Would WCW have survived if...

[auph10imitated]

Nitro stayed 2 hours and Thunder was never created?

To be honest I think the answer is absolutely yes, and the over saturation of wrestling is what killed it/and still is killing it.

Can you imagine how good WCW would have stayed at a good quality 2 hours, with the Disney Studio weekend shows as a second.

[cornettesracket]

Apr 26, 2022 8:23:12 GMT -5 auph10imitated said:

Nitro stayed 2 hours and Thunder was never created?

To be honest I think the answer is absolutely yes, and the over saturation of wrestling is what killed it/and still is killing it.

Can you imagine how good WCW would have stayed at a good quality 2 hours, with the Disney Studio weekend shows as a second.

If thunder had never been created and nitro stayed 2 hours, Eric bischoff would’ve been in a better state mentally as he’s said it and others have said it but he was not handling the pressure in 1998 well at all. 

[TOK Hehe'd Around & Found Out]

Unless there was a butterfly effect of a slimmed down WCW preventing the AOL/Warner merger and coup against Turner, WCW was going to end in March of 2001 no matter what. The new heads of Turner programming didn't want any wrestling on their network and no one except Vince was interested in buying the promotion without a guaranteed network slot.

Hell, the only reason Bischoff/Fucient wanted to buy WCW was because their terms included a guaranteed prime time slot on TNT that didn't have to be anything related to wrestling.

[David-Arquette was in WCW 2000]

Apr 26, 2022 10:46:42 GMT -5 TOK Hehe'd Around & Found Out said:

Unless there was a butterfly effect of a slimmed down WCW preventing the AOL/Warner merger and coup against Turner, WCW was going to end in March of 2001 no matter what. The new heads of Turner programming didn't want any wrestling on their network and no one except Vince was interested in buying the promotion without a guaranteed network slot.

Hell, the only reason Bischoff/Fucient wanted to buy WCW was because their terms included a guaranteed prime time slot on TNT that didn't have to be anything related to wrestling.

Yeah pretty much this. The merger is what really killed off WCW. I can imagine a slightly better product if Thunder wasn't around and if Nitro was only two hours, as there would be increased focus.

However, unless WCW killed off nWo in early 1998 and built up their other stars more substantially instead of relying on that played out angle into 1999, I can't see the quality of Nitro being there consistently. I think WWF still ends up smashing them in the ratings by mid 1998 and WCW scrambles for the next big thing.

[Deleted]

The merger is what killed WCW.

It would have had to have been God-tier ratings that no wrestling promotion was ever going to reach before Kellner would have held off on killing WCW. If Ted still sits in the driver's seat, then maybe things are different, maybe WCW weathers the storm with some fresh blood running things because it'd still be Ted's company and what he would have said would have been law.

[cornettesracket]

Apr 26, 2022 10:46:42 GMT -5 TOK Hehe'd Around & Found Out said:

Unless there was a butterfly effect of a slimmed down WCW preventing the AOL/Warner merger and coup against Turner, WCW was going to end in March of 2001 no matter what. The new heads of Turner programming didn't want any wrestling on their network and no one except Vince was interested in buying the promotion without a guaranteed network slot.

Hell, the only reason Bischoff/Fucient wanted to buy WCW was because their terms included a guaranteed prime time slot on TNT that didn't have to be anything related to wrestling.

But wasn’t there something about the group Bischoff had put together looking at the books and the financial mess was far worse than they’d believed ? I think I read that somewhere. I know that barely days before the sale that WCW higher ups weren’t keeping talent up to date of what was happening.

[TOK Hehe'd Around & Found Out]

Apr 26, 2022 14:10:24 GMT -5 cornettesracket said:

Apr 26, 2022 10:46:42 GMT -5 TOK Hehe'd Around & Found Out said:

Unless there was a butterfly effect of a slimmed down WCW preventing the AOL/Warner merger and coup against Turner, WCW was going to end in March of 2001 no matter what. The new heads of Turner programming didn't want any wrestling on their network and no one except Vince was interested in buying the promotion without a guaranteed network slot.

Hell, the only reason Bischoff/Fucient wanted to buy WCW was because their terms included a guaranteed prime time slot on TNT that didn't have to be anything related to wrestling.

But wasn’t there something about the group Bischoff had put together looking at the books and the financial mess was far worse than they’d believed ? I think I read that somewhere. I know that barely days before the sale that WCW higher ups weren’t keeping talent up to date of what was happening.

Yeah, but they were able to talk through that. The entire deal hinged on the guaranteed TNT time slot (not for wrestling, for any Fucient-produced programming) that disappeared.

[cornettesracket]

Apr 26, 2022 14:59:28 GMT -5 TOK Hehe'd Around & Found Out said:

Apr 26, 2022 14:10:24 GMT -5 cornettesracket said:

But wasn’t there something about the group Bischoff had put together looking at the books and the financial mess was far worse than they’d believed ? I think I read that somewhere. I know that barely days before the sale that WCW higher ups weren’t keeping talent up to date of what was happening.

Yeah, but they were able to talk through that. The entire deal hinged on the guaranteed TNT time slot (not for wrestling, for any Fucient-produced programming) that disappeared.

Okay so I had remembered that correctly.