WCW One Night Stand: Would it work?

[lmoney215]

I was reading this post from the Camel Clutch Blog about a possible WCW show. www.camelclutchblog.com/wcw-one-night-stand/

WCW has become relevant again thanks to the release of the Rise and Fall of WCW DVD. WWE produced a similar home video about Extreme Championship Wrestling a few years back. Sales and interest generated the need for a tribute show and another brand. Could a WCW One Night Stand work and could the WWE pull it off?

I loved ECW and as a matter of disclosure, I worked there as a ring announcer from 1995-1998. I was excited when WWE brought ECW back for ECW One Night Stand. At the same time, I wondered why nobody ever thought of this for WCW. Why has a company so deep in tradition been completely ignored by the WWE up until now?

The math works in this equation. As much as I loved ECW, they never had the viewership that WCW had at its peak with the NWO and Goldberg. So it amazed me that WWE would put so much time into rebranding a company like ECW, while letting over 50 years of tradition sit. Millions of people tuned into WCW back in 1997. They aren’t tuning in now. Could some of these fans be lured back by the scent of their old favorite wrestling company?

WCW fans and WWE fans were a totally different breed for many years. WCW fans were more southern and preferred a slower wrestling. In my opinion, this is also one of many reasons that Vince Russo didn’t work in WCW. Russo didn’t understand the WCW culture. How did Kevin Nash go from being a bomb as WWE champion to being a WCW money machine? One of the answers I feel is that WCW fans loved his slow and methodical style which didn’t fly in the WWE.

The timing may be a little late for this, but sales from the Rise and Fall of WCW show that there is still an audience for this. WWE owns the entire WCW tape library and could build this into one hell of a show. Sure, some of WCW’s biggest stars are wrestling for TNA Wrestling. However, one star will soon be a free man and could change the entire landscape of such an event.

Sting’s TNA Wrestling contract is expected to expire shortly. It is expected that he will retire from TNA. Sting alone could carry a WCW One Night Stand. This is the WWE’s chance to fix the terribly booked Invasion Angle. Bill Goldberg is also free and available. A Sting vs. Goldberg match could carry this entire show. Even better, a Sting and Goldberg team vs. a top WWE team could make for an even more intriguing match.

Ric Flair wants to wrestle again. I don’t want to see it, but I think the WWE could get away with Flair coming back for one more match if it was on a show like this. A Sting-Flair match is exactly what could bring old WCW fans back into the fold. Unlike Goldberg-Sting, I don’t think this would be a strong enough main-event. However, this match could be an important part of the package.

Hulk Hogan is also still available. I don’t necessarily want to see Hogan wrestle in 2009 or 2010. Yet, he could finally get his long awaited WWE match with the Big Show that the two have wanted for years. It would make perfect sense to match them up on a WCW One Night Stand. Whether he is wrestling Big Show or not, Hogan would need to be a big part of this show to make it work. I wouldn’t be opposed to keeping his in-ring activity short in some kind of a tag team match. Hell, team up with a celebrity!

There aren’t a lot of other top ex-WCW wrestlers available. Guys like Diamond Dallas Page, Lex Luger, Scott Hall, Kevin Sullivan, Rick Steiner, and Eric Bischoff are available for the right price for appearances. Booker T’s TNA future is in serious doubt and is rumored to be heading back to the WWE. Package the above names with a solid undercard featuring current WWE stars like Rey Mysterio, Chavo Guerrero, Jamie Noble, and Chris Jericho who wrestled for WCW and you have a hell of a lineup.

The action up top won’t be the greatest, but it doesn’t need to be if it is truly a one night stand. Hell, reunite the Nitro Girls on the show for all I care. In the end, maybe WWE attracts some old fans back to pro wrestling. Time is ticking so I wouldn’t see this being an annual event. One night, one time, bring back World Championship Wrestling. Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson, Stevie Ray, and Larry Zbysko are all available for the announcing duties. As long as this doesn’t turn into another mediocre brand, I am all for it.

This would be an interesting PPV concept, considering all the WWE themed PPV's lately. Any thoughts?

[Bubble Lead]

It would be pointless without a lot of the guys tied up in TNA, such as Nash, Steiner, Jarrett.

Then guys like the majority of the cruisers and midcard are either too old and washed up now or dead. So I say no. Do you really wanna watch old ass Arn Anderson and Ric Flair lead Mongo and Dean Malenko into battle against old ass Kevin Nash, fat Scott Hall, X Pac and Big Show? Not me.

