Billionaire Ted's "Wrasslin' Warroom" | War Stories

It takes a lot for WWE to acknowledge an existing competitor on their airwaves, but WCW's early success, along with relentless prodding from Eric Bischoff, showed the previously-unchallenged World Wrestling Federation that they were in a very real fight for first place. In fact, it led to Vince McMahon allocating space on his weekly programs solely to fire back at WCW...
Enter Billionaire Ted and his "Wrasslin' Warroom".
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Cultaholic provides video coverage of professional wrestling - including WWE (including WWE Raw, WWE SmackDown, NXT and 205 Live), AEW, IMPACT Wrestling (formerly TNA), NJPW, ROH, and more with daily news updates, reviews, lists, highlights, predictions, reactions, podcasts and much, much more.

[@wilsonchadbenitez3021]

This is one of my favorite cultaholic series. Sam is a serious voiceover

[@joshportie]

Randy had a legitimate argument. As he hadn't betrayed the WWF/WWE. They stuck him on the commentary and thought he was too old. Macho wasn't booked well with Hogan trying to steal his shine and the WWE shelving him when he was still very much over and could wrestle. I mean he was no Duke the dumpster or Moe. And he didn't have the explosive charisma of a Steve Blackman or a Prince Albert but he was still good....

[@MrBeardsley]

Savage had also gotten Vince’s personal word that they wouldn’t try to bury him after he left, so he saw the sketches as a personal betrayal and they were the main reason he refused to do business with WWE for years after he left WCW.

[@michaelsinger4638]

The irony being that Savage was around the same age then as guys like Brock and Lashley are now. And the latter two are main event guys in WWE today.

[@MovieEnvy]

Ah it’s pronounced Mo. You need more OSW in your life.

[@themexicankitchen]

Long Live The Macho Man

[@fattiger6957]

Exactly. Macho knew he still had worth as a in-ring worker while Vince never really appreciated him. Good on Randy for 'jumping ship' to somewhere where he could still be a star.

[@justjoe1811]

"WWE's minimalistic approach not to give away too much" Some things never change.

[@peterjohnjoseph]

Really? From what I've seen the last 15-20 years they blow-off feuds on tv 5 times, in 5 different ways before going for a final "blowoff" on PPV that just leads to more blow-offs on tv the next week until they forget it ever happened and do it with the next feud.

[@justjoe1811]

@@peterjohnjoseph Well, mid card feuds mostly. And those blow offs on TV end so awfully (via DQ, countout and whatever), that you barely even care for a proper ending on PPV any more.

[@dazda123]

And they gave away over 80 wrestlers in less than 12 months... more including other other staff! So in that sense WWE has given away plenty... especially to AEW... much to their mid to lower cards demise!

[@jaylucien669]

Yep every time they don't have serious competition, Vince always goes back to his bland and boring PG rated vision.

[@fattiger6957]

This is very ironic in hindsight considering WWE is now using 50+ year old part-timers to fill out their main event.

[@DeckyStrikesBack]

War Stories is the Songs Of Praise on a Sunday night for this generation.

[@MentalLiberation]

Preach!

[@adrianofgold]

Aled Jones to host these videos

[@michaelsinger4638]

This was so petty on Vince’s part. And ironically he’s doing much the same thing these days that he accused Ted Turner of doing back the .

[@WSK9002]

I don't know much about the second part of what you stated, but I concur about the Pettiness.

[@michaelsinger4638]

Basically Vince liked to mock WCW for not building new stars and instead relying on the same older talent constantly. He’s doing the same thing these days.

[@therelease7083]

@@michaelsinger4638 For sure ,it's so saturated right now. Just older stars randomly coming back,because the Main event title scene is repetitive. It's Brock,Reigns,Drew,Lashley along with Goldberg for 3 months of every year.

[@fattiger6957]

And trying to screw with the Turner/Warner merger sounds an awful lot like WWE's recent attempts to smear AEW in the press in the hopes sponsors will abandon them. Also taking the moral high ground on steroids sounds like their recent letter about AEW's bloody woman's match.

