Zero One [12/4/04] Results: AWA World Title Tournament

[One to Remember]

Even if the AWA was inactive selling the tape library to Mcmahon was an unforgiveable move. Mcmahon has no respect for anything and alowing him access is just... I have no words. Mcmahon's misshandlings and screw jobs are that of legend. Why make the bastard stronger? Its bad enough he bought my WCW...

[kwilson83]

No offense, but I think that your WCW had more mishandlings then WWE did, hence the reason for the sale in the first place. I actually don't mind Vince owning it as long as he releases some of the matches over time. I am not real concerned who makes the money, I just like having the oppurtunity to see classic matches. Course, that is assuming he uses the footage sometime in my lifetime.

[Tradewynd]

I fail to see how selling a tape library that Gagne was going to do nothing with could cause the animosity you have toward Gagne. You should be grateful that he sold it to someone who at least wants to sell some footage from it. For the record, if I had known that the AWA tape library was availalbe that cheaply, I would have been willing to pay 3 times what Vince did for it, and would have at least released all of the supercards on DVD, since I think there's money to be made there. I know I'd make more money with it than McMahon is, but since he owns it not doing anything with it is his perrogative. But since he isn't doing anything with it their legal deperatment shouldn't be harassing tape traders who only want to watch the footage, and would gladly buy it on DVD.

What makes Vince stronger? A lot of things. Having support from strong TV networks helps a lot. Hulk Hogan and the WWF become household names helped through the 80s, and Steve Austin and The Rock becoming household names in the 90s helped even more. The importance of having Pat Patterson around can't be understated. Having Russo reinvent the business for pennies on the dollar made Vince millions upon millions of dollars, probably hundreds of millions. Even now, with a really crappy product, he's still making money.

Vince's screwjobs? Yeah, he screwed Bret Hart. That was a pretty ****ty thing to do. He screwed Inoki too. That doesn't make it right, but it's not like he screws the boys all the time. Most of his "misshandlings" assuming that you mean booking decisions can be attributed to Vince not being able to write TV as well as people like Patterson, Russo, Ferrara, Heyman, etc while he is also running the business side of the company. No one is better at the business side of wrestling than McMahon. No one.

Are you Ted Turner? Are you Eric Bischoff? If not, I don't see how you make a claim that WCW was yours.

[Slickster]

No one has mentioned that Gagne(r) legally bought the rights to the AWA name and titles during Verne Gagne's bankruptcy in 1996; legally speaking, it's the very same organization.

[BadNews]

uh, no, its not the same organisation. if i go to bankrupcy court and get me the Enron name and logo and then start a lightbulb factory called Enron with 6 underpaid hispanics, no one would consider it the same company as the Kenny Lay's Enron.
The only thing Gagner has got are bragging (i.e. promoting) rights to the name and logo. that's it and i think we've had this now 5 or 6 times.

[Tradewynd]

That has been previously brought up. Gagner claims he bought the rights from the court, not from Verne, so even if that is the case it would be pretty hard to take it seriously as having the same lineage as the AWA. If the WWE brought back the ECW Title since they bought the ECW promotion rights in bankruptcy court would you recognize it as the same title Shane Douglas created? Or the same one Jimmy Snuka won? Especially if Heyman said it was a bunch of crap(as he has already said it would be if WWE ever tried to bring ECW back)? Of course not. If he bought the rights from Verne, or had Verne's endorsement, that would be one thing. Falsely claiming to be a part of the Gagne family is only one of the many good reasons we make fun of him. There is no public record on Westlaw which confirms his story of buying the promotion rights from the bankruptcy court by the way. We taking his word on that one, which is probably not a wise thing to do. Tom Brandi knows what I'm talking about. The titles are not a legal asset, and were not under the jurisdiction of the bankruptcy court. It would therefore be impossible to buy rights to the AWA titles from the bankruptcy court, since the court does not have them to sell. The court probably just got Repo Man to sneak in at night and steal the physical belt, assuming Gagner even owns one of the official AWA belts. You can get a brand new one for less than 2 grand, and that's probably what he did, assuming that they even use a belt with the same design.

[Tradewynd]

Very sneaky timing there Badnews. Posting a reply while I'm typing mine and making some late night sushi and sake. But as it is, my meal simply tastes too good to let anything bring me down from this high.

I feel inspired. In honor of this momentous occasion, I move for permanently renaming AWA-Gager to AWA-Enron, since they have very similar standards for business ethics and have leadership at the highest levels of equal calibur.