wcw 2001:keep your freinds close,but your enemies closer

[oldschoolfan]

<b>When it comes to studying the history of wrestling, analyzing how World Championship Wrestling (WCW) failed is equally as important as analyzing how it rose to early dominance in the Monday Night War. Under the leadership of Eric Bischoff, WCW went from distant second place competitor to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) to total domination in the world of professional wrestling. Things were so going so well that Eric Bischoff predicted that the WWF had less than a year before it would go bankrupt. Bischoff was no braggadocio, WCW was close to putting the last nail in the WWF’s coffin but incredibly, defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory.

 

During the Rock-n-Wrestling Era, WCW offered wrestling fans an alternative to the cartoon styling of Hulk Hogan in the WWF. As Vince McMahon brought the WWF into the national spotlight and put many of his competitors out of business, WCW was for all intents and purposes, the NWA’s last stand against the WWF (there were other promotions such as Mid-South but the only true national challenger to Vince was WCW). When Jim Crockett’s outrageous spending brought WCW close to bankruptcy, Ted Turner bought the organization and kept wrestling on his Super station TBS network. In Turner’s mind, wrestling was a big part of the Superstition’s success and it held a special place in his heart.

 

Rudyard Kipling once wrote, "They copied all that they could follow but they could not copy my mind, and I left them sweating and stealing and a year and a half behind." Such was the case with WCW. During the early 90’s they began to copy the cartoonish aspects of the WWF, bringing in characters like Norman the Lunatic, the York Foundation, and the Ding Dongs. This managed to alienate many of their long-time fans without attracting any new ones.

 

Enter Eric Bischoff. Bischoff had left the dying promotion the American Wrestling Association (AWA) only to find himself working for a promotion that seemed determined to outdo the mistakes made by the AWA. As an announcer, Bischoff witnessed WCW dying the same painful death that the AWA had. A man of ambition and vision, Bischoff seized an opportunity when it came to him and found himself in control of WCW. At first things weren't so successful but Bischoff had a plan. With Turner’s financial backing, Bischoff acquired the services of Hulk Hogan and began the dramatic turnaround that would make WCW a smashing success.

 

By 1995, Bischoff had Hogan as well as several WWF stars such as the Honkey Tonk Man, “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan, and “Macho Man” Randy Savage on the WCW payroll. In many respects, WCW and WWF had traded places with WCW featuring cartoonish characters while the WWF tried to rebrand itself as the New Generation by focusing on work rate oriented wrestlers such as Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. Ted Turner continued to watch Bischoff’s accomplishments but wondered why WCW hadn’t earned a clear victory in the wrasslin’ wars. After all, WCW had the star power of former WWF stars like Hogan and Savage. When asked why WCW was not dominating the wrestling industry, Bischoff replied that he needed a prime-time show to compete with the WWF (which had had a long-running time slot on the USA Network on Monday nights). To his amazement, Bischoff was told that he now had two hours of prime-time to air a wrestling show (Bischoff would cautiously keep his prime-time show to just one hour however).

 

September 4, 1995 marked the debut of Monday Night Nitro and the beginning of the Monday Night War. Backed by the financial power of Ted Turner, Bischoff intensified his campaign against the WWF. WWF superstars like Lex Lugar and Madusa Micelli were signed out from under Vince’s noses only to make surprise appearances on the live Nitro show. To make matters worse, Bischoff took advantage of the fact that Monday Night RAW was frequently taped by giving away the results of RAW matches on Nitro. During the 1980’s, the WWF demolished the territories by buying out their top stars and using aggressive business tactics to dismantle his competition. In the immortal words of the Roman scholar Marcus Tendentious Varro “What is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander”. Vince McMahon may not have liked it but the WWF was now the victim of many of the same tactics he had employed to destroy his competition

 

