Put the WWE out of Business

[Jdulemba1001]

Sorry if there is a thread on this, I didnt see one. So if it needs moved, then by all means, id appreciate it.

Anyway my question is this. You have control of WCW at the height of the Monday Night Wars. The NWO is at its height, and you are winning the war. How would you put the nail in the coffin of the WWE? Could you script a situation where WWE loses the war?

For me, I would have renamed Thunder to NWO and put it head to head with Smackdown. That would force Vince to either move Smackdown to a less favorable timeslot or cancel it, and WWE would be down to one show. This would pollute the show, too many people trying to cram too much. It would get watered down, and WCW would win. Or at least thats a start. Im interested to hear what you all would have done with WCW if you had the chance.

 

[mrpops]

If i was WCW at the time, i wouldve created actual characters and storylines that made sense and then fired all the useless crap. I would have made scripts/story arcs weeks in advance instead of just winging it every episode.

Also, the wrestlers would follow a stricter policy. I dont care if they do drugs or drink, but DONT do it right before or during the shows. Do it after and on your own time. Also i wouldnt let a handful of crazy people run the show and make it only about themselves.

Yeah, if that happened i think WCW would have a hell of chance of winning the war.

 

[TellMeWhy]

Well I heard somewhere, (I think maybe Bischoff) that the original plan was for Thunder to be an NWO show. I would have gone with that plan and I think it would have been amazing. The whole purpose of NWO was for them to get their own show and company. Thunder could have been the start of that if it became an NWO themed show. Once WCW became WCW/NWO, NWO should have become a separate brand. Separate as in a separate world title, separate tag titles, separate midcard titles, etc. Meanwhile WCW's show would have remained on Monday with the traditional belts. I'm confident that WCW unlike WWE now could have pulled off a brand split because WCW from 96-maybe about 2000 had the most packed and superior roster assembled at that point. It would have been in their best interest to put more spotlight on the talent and make 2 separate brands. Imagine if Thunder was a show where guys like Hogan, Bret Hart, Savage, Big Poppa Pump, and Nash competed for an NWO world title, it would have been a must see show and could have definitely been a problem for WWE's Smackdown if they decided to compete. And then on Nitro, you'd have guys like Goldberg, Benoit, Flair, Jericho, DDP, and Sting.

 

[Azane]

stop referencing WWF.

Stop saying "That other show"
stop acknowleding WWF, everytime they made a rib at the Federation, it made me change my channel.

 

[dsotm5150]

Definitely an interesting concept. Knowing what I knew back then, which wasn't a whole hell of a lot of anything at all, I doubt I would have changed a thing and I don't think anyone else would have either because I don't think anyone saw Billionaire Ted losing control of Turner Broadcasting. Knowing what I know now though, I think this is what I would have done. The build up from 1996 - 1997 was amazing, I don't think their is much I would change about that time span.


Number 1 -I would have had the rematch for the World Heavyweight Championship at Souled Out, using the same ending to leave it open-ended to continue the feud. Instead of having a one on one match at Superbrawl between Sting and Hogan, make it an impromptu War Games, Sting, Page, Luger and Rick Steiner(though you could probably stick just about anyone in this) vs. Hogan, Savage, Nash, Scott Steiner. if WCW wins nWo disbands, nWo wins they get control of the company to run it as they see fit. Have the nWo running dominate right up till the end and have Savage go turncoat giving the victory to WCW. Thats only one aspect in this, of course because the problem with WCW was the nWo...no one wanted to think outside of it.

Number 2 - Put more of the spotlight on the midcard. WCW had an amazing midcard at that time. Benoit, Eddie, Raven, Saturn, Page, The Giant, Kanyon, Jericho, Malenko, Kidman etc.

Number 3 - Goldberg. 1998 -1999 Goldberg was THE MAN in wrestling, like him or hate he was the face of wrestling. Kevin Nash would definitely not have been my choice to end the streak, and the streak really should only have been ended when it was no longer drawing. That was also the problem with Goldberg, the streak was all he had to him, there was nothing else about him after it ended, I think I would have paired him up in a feud with Bret Hart to end the streak(when the time was needed) and also to give some depth to Goldbergs character so that he continue to be able to be a draw afterwards.

Number 4 - Creative control. Ok enough with the talent side of things. Creative control would be gone, if you allow your talent to hold your company hostage, then you'll never move forward. Creative control would be very minimized to the talent, but no one would have full creative control.

Number 5 - Financial audit. Get rid of people who aren't deserving of their salaries, aren't getting the job done, or just plain aren't even working.

