WCW or WWF (Monday Night Wars Era)

[dukes07]

Hopefully this is not a repeat. I looked back and did not see something too similar.

Which do you prefer and why?

I preferred WCW overall, basically because it was the guys I grew up on. However, I just dug the fact that there was more wrestling, the roster was stacked with one of the best undercards ever up until 2000. I also still think that the nWo angle is one of the best of all time (initially). T

The crash TV style of the WWF nor its wrestling style appealed to me as much.....

What I liked better about the WWF was that its main events were generally far superior and in 2000 they started to settle down in its storytelling and the midcard became epic. 97 WWF is still one of my favorite years....everything seemed to click. Vince was fighting for his life and it showed with innovative angles/characters, along with great shows.

 

[HBKperfect23]

97 WWF is still one of my favorite years....everything seemed to click

Probably my favorite year in WWF history. To me this is where the attitude era started. USA/CAN stuff is the most underrated angle ever IMO.

I was always a fair weather WCW fan. The Outsiders angle and Hogan joining the NWO had me watching for a bit in 96. Soon after that I gave up on WCW completely. 97/98 WWF was far more enjoyable. By 1999 I wouldnt watch Nitro even if RAW wasnt on.

 

[AhSpicyDrop]

Growing up I was a huge WWF fan, but became a WCW fan when they started WCW Saturday Night. I remember getting so pissed off when an Atlanta Braves baseball game would be on instead of WCW.

That being said... When WCW and WWF started going head-to-head I became a channel flipper, and in doing so I missed quite a bit of each. Once I figured out WCW ran a replay at midnight, I began watching mostly WWF.

I was more entertained by the WWF's storylines because I really felt the nWo storyline was taking away from too many other wrestlers. It became so convoluted that it was too hard to keep up with who was aligned with who.

From a pure wrestling aspect I loved WCW because they gave the actual wrestlers a chance to show their abilities.

All I can say is the Monday Night Wars were a once in a lifetime gig, and something I was really glad to have been growing up in. It was a time when you could discuss wrestling in public and someone wouldn't give a snarky smirk and say "You watch wrestling? Hah."

 

[Brewski]

At the time a friend and I had a deal where we would tape and trade each show every week. I would watch Raw on monday (he would WCW) and we would trade and watch the other show on tuesday. It was nice because we could keep up with both shows. We managed to keep this up through the entire time the shows went head to head.

Looking back I was almost always more invested in what WWF was doing. NWO storyline was really interesting because I looked at it as an extension of what WWF was doing. Eventually it fizzled out and WCW went into wacky story lines and convoluted endings. I really did start liking it lot right before it got bought, but WWF was always better.

 

[dukes07]

I got back into wrestling in 99 after a near 8 year hiatus. It just was not "cool" to watch it in high school. My buddy was a huge WCW guy. He got me into it, oddly enough, the summer of 99 when it was declining. Every Monday we would all get together and watch Nitro and some RAW. We got all the PPV's, and our other buddy got the WWF PPV's.

Funny thing was, I did not like Goldberg or all the other so-called "vanilla midgets" as I wanted to see the reformation of the nWo. I even saw Nitro live in Denver on November 29 1999 and it was still my favorite wrestling experience. For a Russo show it was well done and the crowd was HOT. The Goldberg chants were not piped in that night.

I watched WCW up to the bitter end, branching out on on who I enjoyed watching etc. About three years ago, I started watching again due to Hogan going to TNA and Hart coming back. I started reading everything I could on WCW and most of it was negative. I watched WWE DVD's on it and those were all negative. So I decided to watch every Nitro/PPV and Thunder and did the same with WWF.

While WCW had a lot of issues, I just enjoyed the shit out of it. I fell in love with the so-called "vanilla midgets," grew to hate face Hulk Hogan and get annoyed with 97 WCW. I am a fan of Rey now and Goldberg and Edge thanks to going back and watching both.

I have come to the realization that the WWE for whatever reason has changed history. Instead of embracing WCW and making money off it (Which they are finally slowly doing) they have buried it. Pundits have done the same such as Bryan Alvarez. I mean you could write a show by show analysis of RAW and destroy it too if you chose.

I do think a lot of the angles grew convoluted but the WWF did that too. 99 WWF still confuses the shit out of me. Too much going on. Too little substance. WCW for me clicked better as it was not made for a 15 year old virgin! Parts of 99 were pretty bad-ass too as was the three months in 01. Wrestling has never been the same since WCW died as those fans left (Same with ECW). I encourage everyone to go back and have a look at Nitro because without it there would have been no Attitude Era or at least in the incarnation it appeared.

