WCW in 2001

[BUTT 0]

The other day, I was thinking about the demise of WCW and how the promotion would have been had the Bischoff deal gone through. I was wondering what you all thought the future might have held for WCW in 2001. Keep in mind Bischoff would have had to have been a lot smarter with money since Fusient didn't have the unlimited resources Turner/Time Warner had. I think the promotion's roster would have been very interesting since they probably would have had the "brand names" (as Bischoff liked to call them) on top, such as Hogan, Nash, Sting, Goldberg, but also Bob Sapp (who they signed but never wrestled on TV), Sam Greco (an Australian kickboxer), possibly Sabu and RVD (who Bischoff showed interest in signing), a big push for Sean O'Haire (I've read Bischoff was real big on him), plus the cruiserweight division with new guys like AJ Styles, Kid Kash, Jason Jett (who I thought was awesome), Chris Daniels, and more. I think WCW in 2001 had the potential to be a really good promotion, or at the very least as good as they were during the early nWo era. What do you guys think?

[Si82 0]

I think WCW certainly had the potential to be a good company once again. However, WCW had the chance to be a good company before but didn't bother pushing young talent in favour of the older guys. As much as like him, Bischoff was one of the guys who did this while running WCW. Granted, they seemingly had some top talent on the way but it really would have depend on how the guys were pushed. I would have loved to have seen Sean O'Haire pushed as a top guy.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Well, I'll say this:

 

The super-rushed and overrated last edition of Nitro, "Night of Champions", is better than any WWE TV episode since certain episodes of the "Smackdown Six" era of Smackdown, late 2002.

[zyn081 0]

The problem with WCW is simply summed up in 2 words: unused potential. Even their better periods, such as 1992 had its glitches, such as the Search for Foley.

[Guest MikeSC]

The other day, I was thinking about the demise of WCW and how the promotion would have been had the Bischoff deal gone through.  I was wondering what you all thought the future might have held for WCW in 2001.  Keep in mind Bischoff would have had to have been a lot smarter with money since Fusient didn't have the unlimited resources Turner/Time Warner had.  I think the promotion's roster would have been very interesting since they probably would have had the "brand names" (as Bischoff liked to call them) on top, such as Hogan, Nash, Sting, Goldberg, but also Bob Sapp (who they signed but never wrestled on TV), Sam Greco (an Australian kickboxer), possibly Sabu and RVD (who Bischoff showed interest in signing), a big push for Sean O'Haire (I've read Bischoff was real big on him), plus the cruiserweight division with new guys like AJ Styles, Kid Kash, Jason Jett (who I thought was awesome), Chris Daniels, and more.  I think WCW in 2001 had the potential to be a really good promotion, or at the very least as good as they were during the early nWo era.  What do you guys think?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If WCW kept those names, they'd have gone out of business. They were on a pace to more than they did in 2000 and Fusient would not have been involved in a money pit of that magnitude.

 

And, honestly, the brand names were useless. They couldn't draw in 2000 and 2001 didn't appear ready to change that. Throw in a push for O'Haire who was not close to being ready for one and you have a company that would not have lasted long.

[Guest jm29195]

Steve Corino was right on the verge of coming in and had a verbal agreement to do something with Dusty- I seem to recall there were rumours that D- Lo and Billy Gunn were also contemplating on jumping in December 2000......

[Zack Malibu 0]

I did a thread like this in this folder not long ago. HTQ and I discussed how terrible it was that the company went under.

 

From what I know, RVD, Fonzie and Cyrus were all ready to jump to WCW. Corino was supposedly discussed, but I don't know if he ever signed. Never heard anything about Gunn or D'Lo, but the latter wouldn't surprise me since WWF always held the Droz incident over his head. O'Haire was supposed to get a big push as an American who was raised/trained in Japan, to give somewhat of a gimmick to his legit martial arts background.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

I seem to recall there were rumours that Billy Gunn were also contemplating on jumping in December 2000......

 

Whoa... too bad they went under. Had they survived long enough for Gunn to jump, WCW would make MILLIONS!

[gWIL 0]

Okay so here's what the likely roster would be, with some of the bigger names on per appearence deals.

 

Scott Steiner

Booker T

Jung Dragons

Three Count

Billy Kidman

Rey Mysterio, Jr.

