David Penzer (WCW, TNA) On Formation Of The XWF (Sitting Ringside Volume 2)

1:

A New World

No matter what, he’ll never ever say it, so let me just say it – one time for the record. Jimmy Hart is one of the smartest guys ever to work in the professional wrestling business. That’s my opinion, of course – but if you ask anybody who’s ever worked with Jimmy closely, it may as well be considered as fact.

I got to see that firsthand back in WCW, and especially once Jimmy and I worked together (along with Tony Schiavone, Arn Anderson and a producer named Woody Kearce) on booking WCW Saturday Night, an experiment which began in the summer of ‘99. That experience allowed me a chance to prove my chops, so to speak – and to prove that I could be more than just a ring announcer. I don’t think Jimmy ever forgot it.

In fact, I know that Jimmy didn’t ever forget it, because even after WCW closed in March 2001, we kept in contact regularly (one of Jimmy’s defining characteristics – if you haven’t guessed it already – is loyalty). As 2001 progressed, we did some stuff together for Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler up in Memphis. We shared more than a few miles in Jimmy’s trusty SUV. We passed the time with road stories – and a shared commiseration on the state of the business.

As the weeks and months drew on, we started talking about something else too. It concerned the creation of a brand-new wrestling company – the first major promotion, potentially, in the post-WCW landscape.

At first, nobody outside a small circle of people knew very much about this possible new promotion. That speaks to another one of Jimmy’s personality traits, by the way – discretion. The ‘Mouth of the South’ is, in reality, extremely careful about what he says! Now granted, I had heard all the rumors around this potential new startup (and, as we’ll see later, the media picked up on it too), but initially, our conversations on the subject were pretty vague. It was basically along the lines of, ‘Hey, baby,’ – that’s Jimmy of course, addressing yours truly – ‘I may have something going on down here in Tampa…and I may have an opportunity to bring you in.’

In those early discussions, Jimmy was basically telling me, ‘Look, I can’t really say that much about it, baby – but I wanna let you know that I’m trying to work you in.’

Sure, I basically thought to myself.

I’ll believe it when I see it.

Now don’t get me wrong, it was nice to be given the possibility of something – and hearing it straight from Jimmy Hart definitely gave me hope. I trusted Jimmy implicitly, but let’s be honest – this is also the wrestling business. Just ask anybody who’s worked in wrestling about how many potential new companies were “close,” in some form or fashion, to launching over the course of time. In the Internet age, the typical rumor mills, message boards and dirtsheets were (seemingly) always speculating about a “millionaire,” “billionaire” and/or “major corporation” who apparently wanted to start something. Every other week, it sounded like someone was just on the verge of “challenging Vince” with an outrageous new upstart, often under the pretense of a better model for wrestling. For instance, it was not uncommon to read that “health insurance,” “frequent time off” and other such “benefits” would be lavishly provided – courtesy of one benevolent rich guy or another – with respect to the actual boys and girls who would make the thing work.

Even before WCW was sold, this kind of speculative-new-promotion-millionaire-billionaire hearsay was rampant. Since the summer of 2000, for example, the gossip went that the Fox network was looking to partner with Hulk Hogan on a new federation. Once WCW was actually sold, forget about it – the speculation went into overdrive.

“Several people from the wrestling world,” emphasized the Syracuse Post-Standard on April 23rd, 2001 – a month after the final episode of Monday Nitro – “are looking into forming new wrestling promotions to be televised.

“…there is no telling yet who will get a deal and what the future holds, but wrestling insiders predict a new promotion will be on the air within three to six months.”

To be sure, it was a whole new day in wrestling.

In fact, it was a whole new world.

—————

2001: A Wrestling Odyssey.

All of a sudden, the business was down to one major company on television – an unthinkable state of affairs just a few years prior. Already, it seemed like the business was very different from the glory days of the late ‘90s – and, in particular, the ‘Monday Night Wars’ which had made it so competitive. At one point, ECW (Extreme Championship Wrestling) had long functioned as a third destination for full-time employment in the business (while simultaneously becoming famous for its rabid, cult-like fanbase and, well, extreme content). ECW had operated on a much smaller level, but their top guys were said to be earning six figures in Philadelphia – that is, until their checks started bouncing. That’s another story for another day, but the important thing is this: as of 2001, the term ‘number two wrestling company’ was basically a contradiction in terms. Such a status didn’t really exist; WCW and ECW were both gone, and seemingly overnight, there were a lot of wrestlers looking for work.

