 Logo used between 1988 and 1999 | |
| World Championship Wrestling | |
| Formerly |
|
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Professional wrestling |
| Predecessor | |
| Founded | October 11, 1988; 36 years ago (1988-10-11)[1] |
| Founder | Ted Turner |
| Defunct |
|
| Fate | Shut down and renamed byAOL Time Warner, later merged withTurner Broadcasting System; select assets purchased by theWWF |
| Successor | WWE brands |
| Headquarters | Williams Street Atlanta,Georgia, U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Television programming Internet programming Merchandise |
| Revenue | ~$500 million (1999)[2] |
Number of employees | c. 150 (March 1998)[3] |
| Parent |
|
| Website | WCW Wrestling (archived) WCW on WWE.com |
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an Americanprofessional wrestling promotion founded byTed Turner in 1988, afterTurner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets ofNational Wrestling Alliance (NWA)territoryJim Crockett Promotions (JCP) (which had aired its programming onTBS).
For all of its existence, WCW was one of the two top professional wrestling promotions in the United States alongside theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), at one point surpassing the latter in terms of popularity.[4] After initial success through utilization of established wrestling stars of the 1980s, the company appointedEric Bischoff to executive producer of television in 1993. Under Bischoff's leadership, the company enjoyed a period of mainstream success characterized by a shift to reality-basedstorylines, and notable hirings of former WWF talent.[5] WCW also gained attention for developing a popularcruiserweight division, which showcased an acrobatic, fast-paced,lucha libre-inspired style of wrestling.[6] In 1995, WCW debuted their live flagship television programMonday Nitro, and subsequently developed aratings competition against the flagship program of the WWF,Monday Night Raw, in a period now known as theMonday Night War. From 1996 to 1998, WCW surpassed their rival program in the ratings for 83 consecutive weeks.[7]
Beginning in 1999, WCW endured significant losses in ratings and revenue due to creative missteps and suffered from the fallout from the 2001 merger ofAmerica Online (AOL) and Turner Broadcasting parentTime Warner (later WarnerMedia, now known asWarner Bros. Discovery (WBD)). Soon thereafter, WCW was shut down, and the WWF purchased select WCW assets in 2001, including its video library, intellectual property (including the WCW name and championships), and some wrestler contracts.[8][9] The corporate subsidiary, which was retained to deal with legal obligations and reverted to the Universal Wrestling Corporation name, officially became defunct in 2017.
"World Championship Wrestling" was a television show produced byGeorgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) since 1982.Jim Barnett (who had briefly owned theAustralian promotion of that name) came toAtlanta in the 1970s during an internal struggle for control of GCW.[10] Barnett ultimately became majority owner of the promotion, and began using his previous promotion's name for GCW'sweekly Saturday television program in 1982. Following the events that became known asBlack Saturday, in which GCW and its television program briefly came under the ownership of the WWF, the promotion was eventually purchased by Charlotte, North Carolina–basedJim Crockett Promotions (JCP), the promoter of the Mid-Atlantic territory immediately north of Georgia.
Influential wrestling magazinePro Wrestling Illustrated and its sister publications thereafter habitually referred to JCP as "World Championship Wrestling", "WCW" and most commonly "the World Championship area" and continued to do so until early 1988 when it began referring to the company solely as the NWA, reasoning that "it has become apparent that the NWA and the World Championship area are one and the same."[11][12]
By late 1988, JCP was financially struggling after further territory acquisitions.Ted Turner, the namesake principal owner of Turner Broadcasting System, formed a new subsidiary in October 1988 to acquire most of the assets of JCP. The acquisition was completed on November 2, 1988. While initially the subsidiary was incorporated as the "Universal Wrestling Corporation", following the purchase the decision was made to utilize the familiar "World Championship Wrestling" as the name for the promotion.[13]