"Sugar" Shane Helms

Chavo Guerrero, Jr

Lance Storm

Mike awesome

Elix Skipper

Sean O' Haire

Chuck Palumbo

Shawn Stasiak

Bam Bam Bigelow

Stacy

DDP

Kid Romeo

Ric Flair

Sting

Air Paris

"Air" Styles

Dustin Rhodes

Jason Jett

Kid Kash

Rick Steiner

Kanyon

the Cat

Hugh Morrus

Jeff Jarrett

"Above Average" Mike Sanders

Kwee-Wee

Konnan

Alex Wright

Disqo

Reno

Big Vito

Lex Luger

Buff Bagwell

Rob Van Dam

Sabu

Goldberg

Steve Corino

D-Lo Brown

Billy Gunn

Bob Sapp

Sam Greco

Chris Daniels

[Guest jm29195]

I always thought that monster heel Scott Steiner circa late 00/01 if injury free would have been an awesome cornerstone to rebuild WCW around if he was matched against a properly pushed monster face- not DDP or Nash- maybe if they had signed up RVD- who was really over as a face with no push in WWF 2001, and pushed him as a top tier star they could really have had something.... Steiner's mega high impact offence couple with RVD's great overselling, and the total contrast in believable opposite characters would have made a great feud imo

 

I can even faintly remember the one time that the 2met- in a sub 10 minute match on Raw in late 03- being one of Scott's better WWE matches (not that that was saying much, but still...........)

[Sass 0]

Had Fusient managed to purchase WCW and had Jamie Kellner not cancelled wrestling on TBS and TNT, certain plans were in store for WCW in 2001. The promotion would have been dark during April 2001 and then relaunched in May 2001 with a PPV called The Big Bang. At this show Goldberg, Sting, DDP, Kevin Nash and possibly Hulk Hogan would have all returned. Cyrus would have debuted as heel announcer and there was talk of bringing in Road Dogg and potentially Rob Van Dam down the line.

 

During late 2000 and early 2001, WCW had done a great job of positioning Scott Steiner as a strong heel World Champion. Terry Taylor has said that the plan was to keep Steiner strong by feeding him babyfaces through out the remainder of the year. Meanwhile the plan was to have Goldberg mow down heels on a march to title contention. Goldberg and Steiner would be kept far apart in the storylines for much of the year to create maximum impact for a showdown match Starrcade '01.

[Guest Gary Busey]

It almost makes me sick to my stomach to think of what could have been. How much better would wrestling be right now if all of this had played out? The mind boggles.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

I, for one, was more entertained by WCW from November 2000 until its demise than I was with the WWF during that time period. Right after HHH/Angle blew off, I just sorta lost a whole lot of interest in the WWF's angles, and the only thing keeping me watching was Heyman as an announcer and the overall quality of the matches.

 

Bringing back Hogan would have been a bad idea. Nash? Not so bad, because he was starting to put over the younger guys, if memory serves me right (did a clean job to Booker T at Fall Brawl '00 and actually sold a lot for him, jobbed to Steiner at SuperBrawl '01, and also put over the Natural Born Thrillers a couple times). DDP? Always felt he was entertaining in any role he was given, and he was willing to put ANYBODY over, because he knew he'd always be over if given the chance to be. Hell, even Disqo kept me entertained with the Disco Duck, and the whole Cruiserweight Tag scene was fucking amazing.

 

That's what kept me watching: the fact that EVERYBODY in WCW in 2001, more or less, had something to do. The undercard was filled with decent-to-very good matches based around moving up in the rankings and a few feuds thrown in, the tag title scene was the best it'd been in WCW for years, the main event was interesting despite the lack of quality for most of the matches, and I actually marked for General Rection's transition back into Hugh Morrus and the rest of the MIA/Team Canada feud too.

[Guest MikeSC]

I did a thread like this in this folder not long ago.  HTQ and I discussed how terrible it was that the company went under.

 

From what I know, RVD, Fonzie and Cyrus were all ready to jump to WCW.  Corino was supposedly discussed, but I don't know if he ever signed.  Never heard anything about Gunn or D'Lo, but the latter wouldn't surprise me since WWF always held the Droz incident over his head.  O'Haire was supposed to get a big push as an American who was raised/trained in Japan, to give somewhat of a gimmick to his legit martial arts background.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, not one word of that changes my mind about WCW's chances. They had a solid undercard --- inferior to the WWF's, honestly --- but their ME roster was weak and nothing here would have changed this.

 

O'Haire was a tag wrestler. That's all he ever should have been. He was an exceptionally limited worker who had some horrid fundamentals (his punches, kicks, and clotheslines looked like utter shit) and atrocious mic skills (which killed his WWE stint even more than his bad ring work).

