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| Posted By | Discussion Topic: ECW going away again? | ||||
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| Hello! Hello! Diamond Dust! Hello! | posted on 07-14-2001 @ 5:14 PM |    | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Feb. 01  | From wrestlingobserver.com, which explains it better than 1wrestling.com, WHICH BROKE THE FRIGGIN' STORY: Bob Ryder at http://www.1wrestling.com/news/newsline.asp?news=4813 reported earlier today that the WWF has been told to retract statements made on television this past week indicating Stephanie McMahon's ownership of ECW. The story quoted a source close to the trustee handling the ECW Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings in the Southern District of New York. The story claimed no ECW assets have been purchased by the WWF and the court had no prior knowledge ECW trademarks would be used. Not only was the term ECW used as part of an angle, but the ECW insignia was used, their music was played and t-shirts with the logo were worn by all of the wrestlers on the ECW team. The irony to all this is this was a copy of the NWO angle in many ways, which WWF sued WCW for and eventually settled with them out of court. In that case, while one could say WCW may have never specifically the first few weeks of TV indicated that Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were not representing WWF, which was sort of alluded to on television without being said (and said more specifically on the WCW Hotline for a week before Hall & Nash & Eric Bischoff specifically made clear on television they were not representing the WWF). In this case, the term ECW was specifically said, talked about being purchased, while would leave the debtors which $7.5 million wanting to collect their money from the supposed new owner. Even as an angle and not reality of a purchase, the trademarks, currently the property of the bankruptcy court, and the name, were being used. It's almost inconceivable to me the WWF would do this without taking the proper steps if only because the company was on the other side of a legal case that was, if anything, less blatant. WWF officials were told not to comment on the legal situation other than say that ECW was mentioned on television as part of a fictional storyline. You know Vince might just end up cleaning HEYMAN'S GARBAGE, pay off HIS debts of $7 million (reprtedly the same as he paid for WCW!) and then be free to use it. Man, if THAT happens, and Vince does Paul this ONE favor to save the WWF's ass, Heyman's fired FIRST time HE fucks up, GAURANTEED! HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLO! | ||||
| Sir Okonkwo | posted on 07-14-2001 @ 6:31 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Jun. 01 | quote: OK, clue time. Yes, Bob Ryder was the first from the "major" wrestling sites to report this. However, if not for the fact that he is kissing Eric Bischoff's ass (undoubtedly trying to get back into the business if/when his promotion starts), or the fact that he is a creditor himself, one has to wonder if he ever would have opened his mouth in the first place. This subject has been discussed extensively over the past week at The Other Arena message board and the A1wrestling message board. Basically, Frank "BostonIdol" Jewitt, John D. Williams, and Bob Barnett did all the research on this story, which Ryder took and NEVER gave them any credit. The original post from Jewitt and Williams concerning ECW's bankruptcy, dated April 10, 2001, can be found HERE. Now that that's out of the way, Vince McMahon and Paul Heyman have really gotten themselves in some deep shit. Basically, ECW is no more, and the assets previously owned by HHG Corporation (ECW's parent company) are still yet to be divided up among their various creditors (which include WWFE and Paul Heyman's parents, among others). Sure, they could just outright buy out all of HHG's assets, but that is a process that could take years, and the damage has already been done to the creditors. I posted a cryptic message on this board on Tuesday, and just now things are being made "public," if you will. This could get very ugly, very soon.  | ||||
| Hello! Hello! Diamond Dust! Hello! | posted on 07-14-2001 @ 6:34 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Feb. 01 | OK, Sir, I'll take your word for it. I just was under the impression that this was the case judging from BOTH websites. Blame 1wrestling.com for being dicks and not reporting where they got the news from (a pretty lowly thing to do if it is true), not me, though. And I've already stated that Bob Ryder sucks ass and Scherer is the only one worth shit on that site, so you don't have to tell me about Bob. If I were Vince, I'd just pay the creditors. I know he's been cheap with WCW wrestlers lately, but that's just not to piss off the WWF guys already there that are locked in to contracts that are lower, not necessarily because he is cheap, so I feel that Vince might be willing to spend the money if he thinks he will get good money back due to revenue, and I think he will because I see MONEY in this WCW/ECW invasion. I'm not a business expert, but I can't see how getting the ECW trademark wouldn't be worth it. If booked properly, this angle will make all kinds of money and make up the $7 million easy. They've already botched the WCW-only invasion angle, so there is good reason to believe they've learned from their mistakes (as shown by clearly making WCW heel and WWF face, as opposed to the confusion in prior weeks), and so they should end up booking this angle well. If that's the case, the moolah is worth it and he should cough it up. I mean, he got WCW for so cheap ($7 mil for a company that made a $100 million profit in 1997? I know they fucked things up at the end, but damn!), so if the same amount for ECW is overpaying, then it evens it out. I have a feeling that in the end, Vince will suck it up, pay the cash and the Invasion can continue. HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLO! | ||||
