WWE acquires the Watts video library

[El-P]

Oh, brother. Who cares? You know what they're going to do with the history, but who cares? You know what happened! I know what happened! Why can't you just enjoy the footage acquisition for what it will bring: cleaned up footage, and unearthed previously unseen footage. You gotta instead rush to be the first little whiny negative nellie and confirm for the 8000th time that you don't like WWE.

Well, you are the one making bitchy whining posts for nothing actually. And "all history is fucking revisionnist history" was such a retarded comment that I had to jump in.

[El-P]

Shawn Michaels started in Mid South and would likely be interviewed. There's your hook. "The greatest performer of our time got his start in Mid South."

Sigh

 

Eh eh.

 

How they will handle Cornette is the interesting part. MX vs Rock'n Roll was such a big part of Mid-South at one point. After years of "fuck you Johnny Ace, fuck you WWE" on public forums, I doubt they'll contact Corny, and I doubt he would do anything with them.

[JerryvonKramer]

Can anyone remember the roundtable they had on managers on Legends of Wrestling a couple of years ago? I remember they did a "Mount Rushmore" at the end picking out the 4 top managers of all time.

 

If I can remember correctly, Heenan was one, Jimmy Hart was another, JJ Dillon was one because he was on the panel, but was Corny the 4th?

 

I can't remember. If Cornette was featured on that, then I suspect JR has got enough pull to get him contacted. I mean Cornette worked for WWE until 2005, that's only 7 years ago. I don't think it's impossible.

[JerryvonKramer]

Actually, that 4th spot *I think* was given to Gary Hart. They put him over massively on that show. So Cornette didn't make the Mount Rushmore.

[JerryvonKramer]

Took me ages to find online, but they EACH chose their top 4 and then made a composite consensus one, see below -- Cornette did make it:

 

JR: Bobby Heenan, Jim Cornette, Gary Hart, Paul Heyman

 

Dillon: Heenan, Gary Hart, Cornette, Jimmy Hart

 

Hayes: Heenan, Ma Bass, Frenchy Bernard, Gary Hart

 

Jimmy Garvin: Heenan, Gary Hart, Dillon, George "Crybaby" Cannon

 

Joey Styles: Miss Elizabeth, Dillon, Heenan, Jimmy Hart

 

Consensus:

 

Bobby Heenan

Gary Hart

J.J. Dillon

Jim Cornette

 

That being the case then I reckon they might give Cornette a call. Why not?

[Strummer]

I think when El-P was saying "revisionist" there, he was really trying to say "WWE-centric". That is what they do.

 

They rewrite the AWA as being where a lot of "future" WWF stars first plied their trade. They rewrite NWA and WCW history to be almost 100% geared towards the Monday Night Wars. So anything before that is just a precursor to that, unless it's Dusty vs. Flair or Steamboat vs. Flair, which have a sort of privileged status. There are a few other narratives that they allow "privileged status" in this way such as the Von Erichs vs. the Freebirds in Texas or the basic idea that territorial heads were like mob bosses.

 

I reckon somewhere at HQ they've probably got a "Bible" of what is considered "good history", and what not to mention.

 

I think this is pretty much dead on. They put over who they like and the guys that became big stars later on in their company/territory. And yes they pretend that WCW didn't exist before Nitro started airing. By all accounts no one in the WWF paid much attention to WCW before the MNWs

[Sean Liska]

I think when El-P was saying "revisionist" there, he was really trying to say "WWE-centric". That is what they do.

 

They rewrite the AWA as being where a lot of "future" WWF stars first plied their trade. They rewrite NWA and WCW history to be almost 100% geared towards the Monday Night Wars. So anything before that is just a precursor to that, unless it's Dusty vs. Flair or Steamboat vs. Flair, which have a sort of privileged status. There are a few other narratives that they allow "privileged status" in this way such as the Von Erichs vs. the Freebirds in Texas or the basic idea that territorial heads were like mob bosses.

 

I reckon somewhere at HQ they've probably got a "Bible" of what is considered "good history", and what not to mention.

 

I think this is pretty much dead on. They put over who they like and the guys that became big stars later on in their company/territory. And yes they pretend that WCW didn't exist before Nitro started airing. By all accounts no one in the WWF paid much attention to WCW before the MNWs

 

The History of WCW DVD did 25 minutes on the Crockett era, which wasn't even technically WCW. They do emphasize guys who their audience will recognize, but I don't think it's a big deal to throw a bone to the casual fans.

[flyonthewall2983]

The History Of WCW documentary is surprisingly balanced, and not as pro-WWE as even I was thinking it might be.

[Loss]

The WWF obviously had WCW more on their radar after the MNW started, but they followed them before that. They loved to run house shows in the same market the night before big shows and keep everyone up late so the crowds would be tired the next day. After the bleeding at I believe Spring Stampede '94, Vince wrote a pretty nasty letter to WCW about it.

[Al]

Dusty Rhodes wrestled a bunch for Mid-South, WWE still has him employed. Michael Hayes was part of perhaps Mid South's biggest angle/match. Magnum T.A.?

 

I wonder if WWE will push Ernie Ladd's legacy hard on the set.

[JerryvonKramer]

I wonder if WWE will push Ernie Ladd's legacy hard on the set.

Watts definitely definitely will, but it'll be a question of how much of that material they use. I'd also like to say that Ernie Ladd has the best leg drop I've ever seen.

[cm funk]

I thought the World Class DVD was pretty fair. It's been a few years since I watched it and I'm sure it was slanted in some ways, but I remember coming away from it thinking that it gave due to the popularity and influence of the promotion in the 80's, and somebody coming in watching it cold would probably get the impression that World Class was a pretty big deal in it's time.

