What would you have done to save WCW?

[lil steroid meat]

Obviously, it's demise was mostly due to the Time Warner-AOL Merger (although it could be argued that it would have been higher on the priority list if there was still an nWo/Austin-McMahon type angle keeping high ratings and business was booming). However, even before the AOL thing, general consensus was that the product was already going downhill and the company was already bleeding money.

So thread concept is simple: What would you have done to save WCW? It could be pushing a certain guy, a hot angle that would have kept momentum going after nWo, etc.

Personally, I would have made Chris Jericho THE guy to go against (and disband) the nWo after Goldberg. He's the perfect smart-ass face who can go on the mic and carry a show and I'm sure he would have had endless catchphrases to sell shirts. He could have cornered the market that The Rock covered for WWE. From there on, I would have started a youth movement about 2 or 3 years earlier than it happened. Older guys would have been wrestling less and less. I would have gone into star building overdrive.

Another thing I would have done, would have been to take the Power Plant more seriously and guys like AJ Styles and Brock Lesnar would have been brought up. I would have used Turner's money to hire enough talent to do a brand split. When Hollywood Hogan was a face again, I would have him and Bischoff "buy out" (kayfabe) 50% of the company from Turner and turn Thunder into nWo Thunder (maybe scrap the nWo concept as a whole and just have Bischoff and Hogan be GM's without the nWo name). It would have been an edgier show to compete with the WWE's direction at the time and it would have featured younger talent, utilizing the US Title as the main title.

Those are just a few things I would have done differently, obviously we can't fix some of the backstage things that probably REALLY caused the downfall (old ass dudes having creative control, again the Time Warner-AOL thing, Russo coming in and doing dumb shit, etc.), but what are some of the changes you would have made if you were in charge of WCW creatively at the time?

 

[Quinn30Colo]

i would not do something as dumb as the finger poke of doom, or make David Arquette champion or air dirty laundry as Hogan, Jarrett and Russo did.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

It depends on what point because I think anytime before 2000 the company was still worth saving. Anytime after that the writing was on the wall for the promotion.

Let's say you asked right after the Finger Pole of Doom. My suggestion is to probably get Goldberg his title back. After he lost the title at Starcade he did end up Wrestling Hall then Nash a few months later. I say the next logical step is for Goldberg to get the title from Hogan, it should have been on PPV with the stipulation that if Goldberg wins the title the NWO would disband forever, if Hogan won Goldberg will never ask for a title shot again.

Goldberg would win the title (I say around Spring Stampede), the crowd will pop, and the product will be built around Goldberg, at least for another year or so.

So there nWo is gone, Goldberg is the world Champion, probably work with feuds with Nash, Luger, Steiner, then eventually guy like Bret Hart, Benoit, Raven, or a heel DDP.

WCW needed a centeripece in their promotion and the fact that 1999 and 2000 they were scrambling their stars, main event feuds, etc. just left fans confused. Goldberg and other guys like Booker T and DDP could have easily stabilized that.

 

[oldschool26]

wcw did a lot of stupid things. Alot! And could still be an established brand.

1st mess was sting looking week against Hogan in both their title
Matches. Was a sting fan but was so pissed off that they
Made Hogan dominate the starcade match. Then Bret hart
Coming out to change the result. No wonder Bret hart hated
Wcw. That match sting and Hogan should have been even.
With sting getting a clean victory. Then Bret hart should
Have come out after the match and had a stare down to start
Wat could have been the best Fued in history. Hart vs sting.
But no they make Hogan win with ease. Even though sting does
Put his shoulder up at the 3 count. Then the rematch was a cheap win.
Sting and goldberg made sting look week. So annoying.

Sting ,Bret hart or Scott Steiner should have stopped Goldberg's
Streak clean. Not Nash. Sting should have been given
A clean win over Goldberg. They messed up so bad.
From 1997 onwards, these are the people I would have given a run
As heavyweight champion

Sting
Goldberg
Hogan
Bret hart
Kevin Nash
DDP
Mucho man
Scott hall
Curt hennig
Chris benoit
Eddie guerrero
Booker t
Sid vicious
Scott Steiner
Raven
Vampiro
Alex wright(as berlyn)could have been the greatest heel ever
Lex luger
Sean ohaire
Lance storm

Best fueds that could of happened but got ruined

Sting vs Hogan
Sting vs Bret hart
Sting vs Goldberg
Hogan(face) vs Goldberg
Hogan vs Scott Steiner
Hogan vs mucho man
Hogan vs Bret hart
Bret hart vs curt hennig
Bret hart vs Chris benoit
Chris Jericho vs Bret hart
Scott Steiner vs Goldberg

I can go for ever. But that is the past.
Wcw what a waste. I used to love that show
But it was getting so stupid. Dave arqet. Vince Russo

