By Thomas Sellers Jr.
For almost 25 years I’ve heard many wrestling fans, new and old, just talk so poorly about the legacy of WCW.
It was March 26, 2001 World Championship Wrestling ceased operation when WWE owner Vince McMahon purchased his competition.
Since that day, North American professional wrestling has mostly been a monopoly belonging to the WWE. While we do enjoy some well-known promotions today like TNA and AEW, most grapplers still seek a shot at being in the WWE.
As an old-school wrasslin’ fan, I have a deep love for WCW and its legacy. I am here today to give some love to the greatest wrestling organization of my lifetime.
10. Hulk Hogan’s Second Life
Back in 1994 Hulk Hogan signed with the competition after an iconic run in the WWF in the 1980s. Hogan built a worldwide brand in the WWF helping to popularize WrestleMania.
Then Hogan’s run in the WWF, now WWE, came to an end. Seeking a movie career, Hogan happened to be just a few feet away from the new home WCW in Universal Studios, Orlando.
WCW executive Eric Bischoff went to the owner Ted Turner and said he needed Hogan to become the No. 1 wrestling company in the world.
Bischoff was correct. Landing the wrestling legend eventually led to WCW being the best in the world a few years later. All Hogan had to do was reinvent himself as ‘Hollywood’ Hogan and flip the industry upside down. Hogan also paved the way for other free agents to come down to Atlanta to join WCW for guaranteed contracts and fewer working dates.
9. How to use celebrities in the ring
Back in the 1980s, the WWF used the ‘Rock n’ Wrestling Connection’ sparked by singer Cyndi Lauper to build a mainstream platform.
WCW was not the first to put well-known figures from outside of the ring into the squared-circle.
WCW followed the WWE game plan of trying to use famous names from other worlds to bring in new viewers. The twist WCW did was actually use the celebrities for the match. Another bonus was placing then NBA All-Stars Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman in a match just weeks after they played in the 1998 NBA finals.
Bash at the Beach 1998 had the second best WCW PPV buy rate ever because those two names were actually making headlines at the time. To protect the duo, Diamond Dallas Page tagged with Malone and Hollywood Hogan worked alongside Rodman. Fast forward to today, we have Logan Paul and Pat McAfee.
8. Ron Simmons’ Historic Title Win
Back on August 2, 1992, Ron Simmons made modern wrestling history by becoming the first recognized black World Heavyweight Champion when he beat Big Van Vader.
When the locker room rushed to celebrate with Simmons, the moment felt huge and important. Simmons holding the gold represented a new era in the sport, wrestlers of various ethnic backgrounds would be given a shot to run with the top prize.
WCW deserves credit for booking the moment perfectly by having Simmons dethrone the dominant Vader. Before WCW closed, Booker T held the big belt multiple times and was the final champion. Over at WWE, The Rock became a universal superstar. Something his dad or granddad couldn’t accomplish.
7. Authority Figure Heel
The storyline that helped WWE defeat WCW in the Monday Night Wars was Vince McMahon vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin. The public fell in love with the soap opera and what it represented. It was like the common man vs. the elite, a worker finally getting to beat up their boss.
Before there was a McMahon, there was Eric Bischoff. He revealed himself as the mastermind behind the New World Order. Then Bischoff inserted himself in matches, behind the scenes matters and in open storylines.
All of Bischoff’s antics worked at first giving WCW the ratings win over the WWE for 83 straight weeks.
WCW was the only American wrestling company that could say it beat. The WWE after Vince McMahon Jr. took over.
6. Starrcade
Before there was WrestleMania, there was Starrcade. Starrcade ’83: A Flare for the Gold was the first of NWA/WCA’s biggest pay-per-view. The National Wrestling Alliance super event for Jim Crockett Promotions grew to the milestone of Starrcade ’97 with Hogan vs. Sting.
The first Starrcade took place November 24, 1983, at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex and was broadcast on closed-circuit television around the Southern United States.The eight-match card concluded with the main event of Ric Flair vs. Harley Race for the World Championship. Flair won the steel cage match to take the torch.