[@breazy832]

Still funny

[@ghastlyanarchy1720]

"...Colourless, formulaic, Raw..." Funny how that can be said about Raw, Smackdown, and (ironically) NXT. The more things change the more they stay the same.

[@WSK9002]

To be fair, all pro wrestling shows all become formula even the Original ECW towards the end.

[@royshaheer]

At least there were other factors that kept you hooked up to a particular product. NXT was once that until its recent iteration.

[@ghastlyanarchy1720]

Indeeds, despite that fact that all promotions do get into the same old formula and such, they have other factors to keep one invested. WWE today has nothing to keep anyone really invested, in my opinion that is.

[@KruelAidMan]

@@WSK9002 lel you never once watched _Hardcore TV_

[@GodlessScummer]

@@KruelAidMan he maybe talking about the TNN show.

[@saintrocketIX]

Brock Lesnar is 44 years old. Hulk Hogan was 43 when the Billionaire Ted skits aired.

[@fattiger6957]

What's Goldberg, 53, 55?

[@donovanch462]

Soon to 56 lol

[@polskasausage762]

I knew Vince was petty , but watching this video I've seen toddlers that are more grown up than VKM

[@killingragethrowback]

I get that Bishoff started this, but man, is Vince mean spirited.

[@penguinsfan251]

Not really. McMahon started it in the early 1980s. McMahon ran almost every other promotion out of business and made himself millions...a combination of vision with an intense desire to destroy anyone and everyone who got in his way. Hypocrisy was an effective tool in his toolbox. Bischoff teamed with Turner to rub Mahon's nose in it. What really killed WCW was TBS/TNT being bought out by AOL. The guy put in charge of programming hated wrestling and wanted it gone. He was an AOL guy. That was one loser company.

[@PlatinumRoseLady]

This whole debacle went from parody to straight-up character assassination. It started off kind of "ouch, but that was kinda funny" to "oh man, THAT'S gonna get them in trouble".

[@fattiger6957]

If Vince kept going, WWF probably would have ended up getting sued and possibly punished by the FTC. Trying to screw with a multi-billion dollar corporate merger is not something to be taken lightly.

[@DasNordlicht91]

The difference between the first skit making fun of Hogan and Savage’s ages and the last skit outright going out of its way to depict Ted Turner as an unfeeling monster out to take over all cable and destroy the underdog WWF is stark.

[@MentalLiberation]

Oh man, the hindsight on these skits is something else. And the funny thing is, when I first saw these I figured this was the first time Vince McMahon and Ted Turner had issues with each other in regards to wrestling. Then I heard about Black Saturday in 1984. That said, there were some pretty low blows going on here

[@fattiger6957]

I think Vince was obsessed with Turner while Ted was busy running his multi-media empire. IMO, Vince resented Turner so much because Vince wanted to be what Turner was: a media mogul with his hands in many pots. That's why Vince has always spent his wrestling money trying to expand to new ventures (and failing)

[@MrBeardsley]

These sketches were so baffling to me as a kid. Even back then I thought all the sniping back and forth between Raw and Nitro just made both companies look bad.

[@pygmalionxxx]

It did. :(

[@artvandelay8767]

I never understood why Vince went after Ted Turner, when Eric Bishoff was the talking all that shit. Turner was just the money, Eric was the one in charge.

[@fattiger6957]

Vince was obsessed with Turner because he secretly wanted to be Turner. Vince always dreamed of being a multimedia mogul, but was always stuck with wrestling (a business he inherited) Just look at all of Vince's failed ventures outside of wrestling. I think Vince's envy turned into resentment of Ted Turner.

[@MSChilly]

Man, I love this series. Huge respect to everyone involved, it is a fantastic production, it's thoroughly entertaining and the 20 minutes just fly by. It is the best series on your channel (which has several great ones, by the way), keep up the outstanding work!

[@JustinLeeper]

You guys do a good job of making an entertaining program without hardly ever using actual video clips. Makes it easy to put on when I’m hanging laundry or playing games - not with eyes glued to my phone.