Sting vs undertaker, mania 31wcw

 

[MWRedskins]

depends on WHEN we could come in to "save WCW" but i will go with AFTER the Finger poke of Doom match. what i would've done (after that bad response) was then push Goldberg right into the title picture. at the January PPV (Souled out if i am right) have Goldberg beat Nash to get his shot while Hogan runs through someone, then set up at SuperBrawl Hogan vs. Goldberg 2 and have Hogan and the nWo beat down on Goldberg until the ppv match where there Goldberg beats the nWo and ends it for good.....as for the midcard, i would've quickly pushed Jericho to the US title as a heel to set up an eventual match with Goldberg where he would lose. then when Hart returns, set up Hart as the guy who would take the title OFF Goldberg. as for Hogan, have the nWo split after the loss of the title and then slowly turn him back to face with Nash as a heel. i would've pushed Mysterio as the Cruiserweight Championship, but then move him (with the title) to the Television Championship and have him drop the Cruiserweight title by vacating it or something to show the value of the TV title. but basically, i would've pushed Goldberg and Hart, ended nWo and never bring them back, put Sting somewhere in the title picture and finally pushed guys like Jericho, Benoit, Mysterio and others. Benoit should've held the US title much more than he did in 1999.

 

[#tamale]

Hindsight is 20/20. Whenver I learn more about the backstage politics of WCW, I realize that while Eric Bischoff had solid ideas, he had to deal with some major egos backstage and he didn't have Vince's ability to deal with those egos.

However, Starrcade 1997. Sting should have beat Hogan clean and end the NWO that night. Sting then feuds with Hall, Nash, Booker T, and Flair leading to the hot feud of Bret Hart going after Sting. At the same time, you continue to build Goldberg up and at Starrcade 1998, you have Sting vs Goldberg for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship with Goldberg winning and him leading WCW into 1999. Jericho, Mysterio, Eddie, Benoit, Raven, Saturn, you build these guys all throughout 1998 to begin high profile feuds in 1999. Also, focus on PPV and merchandise. Not just TV ratings.

It's easy to say, but Bischoff didn't know what to do with the old guard (Hogan, Savage, Hall, Nash) to get them out of the way. He kept going back to the NWO and didn't have enough trust to give the reigns to the new young stars. It's hard to just place the blame all on him, but he was in charge.

 

[Kitten Cutter]

The steps:

#1 - Starrcade 1997 -
Bret Hart actually wrestles a match vs. Ric Flair and not referees Zbyszko vs. Bischoff
Sting defeats Hogan without the controversy. In fact, Bret would have helped Sting keep the interference out.

2. Sting loses the belt to Hogan at Superbrawl 1998, with Bret turning on Sting, setting up their feud.

3. Goldberg defeats Hogan for the title at Bash at the Beach '98, giving us the nice irony.

4. Starrcade 1998 - Kevin Nash does NOT defeat Goldberg for the belt. Nash faces Hogan for supreme leadership of the NWO. Nash wins and the NWO starts to whittle itself into being part of WCW.

5. Hogan and Nash have a double turn at Uncensored 1999, where Hogan goes back to Hulkamania and tears apart the NWO with help.

6. Goldberg would lose the title to Sting at Halloween Havoc 1999, after a long fought match. The two shake hands with promises of a rematch.

7. Flair gets the Horseman back into power. The World title has MANY young contenders in DDP, Savage, Flair, Benoit, Jarrett, Scott Steiner, Booker T, and Goldberg. Starrcade 1999 would be awesome.

 

[enviousdominous]

Without getting too deep into specifics, because I'll probably take up an entire page if I do, WCW failed for two reasons. Reason number one, Jamie Kellner didn't like pro-wrestling. Reason number two, there was almost no actual wrestling on the show when they realized it was too late to conduct damage control.

I remember sitting through an episode of Thunder just so that I could prove a friend of mine wrong, which I did. Of the two hour long show, I sat through 47 FUCKING MINUTES of redundant nWo promos and commercials before the show could get to the first fucking tie-up. The nWo was messing with Virgil, but Virgil had an ace up his sleeve. He made a phone call and he was picked up by a stranger outside the hotel. This all added up to nothing, big fucking shock.

I would have NEVER made the nWo more than three people. Hall, Nash and Hogan. Done. I realize that the original intent was to parody the WWF by having a rival faction promote deliberately one-sided matches and resort to low-brow tactics to entertain, they would obviously need more than just three people to make that vision come full circle. The nWo should have been allowed to just be a three man faction, I think it wouldn't have become such a fucking stupid aspect of pro-wrestling history if it were.

