Fantasy Booking WCW 1994

By now you know the news that has shocked the wrestling world. Eric Bischoff, the new Vice President of WCW led a press conference this week introducing Bret Hart, the newly crowned WWF World Champion. Bischoff came out with several executives, JJ Dillon, Ric Flair & Sting. Flair had he WCW Title with him. Bischoff began the press conference, which aired live (more on that later) this week on WCW Saturday Night, by saying he was excited to announce a major signing. Then he brought out Bret Hart who had the WWF Title with him (Vince must have been having a heart attack, more on that later).

Bret said he’s here in WCW because people kept asking him when he’s going to come to where the Big Boys Play. Bret said he wants the biggest, most prestigious prize in wrestling: The WCW Heavyweight Title. He said growing up in a wrestling family, he always dreamed about holding the belt worn by Lou Thesz, Ed Lewis, Jack Brisco, Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race, and Ric Flair. Bret said he’s always prided himself by being the best and to be the best you have to face the best like Flair & Sting. Bret stands up and shakes Flair’s & Sting’s hands and says he looks forward to wrestling with such high level competitors. Flair says welcome to WCW, Where the Big Boys Play. You want to be the man? Well To be the Man you gotta Beat the Man and Ric Flair is the Man. Ric said you don’t just show up and start making demands from The Man. This is WCW and we have a Top 10. Once Bret proves himself and climbs the top 10, Ric said he’d be happy to give him a shot at the title. Ric said the man who holds the WCW Championship is the standard bearer for the business. Ric shook Bret’s hand again & said he looks forward to Bret proving himself. Bret says he is the best there is the best there was and the best there ever will be and he came to prove it to The Man.


At this point Owen Hart & Jerry Lawler crashed the press conference. Lawler grabs a microphone and says “I told you he would be here. He’s running away. You can run but you can’t hide, Bret. We’ll find you even in some little po-dunk town like Atlanta, GA and guess what Bret…WE’VE GOT A BIG SURPIRSE FOR YOU HAHAHAHAHA!” At this point security escorted Owen & Lawler away.

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We now have a lot more information on the best kept secret in wrestling history. When being interviewed for the VP of WCW position (putting him in charge of the company), Eric Bischoff was asked by Ted Turner, what WCW could do to compete with the WWF. Eric proposed a radical: A Talent Raid combined with a new Live show every Monday night & a new more serious approach to distinguish themselves from the WWF. Bischoff convinced Ted that if they wanted to compete with WWF they needed to weaken WWF while strengthening WCW. Bischoff proposed a talent raid. They would sign Bret Hart, the top star & soon to be new world champion to be the new face of the company going forward. They would pass the torch from Flair to Bret. Along with Bret they would sign Randy Savage whose contract was up soon anyway & who wasn’t being used like he wanted to. Where Bret goes these days so goes Owen Hart and apparently The British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith who Bret convinced WCW to resign as part of his deal. Longtime WCW/NWA stalwarts Lex Luger & The Steiners are also jumping back to WCW. We’ve also heard rumors about 123 Kid and Bam Bam Bigelow jumping ship as well.

WCW will also be starting a new Monday Night show to go head to head with Monday Night Raw debuting on June 1st. Bischoff told Turner that the best way to compete with McMahon & the WWF was to compete directly with McMahon & the WWF. Bischoff proposed a more realistic approach to pro-wrestling treating it like a sport instead of a cartoon as a way to differentiate themselves from McMahon’s vision of wrestling. Bischoff proposed increasing the budget, raiding the WWF’s high end talent, the new Monday Night show and continuing to work with other promotions around the world like New Japan and AAA. Amazingly, Turner went for it all which kicked off weeks of behind the scenes secret negotiations with Bret Hart and the other wrestlers.

We expect going forward for Ric Flair to pass the torch to Bret Hart as the #1 babyface in the company. Flair will continue with the company in more of an emeritus position not challenging for the title but still working semi-regularly. Similar to Bruno Sammartino the late 70s when Bob Backlund was the WWWF Champion. Owen Hart will continue to get a push as a heel against Bret but we think long term will align back with his brother.

The long term goal according to Bischoff will be an emphasis on the younger talent. In addition to Bret, Owen, and Davey Boy, the company wants to continue to focus on the growth of Steve Austin, Brian Pillman, Cactus Jack, Lord Steven Regal, The Patriot, and 2 Cold Scorpio. Bischoff wants to bring back the Light Heavyweight Division and US Tag Titles as a way to feature smaller & more athletic performers. There may be televised tournaments at some point although we don’t have details on that at this point. What we do know is this is a major shake-up in the wrestling industry and possibly a real shift in the balance of power in the US.