Number 6 - Make WCW a standalone organization away from Turner. That way had the same thing happen where they lost control of TBS and TNT, WCW programming would be available to be picked up by another channel.


I think the biggest things that destroyed WCW was the lack of new mainstream talent, financial blunders and the lack of being its own company. I'm not sure if WCW would ever have been able to put the WWF out of business, but I'm sure certain steps could definitely have been taken to pro-long its existance at the very least, or allow it to still exist today. All in all WCW is gone because AOL/Time Warner wanted it gone, and nobody that could have run it wanted to without a TV contract. Even Vince has gone on record saying thats why the WCW storyline ended at Survivor Series, because they couldn't find a viable timeslot for another mainstream wrestling program.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Ignoring all of WCW's backstage and front office issues there are just a few things WCW had under their control that they could have done to put the nail in WWE's coffin:

Keep Talent
WCW basically let guys like Foley, Jericho, Benoit, Guerrero and most importantly Stone Cold slip from their roster. These are guys that became sympathetic underdogs in WWE due to their "mistreatment" in WCW.

Big Checkbook
On the flip side of letting "mistreated" talent go, WCW acquisitions had a reputation for coming to WCW for the big pay check. Wrestling fans think of themselves as hard working blue collar folk. This reputation took some of the appeal away from some of their superstars with the fans. When the fans start to see the stylin' and profilin' they begin to lose the connection with the wrestler.

Gloating/Biscoff
WCW made it appear that they wanted to put WWE out of business with their gloating (Bischoff on the motorcycle, announcing taped WWE results). Many fans who enjoyed WCW were also WWE fans. WCW seemed to try to force people to pick sides with their gloating. This gave the "underdog" WWE more sympathy.

NWO
At first it appeared that WCW was going to become NWO Wrestling or at least there would be a war. The war dragged on for too long and lost its purpose.

Acquisitions
Instead of stealing young talent from WWE, WCW kept on bringing in the same past their prime redundant talent. Bringing in guys like Perfect and Bret were not going to get you that much more attention. Bret's departure alone really helped WWE since it lead to the creation of the Mr. McMahon character and opened the door for Stone Cold to take over.

There are a lot more mistakes that were made but this is what stands out to me and I'm tired of typing.

 

[SinCityBlitz]

There was no way for WCW to win the war once Ted Turner merged with AOHell and Time Warner.

Even if there was no merger once The Rock and Stonecold took over the WWF there was no putting them out of business. The best thing WCW could have tried to do was get the younger guys over so they don't go on to bigger and better things in the WWF. Make WCW a friendlier place for everybody not just Hogan and his friends.

The company really needed some stability. Bischoff ran it like he was a freshman trying to look cool around his buddies. Get someone in there that didn't cater to Hogan.

Well I heard somewhere, (I think maybe Bischoff) that the original plan was for Thunder to be an NWO show. I would have gone with that plan and I think it would have been amazing. The whole purpose of NWO was for them to get their own show and company. Thunder could have been the start of that if it became an NWO themed show. Once WCW became WCW/NWO, NWO should have become a separate brand. Separate as in a separate world title, separate tag titles, separate midcard titles, etc. Meanwhile WCW's show would have remained on Monday with the traditional belts. I'm confident that WCW unlike WWE now could have pulled off a brand split because WCW from 96-maybe about 2000 had the most packed and superior roster assembled at that point. It would have been in their best interest to put more spotlight on the talent and make 2 separate brands. Imagine if Thunder was a show where guys like Hogan, Bret Hart, Savage, Big Poppa Pump, and Nash competed for an NWO world title, it would have been a must see show and could have definitely been a problem for WWE's Smackdown if they decided to compete. And then on Nitro, you'd have guys like Goldberg, Benoit, Flair, Jericho, DDP, and Sting.

They tried the nWo show concept and it bombed big time. They had the nWo literally take over Nitro for that one episode. That was its trial run and it failed on so many levels.

Plus WCW was starting to lose the younger guys because they had no chance to get over. So that huge roster would have been hit pretty hard.

 

[marklouis]

Well, I don't know if it would have made the ultimate difference, but different booking starting at Starrcade 1997 would have helped. Sting needed to win the title. Now, a fast count with Nick Patrick could have worked, if it had actually been a fast count. Patrick's wasn't, if you watch the show. But, you have a fast count, then you have Hart overrule it & help Sting win.