| Sir Okonkwo | posted on 07-14-2001 @ 7:37 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Jun. 01 | I wasn't blaming you for anything. I just thought I'd throw some facts and references out there, and take the opportunity to bash Bob Ryder a little (which is like shooting fish in a barrel).;) As for Vince buying the ECW trademarks and paying off the creditors, it's a very tricky situation. I'm not a lawyer (the aforementioned Bob Barnett and John D. Williams are), so I can't really go too in depth, but basically, Paul Heyman's shady business practices still leave a lot of questions as to the value of ECW's trademarks and money owed to various creditors. Like I said before, it is a process that could take years to sort out, and can not be solved by Vince McMahon simply writing a check. At the crux of the situation, though, is the fact that Vince has backed himself into a corner now. He could have avoided all of this by buying ECW before they filed for bankruptcy, but he didn't see it as being a viable investment at the time. Now that he may, it could be too late. Now he has the option of retracting the ECW storyline entirely, which would royally piss off a good number of his fans, or continuing on with it as planned, which could have serious legal ramifications. Either way, it's a no-win situation. | ||||
| Hello! Hello! Diamond Dust! Hello! | posted on 07-17-2001 @ 9:37 AM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Feb. 01 | Just a follow up, although I'm not sure anyone but myself and Sir care, 411wrestling.com's Chris Hyatte (he does dick jokes AND the news, truly versatile) is reporting that a whole bunch of other sites and some lawyers he knows are telling him that the WWF is the biggest creditor outside of Acclaim in this whole mess! That's right, the WWF is a major creditor! Combined with reports that WWF sources are saying Vince DID check on how he could use the ECW trademark legally before using it last week and, not surprisingly, Mr. Ryder and all these creditor's claims are beginning to look bad, if you ask me. Looks like the WWF didn't fuck up too bad after all. I mean, by being a creditor themselves, it's gotta help them in a court case, if it goes that far, for sure. And it wouldn't surprise me this ends up being Much Ado About Nothing. HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLO! This message was edited by Hello! Hello! Diamond Dust! Hello! on 7-17-01 @ 9:43 AM | ||||
| TeenWeek what's a status? | posted on 07-17-2001 @ 9:49 AM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Oct. 00 | I read on one of the wrestling sites that it looks like it might be known as WECW. World Extreme Championship Wrestling. Possibly at Smackdown or after the PPV. | ||||
| skitchr4u G.O.O.F.B.A.H.G.S. Xtreme Skiing Assualt Force | posted on 07-17-2001 @ 12:01 PM | | |||
| O&A Board Regular Registered: Dec. 00 | Hello and Sir...you guys are really into digging, that i give you credit for! Personally I would love to see vince buy up ecw so that he owns the entire US wrestling library from the past bazillion or so years. Could you imagine the videos and dvd's he could put out with the hours of video tape from the ecw stars that went to the wwf and wcw? A real tribute to benoit or jericho or foley. That would be a dream for me!! AIM: SkiT4you First Member of the JWO | ||||
| Sir Okonkwo | posted on 07-18-2001 @ 3:08 AM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Jun. 01 | quote: In my case, that's due to WAY too much free time.:):) But I also find the whole situation fascinating. To address a few points for those who care: It is true that WWFE is one of the major creditors. So is Paul Heyman's dad. However, this is meaningless. Right now, all of HHG's assets (including trademarks and copyrights) are legally in the hands of a trustee. Any use of these assets at this point, legally, needs to go through the trustee and the bankruptcy judge. In essence, WWFE is "jumping the courts," which in the end, will most likely damage them financially. Bob Ryder is a creditor, too, and if you go to www.ecwwrestling.com, you'll see how he too may be hurt by this ::Bob Ryder's a fucking scumbag::. And, Paul Heyman's initial petiton to the bankruptcy court did not include ECW's trademarks as assets, this is true. Paul Heyman may be in some serious deep shit for this. The fact is, trademarks ARE assets (intellectual property), and if WWFE is ignorant to this fact, and if they are guilty of infringement, really is up to the judge. To address TeenWeek's post, if they call themselves WECW, or any bastardization thereof, is meaningless at this point. WWFE has already gained from the use of HHG's trademarks. It is up to the courts to decide how much they've gained, and how much the various creditors deserve from this. Skitchr4u: In the end, WWFE most likely will own ECW's video library, trademarks, etc. The main questions are a) when and b) how much will it cost them. They could've bought out ECW when they had the chance, but they didn't. Now, I bet Vince wishes he did. Again, I am just repeating what has been told to me by John D. Williams, Bob Barnett, and Frank Jewett. I take credit for nothing. | ||||
| Hello! Hello! Diamond Dust! Hello! | posted on 07-18-2001 @ 1:26 PM | | |||
| Psychopath Registered: Feb. 01 | quote: Heh, well, Sir, speak for yourself. All MY digging is due to, uh, well, uh, heh heh, ok it's due to too much free time, too :) Actually, I probably spend as much time on the net as anyone, I just only spend about half and hour digging for porn and spend the other half on this site and looking at wrestling sites. Hey, wait, doesn't taking time out of checking out porn for WRESTLING make me MORE of a loser???????? HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLO! | ||||
Displaying 1-9 of 9 messages in this thread. |