Josh Spicer's Quick Rebookings

In shocking news, Time Warner has elected to cancel all WCW product on both TNT and TBS, in the wake of their impending merger with AOL in order to save cost in the coming year. Whilst Turner was altogether kind to WCW in their announcement, the sense of relief could be heard in the background.

But what does this mean for WCW? Whilst an announcement hasn't been shared yet from WCW sources, the rumor mill has been spinning. Time Warner has allowed WCW its broadcasting to last through the end of the year, including Starrcade, and the final two episodes of both Nitro and Thunder.

In addition, WCW itself will not be available for purchase from Time Warner until the final week of December. Many interested parties have come out of the woodwork looking to sweep in, including Disney, FOX, and even ECW owner Paul Heyman has expressed interest in a potential purchase, even if the likelihood of that is slim. The most noteworthy would have to be WWF, who, as we previously reported, earned the "right" to bid on WCW's assets earlier this year after the lawsuit between them was finally settled.

So now, in this final month of one of the most dominating wrestling companies in the last decade, the queston is on everyone's mind. What is the fate of WCW?

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There's a looming presence over WCW backstage. With their final PPV being broadcast tonight, it's almost melancholic, as Tony Schiavone, Mark Madden, and Scott Hudson open us up. They have been instructed to continue business as usual, even if Tony expresses a level of relief unheard of over the last year.

The night opened up with the triangle ladder match for a shot at the Cruiserweight Title, and after a stellar contest, 3 Count's Shane Helms and Shannon Moore worked the system by grabbing the contract up high.

The night  continued on with Lance Storm beating The Cat for the role of commissionership and Terry Funk beating Crowbar in an entertaining if not a bit rough match to win the Hardcore Title.

After a brief interlude with Buff Bagwell interviewing Luger backstage (which ended with Luger roughing up Buff), we went back to the ring where a match between Kronik and brothers Big Vito and Reno ended when the latter turned on the former, ending with a beatdown on Vito.

Awesome and Bigelow faced off in an Ambulance Match that ended prematurely when Awesome threw Bigelow off the vehicle in question. Bigelow arm looked in a bad way, and one chair shot to the dome was enough for Awesome to send him into the ambulance. Word in the back was that Bigelow's arm was for sure broken, but more word will be available once we receive it. EDIT: Bigelow did indeed have his arm broken after that nasty fall. He will be out of action for at least 6 months. An unfortunately dire end for Bam Bam's WCW career.

General Rection started off by ridiculing his recent MIA teammates, and after calling them out and abandoning them to become Hugh Morrus again, he faced off against Shane Douglas for his US Title. The match ended poorly when Rection's former running buddy, Lt. Loco, now referred to simply as Chavo Guerrero, cost him the match and earning Shane Douglas the US Title. The two left together with smiles on their faces.

The Bunkhouse Brawl was a nice affair, but afterwards, the story lied with Dustin Rhodes. He came out and informed the crowd that he was putting his name into the hat for a WCW Title shot, and was the first indication that things were truly coming to an end. Before he could complete his monologue though, Ric Flair came out and told him that if he wanted a WCW Title shot, he would have to wait in line. Flair mentioned he is evaluating all the roster members and figuring out the rightful challengers for the last three episodes on TV (leaving the final Thunder up in the air). After a bit of trading barbs, Flair left promising Dustin that if he can prove it, he'll earn a shot.

The Insiders team of Kevin Nash and DDP managed to defeated the team of Perfect Event, featuring Palumbo and Stasiak, winning the World Tag Team Titles. Afterwards, the Natural Born Thrillers seemed to have a breakdown, with Palumbo and O'Haire walking away as Shawn Stasiak, Mark Jindrak, and Mike Sanders were beaten down by The Insiders.

Goldberg and Luger then had a confrontation in a No Holds Barred Match that ended when Goldberg Speared Luger through a table. Afterwards, Lex took it to Goldberg when Buff Bagwell ran out to save him with a chair...before blasting Goldberg with it and forming an alliance with Luger.