At this point, the nWo goes away for a few months. WCW thinks that they've won the war. Hart & Sting feud over the world title. Things are normal. Then, the nWo invades again, only they are more vicious than before. They feel like they've been cheated, & they won't stop until they get their revenge. This feud ends with a War Games match for control of the company. If WCW wins, the nWo is done forever. This could have led to storylines where nWo guys have to beg for jobs in WCW & work their way up, or turn face & apologize for what they did. Could have been interesting.

If the nWo wins at War Games, they get Thunder. And you have to make it a full brand split-no crossover. Some guys could jump ship at the start, but after that they are completely separate. Each brand gets 6 PPVs a year, each brand has their own feuds & their own talent (including announcers). Maybe you could make Starrcade a brand v brand PPV, but that would be the only interaction.

I'm not sure which way I would have gone, but either would have been more interesting that what happened. The nWo grew tired & lasted far too long.

 

[Headman]

As one person mentioned I would have created storylines instead of the usual "New guy jumps to nWo" crap that they depended on for years. I would have built stars and used the ones I had to get new guys over. I also would have terminated the contracts of guys with creative control over their characters or just paid them to sit home if they didn't like what I was doing. I also would have ended the nWo shortly after Starrcade 97. I remember an interview where Bischoff said he could ride the nWo angle for years. I thought it sounded stupid back then.

 

[schaeffershawn]

Ok allow me to play wrestling historian for a moment but by the time smackdown debuted the WWF had all but one the war. We are talking 1999 and by that time WCW was hemerging talent. Jericho left, the Raddicaals were gobe soon after. So the point of thunder being renamed and squashing it was irrelevant. Vince put Smackdown on thursdays originaly to beat WCW on those nights too.

Onto the point of the post though.

I would have had nash and hall throw hogan out of the nwo after he lost the title to sting. Have it be about younger guys again as it were. Really focus on Nash hall Bagwell and Stiener. I also would have used Bret Hart as the new leader. One they could always tease tension between Hart and Hall and Nash, two because a hogan hart feud would have naturally fit. I would have had older guys like hogan hart sting and flair work with Benoit, Jericho and others more. I would have had the crusierweights main event often. Finally I would not have ended the streak with Nash and i would not have had Hogan and goldber for free tv.

 

[Headman]

Now that I have a little more time I'll play booker.

Starting with Sting vs Hogan at Starrcade. Sting beats Hogan without that horrible Bret Hart spot. Instead the match would go like this...

Keep Nick Patrick as the nWo referee. Sting controls the early part of the match until the other nWo members come out and surround the ring lumber jack style. Patrick of course allows them to take cheap shots at Sting giving Hogan the advantage.

After a bit of this it's at this point WCW finally comes together to make a stand, setting aside their own selfish BS for the greater good. They know now is their chance to strike a real blow against the New World Order. Several WCW wrestlers come to ringside and brawl with the nWo guys.

The WCW and nWo guys all get tossed by WCW officials and security.

Hogan accidently bumps his own ref and Patrick is out of the match. All of the other refs are containing the brawl that continues backstage. This is where JJ Dillion (I think he was commish at the time, but if not he would be in my WCW) sends Bret Hart to the ring since he was a ref earlier on the show.

Bret calls the match down the middle and Sting beats Hogan clean. And he doesn't break his year long silence with whatever the hell it was he said.

The next night on Nitro sting starts the show with his first in-ring promo in over a year. He says that tonight is the night WCW comes together to put an end to the nWo. And for the rest of the night the nWo would try their usual BS only to get out numbered by WCW.

This would lead to a Superbrawl re-match between Hogan and Sting where Sting wins clean once again. This time Hall and Nash would put a beating on Hogan and we wouldn't see him again for a few months.

The nWo would pretty much destroy itself. The Outsiders would stick together but everyone else would go back to being part of WCW.

Sting's reign was a long time coming and should have lasted longer than it did. I would have Sting go on to feud with Hall and Nash and then eventually promote new stars into the main event. Maybe have Sting run a fowl of Raven and his Flock. Raven vs Sting for the World title would have been a feud I would have liked to see at that time. Bam Bam would have been another good opponent before eventually losing it back to Hogan who in turn puts over Goldberg (Even though I hate him he was over).

Goldberg would put over Jericho and so on and so forth.


Basically just bring some continuity to the WCW landscape.

