WI: WCW Survives and Thrives

With a POD of 1998 in an alternate scenario where the NWO disbands sometime Goldberg defeats Hogan for the World Title (at a pay-per-view rather than on Nitro), what could have been done to make WCW not only survive but somehow manage to win the Monday Night Wars (in terms of storylines, good writers and properly utilizing talent)?

From what I've read so far, even relatively bad gimmicks like the West Texas Rednecks had potential as a face/anti-hero Wrestling stable with WCW even missing an opportunity by refusing requests by radio stations in the South asking to play "Rap is Crap" and "Good Ol' Boys".
 
WCW overplaying the country boy demographic isn't necessarily a good thing and wouldn't save the company. Investing in more new blood and reducing the influence of Bishoff and Hogan probably could do the trick.
 
WCW overplaying the country boy demographic isn't necessarily a good thing and wouldn't save the company. Investing in more new blood and reducing the influence of Bishoff and Hogan probably could do the trick.

The West Texas Rednecks would not be given much more of a significant push as faces/anti-heroes than they received in OTL, only that WCW would allow radio stations in the south to play their songs prior to disbanding.

Beyond underused talent like Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Dean Malenko and a few others, what other talent could have been developed into possible main-eventers?

I would also probably reduce the influence of both Kevin Nash and Kevin Sullivan who also have notorious reputations as backstage bookers.
 
After reading the book "The Death of WCW" I tend to agree with the authors, the problem was not that the wrestlers were "old" per se, the problem was they were not mixing things up enough. You had e same main events every week, the same rivalries, and they were not pushing new talent at all. So my "WCW survives" would look as follows (with a POD being 4/20/98 when Hogan beats Savage for the WCW title with Bret Hart's assistance in OTL).

Hart still attacks Nash but then walks out of the ring after attacking both Hogan and Savage.

Following week he calls NWO and NWO Wolfpack both "an embarrassment to the sport" and goes on a long tirade about "what wrestling should be like" and calling himself a throwback to his fathers era, when people didn't just "flash their ass on TV and embarrass the sport" (now we get an angle for Hart, something he hasn't had since he went on his "pro Canada" heel kick in WWF two years earlier. We also get where he is going with this, he sees the NWO as the D-Generation X of the WCW and wants a return to a simpler time when heels were Iranian and the good guys drank milk).

Later in that episode he is seen watching from the sidelines with Jim the Anvil and Bulldog (not teaming the three up from the start was stupid IMO).

After a typical embarrassing performance by Raven's flock (let's have a Scotty Riggs-Disco Inferno match end in a Disco victory) The "Old School" comes out and curb stomps Raen's flock before recruiting Kidman.

Similar recruitment with Wrath (Brian Clark) and Brian Adams, who form a tag team that feuds with Nash and Hall. Syxx feuds with Kidman.

Old School claims to has both NWO factions but really seem to focus only on the Wolfpack. At a PPV Hart versus Lugar we discover why: Hogan comes out in the Red and Gold as a member of the Old School.

That angle gets maybe 6 months to a year of play before Hogan is jealous of Hart as champ. He starts feuding with Hart, ditching the red and gold for the black and white...but as a face. Says his era is over and so is Hart's and it is time to step aside for the young guys. And says Hart is "living in the past" or something like hat. Have Goldberg, Perry Saturn, Buff Bagwell, Cris Jericho in his corner, and have him promise to retire after the match so that the WCW can hold a fair tournament to determine the next champ.

PPV: Hogan pins Hart, and keeps his word and steps down.

Next PPV: tournament to determine next champion. Hogan on the sidelines backing WCW wrestlers. Goldberg emerges on top.

Goldberg feuds with Hart, Nash, few others, Hogan not seen, giving wrestling fans a break from Hogan to allow the sport to recharge its batteries. Hogan is told that he won't wrestle for the next few months but will be here and there on Nitro.

Now if (big if) we want Hogan back we can have Goldberg do a heel turn or have him lose to some other heel who calls out Hogan. But if the sport looks like it is doing just fine without Hogan, we can push him out or even release him from his contract. The thing we get here is:

Some fresh blood into the stale NWO storyline and a gradual phasing out of NWO as a new force in wrestling emerges.

A legitimate PPV and a legitimate story selling Bret Hart in a WCW title run

The biggest possible Hart-Hogan match possible under the situation (Hart is champ, Hogan is challenger, which gives it a special irony. Also Hogan's retirement will give the match more weight.)

Then we get a legitimate tournament to crown a new champion. If all goes well fans will tune in and the WCW survives it dark days.
 