After years of dreaming about this very same scenario, Vince McMahon had finally gained control over the entire American wrestling scene. Now sure, Japan was still an option for certain guys – and there were some other international developments which we’ll touch on later – but the independent circuit, comparatively speaking, was basically non-existent. No one was flying a couple dozen wrestlers to Chicago to put on an indy show, for example, or looking to air some version of that on pay-per-view. Those kinds of things just weren’t happening – and no one, quite frankly, could possibly envision them ever happening.

In 2024, the market for your top-tier independent talent – especially those coming off a hot run with WWE – is international in nature. Back in 2001, however, it was more of a regional kind of thing. If you were in the Atlanta area, as I was, you might get a couple local guys – maybe a Marcus Bagwell and a Mr. Wrestling II as your headliners – and then you’d fill the show with young guys looking to make a name.

Back then, most observers figured it would take years for anyone to challenge the WWF again – if ever – but the founders of the XWF had another thing in mind.

—————

Initially, the first rumors about what became the XWF were centered around Hulk – Jimmy’s real-life, dear, close, and personal long-time friend (shout out to ‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund on that one) – with Orlando’s Universal Studios as the launching pad. “Hulk Hogan is rumored to be working on a deal with Universal Studios in Florida,” wrote Dave Scherer in the New York Daily News on April 28th, “in which a wrestling company would be run out of the theme park.”

“A pro wrestling group that includes Hulk Hogan,” added a Trentonian report on May 13th, “are trying to work out some form of a deal with Universal Studios…to run a company that would be based out of Florida…some unconfirmed reports have claimed that Hogan is close to completing a deal with USA Network…to air TV shows of [the] new company.”

“Hogan was expected to meet with officials at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla., earlier this week,” gushed the Richmond Times-Dispatch on May 17th, “for further talks about a joint venture with a new wrestling promotion.”

A week later, further details – some of them pretty interesting in hindsight – emerged in the Times-Dispatch concerning the possible new venture:

A proposal by Hulk Hogan to bring professional wrestling to Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla., is taking a while to negotiate because it involves more than just a wrestling promotion, according to Hogan’s longtime friend and business associate Jimmy Hart.

“This is not one of those deals where you can just say, ‘OK, let’s start wrestling,’” Hart said recently by phone from his Florida home. “If that were the case, it would have already been done.”

The proposal, Hart said, involves opening an attraction at the theme park where children can get a behind-the-scenes look at wrestling and can learn how wrestling shows are put together. The instructional program would be narrated by Hogan, Hart said.

A second part would involve building a theme restaurant and the third would be to stage live wrestling shows at the park, Hart said.

“This is going to involve a major commitment on everybody’s part, and that’s why it’s taking so long,” Hart said.

Hart, who declined to identify others in the wrestling business who are working on the deal, said that, so far, officials at Universal have shown strong support for the proposal.

Hart denied reports that he and Hogan have negotiated with the USA Network for airtime for their proposed wrestling show. He also questioned Internet reports that USA was requiring a $30 million guarantee before it will commit to placing wrestling on its network.

“That’s the most outrageous thing I’ve ever heard,” Hart said. “We’ve never talked to USA, we have never talked to Fox, we have never talked to CBS. We have never talked to any of these people because we don’t have anything to talk about until we have our commitment like we want it.

“When that happens, then we’ll be able to pick up the phone and call wrestlers or networks or do whatever we want to do. But right now it’s just at the early stages. At each step we feel like we’re getting closer. I feel like we’re on third base now and heading for home. They’re excited, we’re excited. It’s just been a great experience for us.”

But, Hart said, anything could happen “where it could all go ‘poof.’”

“If that happens, then we’ll just regroup from there. At least they showed some interest,” Hart said. “They’ve spent a lot of money on research and looking into it – and that means more to us than anything.”

By June, Hart told the Sun Sentinel that “tentative plans” for the new group – including the involvement of Hulk and Randy Savage – were in place for a set of TV tapings, at Universal in Orlando, within two months. “What we want to do is prove to the whole world that when you’re over 40, you’re not dead,” Jimmy said. “If you’re over 40, they do not have to put you on the shelf. And we’ve found some good kids to mix in.”

“It looks like the WWF will have some competition after all,” confirmed Dan Gilles in Ohio’s Morning Journal on June 3rd. “[It’s] Hulk Hogan, brother.

“Hogan’s new wrestling venture (as of yet unnamed) will make its debut on Aug. 8 with three TV tapings from Universal Studios. Hogan, however, still does not have a TV deal locked up. The thinking is that he will use the tapings as a type of ‘pilot’ to show network heads during negotiations.”

Ultimately, August 8th came and went, with some outlets citing financial obstacles as the cause of the hold-up. “You’d need such a massive cash outlay in order to legitimately compete with the current [WWF] product on a competitive level,” highlighted Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer. “I don’t see that happening right now.”

