“Hey, Vince, do you have a minute?” asked Tony.
“For you – I have all day. What is it?”
“You know, Vince, I was just thinking as you went over the show – what if – David Arquette won that tag team match and became the WCW World Heavyweight Champion?”
And, Tony said it just like that. Almost nonchalantly.
I can clearly remember being so taken off guard by Tony’s “what if”. When I was writing the show – that idea had just never crossed my mind. Not even for a second. And, at that moment, that was the appeal to me. If I had never even thought about it, what about the audience? Nobody in their right mind would ever see that coming.
Then my mind began to go. Well, it “could” work, being that Eric Bischoff is in the match, and if David pinned Bischoff by way of a fluke, he wasn’t beating one of our wrestlers. That’s doable and believable, I thought. Then I went on – this would surely bring us main stream press which the company badly needed at the time. And, with David loving the business the way he does – he’d take that belt EVERYWHERE! Even The Tonight Show, I thought.
I remember cutting my thoughts short because Tony was there waiting for my reply. At that point I turned to Tony and said, “Bro, I never even thought of that; it never even crossed my mind. And THAT’S what I like about it!” I then suggested to Tony that we call all the agents back into the room, including Eric Bischoff, who was President of TNT/TBS Brad Siegel’s appointed WCW consultant at the time, and bounce the idea off them.
From there, we quickly gathered everybody back in the room, and I threw Tony’s suggestion out there. Everybody pondered it, and we discussed it back and forth. By the time we were done talking, it was unanimous – we were going to shock everybody and put the belt on David Arquette by way of pinfall over Eric Bischoff. Nobody in that room voiced an opposing opinion – NOBODY. So, with everybody now on the same page, we all went back to work.
That night, David Arquette won the WCW World Title by pinning Eric Bischoff in a tag team match. I went to bed that night, and trust me – nothing was different. It was just another night, after another show.
The next morning I went down to the front desk and grabbed a copy of the USA Today, like I always did. On the cover of the paper was a picture of David Arquette pinning Eric Bischoff and becoming the WCW World Champion. I never expected that. Later that week, when back in Atlanta, I heard from David. He told me that his wife Courtney was shooting a movie with Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell, and that they agreed to shoot a video for us with the WCW World Title. I told David that I thought that was a great idea, but one I didn’t think we could afford at the time. David said, “No, Vince. No charge. They’ll do it for free.” Wow! Again, I wasn’t expecting that.
By the time we got to the next TV tapings, there was nothing different – just business as usual. David Arquette was the WCW World Champion, and I wrote the most entertaining television that I could around it, knowing that it was going to be short-lived due to it being nothing more than a publicity stunt…that worked well beyond my wildest imagination.
Honestly, I can’t even remember how long David held the belt for. I know it was only a matter of weeks, but during that time, in David’s mind, he was the greatest WCW World Champion of all-time. And, how beneficial it was to actually have a professional actor getting our story – and our World Title – over.
So that’s it. That’s how it went down.
You can love it or hate it – we are all entitled to our opinions. The one thing though that I don’t think anyone can deny, is that 15 years later, people are still talking about it. Is anybody talking about this week’s RAW even two days after it aired? Think about that.
Wrestling is all about what will get the people talking, and unfortunately. to this very day, it seems the majority would rather talk about an actor winning the WCW World Title on April 26, 2000, than who is going to win between Lesnar and Cena this Sunday night.
Tweet me your thoughts @PyroBallyhoo – just please be respectful. Use the hashtag #RussoRoadStories so I can find them quicker.
Be sure to check out past volumes of “Russo’s Road Stories” by CLICKING HERE!