But there was a lot of WWF that I did enjoy. 96 was a good year and 97 just amazing as WCW stagnated. 98 was okay, but WCW in 98 really took off, my favorite year right behind summer of 96. 99 WWF was my least favorite with 00 WCW right behind it.

I did a show by show analysis here:

rawwrestlingrants.blogspot.com

 

[Ovaltine]

WCW! I have never really been a fan of the WWF. I liked some of the characters, but the product didn't grab me like WCW did. WCW had Flair and Sting-need I say more? There were other reasons to like WCW durring the Monday night wars due to the original formation of the n.W.o. Sure it eventually became watered down, but originally it was amazing! The luchadors were something that I had never seen before. There was a great influx of Japanese talent, the best of the 80s wrestlers were there, it was the first show to go live every week. Simply put WCW had the best talent and the most cutting edge story lines going for about two years. Unfortunately, nothing changed and by 1999 the product was stale, but I still watched it regardless. Hell, I even enjoyed The Dungeon of Doom and the alliance to end Hulkamania!

 

[MWRedskins]

Hopefully this is not a repeat. I looked back and did not see something too similar. Which do you prefer and why?

at the time, WCW, but only because I was a bigger fan of their championships and at the time was a Hogan fan, now with that said....while I liked WCW others didn't and one of my only issues with WCW was the NWO storyline got so far out of hand that it basically killed the company...it's one thing for a group to have 8 guys, but this group had like 30 guys. in my book, NWO was best with just Hall, Nash and Hogan.....my other huge issue was the bad guys seemed to finish first more often....Hogan (heel) couldn't lose clean, but he always won by the title back in some cheating manner...Russo "retired" Flair, Russo "fired" Hogan, Ric Flair's stable "fired" Goldberg...Sting never got his payback on Steiner for "injuring" him...Goldberg never got his re-match for the WCW title, DDP looked gullible as he was turned on by his wife, Hollywood friend and then his best friend at 3 separate Pay Per Views. those things combined didn't help WCW at all. not to mention the bad announcing.

 

[Mr. HD]

I started watching wrestling in 1998. I switched back between WWF and WCW on Monday Nights. What really kept me with the WWF was the Summer of 98. DX vs The Nation, Austin vs Undertaker, etc. Not to mention Summerslam 1998 was the first pay-per-view I ever ordered and watched.

These sorts of things kept me glued to the TV. WCW was still putting on great TV, but WWF was simply better from Summer 98 and on. Well, at least it was to me anyway. The only time I would watch WCW after that was when RAW was on commercial break.

 

[dukes07]

at the time, WCW, but only because I was a bigger fan of their championships and at the time was a Hogan fan, now with that said....while I liked WCW others didn't and one of my only issues with WCW was the NWO storyline got so far out of hand that it basically killed the company...it's one thing for a group to have 8 guys, but this group had like 30 guys. in my book, NWO was best with just Hall, Nash and Hogan.....my other huge issue was the bad guys seemed to finish first more often....Hogan (heel) couldn't lose clean, but he always won by the title back in some cheating manner...Russo "retired" Flair, Russo "fired" Hogan, Ric Flair's stable "fired" Goldberg...Sting never got his payback on Steiner for "injuring" him...Goldberg never got his re-match for the WCW title, DDP looked gullible as he was turned on by his wife, Hollywood friend and then his best friend at 3 separate Pay Per Views. those things combined didn't help WCW at all. not to mention the bad announcing.

To be fair about Sting getting his revenge on Steiner, it never happened because the company went out of business. Goldberg and all the faces were going to return eventually to face down Steiner, probably culminating in Goldberg v. Steiner at Starrcade (plus Goldberg was hurt and his getting "fired" was used to cover that).

As for Hogan, he quit after Bash 2000. Took his smile and went home. Flair ended up coming back after Russo was sent home in early 2000 (or was that during the Reboot?) I do remember some half-assed explanation.

The nWo did indeed get bloated but not wholly out of control. You still had the core guys and then it split and then reformed for the Elite. The WWF in 98/9 had so many damn stables with the most convoluted being the Corporate Ministry, which was nearly the entire roster!