In late Summer/early Autumn 1993, a behind-the-scenes dispute between WCW and the NWA Board of Directors over who had the right to authorizeNWA World Heavyweight Championship title changes ultimately resulted in WCW formally withdrawing from the NWA and becoming a standalone wrestling promotion.[13][14]
In February 1993 former commentatorEric Bischoff was appointed as Executive Producer of WCW,[15][16] and by 1994 he had been promoted once again to Senior Vice President,[17] a position which gave Bischoff both creative and financial control of WCW. At this point, the promotion was struggling financially[note 1] and was widely perceived within the wrestling industry to be at a low ebb. To counter this, Bischoff felt that WCW was in need of radical reform; to this end, Bischoff sought to modernise WCW and move its image away from that of a Southern-based "rasslin" company. To achieve this, Bischoff increased WCW's production values, avoided unprofitablehouse shows, increased the number of WCWpay-per-views (PPVs, which were profitable), decreased the number of Southern accents on commentary, and began recruiting top stars away from the World Wrestling Federation (WWF).[19] This led to marquee names such asHulk Hogan and"The Macho Man" Randy Savage joining WCW's ranks and helping to supplement its business.[20][21]
In 1995, during a face-to-face meeting with Ted Turner, Bischoff was able to convince Turner that in order for WCW to become competitive with the WWF, WCW would require an equivalent to WWF's new flagship cable showWWF Raw, which aired on theUSA Network.[22] The meeting led to Turner greenlighting the creation ofWCW Monday Nitro, which would air onTNT on the same day and in the same time slot asRaw.[22] Nitro would debut on September 4, 1995, and directly lead into theMonday Night War era of professional wrestling, in whichWCW Nitro andWWF Raw would fiercely compete to beat each other in theNielson ratings each and every week. The struggle between the two promotions, each one attempting to produce the best television show possible each week, led to an explosion in the popularity of professional wrestling in the United States and in hindsight is widely considered a golden era.
.jpg)
WCW Monday Nitro proved a success for the company, which was immediately able to create a television audience of an equivalent size toWWF Raw. Between September 1995 and May 1996,Nitro andRaw regularly traded victories in the battle for the largest television audience. However, in June 1996,Nitro would begin a streak of 83 constructive victories overRaw, initially sparked by the start of theNew World Order (nWo) storyline.[23][24] The start of the nWoangle saw former WWF talentScott Hall andKevin Nash unexpectedly leave the WWF to come toMonday Nitro on consecutive episodes, and each time insinuate that they were there on behalf of the WWF to fight a proxy war.[13][23] They also alleged that they would soon be joined by a third major figure; this "third man" was eventually revealed to be Hulk Hogan atBash at the Beach 1996. A major advantageWCW Nitro initially had overWWF Raw was that Nitro was live-to-air every week, whileRaw alternated between live episodes and ones taped in advance and aired the following week.Nitro's live atmosphere enhanced segments such as the Hall and Nash debuts as it gave the show an unscripted, "anything can happen at any time" feeling to the television audience.
The start of the nWo angle, which immediately proved immensely popular and intriguing to wrestling fans,[25] was part of a wider shift in the WCW presentation still being pursued by Eric Bischoff. As part of his overhaul of WCW, Bischoff wanted to grow WCW's audience amongst18 to 35-year-olds.[26] To that end, he alongside WCW'sbookerKevin Sullivan[27] began grounding WCW characters and storylines more in reality, utilising real names and darker themes in contrast to the more cartoon-like presentation which had dominated wrestling in the 1980s and early 1990s. An example of this shift in tone was seen in the transformation of top WCW starSting over the course of 1996 following the start of the nWo angle, whose persona shifted from a colorful and cheerful clean-cutface to a dark, depressed and broodingantihero inspired by the 1994 filmThe Crow.[13][28][note 2] Another major innovation occurring concurrently in WCW was the introduction of the Cruiserweight division, which saw the introduction of smaller, more agile and more athletic wrestlers performing fast-paced, high-flying dangerous matches on WCW shows.[29] This added another unique element to WCW shows that helped propel their surging popularity.