The granddaddy of them all started a trend of having a pay-per-view event every month in professional wrestling. So the special nature of the showcase event has long disappeared and that’s why this impactful event ranks so low.
5. Goldberg
In the past quarter of a century, the notion is that WCW didn’t create its own superstars. From Diamond Dallas Page to Ric Flair, there are plenty of legends you associate with the former company in Atlanta before you think of the WWE.
The best and last example of that is Goldberg. He debuted on September 22, 1997 to no fanfare.
There were no hype videos or pre-made packages about him. He was a powerful mystery.
HIs natural brute force, stage presence and unbeaten streak made Goldberg a phenomenon. The 173-0 streak and him holding “The Big Gold Belt” was the picture perfect image for the sport at the time.
4. Sting’s Homegrown Success
Before there was Bill Goldberg, WCW helped create the superstardom of the man called Sting.
After going through the territories with tag partner the Ultimate Warrior, Sting took his talents to WCW.
Sting became the perfect opponent for the champion Ric Flair. Flair needed another contrasting figure to elevate his status.
Sting was easy to love by children with his colorful gear. His athleticism and power made him a favorite by pure wrestling fans. Then he was easy on the eyes for the women.
Sting was able to have a 5-star match with Flair, Vader, Macho Man, DDP, Booker T and others.
As times changed, Sting was able to adapt and become ‘Crow’ Sting. He had the ‘It’ factor you can’t teach or coach. Sting grew into an icon by never leaving WCW and being able to adapt on the fly.
3. New World Order
If this storyline didn’t get out of control, have six different factions or was reborn in the WWE, it could have been No. 1. When the NWO formed in 1996 with Hollywood Hogan turning heel, it was the biggest shocker in wrestling history.
Then by 1999, almost every talented wrestler at WCW went to the dark side of joining the NWO.
Prior to the birth of the NWO, the WWF vs. WCW battle was traditional with WWF being cartoonish. WCW was more realistic. Bischoff took advantage of that contrast when he signed former WWF talent Scott Hall and Kevin Nash.
The two men debuted in WCW in ambitious ways, confusing viewers at home. Are we watching a WWF takeover?
The origin of the NWO was must-see TV from late 1996 to all of 1997.
It was the best initial storyline in wrestling history. The payoff sucked with the group getting too large for it’s own good.
2. Innovative Cruiserweight Division
Tune into WWE, AEW or TNA today and you’ll see a style of wrestling that took off in WCW 30 years ago.
Eric Bischoff deserves credit for taking a risk with his cruiserweight division. By the mid 1990s, wrestling was two large monsters standing in the middle of the ring hugging and slapping each other.
It was risky giving so much time to the cruiserweights after the lightweight division failed with the likes of Brian Pillman and Jushin Liger.
All the smaller wrestlers needed were an opportunity, more competition and the luchlaba influence.
The likes of Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Alex Wright, Eddie Guererro and Dean Malenko led the way to a golden era of cruiserweight wrestling.
The innovative matches were pure adrenaline for us viewers. We saw moves you have never seen before. The wrestlers were more daring and creative.
Go back and watch a WCW Cruiserweight match today, they still hold up tremendously.
1. Nitro Live
The best viewership era of wrestling was due in large part to the Monday Night Wars. WWE was forced to go from a pre-taped format to a live version because WCW Monday Nitro on TNT was broadcasted in real time.
The energy felt different and that element of unpredictability was pure awesomeness. The time would run over sometimes giving the WCW that realism you needed to believe what you were watching was dangerous.
Nitro gave the blueprint on how to give a boost to wrestling in real time. Now most major professional wrestling companies have a live format show and try to avoid the taped style that dominated the 1980s.
See, WCW wasn’t all bad. There were some great contributions from where ‘the big boys played.’
THOMAS SELLERS JR. is the editor of The Millington Star and both the sports editor and a weekly personal columnist for West 10 Media/Legacy Media. Contact him by phone at (901) 433-9138, by fax to (901) 529-7687 and by email to thomas@legacy-media.net