Have Sean Waltman come to the company and have him greeted with open arms by Hall and Nash. Book a six-man tag team with Hall, Nash and Waltman against The Steiners and Ray Traylor. Waltman is first in and ends up out finessing all members of his opponents side, they all show looks of amazement and have to huddle together a few times. Sean is getting beaten up and has to make a tag, Hall does a *swish* psyche and refuses to tag in. Hall and Nash drop down and laugh at Sean as he's rolled up for a pin.

Hogan cuts an angry promo saying that no little pip-squeaks are going to roll with the big men of the nWo and that only three men are worthy of that honor. Sean cuts some impassioned promos about how Hall and Nash were his friends, and friendship transcends size and ability. Maybe all of this doesn't push Sean to main event status, but I think he would have been a decent foil for the group during the early points of their inception.

Eventually book the nWo as being a thorn in Eric Bischoff's side, and it's his personal vendetta to rid WCW of them. Slowly but surely, the nWo face turn comes around as they begin to be marketed as underdogs being put into tougher and tougher matches. Make The Giant into a monster heel to this end by having him play corporate and appear to be willing to do anything to make his boss happy.

This is all just wishy-washy booking. The main thing I would have done is I would have had more wrestling. I remember attending one of the last Nitros in Biloxi MS, Mean Gene was on the mic telling us before the show that WCW hears what we're saying and that they're going to produce more wrestling. It was obviously too little too late, but still. Above all else, I would have booked performers where I felt they were at their strongest and I would have let back-stage promos stay relevant to an upcoming match or an ongoing feud. The nWo cutting promos to flaunt themselves long after they were relevant was fucking stupid.

 

[Wald]

Putting aside the AOL/Time Warner merger that killed it (I know Nitro was getting trounced by Raw every week by 2001 but it still pulled good ratings for the network, they purely wanted rid of wrestling) and the backstage politics of Nash, Hogan and co. I would have taken this step by step plan from the 1997 Starrcade onwards. This also puts to one side Sting showing up out of shape for his match with Hogan but this is fantasy rebooking after all.

Step 1: Have Sting defeat Hogan at Starrcade 97 and have the nWo dissolve over the coming months as Hall, Hogan, Savage and Nash all fail to get the title back off him. Have Hogan get desperate and say he'll disband the nWo if he can't beat Sting for the title at Bash at the Beach 1997. Sow the seeds of discension between Nash and Hogan coming into the event over that decision and have Nash come out and powerbomb Hogan to give Sting the win. That sets up a feud between those two in the second half of the year and ends the nWo at the same event that they were born in.

Step 2: Realise that the WWF were really pushing the Attitude garbage and offer an alternative, don't follow them down that rabbit hole of 2 minute matches and swerve turns and realise that naked women don't cut it on Warner so don't copy their antics with Sable. Be true to your roots as a wrestling company for wrestling fans and you'll hoover up the ones that desert the WWF.

Step 3: End the Monday Night Wars by simply stop going on about it all the time. If you follow step two you'll need to do this as the way society was back in the late 90s means the Attitude Era will be an integral part of that culture and they will start beating you anyway.

Step 4: Use Bret Hart in dream matches against Sting, Flair, Benoit, Malenko, Hogan and Savage. Bret was the WWF's MVP for 1997 and was the hottest ticket in town after the Montreal Screwjob. Capitalise on that as you follow step two and refocus the company on being about wrestling.

Step 5: Keep on track with blooding in home grown stars like Goldberg, DDP, Benoit, Jericho, The Giant, Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero and don't be afraid of losing big contracts like Hogan's and Savage's when they expire. Make sure to use Hogan and Savage to put over the new guys as they leave the company.

Step 6: Increase production values to target the international market more. Outside of the US WCW/NWA was never that popular largely because we were used to the look of the WWF. I'm not talking about copying their product here but make the sets brighter/more colourful. This will help in keeping families interested in your product when they leave the WWF over the Attitude Era too.

 

[New Hot Fed]

Well that questionment is very vague. I mean you talk about Jericho going after the nWo after Goldberg and so forth but Jericho left WCW in early 99 and then he appeared on RAW. So they couldn't have made that feud.

Secondly, WCW always had a different culture than the WWF/E and you couldn't book and played the heels and faces the same way. I don't think a smartass face would have worked in WCW for example. Cause in the company the faces needed to be humble and less of a shade of a grey. Even if Crow Sting was dark, once he showed his true colors, he went after the nWo full tilt and there wasn't a question that he was a pure face and he wanted to kill the bad guys and save WCW. Wheras say, when face Stone Cold was on RAW, he was beating Vince but he did it for selfish reasons and ever helped anybody. Same thing with Rock, he was a face but did not really act like a face most of the time, making fun of people and so forth. Also WWF was more Sport Entertainment and WCW was more traditional wrestling so you could have jokey guys in the WWF but in WCW, they booked the shows in a more serious manner and they made sure esp. that the faces where taking things seriously when they went after the heels cause it looked more realistic. You could have a heel making fun of people, though, cause then you wanted to see him getting his ass kicked.