The combination of a more adult-orientated presentation, live and unedited television, more reality-based storylines, new top-level talent, new and intriguing characters, and more varied in-ring action saw WCW's fortunes dramatically shift; the company went from struggling financially as late as 1995 to generating $55 million in profit in 1998.[30] December 1997'sStarrcade pay-per-view (PPV) event became the highest-grossing PPV of all time for the company, thanks in large part to the show being billed as the culmination of a year-and-a-half feud between Sting and "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan.[13][31][32]
1996 and 1997 had been banner years for WCW, with profits and popularity soaring. 1998 saw profits continue to rise. However, maintaining the quality of the shows became difficult, particularly after WCW's ownersTime Warner Entertainment (who bought Turner Broadcasting System in 1996) ordered the creation of a second live cable WCW programWCW Thunder, to air on Thursdays onTBS Superstation starting onJanuary 8, 1998,[13][33] as well as ordering a third hour to be added toNitro's runtime.[33] Nonetheless, the creation of new major headline babyface stars such asDiamond Dallas Page andGoldberg were causes for optimism, making the company initially less dependent on the nWo storyline for ratings. However, beginning in Spring 1998, WCW began an angle which saw the nWo split into aheel faction,nWo Hollywood (centered around "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan), and the rival facenWo Wolfpac (consisting of stars such as Kevin Nash, Randy Savage, Sting,Lex Luger andKonnan). Speaking in hindsight in 2023, Eric Bischoff has said the angle was rushed, ill-conceived and had no long-term direction.[34] By this point, many critics began to argue that WCW was now completely overreliant on the nWo storyline and unable to pivot to a new grand concept. Additionally, beginning in the summer of 1998, Bischoff has claimed that Time Warner Entertainment management began to increasingly micromanage WCW and meddle in its presentation. Executives at Time Warner Entertainment began to increasingly advocate that WCW should pivot to more a "family-friendly" orientation, and drop the reforms that turned around the company's fortunes.[25]
Concurrently to WCW beginning to struggle under the weight of its own momentum, the WWF began to turn the corner on its own reforms. Having been caught flatfooted by the total reconfiguration of WCW and the success ofNitro in 1996 and 1997, by 1998 the WWF was building its own momentum. Taking most of the innovations WCW had implemented and reapplying them to their own presentation, WWF began its "Attitude Era". Building around newly emerging stars such asStone Cold Steve Austin andThe Rock, as well as WWF promoterVince McMahon becoming a major on-screen character himself, the WWF finally endedNitro's 83 weeks of ratings victories on April 13, 1998. For the next four months,Nitro andRaw would trade wins until October 26, 1998, whenNitro scored its last-ever ratings victory overRaw. The combined pressure of the WWF seizing back the ratings lead as well as WCW's own internal problem caused tension amongst both the on-screen talent and management.
By November 1998 Kevin Nash had become head booker of WCW, overseeing the creative direction of bothNitro andThunder.[35][36] Nash's tenure was fraught with unpopular decisions, such as the move that saw the popular undefeated streak of WCW Champion Goldberg ended by Nash himself, who then became champion,[37] only for Nash to then lay down for Hollywood Hogan and reform a reunited nWo in the widely panned "Fingerpoke of Doom" angle.[13][38][39][40]
By September 1999, the rapidly declining ratings ofNitro (now half that ofRaw), drastic dropoff in revenue,[30][note 3] and the increasing antagonism between Eric Bischoff and Time Warner executives prompted the head ofTurner Sports,Harvey Schiller, to relieve Bischoff of his position.[13][30][41] Almost immediately Schiller found a duo to replace Bischoff: former head writers forRawVince Russo andEd Ferrera.[13][42] Russo had just weeks prior walked off the job at the WWF after a dispute with Vince McMahon over work hours, and Ed Ferrera soon followed.[42][43] Russo and Ferrera were heralded at the time as the main drivers in the turnaround at WWF over the previous two years with their writing philosophy of "Crash TV",[42] a presentation style that emphasizedSoap opera style storylines, lengthier non-wrestling segments, frequent heel/face turns, an increased amount of female representation on the show, expanded storyline depth, frequent title changes, and a greater focus on developing mid-card talent.[44]
The tenure of Russo and Ferrera at the creative helm of WCW was short-lived; by March 2000 the pair had been suspended from their positions as their provocative and edgy angles caused constant protest from AOL Time Warner executives.AOL andTime Warner had merged in January 2000 and, according to Bischoff and Russo, headquarters′ eagerness to tone down WCW had only grown more intense because of this.[45]
Mounting frustrations amongst the talent resulted in many leaving WCW for the WWF;The Giant andChris Jericho were the first major talent to "jump" to the WWF in 1999, but they were soon followed by many others.Chris Benoit (WCW World Champion at the time),Dean Malenko,Eddie Guerrero andPerry Saturn, who performed together on WCW television as "The Revolution", all collectively walked out of WCW and over to the WWF in January 2000,[46] an incident which resulted in a number of firings amongst WCW management. With shakeups to WCW management becoming more and more frequent, the WCW talent began to lose any sense of leadership or direction, which in turn caused them to form bickering political cliques amongst themselves.
