With WWE and AEW leading the way for a new wrestling war, it reminds fans about the glory days of wrestling. The Monday Night Wars era was arguably the greatest time to be a wrestling fan, with WCW almost eclipsing WWE in terms of being the number one wrestling product in the world.
Sadly for WCW fans, a string of terrible booking decisions and a lack of true leadership was the Atlanta-based promotion's downfall, perfect for Vince McMahon to scoop up the remaining pieces and buy out his competition for a massive tape library.
But what if that never happened, and WCW remained the number-two promotion today? Would we still have alternatives, such as AEW and TNA? It's hard to tell if those companies would even exist, given TNA was branded as the continuation of WCW (ironically, they would suffer from the same problems). With that said, it's unclear if things would look a lot different, or if WCW would suffer from the same problems. Let's try and see how a perfect WCW would look in 2020.
And for starters, no Vince Russo.
18 Southern Feel
WCW has always been the wrestling promotion of the south, ever since its Jim Crockett Promotions days. The words NWA and WCW are synonymous with southern wrestling, so it would only be fitting that places such as Georgia, Florida, Texas, and Tennessee would be familiar settings for its weekly shows and pay-per-view events. That being said, AEW's Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone might have stayed on as commentators if WCW was around.
17 The Cruiserweights Take Flight
205 Live doesn't give true Cruiserweight fans the same type of feels when we thing about how the lighter weight class used to mesmerize the audiences worldwide. WCW would be giving us a strong division, with athletes from AAA and CMLL to round off what made the division so great in the first place - its up and coming luchadores.
16 Co-Promoting With Japan
Speaking of co-promotion, WCW used to have strong ties with NJPW and its former head honco, Antonio Inoki. This brought us Collision In Korea and Tokyo Dome shows involving WCW and NJPW talent. With the latter now tied up with ROH, WCW could turn to the Great Muta's former home, AJPW, or could have worked with the soon-to-be-defunct Wrestle-1, which Muta also runs.
15 Nostalgia Acts
As long as the nostalgia acts aren't forced down our throats, seeing the nWo return every now and then, for something like a Souled Out PPV could be cool. But if Hollywood Hogan and Kevin Nash insist on running the books, it would be a disaster just like it was 20 years ago. But having guys like Diamond Dallas Page, Scott Steiner, and Goldberg come back in some capacity would fly, too.
14 TV Deal With...
Now that FOX and TNT are in the wrestling business, WCW would need something pretty big to survive on mainstream television. The Paramount Network (formerly known as TNN) would be good given the history, but something like NBC, ABC or CBS would be a proper platform to compete with WWE.
13 Competitive Market & House Shows
WCW rarely ran house shows, and their top stars like Goldberg, the Outsiders and Hulk Hogan didn't have to work more than once a week if they didn't want to. In order to maintain a good standing among the competition, WCW would have to run at least two house shows a week, and have some of its top draws in the main events from time to time.
12 Veteran Wrestlers
If you take a guy like James Storm, he's been around the wrestling roads for a long time. Someone like him could be a World Heavyweight Champion in WCW, and feud against some of the younger stars on the come up. WCW would probably house a lot of former TNA talents, and even a tag team like the Briscoes would do well with its crowd.
11 No Vince Russo
WCW would have learned by its mistakes, and no matter who is in charge, they can't hire Vince Russo by any means. For all we know, he could own the promotion, but it wouldn't seem likely given the other WCW alumni that have more ties to the promotion (and ultimately, more money, better ideas and a superior sense of reality).
10 Owned By Eric Bischoff (And His On-Screen Persona)
It would only make sense for Eric Bischoff to own WCW, and he did put in an offer to acquire the company just before it went out of business. While he would have been an on-screen persona for a while, Jeff Jarrett would have been the perfect wrestler to take over that role as an evil GM, and one that could get into the ring from time to time.
9 Clash Of The Champions & Supercards
While the WWE makes a lazy attempt to produce supershows like the Saudi Arabia cards and Starrcade, which are available only on the Network, WCW excelled in bringing a supercard such as Clash Of The Champions on cable television. When their PPV shows came into play, the "Clash" would be produced less frequently, and still involve major storylines with big title matches on the card.
8 Road Wild & Outdoor Shows
Remember the scenes of Sturgis and all the motorcycle gangs in full effect during Road Wild and Hog Wild? Even having a show like Bash At The Beach take place along Venice Beach or something along those lines would be a sight to see, since WCW really was the only promotion that was able to nail the outdoor show like no other.
7 Absolving Impact & The NWA
If Impact still existed, WCW would do best by purchasing it and absolving the roster, with Tessa Blanchard, Eddie Edwards, and Brian Cage all being a part of the crew. The NWA, however, continued to exist after WCW, and when watching Powerrr, you can't help but feel like it really is reminiscent of that old WCW and Jim Crockett Promotions programming we used to see.
6 A Proper Booking Team With Ric Flair
Instead of having the inmates run the asylum, having Ric Flair as the head booker would have done wonders for an aging WCW. It would be interesting to see how Flair would have booked WCW these past two decades. One thing is for sure, he would have Charlotte win the women's title 16 times on WCW television...without a shadow of a doubt.
5 The Return Of Stables
Not only did WCW have the nWo and the nWo Wolfpac, but it also had the Four Horsemen, the LWO, the Flock, the Misfits In Action, 3 Count, and countless other stables when being in a stable meant something. Even if the West Texas Rednecks didn't last, they were pretty entertaining, and if wrestling is missing something nowadays, it's the glorified gangs.
4 B-Shows On Its Own Network?
The biggest question is if WCW would have its own online network. With Nitro and Thunder being its main programs, would Saturday Night, the Power Hour or Worldwide be on syndicated cable on the weekend, or would these shows be online and backed up with a full Network in our digital era? Surely, they'd have to keep up with the times.
3 Emphasis On Secondary Titles
The Intercontinental and United States championships don't really mean anything in WWE. Heck, you can make the claim that the World and Universal ones don't really either. But WCW really put work behind the United States, Television and Cruiserweight titles, and we'd see some compelling matches to say the least. Plus, a United States title match could headline a house show in rural Alabama any day.
2 A True Women's Division
WCW truly lacked a women's division after the mid-1990s, when Medusa and Akira Hokuto were putting on solid matches on the regular. With women such as Charlotte, Tessa Blanchard and even someone like Taya Valkyrie, WCW would have a solid crop of wrestlers on their hands. We could also still have the Nitro Girls if there was a wrestling division.
1 Cody As The Top Star?
Let's say WCW stayed in business - would there be an AEW? The true wrestling alternative could have looked a lot different, with Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley leading the helm of WCW superstars. Given the Rhodes family ties to WCW, Cody would have surely been a WCW guy, and maybe even he could have been the owner, booker, top draw and general CEO if the company still existed.
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