 

[relentless1]

i love fantasy booking...anyways id start wher it all went wrong as well at starrcade 1997, sting beats hogan clean with bret hart coming out to hold off nWo members, sting faces hogan again at souled out this time all of wcw makes a stand and sting beats hogan clean again, scott hall face sting at superbrawl and sting beats him after hogan cheap shots scott hall, hall and nash form the wolfpac against hogan and savage in the black and white.

meanwhile sting would defend the world title against the likes of booker t ddp raven savage nash and finally bret hart sometime july with bret beating sting for the world title in face vs face match, have them watch each others back against the flock/ nWo black and white, at halloween havoc give the belt back to sting so he can go to starrcade and face the world war 3 winner: Goldberg

nWo vs wolfpac ends at war games with loser being disbanded, wolfpac wins and goes on to be a dx type group consisting of hall nash konnan bagwell and booker t.

by the end of the year id have: hart sting goldberg hogan nash in the world title scene, scott stiener booker t benoit jericho raven saturn in the us title scene.

id have bret form a group with jericho and benoit, id have hart vs hogan at starrcade sting vs goldberg and raven vs nash

 

[DeathClutch]

I would have culled the entire First 7.5 months of the year 2000 from WCW; Millionaires club vs New Blood was a cool concept but had been done to some degree with the "WCW vs NWO" but the point of reference I'm getting at was that the New Blood's main focus/objective was Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner (whom I am and was a huge fan of), Shane Douglas and Buff Bagwell all guys who were old compared to the rest of the "New Blood" plus they weren't exactly New Blood as the name suggests.

However from Bret's retirement in late 1999 I would have culled the entire 7.5 months and had Jeff Jarrett Vs Booker T for the belt so inessence from Booker T winning the belt in July on wards until the demise I would have played WCW the way it went down. Cruiser tag belts you name it. Steiner's main event rampage The Magnificent 7 group you name it, the last 8 month of WCW was FUN!!! Anyone who disagrees obviously missed out on something awesome, WCW's demise happened long before the last 8 months.

WCW's problem was bringing Russo into the storylines as creative control and doing that huge cull leading into Spring Stampede 2000 where new champions would be crowned, it sucked as you had guys like Sid who was World champion literally kicked out of the tv storylines for no other reason than for the hell of it, Hacksaw as well who was TV Champion (The belt had been ditched by Hall and Hacksaw found it and defended it now and again on WCW Saturday night) storylines made little to no sense and the fans couldn't buy into them, and David Arquett winning the belt just devalued the belt beyond comprehension in the fans and wrestlers eyes, I remember Scott Steiner giving one scathing interview about this.

But what I'm trying to say is WCW had been in a slump for a while since around early 99 actually the main event picture was fucked up so they brought someone in and for a quick fix he tried to cull every thing and it was more determental than helpful. Once them storylines had matured or ceased the follow up worked magically but it was to late, the wrestling boom had started to lose steam and WWF was doing the more cooler PPV's and build ups where-as WCW fucked up hugely by GIVING PPV MAIN EVENTS away on FREE TV BEFORE THE PPV's so fans had no incentive to purchase the damn shows.

So in essence I would have cut the rhetoric out, I would have culled the meaningless storylines, PPV matches would have happened on PPV, WCW's version of hell in the cell would have happened on PPV rather than Nitro, Thunder would have housed big main events for tv like Scott Steiner vs Booker T or DDP vs Nash once in a while just get people watching the show and basically the champions would have been made to look like champions.

 

[scottyshowman82]

cool thread idea.

I like the ideas of having the nWo be it's own separate brand and entity. I mean if that was Bischoff's orginal idea go with it. Turn nWo from a stable into an entire brand of 30 and 40 wrestlers. Of course there would have to be a nWo world Champion, nWo tag team, an nWo cruiserweight champion and guys fueding with each other on every level of the brand just like any other wrestling show. But when it was time to fight against WCW ya they band together and get it on. They could have done a lot with that.

Just keep doing what they did well. Pushing the wrestling aspect of the show. Keep bringing in the Japanese guys and the luchadores. Also continue to show cruiserweights in a big way. I would continue to steal WWE big stars when they were available.

Y know I honestly think that WCW would still be around today if Time Warner wasn't so against keeping a wrestling show. And believe me even though all those weeks WWE kicked WCW's ass and the rating dropped, they were still people going to Nitro's there were still people filling up the pay perviews and WWE always had their eye in the rear view mirror paranoid that WCW would strike back. And I think they would of if Time Warner didn't pull the plug.

There's going to come a time where there's only so much room at the top and someone's going to feel left out and jump ship. It's apart of business. And if someone popular enough jumped ship to WCW from WWE post March 2001 (if they were still around) it could have changed the whole landscape of the business.

