[tigermaskfan23]

What if WCW was smarter financially and basically didn't let there superstars run the behind the scene stuffs in WCW and it still existed to this day how would the last over 10 years or so of Pro Wrestling been like with WCW and WWE still trying to compete with each other and etc?

 

[FingazMc]

Well I don't know how long they could of continued to battle it out before the whole world (Well America Mainly) fell out of love with Pro wrestling tbh.

 

[Chrome]

Wrestling would be infinitely better.

 

[femj88]

There are too many variables to tell.

Are we assuming that the trial in which WWE won the rights to buy the company ended differently and the Bischoff conglomerate ended up owning WCW, and in that case would that have been witth or without a tv deal?
Or that Turner, and more importantly is money, would have been around?

Obviously, a Bischoff controlled WCW without a tv deal or a financial backer wouldn´t have been much of a competitor to WWE, and would probably have been much like ROH.

Same scenario except with a tv deal would have been something like TNA.

In a scenario were Turners money had been around and control of the company wasn´t given to a lawyer anything could have happened really.
Had they put out a bad product, they would still have ended up dead.
If they had managed to turn out a great product, they could have continued competing with WWE.
Heck, they may have even managed to kill WWE.

The reasons WCW failed are many, and a lot more complex than most wrestling fans acknowledge, so it´s really hard to tell what would have happened if one or more of these problems were fixed.
Even if we immagine all of them were handled and the company were running perfectly, it would be impossible to tell what reaction that would warrant from WWE, and how either company would fare in the 2000s when wrestling started to become less popular.

Personally, I would say that considering how many problem areas WCW had, it would have probably been in the spot where TNA is now, considering that a weakened WCW would likely have been struggling to find a new TV deal or sign big-name talent they would probably have ended up on a less popular channel, doing smaller shows, and making less money than the WWE.

 

[Lesnar Turtle]

The way it was going when it died I think it wouldve been at TNA level popularity wise within 18 months.

In the long run? who knows. Wrestling in general went into a slump not long after WCW died.

 

[tigermaskfan23]

I guess for me even though its been over 10 years so WCW has been around I kind of miss it which is why I am enjoying the WCW DVDs WWE has released. Does WWE Classics have alot of the Monday Nitro episodes?

 

[ByTor]

They'd be TNA.

 

[ThirtyYearFan]

I probably would be enjoying wrestling more assuming that they tried not to overextend themselves but stay consistent with good solid booking that appealed to the traditional wrestling fan. Hindsight is 20/20 but trying to emulate the WWE as far as "attitude" instead of just being themselves and coming to the realization the ratings war was over did not help things. Many feel that Time Warner was not fond of wrestling which was the main variable of WCW being sold. If Time Warner would have been supportive and Nitro moved to another night and WCW would have went back to the drawing board and weathered the storm then the state of wrestling might be a whole lot better today.

They were bigger than TNA pre Monday Night Wars so even if they went back to the WCW of the early 1990s they would still be "bigger" than TNA.

 

[Showstopper]

Then, we'd have "The Greatest Night in the history of this Great Sport" every Monday night! [Tony Schiavone smiley goes here]

 

[tigermaskfan23]

For me I was a watcher of WCW and Nitro before I was a watcher of WWE and Monday Night Raw and for me as a young wrestling fan Nitro was the best way to end Monday for me. This is gonna be interesting to say but because I have so far never had the money when WWE was around to go to any of there shows the first and so far last time I was ever at a wrestling event was at Monday Nitro because my parents took me cept the seats were in the nosebleed seats so you really couldnt see the action that well.

 

[MachoMadness1988]

What if AWA was still around?

 

[QWERTYOP]

One or the other would always have died by now. You can't carry on like that forever. One would always have eventually eaten the other.

 

[ThirtyYearFan]

One or the other would always have died by now. You can't carry on like that forever. One would always have eventually eaten the other.

