Scott Hudson, former WWE/WCW/TNA announcer, is now live and active in the official WrestleZone.com forums! The following are tidbits from a fraction of his responses to the questions that you, the fans, have asked him. He is as straight-forward and honest with his replies as the rest of the wrestling personalities here on WrestleZone.com and from a historical standpoint, you’ll find few people that knows any more than Scott Hudson.
CLICK HERE to submit your questions for Scott Hudson today!
Question:
Could you tell the story of what went down between Jeff Jarrett, Hulk Hogan and Vince Russo in WCW from your point of view?
Hudson’s Response:
The Bash at the Beach fiasco has been written about multiple times by everyone involved but here’s my take. As a rule, the announcers would purposefully learn very little about the booking of the show. We had formats and obviously knew which segments were sponsored by Skittles, etc. but, for the most part, the less we knew beforehand – the more real the passion when we called the action. We had no idea the situation with Hogan/Russo/Jarrett was going down. Russo has said that it was part work and part shoot but, in my humble opinion, the part that was a work was tiny. Everything Russo said in the ring that evening is exactly what we had heard as gossip and trouble brewing backstage for a couple of weeks. As much as I like Russo and Jarrett (that’s a lot by the way), the way this scenario played itself out was unprofessional. It made for damn compelling television, though. And we’re still taking about it.
Question:
What in your opinion caused the downfall of WCW?
Hudson’s Response:
The downfall of WCW is a multi-headed monster. The term “perfect storm” has quickly risen to cliche status but that best describes it. The components of said storm are as follows:
* Overpaid talent with creative control clauses in their contracts took the knees out of the company creatively and financially. (I was not one of those, for what its worth.)
* There was a factional war with WCW that slowly eroded whatever common goal mentality existed there.
* The merger with AOL brought ot power jack-offs who thought they were too cool to be associated with a wrestling show or company show it was dismantled and sold at a flea market discount.
Had one of these three factors not been in place, WCW may have survived (for how long is anyone’s guess, though.)
Question:
Hey Scott, in your opinion was the Russo & Bischoff era entertaining and could it have been a success had everyone been on the same page? I remember really enjoying most of it especially the Millionaires Club vs. New Blood..
Hudson’s Response:
I agree. The New Blood vs. Millionaires Club feud was a great idea. When the nWo angle died down, we were set and ready with Goldberg. But, the dreaded finger-poke of doom took the air right out of those sails. It took a while to develop what Eric Bischoff described as the “umbrella angle.” The over-arcing storyline beneath which all other angles took place. The nWo was that angle for a while and although Goldberg’s push was not an “umbrella angle,” it was hot enough to keep us riding high until the next one came along.
When we were forced to create the over-arcing storyline in a rushed fashion, the New Blood vs. Millionaires club was born. Earlier I wrote about the three factors that caused WCW’s downfall. One of them was not “bad ideas.” Some talent just refused to do what they were told and, when you throw that in, even the best ideas go down in (heh) flames.
Question:
Why did you not sign a full time deal with the WWE?
Hudson’s Response:
After the buy out, everyone who wanted to was invited to meet with WWF representatives at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Buckhead. I took advantage of that and spent an hour talking to Jim Ross in a top floor suite about working for the WWF. I love Jim Ross and really spent more time talking than listening. Nothing came of that (I didnât expect it to since the WWF was not exactly hurting for announcers at the time.) I thanked Jim for the time, told him how much of a fan I was of his and figured my wrestling days were behind me.
Fast forward about 3 months. Kevin Dunn called me at my house and asked me if I could be in Stamford the next day for an audition. I figured what the hell so off I went. I took the day off and flew to Connecticut where a limo was waiting on me at LaGuardia. They drove me to Titan Towers and then on to the production facility. I met with Kevin and MAN did he put me through my paces. First, an hour of market specs (30 second or 60 second promos without a script. Just make people want to come to the Joffa Mosque to see Steve Lombardi vs. Jacques Goulet!), then calling a generic one hour TV show with Michael Hayes on color, and finally interviewing talent. That took from about 10:00am to 3:00pm. After a bout an hour break, Kevin called me into meet with him and Vince. âYou did great…â etc. âWeâd like you to work here.â The end of this story was that they wanted me to quit my job (no) move to Connecticut (no) for a substantial pay cut (hell no) and a one year contract (no). We parted on good terms and I came home.
The next week Kevin called again and asked if I could do a couple of Rawâs and Smackdownâs to help establish the Invasion angle…(CLICK HERE FOR REST OF STORY)
