10 Years Later...

[DexVendetta88]

First of all, I just wanna say Happy New Years to everyone here! Now to business. As the title suggests, it has been 10 years since both WCW and ECW folded. What comes to mind right now is the proverbial question of "What if...?". So I pose this question to all of you. What if both WCW and ECW NEVER folded 10 years ago? Also what would this mean for the WWE had both these companies survived? Have at it folks!

 

[CelticCorey]

I think eventually ECW would have folded due to their bakruptcy. They would be a nice third company but truth to be told they would probably be the #3 organization just like ROH is now. I am not so sure if ECW would be on regular TV or if they would be on a channel like HDnet, which I don't get.

WCW would have to have been in a rebuilding process. Hogan did so much good but also did so much bad for this company with his politicking. The Finger Poke of Doom was the beginning of a domino effect for WCW. Bash at the Beach 2000 was one of the deadly nails in the coffin for WCW and this wouldn't have had to happen if Hogan jobbed instead of having to have his way. Props to Russo for not giving in to Hogan. Hogan also pulled this same crap at Halloween Havoc 1999 when he had to come out second and lay for Sting since he didn't want to lose cleanly to Sting.

Russo did do some good for the company. Ratings did go up, the younger talent preferred Russo and he did have some good ideas. He just happened to execute them so poorly. The stacked cages was an awesome idea. The fact it happened on Nitro was just wrong and out of sheer desparation. This should've been hyped to death for Starrcade to end the 21st century at WCW's flagship PPV. Booking Arquette and himself as World Champions just show that it wasn't what it once was.

Kevin Nash and Ric Flair also were cancers. While top draws, they cared about themselves and only themselves. Ric Flair booked himself title reigns while on the creative team and so did Nash. The truth is was that there were too many egos in WCW and that was a reason they folded. Not to mention the AOL-Time Warner merger.

If WCW did not fold, they would have needed a serious overhaul. They would have needed to find the right new guys and market them well. They would have needed to come up with something in the post NWO era and they needed smart people to run the show. Like I said Russo had some ideas. The way Kevin Sullivan booked Goldberg was brilliant; but they would have had to have needed a consistently good booker.

What this would've meant for WWF/E:

A completely new direction for Stone Cold since HHH's injury and Benoit's injury. They still did keep it up for awhile but then they stopped trying like in 2007 and 2008 and 2009 up until the very end I did not watch. The only thing I regret about not seeing WWE during that time was Miz and Morrison being a tag team, although I did check wikipedia every now and then and I am glad I got back into it. This also likely would have meant that TNA never would have happened and that talent like A.J. Styles would've been in one of the three.

So I have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy wrestling the post W/ECW era but at the same time it would've been intriguing to see what would have happened if this two companies survived. Excellent question.

 

[MonkeyRko]

is the question if wcw survived and run by vince coz that what im getting at? coz if so then wcw would been like what happen with ecw. dead again. but if ur asking if wcw was still owned by eric bischoff still well we wouldnt have hogan/biscoff in tna and im sure wcw would stay 14A and prolly would of took down wwe and im sure we wouldnt have john cena as the face of the company. and if wcw did beat wwe in the attitude era then everything we watched in the wwe in the last 10 years wouldnt have happen and im sure benoit might of still be alive coz come on wcw wouldnt have used him at all and he would prolly go to ROH and wouldnt get so many shair shot to the head. anywho back to topic... im sure wcw prolly would change wrestling again for the better and prolly would of bought ecw if coz come on ecw didnt have a chance. so basically if wcw was still around and no wwe well hell.. im sure either alot of guys who are in the wwe would be part of wcw and have better wrestling coz well vince doesnt know the word wrestling or wcw would of beat wwe and surivor for couple more years and then lose money and thats the end of wrestling and we would have a tun of dead fans killing themselves of the boredom. LOL!!!

 

[Disturbed]

If ECW survived then they wouldn't have made it a year or less and folded.

Now, what if WCW survived? If WCW survived and was never bought by Vince then many things would and wouldn't have happened. For example, there would not be a TNA because Jarrett would have never left WCW to create it. If WCW never folded, then I think Wcw would have stole from WWE and formed there own attitude type era like WWE did when they were losing in the ratings. I think a lot of the TNA guys would be in WCW and some of WWE's younger guys might be there too. I actually wish WCW was still around to give WWE some competition. We can say "What if" all day but facts are, WCW and ECW folded and that's all that matters. Good thread though.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Very interesting thread.

I dont think ECW could have lasted much longer, even if it had made it another year or so. Heyman was on his ass at the time, the company was losing money hand over fist and you could see it was on its last legs. The only hope ECW could have had was that a wealthy backer had stepped in with enough money to keep it afloat and help it to grow, as has happened with TNA and Panda Energy.

As for WCW?? Well, I think they would be like the TNA of today. The gulf between WCW and WWE at the time that they went out of business was huge. WWE was obviously at its peak, while WCW had become a running joke, with actors and storyline writers as World Champion. I still think Vince would have ended up signing the majoirty of WCW's top stars, he just had the money to do so.