In April 2000, WCW attempted to resolve its creative issues by asking Eric Bischoff to return but work alongside Vince Russo as a duo.[13] The pairing was not cohesive and frequently chafed over the direction of the company. Creatively, the year 2000 saw WCW attempt numerouspublicity stunts to gain traction, such as making actorDavid Arquette (who then had no professional wrestling experience) the WCW World Heavyweight Champion.[47] These moves only served to push traditional wrestling fans away from WCW.[47] Events such as Goldberg forcing WCW World Heavyweight ChampionBret Hart into retirement following a botched move atStarrcade 1999,[48] followed just days later by Goldberg very seriously injuring himself during an angle onThunder,[49][note 4] and Hollywood Hogan seemingly quitting the company live on PPV atBash at the Beach 2000 only seemed to further a sense that the company was spiralling out of control.[13] By July 2000 Bischoff had walked off the job.[50]
In 2000, several potential buyers for WCW were rumored to show interest in the company. Ted Turner, however, did not hold influence overTime Warner before the final merger ofAmerica Online (AOL) and Time Warner in 2001, and most offers were rejected. Eric Bischoff, working with Fusient Media Ventures, made a bid to acquire the company in January 2001.[51] One of the primary backers in the WCW deal backed out after AOL Time Warner refused to allow WCW to continue airing on its networks, leaving Fusient to take that offer off the table while it attempted to bring a new deal around.
In the meantime,Jamie Kellner was handed control over the Turner Broadcasting division in 2000, eventually succeedingTed Turner on March 7, 2001.[52][53][54] Along with AOL Time Warner, Kellner deemed WCW, along withTurner Sports as a whole, to be out of line with its image and saying that it "would not be favorable enough to get the 'right' advertisers to buy airtime" (even thoughThunder was the highest-rated show on TBS at the time). As a result, WCW programming was cancelled onTBS andTNT.[55][56] Another factor in Kellner's decision to cancel all WCW programming was the terms of the company's purchase deal with Fusient, which included giving Fusient control over time slots on TNT and TBS even if those slots did not air WCW programming. WCW's losses were then written off via purchase accounting.[57]
The cancellation of WCW programming left the WWF free to acquire the key assets of WCW through its new subsidiary W. Acquisition Company, which was renamed WCW Inc. afterwards.[8][9] AOL Time Warner sold the rights to the World Championship Wrestling name, branding, championships, and all other remaining assets aside from the talent roster and video library to WWF for $2.5 million in March 2001.[58] Shortly afterwards WWF paid an additional $1.8 million to cover costs to AOL Time Warner in the negotiations, bringing the final tally of WCW's sale to $4.3 million.[59] AOL Time Warner maintained its subsidiary, which reverted to its original legal name of the Universal Wrestling Corporation (UWC), to deal with legal obligations and liabilities not acquired by the WWF. The UWC was listed as a subsidiary of Time Warner until 2017, when it was merged into Turner Broadcasting System.[60][61]
Some of the WCW roster joined the WWF immediately and participated inThe Invasion storyline as part ofThe Alliance which lasted until the end of 2001. However, many of WCW's top stars still had guaranteed contracts with UWC, and WWF chose not to buy out these contracts; most of these wrestlers chose to sit out the length of their contracts rather than breaking them in order to work for the WWF.[62] Most would eventually find their way to WWE, although Sting remained a notable exception for almost a decade and a half.[62] After the Invasion storyline concluded, the WWFdivided their roster intotwo brands. Reports indicate that the WWF considered using the WCW name for one of the brands, but instead introducedRaw andSmackDown!, named after WWF's two top programs. The decision was reportedly influenced by the poor reception of a July 2001 WCW-themed match broadcast onRaw Is War where Booker T defended his WCW Championship against challengerBuff Bagwell.[63][better source needed]
Many other WCW wrestlers moved to theWorld Wrestling All-Stars (WWA),XWF,Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) andRing of Honor, which were all formed after the end of WCW.