That's why I think TNA always has a chance. Hey man like my friend says, if Hogan can show up in WCW anything is possible in the world of wrestling.

 

[akathelaw]

One of my biggest gripes about WCW's demise was the relaunch with the new logo. First of all that logo was so stupid looking, not to mention the original one was fine and could've been easily enhanced with colors or a slight graphic modification. So I'll turn back the clock to my favorite time frame, which is hogan vs. Sting at Starrcade.

Simply put, Sting should have won clean over Hogan with the Scorpion Death Drop. This would allow for Sting to open the next episode of Nitro as champion, claiming victory over the nWo. While Sting celebrates with the WCW fans and talks for the first time since going black and white, Bischoff comes out with Hollywood Hulk Hogan and the core members of the nWo, Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Syxx and Scott Steiner. Bischoff would announce to Sting and the fans that on the very first episode of the new nWo Thunder, Hollywood Hulk hogan would be presented with the nWo World Heavyweight Championship.

The story now has become WCW nitro vs. nWo Thunder... Not 2 interchangeable brands but 2 competing rival wrestling promotions that operate under different philosophies. on Mondays Nitro would make it's case to the fans that WCW was the superior show, with high flying luchadors going for the Cruiserweight title, US Championship, tag team, The WCW Championship, veteran talents like Booker T, Sting, Bret Hart, Randy Savage and Lex Luger. They would still face members of the nWo, but on their turf with the official sanction of the WCW. Refs would (attempt to) call fairly, unless bumped of course.

nWo Thunder would be Hollywood Hogan's show, with full creative control. Hogan makes the rules on Thunder, which makes for an unpredictable show. Bischoff would act as the host of the show, and often bring on celebrities to do match commentary with him. They have the nWo Championship, which is a glorified Hogan vanity belt. Hogan and his friends can hang ringside if they choose for matches between their guys and WCW talent. The refs on nWo Thunder are clearly biased and will favor Hogan. It will be common to see the WCW championship, Tag Team championships defended on nWo Thunder with allowed interference by nWo lackeys. They also have a hardcore title which helps fill out the show and is exclusive to Thunder.

What would WCW Saturday Night be? A showcase for the midcard, with occasional hardcore, US, or cruiserweight title main events. definitely a few "nWo rules" matches with nWo vs. WCW significance.

WCW = order, nWo = chaos. The fans choose what they prefer, whichever show gets higher ratings, the more influence that faction has over the direction of the company. Chris Jericho gets a title shot on nWo thunder against Hollywood Hogan because he demanded it, and received 50,000 emails from fans to chrisjericho.com demanding it. on Hogan looks to beat Jericho with help from outside interference until Sting drops from the rafters and takes out the nWo. Jericho goes for a cover and Sting intimidates the nWo ref to do a three count, costing hogan his title. Jericho cuts a promo on hogan, bragging about his title win and Sting comes out and says he has a lot of choices to make. Naturally, jericho would become interested in the nWo faction that afforded him championship gold and think of switching to the nWo. When Jericho joins nWo, someone would have to get kicked out. This is an easy way to face(heel?) turn any stale nWo lackey, or fire 'em.

Also, I wouldn't hire Vince Russo. I'd find someone better to book. Eventually the nWo and WCW titles will collide, and end up unified in a 1 on 1 match. Either that or you can NXT the nWo show and just turn it into regular thunder like it became.

 

[dsotm5150]

All good concepts, sounds like most people would have put an end to the nWo at Starrcade '97 or definitely planted the seeds for it. All in all I think just about concept would have worked to help WCW remain relevant. I don't really think there was any reason to try and put the competition out of business. WCW's burial came at the hands of AOL/Time Warner, and the refusal to believe that they would ever lose Ted Turners checkbook. Whether WCW had been hemorrhaging money or not, I still think WCW programming would have been dropped from TBS/TNT just for the fact that they didn't want it, and they still were getting the highest ratings of anything else on either of those channels at the time, definitely not what they were in 96 - 99 but still rather well. It was the business dealings that put WCW where it lies, because I although it could have been turned around and was starting to somewhat towards the end, it just wasn't marketable or profitable to any other network to want to pick them up. From what I understand WCW wasn't really on the books at Turner or even really a division of Turner Sports, it was kinda just thrown into the miscellaneous gains/losses for Turner Broadcasting, so in reality I guess it really didn't need to be run like a business as far as anyone in charge was concerned. From various interviews with talent from the late 80s early 90s before Turner financially had anything to do with it, it sounds like the suits and ties were always trying to get it off their networks. It just came down to the fact WCW caught a monster wave with the nWo they thought was never going to recede and when it started to they weren't prepare physically(talent, storyline wise) or financially to be able to stand on their own. I hope one day we get a really true and honest "History of WCW" publication(book, documentary whatever)that isn't put together by the WWE ego, or put together by years of dirtsheets.