 

[jholcomb22]

The hardest part about "fixing" WCW is coming to the understanding that the thing that made them succeed was the thing thing that brought them down. They were willing to buy any superstar at any and all costs. They put clauses in contracts that, at the time, lured the likes of Hogan, Nash, Hall, Savage, Hart, etc away from WWE. But when it came negotiation time with home grown talent like Sting, Goldberg, Benoit, Guerrero, etc those previous clauses crippled the company financially.

Giving superstars so much creative control was great when those superstars were drawing but once they weren't, they weren't willing to give in and "put over" talent that could have kept the company aflot. Their selfishness lead to their wealth, fame and success, but it cost WCW everything.

During 1998-2002,wrestling was at its peak in popularity. Between Raw and Nitro, 10 - 12 million people were watching on Monday nights. Moving to Tuesday or Wednesday night (obviously before they started airing Thunder) could have drawn more eyeballs as those fans who watched WCW would follow as well as those who were just wrestling fans and were watching Raw on Mondays but weren't opposed to watching Nitro.

WCW got in over their head, thinking nothing could beat them. That there would be no peak to the mountaintop. They never planned for the future. They had every piece needed but didn't handle them properly and all the tactics that they used, got used against them and they had to watch WWE make stars out of Jericho, Benoit, Guerrero, etc.

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

As AOL/Time Warner didn't want wrestling on their network, there was no "saving" WCW.

But,
- Both Vampiro and Lance Storm should have gotten a World title reign at some point in 2000 especially Vampiro as he was one of the most over wrestlers on the rosters at that point.

 

[supaman5279]

I would main event the cruiserweight title and have the great nWo vs nWo feud they were supposed to have. Hollywood guys would defect to the Wolfpac since they only had like 5 guys. too much detail to fix the damage but that'd be the main idea.

 

[TDFG]

Like some of the other posts, it depends on what point in time tour talking about.

Even in the last days of WCW, the company could have been saved if given 12 months to turn around the ratings.

I'm not sure what the final roster was, but I would have pushed Storm for a World title reign, they still had Steiner, DDP, Booker T & Jarrett in the main event with Sting & Flair around as well.

The US Title could have been feuded between Mike Awesome & Rey Mysterio, along with Konnan, Vampiro, Rick Steiner, Bigelow, Kanyon & few others on mid-card.

The Cruiserweight Division always had talent, La Roux, Elix Skipper, Chavo, Kidman, Juventud, La Parka, Pyschosis, 3 count, Kayashi etc.

The tag-division could maybe have done with a bit of work.

 

[relentless1]

ill pick this up at Starrcade 1997....

Sting trounces Hogan, wins the WCW title with Bret Hart fending off nWo interference. Sting defends against Hall at Souled out, Macho Man at Superbrawl, Hogan at Uncensored and Nash at Spring Stampede.

During this time the nWo sees dissension in the form of botched interference in all matches leading up to Hogan deliberately whacking Nash at SS to cost him the belt. nWo splits with Nash and Hall on one side, Hogan and Savage on the other.

*NOTE* DO NOT fire Syxx, one of Erics biggest mistakes IMO, believe it or not, without X pac in the WWF i don't think DX Army fills out properly and an important cornerstone of the Attitude era doesn't happen.

so you'd have now an nWo war to occupy Hogan Hall Nash and Savage, move Booker T up to the higher mid card by having him join the Wolfpac and have Giant join Hollywood.

nWo Wolfpac : Nash, Hall, Syxx, Konnan, Booker T

nWo Hollywood: Hogan, Savage, Bischoff, Steiner, Giant, Disciple, Norton, Vincent, Adams, Hennig, Rude.

(Im keeping injuries the same as its assumed that they would happen regardless so Bagwell would be out with the neck injury and Savage goes out with a knee injury in June)

Meanwhile Sting defends the World title against the Giant at Slamboree and Luger, Flair and DDP in great bouts on Nitros before losing it to Bret Hart in a face vs face match at Great American Bash.

nWo war explodes with Nash vs Hogan at Road Wild ending in DQ, War Games is nWo vs nWo, loser disbands. Hollywood is represented by Hogan, Steiner, Hennig, Giant. Wolfpac is represented by Nash, Hall, Booker T and Konnan. Wolfpac wins, Hollywood disbands; Hogan keeps Giant, Bischoff and Disciple around, the rest go on to do their own thing.

Goldberg wins the US title from Raven like what really happened, then faces Bret in a "take all comers" challenge at Road Wild to win the belt, Hogan comes out and beats on Bret til Goldberg comes and chases him off.