The main event came and gone in an okay match between Steiner and Vicious. Steiner managed to beat down Vicious enough to make him pass out to the Steiner Recliner, keeping his WCW Title. But afterwards, Dustin Rhodes came out and started to brawl with Scott. Scott tried to flee, but Booker made his return to WCW. Booker and Scott brawled for a few moments, but Rick Steiner's return allowed Scott to flee, causing both Dustin and Booker to make them exit through the crowd. The lights went out, and when they came back on, Sting was seen in the rafters! All three of these men look like they want a shot at the WCW Title, and Ric Flair's smirk on the stage indicates that...that just might be what they get!

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#1 Cont. of the Cruiserweight Title

Shane Helms beat Shannon Moore

Hardcore Title

Terry Funk (C) beat Meng

Winner Faces WCW Champion on Thunder, Loser on Nitro Next Week

Dustin Rhodes beat Booker T

Shane Douglas and Chavo Guerrero beat Filthy Animals with Konnan and Tygress

Ernest Miller with Ms. Jones beat Alex Wright

Ernest Miller with Ms. Jones beat Buff Bagwell with Lex Luger

Mike Awesome beat Ernest Miller with Ms. Jones

World Heavyweight Title

Scott Steiner (C) with Midajah beat Sting

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Hugh Morrus and 3 Count beat The Wall, Lash LeRoux, and Evan Karagias

#1 Cont. of the World Tag Team Titles in a Battle Royal

The match was won by O'Haire and Palumbo, labeled as Natural Born Thrillers. They last eliminated the team of Stasiak and Jindrak. Afterwards, Nash and DDP saved them from a beatdown.

Konnan with Tygress beat Elix Skipper

Hardcore Title

Terry Funk (C) beat Mike Awesome with Lance Storm

Goldberg beat Reno with Kronik

World Heavyweight Title

Scott Steiner (C) with Midajah beat Dustin Rhodes

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On this beautiful Christmas Eve, it is almost poetic, ironic, or down right cruel depending on how you look at it, that the news has broken of the seemingly inevitable.

As of midnight on Tuesday, WCW will officially be bought by the WWF.

What this means of WCW following Monday and heading into the final broadcast by WCW on Thunder later this week, we do not know. What we DO know is that Monday Night Wars are over. On the turn of the millennium, we'll be down to just one wrestling company on TV in the form of the WWF.

It's been a wild ride over the last half of the decade, but WCW and everything associated with it, will be out of business for good.

We'll update you more as more official news comes in.

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On a special Christmas edition of Nitro, what was originally planned as a year-recap has been instead replaced with a Clash of the Champions special. With this Monday being the final evening before WCW is bought by WWF, Time Warner and TNT have thrown WCW one last bone in the form of a broadcast airing until midnight (or 11:55, technically Eastern, technically).

This four hour broadcast will be the final of its kind for WCW.

The first hour will serve as the official year-in review, with Tony Schaivone and Mike Tenay hosting it in-ring as fans start to pile in to this unplanned, impromptu show in the Turner Studios. Both men are melancholic about things, with Tony Schiavone seemingly almost pleased with what's happened.

At the start of the second hour, the matches begin.

Tag for the US and Cruiserweight Titles

Hugh Morrus and Shane Helms beat Shane Douglas (US C) and Chavo Guerrero (Cruiser. C)

WCW Commissionership in a Street Fight

Ernest Miller and Elix Skipper with Miss Jones beat Lance Storm and Mike Awesome

World Tag Team Titles

Natural Born Thrillers beat The Insiders (C)

A match was announced between Sting and Ric Flair later tonight. As the third hour begins, the WCW Title match occurs.

World Heavyweight Title

Booker T beat Scott Steiner (C) with Midajah

Dusty Rhodes comes out to the ring, accompanying his son, and giving something of a eulogy for WCW. He is interrupted by Jeff Jarrett and the Harris Brothers. who challenge him and his son to a match. The Rhodes promise to get a partner for the top of the next hour.

Filthy Animals with Tygress beat Mark Jindrak, Shawn Stasiak, and Mike Sanders when Jindrak and Stasiak abandoned Sanders to his fate.

Big Vito beat Reno with Kronik after Vito paid Kronik more to abandon Reno

The start of the final hour for WCW begins with the match mentioned earlier.

Dustin Rhodes, Dusty Rhodes, and Sid Vicious beat Jeff Jarrett and The Harris Brothers

From there, Tony Schiavone takes a few moments to mention how he has been there for WCW, and is honest in a worked shoot moment about how he feels for WCW. He leaves things by letting everyone know that he's relieved the ride is over, but is sad that this was how it ended.