“If I believed all the rumors I hear,” joked Jayson Bernstein, a WWF spokesperson, “[we’d] have half a dozen new promotions anytime now. There are plenty of companies who could back a new organization. We welcome competition.”

In comments given to the Orlando Sentinel, Jimmy reassured fans that the project was still underway. “The Hulkster and I are still in negotiations with Universal’s people,” he said, “[and we’re] going over some final details. We’ve got some very solid, experienced wrestling people in place, and we’re ready to go.”

By early September, Hulk was publicly signaling that the project, as previously indicated in the press, still required some financial backing. “Hogan, who has been hyping the promotion for several months,” wrote Mike Mooneyham on September 9th, “appears to be blowing smoke…in hopes of attracting some major money marks who are looking to part with their cash.”

By the end of September, the ‘Universal promotion’ was “all but dead,” wrote Mooneyham in his Post and Courier column, the proposal instead morphing into something a little different. “The Universal promotion that Hogan has been hyping the past several months reportedly has been picked up by longtime associate Jimmy Hart and former Nasty Boy Brian Knobbs. The group is tentatively being called the XWF, and TV tapings are [still being] planned at Universal in Orlando.”

“No one knows what the X stands for,” observed Dan Johnson in the Tallahassee Democrat, “[but the promotion] could begin television tapings [soon]. Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and other big names not currently in the WWF will appear.

“If the XWF gets off the ground, it would be great news for the WWF, which needs some competition to help keep its product fresh.”

October brought with it some concrete news – at long last. The XWF would debut at Universal Studios after all, fans were told, with 10 hours of tapings occurring between November 13th and 14th. The fledgling organization confirmed the relevant details in its inaugural press release:

Pro wrestling’s hottest stars of today, as well as the top talent of tomorrow, have joined forces to launch the XWF, a new pro wrestling league that promises to bring back all of the tradition, excitement and fan-friendly activities that seem to have been missing in recent years from one of America’s favorite pastimes.

…Among the ring superstars who have come aboard the XWF ship are Roddy Piper, The Nasty Boys, Rena (the former WWF Women’s Champion), Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Mean Gene Okerlund, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, Konan, Vampiro, the Road Warriors, The Demon, Curt Hennig and Buff Bagwell. Also on the XWF team are such all-time pro wrestling favorites as Jerry “The King” Lawler, “The Mouth of the South” Jimmy Hart and Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, plus announcers Tony Schiavone and David Penzer.

Looking to the future, the XWF has signed some of the top young talent from around the world, including 6’9”-360 lb. Hail, “The British Storm” Ian Harrison, European Giant Drezden, Puerto Rico’s Ray Gonzales, The Shane Twins, Kid Krash, Juventud Guerrera, Psychosis and Chris Daniels.

Upon the announcement, there appeared to be nothing but optimism surrounding the XWF, as reflected in an early internal document produced by the company:

The television landscape in professional wrestling has changed over the past year. WWF was airing on USA Network until September of 2000 when their weekly programming moved over to various channels owned by CBS/Viacom. This switch caused CBS/Viacom to terminate their agreement with ECW and leave ECW as a free agent to the marketplace. Due to ECW’s extreme programming model many cable broadcasters were not interested in acquiring the rights to that programming.

WCW programming aired on various channels owned by AOL/Time Warner through March 2001. At that time, AOL/Time Warner sold a majority of [the] assets of WCW to the WWF and ceased airing a wrestling television show on their networks.

The loss of WCW and ECW programming took an available level of 9 hours of prime time programming to 4 hours. It also caused a cumulative rating of over 13.1 for those programming [hours] to be reduced to a cumulative 7.2 rating. WWF, which believed that the loss of their competitors would have a huge positive impact on their ratings each week, have been extremely disappointed in those results. Their ratings have remained flat. This means that a large number of consumers are not interested in the programming provided by the WWF.

A new organization, such as XWF, has a huge potential based on our strategy to reach enormous ratings just by programming the wrestling show more in line with what consumers are starving for.

As with the famous saying, “build the show and they will come.”

Throughout the final years of WCW’s existence, various issues around the booking, politics, and backstage egos eventually spilled out onto the screen. In contrast, the XWF promised it would take a different tact. No more prima donnas, went the company slogan. No more politics.

The XWF is in your face!

—————

Okay, fact checking time. First off, let’s address the XWF name, an abbreviation commonly understood – and logically so, I guess – as standing for the Xtreme Wrestling Federation. As demonstrated in the case of ECW, ‘extreme’ was one of the buzzwords du jour – circa the late ‘90s and early 2000s – and on that basis alone, it certainly would have made sense.