.jpg)
.jpg)
In the spring of 1996, WCW introduced its "Cruiserweight division", a segmented portion of the roster featuring smaller, faster and more agile wrestlers that contrasted starkly, both visually and stylistically, with their heavyweight counterparts.[64] Although weight categories were not a new concept in wrestling or even WCW, the WCW Cruiserweight Division was quickly able to form a unique and popular identity by integrating and mixing wrestlers from all around the world and from vastly different wrestling styles, particularly Mexicanluchadores such asRey Misterio Jr.,Psicosis, andJuventud Guerrera, but also Japanese "Super Juniors" such asÚltimo Dragón. North American wrestlers, such asChris Jericho,Eddie Guerrero,Dean Malenko andChris Benoit, who had travelled abroad to Mexico and Japan earlier in their careers and learned the local styles were also able to thrive in the division.[64] The division as a whole became a showcase of a fast-paced, aerial and athletic style of wrestling which became highly influential in both the short and long term in the industry.[64] Eric Bischoff has credited with the division as becoming a defining feature of Monday Nitro that was as fundamental to the late 1990s popularity of WCW as theNew World Order faction:
I think the cruiserweight division and the talent represented therein probably had as much to do with the success of Nitro as the nWo storyline and Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash. I don’t think people recognize it. The talent in that division not only helped Nitro consistently defeat WWE...that talent forced WWE, as much as the nWo, to change the way they were presenting the product.[65]
— Eric Bischoff, speaking in 2020
The Cruiserweight division would continue to directly influence North American wrestling for many decades. Following the acquisition of WCW by WWF/WWE in 2001, WWE revived the Cruiserweight division in 2002 to be a feature of itsSmackdown brand, with theWWE Cruiserweight Championship being deemed by the promotion to be the direct lineal successor to the WCW title. Simultaneously, the newly formedTotal Nonstop Action wrestling promotion heavily featured theirX Division, which did not limit participants by weight but rather by style. Nonetheless, the X-Division was considered a direct spiritual successor to the style developed in the WCW Cruiserweight division and became influential in its own right.[66] WWE and TNA/Impact have continued to experiment and use the Cruiserweight/X-Division concept on and off throughout the 2000s and 2010s and into the 2020s.[64]
WCW was extremely influential within professional wrestling in the 1990s and several elements innovated and introduced by WCW would continue to be used in professional wrestling decades after its closure.
In the immediate aftermath of WWF's purchase of WCW, a significant portion of WCW's active roster was integrated into the WWF. These former WCW talents would be used as part of a "WCW vs WWF" storyline that ran in the WWF throughout 2001. The storyline began proper at theWWF Invasion pay-per-view, which received 775,000 buys and became one of the highest-grossing wrestling pay-per-views of all time.[67] Although WWF was able to recruit many of those on the WCW roster at the time of the purchase, it was unable to secure the use of most of its top-level stars, as they were signed to long-term contracts with AOL-Time Warner rather than WCW.[62] As such, these stars could remain inactive but still continue to be paid, and were not incentivized to join WWF until those contracts expired. It would not be until 2002 onwards that headline WCW stars such as Goldberg orScott Steiner would join the company.[62] At theNo Way Out pay-per-view in February 2002, WWE begantheir own version of the new World order centered around Hogan, Nash and Hall, but later incorporating former WCW stars the Giant (now known as the Big Show) andBooker T as well as WWE talent such asShawn Michaels.
Throughout the early 2000s, many former WCW headliners found it difficult to integrate into WWE, as there continued to be legitimate tensions between the two groups. Former WCW performers such as Diamond Dallas Page (who had accepted a WWF contract in 2001) were perceived to be intentionally poorly used as part of a "victory lap" by WWF.[62] In turn, this dissuaded some WCW stars from trusting WWE; for example, Sting choose to remain out of WWE until 2014,[62] and even when he did join, WWE was criticised using Sting to perform yet another victory lap atWrestleMania 31.[68]
After the closure of WCW, several new professional wrestling promotions would launch featuring former talent associated with WCW. The most prominent of these,Total Nonstop Action (TNA), was founded byJeff Jarrett in 2002 and would attempt to take over WCW's market position in the mid-to-late 2000s using some former WCW stars such as Sting.[62] TNA would also adopt their own version of the Cruiserweight division, branded as theX Division.[69]
Throughout the 2000s, WWE would incorporate elements into their shows formerly associated with WCW. Former WCW Championships such as theWCW World Heavyweight Championship, theWCW United States Championship and theWCW Cruiserweight Championship would be reactivated in WWE, with their WCW lineages acknowledged. The Cruiserweight division concept was introduced to WWE in 2002 and since then has been used intermittently throughout the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s from 2002 onwards. Some WCW mainstays such as Booker T, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho were able to achieve long-term top positions within WWE by the mid to late 2000s. Similarly, promotions such as Total Nonstop Action would also make use of former WCW talent when possible and also continued the legacy of the Cruiserweight with their X-Division.