[@thebrotherhood227]

That’s my fave thing about the lads I listen to them at work without having to take my eyes off what I’m doing

[@brandonlamb216]

Vince is savage, always been ruthless in business. Look at what he did to the territories back in the day. Can't lie, some of the skits did make me laugh but I've been a WWF lifer at that point til 2006(I'm 38yrs old now). Hoping for better things to come

[@KingKhanate1997]

Compare the 90’s to the 2020’s, and you realize how comparatively tame the landscape of professional wrestling has become. For better and worse.

[@huntsworthdoom]

I love that The Fed mocked Hogan’s age here and a few years later he was their champion again

[@fattiger6957]

About 7 years later when Hogan was even more worn out and broken.

[@zachstolpa6521]

A piece on the original turner acquisition of JCP and how jim herd fucked it up should be done

[@WSK9002]

Hindsight being what it is, this is one of the most Foolish things WWE ever did, this was basically WWE doing advertising for WCW.

[@WSK9002]

These skits were only overshadowed by the Fake Bad Guy and Big Daddy Cool in October of 1996, did WWE Management actually think people would not know that wasn't Kevin Nash and Scott Hall? 🙄

[@BiggieTrismegistus]

You weren't supposed to think they were Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. The segment was intended to turn Jim Ross heel by making it sound like the fans were getting Diesel and Razor Ramon back but instead giving them "Diesel" and "Razor Ramon". The entire angle was done to strengthen the WWE's intellectual property claims over the characters for their lawsuit against WCW anyway. They showed they could recast the characters and still use them in storylines. It wasn't a storyline that fooled anyone (and was never supposed to) but it was still a storyline nonetheless.

[@WSK9002]

@@BiggieTrismegistus Point is, the fact that you had to explain that proves that no one got it because it was not clear or that it was plain Foolish.

[@BiggieTrismegistus]

@@WSK9002 No, the fans got it. No one thought it was Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.

[@CarbonRollerCaco]

The Monday night wrestling war has some damned fascinating parallels with the video game console war between Nintendo and Sega around that time. These skits are the grappling equivalent of "Nintendon't" vs. "Genesisn't".

[@nothingislogical]

Vince in the 90's: 42 year old Hulk Hogan is so old he's pushing a walker and going to drop dead of a heart attack any minute. Vince now: 55 year old Bill Goldberg is going to challenge 36 year old Roman Reigns for the Universal title at the next pay-per... sorry... premium event and he might even become champion if that's where I land after tearing up the booking plans 20 times the day of the show.

[@mapitizat]

Coming soon: Khan's Kounsel Korner. Let's WWE creative. Book it, you cowards. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@MikeClaeys]

These videos are so good, Sam. These are on par with "Dark side of the ring" but in a different (different in a good way) way without so many takes from wrestlers, writers, people involved. These are so good, kudos.

[@UnboxedtvNet]

Imagine if they did this now, they'd call him Tony CON

[@fattiger6957]

And 25 years later, WWE tries to get sponsors to abandon AEW. Really shows how much of an underhanded PoS Vince really is. No matter how legitimate he tries to become, he'll always be a sleazy carny.

[@poinoup]

"Audience of one."

[@MrNegativecreep07]

Good thing that the WWE of today doesn't just keep relying on ageing stars and giving them title shots huh?

[@ghastlyanarchy1720]

The best thing about this is Goldberg JUST came back and is going to face Roman at Elimination Chamber. The irony.

[@fattiger6957]

@@ghastlyanarchy1720 And that's even funnier when Goldberg was a guy WCW built in the first place. No one remembers him for anything he did in WWE.

[@nichhodge8503]

6:12 Yes!!! For nearly 30yrs I thought billionaire Ted’s voice sounded familiar but could never put my finger on it and now you said Jimmy Stewart that lightbulb in my head has gone off as it’s James Stewart’s voice it reminded me of. Thanks Cultaholic for ending my near 30yr internal question!

[@WSK9002]

To the Narrator's point, I was at a Monday Night RAW in Seattle in July of 1996, by the end of Hour Four, that crowd was Dead.

[@stevie1044]

I really love these war stories videos, besides the content of the videos which are always very well researched and informative, the editing is phenomenal. Keep up the good work lads!