Alternatively, you’ll sometimes read that the XWF abbreviation stood for the Xcitement Wrestling Federation, but originally – at the time the company was founded – that was never to be the case. To be clear, the ‘x’ was never supposed to represent ‘xtreme’, ‘xcitement’, or anything to that effect.

On the contrary, having the ‘x’ standing alone was a deliberate choice, partly to make people wonder what it stood for, and partly to be a little bit edgy – for lack of a better term. It didn’t come without controversy, however, as the WWF reportedly threatened legal action over the name. Supposedly, WWF officials were claiming that it was a cross between the WWF and the XFL, the football league it had started earlier in the year. In reality, I don’t think any of that was a conscious part of the thought process. The ‘x’ in XWF was simply meant to represent the missing variables from the wrestling scene at the time.

In other words, the ‘X’ Wrestling Federation was just that – the X Wrestling Federation.

You might think that’s stupid, by the way – and I wouldn’t necessarily blame you – but it’s simply the truth.

Next up, let me address the core cast of characters who were mainly involved in the XWF venture (hey: one of the many positives of this author gimmick is that I get to set the record straight on a few things). There’s been a lot of conjecture around who was a part of it all – and in what capacity – so let me lay it all out.

First, there was Kevin Harrington, an entrepreneur who ended up being one of the original panel members on Shark Tank. Kevin was renowned as being the inventor of the modern infomercial format (as well as the founder of ‘As Seen on TV’), having recognized, in 1985, an opportunity to utilize the so-called ‘dead air’ time on cable networks. As unlikely as it may seem, there was a contact between Kevin, Brian Knobbs, Randy Savage, and Greg Valentine, and although Randy went away at some point, Kevin then brought in some business partners.

One of those partners was Ludwell Denny (Lud Denny is what we called him), who looked exactly like Sam Kinison. He also acted exactly like Sam Kinison, strangely enough. In any event, Lud had made his fortune in the satellite business – India was his primary market – and he was tapped to be our Executive Chairman.

Now listen, Kevin was a great guy – very personable and very smart. He knew how to keep his distance when necessary, which was helpful in dealing with some of the out-of-control egos. I’m not necessarily talking about the boys, by the way. Quite frankly, Lud had an ego like few I’ve ever seen! Kevin also had a serious number of connections, and soon, he hooked up Knobbs and company with a guy out of Texas named Walter Frank.

Walter (a huge wrestling fan) was said to have a net wealth exceeding $100 million, and apparently, he was ready to invest some of it into making the XWF successful. Like Kevin, Walter had been a pioneer in his own field, spearheading TEC (Telephone Electronics Company) to become the largest independent phone company in America. By the time the XWF opportunity came around, Walter was actually in his seventies. I remember him being very quiet – a stark contrast from the Lud’s of the world.

John Flood was also brought in as the XWF’s President. John had served in the same role for NFL Properties (the marketing arm for the league), before leaving, in 1994, under acrimonious circumstances. The affair was detailed in a New York Times article of the time:

For the second time in six months, a president of National Football League Properties, the league’s licensing and sponsorship arm, is out of a job. John Flood, who replaced John Bello on Labor Day, was dismissed Friday for a personal investment in Pro-Set Press, the printing division of Houston-based Pro-Set, a trading card manufacturer that is an [NFL Properties] licensee.

Joe Brown, a league spokesman, said Flood made the investment through his own company in 1990 but never disclosed it to league management. At the time, he was the [NFL Properties] executive vice president and general counsel.

In terms of the administrative side of the business, some of the more prominent wrestling people included Jimmy, of course, Greg Valentine, Janie Engle, who had recently worked in WCW as Eric Bischoff’s assistant (and had a tenure dating back decades in the business), Jerry Sags, and the costume designer Sandra Gray.

At that time, I was known for my colorful bow ties and cummerbunds, but Sandra designed a custom black piece for the new XWF ring announcer: me! With that being said, my role in the XWF went far beyond ring announcing. Officially, I was hired as the Head of Talent Relations, but I ended up being a part of everything – including creative.

As for Hulk’s involvement? Well, you may have noticed that his name wasn’t included in the initial XWF press release, but as the first tapings drew closer, there was a big effort to get him involved. He was a free agent, sure – but from my standpoint, he was really kind of sheepish to commit to anything.

I don’t think Hulk wanted to do anything to tarnish his reputation, and he expressed that, in fact, within some private settings that I was privy to. There were a lot of talks, usually over a few beers, where it appeared Hulk was going back and forth on everything. Some days, Knobbs would come into the office and say, Alright, I had a great talk with Hulk last night, and other days, it would be more like, Yeah, I don’t think Hulk’s gonna do it.

