From: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Subject: [WWF INFO] Vince McMahon Speaks! Date: 1996/03/09 Message-ID: Sender: ag725@freenet2.carleton.ca (Rick Scaia) Organization: The National Capital FreeNet Reply-To: ag725@FreeNet.Carleton.CA (Rick Scaia) Newsgroups: rec.sport.pro-wrestling Before I begin, I just want everyone to know that I have nothing but the highest regards for this nation's copyright laws. And I would never do anything to comprimise those fine statutes. That said, I ripped the following piece off of the WWF OnLine Site on America On-Line. It is presented here not to inform, educate, or otherise entertain. It is meant to entice you to call AOL immediately, and demand to be told how you can join the serivce, and in the process, begin visiting the WWF OnLine site your own self. So if (god forbid) I am breaking some kind of law, keep in mind, my heart is in the right place. Now, dsiclaimers thus taken care of... this is an interview with Vince McMahon that was posted to the "Latest News" section of WWF On-Line. It addresses everything from the personal vendetta Ted Turner has against Vince to the recent decision by Kevin Nash to leave the WWF. I spotted two times in the interview when Vince was a bit blustering in his assessment of various things... the rest rings very true and I would call this piece quite informative. I apologize for the f'ed up spacing of the interview... it got screwed up in the ASCII transfer process. And when one is in the process of various asundry copyright infringements, one doesn't stop to fix line spacing! I hope you enjoy anyway! -----begin vinceint.txt INTERVIEW WITH VINCE MCMAHON Interview conducted by WWF Editor Vince Russ EDITOR: Can you first explain why Ted Turner would want to put the World Wrestling Federation out of business? Is it strictly business, or are there some personal issues involved with you and Ted that the World Wrestling Federation fans may not be aware of? VINCE: This all goes back to 1985. There is nothing recent in terms of his attempt to acquire the World Wrestling Federation. The World Wrestling Federation at one time was doing business with Turner Broadcasting System, Superstation Channel 17. We were supplying the Superstation with the wrestling programming, having purchased what was then Georgia Championship Wrestling with Ted Turners blessings. Turner knew of our plans. He knew of our pay-per-view plans for the future. He knew we were on USA Network, and he knew we had a syndicated network. He wholeheartedly endorsed us and welcomed us as part of his family, if you would, supplying wrestling programming for WTBS. Shortly after we began supplying programming, he did invite me to a ball game. Sitting in his box watching the Braves play, it was there that he told me he thought I had too good a deal, that the deal I had was better than the one he had previously, and we already had our deal in writing. He wanted to change the deal. As a matter of fact, he wanted to acquire a stock interest and ownership interest. Ultimately he would own more than half. He wanted to own the majority stock. That was not our deal. But I did notwant to be in business with someone who did not want to be in business with me. He tried to throw us out on a technicality; it didn't work. I subsequently sold the company to Jim Crockett. I sold Georgia Championship Wrestling to Jim Crockett because it was just an unhealthy environment to do business with Turner. I knew him then to be someone who welshes on a deal. I then knew him to be a greedy human being as far as business was concerned. I witnessed the gruff and rude way that he treated his wife and family at the ball game. And I couldn't believe after he had allowed me to pay one million dollars for Georgia Championship Wrestling that he would attempt to get us of WTBS because I wouldn't go along with selling a portion of my company to him. I wasnt interested. Its a private company producing a product that has been in my family for three generations, and it wasn't the deal that wed made. I wasnt interested in selling to him then or now. He made several overtures, the last one being 1994. He has made several overtures over the last decade to try and see if we were for sale, to try to buy us, and on each occasion the answer was no. I have a very poor regard for Ted Turner as a businessman and as a human being. The only thing that I know he has lost atand he has lost a fortuneis the wrestling business. So I would suggest to you that this is not some sort of make-believe. This is a personal vendetta from Ted Turner, and in addition to that he is unquestionably attempting to put us out of business. EDITOR: What was it that finally made you decide to bring the issues concerning Ted Turner to the forefront? Was there a breaking point, was there an instance that finally made you come public with what was going on behind the scenes? VINCE: Ted Turner has been practicing what we believe to be predatory activities for some time. When he decided to produce Nitro, I guess that was the straw that broke the camels back, but we might have been able to live even with that had he not unleashed his corporate mouthpiece to constantly barrage the World Wrestling Federation with untruths and disparaging comments. Nitro came on in September. We did nothing to retaliate until finally we had had enough on January 1 of this year. After being kicked around and abused, we felt we had turned the other cheek enough times already. It was time to fight. If Ted Turner wanted to help his wrestling companyby the way, I can't find that it has made a nickel since he has been at it; it has been nothing but losses by his own financial statementsthen he would have used some night other than Monday night to showcase his premier wrestling show. But rather than help himself on some night on which he would be unencumbered as far as the genre is concerned, he chose not to help himself. He chose to try and hurt us. He'll give you some sort of malarkey on how the wrestling audience on Monday night has grown as a result of his effort, that both shows do a combined number that is larger than any one number of the one show could bring. Turner knew whatever the rating would be, he would be sharing it with the World Wrestling Federation, but that is OK for him because he has other profitable ventures and subsidiaries like CNN that subsidize his