Turning WCW around in 2000.

[Zack Malibu 0]

Serious discussion here, since I know a lot of people would have said "fire Russo", etc. Going by what hand we were dealt by WCW in 2000, what do you think could have actually helped the company rather than kill it. I'm talking feuds that could have drawn, guys that should have been pushed/depushed, and what you think would logically have made them money and saved them from selling out to McMahon.

 

Some of my thoughts (free for criticism and discussion topics):

 

Have Mike Awesome debut by attacking Goldberg rather than Nash. Awesome could talk about how he's always heard "Goldberg this, Goldberg that" but doesn't think that Bill can handle someone as "extreme" as him. I'd have him actually lay Bill out and have the announcers put over Awesome as a big deal, saying that no one has ever manhandled Goldberg like that.

 

Obviously, I would have never turned Goldberg heel.

 

I'd have still run the Douglas/Flair feud, but with less "insider" heat behind it, and made it that Douglas wants to be the "new" cornerstone of WCW, so he's going to earn it by taking out the current one.

 

I wouldn't have reset all the belts. I'd have had Sid refuse to lose the belt and dare Bischoff and Russo to take it from him. Sid could go through the usual gang of misfits on Nitro's and a couple of PPV's (Jarrett, Douglas but have Flair cost him the match, etc.) before dropping it to Sting (have Russo and Bischoff try to cause turmoil amongst the faces by pitting them against each other, but Sting wins the belt and leads the cavalry against the New Blood).

 

I'll have more that follows, just interested in seeing what you guys would do as well.

[The Dames 0]

I dont want to get into specific angles, but one of the main things that needed to be done was to stabilize the World Title. It changed hands on an average of 2x a month and Jarrett became a 4x Champ in 2 months.

 

And of course, David Arquette shouldn't have ever touched that title.

 

Dames

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

David Arquette shouldn't have been brought in at all.

[Zack Malibu 0]

The title bouncing around was a major problem. I'd have done what I said with Sid, and either have had Sting win it in a twist of fate that "ruins" R&B's plans, or build Awesome up as a killer, have him win it from Sid, and set up Goldberg's vengeance spree/title win.

 

People might not think much of it now given how he was treated during WCW/WWF-E, but an Awesome/Goldberg feud could have been tremendous if set up and promoted properly at the time.

[nl5xsk1 0]

The biggest issue that I see with a GB/Awesome feud is I really don't know what Awesome could have done with someone that wouldn't take insane bumps for him. I just can't see Goldberg "feeling" the feud, and thus it wouldn't take off as much as it should.

 

Having said that, though, the size & builds of the two do make - on paper at least - for a pretty cool feud.

[Guest jm29195]

If we go from right after Spring Stampede 00 whilst keeping all the same major names and factions around, this is what I'd have done:-

 

 

Have Jarrett hold the big belt through to BATB, then loose it to Scott Steiner in a match also involving Goldberg (Jarrett gets pinned)- Steiner can hold the belt through to Starrcade and then loose it to Booker T who can hold it for as long as nessecary as he would've have got over as a main event face after being consistently pushed throughout 2000...

 

 

The main upper card feuds of 2000, would have had been Douglas/Flair and Goldberg/Awesome, maybe chuck Steiner in there as the 3 seemed to mesh well together... to get Awesome over as a main eventer, have him decisively beat Luger/Nash/Sting etc in singles matches at Slamboree/GAB/BATB, then move onto Goldberg in a feud for September/October/November/December culminating in some sort of stipulation match at Starrcade

 

The Flair/Douglas feud can be turned into the triple threat (Douglas/Candido/Bigelow) vs Flair and friends, it can culminate in a Flair/Douglas deathmatch or I Quit at Starrcade

 

 

Have DDP/Kanyon/Storm feud in a series of ppv matches similar to Raven/DDP/Benoit from early 98- this can culminate in either Kanyon or Storm going into a best of 7 series of matches finishing at Starrcade

 

On the undercard have the Filthy Animals/NBT feud go on throughout the Spring/Summer llowing plenty of scope for matches with tons of potential like the elimination match from Fall Brawl

 

I'd also bring forward all the cruiser stuff with 3 count/Jung Dragons and all the Cruiser tag stuff to Spring 00 and have that go through the year- this was the real highlight of the last days of WCW programing for me...