US title becomes vacant,16 man tourney is set up with DDP, Jericho, Benoit, Malenko, Guerrero, Booker T, Steiner, Norton, Konnan, Saturn, Raven, Kanyon, Alex Wright, Curt Hennig, Syxx, Wrath... tourney ends at Halloween havoc with a final of Benoit and Jericho with Jericho winning.

Goldberg runs through DDP at Fall Brawl, Luger at Halloween Havoc and Nash at World War 3 leading into Starrcade.

Scott Steiner wins World War 3

lots of other little feuds her and there like Flair and Bischoff with Flair reforming the Horsemen but the lineup would be Benoit, Malenko, Flair and Barry Windham in a surprise return. Sting would get into a long feud with Raven in the summer that would last until Hallwoeen Havoc as he did get injured around that same time in real life.

anyways, my Starrcade would shape up like this :

WCW World Heavyweight Title : Goldberg vs Scott Steiner

Hollywood Hogan vs Bret Hart

Eric Bischoff vs Ric Flair for the WCW Presidency

The Outsiders vs Brian Adams & Bryan Clark

WCW US Title: Booker T vs Chris Jericho vs Chris Benoit

DDP vs Giant

Konnan vs Raven

WCW TV Title: Dean Malenko vs Eddie Guerrerro

WCW Cruiserweight Title: Kidman vs Alex Wright

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

As AOL/Time Warner didn't want wrestling on their network, there was no "saving" WCW.

I doubt AOL/Time Warner would want to get rid of WCW if it was making them money. Even if they didn't had WCW been profitable I would think it would have been easy to find a buyer who wasn't Vince McMahon. And a TV time slot down the line.

 

[rge2010]

Didnt WCW give away Bret Hart vs Hulk Hogan and Goldberg vs Hulk Hogan away on free TV?!

WCW's biggest problem is they didnt have a decision maker like Vince McMahon. It was a small council of Bischoff, Russo, Nash, Hogan etc who made the decisions.

 

[ProWrestlingFan]

I doubt AOL/Time Warner would want to get rid of WCW if it was making them money. Even if they didn't had WCW been profitable I would think it would have been easy to find a buyer who wasn't Vince McMahon. And a TV time slot down the line.

This is from an old Eric Bischoff interview:

"AOL was merging with Time Warner and AOL assigned a guy by the name of Jamie Kellner who was the former head of the WB network under Time Warner, they assigned him to take over all of TBS and all of TNT. And the first thing that Jamie Kellner did was sit down and look over all the pending contracts that were on the desk, one of which was obviously ours, it was a big transaction. And the first thing that Jamie Kellner did was he looked at the deal that we had which said that we were going to acquire trademarks, copyrights, video libraries, all the things that Vince acquired, we were going to acquire all of that, and we were going to get a ten-year commitment from TBS to air WCW on their network. Kellner didn't want WCW on the network in any way, shape or form, he was absolutely dead set against wrestling, he didn't care how much money it made or didn't make. So he said 'Fine, you can sell the company to this group but you cannot give them television time, you cannot sell them the television time. Well, once you took the television part out of the deal, it really wasn't worth anything. Without television, that company wasn't worth anything to us. So we walked away from it. Quite frankly, we just walked away and Vince was able to come in and buy it for literally pennies on the dollar, just for the video library really, and copyrights and trademarks. Once Time Warner didn't want wrestling on any of its channels, Viacom already had a deal, and USA and Fox were against wrestling on their stations, there was really nowhere else to go to so the deal was worthless."

 

[Mustang Sally]

As AOL/Time Warner didn't want wrestling on their network, there was no "saving" WCW.

Especially when that division of their company was losing money like no one had ever seen in the pro wrestling industry. I remember reading in the Wall Street Journal (of all places) back then that WCW was losing $60-$80 million dollars a year in it's heyday. Time-Warner wanted divisions that paid for themselves, as any corporation would, which is most likely the reason they decided to finally close the cash box and dissolve WCW.

Given these types of monetary losses, the steps it would've taken to save WCW can't be enumerated in this short space. The reckless abandon with which WCW was throwing around money made financial survival an impossibility: if they curtailed their spending, they wouldn't be able to retain the performers they were buying in their effort to crush WWE, nor could they keep up those enormous production expenses........and if they kept on spending as they were, they could never bring the profit necessary to pay their own way.

"Saving" WCW would have taken much more than just making a few personnel decisions differently or changing the structure of their junior heavyweight division, that's for sure.

 

[OutsiderDX]

It's hilarious that people are talking about the on-air product / booking when discussing how WCW could have been saved.

But as a few mentioned it was FINANCIALS that killed WCW. We will never know the exact numbers, but many people have used the term "bleeding" money.

I assume the inflated contracts were a major reason for this. The stories about guys with huge contracts, and not being used were well documented. They were guaranteed contacts too. So they boys were getting paid either way.