It went on and on like this. Hulk flirted with them – they flirted back – and each side walked away at different points in time. During this process, it was reported that Hulk was (at least once) offered a stake in the XWF ownership. To my knowledge, there were definitely discussions about Hulk getting a piece of the action, but I don’t know if it was ever agreed upon. Ultimately, they arrived at a rough verbal outline of what Hulk would actually do: Okay, I’ll do a match, brother – but don’t put it on TV. I’ll cut a promo for TV instead.

Hulk wasn’t the only one taking a ‘wait and see’ approach. Kevin Nash and Scott Hall drove over to the office one day – they were both living in Daytona at the time – and they both seemed to like what we were doing. They wanted to possibly be involved – but only if our show got picked up by a network.

With the first tapings fast approaching, there were a lot of moving parts – and many still to be assembled.

—————

All of a sudden, my life had become very busy again. I’d fly into Tampa on Sunday nights, check in to the Marriott Hotel near the airport, and then wake up to start the work week on Monday. The XWF had this beautiful office on Rocky Pointe Drive – a picturesque location facing Tampa Bay – and I’d work out on the table from Monday to Friday. My salary, you ask? $1,000 a week.

Incidentally, I got my first XWF paycheck the week that my WCW severance ended! Should I be mad that I didn’t get to ‘double dip’, at least for one week? I’d rather keep a ‘glass half full’ perspective on that one.

Anyway, once it became clear that things were heating up, it was time for me to stop commuting from Atlanta every week – and time to start looking for a house. This was a pretty big deal for my wife Lisa and I – not to mention for both of our kids. We were really quite happy in Georgia, and we both had a great group of friends there. At the same time, my severance pay was running out – and obviously, I needed to make a living. In that sense, it was a no-brainer decision, really – if it was even a decision at all. We gathered everyone together for Thanksgiving and told the kids the news: We’re gonna be moving to Tampa.

Well, guess what? It didn’t exactly go over well, which probably won’t surprise anyone who’s had the ‘moving talk’ with their kids. We decided to tell them while eating at a restaurant, and Dillon, my son who was four at the time, responded with a defiant chant: We’re not moving! We’re not moving!

Nevertheless – and given that much of my family lived in South Florida – it seemed fitting to extend some invites for the holiday. We ended up bringing both of my parents, my 90-something-year-old grandmother, and my brother and sister all to Tampa, figuring we’d use the hotel as our base in the meantime.

That same week, Jerry Sags was having a big gathering of his own on the beach. It was set to take place at Jerry’s house near the Bay, which Dusty Rhodes – Jerry’s brother-in-law – actually had a piece of too. Somehow, Dusty heard that I wasn’t going to be home for Thanksgiving, and therefore, he decided to extend an invite of his own.

Hey, Dream, I said. I really appreciate the invite, but I got my mother, my father…my grandmother…my brother and sister all here right now…

I’ll never forget Dusty’s response.

Nobody I know, he said, spends Thanksgiving in a hotel.

Dusty demanded that I come – and that I bring my entire family with me. We ended up having an absolute blast!

I mean, come on – here’s this guy who’s one of the most well-known personalities in the state of Florida – and known all over the world – and he didn’t want me or my family to spend Thanksgiving in a hotel.

What can I say?

That was the Dream.

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I’ll never forget the process of officially moving to Tampa for the XWF. It quickly became the best moving experience that Lisa, the kids and I ever had, and not just because it was snowing in Atlanta when we left! In actual fact, the XWF paid to have the moving people come in, pack up our stuff, and then unpack it for us once we arrived in Tampa. Have you ever heard of something like that? It doesn’t happen much in the wrestling business – that I can promise you.

On the surface, it seemed like a promising omen of things to come.

Then again, I really didn’t know what to make of the XWF’s grand ambitions. Obviously, the immediate goal was to produce a pilot – and subsequently, get the company on television – and as such, I operated, like everyone else, under a certain set of assumptions. To put it plainly, I basically assumed that the money people had a place for the show to end up, or at least had something (or somewhere) sitting in their back pocket.

Now obviously, once the XWF secured a potential broadcast partner, they could leverage that opportunity to create a better opportunity – that’s just the nature of how these things work. Intuitively, it kind of made sense that if Kevin, Walter and the others were investing all of this money, it had to be based on something more than just hope alone.

This has to be going somewhere, I thought.

Right?

The above is an excerpt from Sitting Ringside, Volume 2: The XWF, TNA and Life After Wrestling. Order from Amazon or at http://DavidPenzerBook.com NOW!