After reading the book "The Death of WCW" I tend to agree with the authors, the problem was not that the wrestlers were "old" per se, the problem was they were not mixing things up enough. You had e same main events every week, the same rivalries, and they were not pushing new talent at all. So my "WCW survives" would look as follows (with a POD being 4/20/98 when Hogan beats Savage for the WCW title with Bret Hart's assistance in OTL).

Hart still attacks Nash but then walks out of the ring after attacking both Hogan and Savage.

Following week he calls NWO and NWO Wolfpack both "an embarrassment to the sport" and goes on a long tirade about "what wrestling should be like" and calling himself a throwback to his fathers era, when people didn't just "flash their ass on TV and embarrass the sport" (now we get an angle for Hart, something he hasn't had since he went on his "pro Canada" heel kick in WWF two years earlier. We also get where he is going with this, he sees the NWO as the D-Generation X of the WCW and wants a return to a simpler time when heels were Iranian and the good guys drank milk).

Later in that episode he is seen watching from the sidelines with Jim the Anvil and Bulldog (not teaming the three up from the start was stupid IMO).

After a typical embarrassing performance by Raven's flock (let's have a Scotty Riggs-Disco Inferno match end in a Disco victory) The "Old School" comes out and curb stomps Raen's flock before recruiting Kidman.

Similar recruitment with Wrath (Brian Clark) and Brian Adams, who form a tag team that feuds with Nash and Hall. Syxx feuds with Kidman.

Old School claims to has both NWO factions but really seem to focus only on the Wolfpack. At a PPV Hart versus Lugar we discover why: Hogan comes out in the Red and Gold as a member of the Old School.

That angle gets maybe 6 months to a year of play before Hogan is jealous of Hart as champ. He starts feuding with Hart, ditching the red and gold for the black and white...but as a face. Says his era is over and so is Hart's and it is time to step aside for the young guys. And says Hart is "living in the past" or something like hat. Have Goldberg, Perry Saturn, Buff Bagwell, Cris Jericho in his corner, and have him promise to retire after the match so that the WCW can hold a fair tournament to determine the next champ.

PPV: Hogan pins Hart, and keeps his word and steps down.

Next PPV: tournament to determine next champion. Hogan on the sidelines backing WCW wrestlers. Goldberg emerges on top.

Goldberg feuds with Hart, Nash, few others, Hogan not seen, giving wrestling fans a break from Hogan to allow the sport to recharge its batteries. Hogan is told that he won't wrestle for the next few months but will be here and there on Nitro.

Now if (big if) we want Hogan back we can have Goldberg do a heel turn or have him lose to some other heel who calls out Hogan. But if the sport looks like it is doing just fine without Hogan, we can push him out or even release him from his contract. The thing we get here is:

Some fresh blood into the stale NWO storyline and a gradual phasing out of NWO as a new force in wrestling emerges.

A legitimate PPV and a legitimate story selling Bret Hart in a WCW title run

The biggest possible Hart-Hogan match possible under the situation (Hart is champ, Hogan is challenger, which gives it a special irony. Also Hogan's retirement will give the match more weight.)

Then we get a legitimate tournament to crown a new champion. If all goes well fans will tune in and the WCW survives it dark days.

I like though assuming Goldberg does a heel turn (or remains a face), would have Diamond Dallas Page be the man to pull off a shock win against Goldberg (via a top rope Diamond Cutter) or if Goldberg reminds a face have DDP win the World title in a heel fashion.

In the case of the latter, I'd have DDP (still a face) revealed as the mastermind behind a plot to wear down Goldberg in a series of handicap matches (that Goldberg manages to somehow win or ends up winning by DQ after getting beaten down) prior to their match, which is no DQ and have DDP defeat Goldberg with a Taser Gun after gradually acting in a heel fashion during the course of the match (due to DDP growing frustrated).

Regardless of whether DDP ends up being a Face or Heel World Champion, I'd have him feud with Sting (DDP as Heel), Hart and others for a bit with Hart later winning the title.

Hart as a Face then later begins feuding with Chris Jericho, who after getting his comedy squash match against Goldberg at some PPV a while back when the latter was champion began to receive a big push winning the US title before later losing the belt to either Booker T, Perry Saturn (with a better gimmick) or Rey Mysterio (after his Giant-Killer storyline has concluded though still remaining Masked).
 
I would also say WCW needs a contractual overhaul, too many big money contracts with creative control clauses etc without having plans or uses for the talent. Amore found financial footing and greater control over match outcomes would avoid many of the problems that plagued the later WCW. I think if I was attempting to save WCW I would try to push Jericho as the 'new blood' given his charisma and in ring ability.
 
I would also say WCW needs a contractual overhaul, too many big money contracts with creative control clauses etc without having plans or uses for the talent. Amore found financial footing and greater control over match outcomes would avoid many of the problems that plagued the later WCW. I think if I was attempting to save WCW I would try to push Jericho as the 'new blood' given his charisma and in ring ability.

