If McMahon’s GCW plans not failed, there may not have been a WrestleMania.
Highlights
- Dark Side of the Ring’s fifth season came to an end this week via an episode covering Black Saturday.
- Black Saturday was the culmination of Vince McMahon buying GCW’s timeslot in 1984 and using it to air WWE programming.
- The plan failed as fans weren’t on board, but McMahon went on to use the $1 million he got from re-selling the timeslot to fund the first WrestleMania.
Season five of Dark Side of the Ring has now come to a close. The season finale aired on Tuesday night, covering a topic known in wrestling circles as Black Saturday. Shortly after buying WWE – then WWF – from his father, Vince McMahon went about expanding the promotion beyond its northeast roots. That involved buying out other promotions not so he could use their talent, but so he could air WWE programming in their television timeslots. Eventually that brought McMahon to Georgia Championship Wrestling.
Taking The TBS Timeslot
The Dark Side finale details how McMahon weaseled his way into GCW, acquiring shares away from the gaze of the likes of Ole Anderson so that by the time Anderson was aware of what was going on, it was too late. McMahon didn’t make an announcement regarding his plans and there was no social media back then, so the first time WWE matches aired in GCW’s timeslot on TBS, fans had no idea they wouldn’t be met with their usual programming when they tuned in.
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That fateful Saturday happened in July 1984, and the disdain GCW fans had for the unexpected switch to WWE didn’t eventually go away. McMahon quickly tired of trying to win them over and instead tried to make some money back from his failed venture. He did this by selling the timeslot to Jim Crockett for $1 million. It was revealed during the episode that McMahon then proceeded to use that money to fund the first-ever WrestleMania the following year.
Funding WrestleMania
Black Saturday was a pivotal day in wrestling history, but the reveal that McMahon used the money from its failure to create WrestleMania has confirmed it was even more pivotal than anyone could have realized. That its downfall helped bring about what has become an annual tradition that has run for more than 40 years and attracts over 100,000 fans across an entire weekend every 12 months, not to mention the millions more watching around the world and the money WWE makes from WrestleMania.
Every time WrestleMania’s history is covered, it’s hammered home that the first event was a make-or-break situation. That had the first WrestleMania failed, there might not be a WWE today. Who knows if the $1 million McMahon for from his failures with GCW pushed WrestleMania over the line to make sure it was a success? Somewhat ironically, McMahon’s failure to win over GCW fans via his Black Saturday antics may well have been the best thing that could have happened to him and WWE.