 

O'Haire & Palumbo was good. O'Haire & Jindrak was good. O'Haire was not.

Bringing back Hogan would have been a bad idea. Nash? Not so bad, because he was starting to put over the younger guys, if memory serves me right (did a clean job to Booker T at Fall Brawl '00 and actually sold a lot for him, jobbed to Steiner at SuperBrawl '01, and also put over the Natural Born Thrillers a couple times).

Did Nash ever job without 6 guys running in during the match? I don't remember that happening.

 

And, Mike Sanders, quite bluntly, was Carlito of his day --- decent mic skills and a painfully weak in-ring performer.

During late 2000 and early 2001, WCW had done a great job of positioning Scott Steiner as a strong heel World Champion. Terry Taylor has said that the plan was to keep Steiner strong by feeding him babyfaces through out the remainder of the year. Meanwhile the plan was to have Goldberg mow down heels on a march to title contention. Goldberg and Steiner would be kept far apart in the storylines for much of the year to create maximum impact for a showdown match Starrcade '01.

One of the problems, though, is that Scott Steiner was one, flat-out, shitty worker. The WWF didn't make him terrible --- they simply demonstrated it. His WCW matches were pretty darned bad, too.

-=Mike

[cabbageboy 0]

Nah, he was nowhere near as bad in WCW as he later became. I mean there was nothing as bad in WCW as that HHH match from the 2003 Rumble. Some of his later WCW stuff like the Goldberg match from Fall Brawl was compelling.

 

I might have erred when I said a while back that WCW had nothing left to say as a promotion when they went under. I thought that there was simply nothing there, nothing that would draw a dime. Maybe that's correct but as time goes by I wish WCW hadn't gone under more and more.

 

I've been reading the Death of WCW lately. Some of it during the Nash and Russo eras of booking made me really laugh just reading it...that said by the time late 2000 and early 2001 rolled around I stopped laughing. If anything WCW was doing some reasonably compelling PPVs near the end, stuff that wouldn't embarrass any wrestling fan. I actually rewatched the last 3 PPVs from 2001 and was shocked as to how fresh and enjoyable those were. A lot of the cruisers were missing spots left and right, but damn they were TRYING hard.

[Si82 0]

Did Nash ever job without 6 guys running in during the match? I don't remember that happening.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Nash did job clean to Booker T at Fall Brawl 2000. Hell, he even bleed too. I don't think Nash did that often. I mean, I don't even remeber another match before that were he bladed.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

"The problem with WCW is simply summed up in 2 words: unused potential. Even their better periods, such as 1992 had its glitches, such as the Search for Foley."

 

Actually, the Foley angle didn't happen until mid-1993.

 

By that time, Bill Watts was gone, the Dangerous Alliance was gone, Doc & Gordy were gone, Windham was DOA, Steiner Brothers were gone, and the company was A WRECK.

[Guest jm29195]

I'm thinking of doing one of those fantasy booking threads for WCW running from Starrcade 89 through the 90's- similar to the WWF/E one we've got going in this forum- will probably post something this evening...

[zyn081 0]

"The problem with WCW is simply summed up in 2 words: unused potential. Even their better periods, such as 1992 had its glitches, such as the Search for Foley."

 

Actually, the Foley angle didn't happen until mid-1993.

 

By that time, Bill Watts was gone, the Dangerous Alliance was gone, Doc & Gordy were gone, Windham was DOA, Steiner Brothers were gone, and the company was A WRECK.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Ooops. My bad.

[cabbageboy 0]

I truthfully didn't think WCW was all that bad in 1993. I mean hell at least the show was for the most part about wrestling, some of it still being pretty good. I'm a big Bulldog fan so it was nice seeing him get a push, Flair was back in the company, the Hollywood Blondes were carrying the tag division, etc. It was just that they spent money on too much foolish stuff like the White Castle of Fear (which personally I didn't think was all THAT horrible at the time, though it's hilarious watching now) or the Beach Blast mini movie.

 

You know what's funny? That Aug. 93 Clash with the Shockmaster...I don't even remember him being on the show. And I saw the show, because I remember quite a few of the matches! What's funny is that I seem to recall the rest of that Clash being pretty good.

 

It's a matter of perception. WCW was just a 2nd rate redneck league back then, if they did some stupid shit I let it pass because frankly I wasn't expecting anything great. In 1999 when they did all that horrible stuff it was worse because the company had been really wonderful for a while before the downfall.