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Fire Sullivan and build around Chris Benoit as World Champion, leading to Benoit/Goldberg face vs. face at Starrcade where Goldberg would go over in what probably would be the best match of his career. I don't like Goldberg but he was one of the few draws that the company had, so you have to put him over.

 

But at the same time the real strength of the company was in that they could always say they had better workers than the sportz entertainers in the WWF. Once Benoit, Malenko & Guerrero left it was over for the company. Any plan to save WCW has to begin with keeping them around. Spring Stampede is too late. You have to start at Souled Out.

 

As for opponents for Benoit throughout the year, obvious choices for the spring are Jarrett & DDP, but a heel turned Guerrero likely would make a good opponent for much of the summer.

[Zack Malibu 0]

Benoit vs. Flair, even face vs. face, could work for a PPV defense. Have them use WCW history by saying Flair is responsible for bringing Benoit in, and seeing what he's become, he's proud, but that Benoit "owes him one". Even set it up where Flair looks a little heelish going in, but shakes Benoit's hand after Benoit retains.

[The C Man 0]

WCW really needed The Radicalz, obviously moreso Benoit and Eddie, but especially Benoit.

A Goldberg/Benoit feud would've worked, face vs face, or Benoit heel with Bret Hart possibly as his manager. You've got the Bret/Goldberg/career-ending stuff to play with, plus you could eventually have Benoit feel that Bret is just using him, trying to 'live through him' so to speak. Damn, so many possibilities. I'm gonna go live this out in EWR.

Jarrett; Steiner; Sid; Flair; Sting; they all could have been positioned against Benoit.

Goldberg/Awesome would've worked I think. You've got the similar size and builds; definately play up Awesome's speed, agility and hardcore background; plus Awesome had a high-power friend in Hogan.

If a DDP/Kanyon feud led to Positively Kanyon then I would've been all for it. Kanyon was better at Page than Page was (or is). Judy Bagwell on a Pole anyone?

Booker, Eddie, and to a lesser extent Storm (pro-Canada gimmick) would've been slowly built up on the undercard.

Sean O'Haire had to be removed from the NBT, with or without Jindrak/Palumbo as a partner. He was far too good for the rest of them and needed to be built up in addition to the names mentioned above. Maybe have him and Jindrak/Palumbo kicked out, O'Haire eventually turned on and Jindrak/Palumbo returning to the NBT, O'Haire then taking out the rest of the NBT to get to Jindrak/Palumbo, and then taking them out as well. After taking out a full stable on his own maybe give him a U.S title reign, then the big push as a heel with Flair as his manager.

No Goldberg heel turn, no Arquette, and no New Blood/Millionaries Club, especially with the young guys as the HEELS???.

Plus imagine the possibilities had WCW stayed in business after ECW folded.

[Damaramu 0]

Speaking of O'Haire.......where is he these days?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

He either has his second K-1 fight upcoming, or he recently fought it.

 

And as much fun as it is to think about what could have turned WCW around in 2000, I try not to, simply because it's highly depressing thinking about what might have been with a company that really should not have gone out of business, and would not have, were it not for a few huge egos.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Well, if we truly want to be honest, WCW wouldn't have gone out of business if not for the Time Warner/AOL merger. Turner would have eaten any losses the company had, but once the suits took over the company was finished.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

If WCW had been able to get good ratings for Nitro and Thunder, it would have been a lot harder for them to pull the plug, because about the only thing suits pay attention to are numbers. Once the numbers slipped below 3.5, which is when they would have had to begin giving advertisers ad time at discounted rates, to make up for the lower numbers, they were living on borrowed time, and the further they fell the deeper in shit they got.