[@dylanogg347]

Savage had every right to be annoyed. Vince effectively pushed him away.

[@georgeholloman9644]

I love these. Thank you cultaholic.

[@JaeBurney15]

“Dark knight feeling, die & be hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” -word to Jay Z. Those words perfectly describe wwe today using old talent instead in a better position of the newer fresh younger talent since 2012. Also point blank tryna to kill aew in autumn of 2019 24 years later after wcw tried to do the same to wwf

[@attiepollard7847]

Please don't compare that to now that wasn't no damn warrant that wasn't nothing. If you really want a war with WWE then aew is going to have to go to Monday nights and Tony Khan is going to have to tell his father to either let him go to Monday nights or give him the funds to run awe on his own

[@JaeBurney15]

@@attiepollard7847 well why did wwe move their best product off the network to television literally months after having the son in law call it a “piss ant company that Vince would buy & put out of business”. Aew moved to Wednesday to not compete nxt was originally Tuesday

[@attiepollard7847]

@@JaeBurney15 you are the people should know the answer to that. Because there's a whole lot of things why he moved it back to Tuesdays. Because Vince McMahon is a vein out of touch old man who is greedy as hell who doesn't like to look bad and he overreacts on a lot of times. Vince could have actually kept NXT at his current time slot in its current form but no someone got scared at headquarters and he overreacted instead of reviewing and say let's just fight this out because aw is not going to last that long and we're still going to beat them in the ratings. Vince McMahon has an ego problem that he does not like to look bad in front of the general public. Vince McMahon does not like the 21st century of pro wrestling he does not like the fans who are in love with independent wrestlers. If the fans love it he doesn't he will always put his priorities above the fans. That's why he moved NXT back to Tuesdays and that's why he pushed triple h out of NXT creative.

[@garrettchristopher3462]

For those who weren't alive at the time of the wars. This was real. With the nwo and so many of the stars we knew and loved coming to an already well established wcw, at the time. There were a lot of people that just turned the channel to wcw for quite a while

[@JaimeD.]

This has got to be the most immature move along the list of the VKM brigade's deeds since Vinny Mac took over the promotion from his late father, Vince McMahon Sr.

[@Dan97LHS]

I had watched a shoot interview done with Randy Savage in 2000 here on YT and he said he would have been ticked off if they hadn't lampooned him in the Billionaire Ted sketches. It's really a shame that Randy never came back to the WWF for one last hurrah and to be legitimately inducted into the HOF while still alive. I never saw Hogan inducting Macho as making any sense as Macho reportedly hated Hogan.

[@Condud1]

9:31 this was like the leaking DMs of it's time

[@zandermartin8744]

love how ironic it is that nowadays that wwe have the older stars

[@outlawrip-offartist4161]

It’s interesting to think, if this skits don’t happen does Randy Savage come back to WWE in the 2000s.

[@fattiger6957]

I think Randy was just worn out with wrestling by that point. His only wrestling work post-WCW was a 1-month stint in TNA.

[@donovanch462]

In fairness with WCW and ECW out of business not like he had many others options I dont think ROH could have afford him maybe NJPW but that's about it

[@jrdavis9578]

Love this series! Brings back so many memories!

[@PaperSmiles]

"Colourless, formulaic RAW". Damn. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

[@bravo1495]

Not gonna lie, I loved these skits back in 1996. All my life I've loved satire and parody. Although they'd be upstaged later that November by Blue Meanie, Stevie Richards, and Nova starting a new parody with the debut of the Blue World Order, this shit was hilarious for its time.

[@scottedge4388]

I have long maintained that Vince McMahon is one of the most petty individuals who ever lived. And one of my main sources of evidence is always the "Billionaire Ted" saga.

[@violetboyle2864]

I've always wanted to know more about these. Thanks lads!

