Original ECW or WCW - Which would you have kept around?

[psychokiller]

If you had the chance to keep one of the companies around which would you have chosen to stay in business?

[Mike Bockwinkel]

If what Heyman described as his new direction with ECW was true, then that would have been cool to see.

An Eric Bischoff/ Fusient WCW might have also been interesting.

[chazraps]

ECW

I have little faith what an alleged rebooted WCW would have done, especially with the inevitable speedbump of 9/11 a few months later.

[Gerard Gerard]

WCW.

Having a second, big-time and corporate national company, even as its most crippled, that can keep the forerunner in check is technically better than an ambitious start-up, however creatively vibrant it happens to be.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

WCW, at least they wrestlers would be paid in that situation.

[Big Bad Kahuna]

Heyman was very burnt out in 2000 already, don't think ECW would have taken the right direction with him on top. Sapolsky however, he would have transformed it to ROH Light in 2001/2002 I guess

nevertheless, money could be made with WCW taking a different direction (get rid of old guys, push the young exciting talent)

[ICBM]

WCW and it ain't close. ECW had lost and could have kept losing talent to WWE and if they were around, wcw as well. Heyman would have still been approached by WWE to come in bc Lawler still would have left. Without Paul ecw building replacement stars would be tough.

WCW had sixty yrs of history to fall back on. That is a loyal fanbase and they owned the south no matter how bad the show got. As A Competitor to WWF they were done for yrs. Even with Bischoff it would have taken yrs to get close again.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

WCW by a distance so large it would take mankind decades and billions of dollar to traverse. WCW was a genuine national promotion and rival to the WWF, ECW was Smokey mountain with the WWF's full backing and a TNN deal.

ECW is the Firefly of wrestling promotions, something that was 'so awesome' everyone loved it back in the day, just not enough to watch it or even to spend enough money on their shows, videos or merchandise to keep the thing afloat. Even if they found a Dixie Carter to keep it going, they didn't have a fraction of the merchandise deals WCW did, the international exposure, they would have a hard time getting another TV deal after their TNN departure and they would now be flailing their arms, trying to hold back a tide of concussion suits from people genius Paul convinced to waffle oneanother with weapons with no regard for their long term wellbeing.

[Viking Hall]

A few years ago I would have said ECW without hesitating but nowadays it would be WCW by a long way. It's been said many times that ECW was going to step away from its hardcore roots and focus on a more hybrid style of wrestling which sounds great, but in reality would have just been what RoH eventually became, a decent alternative for the hardcore fan but something that was never going to compete for that mainstream audience.

WCW on the other hand was a wounded giant that with the right care could have been a viable contender again in a reasonable timeframe. By the time the doors closed a lot of the troublemakers had all but left and what remained was a talented core of wrestlers. A bit of investment in some future stars and a few well known free agents (Van Dam etc) and I have no doubt that they'd have been chasing down WWE again in no time.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Mar 2, 2016 7:46:32 GMT -5 The Dark Order Inferno said:

WCW by a distance so large it would take mankind decades and billions of dollar to traverse. WCW was a genuine national promotion and rival to the WWF, ECW was Smokey mountain with the WWF's full backing and a TNN deal.

ECW is the Firefly of wrestling promotions, something that was 'so awesome' everyone loved it back in the day, just not enough to watch it or even to spend enough money on their shows, videos or merchandise to keep the thing afloat. Even if they found a Dixie Carter to keep it going, they didn't have a fraction of the merchandise deals WCW did, the international exposure, they would have a hard time getting another TV deal after their TNN departure and they would now be flailing their arms, trying to hold back a tide of concussion suits from people genius Paul convinced to waffle oneanother with weapons with no regard for their long term wellbeing.

I think people did spend their money on ECW, it's just ECW had a major problem, Paul Heyman, which is why there'd never be a Dixie Carter coming in to rescue them and save the day, he'd never let that happen.

[James Fabiano]

WCW, they were trying to rebuild the CW division and actual wrestling after 1 year plus of Crash TV. ECW had jumped the shark by late 1997.