Hardcore Title in a Four Corners Match

Meng beat Terry Funk (C), Crowbar with Daffney, and Norman Smiley

Goldberg beat Totally Buffed

The next ten minutes are just various words being spoken by WCW talent, both on-screen and off-screen about their thoughts on WCW. A lot of them are positive as they look back down memory lane, but some of them are relieved (Kevin Nash and Ric Flair are two of the biggest detractors of their time in WCW).

From there, with roughly fifteen minutes left in the broadcast, we get a surprise promo from Sting, who doesn't assure the audience of his fate, but lets them know that "the only thing for sure about Sting...is nothing's for sure. IT'S SHOWTIME, FOLKS!"

Sting beat Ric Flair

Afterwards, Flair and Sting shook hands and hugged in the ring. Arn Anderson came out and shared in the love, and the rest of the remaining WCW roster came out as well, with the final shot of the final WCW broadcast being Sting and Flair surrounded by confetti and the WCW roster.

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It's been a wild ride, but following the final episode of Thunder being a two-hour "Best of WCW" edition (ending with the iconic shot of Flair and Sting from the last episode of Nitro), WCW has officially closed its doors, being bought by the WWF.

We don't know much, but we can confirm that following contracts were picked up by WWF in the purchase.

- Booker T (the WCW World Champion)

- Diamond Dallas Page

- Buff Bagwell

- Meng (the WCW Hardcore Champion, whose contract was up in a couple weeks anyway)

These three names are the biggest three that we know of who accepted buy-outs from their guaratneed Time Warner contracts.

The following names were purchased from WCW/Time Warner.

- Team Canada (Lance Storm and Mike Awesome)

- Natural Born Thillers (Sean O'Haire and Chuck Palumbo) (the WCW Tag Champions)

- Hugh Morrus (the WCW US Champion)

- Big Vito and Reno, also Johnny the Bull who had yet to debut on screen

- Mark Jindrak and Shawn Stasiak

- Mike Sanders

- Kwee Wee and Jason Jett

- Lash Leroux

- 3 Count (Shannon Moore and WCW Cruiserweight Champion Shane Helms)

- Evan Karagias

- Jamie Noble

- Chavo Guerrero Jr.

- Of the Filthy Animals, Billy Kidman is the only one bought.

- Kronik (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark)

- Stacey Kiebler and Torie Wilson

The following wrestlers reportedly had guaranteed Time Warner refused to accept. Time Warner paid them double, reportedly, to keep.

- Ric Flair (reportedly due to his lawsuit with WCW and Eric Bischoff)

- Kevin Nash (reportedly due to his disparaging remarks against Time Warner on the last episode of Nitro and publicly afterwards)

- Rick Steiner and Lex Luger (reportedly due to Time Warner being believing they were a "scab" for WWF)

EDIT: It is worth noting that of the above names, Luger, Nash, and Flair would successfully sue Time Warner for their decision to break their contract.

The following wrestlers did not accept buyouts from the WWF and would remain on their Time Warner contracts.

- Scott Hall

- Hulk Hogan

- Goldberg

- Rey Mysterio Jr.

- Scott Steiner

The following wrestlers were outright "refused" by WWF despite some of them being open to returning.

- Randy Savage

- Jeff Jarrett

- Shane Douglas

- The Wall

- Vampiro

- Disco Inferno

A few of those are obvious (Savage, Jarrett, and Douglas), but the latter three are interesting choices.

One other thing worth nothing is that Konnan's contract with WCW was termutuous at best. Following the purcahse of WCW, his contract seemingly was "obsolete", according to our sources. Konnan refused to comment when asked, and has publicly lambasted WWF, WCW, and Time Warner in the last few days.

We'll update you more as we receve word in the following weeks.

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NOTES: I am not using TEW or EWR for this. This is all gonna be written by me as an experiment. I've fudged reality a good bit to make things work as I think they'll be, but I've been thinking hard on it the last few days and decided to just...do it.

This'll probably be the most ambitious rebooking I've done yet, even as the shadow of my main rebooking canon looms over me lol

Next post will be the Royal Rumble as we get things started off.

If it gets big enough, I'll start a new thread just for it.