[BorneAgain 0]

It is interesting to think about how much the wrestling world be different had WCW survived. Ones I can think of:

 

-No Invasion

-No WWE Brand Split

-No TNA

-No Flair, Mysterio, Booker, Chavo, Hurricane, etc in WWE, at least not for some time.

 

Quite a different landscape we would have now.

[UseTheSledgehammerUh 0]

Let me remind of you of some of the little things that people FORGET bogged WCW down in 1993:

 

1) The U.S. Title Situation:

 

Rude was stripped of the title, so Dustin got it. Rude came back and worked Dustin for the title in some AWFUL matches. Dustin had an exciting 92. So did Rude. But they SUCKED together. And worked each other OVER...and OVER...and OVER...again.

 

2) Awful "new" talent brought in, and pushed heavily on TV & PPV:

 

The Shockmaster. "Jungle" Jim Steele. The Equalizer. Big Sky. Yoshi Kwan. Kensuke Sasaki. Paul Roma. Tex Slazenger. Shanghai Pierce.

 

3) Regal's TV Title Reign:

 

I have no problem with Regal. Don't get me wrong. But the booking for his title reign, complete with 70's heel foreign manager Sir William and a year of time limit draws (starting in Sept 93), which we had just GOTTEN with Steve Austin's title reign is NOT what the division needed. Putting Regal over the likes of Ricky Steamboat was horrible.

 

4) The World Title(s) Scene(s) were AWFUL.

 

Much like today, the World Title scene was seen as weak, thanks in part to two titles being defended. We had Vader, with the WCW World Title. As much as a "MONSTER" as Vader was booked, much of 1993 saw Vader not defending the title on PPV (SuperBrawl - NON TITLE, Beach Blast - NON TITLE, Battlebowl - NO TITLE MATCH, Halloween Havoc - NON TITLE) or retaining the title by DQ (SLAMBOREE). Devalued the title.

 

Barry Windham, Ric Flair, and Rick Rude fought for the meaningless "NWA World Title", with such great mid-card/lower-carders as 2 Cold Scorpio and Arn Anderson vying for the "World" Title. Sigh. Rick Rude and Ric Flair had some AWFUL PPV matches against each other, somehow, as well.

 

5) Tag Title Scene Sucks

 

Missy Fucking Hyatt and the awful, awful, awful Nasty Boys dominating the scene for the second half of the year.

The first half was owned by The Hollywood Blondes, who HAD NO REAL CHALLENGERS.

The tag scene was brutal, with makeshift "teams" working against each other, but unlike today, they weren't main eventers. TEX SLAZENGER & SHANGHAI PIERCE ON PPV. The COLOSSAL KONGS on PPV. Vomit. BIG SKY & VINNIE VEGAS!

 

6) No Cruiser/Light Weight Title

 

It was just forgotten after being vacated in Sept 92.

 

7) Let's bring exciting technicians/high-flyers in, and JOB THEM EVERY WEEK ON TV!

 

See: 2 Cold Scorpio. Chris Benoit.

 

8) Erik Watts was still employed and a mid-carder.

[cabbageboy 0]

Yeah I know all those things happened (I read the Keith 93 Rant after all) but if you just watched the show on a casual basis the show from week to week didn't seem all that bad. I mean it certainly was nowhere near the level of crap of 1999/2000.

 

In regards to Vader, did it really matter that the Sting Superbrawl and the Cactus Havoc match were non title? Vader won both matches so he would have retained anyway, which blows my mind now that I think on it. Why have a non title match on PPV with the champ retaining? I mean if you advertise it as a title match it'd get more buys.

[Jericholic82 0]

The cruiserweight tag title division was another good thing about WCW at the end. I was starting to really get into WCW again at the end and I am still mad that it went down the drain. You can really blame TBS for the Death of WCW (bu tthen again if Fusient didnt make enough money a st hey thought they would, they might have pulled out and Vince would have had to come in then and buy it)

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

It should be pointed out that there is enough suspicion about certain people within Turner knowing people with WWE that a lot of people are of the opinion that there was zero chance of WCW being sold to anyone other than Vince.

[cabbageboy 0]

It would have to be mindblowing collusion to be true. I mean the year before this group called SFX tried to buy WCW for 500 million dollars (if you believe The Death of WCW). They ended up selling it for 3 million to Vince.

 

It's weird, but the whole time period was so bizarre to think back on it. I don't think I even really remembered thinking anything in particular when I read WCW was cancelled on TV. It's like it somehow wasn't real to me....wrestling no longer being on TBS and TNT.