If WCW had won the Monday Night Wars

[adamisme]

Okay another thread, seem to be in a thread mood today?

What would have happened if the opposite to what did went down in that WWF was the one that was in trouble and WCW bought out Vince and took all of the WWF assets. And as a sidepoint what if ECW stayed in business, would Vince maybe have tried to plow money in there build it up?

 

[Justin Satiable]

Nothing would have really changed should the WWF had gone out of business. WCW was collapsing ever since 1998, and it was simply beyond saving by 2001. If Vince hadn't bought it out, it likely would have just been shut down anyway.

 

[P. Nut Butters]

Very hard to tell what wrestling would be, had WCW "won" so-to-speak. I was never a big WCW fan, I still watched from time to time, granted we got it here in NZ on a Monday at midnight or something.

I'd gone off WCW sometime in 1998 and was getting back into them right as they closed. I dug the final Nitro episode, except for Vince's appearances on the show.

If WCW had brought-out WWF, I would most likely have stopped watching wrestling. I shudder to think what WCW would've done with WWF-created talent... the Rock in a WCW ring? and I doubt Steve Austin would've gone back there.

Tony Schiavonie's voice pissed me off too. I'd sometimes catch the end of WCW on mute. So that's another reason I wouldn't watch.

WCW was sinking anyway so something majorly disruptive would've happened in the wrestling world. AOL didn't want wrestling on their channel anyway after the merger with Time-Warner, so what happens to WCW then? What would've happened to "Billionare Ted"'s baby?

I'm glad the WCW didn't take over WWF, but I am sad that that the 'competition' is over.

 

[WhyTravisFelt]

First, let me say that this is clearly supposed to be an abstract question, so we should assume that WCW wasn't going downhill and that they would've managed to keep a TV deal with or without Time Warner.

That being said, even though I was always a diehard WCW mark and only started casually re-watching WWF(e) for maybe a half a year before WCW got bought out, I still think it would've worked out poorly, at least in the first couple of years; but I suppose I can say the exact same thing about the Invasion angle. I think the most important thing to take into account is the extensive list of people who were misused in WCW who had success in WWE (either before or after their time in WCW), most predominantly Austin, Macho Man, Bret Hart, Jericho, Benoit, and Guerrero. I also think about WWE talent that WCW would've misused if given the opportunity: The Hardyz, Edge, Christian, and The Rock all probably would've suffered career-wise. The only real plusses I can think of is that Booker T and Ernest Miller would've enjoyed better careers and more deserved time in the limelight.

As for announcers, while I don't think Tenay honestly gives a crap about wrestling anymore considering his current time in TNA, he was my favorite announcer back in the days for his well-rounded knowledge of professional wrestling and to me that was always more important than people like Jim Ross who were more or less glorified hype-men who could name about five wrestling holds and generally still call them wrong. A table of Tenay, Lawler, and anybody but Schiavone or Ross announcing for Nitro would've been a nice mix for me, especially if WCW managed in this hypothetical situation to pick up Joey Styles from ECW.

I think WCW's best shot would've been to go back to doing a three-hour Nitro to be able to display all of the talent they would've resultantly been glutted with, and with the first hour dedicated to a would-be vast cruiserweight division (now with the Hardyz, Christian, X-Pac, Jerry Lynn, and Tajiri in the mix), maybe seeing Hardyz doing something with fellow OMEGA stars Helms and Moore. I think that could've been at least better than WWE's sloppy unsuccessful Invasion angle.

Still, as much as I try and think about a way to make it work, I can't get around WCW's cockamamie booking and abhorrent waste of talent. The only real bright spot I can think of is that HHH would no longer hold any power and I wouldn't have to worry about watching him main event for the next seven years or helping his mediocre buddies out. And, even considering the wasted talent, the overall product might've been better down the road at least in comparison to the current WWE product, which I have no love for. If there were a world where just being Guy in Black Trunks #5 didn't automatically qualify you for the main event, I'd be satisfied.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Had WCW "won", Wrestling would have lost... and probably imploded as a business within 3 years... The sheer ineptitude associated with most of the business decisions would have sunk them... Example, never sign anyone to a "safe harbour" deal... one that means you sign the hottest guy in the biz to a mega contract, the guy you signed 3 years ago can never be paid less than him... Nash and Hall both had those deals... so once Goldberg hit big and was justifyably earning millions and generating the revenue, Nash and Hall were on the same too, even though their star had waned..

WWE had it right by offering less in guarantees but more in opportunity through merch and bonus... Guys like Jericho, Benoit, Eddy all made killings when they jumped even though on paper they made less than Booker, Steiner and Bagwell... cos their skills in the ring and Vince's expertise in marketing translated to massive merch sales... How many people have a Y2J shirt lying around? How many have a Scott Steiner WCW top?

WWE would have come back... Vince would have mothballed the company or downsized to 4 PPV's a year and syndication before selling it... once WCW imploded, someone would have backed him to come back strong... maybe a Rupert Murdoch, or even Ted Turner himself...

 

[rge2010]

I see WCW signing Rock, Austin, Taker, Shawn, etc on big contracts and going out of business further down the line. Looking back, it would of been the better option in terms of the Invasion angle. Having said that, WCW would of probably fucked it up like they did everything. They even manged to fuck up the nWo in the end.

Then Vince would of started again. Picked up all the scraps and ruled the Wrestling world. Like he always has (apart from 95-96).

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

If WCW had won the Monday Night Wars, I do think things would have been different

I oersonally think that some WWE guys like Austin, Undertaker and The Rock would have remained loyal to Vince, but obviously some would jump ship, as happened when Nash and Hall deserted for WCW in the mid-90s.

WCW would have had another boom period, as lots of WWE fans would have started watching Nitro, to see all their favourite former WWE wrestlers perform, but with Vince Russo and his scattergun approach to booking, and the general way that WCW seemed to fuck up most things, I do not think that WCW would be in the position that the WWE is in financially today. They just were not as good businessmen.

Goldberg would have crushed most of the new WWE talent, therefore making them worthless and we would have seen wrestlers such as Guerrero and Jericho being jobbed out on Nitro, with Nash and Hogan still on top. I do not think that WCW would have used many of the WWE signings that well, perhaps Kurt Angle and maybe Kane...although Kane would probably be stuck fighting nobodys like Vampiro in bizarre fire/graveyard matches, or with a mask on a pole.

WWE would not have gone out of business, but would definitely have had to cut back on the number of shows they ran, but I think 10 years later, that Vince would be back on his feet and ready to challaenge WCW again

 

[Richie Cult]

In my opinion, if WCW would have won the "Monday Night Wars", wrestling might not exist on television today. I preferred WCW over WWE at the time, but it became all too clear as time went on that the people in power with the financial backing at WCW did not "love" wrestling as much as they love money. Vince McMahon, in my opinion, loves money AND wrestling equally. If the WWE would have lost the war, they would have lost a tremendous amount of momentum, followers, viewers, television opportunities, sponsorship and this would have hurt wrestling just like the second MLB baseball strike hurt attendance after it was ended. Remember the games being played in half empty stadiums for a while? Well, baseball has far more fans than wrestling (not me and that's all that matters). The WWE may or may not have bounced back, but I am pretty sure that the winning team, WCW, would not be in existence today. According to Eric Bischoff's book, "Controversy Creates Ca$h", which is the closest thing we may read about WCW from the biggest creator of it's success, WCW was not as much a serious wrestling company as it was a way for one billionaire to hurt another wealthy guy. The big wigs never really shown any love for it.