WCW survival or win

[All Rounder]

World Championship Wrestling was a wrestling company that existed from October 11, 1988 to early 2001, when it lost the "Monday Night Wars" to the, at the time, WWF.

It was beaten for numerous reasons, two reasons being Kevin Nash's b*lls**t backstage politicking, and a reveal of Mick Foley's WWF Championship on WCW Monday Nitro, which is because Raw is War was pre-tapped, but instead of turning people away from Raw, it sent them there.

Now the question is, what if these events didn't occur? What if World Championship Wrestling survived to present day or possibly beat Raw at the TV ratings as a result of these events never occurring?

 

[Pricefield]

World Championship Wrestling was a wrestling company that existed from October 11, 1988 to early 2001, when it lost the "Monday Night Wars" to the, at the time, WWF.

It was beaten for numerous reasons, two reasons being Kevin Nash's b*lls**t backstage politicking, and a reveal of Mick Foley's WWF Championship on WCW Monday Nitro, which is because Raw is War was pre-tapped, but instead of turning people away from Raw, it sent them there.

Now the question is, what if these events didn't occur? What if World Championship Wrestling survived to present day or possibly beat Raw at the TV ratings as a result of these events never occurring?

Don't forget the Fingerpoke of Doom, which most people saw after watching Foley win the championship on WWF. Good lord, I haven't a clue what they were thinking.

I do wish the WCW or something like them survived to the present day. The WWE sits on its laurels without competition, and the quality is next to non-existent.

 

[All Rounder]

Don't forget the Fingerpoke of Doom, which most people saw after watching Foley win the championship on WWF. Good lord, I haven't a clue what they were thinking.

I do wish the WCW or something like them survived to the present day. The WWE sits on its laurels without competition, and the quality is next to non-existent.

Yes, the FoD was stupid and of course, this is what happens to anything with no competition like you said, it stagnates. WWE was doing well until the "PG Era" came along, now it is "safer" but not quite as enjoyable as the "Attitude or R Era".

 

[Pricefield]

Yes, the FoD was stupid and of course, this is what happens to anything with no competition like you said, it stagnates. WWE was doing well until the "PG Era" came along, now it is "safer" but not quite as enjoyable as the "Attitude or R Era".

To be honest, the WWE kind of stagnated after the Attitude Era ended. Not all at once, but a few years into the Ruthless Aggression Era and it became repetitive. The PG era has really made it impossible to watch, and this new "Reality Era" has no basis in reality.

To get the WCW to survive, you'd have to keep them from making the dumb decisions that led to their downfall. Get rid of Russo because he didn't have a clue how to write. Keep Hogan and Nash in check and prevent their egos from eclipsing the writing. Don't do stupid things like reveal the next WWF Champion. Do something with the nWo to prevent them from being there all the time. A lot of potential here, and it's sad to see how it all played out.

 

[Minty_Fresh]

Yes, the FoD was stupid and of course, this is what happens to anything with no competition like you said, it stagnates. WWE was doing well until the "PG Era" came along, now it is "safer" but not quite as enjoyable as the "Attitude or R Era".

WWE is now adapting to a more quality based setting, where the talent and matches are objectively better wrestling matches, in an effort to keep a hardcore group of fans. The thought was that if they keep enough Cena stuff for the kids, they will never lose that market, but the hardcore fans were getting way too negative and cynical, which is why they went after all these New Japan and Indie dudes.

This may mean that they simply won't make as much money but can stay around much longer.
Wrestling is hard to keep its appeal in this day and age, but they are walking that tightrope better than TNA has.

 

[Pricefield]

WWE is now adapting to a more quality based setting, where the talent and matches are objectively better wrestling matches, in an effort to keep a hardcore group of fans. The thought was that if they keep enough Cena stuff for the kids, they will never lose that market, but the hardcore fans were getting way too negative and cynical, which is why they went after all these New Japan and Indie dudes.

This may mean that they simply won't make as much money but can stay around much longer.
Wrestling is hard to keep its appeal in this day and age, but they are walking that tightrope better than TNA has.

Wrestling has also lost a lot of its core audience to MMA. Like Jim Cornette says, the MMA does WWE better than the WWE.

 

[Admiral Ackbar]

It's difficult because one of the major problems that lead to the WCW downfall was the big contracts, and creative control given to certain superstars. But it was those contracts that got those guys from the WWF in the first place. The nWo started as a great story line that put WCW on top during the monday night wars. But then they kept dragging it on and on, and guys like Nash and Hogan were getting stale, but they had so much power they could keep themselves in the spotlight instead of letting some of the mid-level talent take over. So those guys jumped to the WWF instead. So you'd need Bischoff to lure Hogan, Hall, and Nash over to the WCW without giving them so much power.

 

[Minty_Fresh]

Wrestling has also lost a lot of its core audience to MMA. Like Jim Cornette says, the MMA does WWE better than the WWE.