[Mayonnaise]

What condition are they in? Are we looking at the Heyman-led, Iovine backed company with a slot on USA or the Holy Shit we got nothing ECW? Is WCW the Bischoff owned low budget TNA before TNA or the corporate pimple it was before Vince bought it?

Each scenario changes the answer completely.

[devondragon]

Back then I would have said ECW but it really hasn't aged well. So I pick WCW

[A Platypus Rave]

Mar 2, 2016 14:08:29 GMT -5 Mayonnaise said:

What condition are they in? Are we looking at the Heyman-led, Iovine backed company with a slot on USA or the Holy Shit we got nothing ECW? Is WCW the Bischoff owned low budget TNA before TNA or the corporate pimple it was before Vince bought it?

Each scenario changes the answer completely.

This,

[auph10imitated]

At that point ECW was what it was, I just couldnt see it evolving anymore. With WWF already stealing its style and producing it on a larger leval were else could ECW go? I think a rebooted WCW had more potential to evolve and grow again.

[thegatewaydrug]

A WCW roster headlined by:
Booker T
DDP
Rey Jr
Kidman
Lance Storm
Chuck Palumbo
Sean O'Haire
Scott Steiner
Shane Helms
Jeff Jarrett
Sting
Kanyon
even :sigh: Buff Bagwell
with up & comers like Jimmy Yang, Jaime Noble, AJ Styles
(plus they had inklings to bring in the likes of James Storm and Christopher Daniels)
and out from all the big money of Hall, Nash, Hogan, Hart, Luger

sure beats the heck out of Tommy Dreamer, RVD and Roadkill in the depleted ECW!

[ICBM]

Mar 2, 2016 14:08:29 GMT -5 Mayonnaise said:

What condition are they in? Are we looking at the Heyman-led, Iovine backed company with a slot on USA or the Holy Shit we got nothing ECW? Is WCW the Bischoff owned low budget TNA before TNA or the corporate pimple it was before Vince bought it?

Each scenario changes the answer completely.

WCW surviving based on the assumption that Bischoff owns it and Turner doesn't have it on its TV is an interesting change in the equation. But if USA had been shopping for wrestling to replace WWF which they were. ECW can bull shit a low level tv guy on TNN but Bonnie Hammer dealt with Vince McMahon for ten years. Bischoff charms the hell out of her, looser content restrictions, less money, but equal market share make WCW far better off than TNA was at my point and in my opinion, a more viable option in that time than an ECW which had far lower production value, less than ten yrs in history vs WCW's 60+, wcw had larger and longer name brand recognition with characters USA audiences and executives knew (Hogan, Flair, Nash etc.). I still think wcw gets the tv deal on USA over ECW.

But if you want to do the what if, let's say ECW got there first and has USA. A year later they are in worse shape BC they had never ever had to compete with WWF and Heyman would be expected to do so. Also if they couldn't foot the bill for production on TNN how in hells name do they get away with accumulating such a defecit and a debt in a horse race vs Vince McMahon?

[OGBoardPoster2005]

Can't we say that TNA is just the predecessor to WCW?

[tigermaskxxxvii]

Mar 2, 2016 6:35:15 GMT -5 Big Bad Kahuna said:

Heyman was very burnt out in 2000 already, don't think ECW would have taken the right direction with him on top. Sapolsky however, he would have transformed it to ROH Light in 2001/2002 I guess

nevertheless, money could be made with WCW taking a different direction (get rid of old guys, push the young exciting talent)

What's frustrating about WCW is that they were starting to go in that direction in the last couple of months of their existence. It's like you finally got it way past the point of it mattering!

[ICBM]

Stiener, love him or hate him, was a good WHC for WCW. Unstoppable asshole heel. His push started in abut May of 2000 and just kept going. Then graciously, he jobs clean as a sheet on the final nitro. Booker T makes a splash with WWF fans sampling and when he comes over he is pushed to the moon and eventually is a hall of fame and multi-time champion. He was a Schitt back stage but being fair, when the time came he did good business and then did right by someone he respected