 

[AJ1981]

I was a fan of both. I feel people look back on the WWF Attitude Era with rose tinted glasses. From 1998 onwards WWF had a more interesting (well to me anyway) main event scene however the undercard could be and often were dire, it wasn't until 2000 that the WWF consistently put on a good wrestling show. Meanwhile WCW had an awesome undercard featuring Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Billy Kidman, Juventud Guerrera, Dean Malenko etc but I found the main events stagnant and had people like the nWo doing pretty much what they wanted. Personally the ideal mix for me would have been WCW's undercards with the WWF's main events on top

 

[Moneyinc]

These were the days. I was in 8th grade in 98 and there was no chance I was missing a Monday Night War. I was always a WWF guy. Stone Cold, the Rock, DX, the Canada stable. WWF did it for me but WCW definitely got me to switch over during commercials and some main events once NWO started hitting.

I've gone back recently and watched Nitro's and Raw's on Youtube and they are pretty equal to me for different reasons. Nitro is appealing in it's prime because you could start a show off with Goldberg smashing some clown out to increase the streak. Then you might have a young Mysterio facing Kidman or something. Then if you get real lucky you will get a Malenko Vs Beniot match or something like that. Then after 45 minutes or so of really good wrestling Hogan and the NWO would strut out and continue their fued with DDP and Sting. I was watching the one Nitro where DDP called out Macho Man and Hogan and the rest of NWO came out with Macho Man. DDP was so electric and was all fired up and then Sting drops down from the rafters and throws a bat to DDP, and then pulls another bat out of his trench coat!

WCW really had a more stacked roster at the time and less goofy crap going on.

I look back on it now and it is tough to call which one I appreciate more in 1998. I definitely appreciate WWF's overall product from 1986-2000 so much more than WCW. In 1998 though, WCW had some great things going on.

 

[GameOver]

I was a fan of the WCW midcard and WWF overall, the WCW main even scene was ok but i found it a bit stale for the most part, tho it did draw fans to the product which was a bonus as a whole

as far as WWF was concerned i didn't agree with the levels of implied violence and sex they showed on a growing basis each week but the product was solid from top to bottom, which WCW didn't have IMO. As i said for me WCW was it's best in the Cruiserweight, TV and US title scene, the Main Event was overbooked and no consistancy and the nWo just got rediculous once the initial group started expanding and splitting and reforming and splitting again.

 

[MWRedskins]

To be fair about Sting getting his revenge on Steiner, it never happened because the company went out of business. Goldberg and all the faces were going to return eventually to face down Steiner, probably culminating in Goldberg v. Steiner at Starrcade (plus Goldberg was hurt and his getting "fired" was used to cover that).

As for Hogan, he quit after Bash 2000. Took his smile and went home. Flair ended up coming back after Russo was sent home in early 2000 (or was that during the Reboot?) I do remember some half-assed explanation.

The nWo did indeed get bloated but not wholly out of control. You still had the core guys and then it split and then reformed for the Elite. The WWF in 98/9 had so many damn stables with the most convoluted being the Corporate Ministry, which was nearly the entire roster!

firstly, to the Sting deal...I know the company went out of business before all the returns, but it didn't help that they didn't get their payback and what was worse was Sting was technically number one contender after winning some match....as for Goldberg, if he did return, they would've had some explaining to do there....and Hogan didn't quit as I recall, it was more like a firing by one of the higher ups..Russo (on camera) did it, but it was by some executive who didn't want to have Hogan's ppv appearance fee....as for Flair, he came back true, but the fact that he was "retired" in the first place was an insult in my book and the NWO in my book was out of control....too many lower midcarders and then it split in two and then they had the NWO elite and the NWO b-team...sure WWE had the Ministry and the Corporation then the Corporate Ministry, but it didn't have what seemed to be 30 guys in the group, sure it was a big stable, but NWO was really huge.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

It's easy to say the WWF because they ended up winning the war and influenced other wrestlers in their generation, but at one time, the WCW had the right idea. The problems were so numerous that listing them individually would end up being TL;DR.

The main problem was the NWO ended up spiraling out of control. It went from the hippest gang since the Four Horsemen to being it's own worst enemy. Many blame Hogan or Bischoff, but the blame was Vince McMahon. He made an edgy product that had a bonafide Superstar in Stone Cold Steve Austin and many more that were just as hungry to grab that top spot. It ended up making the WWF the most watchable wrestling promotion and ended up making WCW desperate to win ratings instead of simply doing business as usual.

 

[dukes07]

firstly, to the Sting deal...I know the company went out of business before all the returns, but it didn't help that they didn't get their payback and what was worse was Sting was technically number one contender after winning some match....as for Goldberg, if he did return, they would've had some explaining to do there....and Hogan didn't quit as I recall, it was more like a firing by one of the higher ups..Russo (on camera) did it, but it was by some executive who didn't want to have Hogan's ppv appearance fee....as for Flair, he came back true, but the fact that he was "retired" in the first place was an insult in my book and the NWO in my book was out of control....too many lower midcarders and then it split in two and then they had the NWO elite and the NWO b-team...sure WWE had the Ministry and the Corporation then the Corporate Ministry, but it didn't have what seemed to be 30 guys in the group, sure it was a big stable, but NWO was really huge.

