How WCW could have been saved......

[JNance]

Got another "brainbuster" (pun intended) for everyone. Given the chance, how could WCW have been saved prior to Vince monopolizing the industry in 2001 ? Just wondering what you guys think.......

[Flair4theGold]

If I go back to the absolute thing that ultimately led to WCW's demise, I always say the day Hogan was hired was the day that WCW died. It became WWF-SE.

That being said, a lot was accomplished during his run with the nWo and such. But Starrcade '97 and the screwed finish to the Sting/Hogan match sealed it. What easily should've been the most important match of the 90's was horribly booked, horribly executed, and spit on any sort of legacy Sting was entitled to as the true franchise of the company. The mistake Bischoff made was ignoring the core audience of the old NWA/WCW and assuming the new generation of fans who thought the nWo was "too sweet" would carry him way into the future. When old school fans saw how Sting, Flair, the Horsemen, and anything dealing with tradition was being phased out, they slowly started leaving the product.

As corny as it sounds, a simple clean win by Sting at Starrcade '97 and a respectable title reign would've gone a long way to keeping fans around longer. Sure, Hogan probably would've gotten it back eventually, but as the true franchise, Sting never got a chance to run as the top guy of the promotion once Hogan showed up.

[bobbyryates]

they shoulda put me in charge long ago.
and don't think i didn't try. i have letters from jim crockett, some other guy, and bill watts rejecting my application as booker. i sent a letter to two of watts' bosses, can't remember their names now, they forwarded them to watts. he wrote me back going off on me more or less telling me i was stupid.
somehow, so many of the ideas i gave them ended up being done well after watts was gone.

[GarvinStomp]

oh, WCW sure as heck did mess up and in the process they did alienate a lot of loyal old school fans and just like WWE catered to the johnny come lately, pop culture bandwaggoners. Anyway, here are my thoughts on what they should've done.....................

1. Given Sting a clean win over Hogan without any controversy at Starrcade '97.

2. Cut the NWO angle off a lot sooner. The NWO should've consisted of Hogan, Giant, Nash, Hall, Dibiase, Syxx, Vincent, and maybe Savage along with Bischoff and that should've been it. The other guys should've been kept out and should've been fighting NWO rather than joining it (i.e. Norton, Traylor, Konnan, Stevie Ray, etc). NWO never should've gone to two factions and that was about when we saw it for too long. WCW would've been better off going in another direction after NWO got too big for its own good.

3. Pushed the younger stars and given them title shots. Stars like Rey Mysterio, Eddy Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Jericho, Raven, Kidman, and others were very rarely if ever, basically never given a chance to shine. You never saw any of those guys and others get world title shots and rarely US title shots. NWO got old, older stars got stale and there was no one else to carry the ship because guys were held down for old bald ass Hogan and a few others.

4. They relied too much on Ted Turner's money instead of developing young talent (see #3)

5. WCW needed real leadership. Bischoff was highly intelligent but NOT A LEADER. Bischoff only cared about those who kissed his ass. And the politickers never listened. Bischoff commanded respect from nobody. And he spit on the tradition of the sport. He basically fired Ric Flair and insulted the man who made the company. Bischoff handled business very poorly after 1997 and this was a big reason for the downfall. And after Bischoff left no one else they brought in knew anything at all.

6. They should've fired Kevin Sullivan's ass a lot sooner. Instead of booking properly he brought his personal problems into it. He wasn't man enough to keep his wife and why should that have been anybody else's problem?

7. WCW should've redefined Hogan's role to something reduced and told his bald ass to like it or find employment somewhere else.

[Baltimore Jack]

You know, for what it's worth (and that's very little), I never give the death of WCW a second thought. WCW Wrestling was so horrible by then, I was glad it happened. You hate seeing what you've loved all your life get so out of whack. It was a mercy killing!

On the other hand, the question I still lose sleep over was how Jim Crockett Promotions could have been saved. That's the company I regret seeing go under. That's been discussed over and over on the KM board, everybody pointing the finger mostly at Dusty and at Jim Crockett for standing by while Dusty did it. It still hurts today though (even though hopes were high at the time that Turner would somehow right the ship. But hopes of that ended pretty quickly when they hired Jim Herd.)

[ssteward]

if they would've budgeted themselves, not overspent, and instead of competing, just keep their own niche audience that they had and keep them happy.

[VR]

I'll chime in here.

First off you have to start out with the initial run in January of 1989. Im not going to piss and moan in regards to the booking, some things I would of done different, some the same.

The first thing you need to do is re-establish your fan base in the Southeast. The company failed to do this with Cleveland, Chicago, New Orleans, and Nashville being the homes of the Flair and Steamboat series. Ft. Bragg, Baltimore, Columbia, Philadelphia, Chattanooga, and Atlanta were great selections. The New York Clash was not!!!

Starting off with the Flair/Steamboat series was a great way of re-directing the fans thoughts on the company. These matches were clean, one on one contests at the top, which introduces new viewers as well as old to the pulse of the kind of company and championship you are delivering. Problem was Flair and Steamboat would work financially much better in the Southeast (Mid-Atlantic)

Clash 5-Raleigh
PPV-Atlanta
Clash 6-Greensboro
PPV-Charlotte

Flair takes the dump from Funk in his hometown, HEAT, riot HEAT seen on PPV nationwide. This sets the summer series off even better then what it got off to. Considering the Flair and Funk series drew the biggest gates and ratings for many years within WCW. If the IQ match is seen as broad as it was from a hotter venue in the re-established Southeast it would come across to the viewer much better than it did, and it was a great match. This Clash match returns to Charlotte where Flair was dumped to begin with, HEAT for the Television viewer.

