Chapter 1
Taking Over
Rod burst into the room like a bullet. I was so startled by this shy accountant barging into my office that my elbow knocked a few of my reports to the floor as I flinched.
“ They fired Russo! “ he managed to wheeze out between ragged gasps of air.
“ What? Rod? Are you ok? What's going on?” I managed to sputter out as I jumped to my feet.
He took a few deep breaths to steady himself before speaking.
“Whitey. I ran all the way down to tell you. Kip fired Vince and he’s on the way down here to speak with you! “
I placed my arms on his shoulders and steadied him. Despite being out of breath and trembling with excitement, he stared intently at me with anticipation. I’d like to say I was a picture of calm, but there I was staring at him in slack-jawed and puzzlement.
“ Kip Frye? THAT Kip? “ I asked as the clues started coming together in my head.
“Yes, Whitmire. THAT KIP.”
A voice from my door frame answered dryly. As I turned, I noticed my supervisor ,Gardner Stephens, standing there. He had obviously come to my door frame in the same rush Rod had. A slight sheen of sweat glistened on his forehead and his normally pressed suit was noticeably disheveled from the effort. He glared at Rod as he spoke. As his words carried across the room, I felt my closest friend in the office shrink behind me.
“Mr. Bloom has asked me to escort you to his office for an urgent meeting. Mr. Rhino, it seems the head of this entire department wants to see you.”
His tone was neutrally hostile. His normal office decor and language were there, but his tone was frigid. Somehow I had been asked to speak with his boss's boss without him knowing about it. That meant his boss hadn’t known about it. In the shark infested waters of Time Warner/Tuner Entertainment and Sports knowing things was crucial. Not knowing things stalled careers.
We walked up to the North Tower in an uncomfortable silence. When Stephens was sent away by Bloom’s secretary his shock was palatable. He was just a chauffeur. He wouldn’t even be allowed in the meeting!As my supervisor skulked away I quickly asked the secretary if I looked presentable. Without blinking she acidly replied. “I’ve seen much worse in this office, Mr. Rhino. Please go in. Mr. Frye is waiting for you.”
I walked into an immaculate furnished office decorated with more gold, polished wood and leather than a Southern Baptist church.
Meeting Kip Frye
Mr. Frye was friendly and quickly tried to make me feel at ease as I walked in.
“Whitmire, I’m sorry to call you up here like this, but I have a huge problem. You are familiar with our program WCW?”
Without hesitation, I blurted a quick. “Yes,sir. I’m quite familiar with it.”
He chuckled. I sat down as he motioned towards the chair in front of his desk.
“I’ll say you do. You’ve put in for every position involved with that brand. If you don’t mind me asking, son…Why? You are aware that no one in Turner will be around to give a damn about this program much longer. ”
“ Sir, I’m a lifelong fan, sir. I grew up living it and figured it would be a good fit. It was just my dream growing up. ”
He leaned in slightly at my response with a slight grin.
“And what do you think of it now? Not the fit…the product. You still watch it, correct?”
This was my first moral quandary. Should I be honest or should I be polite? The product had been utter garbage since former WWF writer Vince Russo had come aboard. Rod and I had watched in horror as the premier professional wrestling brand in America had degenerated into a horror prime-time soap opera with a dash of wrestling thrown in.
The night’s previous pay per view, Souled Out, in Cincinnati was a disaster that had one redeeming quality. Chris Benoit was now the World Champion. Old Age Outlaws? Wrestlers fighting trying to be a South Island Prince? Random title changes? It left Rod and I feeling bored and critical.
“In all honesty Mr. Frye, I’m not the biggest fan.”
He leaned back with a smile.
“I’ll say, son. Let me share a secret with you. My driver sits by you and your friend….. Rod is it?.... Every day at lunch and I love to hear about your conversations. He started sharing your observations with me months ago as a joke. Now every Tuesday and Friday morning I look forward to his reports. I call it market research, but in truth it may be the most honest take I get on the program these days.”
I began to do the mental replay of all those conversations and my stomach clenched. How “in-depth” were those reports? “
Frye closed his eyes and laughed before confirming my suspicions.
“ ‘I would hate to insult the word suck by saying this dog%&*t does.’ is my favorite, but you have some good ones, Mr. Rhyno. That being said, my driver also says you and Mr. Carrol have a lot of ideas of how to turn the program around. Is that correct? “
Once again, the tumblers in my brain began twisting into place as he continued.
“Yes, sir. I hate to be too frank, but that was a kinder response to what we have been saying lately. My apologies if that offends anyone. I’m just a fan. My opinions aren’t anything important. I never thought they would-”
Mr. Frye held up a hand to silence me.
“Mr. Rhino. I appreciate your decorum. You aren’t saying anything I do not know. I just want to ask you some questions. Consider this a consultation and you will be financially compensated for it. Does that sound acceptable to you?”
I couldn't say “Yes” quickly enough.”
****
The next four hours were a whirlwind of questions and answers. Every one of my answers provoked more questions. As the answers kept flowing, Mr. Frye’s questions became grander and grander. I wouldn’t say he liked me or we were becoming friendly, but he did like my “product knowledge”.
“Son, let me be frank with you. Time Warner hates wrestling. They don’t see it as something we need to be associated with. Mr. Turner no longer has the pull to keep it going if we do not see some significant improvement. Ratings are dropping. Advertisers want a more popular product in those time slots and my staff agrees with them. What do you think of that?”
Without blinking I answered.
“People can get reruns and television movies on any channel. Name another program that can be produced as cheaply with a bigger upside. The problem isn’t wrestling, Mr. Frye. The problem is you are trying to sell an inferior version of it. If I may be blunt.”
He smirked with satisfaction.
“This is one of those scenes from a movie where the CEO grabs some intern out of the mailroom and revolutionizes his business. How does that sound?”
I was confused. Was Mr. Frye messing with an interim? Are these the type of games executives play?
“Sir?”
“Mr. Rhino. WCW has a new champion that wants to leave the company with a few of his friends because they were threatened by a backstage employee. Supposedly the man they tried to place in charge is the ex-husband of his current wife. I don’t know….” He trailed off sullenly. For a moment he looked exhausted. It was maybe a half of a breath before I noticed it and he quickly caught my eye and smiled confidently.
“We let Mr. Russo know he would need to change his program and offered to give him more writers to execute that vision. He balked at the suggestion and has been sent home. I could call the man we just relieved, but he is in Wyoming somewhere and really…. What would that do, Whitemire?
If I send you down stairs can you work with my guys to come up with a plan for tonight’s Nitro?”
He must have seen my reaction because he just began laughing as I blinked mutely at him.
Mr. Frye stood and walked over to my side of the desk.
“Whitmire, we are at the point where I’m going to cancel the show and just reruns until the end of the ratings season if we do not do something. I’ve got two members of WCW in a meeting room to come up with a new Nitro tonight. Go down there and just tell them what you would do. If it fails, I don’t think it would matter much anyway.”
In hindsight, I think this was just his way of adding to the story of how he shuttered WCW. “It got so bad I brought up a kid from the public relations department. I tried everything…” Yada Yada. What no one realized (including myself), was that Nitro became the turning point. WCW was no longer going to be Crash TV.