The storyline for Sting was that he won a number one contender's match to face the winner of the Steiner v. Booker match after Mayhem. But right after he won, Steiner took him out. So no more Sting. Also, Sting was taking off, so they just included that into the angle.

There would be no explanation needed for the return of Goldberg. He was "fired" by Ric Flair who had turned heel. Had the Fusient deal went down he would have been reinstated by Bischoff or someone else. Rumor has it that Bischoff wanted Hogan and Flair to be kind of opposing GM's.....Also, it is wrestling, Goldberg could have just reinstated himself like Savage did back in 97 and again in 99.

As for Hogan at Bash 2000. It was a work in the sense that Russo was going to say some nasty things. But a shoot in the sense that he apparently went overboard. Hogan took his toupee and went home. He even legit sued WCW. The funny thing is: The announcers on that Nitro agreed with what Russo said and gushed that it was long overdue! Ultimately, Hogan just sat home. He was never fired per se.

The nWo was indeed quite large. The "B" Team were just scrubs to fight and see if they would ultimately join the Elite group. The main focus was on the Elite. Bischoff had the right idea in the sense that he wanted to tighten up some angles and pare down the stables. But a lot of pushes got quashed with the return of the nWo, which I think hurt the product in the long run. While ratings were initially big, I think people did tire of the nWo and when it fizzled it had gone nowhere....

The Corporate Ministry is one of my least favorite angles off all time, so I am biased. I still get confused thinking about. Shit, Foley had a stable for a week or two even. But WWF in 99 could have shit in everyone's lunch and people would have tuned in and WCW could have sent 500 bucks in the mail and no one would have cared. It was like 97 but reversed.

 

[HBsam31]

My friend that I watched wrestling with was a huge WCW guy so we would watch Nitro at his house while Raw was taping at my house. After Nitro I would go and get the Raw tape and we would watch that then compare shows. WCW did draw me in, but I always favored WWF probably because that is what I grew up on. I loved the NWO and the rise of Goldberg, but I alwys went back the the WWF.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

Throughout the Monday Wars I've always said that:

WWF had the better main events (Bret, Shawn, Undertaker, Austin, Foley, Rock, Triple H, Kane vs Hogan, Sting, Goldberg, Savage, Nash, Hall, Flair, Giant)

WCW had the better undercard (Jericho, Raven, Benoit, Booker T, Steiner, Mysterio, Malenko, Eddie, all the other cruiserweights vs Goldust, Marc Mero, Blue Meanie, Farooq, Val Venis, Jarrett, Hardcore Holly)

I was a big fan of both. 1997 is probably the best year for pro wrestling because you can literally see WWF evolve into the attitude era. And WCW was killing it with Nitro and Sting vs the NWO.

Overall though, I pick WWF. Especially once 98 kicked off and the Austin/McMahon stuff started. Just more entertaining television.

 

[wCw/nWo Ireland]

i watched wcw all the way,if it wasnt for nitro and the nwo,wwe fans would still be watching the likes of jim duggan pulling brass knuckle out of his knickers to this day. its a shame vince won as he comes across as a horrible man who didnt deserve it.

why did those aol muppets sell to the wwe,it was the complete destruction of wcw. surely some one could of said "wait lets just sell it to eric" the name wcw alone is probably worth more now than it was in 01!!!

RIP wcw. because you are never coming back.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

Looking back on it the answer is WWE. But when it was happening I was a WCW guy from the middle of 96 up to around the end of 98. I started getting back into the WWE by 98 as well and as 99 came around I became a WWE guy once more. So while it was happening it was really split as WCW had the first few years but than it was all WWE which lead to WCW getting sold.

 

[King Patrick Star]

I started out as a WWF guy. Growing up in the North East, I’m pretty sure almost everyone here was. During the Monday Night Wars, it was a 3 way tie for me. I loved WWF since I was a kid, but I also loved WCW as the “new” alternative. I also loved ECW, but that might have to do with the Philadelphia fan in me. I was, without really knowing it, more of a New D-Generation X World Order guy. Instead of picking between the two Brands, I kinda liked the best of both and hated the worst of both and proudly displayed that fact.

So to answer the question “WWF or WCW??” My answer is none of the above / NDXWO. “Suck It – 4 Life”!!