 

I think Mid-South would probably get the same treatment. And even the tone of "look at all these stars who became superstars in the WWF, and look at how big they were but we were bigger" is a complement in a lot of ways coming from WWE.

 

As for who should be involved with the DVD, having Watts, Ross, Hayes, DiBiase in the fold is kind of all they need, plus whatever random people they can dig up who worked stints in the territory or even grew up watching it. I can take or leave Jim Cornette's opinions on anything at this point, the dude has been running his mouth nonstop in recent years and it's tiresome. He's not worth the hassle to bring in for a DVD or anything else.

[flyonthewall2983]

Plus I'm sure it would be easier for them to just get Dennis and Bobby or Ricky and Robert to talk anyway.

[Matt D]

It's interesting. To me, in a lot of ways, the myth of mid-south really overlooks everything that made 1984 work. I think the focus will be on Dibiase, on Duggan, on JYD, maybe Butch Reed and Ladd, maybe Magnum and Wrestling II, maybe Orndorff, Williams, Volkoff, Roberts, the Freebirds, and now that he's back in the fold MAYBE Terry Taylor.

 

You could easily tell A story of Mid-South without the RnRs or the Midnights, without the attempts to remake JYD, without a whole lot of truth and it becomes a nicer neater story.

[Marty]

The History Of WCW documentary is surprisingly balanced, and not as pro-WWE as even I was thinking it might be.

They basically have no choice but to present a balanced view with these things. If they bury other companies too much, and it gets known that's what they do, no one will buy the stuff.

 

There's the odd exception, of course (Bret's feelings on his WCW run, Joey Styles moreless ripping into Bischoff and WCW over the whole Mike Awesome deal in the latest ECW release), but for the overall message, they seem to focus on other promotions/wrestlers' contributions to the industry.

[Marty]

A History of Mid-South DVD could be great. Watts has done other projects with them in the last few years, so I would assume they could get him. I will absolutely take DiBiase and Duggan breaking down their feud.

 

Not sure why they would need to do any re-writing of history on a Mid-South DVD. I'm sure JR will tell the story about the oil markets collapsing and Crockett not knowing what to do with the brand. From a fan perspective, if you wanted anything from the Watts library you would have it by now with how available it's been, so not a big loss there.

We know Ene was selling various DVDs of Mid-South, and I'm wondering if she felt any sales had plateaued.

 

That said, I wonder how well the WWE will do with sales of this set. DVDs are pretty hitting a downswing with sales everywhere. I wonder if the WWE acquired this too late, from that perspective. I'll still buy and watch, but I wonder about the broader market.

[goc]

All this focus on a DVD misses the fact that the WWE probably wanted it more for their Network than for DVD sales.

[flyonthewall2983]

There's the odd exception, of course (Bret's feelings on his WCW run, Joey Styles moreless ripping into Bischoff and WCW over the whole Mike Awesome deal in the latest ECW release), but for the overall message, they seem to focus on other promotions/wrestlers' contributions to the industry.

They can get away with that, and rightfully so because it's both Bret and Joey's opinions. Same reason they let Jim Cornette do those 3-4 minute segments in '97, letting him vent away at whoever was in his craw that day.

[Marty]

All this focus on a DVD misses the fact that the WWE probably wanted it more for their Network than for DVD sales.

No doubt that's the main reason. That said, there has been talk of a Mid-South DVD being made by them, and it's not just on a discussion board like this one.

[Frankensteiner]

So the UWA website is still up and presumably taking orders. Anyone know what's going on? Was the deadline extended?

 

I ordered the House Show set on Monday and am still considering getting some of the TV episodes that I think may not be out there and available as DVD masters (releases prior to Vol. 60).

[sek69]

Anyone know who owns the library for Southwest Championship Wrestling? I know the promotion got sold to the Texas All Star group, who ended up getting bought by WCCW, did Fritz end up with the library too?

[Bix]

Whoever has the PM Film library (whether it's Ron Martinez's family or Todd Okerlund's company or both somehow) has the surviving Southwest footage. No idea if Fred Behrend or anyone else kept the Texas All-Star stuff.

[Coffey]

Hypothetical question but since WWE is publicly traded now what does any of this mean for shareholders? If WWE owns the entire video library of all U.S. wrestling for the most part, it's considered an asset, I would imagine. But after Vince McMahon dies, where are all of his shares going? Because something like the video libraries is obviously never going to be sold off. But what if someone other than a McMahon becomes the majority share-holder somehow?

 

I'm so ignorant toward big business it's hilarious. I have NO IDEA how ANY of that shit works. Heh.

[goc]

Hypothetical question but since WWE is publicly traded now what does any of this mean for shareholders? If WWE owns the entire video library of all U.S. wrestling for the most part, it's considered an asset, I would imagine. But after Vince McMahon dies, where are all of his shares going? Because something like the video libraries is obviously never going to be sold off. But what if someone other than a McMahon becomes the majority share-holder somehow?

 

I'm so ignorant toward big business it's hilarious. I have NO IDEA how ANY of that shit works. Heh.

I am 100% sure that they have it set up so that no one but a McMahon can ever have controlling interest in the company. There is no way they wouldn't, especially considering when they went public there was still have the threat of Turner just buying up all the shares.

[Al]

There's "Class A" and "Class B" stock. If I remember correctly, the McMahons own something like 96% of the company. When Vince passes, his shares will go to whoever he dictates in his will. The only way it falls out of the McMahon family is if they make a conscious decision to sell the stock outside the family.