Not really assuming that they are not in direct competition. For example the 1980s had many different wrestling entities. The Big three were the WWE, NWA(various territories) and the AWA. After expansion the WWE was the biggest of them all but for years the other companies kept going. When Turner started WCW after buying out Crockett Promotions then WCW was an institution on cable even if they were losing money. The key is that they had Turner who liked wrestling and supported them. As long as Time Warner had helped WCW then at worst WCW would just have went back to what they were pre Monday Night Wars-a traditional large southern wrestling type organization. It goes back to what I stated earlier in that WCW if they had proper backing could have reverted back to its old early 1990s type structure and kept its original niche of traditional southern and mid western fans. What saddens me is that WCW basically sold its soul to be popular like the 1980s expansion WWE but in the end they went out of business and were sold to Vince.

 

[validreasoning]

Not really assuming that they are not in direct competition.

but they were in direct competition. once wcw put nitro head to head the war started and was only going to finish when one company was dead. even bischoff admitted their goal was putting wwe out of business

 

[ThirtyYearFan]

but they were in direct competition. once wcw put nitro head to head the war started and was only going to finish when one company was dead. even bischoff admitted their goal was putting wwe out of business

I agree. However, if WCW would have swallowed its pride and Time Warner would have backed them like Turner did then they could have reverted back to its traditional pre Monday Night Wars niche with their old traditional Saturday evening show on TBS once again being the flagship program. I will admit that is easier said than done. If we have TNA today then we can once again have had an old style WCW especially with the weak state of the WWE today.

I understand your premise that once WCW stepped into the waters against the WWE it was all or nothing. However, I wish that WCW would have just had had the backing and restructured to live and fight another day to use an old expression and counted their losses.

I admit that I am being a wishful thinker idealist here but I sure do miss the old traditional WCW.

 

[TheLoneShark]

For one thing, the boys would have somewhere else to make a living in this business...

 

[CactusJamie]

Not really assuming that they are not in direct competition. For example the 1980s had many different wrestling entities. The Big three were the WWE, NWA(various territories) and the AWA. After expansion the WWE was the biggest of them all but for years the other companies kept going. When Turner started WCW after buying out Crockett Promotions then WCW was an institution on cable even if they were losing money. The key is that they had Turner who liked wrestling and supported them. As long as Time Warner had helped WCW then at worst WCW would just have went back to what they were pre Monday Night Wars-a traditional large southern wrestling type organization. It goes back to what I stated earlier in that WCW if they had proper backing could have reverted back to its old early 1990s type structure and kept its original niche of traditional southern and mid western fans. What saddens me is that WCW basically sold its soul to be popular like the 1980s expansion WWE but in the end they went out of business and were sold to Vince.

This is pretty much what I had in mind. NWA/WCW wasn't the same product as the WWF. When it tried to be, it failed. It should have stuck with what was working. But that wasn't meant to be because they just weren't happy being in second place. Who would be happy with second place? Well, if Cactus Jack was making six figures, I'm sure things weren't all that bad in the south...

ECW succeeded by NOT trying to be like WCW or WWF. And why did they fail? Poor management is the story. ECW didn't have the business smarts or clout to hang with the billionaires and got squashed.

In both cases, money was the killer, in one form or another. And all I hear is, who doesn't want more money? I can't argue that, but what are you willing to give up to get it? How's the Nitro ratings now, Bischoff??!!

And I suppose the topic was actually about what if the WCW hadn't self destructed. And I think it didn't really go away. TNA has been around pretty much since then, in various forms and names. And things don't seem a whole lot better there than they were in WCW. But oddly enough, they still manage to put on some great matches amidst the clusterfuck, just like WCW... I can almost hear the ghost of Mike Tenay speaking when I watch... oh wait, no, that's actually him.

 

[4LAJF]

Oh man I miss these days

WCW, and this was march april 1999 and it was still on fired, and died slowly late 1999 when Russo came in.

 

[Regnes]

They would have still ultimately lost the Monday Night War, by 2002 they would have diminished significantly, TNA wouldn't exist and WCW would be the equivalent of that. It would be a little awkward with WWE though since they have so much history with WCW, they can't just pretend it doesn't exist like they do with TNA.

 

[QWERTYOP]

They were not in direct competition? K... :fpalm