WCW - World Championship Wrestling (1988-2001)
In the late 1990s, World Championship Wrestling became the first company to not only challenge to World Wrestling Federation, but they were the only company to overtake it. They nearly crushed Vince McMahon's company, but he bounced back and WCW began to fall apart. The story of the company begins with the name, which promoter Jim Barnett used in Australia and brought it back and attached it to Georgia Championship Wrestling in the 1980s when they were expanding out of the South. The following year, McMahon bought out Georgia and took over their successful Saturday Night TV show on Turner Broadcasting Station (TBS). After some interesting turns, Jim Crockett Promotions bought that same timeslot and began using the name with their NWA-affiliated program and created "NWA World Championship Wrestling" out of various NWA companies he had bought out in the 1980s. When Jim Crockett's ship began to sink, Turner Broadcasting bought it up in 1988, hoping to saving the program that had been a popular staple for years. This company, "World Championship Wrestling," was the second largest in the United States and continued their working relationship with the NWA (with various problems) for a while longer. In their early years, WCW had few difference from the Jim Crockett Promotions product that predated it. Its main TV program was dubbed "WCW Saturday Night" and that tradition was the folcrum of the promotion for the next seven years. Leadership varied from Jim Herd, Kip Frye, Bill Watts and booking committees that were chaotic and often inept. In 1995, an ambitious executive named Eric Bischoff worked his way to the top and took WCW in a new direction. He looked at the successful companies in the world and picked what worked and turned the company into the top company in the world relatively quickly. However, his creations soon spun out of control and WCW began struggling. Turner Broadcasting tried to stop the hemorraging through different means, but they often made the problems worse. Soon the company was losing millions upon millions and WCW future looked dismal. Bischoff was trying to organize a group to take over the company, but instead Vince McMahon bought it for a fraction of the cost and effectively killed WCW in 2001.
"WCW Saturday Night Years" (1988-1995)
World Championship Wrestling's flagship show aired on Saturday Nights, a tradition dating back many years on WTBS. The product echoed the past as stars from Mid-Atlantic, GCW and Jim Crockett Promotions were regularly featured. Although that historic link and "old school" style kept many fans with WCW, management constantly tried to incorpotate ideas that seemed WWF-like. It led to an instability that prevented a company with enormous funding from truly challenging the WWF. Finally, a single person, Eric Bischoff, took over and put together the pieces to make WCW work.
Avalanche (John Tenta)
"The Juicer" Art Barr
Big Josh (Matt Borne)
Black Blood (Billy Jack Haynes)
Blacktop Bully (Barry Darsow)
Nick Bockwinkel [Agent/Personality]
Bunkhouse Buck (Jimmy Golden)
"Mean" Mark Callous (The Undertaker)
Diamond Studd (Scott Hall)
Dynamic Dudes (Shane Douglas & Johnny Ace)
The Fantastics (Tommy Rogers & Bobby Fulton)
Greg Gagne [Road Agent]
"The Lariat" Stan Hansen
Tim Horner
Magnum T.A. [Announcer]
Wahoo McDaniel [Agent]
Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags)
Col. Robert Parker (Robert Fuller)
Rip Rogers
Sir William (Bill Dundee) [Manager]
Sister Sherri (Sherri Martel)
Super Invader (Hercules)
"WCW Monday Nitro Years" (1995-2001)
In 1995, Eric Bischoff's fabricated background might have impressed some executives at Turner Broadcasting, but he needed to deliver the goods. His first creation was "WCW Monday Nitro," a one-hour show that would run opposite to "WWF Monday Night Raw." This was the first stone cast in the "Monday Night Wars." His second creation was the New World Order, a faux invasion copied from the UWFI's invasion of New Japan. This caused a stir as acknowledging the competition had long been taboo for both companies. His third success was in using his alliances with companies and wrestlers in Japan and Mexico to produce a "cruiserweight" division. WCW was now a three-headed monster the WWF could not compete with. WCW had a bigger and better show, they had the hottest angle that fands tuned in to watch and they had the action that kept the fans glued. WCW soon took over the ratings and a game of oneupsmanship changed the course of pro-wrestling as it grew larger and more profitable than it had ever been before. Then this monster grew out of control and its hideous existence became the scourage of the pro-wrestling world. Turner Broadcasting was now part of the "AOL Time Warner" conglomerate, who wanted no part of this low-brow, money-consuming organization and decided to cancelled WCW programming in 2001 as Eric Bischoff sought backers to buy the company's assets. That deal never came through as Vince McMahon entered and bought the company at a cheap price, signed some of the cheaper talent and produced a pathetic invasion angle of his own. The death of WCW in 2001 can be blamed on many people and circumstances, but hopefully the highlights of that time will not be forgotten and its legacy forever tarnished by its agonizing demise.
Mike Awesome
Bunkhouse Buck (Jimmy Golden)
Hardcore Hak (The Sandman)
Jimmy Hart [Manager/Agent]
Bobby "The Brain" Heenan [Announcer]
"Man of 1000 Holds" Dean Malenko
Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs & Jerry Sags)
"Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff [Trainer]
Col. Robert Parker (Robert Fuller)
The Public Enemy (Rocco Rock & Johnny Grunge)
Dusty Rhodes [Announcer]
"Ravishing" Rick Rude [Manager]
Sister Sherri (Sherri Martel)
Louie Spicolli
"Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner
Terry Taylor [Talent Relations]
Ray Traylor (Big Bubba)
V.K. Wallstreet (Mike Rotundo)
Larry Zbyszko [Announcer]