV deals, PPVs, etc., Linda said that they plan to have the company retain it's identity as WCW. She said that they don't have any plans in place yet for where WCW will air. Linda was asked if this was their "crowning achievement" and she said it was a good acquisition today, but she didn't know if it was a crowning achievement.
She was asked what wrestlers they would bring in and she said, again, that she didn't want to say who, as she said above. But she said to expect exciting things from this.
When asked about what to expect, she made a key point of saying that they will create more PPV revenue down the road, as well as having more money created through the old footage they acquired. She also said that we can expect WCW PPVs, very soon or down the road. The WWF will use the power of their brand to promote the product.
When asked about the WCW finances, Stuart Snyder said that there weren't any surprises when he looked at the books and that the bad health of the company has been widely reported. He said that when the WWF joined negotiations this time (for the second time), things moved quickly. He said that when they talked about buying the company last year, they had TV exclusivity issues with Viacom,
They said that the XFL had nothing to do with them doing this.
Linda said that they expected to re-launch the brand on a Viacom property. She said to watch Monday because they may have a tease as to when programming could start.
Linda was asked how much programming they will do for WCW and she said that it hasn't been decided yet.
When asked if the deal would have an affect on WrestleMania, Linda said, "You know better!" Obviously, she won't give that away.
As for licensing and agreement deals, Snyder said they will take some of them. He said that it will take a week or so to work that out.
When asked if there was a chance this could fall apart, Linda said they signed a binding letter and the deal will be finalized next week. It will not fall apart.
Linda was asked how they would rework the WCW product. She said that the creative team would be given a chance to "wrap their arms around it".
When she was asked about starting a wrestling channel, she said it's not imminent now, but it could be down the road.
Linda said it was not a stock deal.
When asked if Nitro will be rewritten for Monday, she said that all she can say is that there are talks going on right now between the two creative teams.
When asked if the WWF had anything to do with WCW programming being canceled, Snyder said that they were negotiating before the programs were cancelled. He said that when they got back into the dealings, canceling programming was needed to be done, due to their connections with Viacom. That would mean that AOL chose selling WCW to the WWF over Fusient.
Snyder said that they began talking with AOL again about three and a half weeks ago. He said that the WWF had always had interest and once it became available, they took advantage of it.
When asked if developmental people and former ECW talents would appear on the new WCW show, she said it was possible, but she was not sure at this point. She again said that the creative team needs to get its arms around it and take it from there.
When asked if the WWF would take over WCW lawsuits, Snyder said no.
The final caller asked that if a worker playing a gimmick, like Sting, didn't want to come to the WWF, would another person play Sting. Snyder said it was too soon to say.
While it was mentioned that they did intend to keep WCW as a separate entity, although many had their doubts (which would later be proven correct). Ric Flair summed up the feelings of most when he said that he never thought he'd see the day that WCW didn't exist, although he would later admit to being happy about seeing the company sold to the WWF. The WCW meeting would see the staff let go (they were not even allowed to return to their desks for their personal items, immediately walked out of CNN Center after the meeting; one staffer lost an entire screenplay he had been writing on a company computer), although they were allowed to submit applications for work with WWE. Very few were actually hired.
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