Let's not forget corporate and executive employees as well.

In the territory days... the gate / ticket sales determined profit. Pay the rent on the building, pay the boys, keep the rest.

But now TV pays the bills. And as mentioned WCW was going to lose their TV deal.

How to save to WCW?

They would have to get away from those contracts. I'm not sure about the legal side of WCW, or if they could even filed bankruptcy, since they were a subsidiary of Time Warner.

They needed to escape contracts / possibly file bankruptcy to do it
They needed to convince Time Warner to not pull them from TV
They needed to scale back costs to poverty level and start from scratch.

They product would have sucked for a few years because the big names would not have worked for the scale they could afford. But the WWF did it, when they were going through financial issues.

 

[Rayne]

Yes, professional wrestling fans, WCW dissolved not because they were a horribly bloated financial mess that no one serious wanted anything to do with, but because a television executive said "this just doesn't fit my vision of what television should be". This is why there was such a hot bidding war amongst other television companies for the rights to WCW, and why Vince McMahon wasn't able to buy their tape library and trademarks for (somewhere between $4-7 million, chump change either way.)

It's been discussed to death, but some people still believe evolution's a myth too, and you can't change every mind. If you think WCW got shut down because someone in a suit didn't like professional wrestling, you are an idiot. This is not open to discussion. Don't be offended by the idea- if there weren't idiots in the world, we wouldn't have a term for them.

That being said, there's nothing that could be done to 'save' WCW. WCW's failure was inherent in its creation; it was never a long-term business with a stable financial core, but it was a business which suddenly got very hot and didn't have the structure to maintain that momentum. Its best 'profitable' years had large amounts of money in contracts forwarded into previous years, Bobby Bonilla style, and much of the loss- we'll never know for sure how much- was concealed as Time Warner debt, not WCW debt.

WCW was a very hot product for a few years, but they built their buzz on top of a ticking financial time bomb. It's a classic business story- "if we just invest really heavily, the profits in year (three to five) will recoup our investment". It often works, and more often, smart people pour large amounts of other people's money into a black hole.

WCW's success and failure has almost nothing to do with the content that was provided. Obviously- because someone here always raises the deliberately contrarian point- they would not have achieved their success without bringing in a great deal of talent that people wanted to see. But the root of that success wasn't the talent itself, but the cash that allowed WCW to bring that talent in. WCW never got over the 'continuously profitable' hurdle; they had a hot couple of years, and then their forwarded expenses outstripped their income.

WCW's story isn't particularly unusual. The only place you'll find people dissecting the how's and why's of WCW's collapse are on professional wrestling message boards. It's a classic case of a company making large investments in the future and not having those investments pay off, combined with particularly poor management. If you wanted to save WCW, you'd get in your time machine, go back to the 1980's or so, and tell Ted Turner not to frontload huge expenses on a gamble for WCW's rapid AND sustainable growth.

 

[SinCityBlitz]

There was nothing to be done once the TW/AOL merger went through. At that point WCW had cancer and it was dying a slow death. Nothing to be done at that point.

 

[Cub McCallister]

I would of built up the stars that they let go wrestlers such as Benoit, Malenko, Jericho, Eddie and also wouldn't of done stupid bookings such as the finger poke of doom and the way Goldberg lost which was terrible just shows how bad they had gotten, they should of pushed several stars that were capable of Main eventing instead of constantly using hogan and I would of made sting go over cleanly at starrcade and used Bret Hart properly how they messed that up I don't know.

Just the amount of crappy bookings and not being able to build anyone up as a credible champion where people like page and savage had very short reigns as world champions was shocking.

 

[Rocky84]

I'm not exactly sure why Turner made the merger with AOL or why that guy who hated wrestling had that kind of authority. That reason alone makes it seem like it just was not possible to keep WCW alive. Perhaps it was possible for Nitro to be picked up by another network...something that could be pursued if we're in Bischoff's shoes back then with all the knowledge we have now.

1. Make the attempt with Teds help pulling strings to get on another network.

2. Make promises to young talent that they will be pushed significantly to prevent them from jumping ship ie: Jericho, Benoit, Eddie, Rey, etc.

3. Stop giving crazy bullshit contracts out, and let the current ones expire. When they do, extend reasonable offers without any power given to talent.

4. Get more organized behind the scenes like Vince was. For example, merchandise, and ppv. No more lack of merch and no more ppv matches on free tv ala Goldberg vs Hogan. Also, not running out of time on ppv.

5. Creative team...let some vets have input but no authority...if they don't like it, let them go home and sit and collect if they want. Storylines need to go in the direction of building for the future. Featuring pushes for home grown talent like Goldberg, DDP, Booker T, Jericho, Benoit etc. Also, the writing wasn't bad for a while, not sure what happened in 1999-2000 but it plummeted...never would've happened on my watch.

