Does the younger generation remember WCW?

[Boxer 0]

It's been about more than 6 years now since WCW was around and I'm wondering, do you get the feeling that the younger generation doesn't know anything about them? Because it's under WWE's banner now, will they try their best to make people forget about their closest competitor who almost made them go out of business? I'm sure the younger fans like those Cena ones may not remember WCW because they were too young. Does it bother you if in 10-15 years hardly anyone under 25 will remember the name WCW? They had a big impact on the WWE, but unlike ECW, I think the WWE just wants to tuck WCW away forever.

 

Anyone feel the same way about WCW? Sure the promotion sucked big time it's last year or so, but overall, it had a lasting impact that I hope isn't forget in the years to come.

[Scroby 0]

I think WWE will basically do to WCW what they did to the AWA name. By that I mean, WWE will just throw in AWA's name for a backround thing for a wrestler or show old footage of a certain match for a certain wrestler. WWE won't talk about what WCW did right as a promotion, but what they did right for a certain wrestler.

[cabbageboy 0]

Well, I think WWE does put over WCW during the NWO period but it seems to me like they never discuss anything they did right in the pre Hogan era. They bring up the Watts era and have nothing but bad things to say, and some of it is justified (i.e. the top rope rule). But WCW's product was more mature and the in ring action was quite good during that period.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

AWA, World Class, Mid-South... I don't think things bode well for WCW being remembered well by future generations. It was the most recent promotion to go under and since they owned the tape library it was easy to make a few bucks off of it. But the more years that pass, the less it will be mentioned or discussed. As we know, history is always written by the winners and before long WCW will only be a distant memory.

[razazteca 0]

WCW was good at putting over international talent well until the final 2 years of its existence before you know who decided it was a good idea to make Mexicans into drunks and Japanese into tourist with cameras. I remember in early to mid 90's Muta vs Sting, Fujinami vs Flair, Lyger vs Pillman, and Starcade 95 made the international wrestlers look strong. And with their working relationship with Konnan they were able to get Mysterio, Juvi, Psicosis, the holy trinity of lucha libre to dominate the midcard and to open matches there were people like Super Calo, Damian 666, Halloween, La Parka, Silver King, Villianos 4 & 5. It was great to be a wrestling fan back then since WCW had something for everybody it just wasn't NWO all the time well it became that at the very end but at least it was watchable early on.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

We always hear about how WCW mistreated mid-card talent, but what you don't hear is how guys like Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Dean Malenko, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, etc. would have never been known at a national level if it wasn't for WCW.

 

At this point, in terms of politics, I doubt there is much of a difference between current-day WWE and WCW in 1998.

 

I hope we'll see a couple of additional WCW DVD releases. ECW has already had one to talk about the history of the promotion, one to highlight some of the best matches of the original ECW, and one to highlight some of the matches of the new ECW. If ECW can warrant three different DVDs in a short period of time, WCW should atleast warrant two additional DVDs in the near future. Monday Night War was decent, but I'd like a complete history of WCW and some of the best matches in the company's history.

[hyperchord24 0]

At this point, in terms of politics, I doubt there is much of a difference between current-day WWE and WCW in 1998.

I couldn't agree more. And you would think they would learn from this . . .

[razazteca 0]

It would nice if they did a feature on the Rise of the Cruiserweights of WCW maybe even start with the Lightweight Championship that Brian Pillman, Lyger, Johnny Flamingo feuded over then progress to the Cruiserweights with the tournament then Malenko vs Rey, Ultimo Dragon as the man with all of the belts, Jericho working the rudo magic, all the way to the final days with the Cruiserweight Tag Team belts. And lets forget Juvi vs Lyger in the bottle incident.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

It would nice if they did a feature on the Rise of the Cruiserweights of WCW maybe even start with the Lightweight Championship that Brian Pillman, Lyger, Johnny Flamingo feuded over then progress to the Cruiserweights with the tournament then Malenko vs Rey, Ultimo Dragon as the man with all of the belts, Jericho working the rudo magic, all the way to the final days with the Cruiserweight Tag Team belts. And lets forget Juvi vs Lyger in the bottle incident.

