Part of Mike Awesome's deal with WCW was that they specifically wanted him to not drop the ECW Title so he could bury it on the restart episode of Nitro a la Madusa. In order to keep it a secret, this involved Awesome lying to ECW wrestlers about flight delays causing him to no-show house shows.
Heyman blocked what WCW had planned by lawyering up. Heyman claimed Awesome was still under contract to ECW, so they negotiated terms to allow him to sign with WCW, which included cash compensation, the ECW belt not appearing on WCW TV, and Awesome having to come back and drop the title in Indianapolis.
The reason Awesome was such a pariah to ECW wasn't because he accepted a lot of money to go to WCW, but because part of their arrangement was his agreeing to things that WCW wanted to do to directly bury ECW, including not telling anyone in order to keep his jump an absolute secret to shock people, and so he'd never have a chance to be asked to drop the belt so that he'd be able to throw it out on Nitro.
"I was never a fan of Psicosis, so I wasn't surprised he mailed it in last night. I would much rather Malenko took his spot."
I don't think it was that he mailed it in. Rey was working hurt because he wanted to wrestle on the show, and they only went six minutes anyway. Malenko missed the show because his wife was about to give birth, or else he probably would've made his cameo in Benoit/Guerrero. If not Psicosis, Rey's natural opponent was Juventud, but it seems like it wouldn't have made a difference between the two because Rey was injured and they weren't going to do much of a match anyway.
I don't think the "ECW Title in the trash can" bit was ever confirmed as anything more than rumor. It was the obvious assumption to make cause Bischoff had done it before, but Heyman getting lawyers involved stopped them from even having the opportunity. However, WCW still backed out on part of their deal with ECW that allowed them to even sign Awesome:
Mike Awesome missed the ECW shows that weekend, due to what was believed to be transportation problems. By Saturday morning, word was spreading about Awesome showing up on Nitro, with rumors flying that he was going to throw the ECW World title belt in a trash can, ala Madusa with the WWF Woman's title several years ago. Whether or not that would have happened will never be known, because ECW found out about the plan, and went on the defensive.
...
Sunday was a day of heavy speculation, as rumors flew left and right, and ECW's legal team prepared to take on WCW. All the way up until Monday night, fax machines worked overtime, with copies of Awesome's contract being sent to every member of WCW's staff, including Brad Siegel. Rumor has it a copy was even faxed to the attention of Ted Turner. Two hours before Nitro went on, Eric Bischoff said in an AOL chat that Mike Awesome had a contract with WCW. Awesome did arrive in Denver for Nitro, but his appearance was scratched, fearing the validity of the contract with ECW and the threat of legal action. Still, WCW had not given up on Awesome being on the show, and began to negotiate with ECW for Awesome.
Amazingly, an agreement was reached that would allow Awesome to appear. A substantial sum of cash would be given to ECW, and there were conditions placed on Awesome's appearance. Awesome was not to speak on Nitro. He was to be referred to as the ECW World Heavyweight Champion. The ECW title belt, which Awesome was in possession of, would not be seen. Also, his title defense on Thursday night in Indianapolis would be plugged, and he would appear on that show to lose the title.
Well, Awesome did appear, and two conditions were violated, as he did speak, and the Thursday match was not plugged. This set up some more negotiating, and Awesome did not appear on Thunder the next night, despite being backstage at the show. A new settlement was reached where Awesome would have to drop the title on 4/13 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The match would be filmed, then rushed to Nashville, so it could be voiced over and edited into Friday's TNN show. Of course, ECW had one more big move to make, and that was decide who Awesome would drop the title to.
For what it's worth, I work at Suncoast Video and our special order list says that, as opposed to the September date the Silvervision site lists, ECW One Night Stand is supposedly going to be released next Tuesday - June 28, 2005. It's an amazingly quick PPV to DVD turnaround time, but we've never gotten an official date from the WWE that didn't hold up before. We'll see...
"That's my problem - I'm too frank. That's why my mother shoved me down the stairs. But then she is fat."
Originally posted by OlFuzzyBastardFor what it's worth, I work at Suncoast Video and our special order list says that, as opposed to the September date the Silvervision site lists, ECW One Night Stand is supposedly going to be released next Tuesday - June 28, 2005. It's an amazingly quick PPV to DVD turnaround time, but we've never gotten an official date from the WWE that didn't hold up before. We'll see...
a) "Production values? Feh. The less professional it looks, the more "ECW" people will say it is." :-) b) Ride the wave of the PPV to maximise sales, since they're dropping the whole ECW concept. c) Ride the wave of the PPV to maximise sales, proving that ECW is a concept to run with big time. d) Pull as much of the revenues forward into 2Q05 as possible. (If they're showing all the WM profits plus the ECW profits in the same quarter, it's going to look exceptionally killer. (Is June also the end of WWE's fiscal year?)
Now, the thing that I'd most like to see in the "Forward Looking Statements" section of the quarterly report is how Vince & Paul Heyman have agreed to coexist. ;-)
It's 'Ride the wave of the PPV to maximize sales, so that the similarly quickly-released Hardcore Homecoming DVD won't have marketplace exclusivity in capitalizing on the ECW nostalgia.'
I think WWE's fiscal year runs May 1 through April 30.
Originally posted by OlFuzzyBastardFor what it's worth, I work at Suncoast Video and our special order list says that, as opposed to the September date the Silvervision site lists, ECW One Night Stand is supposedly going to be released next Tuesday - June 28, 2005. It's an amazingly quick PPV to DVD turnaround time, but we've never gotten an official date from the WWE that didn't hold up before. We'll see...
My distributor shows that 6/28 date as well, but also that it's been pulled from that date. I think it's been delayed.
--K
Last 5 movies seen: Blackboard Jungle - Star Wars III - Prime Cut - A Mighty Wind- Heaven Can Wait (1943)