[Grenouille 0]

II don't know if anyone would know this, but was DVD within their sights by 2000? These people were sitting on the old NWA catalog and some of the decent stuff that WCW had produced during their hot period. I would think that this would have sold well.

 

Then again, tapes of their PPVs were sold for close to $60 bucks on Amazon right up to their death while the WWF had the much friendlier $15-$20 range. Huge merchandising miscue in my opinion.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

If WCW had been able to get good ratings for Nitro and Thunder, it would have been a lot harder for them to pull the plug, because about the only thing suits pay attention to are numbers. Once the numbers slipped below 3.5, which is when they would have had to begin giving advertisers ad time at discounted rates, to make up for the lower numbers, they were living on borrowed time, and the further they fell the deeper in shit they got.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Oh absolutely. I'm just saying is all, if Ted Turner remained in power, they would likely still be around.

 

That's why I mentioned earlier that the Radicalz defection was the point of no return given the circumstances. The AOL merger isn't something the company can control. Benoit leaving as World Champion is.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

If Ted Turner had been in power, without any question WCW would still be around. He would never have let WCW die.

[Art Sandusky 0]

$60 for a PPV tape? Why?!

[Grenouille 0]

$60 for a PPV tape? Why?!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I would guess it was because of limited release. Video rental places would pay that, but for normal consumers it was too much. Coliseum videos were priced in this range $40-60, until the WWF switched over to the WWF Home Video label.

[Placebo Effect 0]

$60 for a PPV tape? Why?!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Priced for the rental market. Pre-DVD (and the last dying days of VHS), the only tapes that were priced for the sell-through market were those 60 minute clip jobs that they did for people like Bret, Hogan, Michaels, Undertaker, etc.

 

$60 - $100 was actually the norm for non-kids films all the way up until the VHS market became a minority. Those high prices are what almost made direct-to-video films a thing of the past in the mid-90s. It's thanks to the invention of revenue sharing programs that they recooperated.

[Jericholic82 0]

people forget the good stuff of 2000 wcw. despite the bad parts I found wcw to be quite enjoyable that year. and by the end, I thinkthey did have the corner turned, with great cruiser work, scott steiner as a credible heel champ, and the emergence of new, young stars. too bad TNT and TBS crapped on them (though bischoff owning wcw might have been a problem)

[Carnival 0]

Mike Awesome vs Goldberg would have never worked. Goldberg would never take an awesome bomb. their matches would have been shit too.

 

I like the new blood vs millionaires club...but it should have involved about half the amount of people it did. Two stables going at it is fine, they didn't need 3/4 the roster vs 6 guys.

 

Jeff Jarrett winning the title was too random. I'm not against him being in the main event scene of WCW at the time, but the should have been worked in gradually and slowly.

 

Worked shoots were kinda ok, Russo just went overboard with em though.

 

Longer world title reigns.

 

I liked the elevated ramp to the ring, but it made them look small time. They should have stuck with the huge, WCW grey logo.

I didn't especially like it, it just made them look better.

 

They should have done a ECW invasion angle, if possible.

 

I agree that Thunder shouldn't have been a B show. Nitro should be the flagship, but thunder should have been high quality too.

 

No Hardcore title.

 

No Women winning the cruiser title.

 

thats all for now....

[MillenniumMan831 0]

I actually found Russo's WCW to be pretty entertaining from the whole trainwreck perspective but damn . . . did they have to execute a heel turn EVERY week? Enough is enough.

[Jericholic82 0]

the ramp was very old school. I liked it. reminded me of early 90s wcw that used the big wooden ramp on all the big shows.

[TheDevilAndGodAreRagingInsideMe 0]

I think there were too many stables. nWo, Natural Born Thrillers, New Blood, Millionaires Club, Misfits in Action, Filthy Animals, etc.

[Zack Malibu 0]

The New Blood, Millionaire's Club and nWo were all done with by the time the Thrillers kicked off. Still, you had Team Canada, the NBT's, the Animals, the MIA, and Russo's "band" of Nash, Steiner, JJ.