Perhaps Turner could have bought ECW when it was being liquidated. That would a) bring in a bunch of talent and an angle to freshen up the nWo gimmick, b) given WCW a bigger tape library which makes it more attractive to potential buyers and c) brought Heyman into the fold. Whether Heyman could (or would be allowed to) create some 'Smackdown 6' style magic is up for debate, but hindsight tells us he had a better shot than Russo.
The other side of this question is equally interesting: what happens to Crash TV in the PG era? WWE didn't seem to skip a beat without Russo, but would things have gone differently in 2000-2001 if he was still around?