“Kevin Sullivan and the End of WCW” from Kayfabe Commentaries is one of the more intriguing shoot interview DVD’s in recent memory thanks to the candid testimony from the Taskmaster himself regarding his notorious tenure as booker from January to March of 2000. It is uniquely fascinating to observe Sullivan as he discusses and dissects the day-to-day disintegration of WCW to levels of absurdity not seen outside of a cheesy 80s sitcom. In light of the rather esoteric nature of these subjects, the producers presuppose the viewer’s familiarity with the timeline and characters involved (although some might want a list of supplemental reading) but also try to keep things easy to follow by focusing on specific dates and events rather than more general observations. Cleaning up the mess left by Vince Russo after he was ousted at the end of ’99 is almost the wrestling equivalent of the “Kobayashi Maru” no-win scenario from Star Trek 2. Under the best conditions Sullivan had a thankless job, but taking over days before a PPV and without a World Champion required him to make several critical decisions immediately. Imagine WCW as a football team. The weekend of a playoff game the starting QB suffers an injury and the team fires its head coach. When the interim coach is named, half of the team’s starting lineup tries to quit in protest, including the backup QB. This was the quandary Sullivan faced when over a dozen wrestlers asked to be released within 48 hours of his installation as booker, including the man he intended to win the vacant Heavyweight title – Chris Benoit. Sullivan says that despite overwhelming opposition, he was steadfast in decision to have Benoit end up with the belt. However, he also asserts that he explicitly instructed Sid to have his foot under the bottom rope when submitting and thus provide a way to justify holding up the title yet again in case Benoit followed through on his demand to be released, which he did. It’s mesmerizing to hear Sullivan so casually relate Benoit’s role in all of this because of, well you know. Obviously, no one would begrudge Sullivan an opportunity to address his feelings on the death of his ex-wife, but hopefully the continued picking over of WCW’s fossilized remains is morbid enough for everyone.
Aside from all the injuries and talent departures compounding an already complicated situation were even more mind-boggling circumstances to contend with. A case in point is Sullivan’s account of how more than one of the Luchadores claiming an injury (including some with pending lawsuits alleging discrimination against WCW) was receiving his salary while unbeknownst to the office secretly moonlighting at shows in Tijuana. Factor in Hogan’s vaunted “Creative Control” as well as restrictions on the number of dates some of the top talent could be used and Sullivan’s job became exponentially more difficult.
That’s Sullivan’s point of view, but to those who actually watched the increasingly atrocious shows, this phase marked the absolute low point in the gradual demise of WCW. No matter the reasons, rarely did anything even resembling a good program come from this period. Essentially, Sullivan was left holding the bag of sh*t and unfortunately slipped in it on several occasions. And for anyone with lingering doubts, two words – The Dog. Infantile and convoluted angles, oldsters sucking up more airtime and money and political, personal and corporate conflicts caused an even further implosion of the promotion and stand as the hallmarks of Sullivan’s regime.
Sullivan does relate some obscure facts and entertaining anecdotes of varying levels of believability. For instance, how many people knew Teddy Long once worked for James Brown as his on-stage “valet” (otherwise known as the guy who puts the cape over him)? He also claims that Brown wasn’t paid for his surprise emergence at Superbrawl 2000 and that the reason it wasn’t advertised was due to him having no-showed numerous earlier planned appearances. Far more noteworthy are his insinuations of collusion between Brad Siegel and Vince McMahon to enable WWE’s acquisition of WCW and its extensive tape library for such a paltry sum. Regardless of the merit of this conspiracy theory, like the majority of this interview it’s definitely food for thought.
This isn’t a release for the casual fan but is nonetheless an informative and attention-grabbing examination of arguably the most chaotic stage of WCW’s front office free-for-all. You won’t find much in the way of tabloid backstage gossip, but instead an insightful and unapologetic take on the often bizarre series of events that was WCW’s final 18 months. If you can get by Sullivan’s obtuse metaphors and know enough to take some of his statements with a grain of salt, then you should enjoy this debriefing on what is still considered one of most infamous chapters in the Monday Night Wars.