 

I'd love to see this as well. Chris Jericho's feud with Dean Malenko, by itself, could make one hell of a DVD.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

They could probably do about 10 volumes of the "Best Matches of WCW" or something like that, chronicling 1985-2001. I think they don't want to acknowledge WCW that much, though.

[razazteca 0]

WWE has produced at least 5 volumes of WCW featured videos 2 of which were Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Brian Pillman, NWO, Monday Night Wars. And several superstar DVDs that had some WCW matches featuring Foley, Road Warriors, Benoit, Guerrero, Mysterio, RVD. There is alot of money to be made off of the WCW library.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

Just look at the reaction Dean Malenko received when he pulled of the Ciclope mask at the end of the battle royal at Slamboree '98. You just don't get that type of crowd reaction for a mid-card feud in this day and age. For all the crap WCW received about their treatment of the younger talent, what they did do was give the guys an opportunity. Tell me the last time there was a mid-card storyline as intricate as the Chris Jericho/Dean Malenko feud in WCW. For you to be a mid-carder and to have any type of storyline in WWE, you needed to be connected to D-Generation X or the Corporation. WCW had Chris Jericho/Dean Malenko throughout '98, Chris Benoit/Diamond Dallas Page/Raven in early '98, and Perry Saturn/Raven in late '98. All mid-card feuds that were given time to develop and because of it were well-received by the fans.

 

I hate when I see what WCW did disrespected by people like Gerald Brisco and Jim Ross. I watched the Four Horsemen DVD today and a couple of comments caught my ear. Jim Ross criticised the NWA for attempting to make Lex Luger into another Hulk Hogan, a mistake Vince McMahon would make just a few years later. I also hate all the comments about if Vince McMahon's mind was behind certain angles or wrestlers, how much better they would have turned out. He sure showed Eric Bischoff how to correctly book Bill Goldberg, Dean Malenko, Diamond Dallas Page, Lance Storm, Raven, the cruiserweights, the nWo, etc. I'd love to see another WCW DVD created and this time make it from a WCW point-of-view, less input from guys like Gerald Brisco and Vince McMahon and more input from Eric Bischoff and guys like Booker T, Chavo Guerrero, Gene Okerlund, Hulk Hogan, Rey Mysterio, Ric Flair, and Scott Hall (who will likely be under contract soon).

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I have no qualms with how WCW is treated. Currently WWE puts many of their matches unedited on their own dvds, employs many who worked there formerly, and currently runs their flagship tv programs on their on demand service. If you don't want your competitors to treat your history unfairly, don't sell the company to them. I don't think WWE is really under any obligation to treat WCW better than they do.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

I have no qualms with how WCW is treated. Currently WWE puts many of their matches unedited on their own dvds, employs many who worked there formerly, and currently runs their flagship tv programs on their on demand service. If you don't want your competitors to treat your history unfairly, don't sell the company to them. I don't think WWE is really under any obligation to treat WCW better than they do.

 

I don't think you can blame WCW for the fact that they were purchased by WWE. AOL/Time Warner essentially rendered the company dead when they cancelled their television show. That was the only roadblock between Eric Bischoff and WCW in late '00.

[Boxer 0]

WWE has produced at least 5 volumes of WCW featured videos 2 of which were Flair, Dusty Rhodes, Brian Pillman, NWO, Monday Night Wars. And several superstar DVDs that had some WCW matches featuring Foley, Road Warriors, Benoit, Guerrero, Mysterio, RVD. There is alot of money to be made off of the WCW library.

 

Pretty much sums up how I feel. I say let the old WCW fans enjoy what happened during those times. There is definately money there for those box sets galore. I wonder if the WWE would ever do a Nitro Boxed Set though? Because there's an actual begining and end to the box set unlike Raw, it could work.

