WCW the return?

WCW Returns?

The wrestling world went ablaze in the spring of 2013. After more than a decade of promise, hope, disappointment, near misses and ups and downs, TNA Impact Wrestling finally reached above a 2.5 television rating on Thursday nights and moved Dixie Carter made a pitch to Spike TV to move her company into the Monday night slot to compete with the ever-powerful WWE. However, Spike TV declined and stated there were no future plans to move Impact from Thursdays.

But what people did not expect was what happened later that year. On May 14, 2013, TNT executives expressed interest in bringing TNA to its programming more than 12 years after the last Monday Night Nitro, attempting to lure it away from Spike TV with a promise of a Monday night slot.

Carter used this as leverage and again made a pitch to Spike TV, this time threatening to leave once the contract with the network expired. Spike TV responded by agreeing to move the company to Monday nights beginning in August. The wrestling world was ready for a new Monday night wars.

But what happened next was almost unprecedented.

TNT still wished to acquire a wrestling company and began speaking with WWE to have a show on Thursday nights. The WWE, ready for its own network to blossom, was against the idea. But one man from the heralded family saw promise to make his own legacy.

On July 8, 2013, Shane McMahon made a pitch to his father. He offered $3.7 million to buy. Vince declined, and requested $4.3 million, the same price he paid in 2001.

On July 14, 2013, Shane McMahon bought the name, copyrights and library of wCw for a sum of $4,367,834.91. The deal took place at 10:43 p.m. pacific time and the wrestling world began learning early the next morning.

Less than 24 hours later, Shane struck a deal with TNT to bring wCw programming back to the network. In a press release, it included the date for the first show: October 7, 2013......

A Monday.

On July 28, 2013, wCw.com was launched as the company's website. On its home page was a Youtube video of a staged wCw press conference involving Shane McMahon and a handful of new wCw personnel and TNT employees.

Shane McMahon:
Welcome...

As you all know by now, World Championship Wrestling is now under my control, my ownership. The return of Monday Night Nitro will take place in just more than two months, on Oct. 7, 2013.

There is a lot of work to do - signing talent, scheduling annual pay per views, and figuring out television audience viewership ratings and advertisers for commercials and other stuff from the business end. One thing we have completed is locking down a place, a television network to air our weekly show, which already has us going in the right direction.

But I wanted to take this time to announce possibly the biggest moment in the last three years of wrestling, and there has been quite a bunch going on.

Around 12 years ago, one man walked in with nothing and walked out with two pieces of gold. He made himself as a wCw star and went down in history books in a notable way for the legacy of World...Championship...Wr estling.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my privelege to announce that WCW has reached a contract with the last official WCW World Heavyweight Champion...and because of that title is STILL the WCW World Heavyweight Champion...

CHRIS.............JE...RI ...CHOOOO!!!

The legendary wrestler appears from behind the curtains with the famous circular gold-plated WCW World Heavyweight title belt around his waist. He smiles as the camera bulbs flash at him and he and Shake McMahon shake hands and smile for posed camera shots.

The video ends around five seconds later as Jericho and Shane McMahon step down from the podium and begin answering posed questions from the planted "reporters."