WWE is arguably the biggest wrestling promotion on the planet, but during the Monday Night Wars, it was nearly overtaken by WCW. World Championship Wrestling was born in 1988, and while it enjoyed respectable success as one of the biggest wrestling brands at the time, there was still a significant gap between them and WWE, with WCW being considered more of a major regional promotion. , popular in the southern United States, while WWE had national and global reach.
This perception would change during the Monday Night Wars. Starting September 4, 1995, WCW’s Monday Nitro would air on TNT at the same time as WWE’s Monday Night Raw would air at the same time on the USA Network. Under the booking and supervision of Eric Bischoff, WCW would almost disband WWE forever after, winning the ratings war for 83 consecutive weeks. Just as there are major business decisions made by Vince McMahon that led to WWE’s success, some of the major decisions that Bischoff made were so good that they almost put WWE out of business.
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Distributing pre-recorded Raw results live on air
Giving audiences reasons to stop channel surfing
Some modern fans will be shocked to learn this Monday Night Raw wasn’t always live as it is now. Much of its run in the ’90s was pre-recorded episodes, something WCW would take full advantage of. Eric Bischoff, weekly whenever possible, spoiled the results of these pre-recorded Raw shows during Monday Nitro to prevent fans from straying from his programming and changing the channel.
However, the plan ultimately backfired when WWE’s product was significantly better than WCW’s. It is well documented that one of the changes to the Monday Night Wars was the night of January 4, 1999, when Mankind defeated The Rock for the WWE Championship. Underestimating how universally loved Mick Foley, WCW pulled this spoiler and actually inspired many viewers to switch to Raw to see Mrs. Baby. It might be easy to criticize WCW for ruining WWE’s programming after seeing it backfire. , but It was a change that worked consistently for WCW…until it didn’t.
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Going live before Raw an hour early
Staying ahead of the competition
One of the smartest decisions WCW would make when facing Raw would be to decide to do so an hour earlier than scheduled. Nitro would also be a three-hour show, while Raw was still two hours long at the time. Not only would Nitro go live sooner, but it would also stay on the air longer.
In an era where either promotion could lose viewers while channel surfing, WCW would get ahead of the game by bringing in audiences an hour early. All WCW needed to do was create enough interest in that first hour to make viewers forget about tuning in to the other show during the second hour. And most of the time, the strategy would work.
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Signing WWE’s “The Big Boys”
Bringing in proven talent and undercutting the competition
WCW’s motto was to be the promotion “Where the Big Boys Play.” It was his signature catchphrase that was a direct jab at WWE, and it was hard for fans not to buy into that narrative. After all, at the time, WWE’s biggest players – its big boys, so to speak – were consistently jumping ship from WWE to WCW. Hulk Hogan, Macho Man Randy Savage, Razor Ramon, Diesel, Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase – the list goes on. Everyone wanted to be where the big guys played – and where the paychecks were bigger and the work days were shorter.
When WWE was considered the end all be all of professional wrestling for so long, it sent a specific message to fans that WWE was no longer the cool place to be. WCW, though, was cool. For wrestlers, the guaranteed money that Ted Turner’s seemingly endless pockets offered them (at a time when WWE did not provide that) and the prospect of long-term contracts with fewer days on the road made WCW the place ideal. As a consequence, WCW was the cool wrestling show for fans to watch.
Talent exchange with Mexico and Japan
Although WWE cooperated with a few other promotions during its early days, most notably Giant Baba’s All Japan Pro Wrestling, this trend ended as soon as Vince McMahon wanted to make his promotion perceived by the public as the “only” wrestling in the world. WCW, on the other hand, actively maintained working relationships with international promotions, such as AAA, CMLL and New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Wrestlers from these international promotions would regularly appear on WCW TV, and vice versa, as many of these promotions would return the favor by allowing WCW talent on their shows. This helped broaden WCW’s horizonsexpanding your reach in different markets and growing your audience in other countries. When the ultimate goal was to grow WWE’s audience, these relationships were vital to WCW’s growth.
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DDP refusing to join the nWo
The people’s first champion
While the former WWE Superstars who jumped ship were instrumental in WCW’s success, that doesn’t mean they neglected their local talent. Among these talents was Diamond Dallas Page. One of Nitro’s most important segments was starring on January 19, 1997. At that point, the nWo was the cool place to be, technically even cooler than the WCW brand itself. People were joining the nWo left and right, but when DDP was given a black and white t-shirt, he refused.