wrestling organization. Therefore, rather than help himself and put his primetime television show on any night other than a Monday night, he chose to go directly at nine o'clock on Monday night, head-to-head with us, simply to hurt the World Wrestling Federation. This predatory practice of a network owner going after a programmer has never been done before in all of television. What is also historic in nature as far as television is concerned is he makes sure that his program begins before nine o'clock and ends sometimes 10- 12 minutes after ten o'clock. This is not ABC and NBC presenting sit-coms, this is not Frazier versus Home Improvement. As he and his minions would have the public believe, this is a huge conglomerate organization, a multi-billion- dollar organization, programming not against a network but against one independent producer. It is like David and Goliath. He also has the ability to give away for free on Nitro what would otherwise be pay-per-view attractions in an effort to win the ratings war because he doesn't have to make money on pay-per-view. In fact, he doesn't have to make money at all, and he hasn't. He continues to subsidize the wrestling operation with his other profitable ventures. EDITOR: Vince, it has been stated that Ted Turner may be using questionable business tactics in his effort to force the World Wrestling Federation out of business. Some of those may include selling advertising time on his wrestling show at ridiculously lower prices in order to undercut the World Wrestling Federation and perhaps even illegally tying his programming together in package deals to various stations across the country. For example, if you want CNN, then you must take WCW's syndicated programming. Would you care to elaborate on these tactics used by Turner? VINCE: I recently read that a Turner spokesperson stated that they don't really use those tactics all the time, only in highly competitive situations. So, therefore, based upon what I read, whoever from that organization was simply saying that we only break the law when we have to, which is not all the time. That came from Wade Keller. These practices of block booking are one of the complaints we made to the FTC. EDITOR: Now, Vince, You do have your critics out there, and one point that I read quite frequently on the Internet is this: There are people who say turnaround is fair play, and basically they accuse you of using the same business tactics in the early 80s to put smaller wrestling promotions out of business. How would you address those critics, and how would you answer those remarks? VINCE: When I acquired the stock from Capitol Wrestling Corporation, the holding company of the World Wrestling Federation, I did so on a balloon payment basis. I really didn't have the money, and I was just hoping that somehow I could create enough cash flow that I might be able to borrow and scrape together enough cash to acquire the stock. It took me a year to do it. The balloon payments were spread out over a quarterly basis, and I just barely made it. I was undercapitalized, I had to rob Peter to pay Paulso to speakand then from there we simply expanded on cash flow. We were not wealthy. We werent millionaires. It was a roll of the dice almost every day. We began to do something that no one had ever done in the wrestling business. We began to compete with other wrestling organizations, most of which were operating under a consent decree by the Justice Department. There had been alleged anti-trust violations by this group of promoters. They allegedly engaged in blackballing of certain wrestlers and other anti-trust behavior. Had they known that we were so undercapitalized, had they known that every day was a roll of the dice, the outcome would have been far different than it was. Almost in every instance each individual promoter with whom we competed had greater resources than we did except that we worked harder, and we produced a better product. Most of the promoters that we were competing with were former wrestlers, most middle aged, none of whom had a very strong work ethic. Their typical day in the office may have been several hours if, in fact, they went to the office at all. Notwithstanding the concept and how we were overpowered in almost every instance, they even joined forces or attempted to join forces against us. I was counting upon the fact, based upon their egos, that they wouldn't even be able to go to lunch together much less cooperate with one another. I owned no networks. I operated as they did from a profitability standpoint with no subsidies from any other organization or subsidiary. This was a huge gamble on the part of the World Wrestling Federation, a huge poker game if you would, in which we were bluffing and they never knew, but at least it was one wrestling organization competing with another. There is a huge difference between what happened then and what is going on now. Ted Turner now sees a mature national wrestling market. Ted Turner is not competing as one wrestling company to another. Had it not been for subsidies from his own organization, his wrestling organization would have ceased to exist some time ago as we know it now. Estimates of at least 60 million dollars in losses thus far are batted about frequently in the trade journals. Ted Turner owns television networks with vast holdings and vast influencefrom news to sport to entertainment. And he is attempting to use all of those resources to put the World Wrestling Federation out of business. This is not Coke versus Pepsi, this is one independent wrestling organization versus this monolithic multi-billion- dollar conglomerate. We are not competing on an even playing field, as the promoters of old did with the early expansion of the World Wrestling Federation. Ted Turner and his minions have attempted to attack every conceivable revenue source that TitanSports has. They have raided our managerial talent, they have raided our wrestling talent, they've raided our television talent.Before the World Wrestling Federation there was no such thing as licensing, publishing, merchandising, commercial endorsements, etc. Every new aspect of revenue-producing, from pay -per-view on, has been trail- blazed by the World Wrestling Federation. Ted Turner, given his druthers, if he can spend enough money, doesn't care what he loses to put the World Wrestling Federation out of