Mark says that WCW went against what he grew up on; he watched the NWA and early WWWF as a kid, and was used to “Point A-to-Point B” storytelling. He remembers angles that made sense and a time when continuity was closely protected. Toward the end of WCW, he says everything was too “scattershot” and surprise-oriented. Madden tells Flair, “The biggest problem is that the bookers tried to be funny—but they weren’t funny. I told them once: ‘Hey you guys aren’t funny.’ But they thought they were Richard Pryor dipped in George Carlin!” He gives the Oklahoma character as one specific example of a time he was told to be funny, but could not. He says that Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara shouldn’t get all of the heat for the terrible booking decisions during the dying days of WCW, as there was an entire committee of people providing input. He remembers Russo and Ferrara as being very smart, but thought they needed a filter. They were also very vindictive; Russo was once seen on television with Goldberg where the former champion beat him and tore his clothes from his back. The announcers remarked about Russo’s poor physique, and the next week on Nitro were asked to do the show without their shirts on. Madden threatened to quit, but Eric Bischoff was able to convince Russo to change the script before the show went on the air.
When Russo and Ferrara jumped ship to WCW, no one within the company knew how to feel. Some people were excited, but most people knew that Vince McMahon called the shots in WWE. Mark says that he’s always been good friends with Chris Jericho, and remembers speaking to Chris while they were in rival companies. Jericho had just started with WWE, and was quite happy with the way WWE Creative treated him. He told Madden that it was a huge loss for the WWE, and that it would be good for World Championship Wrestling. Mark says that his biggest concern at the time was “self-preservation.” He wasn’t sure if Russo and Ferrara would keep him on television, or replace him with someone they knew. He ended up sticking around, and eventually left WCW at the very end of 2000.
Conrad asks both Ric and Mark for their comments on the NWO’s “Four Horsemen” skit. Mark says that he felt some parts were very funny, including Sean Waltman’s depiction of Ric Flair. Flair said that he didn’t particularly care one way or the other, but was hurt because of how it “crushed Arn.” Ric says that Arn had a 12-year old son at home watching his father depicted as a drunk. The worst part, to Ric, was the fact that the entire segment was written and produced by Terry Taylor—one of Arn’s longtime friends and colleagues. When the promo was over, Sting walked up to Ric and told him: “That’s the coldest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” Ric says that Kevin Nash lampooned the “real emotion” between Ric and Arn, which hurt them both deeply. What bothered Ric most was that the Horsemen were offered no chance to make a rebuttal.
Nick was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, and lived there until the age of 18, when he decided to pack his flack jacket and move to New York City.
