Welcome to TheBigBangMay6.com!

For over twenty years, I have been intrigued about one website domain. A website link that has lived on in infamy. One that has inspired talk and discussion from die-hard wrestling fanatics for decades, especially ones of World Championship Wrestling:

TheBigBangMay6.com!

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It all began back in 2001. On the April edition of WCW Magazine, the back cover displayed an ominous advertisement for an upcoming pay-per-view event.

At the time, WCW truly looked like it was entering the next era of its promotion after eighteen months of chaos traveling down a long and winding road.

From the Summer of 1999 until the end of 2000, World Championship Wrestling was under immense duress. The promotion was creatively stagnant, as well as dealing with both talent issues, behaviorally or medically, and behind-the-scenes.

Although Eric Bischoff will forever be the man who saved WCW from going under in the mid-1990s and beat the World Wrestling Federation 83 straight weeks in the ratings during “the Monday Night Wars” between Raw and Monday Nitro, he was let go from his duties as President of WCW on September 10, 1999. Time Warner felt they needed to go into a different direction with the product, especially with a slide in both ratings and finances.

Within six months, he’d be back.

While he was gone, WCW went through multiple creative changes. In early October, the company hired Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara from the World Wrestling Federation to write the program. A lot of people felt that the men who, creatively, were among the architects of the Attitude Era would help turn around WCW’s fortunes.

Although the ratings went up, as well as Nitro going back from three hours to two at the beginning of 2000, WCW management wanted more immediate growth instead of long-term storytelling, and Russo was sent home days before the Souled Out 2000 pay-per-view.

In turn, Kevin Sullivan became the head booker, and WCW truly took a nosedive in multiple facets. A few days after Souled Out, WCW World Champion Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn, and Eddie Guerrero asked for, and received their releases. The four “Radicalz” made their way to the World Wrestling Federation and, within weeks, became a major focal point of the television product. Also, the creative process went down to sullen levels, leading to low ratings, and forcing WCW management to again make a change.

On April 10, 2000, Turner executive Brad Siegel brought back both Russo and Bischoff to work together, and on “The Night The World Changed”, the duo became aligned with the New Blood, a group of young talent, to take on the established veterans of the Millionaire’s Club.

Almost immediately, dissension between Russo and Bischoff began, and thanks to the infamous Bash At The Beach 2000 incident between Russo and Hulk Hogan, Bischoff left WCW alongside the Hulkster, who filed a lawsuit against WCW and Russo. It seemed as if “Easy E” was gone for good.

Again, however, within six months, he’d be back.

On January 11, 2001, Bischoff, alongside Brian Bedol and Stephen Greenberg, as a part of Fusient Media Ventures, a fledgling start-up business, announced during a press conference that they were in the beginning stages of purchasing WCW, with the promotion remaining on the Turner networks and Time Warner retaining minority interest.

Bedol and Greenberg were best known for the foundation of the Classic Sports Network in the mid-1990s, which was subsequently sold for millions of dollars to ESPN. The duo were aggressively innovative in both business and entertainment.

The “New WCW” was upon us….but not in the way you would think.

Although Bischoff and Fusient began putting the pieces together for a purchase, another monumental moment happened on the day the press conference took place: a little thing called the AOL Time Warner merger.

The biggest, at the time, distributors of internet access in America Online and Time Warner, one of entertainment’s major conglomerates, officially came together after a year’s worth of negotiation and government investigation.

WCW began structuring its creative vision heading towards its eventual Fusient takeover, including the formation of the Magnificent Seven, headed by both “CEO” Ric Flair and World Heavyweight Champion Scott Steiner, a rededication to the innovative talents of the Cruiserweight division, a deeper emphasis towards storytelling, and an upgrade in production for both the talents, with entrances and theme music, and overall television product.

For two months, the promotion looked renewed, especially with John “Johnny Ace” Laurinaitis as head booker and men like Arn Anderson, the aforementioned Ferrara, and Fit Finlay agenting behind-the-scenes. WCW truly seemed like it was on a positive path.

Then, on March 16, 2001, everything truly changed.

Jamie Kellner, the head of the Turner Networks, TNT and TBS, on March 14, 2001, decided to cancel WCW programming from the channels, Siegel would send out a memo, stating that after March 27, WCW would go on a hiatus. Fusient, seeing that without the television shows, WCW was practically worthless, pulled out of the sale.

One week later, the WWF purchased 24 contracts, several trademarks, and the vaunted video tape library, going all the way back to Jim Crockett Promotions, from AOL Time Warner. Following the last Monday Nitro on March 26, 2001, WCW was no more.

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So why is TheBigBangMay6.com an important domain?

It truly is the last piece to what could have been had Eric Bischoff and Fusient Media Ventures purchased WCW.

The Big Bang was supposed to be the first pay-per-view run under a Fusient owned WCW. Bischoff first made overtures about this event on an episode of Wrestling Observer Live on February 12, 2001. During the transition of ownership from Time Warner to Fusient, Bischoff had initially wanted to shut down the company for a month and return with a whole new look and vision behind the promotion.

However, with previous arrangements made by Time Warner needing to be held up, in good faith, Bischoff and his team rescheduled for the month of April to be the shutdown period, especially since they would be in full ownership of the promotion.

May 6 was to be the rebirth of WCW and The Big Bang was to take the company into the next millennium and beyond.

Once AOL Time Warner canceled WCW programming and Fusient pulled out of purchasing the company, The Big Bang pay-per-view was pulled off the market for May 6, which was confirmed to Alex Marvez by Turner spokesperson Jim Weiss.

For close to two decades, many had wondered about what could have been had The Big Bang taken place. Many had speculated and rumored and even fantasy booked the future of WCW on the imagination of had the show taken place.

WWE.com in 2016 actually went into detail regarding Bischoff’s plans in an article entitled Big Bang: The untold story of the WCW pay-per-view that almost happened. Obviously, it didn’t go into complete detail, but there were enough seeds planted to make people wonder.

The domain was not available for sale for close to two decades. An unknown buyer had purchased it back in 2014 and had this message posted on the site for close to ten years:

Once a month for at least five years, I looked to see if the domain was for sale to no avail. I eventually stopped looking, as I always figured at the end of the day, if it ever did, WWE or some other wrestling entity would lock it up before I even had the chance.

About two weeks ago, my friend Matt and I were discussing old school WCW and what could have been. I, a hardcore WCW junkie, filled Matt in on the final days, including The Big Bang event that would have taken place. I sent him a picture of the ad from WCW Magazine, and I saw TheBigBangMay6.com domain on the bottom.

For fun, I went to check and see if it was available. IT WAS. On the spot, I almost went and made the purchase, but Matt, ever the wise sage, told me to hold up and sleep on it. I needed a plan in place for the domain if I were ever to buy it instead of purchasing it just to purchase it, the wise man stated.

I agreed. I waited a full week.

It just so happened that I would be going to Panama City Beach, FL on business this week. Checking the distance, I was mere minutes from the final Nitro event at the Boardwalk Beach Resorts.

I decided to make a trek to the venue, which was literally off the sands of the beach. As a vintage wrestling venue fanatic, I took it all in. History was made in Panama City Beach more than 23 years ago, and I was standing in front of it.