I figure that WWE knows the limits to what they can realistically draw, and NXT has helped expand into that hardcore crowd a bit more. I watch and enjoy both. But they'll never be at Attitude Era numbers again. That was a fluke that was as much cultural than anything else.

 

[Son of Sphinks]

The biggest thing that I think would have kept WCW a viable company is what made them a challenger to the WWF/E in the first place; guarenteed contracts. By having so much talent on a guarentee, you don't really have a reason for talents to work hard to move up the card or to keep their spot. WCW had the likes of Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Rey Mysterio Jr., the Giant/Big Show, Chris Benoit, and Chris Jericho during the hottest period. But countering that is older talents like Hogan, Savage, Nash, Hall, Flair, Luger, Hennig and so much of the NWO clogging up the gears so that there was no chance to showcase this exciting talent. There was more than enough talent to keep things going, but contracts that gave no need to work hard, coupled with booking that would have been vetoed by talent rather than letting new stars rise strangled it in the whomb.

 

[All Rounder]

Everything being said here is true, to actually know why the WWE is sinking slowly, is because...TV show writers.

 

[All Rounder]

The biggest thing that I think would have kept WCW a viable company is what made them a challenger to the WWF/E in the first place; guarenteed contracts. By having so much talent on a guarentee, you don't really have a reason for talents to work hard to move up the card or to keep their spot. WCW had the likes of Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Rey Mysterio Jr., the Giant/Big Show, Chris Benoit, and Chris Jericho during the hottest period. But countering that is older talents like Hogan, Savage, Nash, Hall, Flair, Luger, Hennig and so much of the NWO clogging up the gears so that there was no chance to showcase this exciting talent. There was more than enough talent to keep things going, but contracts that gave no need to work hard, coupled with booking that would have been vetoed by talent rather than letting new stars rise strangled it in the whomb.

*Claps* There it is, the heart of the issue, big, bloated like Terry's ego, contracts on a guarantee that would make you work less for more pay.

 

[Pricefield]

*Claps* There it is, the heart of the issue, big, bloated like Terry's ego, contracts on a guarantee that would make you work less for more pay.

Ventura, in a rare moment of sanity, wants the wrestlers to unionize. There was an attempt at this around the late 80s/early 90s (don't remember which), but Hogan put a stop to it. Thanks a lot, Terry.

 

[TheRedRageCorps]

The thing is for WCW to have survived at any point it should've pushed the younger and or newer stars sooner, rather than later. Look at WCW 2000-2001, even though I give Russo credit for giving the young guys a chance. They had to push guys like Guerrero, Malenko, Misterio Jr., The Giant, Benoti, and Jericho. The only new and young guys they ever pushed were Goldberg and DDP back in 98-99, in 2000 it was Jarrett and Booker T, but at that point WCW was dead in the water. It should've pushed the older talent to the side slower. If you look at WCW's 1998 roster it is incredibly stacked with some of the biggest names in wrestling. They also should've built towards Pay-per-view more, Ted and Bischoff were more focused on TV Ratings and giving Hogan, and the bloated NWO an hour on Nitro and Thunder than building towards Pay-per-views that would give them confirmed profit.

They should've also not bent to Nash and Hogan's demands. The booker (Bischoff in this case) is the boss of the WCW you do what your boss tells you to do, no matter your contract. No more screwy finishes or just dumb angles, and it would've helped WCW.

Now in 2001 had WCW been bought by Fusient Media. It would've stayed in the Universal Studios area consistently to host shows and Pay-per-views. Basically it would've become TNA, but with a lot more talent in the beginning than TNA started out with.

If WCW had somehow survived to todays world could they compete with WWE? Maybe, Vinny Mac is too ruthless to let anyone win, so he'd do whatever it took to put WCW out of business. Which coincidentally drove him and the WWE to its greatest creative peak and highest point of popularity.

 

[Pricefield]

If WCW had somehow survived to todays world could they compete with WWE? Maybe, Vinny Mac is too ruthless to let anyone win, so he'd do whatever it took to put WCW out of business. Which coincidentally drove him and the WWE to its greatest creative peak and highest point of popularity.

At the risk of sounding naive, what I would've done in his situation is let the WCW stay afloat. Competition is healthy for everyone.

 

[Minty_Fresh]

At the risk of sounding naive, what I would've done in his situation is let the WCW stay afloat. Competition is healthy for everyone.

Vince McMahon likes money, but if you go into his background a bit and look into the fucked up circumstances of his childhood and early adulthood, he seems like someone who values winning and personal triumphs a lot more.

WCW represented a threat to him. It brought out the best, but it was still a threat.

 

[Coiler]

Butterfly or change either the AOL/Time Warner merger or Jamie Kellner's ascent to the head of TBS. (That or get another network willing to pick them up after Kellner cancels them)