January 22, 2001 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Fusient Media to buy WCW, sale of UFC, more
After nearly a full year of various rumors, negotiations, and several near finalized deals, the sale of World Championship Wrestling by Time Warner to Fusient Media Ventures was officially announced on 1/11, literally hours before the announcement that the final step of the Time Warner/AOL merger had been cleared.
Fusient Media Ventures, a one-year-old company headed by Brian Bedol and Stephen Greenberg, who are best known for starting up the Classic Sports Network, and then selling it to ESPN where it became ESPN Classics, for $175 million, is the parent company. The company, with offices in New York and Los Angeles, is an incubator type company that raises capital for media investments. The actual sale is expected to go through in 30 to 60 days, at which point the names of the various investors will likely be revealed. Change is expected to be gradual until the time the sale is finalized. Nevertheless, even days later, it was clear there was a greater emphasis placed on the cruiserweight division and on having a strong in-ring product with less run-ins, tables, garbage matches, and elimination of swearing as wrestlers were told specifically words like damn, hell and ass are no longer to be uttered on broadcasts.
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Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.