6. Dream matches. With top talent like Hogan, Macho, Flair, Bret, Sting, Goldberg, Nash, Warrior, DDP, Giant, Luger, Hall etc, why the hell didn't we see some better matches? Also the build up stories for these types of matches...I remember Flair vs Bret...fucking horrible build up. Compare that with something from WWF like Rock vs Stone Cold at Mania 17. Production, writing, etc needs to be improved significantly to be able to gauge interest. The overall feel sometimes in WCW was that it was cheesy and couldn't be taken seriously...opposite of WWF. They were legitimate.


I like someone's idea of the NWO split ending up differently. After Starrcade I'd end up with a split of:

Hollywood: Hogan, Macho, Giant, Hennig, Rude, Steiner, Buff, Norton, Adams, Stevie Ray, Deciple, Virgil.

Wolf Pac: Nash, Hall, Sting, Luger, Konnan, Syxx

WcW: Bret, Goldberg, DDP, Warrior, Piper, Booker T, Jericho, Eddie

Horsemen: Flair, Arn, Benoit, Mongo


Have a War Games with all those factions too...I think they may have, but ruined it.

I'd let that ride out til the following Starrcade 98'. Then I'd break up both factions and maybe form smaller alliances between only a few wrestlers. The focus would be on strengthening guys as legit singles competitors to build individual storylines as opposed to group rivalries. As well as strengthening individual characters/gimmicks ....for instance- let Macho go on to become his new improved Mach with Gorgeous George and start to give the younger guys their pushes and mic time throughout the year like Jericho, Booker, Benoit, Eddie etc. in order to establish them as title contenders.

Starrcade would need to be featured the way Mania is too btw. End the year with this card...

Starrcade 98':

Sting vs Bret (c) [World Title]
Flair vs Hogan
Goldberg vs Warrior
Outsiders vs Macho & Giant (c) [Tag Titles]
Booker T vs DDP [#1 contender for World Title match]
Jericho (c) vs Benoit [US Title Ladder Match]
Steiner vs Luger
Syxx vs Eddie (c) vs Rey [Cruiserweight Title]

Then as stated disband both NWO's for the most part and start with fresh storylines featuring up and coming talent against established stars.

 

[Ubermensch]

1998 was the pivotal year for WCW and when everything started going sour. If WCW could have kept it's head up during this year I believe it would have defeated WWF.

This is not the year of Hogan as the past 3 had been. Hogan gets a title run but he does not hold the belt for over a year with a handful of defenses.

There were many moving parts in WCW. Keep in mind the WCW had a huge roster, with 3 hours on Nitro, and 2 on Thunder. Both shows were considered on par, as Thunder was not a B show (yet).

From Starrcade 97. I would have had the referee knocked out. Sting Scorpion death drops Hogan and attempts the pin while the referee is knocked out. The Entire NWO roster slowly trickles out. While the ref is out, Sting grabs the bat and defends off the entire onslaught much as he had done throughout the year. Hart replaces the referee as Hogan is revived. Hogan big boots Sting, goes for the Leg Drop, but Sting rolls out, mounts his come back and taps Hogan to the Scorpion Deathlock. It's important this match have a theatrical end because of the hype.

This would show some signs that the NWO was starting to lose visible momentum with more dissension among the ranks at the beginning of 1998. The next ppv could still have Hogan vs Sting as a rematch simply to capitalize on the past momentum and still get good ratings.

Sting would have enjoyed a lengthy title run. I would have him at least mount title defenses against Nash, Hall, and the Giant. On the WCW side, he could have feuded with DDP perhaps.

What to do with Hart? Good question. He got a ton of money thrown his way and the WCW needed to capitalize on it. You may could have ran an angle with Bischoff playing the authority figure constantly trying to screw Hart and stole alot of thunder off the Mr. McMahon character. I may would have gone as far as to align him back with Bulldog and Neidhart for a brief time and call them the Hart family or something. They could have been the defacto face group for a brief time.

SuperBrawl-Triple Threat at Super Brawl, with Hogan, Savage, and Sting. Hogan goes into the match courting Savage's support but overlooks him as Savage turns on Hogan in the match to win the title. This starts the Wolfpack's run as a popular but tweener stable. This Wolfpack only has Nash, Hall, Savage, Konan, and inducts DDP who was overdue for a NWO run. Syxx could be included if you want to go that route, but isn't necessary.

The major players in the Black and White are the rising Scott Steiner, Giant, Hening, and Hogan. Black and White is visibly less talented but has more midcard guys to strengthen the stable by run-ins like Vincent, Bagwell, Norton, Brian Adams, and Stevie Ray.