I agree with the need for a contractual overhaul and the rest, it would be interesting to see how Jericho repackages himself as a main-eventer (without going a proto-Y2J route) after his comedy squash PPV match with Goldberg.

The following 2 (possibly incomplete) links are of the WCW roster 1998 that is considered to be one of the largest and most solid rosters, the first as of the 1st of February 1998 and the second a roster dating from approximately November 1998.

WCW Feb 1998 - http://www.joshism.net/tnm/WCW97/roster.html

WCW Nov 1998 - http://officialfan.proboards.com/thread/311971
 
One of WCW's biggest problems was acctually an issue with management. Everyone talks about Bischoff having to much power and playing favriotes which was an issue, but for much of the talent it was that no one really was in charge of things. By that I mean that if you ere a mid card wrestler you could expect you storyline/match to change direction several times over the course of a weekend. This would all come from different people all telling you what is happening, and you wouldn't have anyone to go to a ask exactly what you were doing who would then have the authority to give you a single definite answer. This created an very hostile environment to work in because guys were told one thing and then another and so on. It is one of the reasons that so many wrestlers jumped ship to WWE.
 
I think another thing that would have helped is scrap the WCW Thursday Thunder show and go with something totally different. The problem with Thunder was it really diluted the brand. People just were overloaded with WCW and considering nothing was really happening that really killed the brand. Five hours of wrestling a week with nothing happening is a very dangerous thing for a wrestling company. So instead of Thursday Thunder I would propose the following:

The first episode in 1998 came when WCW was still strong enough to justify an "investment". Instead of a rehashed WCW program, I would invenst in purchasing the ECW (it was a lot cheaper than people realized) and broadcast ECW on Thursday Nights. Have an nWo "invasion" of ECW featuring lower level nWo wrestlers (like Curt Henning and Horace Hogan) while having little used WCW wrestlers make frequent cameos. This gives the WCW the chance to develop young wrestlers properly without diluting the WCW name. They might discover on ECW Thunder than Chris Jericho has superstar potential, or that Chris Benoit should get more of a push. And it is a different enough product that WCW fans won't feel overloaded with too much wrestling. The guys who really catch on with ECW Thunder would start making cameos on Nitro. You basically create a minor league circuit without the stigma of it being a minor league.
 
I think another thing that would have helped is scrap the WCW Thursday Thunder show and go with something totally different. The problem with Thunder was it really diluted the brand. People just were overloaded with WCW and considering nothing was really happening that really killed the brand. Five hours of wrestling a week with nothing happening is a very dangerous thing for a wrestling company. So instead of Thursday Thunder I would propose the following:

The first episode in 1998 came when WCW was still strong enough to justify an "investment". Instead of a rehashed WCW program, I would invenst in purchasing the ECW (it was a lot cheaper than people realized) and broadcast ECW on Thursday Nights. Have an nWo "invasion" of ECW featuring lower level nWo wrestlers (like Curt Henning and Horace Hogan) while having little used WCW wrestlers make frequent cameos. This gives the WCW the chance to develop young wrestlers properly without diluting the WCW name. They might discover on ECW Thunder than Chris Jericho has superstar potential, or that Chris Benoit should get more of a push. And it is a different enough product that WCW fans won't feel overloaded with too much wrestling. The guys who really catch on with ECW Thunder would start making cameos on Nitro. You basically create a minor league circuit without the stigma of it being a minor league.

Not a bad idea as it saves WCW from the need of creating a Hardcore title though the question would be that if ECW Thunder were to be shown Thursdays, would it have to be diluted to be shown on TBS (have no clue as I do not live in the US)?

Also, what would be the status of the Cruiserweight division in WCW given the popularity of such wrestlers in ECW and beyond having NWO (and even a WCW Heel faction) try to invade ECW, how much crossover would there be between WCW and ECW without the latter becoming diluted like it was in real-life under WWE?

There also would also need to be plans for after the NWO and WCW invasion angle has run its course by keeping WCW and ECW separate as well as repackaging the gimmicks (or lack of gimmicks) of mid/low-card WCW expats to become full-fledged members of ECW, at least until they're over enough to make the switch back to Nitro.

If the rise of Jericho, Benoit and Mysterio has demonstrated anything, that would be the trend of smaller wrestlers becoming big star Main-Eventers and if a successful WCW were to follow that trend (in place of less mobile big guys) then where would that leave ECW in the long term?

Since not only was ECW known for being Extreme and catering to an Adult audience, but also foresaw the potential trend of small wrestlers being big Main-Eventers due to having a reputation for giving wrestlers condemned (by big promotions like WWF and WCW) as too small to succeed or not main-event material a chance to shine.
 
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