businessand he'll have it all to himself, a monopolists dream. EDITOR: In your opinion do you feel that Turner operatives may be negotiating with World Wrestling Federation athletes who are currently under contract with the World Wrestling Federation? VINCE: Perhaps the most recent and best example of Turner's predatory practices would be the recent phone call I received from Diesel, aka Kevin Nash, Tuesday morning in which he stated that he had signed a three-year deal with Turner for what I am led to believe to be a guaranteed huge sum of money. Having completed his contractual obligations with Turner's wrestling organization, Kevin Nash came to the World Wrestling Federation as a bodyguard. He had been through a number of characterizations in Turner's wrestling organization, none of which had been successful. However, here Kevin Nash became Diesel. Through the joint efforts of Kevin Nash and the World Wrestling Federation, he became a star, a superstar. However, sometime in June he will cease to be in the World Wrestling Federations wrestling rings and will make his appearance in Turner's wrestling organization. Turners organization has no idea how to make a star. All they can do is buy, and the intention of that buy is,once again, not necessarily to help themselves ie., Nitro Monday Nightbut to hurt the World Wrestling Federation because the people in Turner's wrestling organization won't have any more idea of what to do with Kevin Nash than they did when he was OZ, Vinny Vagas or whomever he will be in the future. So, the idea then is to acquire the services of Kevin Nash so that Diesel ceases to exist for the World Wrestling Federation, thus attempting to hurt the World Wrestling Federation. The exorbitant sums of money that Turner is willing to spend for this predatory practice and others is astounding. EDITOR: Do you at all blame Kevin Nash as much as Ted Turner? Does it hurt you personally when you take this athlete, you nurture him, you do whats best for him, you make him a superstar, and at the sight of a fistful of dollars his loyalty is nowhere to be found? That an individual like Kevin Nash can go back to the same company that almost ruined his career, the company that you literally saved him from? Does this hurt you on a personal level when it comes to Kevin Nash? VINCE: Kevin and I are friends. I think from my perspective he did not make a good business decision. Diesel could have become an icon here in the World Wrestling Federation, an icon from which he would be able to derive great benefit financially and aesthetically for another 20 years perhaps far outlasting his time as wrestler in the ring. But, yes, it hurts and people in Ted's organization know that it hurts. EDITOR: Taking nothing away from Kevin Nash, in your opinion was he worth the guaranteed money that Turner offered him, or is it simply just a matter of Ted Turners being on a crusade wanting to rob the World Wrestling Federation of its top talent no matter what the cost? VINCE: I would suggest that Turner and the state of mind that he has now would do anything to hurt the World Wrestling Federation. EDITOR: If Vince McMahon was in Diesels shoes and he was offered a three-year contract of guaranteed money, an astronomical amount of money, why wouldnt Vince McMahon take that money? Can the World Wrestling Federation afford to offer its athletes the same kind of money that Turner can offer them? VINCE: The generally accepted practice throughout the history of the wrestling business has been that athletes are compensated on a percentage basispaid on commission as such. Athletes must have a love for the business that they are in, a strong work ethic and a sense of loyalty to remain here in the World Wrestling Federation. The majority of our athletes love to perform. They are not just television stars working for some conglomerate media company. They want to reach out and touch the fans, and they do. Many athletes in the World Wrestling Federation, many performers make very large sums of money, and those athletes that have the confidence in themselves and the company compete very well with Turner's guaranteed contracts. EDITOR: How does a Vince McMahon protect himself? How does he stop this practice from happening over and over and over again? VINCE: By being a better businessman and being a better judge of character and by rewarding those athletes, as best I can, who love this business as I do, who have an insatiable desire to perform for the public and give it everything they can, give it their all. We need to attract more athletes like Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, the Undertaker and on and on. Each individual is different, we all have different values. Kevin Nash is looking for security. Hes 37 years old, he is busted up physically and he doesn't have a love for the business and respect for the business as many individuals do who have grown up in it. Kevin will remain my friend, I hope, but I would not have made the same decision that he did. EDITOR: Would you consider the situation with Ted Turner the fight of Vince McMahons life? VINCE: Well, it was against astronomical odds that the World Wrestling Federation expanded nationally and internationally. We were up against these millionaire promoters who had far more experience and far greater resources than we did. We competed favorably with them. We were raked through the coals by the federal government for three years of microscopic scrutiny, indictment and trial, and we won. Against this billionaire and his unfair practices and the overwhelming odds against us, somehow we will win. This is still America, the public votes, and I think in the end, they'll vote for the World Wrestling Federation. EDITOR: In the eyes of Vince McMahon, when do you claim a victory? When will the fight be over? VINCE: I don't know that this fight will ever be over. We've seen our pay-per-views buys increase dramatically. We've seen our attendance increase dramatically at house shows. People all over the world are clamoring for the World Wrestling Federation in one form or another. It may be because we have a better mouse trap. Transmitted: 3/8/96 4:44 PM (vinceint) -- Rick Scaia | "Barkeep... All of a sudden, I'm relatively sane | Another whiskey!" ag725@freenet.carleton.ca | - The Notorious BlueKid ------------------------------------------------------------------------------