Your goal in the PPV age is to sell the PPV. It's not to zig-zag across the country filling up houseshows. Keep the houseshows in your re-established base. This way when your programming is aired on tv and PPV your arenas are full and the crowds are loyal and rabid, which is a visual stimulator and comes across solid. IT's not a traveling band anymore, it's about your TV and PPV.

As far as WCW is concerned there are three guys who I feel could of booked the company had they given them the chance and stuck with them.

1. Terry Funk, this man has changed with the times through nearly 5 decades in the sport. He re-invents himself and almost visualizes the changes in the buisness before they happen. He is a true legend and student of the game. Ask Funk why WCW dropped him after the success of 1989, he doesn't know why himself. He has never eally been given the chance. you know why? politics.

2. Jim Cornette, understands the fundamentals, though he may be a little behind the times when it comes to presentation. He can't run WCW as a southern rasslin company. He seems to have the respect of the boys being he's been through the woodshed a few times himself. He's ran the road and worked many different regions. I tend to think that his SM company failed because he didn't reach and roll as much as Heyman did.

3. Eddie Gilbert, RIP, should be placed higher then Cornette but he was unreliable through most of his career. Heyman received a lot of initial ideas from Gilbert. If Gilbert could hang his hat and stay happy I believe he could of directed the show. He was a worker himself and undertood the foundation of the buisness, human senses and emotions. Gilbert was a step ahead, look at his booking in 1987 for Watts.

More to come...

VR

[bobbyryates]

JCP:

nero (crockett) fiddles while rome (JCP) burns (dusty).

dusty killed it while crockett did nothing to stop it. whoops. i was going to play nice on this board....

[b0dyguard]

I agree with NOT bringing in HOGAN...

Plus The Time Warner AOL crap, and anybody else that didn't have crap to do with Wrestling.

MIS-MANAGEMENT!

[ssteward]

Bischoff and Hogan both screwed up the company a lot

[RMF1973]

I have to agree with Baltimore Jack on this one. WCW was dead long before Hogan came. In my opinion they were dead when Flair left in 1991. He was never defeated for the World's Championship when he won the Royal Rumble he became the one and only World Champion in my eyes. The management at the time was so incompetent to treat the greatest Champion of all time this way. When little Jim let Dusty run his company in the ground is when the ship should have been saved. Wrestling was just never the same after that.

[MidKnighterNCVA]

I really cant add anything that hasnt been said a zillion times already. VR has really spelled out a lot of things that I think are right on the money. Then again, he usually does.

I will say, it would've been nice if Jimmy Jr had of embraced the heritage of MACW and realized how significant this company was to many communities in the region. Big cities get all kinds of shows...but medium and small cities and towns do not, which was one of the reasons MACW was so special.

Sometimes its a tough pill for me to swallow when I read how Jimmy Crockett was somewhat ashamed of MACW and didnt always want to be associated with it, publically. To have those feelings about something so popular that your father built and passed on to you...

I dont know... it kinda cuts me deep in more ways than just as a wrestling fan.

MidKnighter

[Baltimore Jack]

Midnighter, I was curious where you've read that Jim Crockett ever said that. It would really surprise me if he ever said he was ashamed. It's pretty clear he wanted to take the company national and attract bigger advertisers, and part of that is looking more big league. But I can't imagine him saying he was ashamed.

I'm sure at some point, he had a sour taste in his mouth about wrestling, but that's different than being ashamed. I know his online bio on his real estate site didn't mention wrestling, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything.

Just curious, hoping it's not really so.

[phinney]

I gotta say when you market some of your legends as over-the-hill "Millionaires" club then something is wrong. Especailly since you Had Billy Kidman feuding with Hogan, and an aging Dusty and Dustin feud with Flair and Jarrett. Thank goodness I really didn't like it then. Icky!

[MidKnighterNCVA]

Jack,

I will try and find that interview where I saw it. Granted it didnt come from Crockett himself, but someone close to MACW. It was a number of years ago.

This wasnt the only source I heard of about Jim Crocket being less than thrilled with the thought of professional wrestling. But in Mike Mooneyham's book Sex Lies and Headlocks pg 65 paragraph 4 "From and early age Jimmy was embarrassed about that part of their lives." (meaning professional wrestling) "When friends would ask, he'd tell them his father made the family money by promoting concerts which was true to an extent."

Granted, maybe I read too much into what Mooneyham and others wrote, but to me it sorta backed what I had read earlier elsewhere that Jim, Jr's heart really wasnt in it. I'll admit this might be a lot of speculation on my part, but things do tend to add up.

Mr Crockett dies, Jim Jr gets the company. George Scott comes in and makes it HOT for a number of years. Round aboutv 1981ish or 82ish, Ole takes over the book... then Dory... a few others here and there... then eventually Dusty, who Jim Jr let have pretty much free reign.

This leads me to think either Jim Crockett, Jr didnt have an aptitude for the business or he was somewhat apathitic about it. Keep in mind, Jim Jr was hardly an unsuccessful businessman.

Again Jack, I will try and find the interview inwhich I first heard about the possibility of this and will forward it to you.

Anyway good hearing from ya... talk to ya soon.

MidKnighter