10 Things We Learned From Bruce Prichard's The Radicalz Podcast
What really went down when 4 WCW stars jumped to WWF at the start of 2000?
2000 was a tumultuous year for World Championship Wrestling. Changing bookers with the same regularity that most people change underwear, the company was not a happy place.
In January of that year, the quartet of Chris Benoit, Perry Saturn, Dean Malenko and Eddie Guerrero would make a huge jump to the WWF. Debuting at the end of the month, the foursome were collectively known as The Radicalz. For Benoit and Guerrero, we all know WWE Title reigns would come in the future but what about the story that brought them to Titan?
Bruce Prichard's 'Something To Wrestle With' podcast provided us with a whole bunch of new information this week. Prichard was part of the WWF creative team at the turn of the millennium and his latest two-hour podcast delves deep into exactly what led to The Radicalz making the leap and also scratches the surface to analyse each individual member's subsequent success in the WWF/WWE...
10. Perry Saturn Made The Initial Contact
On January 17, 2000, various WWF officials and creative team members convened for a production meeting headed by Vince McMahon to discuss the evening's Raw broadcast. Bruce Prichard was amongst that crew and halfway through discussions, Perry Saturn’s name lit up the caller ID on his phone.
Excusing himself from the meeting, Prichard was surprised to learn that Saturn wanted out of WCW. Not only that, but Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko also wanted to free themselves from contracts with the company. Saturn was simply calling to ask if there would be any interest from the WWF.
Perry told Bruce what had happened at WCW's Souled Out 2000 pay-per-view the previous evening. Benoit had won the WCW World Title, but planned to get as far away from the organisation as he possibly could.
It may shock some to learn that it was Saturn who made that initial contact to the WWF. Had he not done so, Vince McMahon wouldn't have learned of their possible availability so quickly and the deal may not have come off as it did.