[@jerryjanik480]

The first stupid idea of Vince Russo and you could see Vince Russo in this

[@Julian-xj6mh]

Nice series

[@AT-il2ej]

That first skit actually sounds hilarious. If only he had stopped there

[@leroylawrence2773]

That funny when Bischof use tell the results of Raw

[@Chimerayuri3]

As a kid I actually loved these segments. Back when I was switching between both of them. Nothing like watching nitro and being spoiled as how raw was going to end

[@chrishollister80]

Vince could never admit that a 3rd string announcer from the AWA that he didn't even hire was somehow besting him every week and forcing him to make (necessary) changes to his overall product. So, he chose to focus his energies on an otherwise very hands-off Ted Turner and make him out to be the culprit and real mastermind behind WCW's boom period. It was low brow, stupid, shameless, and totally misguided. Even to this day, the narrative in WWE is that Vince beat Turner.

[@chrisa2662]

Fantastic series. My favourite on the channel. Well done as always.

[@georgediaz5522]

Oh the irony of VKM, Vindictive Killer of Morale, making fun of Hogan and Savage being old when they were in their forties and him giving sudden unearned title shots to a 50 plus year old Goldberg who was stiff when he was in his 30s. Savage was still performing at a high level even when he first debuted at TNA. Almost every top tier performer in WWE is in his 40s except Roman and Damian Priest who are in their late 30s and Seth in his mid 30s.

[@kyleshea384]

While I don't disagree with you as a whole. You might want to take back what you said about Mach in TNA

[@themaskedmark92]

Damn the irony in 2022

[@kingblue2646]

Next week on RAW; Trillionare Tony's Bingohall Bunker. Miz in brownface listening to Meltzer and throwing money around while a bunch of little people do flips on trampolines.

[@GreatMewtwo]

Trillionaire Tony: I did all my chores. I did all my homework. I ate all my vegetables (for the 105th day in a row). But why won't you buy me WWE?!

[@speedking7224]

😂

[@dizzy1369]

I gotta say, the "war" sure provided us with a lot of great entertainment, I loved this stuff. 🤣😂😂🤣😂

[@andyfarmer876]

Love this series. Great journalism and story telling

[@nichhodge8503]

Mid to late 90’s was a good time to be a wrestling fan and to be in my mid teens too! God I loved those times and was so lucky to be born in 1981 as it was an amazing time to grow up as the only advantage today has over the 80’s and 90’s is the current technology as the rest of the world is worse than those times. It’s like when my parents would say it was a great time to be a teenager in the 60’s as it most likely was with how the world was changing and teenagers finally had something for them with the birth and development of rock and pop music as before then there was nothing aimed at teenagers and children only adults as children/teenagers were meant to be seen and not heard

[@adriangonzalez5021]

These pieces are wonderful. Honestly I learn and that I appreciate.

[@Tim_Dunkin]

Ironic, the guy atracking someone for using stock holder money to pay tor wrestling was later "allegedly" using compnay money as hush money. 12-14 million of "unrecorded expenses" 🤔

[@DasNordlicht91]

I kinda wonder if the “cliffhanger” from the final Billionaire Ted skit wasn’t really meant to have a “resolution” and the continuation promised was meant to be a reference to the actual FTC hearings, hence the message about writing to the FTC at the end.

[@adamhenley8295]

Sex, lies and headlocks is a great read 👍

[@geoffcollins6245]

What I look forward too!!! Never stop these Sam!!

[@GreatMewtwo]

Vince (1984): You want wrestling? Ted: I got wrasslin' at home. Still Vince : I took that personally

[@wrestlemix]

Can we get War Stories on the British Indy Scene

[@martynodonnell8467]

Just came across this series. Interesting content. Thanks for the video! I didn’t get cable until late 98. Therefore was out of the loop my wrestling was mostly VHS of WWF until this point. I watched Nitro on Friday nights when I did have access. I always viewed WWF as the number 1 company and WCW as a separate company, not necessarily in direct competition, where wrestlers go to retire. It wasn’t until after the war ended, in 2001. Did I start to discover about The Monday Night War.

[@haolekoa737]

Bischoff was right about that superkick.

[@Biggucci97]

That new generation line is one of the greatest line I ever heard lol. WWF New Generation on top of the hill rather than over it lol.

[@TheRosswise]

My favorite one was where Huckster got hit in the eye with the high-heeled shoe. Nobody ever shows that one, but damn it was the funniest one. They were making fun of the WCW PPV the night before.