WWE has since released various WCW documentaries, anthologies, and compilations, includingThe Rise and Fall of WCW,[70] and a three volume series hosted by Diamond Dallas Page calledThe Very Best of WCW Monday Nitro.[71] WCW's library content would be made available with the launch ofWWE Network in 2014.
WWE would revive several of WCW's events, includingGreat American Bash in 2004,Starrcade in 2017 andHalloween Havoc in 2020. WWE also utilized theNight of Champions name and theme used on the last episode ofNitro beginning in 2001, which was later known asClash of Champions, similarly named from WCW'sClash of the Champions. In 2017, WWE held its first annualNXT WarGames event for itsNXT brand, with that's year's event featuring the firstWarGames match since the September 4, 2000, episode ofNitro.
In 2019, new promotionAll Elite Wrestling (AEW) formed a partnership withWarnerMedia to air their flagship show,AEW Dynamite, on TNT, returning professional wrestling to the network for the first time since WCW's closure. On January 5, 2022,Dynamite moved to TNT's sibling network, TBS, marking the first time TBS has aired wrestling programming since the March 21, 2001, episode ofWCW Thunder.[72] TNT has also broadcast AEW's second show,AEW Rampage, that ran from August 13, 2021, until December 27, 2024, and added another AEW show with the June 17, 2023, debut ofAEW Collision.
In 2020, AEW revived WCW'sBash at the Beach series of shows withAEW Bash at the Beach on January 15, 2020. However, a lawsuit by WWE prevented further reuse of that branding.[73][74][75][76] Beginning in 2021, AEW began presenting their own version of WCW'sWarGames match, held at theAEW Blood & Guts event.
Who Killed WCW?, a four-part documentary series based on the downfall of WCW premiered June 6, 2024 onVice TV. The series was presented byDwayne Johnson and featured former WCW personalities includingBill Goldberg,Eric Bischoff,Bret Hart,Booker T,Kevin Nash, amongst others.[77]
| Championship | Notes |
|---|---|
| NWA Western States Heritage Championship | ANational Wrestling Alliance (NWA) championship intended formid-card wrestlers. It was created underJim Crockett Promotions (JCP) in 1987 and used in WCW until it was retired in 1989. |
| NWA World Heavyweight Championship | Theworld title of the NWA. It was defended within WCW from 1988 until 1993. |
| NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship | The title was established under theChicago territory of the NWA in 1955 and defended within WCW from 1988 to 1989. |
| NWA World Tag Team Championship | Theworld tag team title of the NWA. It was defended within WCW from 1992 through 1993. |
| WCW Cruiserweight Championship | The title was established under WCW in 1996 and would continue to be used after WCW's purchase by theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) until March 2008, when it was retired as the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. |
| WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship | The title was established on March 18, 2001, but was retired eight days later after WCW's purchase by the WWF. |
| WCW Light Heavyweight Championship | The title was established in 1991 and was defended until September 1992, when the title was retired. |
| WCW Hardcore Championship | The title was established in 1999 and was defended until January 2001, whenMeng jumped to the WWF as champion. The title was retired later that year due to WCW being bought by the WWF. |
| WCW International World Heavyweight Championship | The secondary world title of WCW. It was established in 1993 under WCW International, a fictitious subsidiary of WCW, and was defended until 1994 when it was unified with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. |
| WCW United States Heavyweight Championship | The second highest ranked title used in WCW. It was established in 1975 under JCP and would continue to be used after WCW's purchase by the WWF until November 2001, when it was unified with theWWF Intercontinental Championship. Under WWE, the title was revived as the WWE United States Championship in 2003. |
| WCW United States Tag Team Championship | The title was established in 1986 under JCP and was defended within WCW until July 1992, when the title was retired. |
| WCW Women's Championship | The title was established under WCW in 1996 and was defended inGaea Japan until 1998 when the title was retired. |
| WCW Women's Cruiserweight Championship | The title was established in 1997 but was retired the following year. |
| WCW World Heavyweight Championship | The primary world title of WCW. It was established in 1991 under WCW and would continue to be used after WCW's purchase by the WWF until December 2001, when it was unified with theWWF Championship atVengeance. TheBig Gold Belt, which represented the championship, continued to appear until April 2002 when the new Undisputed WWF Championship belt was introduced. |
| WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship | The title was established in February 1991 and defended until December 1991, when it was retired. |
| WCW World Tag Team Championship | The world tag team title of WCW. It was established in 1975 under JCP and would continue to be used after WCW's purchase by the WWF until November 2001, when it was unified with theWWF Tag Team Championship. |
| WCW World Television Championship | The title was established in 1974 under JCP and was defended within WCW until April 2000, when the title was retired. |
| Program | Start date | End date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| WCW Pro | January 11, 1958 | September 27, 1998 | Also known asWCW Pro Wrestling,NWA Pro Wrestling, andMid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling |
| WCW Saturday Night | December 25, 1971 | August 19, 2000 | Also known asWCW Saturday Morning,World Championship Wrestling, andGeorgia Championship Wrestling |
| Best of World Championship Wrestling | 1973 | 1987 | Also known asBest of Championship Wrestling |
| WCW WorldWide | 1975 | April 1, 2001 | Also known asWCW World Wide Wrestling,NWA World Wide Wrestling, andWorld Wide Wrestling |
| WCW Clash of the Champions | March 27, 1988 | August 21, 1997 | Also known asNWA Clash of the Champions |
| WCW Main Event | January 21, 1988 | January 3, 1998 | Also known asNWA Main Event |
| WCW Power Hour | June 23, 1989 | March 5, 1994 | Also known asNWA Power Hour |
| WCW All Nighter | March 6, 1994 | January 10, 1995 | |
| WCW Prime | February 6, 1995 | October 14, 1996 | Final episode presented asWCW Wrestling |
| WCW Monday Nitro | September 4, 1995 | March 26, 2001 | |
| WCW Thunder | January 8, 1998 | March 21, 2001 |
WCW had a presence inNASCAR from the mid-1990s to 2000, sponsoring the #29 team in theBusch Grand National Series full-time and the #9Melling Racing team in theWinston Cup Series part-time. In 1996,Kyle Petty's #49 car in the Busch Grand National series was sponsored by the nWo, andGreg Sacks briefly drove a WCW-sponsored for Galaxy Motorsports.[78]
Several WCW video games were made in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, includingWCW Wrestling,WCW SuperBrawl Wrestling,WCW vs. the World,WCW vs. nWo: World Tour,WCW/nWo Revenge andWCW Mayhem.[79]
Monday night is that one time during the week when I can forget that I'm the president of WCW, that I've got 150 employees to worry about.
[Bischoff] constantly trumpeted to anybody who would listen that Hogan and the nWo were the sole reason why WCW had pulled ahead of WWF in the ratings war. He never stopped to think that another reason may have been the hard work of the leprosy-afflicted cruiserweights.
The cruiserweight division had become the most exciting aspect of WCW.
WWE was looking to start a new cruiserweight division like the one that was popular in WCW.
Bolstered by the buzz created by the nWo, WCW beat WWF in the head-to-head cable television ratings for 83 weeks straight, something that would have been unheard of just a year earlier.
WCW ended 1998 by ending the undefeated streak of Bill Goldberg. It was on this date that Goldberg was pinned by Kevin Nash in the main event of Starrcade at the MCI Center in Washington, ending Goldberg's streak and reign as company champion. The decision was heavily criticized, both the decision to end it and the tactic of having Goldberg hit with a cattle prod by Scott Hall to set up the jackknife powerbomb by Nash for the victory.
Sting was a mainstay of WCW when the rival company tangled with the WWF in a 1990s blood feud for ratings. Most of the biggest WCW stars didn't come to WWF when McMahon bought out his rivals in 2001. That's because the biggest stars were under contract with WCW's parent company, AOL/Time-Warner, and McMahon had no interest in paying their exorbitant salaries. Likewise, the wrestlers weren't inclined to quit and lose the remaining money on their contracts so they could join the WWF. Eventually, as their contracts ended, most of WCW's big names turned up for a run in WWE. By then, McMahon owned a functional monopoly on big-time professional wrestling, and performers like Kevin Nash and Ric Flair and Goldberg were happy to make nice with WWE and put their legacies in Vince's powerful hands.
The point of the X-Division was to showcase the high flying, fast-paced style of wrestling which had become very popular due to WCW's cruiserweights in the 1990s which is why I immediately fell in love with the division.
The point of the X-Division was to showcase the high flying, fast-paced style of wrestling which had become very popular due to WCW's cruiserweights in the 1990s
.jpg)
.jpg)
