WWE Hall of Famer reveals interesting conspiracy on how Vince McMahon brought WCW for cheap despite $50 million bid from Eric Bischoff (Exclusive)
Vince McMahon's purchase of WCW in 2001 was a game-changer for the wrestling industry. While WWE had been on its toes for years because of WCW, it marked the end of an era and arguably their last competition until the emergence of AEW. A WWE Hall of Famer revealed a conspiracy theory and the details behind the WCW sale, and how McMahon acquired it for so cheap.
While World Championship Wrestling was going bankrupt, Vince McMahon seized the opportunity and would purchase the company for a measly $4.2 million - far less than the actual worth. This included the WCW name, logo, videotape library, and a portion of talent contracts.
On the latest episode of The Bro Show, Diamond Dallas Page discussed the sale of WCW to WWE and how Vince McMahon purchased the company. He stated that Eric Bischoff was ready to shell out $50 million that could have gone up to $85 million with talent contracts:
"This is my conspiracy theory. This is how Vince [McMahon] won the war. That son of a b****h who sold it [WCW] to him, whatever his name is, he canceled wrestling. Cancels it, and [Eric] Bischoff, because he was buying it for $50 million, I know these numbers. I was there. And, he was going to take all of the contracts - that's got to be another $35 million, easy. Just because of Hulk [Hogan], Goldie [Goldberg], and everything. He was taking all of the risks, all the way. And this guy, Jamie Kellner, or something like that," said DDP. [11:38-12:43]
Continuing to criticize Jamie Kellner, Page said that he "canceled wrestling" and McMahon took advantage of the situation:
"This dou***bag says, 'he's buying the company for this, but you're giving him ten years on TBS'. He goes well 'this is the highest-rated show that we have. Let's call it $70 million.' And he says 'no, we're not going to do that. We're canceling wrestling'. Bischoff is like 'Hold on, give me a month or two months'. Bischoff did not want to be on TBS or TNT. He wanted to take it to wherever he could that was other than there. And Kellner says 'No, we're just going to burn the place down. We don't want the money. But he took $5 million from Vince. That's how Vince inevitably won the war. It was a win-win for Vince because now WCW is gone. I'm hard-pressed for anyone to tell me any other story, maybe he got a million bucks - he got money," added DDP. [12:47-14:19]
It should be made clear that Diamond Dallas Page wasn't criticizing Vince McMahon here, but Jamie Kellner instead. You can watch the entire episode below.
Vince McMahon only got a portion of the WCW talent contracts
19 years ago: @EBischoff made his Monday Night Raw debut, shook hands with @VinceMcMahon, and the rest is history.
One of the most surreal moments in Raw history https://t.co/exgGwJU5mU
The purchase of WCW led to the now-infamous Invasion angle in 2001. However, despite the angle being a dream storyline on paper, it didn't turn out that way for a few reasons.
For one, McMahon didn't acquire the biggest names from WCW. While Booker T was a respectable world champion-level signing, the likes of Sting, Hulk Hogan, Goldberg, etc. wouldn't come until a year or two or more later.
Secondly, it was clear that WCW was never going to get a big upper hand, and the angle didn't live up to its potential. However, from a business standpoint, it may have been one of Vince McMahon's greatest victories in his five decades in the industry.
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