There would have been no TNA, as Jeff Jarrett would have remained in WCW rather than starting up his own promotion, and I do think that as WCW regrouped at a smaller level (think TNA after its debut), they wouldnt have been able to afford the contracts of guys such as Nash, Hall, Hogan and Goldberg, and these men would have jumped back to the WWE in order to make their money there. This would have allowed WCW to focus on building the next generation of stars, such as Sean O'Haire (who would have become World Champion eventually), the rookie AJ Styles, Chris Harris etc...men who can perform in the ring, unlike the dinosaurs who WCW kept at the top of the card.

Using a combination of rookie talent, and some of the older more experienced wrestlers (such as Sting and Ric Flair- who would have remained loyaly to WCW), WCW would have survived, but on a lower scale. Fast forward to 2011 and WCW would be where TNA is now, bigger but not really capable yet of mounting a challenge to WWE. They would have run their own training camps to find the new talent, perhaps snapping up wrestlers such as Batista or Brock Lesnar, before the WWE spotted their potential?

WWE itself would be in a similar position to where it is now, but perhaps a littler better off as with WCW remaining in business (albeit on a smaller scale), Vince McMahon would not have become as complacent as he did without any competition. He would also be able to steal some of the new talent created by WCW, such as Styles and O'Haire, when they reached a level of stardom which would have benefitted the WWE (think Chris Jericho, The Radicalz etc.) This would have prevented WWE from becoming as stale as it has become in recent years.

All in all, I think had WCW survived then the wrestling business would be in better shape than now. We wouldnt have seen a continuation of the Monday Night Wars, WCW was too far gone for that, but just having 2 companies in the US with big names would have benefitted the business more than having WWE as the 1 dominant company with a brand new promotion in TNA.

 

[Dean Winchester]

If ECW survived then they wouldn't have made it a year or less and folded.

Now, what if WCW survived? If WCW survived and was never bought by Vince then many things would and wouldn't have happened. For example, there would not be a TNA because Jarrett would have never left WCW to create it. If WCW never folded, then I think Wcw would have stole from WWE and formed there own attitude type era like WWE did when they were losing in the ratings. I think a lot of the TNA guys would be in WCW and some of WWE's younger guys might be there too. I actually wish WCW was still around to give WWE some competition. We can say "What if" all day but facts are, WCW and ECW folded and that's all that matters. Good thread though.

WCW tried to be like WWF Attitude but failed. What Russo wanted to do when he came over to WCW, make the product edgier and stuff but it just all failed. Plus with WCW being on a Time Warner network, it would not of happened anyways for them to be liek that cause Time Warner wanted a PG wrestling program. Maybe if WCW woulda moved eslewere then yeah maybe.

 

[jacdnwarrior]

This is a very good question.

ECW might have had a chance if they could guarantee a tv deal. If not, then they would've folded. That being said though, TNA didn't have a tv deal for a time and they managed to make it till then.

WCW was heartbreaking. It could have made it. Time Warner wanted nothing to do with wrestling and sold it for nothing. Bischoff had started a group to hopefully buy it, but walked away when they realized a tv deal was not part of the package. Personally if I were Bischoff, I would have bought it. WCW was still a name and they could've soldiered on as TNA did without the deal until such time they got one. New stations pop up all the time and it would only be a matter of time before they would have gotten one. Just the video footage they had alone could be packaged into dvds and make them a decent amount.

 

[Dean Winchester]

This is a very good question.

ECW might have had a chance if they could guarantee a tv deal. If not, then they would've folded. That being said though, TNA didn't have a tv deal for a time and they managed to make it till then.

WCW was heartbreaking. It could have made it. Time Warner wanted nothing to do with wrestling and sold it for nothing. Bischoff had started a group to hopefully buy it, but walked away when they realized a tv deal was not part of the package. Personally if I were Bischoff, I would have bought it. WCW was still a name and they could've soldiered on as TNA did without the deal until such time they got one. New stations pop up all the time and it would only be a matter of time before they would have gotten one. Just the video footage they had alone could be packaged into dvds and make them a decent amount.

With the big names wCw had they could of gotten a television deal eslwere. But if Bishoff would of bought out wCw, he have to rebuild it all over again. Used what ever good talented wrestlers they had and bring in the guys who eventually started in TNA when TNA started in 2002 and turn all of them into big nanes. And keep some of the big names that would be willing to push and help the young superstars, like Sting for example.

 

[FitFinlay4Life]

In their end persona they would have been treading water until they folded/ were cancelled/ went bankrupt. The big question would have been if they'd been bought out by an interested party. In particular, WCW was still a name - and while ratings had dropped, the fans they had lost could have been lured back. Had the Jarretts purchased the WCW name they would not have had same uphill battle to start with because they would have had a brand with recognised names (although, whether the big names would have been lured is very negotiable). I would imagine that WCW/TNA would be a bigger concern than TNA now but whether they would be challenging would be contingent on who was showing their programming and how much of the crap that Dixie puts up with would have been allowed. I don't know about ECW though, it was very much an acquired taste and as such longevity in their old form would be questionable at best - had the same company that purchased WCW also purchased ECW then their would have been the possibility of a fresher product than the stew that all three organisations amalgamating produced.