101 Shocking Wrestling Plans You Won't Believe Almost Happened

9. ‘Macho Man’ Buying WCW’s Library

Woah now! Could it actually be true? Did 'Macho Man' Randy Savage launch an audacious last minute bid to buy the skeletal remains of World Championship Wrestling in 2001?! Apparently so. Vince McMahon and the WWF picked up a string of talent contracts, some intellectual trademarks and the WCW tape library for around $2.5m in March.

Savage had sold an unnamed production company on the sale, but they took a seat at the negotiating table just a wee bit too late to get things over the line. McMahon had already beaten Randy to the punch by then, and there was no way he was going to loosen his grip on historic episodes of Nitro, Thunder and the WCW pay-per-view archives.

Vince was going to charge punters $9.99 to watch Starrcade 1994, for goodness sake. It was a hill he was prepared to die on. The public needed to see Hulk Hogan vs. The Butcher. People wouldn't rest until they had matches like that on demand. Seriously though, it's easy to miss the old WWE Network and its exhaustive feel compared to the (admittedly welcome) Vault channels on YouTube.

The wrestling world could've turned out rather different had Savage entered negotiations a little earlier. In theory, he could've bought the tape library, sat on it for a while, monetised the hell out of it on DVD, then relaunched WCW as a viable competitor to the WWF. Why not?

McMahon monetised WCW, but had squashed the promotion as a contender/competitor by the end of the year. Oh well.