[@repomanpapashangolegionofd9982]

Sam, you F*ckin rock my dude! Great content, great narration

[@michaelscriver5395]

The huskter still gets me till this day when I see a guy with that amazing mullet and stash lol

[@tjtaylor6431]

I could listen to Sam read the phone book if he had a way to make it tie into the Monday Night Wars. This is forever my favorite series on this channel.

[@vttravelingghy]

The huckster looks like chandler from friends 😂😂😂.... Matthew perry... you s o b...😂😂😂

[@stingrey1571]

the billionaire ted skits started off as comedic parody and quickly evolved into petty and personal shots that had nothing to do with wrestling.

[@chrisortiz8072]

I was super young but I liked the billionaire Ted skits

[@HondaCivic20019]

Oh I hope they continued it back in the attitude era.

[@Tormund_Giantsbrain]

Just shows how much of a hypocrite Vince is.

[@jlopez0710]

This shows how much of a cry baby Vince was.

[@adamV5]

i hope you guys do a TNA Hogan bischoff story on War stories

[@stingrey1571]

dont forget in one skit, it was implied hogan was sleeping with miss elizabeth. WHAT THE HELL DID THAT HAVE TO DO WITH WRESTLING?!?!

[@jh6025]

I was 10 and shocked with this. Loved it, LOL.

[@Kyle-gi2jb]

I don't ever remember Ted Turner even commenting on WWE. He had other shit going on tbh.

[@edaniels240]

Oh yeah 1996 was a memorable, hilarious, crazy year indeed

[@moopert86]

They were kinda funny at first. Then they just got awkward and I didn't understand them as a 9 year old kid. Just didn't do much besides amuse Vince in the end.

[@brainhakker7133]

Thinkin' ... Thinkin' ... Thinkin'.... Macho 4-Life

[@StageRight123]

Man, I love Cultaholic, but Wrestling Bios covers this topic so much better (and funnier) through his Reliving The War series.

[@attiepollard7847]

This is why AEW should not talk about WWE in any of their programs. Let your product do the talking with good wrestling and good storyline.

[@KruelAidMan]

Your takeaway on WWE embarassing & self-sabotaging is "AEW bad"?

[@attiepollard7847]

@@KruelAidMan what part of THERE IS NO POINT IN MENTIONING YOUR COMPETITION DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? So what if WWE screw people over in the past. I swear to God you guys obsession of thumbing your nose at the beauty is embarrassing itself. GET OVER IT.

[@KruelAidMan]

@@attiepollard7847 _you seem upset._

[@attiepollard7847]

@@KruelAidMan nope. Just don't like stupidity and people who are so obsessed with WWE downfall where they can't even recognize how much of a good thing they have with aew.

[@KruelAidMan]

@@attiepollard7847 you honestly come off like a bot

[@greenkoopa]

Nacho Man is so bad it's funny

[@chrisbuttonshaw2088]

well Vince doesn't sound like a petty psycho in this at all..........

[@Vantoris]

Amazing work Sam

[@jonathanfornwalt4919]

Might have been better for WCW if Vince had successfully torpedoed the Time Warner merger.

[@Kobra6510]

Good God Vince has literally always been petty af.

[@guillermosierracuellar9812]

Surprisingly Hogan re signed with wwe Not surprised that savage didn’t wanted to return An ironic that months later diesel and Ramon were working for WCW

[@Mr.Am-Ace-Ing]

Part of me wonders if those skits are largely to blame for the perception that WCW's main event scene was full of old stars. Now, we can go back and forth over a lot of WCW, including the main event scene, but that the company is the only one getting decried because it's stars were "too old" has never sat well with me.

[@optimus2008]

I didn't know how ridiculous Vince could be. And I know what Katie Vick is. I would call this childish, but children everywhere in the world are a 100 times smarter than parody.

[@crackedspyglass]

Man Vince is maybe the least funny person in history.

[@punkrockcharts9148]

Natcho Man

[@PeteSanctions]

I've always wondered who portrayed the characters in the segment (besides Russo)?