Uncensored-Hogan loses a match for the heavyweight title to Savage with NWO black and white coming to help hogan, and wolfpack saving Savage.

Spring Stampede-Savage defeats The Giant to defend his title after the Giant promises to win it back and forfeit it to Hogan the next night.

Goldberg also begins his rise early in the year. But like Hart, Goldberg slowly begins to see the administration via Bischoff keeping him down and out of the main event scenes. Goldberg wins the TV title, and then it's vacated once he wins the US title. At the US title he is stalled and from the main event scene despite beating many top contenders.

Bash at the Beach-Savage and Hart square off at Bash at the Beach with Savage tapping cleanly to the Sharpshooter.

You still run the Leno tag match with Bischoff, DDP, and Hogan. Despite it lacking credibility it draws media attention, however Leno does not not square off against Hogan and only defeat Bischoff. The main event for this match is Hart versus Nash with Hart successfully defending the title.

The 4 Horsemen returning was a pivotal moment that really energized fans and WCW did not capitalize and opted to bury the stable again. Flair returns with a stacked stable of himself, rising Benoit, Mongo (who doesn't do much), and Lex Luger with JJ Dillon competing against Bischoff backstage for their interests and Arn Anderson as their manager. This is a very powerful Horsemen stable. The Horsemen resume their feud primarily with NWO black and white, but the Wolfpack are inevitably thrown into the mix. This leads to an entire month of gang style stable fighting leading up to War Games.

Fall Brawl-War Games match is Flair, Benoit, and Luger versus Nash, Hall, Savage from the Wolfpack, and The Giant, Steiner, and Henning from the Black and White. Flair being the last man in cleans up with his brass knuckles and inevitably taps Henning with the Figure Four. After the cage is raised the NWO black entire stable save Hogan rushes the ring jumping on The Horsemen and Wolfpack with the two stables temporarily uniting to beat back the Black and White during the massive brawl. In the main event Hart loses to Hogan via Nick Patrick and the Disciple's interference.

The next night on Nitro Hogan boasts that he has his title back, and that he and the NWO are back on top. During Hogan's reign, Bischoff has number 1 contender Goldberg suspended for whatever reason creating huge heat for Hogan as everyone wants a Goldberg v. Hogan title match. Steiner wins the US title in a vacancy match. Enter the Ultimate Warrior. The Warrior is not a guy you keep around very long, based on his personal life, but also his gimmick loses steam unless he is constantly in and out of wrestling sporadically dominating. You also can't have Goldberg and The Warrior simultaneously in the title hunt. Warrior does run ins on the NWO similar to Sting, for a month and ends up beating Hogan at Halloween Havoc for the title.

World War 3-Long anticipated match as The Warrior defends the title and loses cleanly to his former partner Sting. Goldberg is the mystery competitor in the World War 3 and wins out. Sting's title reign is short lived and loses to Hogan the next night on Nitro. The NWO Black and White Runs in and causes Sting to lose and continues to beat on Sting until The Warrior saves him and the two embrace making the Warrior's last appearance.

Starrcade-Hogan vs. Goldberg for the heavyweight title. Weeks before Flair promises Goldberg that he will get a fair match and the Horsemen have his back. Goldberg goes for the pin after spearing Hogan and the ref at the same time knocking the ref out. The NWO black and white pour out a first wave of wrestlers, Hart and Sting comes to aid but are overwhelmed. The Four Horsemen come to aid and appear to have the upper hand to secure a fair match, until the second wave of NWO main eventers (Steiner, Giant, and Henning)come ringside and best them along with the help of the NWO midcard talent. Finally the Wolfpack come to aid and turn the tide with the help of the Horsemen against the Black and White. Goldberg kicks out of the leg drop, rallies and jackhammers Hogan for the win as chaos ensues outside the ring. This effectively ends the NWO black and white and Wolfpack as they are unrecognized here on after.

Other notable feuds I would have thrown in during 1998.

Savage versus Hogan over Elizabeth (because it never gets old).

Hart versus Flair in a Submissions only match.

Steiner versus Luger

The Giant versus Nash in a powerbomb match.

Hall and Nash versus Benoit and Luger over tag titles.

1999

Would be the transition year.

Hogan, Savage, Flair, Luger, and Sting would have to start putting younger wrestlers over. Notably, Jericho, Benoit, and Eddie. Hart would play a bigger role in 1999. Steiner would eventually beat Goldberg for the belt.

In perfect fashion. I would have Flair when the Gold, and Benoit beat him for the title dissolving the Horsemen at some point and putting Benoit over big.

Steiner could beat Hogan following the Starrcade for "dropping the ball" and Hogan could go face as yellow and red but not as the dominant force in the company but as a seasoned upper mid card wrestler.

Probably would run something with Jericho and Sting.

Eddie Guerrero and Savage.