By 1996, WCW was in the black for the first time in its history. Ted Turner was delighted. While WCW had always provided good ratings for Turner’s networks, it hadn’t turned a profit in its entire history. Buoyed by Nitro’s success, Bischoff expanded Nitro to two hours and launched another salvo in the Monday Night Wars by adding former WWF wrestler Scott Hall to WCW’s lineup. Hall was joined by another WWF superstar Kevin Nash and a storyline began wherein WWF superstars were apparently invading WCW. Things heated up even further when Hall and Nash challenged WCW’s three top stars Randy Savage, Sting, and Lex Lugar (Hulk Hogan was away filming a movie) to a six-man match at WCW’s Bash at the Beach pay-per-view. Fans were anxious to see if the WWF stars could beat the WCW’s best and equally anxious to learn who Hall and Nash’s mystery partner would be. In the end, the wrestling world was stunned as Hulk Hogan turned heel and joined Hall and Nash as part of a new wrestling organization known as the New World Order.

 

The introduction of the New World Order in 1996 began a period of unmatched prosperity in WCW. WCW could do no wrong as it sold out arena after arena, broke television ratings records, and enjoyed high buy rates for all of its pay-per-views. Under the guidance of Eric Bischoff , WCW seemed unstoppable. WCW was poised to put the WWF out of business and become the dominant force in professional wrestling.

 

And yet WCW failed to win the Monday Night War and eventually went out of business in 2001. Through an incredible series of bad business decisions, poor planning, and hubris, the company lost its ground to the WWF,but what if the unthinkable would have happend? We all know what really happend, but lets try to imagine what if it would have went down a little different.

[oldschoolfan]

date}{March,27 2001

Location}{WCW Headquarters at the CNN Center in Atlanta,Georgia

 

Just 24 hours after WCW Nitro possibly just aired it's last show,Eric Bischoff has called an emergency meeting.What few executives and higher ups showed up were starting to ask questions because,like everyone else they thought and believed that WCW was over and was being sold and would be no more.

 

 

Bischoff:: If I could have everyone's attention please. I know each and everyone of you are wandering why you are here? Lets just say the past 24 hours has been crazy. Yes ,,last night was the end of WCW and yes the rumors are true ,WCW has been bought and sold. I was able to buy WCW ,before Vince McMahon was able to get his hands on it.

 

::A few smiles and claps start to happen,but with a blink of an eye.The smiles drop and the looks of excitement turn to WTF looks as Bischoff drops the bomb and I am not talking about passing gas::

 

 

Biscoff:: I have decided to turn around and sell WCW. I will still stay on as an executive,but I have put my trust and faith in the new owner so please let me introduce you to the new owner of WCW Shane McMahon.

 

::As Shane enters the boardroom it is so quiet you could hear a pen drop::

 

Shane:: Hello,I would like to introduce myself. I am Shane McMahon and I would like to thank Eric Bischoff for putting his trust in me.I know some of you are probably thinking why would Bischoff save a company that he help create and sell it to the enemy? Well let me explain. You see When I found out that my father was going to be leaving the power of the WWF to my sister Stephanie and new brother in law Paul Michael Levesque or some of you may know him better as Triple H. So I thought what better way to get even with him,so I made a deal with the devil ....the WWF's number one enemy Eric Bishoff and WCW. I promise to take this company to the top and not throw some cartoonish puke storylines down your throat. The old WCW is gone but the rebirth of the new WCW is gonna be happening real soon. I look forward to working with each of you and making this company a success.

::As everyone leaves the room Shane and Eric stay behind to discuss more business::

[oldschoolfan]

hope back story is ok. I know it probably has been used a million times,but kind of wanted to keep it somewhat real,but interested. Roster and other news to be up soon. Realy looking foward to see what I can do with this,so please bare with me and as always comments,good or bad are always welcomed.

[blue collar fan]

<p>You're not doing the '85 NWA???!!! I was really looking forward to that one as that was my favorite promotion of all-time! D-ammit! <img alt="" data-src="//content.invisioncic.com/g322608/emoticons/frown.png.e6b571745a30fe6a6f2e918994141a47.png" src="<___base_url___>/applications/core/interface/js/spacer.png" /></p><p> </p><p>

But best of luck with this one.</p>