 

[dudedudedude]

Go back in time and Kill the Rock and Stone cold. Nothing else mattered. Seriously. They turned it all around.

 

[TellMeWhy]

They tried the nWo show concept and it bombed big time. They had the nWo literally take over Nitro for that one episode. That was its trial run and it failed on so many levels.

Plus WCW was starting to lose the younger guys because they had no chance to get over. So that huge roster would have been hit pretty hard.

It failed on many levels how? It did not fail on any level when they were bringing in tremendous numbers during their time. Besides What NWO did on Nitro was part of their takeover angle. It has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. With the exception of NWO getting their own PPV show which was called "Souled Out", they never had their own show concept. I'm talking about an entire wrestling television broadcast dedicated to the NWO image. NWO announcers, an entire separate roster of talent used in the NWO, separate titles. NWO should have been a separate brand. The same way WWE has RAW and Smackdown as 2 brands, WCW could have made WCW a separate brand with a different roster on Mondays and NWO could have been their own entity on Thursdays. That concept was never fully explored. NWO doing an angle of rearranging the tv set on Nitro does not constitute to the idea I had in my mind.

 

[HBKperfect23]

Love these fantasy booking topics. I am going to struggle a little bit though because I stopped following WCW in 99.

The first botched invasion angle was the NWO. With Hall/Nash coming in, it looked as if Vince sent them down. Hogan was the ultimate WWF guy so that made sense. Bring in only WWF guys to the NWO and slowly build towards a feud with WCW. The NWO should consist of Hogan,Hall,Nash, Randy Savage,Jim Duggan(finally getting that monster heel role), Big Bossman (kind of like the character he played in the coperation), IRS, Virgil, the Nasty Boys, and the mouthpeice being Dibease. WCW would be represented primarily by the horsemen, Sting, Luger, DDP, and Harlem Heat. This feud would start off Nitro with a 15 minute Segment and then the next 45 minutes would go to wrestling from the cruiserweights, luchadors, and those guys. The second hour would be dedicated to the WCW/NWO feud. They would have a war games match then at Starcade 97 the feud would come to an end with a winner take all ppv. The ppv consists of Savage/Flair, Sting/Hogan, Nash/Luger, Hall/AA, Nastys/Heat, and others. Score is tied going into the main event of Hogan/Sting for the title (Hogan defending), Sting goes over clean, WCW wins and controls Nitro. Keep the Outsiders together as the Wolfpack. Hogan stays in black as a heel. Savage turns face. The rest of the NWO is done. The NWO angle is done. Now you have a ton of talent coming up (Benoit, Eddie, and co.), no NWO, Bret coming in, and ton of ways to go. Dont let the inmates run the asylum and have some order backstage.

 

[FlairFan2003]

The ultimate problem was two fold, Bischoff did not recognize and/or promote younger talent, totally taken by surprise by Goldberg's rise while totally missing the boat on Austin, Jericho, and Eddie. 2nd, he gave Hogan and maybe Nash too much control creatively which not only eliminated pushes for up & comers it killed many of the most popular non NWO guys on the roster, continually holding Sting, Flair, Hart, and Savage back. Vince always understood no matter what allowances he made to top stars the good of the show as a whole was most important. Remember, when Austin didnt want to go along with match finishes Vince told him to go home, and when Austin called his bluff Vince let him go.

Bischoff should have let Sting go over clean at SC 97 & hold the title till summer of 98 when Hogan got it back with help from Nash, leading to a full blown Nash-Sting feud. Eddie should have been given a legit push as a heel in 97 and feuded with upper echelon guys like DDP. Goldberg vs Hogan should have headlined Starrcade 98. Hart should have teamed w/ Flair vs NWO in 98, then feuded with him for No. 1 Contender spot to Hogan-Goldberg winner. Savage never should have gone NWO, There never should have been a Red & Black vs Black & White, NWO membership should have been restricted to Hogan, Hall, Nash, Steiner,Giant, Henning after the Horsemen swerve, no Horace, Virgil, Buff, Norton, Disco etc.