[spman 0]

WCW did more then enough to shit on their own legacy throughout the final 3 years of it's existence. Vince is actually treating them better.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

I think they atleast deserve a promotion-specific DVD similar to the "Rise and Fall of ECW."

 

As for how Vince McMahon treated WCW after he purchased it, I don't see how you can say he treated it better.

 

-He botched their "goodbye" when he walked out too early for his interview on the final Monday Nitro.

-He didn't even allow WCW the opportunity to stand on it's own before he threw ECW into the mix.

-You had WWE wrestlers join WCW, which didn't make any sense.

-WWE defeated WCW cleanly at Survivor Series.

-After that, Vince McMahon systematically released most of the WCW wrestlers instead of less-talented WWE wrestlers because of politics.

 

Can't exactly say he made the most out of what could have been the biggest angle in professional wrestling history. I also question the decision not to atleast attempt a WCW-only television show, it couldn't have been any worse than the current ECW in terms of quality and ratings.

[Cheech Tremendous 0]

Can't exactly say he made the most out of what could have been the biggest angle in professional wrestling history. I also question the decision not to atleast attempt a WCW-only television show, it couldn't have been any worse than the current ECW in terms of quality and ratings.

 

That was the initial plan. The WWF always planned on continuing WCW as its own separate wrestling entity. However, TNN refused to give them any more time on their networks for the WCW product. Furthermore, they wouldn't let them take the show to another competing network or rebrand any of their existing programming to WCW. They were stuck as for as promoting WCW as its own brand.

 

This is part of the reason that the Invasion was such a letdown. They weren't planning on bringing WCW in as a faction. The idea was to keep the brand alive while they worked out the kinks to relaunch. The relaunch never came and they were stuck with a bunch of no-name talent and nothing to do with them. The 24 weren't expected to be big players, they were just cheap filler for their new brand that never came. That's why most of those guys floundered or were released. There was no place for them after the invasion.

[cabbageboy 0]

I don't totally buy that. Hell, I think quite a few of the guys acquired in the WCW buyout are better than the various bums WWE has brought up from developmental in the past 5 years.

[razazteca 0]

I wonder if the WWE would ever do a Nitro Boxed Set though?

I would rather see a set of the Muthaship WCW Saturday Nite hosted by Dusty Rhodes or a complete Clash of Champions.

 

I don't totally buy that. Hell, I think quite a few of the guys acquired in the WCW buyout are better than the various bums WWE has brought up from developmental in the past 5 years.

and the best of the best of that group are dead and the rest were buried with bad gimmicks.

[Dobbs 3K 0]

WCW ruined a lot of their guys by booking them badly, especially the younger guys. I remember thinking back in 2000 that if there had been a WWF vs WCW showdown then, the WCW guys would've been laughed out of the arena because their roster had gotten so lame after the likes of Benoit and Co. had left.

[zappafrank 0]

That was the initial plan. The WWF always planned on continuing WCW as its own separate wrestling entity. However, TNN refused to give them any more time on their networks for the WCW product. Furthermore, they wouldn't let them take the show to another competing network or rebrand any of their existing programming to WCW. They were stuck as for as promoting WCW as its own brand.

 

This is part of the reason that the Invasion was such a letdown. They weren't planning on bringing WCW in as a faction. The idea was to keep the brand alive while they worked out the kinks to relaunch. The relaunch never came and they were stuck with a bunch of no-name talent and nothing to do with them. The 24 weren't expected to be big players, they were just cheap filler for their new brand that never came. That's why most of those guys floundered or were released. There was no place for them after the invasion.

 

 

Don't discount the impact that that initial match of Booker T vs Buff Bagwell had on Vince's perception of how well WCW would do. Bagwell went out there and stunk up the joint, dooming WCW's chances from the outset.

 

As an aside, I always found it humorous that Bagwell can legitmately claim to be a former WWF main eventer, b/c as far as I know, the few matches he had in WWF (what, all 2 or 3 of them?) were the main event.