DDP effectively became the People’s Champion (a nickname he had before The Rock) at that moment. It was especially important to see fans supporting a WCW original straight from their Power Plant training facility. Becoming the only man who was basically too cool to join wrestling’s coolest stable made Page look like a million bucks. This instantly made Page a mega-star and launched him into the main event scene.
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Sting’s Reservation After Becoming The Crow
One of the most iconic runs in wrestling history
Eric Bischoff can’t be credited with giving Sting his Crow gimmick (believe it or not, it was Scott Hall’s idea), but he can be credited with the way Sting was booked before and after dressing this new character painted in black and white. During their Surfer Sting era, the nWo had their own imposter character Sting, disguised as if he were real. The fact that fans questioned whether Sting would turn his back on WCW broke Sting’s heart (in kayfabe) and so he left.
When he returned, he returned under this dark new persona with a mission to become a one-man army to destroy the nWo. For an entire year, Sting did not speak into the microphone on WCW television. He appeared menacingly in the rafters, without saying a word, playing mind games with the nWo. When Sting finally returned to wrestling as the savior of WCW, he became the definition of “over.” It was a drastic change for a veteran fighter this helped add longevity to his career and prepare him for the modern era of wrestling.
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Creating the Cruiserweight Division
Revolutionizing Wrestling on TV
Just like in WWE, WCW’s main event scene was filled with hulking giants who were taken to the gills. This was exactly what the average main event looked like at the time on the wrestling circuit, but it made it more difficult for WCW to separate its in-ring wrestling style from that of WWE. Eric Bischoff’s solution? He noticed the fast-paced lucha libre style of the Mexican wrestling scenes, where many American and Canadian talents were also learning the basics.
Eric Bischoff would hire light heavyweight talent such as Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho and several masked luchadores to offer a high-octane break from the heavyweight style, often setting the tone for early evening shows. It also proved to be a huge selling point for WCWoffering something that WWE simply didn’t offer at the time, with fans often enjoying these spectacular matches more than the nWo’s recurring antics. This decision also popularized the lucha libre style in the United States, making it a staple of mainstream wrestling.
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Goldberg’s undefeated streak
Making a local star larger than life
Speaking of big selling points, one of the biggest selling points WCW had around original talent was Bill Goldberg’s undefeated streak. At a time when the nWo was beginning to lose its luster, Goldberg’s presence and long undefeated streak were enough to capture new interest in the WCW product. In due time, Goldberg would effectively overtake the nWo as the main face of the WCW brand and would even become the highest-paid talent on the WCW roster.
It’s true that some try to discount the Goldberg streak because it would be exaggerated in real time, meaning the 173-0 number is a bit inaccurate, but the point is, regardless of the actual number, the streak was a selling point that brought fans into WCW events and away from WWE. The mishandling of Goldberg’s character and the end of his streak are often cited as one of the reasons for WCW’s ultimate defeat in the Monday Night Wars.
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Forming the nWo
The day the wrestling world changed
The first time I really felt like WCW had a chance to become bigger than WWE was when Scott Hall, then known to the public as Razor Ramon, appeared on a random episode of WCW television. Kevin Nash would be coming soon, giving readers the impression that some sort of WWE crossover or invasion was taking place. It was presented in a way that blurred the lines between fact and fictionuntil everything was slowly revealed.
The Outsiders made it clear that they were there on their own with plans to build an army to take control of WCW for themselves. This army would eventually become the nWo, one of the biggest factions in wrestling. The nWo and its success can be considered the main reason why WCW beat WWE in the ratings for 83 weeks.. The injection of realism into a business that, until then, had been based on childish, sometimes goofy, characters marked a monumental change. That being said, the nWo itself wouldn’t have been as successful without one key ingredient…
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Turning Hulk Hogan heel
No more prayers and vitamins
By 1996, Hulkamania had become obsolete, even by WCW standards, to the point where Hogan was booed. With the mystery surrounding Hall and Nash being joined by an elusive third man entering Bash at the Beach in 1996, Hogan was the last man most people would expect in that role. Then, the Leg Drop Heard ‘Round the World was hung around Macho Man’s neck. The crowd was on their feet throwing trash left and right as Hogan cut the first hard-hitting promo of his career in the main event.
The New World Order was upon us and it wasn’t just a fancy name. It was truly a brave new world where WCW captured the attention of all wrestling fans. This change revamped Hogan’s character as Hollywood Hogan, modernizing him for over half a decade, and it was enough to almost put a definitive nail in WWE coffin.