Heading into 99 Goldberg is champ and Nash gets upset that Hogan is holding him back from World Title scene, eventually leading to Nash being kicked out of the group, feuding with Hall & Hogan. Goldberg in a three way feud with Hart and Flair, retains title through Summer. Hogan sends Hall & Steiner after Goldberg but he retains, when Hogan challenges weakened Goldberg at Bash at Beach 99 and is screwed out of title by Nash. Hogan sends Giant and Henning after Sting to keep him from title scene too.

Heading into fall 99 Sting and Giant in a 3 way feud with Goldberg but Giant wins title at Halloween Havoc. Hogan and NWO turn on Giant, kicking him out of the group. Nash rescues him but swerves him in a big NWO vs WCW tag match to rejoin NWO. Sting and Flair befriend Giant as he wars vs NWO. Starrcade 99 Nash screwjobs way to World Title over Giant. Hogan challenges Flair to Cage Match where if he wins he gets title shot vs Nash-Giant winner but if he loses he leaves WCW forever. Flair wins, but on 1st Nitro of 2000 Nash & NWO beat him down, Goldberg and Hart make the save and they have to face each other to determine new top contender after Giant gets his re match. Also on thi7 Nitro Nash unites the NWO & they kick out Hogan! He failed to beat Goldberg and lost to Flair so they see him as selfish weak link.

Goldberg beat7 Hart to become new top contender. Hogan has no allies and spends weeks getting daylite beaten out of him until Sting & Flair save him, setting up new Team WCW to oppose new Nash lead NWO as we move towards summes 2000.

This is hard, just plotting out World Title picture is time consuming, and no mention of Savage, Luger, Jericho, Eddie, etc. No wonder they need a creative team!!!

 

[Fenris]

Anyway my question is this. You have control of WCW at the height of the Monday Night Wars. The NWO is at its height, and you are winning the war. How would you put the nail in the coffin of the WWE? Could you script a situation where WWE loses the war?

I'll give it a shot, now keep in mind i'm going off of memory so some of my dates may slightly be off.

The nWo was something that had it not been diluted could have continued into 1999 as a massive success instead of losing it's bluster by late 1998. Let's go back to 1996. The NWO by Souled Out I think was Hogan, Hall, Nash, Giant, Dibiase and Syxx correct? I would have largely kept it at that into 1997 added in Steiner, Bagwell and Savage. Kept the Sting angle of course and used 1997 into 1998 to build new talent.

Starrcade 1997 is where I would have booked WCW to start changing. Sting goes over Hollywood Hogan clean recapturing the WCW title and making a major dent in the NWO. Since NWO was defeated and WCW "won" that war it is announced the NWO has created their own show, NWO Thunder taking with it the TV Title and creating their own titles.


I'd have had the NWO amp it up after this and start injuring people backstage and in parking lots on Nitro but never make it into the building... Hollywood Hogan recaptures the belt at Uncensored 1998 in a rematch for it all and right afterwards is when I would have brought Warrior in. Only instead of doing his 1993 gimmick I would've had him be like an amped up Sting, long black hair, black and white facepaint and black on white ring gear. Warrior plows through the NWO to get to Hogan and beats him at the Great American Bash for the NWO title(more on the WCW title shortly).

Goldberg- I would booked the latter portion of the streak a bit differently. In one slight case I wouldn't have had Goldberg face any established WCW talent, all jobbers and bottom of the totem pole guys except for beating Hall for the U.S. Title. The reason is he needed opponents and feuds after winning the belt. Fall Brawl 1998, Hollywood Hogan vs Goldberg for the WCW World Title. Goldberg goes over clean and a new era begins.

The next match is booked two months in advance, The Warrior vs WCW World Champion Goldberg. Goldberg goes over Warrior.

Hollywood Hogan- After dropping the WCW title to Goldberg I would have booked him to take an NWO beating at the hands of Scott Steiner who takes over as head of the NWO. Hogan stays off TV until 1999.

The NWO- As I said I would have kept it small up until Thunder started in which case they would have started recruiting talent for Thunder and had a brand wars going with this guy jumping, that guy jumping and such. By 1999 the NWO should have just become a brand for the most part.

Warrior- After beating Hollywood Hogan for the NWO World Title he loses the belt at Bash At The Beach to Bret Hart. They waited to long to pull the trigger on Bret, although kind of understandably, that roster was PACKED. Eventually Warrior and Sting would reform the Bladerunners together for awhile.

Okay so heading into 1999 we have three top guys established, two titles, two brands and a new generation. Three guys with two brands really isn't enough when each should have 3-4 top guys. So looking at it...

