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Dear Brad,
Re the rumoured sell off of WCW to a Bischoff consortium, I'd like to (a) draw your attention to the following questions, which WCW may later be required to publicly respond to, and (b) make a few suggestions on a possibly revamped wrestling show for TBS.
Re the Bischoff buyout -
(1) Are there potential conflict of interests issues involved in the rumored sale of WCW at a depressed price to a former employee (or current consultant) who is widely regarded as having made the company unprofitable in the first place?
(2) How much did Time-Warner shareholders lose as a consequence of the recent settlement of the WCW-WWF lawsuit? Is any action contemplated against WCW staff responsible for actions leading to the suit?
(3) Does the current sale proposal raise potential issues of fiduciary duty to shareholders - that is, does the deal achieve the best possible return for shareholders?
(4) Has the company been undervalued through failure to use its complete roster to produce a high rating, high value product? In particular, why is 'Hollywood Hogan' paid a reported $4 million a year to stay at home instead of working to enhance the company’s product? Why is Dustin Rhodes paid a reported $750,000 to stay at home instead of working to enhance the company’s product? How many other wrestlers are similarly paid exorbitant salaries while contributing nothing to the company’s product. Is anything being done to recover those moneys for alternative investment or distribution to shareholders as dividends?
If this sale is to go ahead, can I suggest that you consider -
1.Selling off a stripped-down WCW. Use the opportunity to get rid of unproductive staff; refuse to sign a no-compete clause with the Bischoff consortium and encourage Turner to start afresh, producing their own New Generation TV wrestling show, with its own distinctive TV wrestling style.
2. Appoint a competent leader to the company. Leadership involves a vision and bringing the best talent forward to help achieve that vision. And once they've made their contribution, move them to the back, and allow someone else to carry the promotion forward.
3. Create a cycle to the top for those who can keep the fans’ interest. Provide top spots only for those who draw for the company - no more neighborly love or Daddy's boys. Clearly that doesn't work!!
The next boss of WCW MUST be able to fuse traditional wrestling culture with modern corporate management to ensure profit and quality wrestling. But traditional wrestling culture should be restricted to the locker-room. That means -
(a) Encouraging a return to paying dues, jobbing to put other talent over, and putting the company first. That way, everyone benefits. In effect, a new wrestling ethic based on altruism over ego to replace kayfabe, which seems to have almost disappeared.
(b) Reappoint some of the workers that Bischoff discarded, to help pass on skills to the new generation and act as their mentors.
Beyond that, wrestling management and working conditions should be thoroughly modernized. This means -
(i) No more independent contracting - employee status will take care of a bllanket of problems; wrestlers to get the same basic entitlements as any other employee of the Time/Warner company;
(ii) Merit-induced pay and fewer big paying contracts - meaning fewer layers of separation between top talent and the undercard. Both are putting in time and taking bumps. Both are essential to the final product;
(iii) Clear rules in the employee contract and the same rules for everyone;
(iv) Basic health plan; 401k retirement plan; employer contributions of taxes and workman's compensation insurance as required by State and Federal law;
(v) As far as possible, remove contributory causes for drug abuse and apply a comprehensible and enforceble drugs policy;
(vi) Finance the company commensurate with what it is - the second ranking wrestling show in the US, with a target rating audience of around 3.0.
Summary
To succeed, a revamped TBS wrestling show should fuse the best of wrestling tradition with the best of modern corporate management techniques.
Arguably, WWF is already halfway down the road to this fusion.
Yet in 10 years, with all of Turner's money and business savvy, no one has managed to achieve this at TBS. WCW has either been controlled by carnies who refused to work with 'corporates' or, more recently, corporates and marks who've been suckered by carnies. As a result, WCW has fumbled the opportunity to modernize and professionalize its product. In a year from now the Bischoff consortium will probably be out of business, and TBS left without wrestling product. There is a better way ....
Yours sincerely.
Z-Man
