Those were good times to be a wrestling fan. And I mean a wrestling fan. It was still sports entertainment, but there were very few long running interview segments, there were no backstage segments, and the common segment was a "superstar" defeating a "talent enhancer".a jobber. Stars in WCW included Vader, Ric Flair, Sting, Johnny B. Badd, Ricky Steamboat, Dustin Rhodes, and Stunning Steve Austin. WWF stars included Bret Hart, Yokozuna, Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon, The Undertaker, Tatanka, and Lex Luger. Yes, Luger and Scott Hall (Razor) were in the WWF, and Austin and Vader were in WCW. Times were different then.
I would be able to keep up with both WWF and WCW happenings, simply by watching a few hours of TV each week, and without having to flip back and forth during commercials. It was great. Vader vs. Flair in WCW, Austin vs. Steamboat in WCW, Shawn and Razor in the WWF, Bret and Yokozuna in the WWF, some classic matchups took place during this time period.
Then, in 1995, everything changed real fast. WCW broadcast it's first edition of Monday Nitro. Lex Luger had jumped back to WCW to debut on that show. Hogan had joined the WCW team. Randy Savage had joined the WCW team. Others were soon to follow. Meanwhile, Austin had jumped to the WWF, Vader, Mick Foley, Goldust, and Marc Mero all soon joined the WWF roster. But midway through 1996, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash (Razor Ramon and Diesel respectively) jumped from the top rung of the WWF roster over to WCW. And in late May/early June 1996, the nWo had it's beginnings. They called themselves the Outsiders, and they had EVERYONE talking. I found myself watching the replay of WCW Nitro on Monday Nights, because I had flipped during a commercial of RAW and decided it was something I had to watch. WCW was captivating. I mean, things had changed so fast, people were jumping ship left and right. Mostly from the WWF to WCW. What made WCW interesting from 1996-1998 or so? It had something to do with the nWo storyline, a big something, but hey, what would that storyline have been without WWF stars? NOTHING! Bischoff had basically made people believe that the WWF was trying to invade WCW in the form of the nWo. Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, Hulk Hogan, Syxx (X-Pac), Curt Henning (Mr. Perfect), etc, etc. The WCW had taken established stars from the WWF, guys who had been top stars, household names almost, and put them into the top spots of WCW, and marketed them as if nothing had changed from their WWF days.
Hall, Nash, Hogan, Sean Waltman, Curt Henning, Randy Savage, Lex Luger, Bret Hart, Ultimate Warrior, Ted DiBiase, and more all jumped from the WWF to the WCW in the mid 90s. In the meantime though, the WWF had picked up a few guys who WCW had deemed as not having the right stuff to be big stars. Guys like Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Triple H, even the Undertaker had all competed in WCW earlier in their careers, only to be jobbed there and told they had no future as big stars. More recently guys like the Bossman, William Regal, Big Show, Benoit, Jericho, Guerrero, Malenko, Saturn, X-Pac, Molly Holly, and Raven have all left the WCW to join the WWF roster. In the case of X-Pac, Bossman, and Regal, they all had jumped from the WWF to WCW, and then back again, realizing their mistake. Haku, known as Meng in WCW, just barely made the cut, joining the WWF a few short months before the sale to WWFE.
My point? The point is that without the WWF created stars they hired away, WCW would have never been at the top of the mountain like they were for a couple years. Booker T, Sting, Ric Flair, DDP, and Goldberg are the only guys I can think of that were stars in WCW but not in the WWF in recent years.
So what does WCW, World Championship Wrestling, mean these days? WCW as it is today is a joke. It's a disappointment, it's disgusting, and it's disrespectful. It's disrespectful to guys like Flair or Arn Anderson who helped to build WCW into a respectable organization, only to see it destroyed by inner politics and shitty booking in the last two years or so. It disgusting because although the WWF could potentially turn it around, or at least make a good run of the invasion angle, it will be all uphill because of the axe job the former management did to WCW. It's a disappointment, because I still fondly remember the good 'ol days of the Clash of the Champions shows, where real professional wrestling was showcased in matches like Sting vs. Ric Flair. It's a joke because WCW was once a respectable, proud organization, that although I was never their biggest fan throughout their wars with the WWF, I could always find some enjoyment from their shows, until the last couple years.
If WWFE wants this invasion and re-launch to work well and get over well, they're going to have to spend some money in the process. If someone is buying a ticket to see a WWF show, chances are they are not a WCW fan, they are a WWF fan. Besides that, if we had wanted to see WCW matches, wouldn't the old WCW shows have gotten better ratings? Or at least sold more tickets? The simple fact of the matter is to have a successful company, you have to have big stars, selling points, whatever you want to call it. The WWF needs guys like Sting, Goldberg, Flair, and although they've got these two guys, DDP and Booker T, they need those guys to use as the faces of WCW, to make it seem more "WCWish" to make it more believable, to make WCW strong. Buff Bagwell is not a main eventer. Even guys like Scott Steiner and Jeff Jarrett would help out right now. At least WWF fans would recognize the WCW main event guys, and respond halfway well to them. You can't stick a mid-card old WCW match onto a WWF show and expect a good response. It just doesn't work.
Something has to be done quick, not only to save the WCW from total self-destruction, but to save the WWF from further embarrassment. Does anyone remember the XFL?
Until next time.