[zappafrank 0]

I hate when I see what WCW did disrespected by people like Gerald Brisco and Jim Ross.

 

 

I frickin' HATE the way Brisco acts on the MNW DVD. He's go goddamn smug and self-riteous (esp the lines about "livelihood" and "kicking your butts"). If ever there was a case to be made that the best characters are those based on real-life personalities, then "Brisco the VKM Stooge" wins, hands down.

[Steviekick 0]

In the MNW DVD, Brisco strikes me as the type of person that would never admit it, but is such a snake/suck-up that he would have jumped to an office job at WCW if they offered him more money.

[EVIL~! alkeiper 0]

I don't have a low opinion of Gerald Brisco. It's worth mentioning though that the Crockett/McMahon war has its roots in the Briscos selling Georgia and the TBS timeslot to McMahon in 1984/85.

[luke-o 0]

Briscoe gets on my tits in MNW too.

 

As for the Invasion, what pisses me off was that WCW was lead by a bunch of mid card loosers beacuse Vince claimed they "couldn't afford the contracts of Goldberg, Flair, Sting etc". Yeah, like the buy rates of the PPV wouldn't have payed for them twice over.

 

It would have been more interesting too see Hogan. You could have had him on the fence, unsure of which side to fight for.

[cabbageboy 0]

I do get sick of hearing this stuff like "Waaaah, WCW tried to put us out of business! They tried to take food off my family's table!" Personally I don't think the WWF was ever in THAT severe of a hole and they are being drama queens by suggesting it. Even if WCW put the WWF out of business they likely would have hired damn near everyone and paid them more than what they were making in the WWF anyway.

 

Also, the WWF complains about how WCW stole all their guys. Oh really? Hogan had left a year before he showed up in WCW. Savage was an announcer during the last 2 years of his WWF run. Guys like Hall and Nash were jobbed out and considered troublemakers, so did it really hurt the WWF to lose them? Nash was the worst drawing champion they ever had.

 

Besides if the WWF was in trouble in that 1995-96 period it was due to their own suckage, which had nothing to do with WCW. They were the ones who taped 4 hours of TV at a time and let Bischoff rag on taped shows.

 

It's the same thing with WCW. The WWF didn't put them out of business. They put themselves out of business with 2-3 years of awful TV, bad PPVs, lousy wrestling, releasing talented stars, and overspending on various losing ventures.

[JustJoe2k5 0]

I hate how they use the word "raided" when they discuss how WCW acquired their talent, like they entered the ECW locker room and led out guys like Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho at gun-point. Every superstar that left either WWE or ECW for WCW chose to do so and most, if not all, did it for the money.

 

I also hate how talent like Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio complain about how they were used in WCW. WWE had every opportunity to sign guys like them before they joined WCW, but they weren't interested. After they showed what they were capable of in WCW, WWE was suddenly interested in them. They sign with WWE, get the obligatory "see how much better it is here" push, then return to a level equal to where they were at in WCW.

 

I'll also agree with the hate for Gerald Brisco. I didn't like a single comment he made throughout the entire feature and his final words, "I think the Monday Night War taught us that you don't mess with Mr. McMahon, " just sealed it.

[cabbageboy 0]

I wonder how much of Brisco's comments were worked and how much he really meant.

 

Personally I've never blamed Bischoff for signing the ECW guys. To him it would just be like signing some guys off the indy scene and nothing more. In fact some like Eddie and Malenko ended up in WCW due to New Japan's relationship with WCW. Most of the guys WCW took were simply in ECW to get some exposure in US wrestling, either the luchadores or the guys who made a bigger name in Japan (Benoit, Jericho).

[The Buzz 0]

The thing I always liked about WCW other than Sting, Vader, Flair, etc. was the fact they'd bring Japanese talent over like Chono, Muta, Tenzan, Gedo, and Sasaki. Does anyone remember the heel turn Sasaki pulled on Hawk on saturday night where he broke his arm.