WCW: Bill Goldberg
NWO: Bret Hart, Scott Steiner

Okay...

Chris Benoit- Starting around Fall Brawl 1997 Chris Benoit gets rebranded as the best technical wrestler in the world. He consistently proves it and after BATB he challenges Bret Hart to an iron man match for the NWO title and to prove he IS the best. Storyline wise it's put off until Starrcade 1998 as he is under WCW contract until that point. And I build it, and build it, and build it. Vignettes of Benoit training his ass off and Hart doing the same as they go on respective runs for the 6 months leading up to it. Benoit goes over Hart in the final two minutes and becomes NWO World Champion.

The Giant- Yeah I probably would have gave him a big contract and not let Vince steal him and as he was young and a top guy already would have had him defect from the NWO and go WCW.

Booker T- Toss together a #1 contenders tourney in January or Feb 1999 or through both months giving everyone in WCW a shot at the title. Booker T fights on and wins said Tourney holding the title shot in his back pocket.

Scott Steiner- By mid 1998 takes control of the NWO as the outspoken leader. By late 1998 starts issuing a challenge to Goldberg for the WCW title and streak. I'm gonna say SuperBrawl 1999 Steiner jumps to WCW and faces Goldberg or maybe WCW sanctions the bout. Big Poppa Pump ends the streak.

DDP- The Mick Foley of WCW. He gets built into 1999 and starts a feud with Steiner, eventually winning and then dropping the belt back to Steiner.

Syxx- No way I make the mistake WCW makes and release him. He's kept until he is healthy and then reunited with The Outsiders.

The Outsiders- They don't break up as a team although '98 was the year Hall started having major drinking issues. Kayfabed injury until he goes through rehab and cleans up.

The Wolfpac- It happens although NOT a separate NWO at first. The Wolfpac is Hall, Nash and Syxx doing their antics until Shortly before Steiner takes control of the NWO. I'd say say like a month beforehand they break away and create The Wolfpac.

Jeff Jarrett- No way I let him get away either. He turns on WCW going NWO. Let him do his haircut and new trunks deal.

Chris Jericho- No way he gets away. Big contract and a contractual guarantee of a push. Let him do his Y2J stuff and go NWO.

Randy Savage- NWO commentator by 1999.

Road Warriors- Another one I wouldn't have let get away. I would've let them do their Japan stuff on the side and kept them happy. When The Outsiders quit the NWO and Steiner boots Hogan he turns the Road Warriors NWO with a fresh new look.

Sting- Reforms the Bladerunners with Warrior going back and forth between WCW shows and showing up on NWO shows. Eventually they feud with the Road Warriors.

PPV- Slowly but surely i'd have booked the NWO to have "won" 6 PPV's per year giving them 6 and WCW 6. Since the plan for the NWO was to be a separate brand they kinda need PPV's.

Raid from ECW-
Shane Douglas(1997/Early 1998). The Franchise in WCW means no Triple H in WWF as there's no way he lets Triple H steal his whole gimmick from a WCW guy.
RVD- Need new cruiserweights
Taz
The Dudley Boys
Mike Awesome

WCW/NWO- Obviously split the roster in half, half going WCW half going NWO. The main objective would be to get already over young talent super over.

Okay so into 1999 WCW has Goldberg, Steiner, Booker T, DDP and The Giant as new headliners and NWO has Bret Hart and Chris Benoit as their new top guys. On the NWO side I would probably stick Kevin Nash in that top echelon for awhile as well and maybe have The Giant jump back over for awhile.

I think the above would have kept the ratings from turning the tide like they did and kept WCW/NWO in the running each week. One thing you'll notice with it is I just prevented Big Show, Y2J, L.O.D. 2000, The Game, Double "Slapnuts" J, DX, Syxx and The Dudley Boyz from being WWF anything. That leaves the WWF with Austin and The Rock literally carrying EVERYTHING and keeps WCW in control. The WWF, much as the credit goes to Austin and/or The Rock was many people doing many different things. By taking away and preventing many of those things they probably would have stalled rather quickly and once again dropped in the ratings. Especially when fans could watch guys jump from WCW to NWO, from NWO to WCW and watch both bid on WWF and ECW free agents instead of just Austin/The Rock feud.

If WWF doesn't go down in 1999 they'd go down in 2000 I imagine. If you remember 2000 was their highest rated year and look at who the talent was they had. Yeah well WCW has most of it and many of their gimmicks in my fantasy booking.