[Deleted]

Sting is not leaving TNA so he out. With him out, there is no one that is identified solely with WCW. Also, WCW was going down in popularity as it died while ECW was growing so there is no huge demand to see more of WCW in that aspect. Another thing, a lot of the guys who worked for WCW and WWE following the buyout hated it there so they wouldn't be back most likely. If they were, oh well, seen them. Plus there was no huge difference with WWE and WCW that would be on display unlike ECW.

Finally, I don't think the WCW DVD has been anywhere near as big as a success as the ECW DVD.

[Johnny Danger (Godz)]

Impossible, because everyone good is in TNA (Sting, Nash, Booker), too old (Flair, Dusty, Funker), not in any shape to compete (Vader, Hall, Double A) or already played out and no longer special (Goldberg).

[Allie Kitsune]

You'd never be able to get Steiner or Double J, and aside from that, almost anyone of any importance is just plain too old.

[Johnny Danger (Godz)]

Plus WCW just isn't as "special" as ECW.

What I mean by that is, you had people like Dreamer, Raven, the bWo, Awesome, etc...they may've wrestled elsewhere, but they were very clearly ECW wrestlers.

So many top WCW guys were also top WWF/WWE guys....so its just a pointless concept to me, I dunno.

[Captain Charisma]

<ECW Smark>It'd never work because WCW didn't have anywhere near the massive fanbase that the international sensation known as ECW had. Also ECW fans were far more loyal than WCW fans, who weren't really even wrestling fans.</ECW Smark>

[Dr. T is an alien]

Lex Luger also is out, unless you just want to wheel him out there for sympathy.

[Johnny Danger (Godz)]

Oct 15, 2009 19:19:38 GMT -5 Dr. T is an alien said:

Lex Luger also is out, unless you just want to wheel him out there for sympathy.

Would he even get any? I was pretty sure that after the....unpleasentness with Liz, most people pretty much despised him.

[Deleted]

Oct 15, 2009 19:10:34 GMT -5 Johnny Danger (Godz) said:

Plus WCW just isn't as "special" as ECW.

What I mean by that is, you had people like Dreamer, Raven, the bWo, Awesome, etc...they may've wrestled elsewhere, but they were very clearly ECW wrestlers.

So many top WCW guys were also top WWF/WWE guys....so its just a pointless concept to me, I dunno.

Yeah, that is what I was trying to get at. The only "WCW" names that never had a true WWE run were Buff Bagwell (*shudders*) and Sting.

[MyndSkape: A Poor Man's Virgil]

WCW 1999-2001 didn't work, why should one more night work?

Especially if Bill Watts, Jim Herd, or Kevin Sullivan are anywhere near it.

Or Jason Hervey or Mark Madden even breathe into a headset.

[Ryushinku]

Sting vs Vader, one more time!

[BorneAgain]

I pretty much consider The Great American Bash 2006 to be the closest thing to a WCW One Night Stand we'll get.

With a WCW title event, with WCW talents in all three title matches (with former WCW guy Helms as Cruiser champ going against Hardy), Regal and Finlay reliving their stuff from 96, Big Show being featured in one of the matches, and Booker vs. Mysterio as the main event for the Big Gold Belt, with Nick Patrick as ref and featuring interference from Chavo Guerrero.

[MichaelMartini]

Too slow? What about their awesome cruiserweight division?

I think it could still work, especially if they could get Sting and Goldberg involved. Booker is possible once he leaves TNA. How bout Konaan? Is Norton still wrestling in Japan? Bagwell is around, The Cat was in the Wrestler, Malenko probably has a match left, as does Lance Storm, Disco Inferno's not too old, Yuji Nagata is huge in Japan, maybe they could talk Torrie and Stacey into making an appearance. And then they could use the guys already on the roster - Show, Jericho, Finlay, Chavo, Yang, Regal, Mysterio. They could do one if they wanted to.

[Rorschach]

The answer is actually quite simple, at least as it appears to me.

Vince McMahon was covertly helping one company (ECW) and wanted the other company DEAD at all costs.

Vince seems to be happy that WCW is dead and gone, and I cannot see him ever bringing it back, even for one night. I mean, unless it was a horrible hatchet job where every WCW star jobbed to a WWE talent. Something like that might not be beyond him.

Bottom line is, would you expect a company that won a bitter war with it's archrival company, culminating in that company's demise, to EVER bring that company BACK? If Coke killed Pepsi, do you think they'd EVER bring back Pepsi, even as a one off? I doubt it.

[derrtaysouth95]

It'd be nice, but it won't work.

Those guys that are "WCW" are either: too old, deceased, retired, working elsewhere, wouldn't work for Vince anyway.

[AriadosMan]

No. The WCW name is dead and buried forever and most of its fans no longer watch.

[quantum]

Oct 16, 2009 4:47:36 GMT -5 Rorschach said:

The answer is actually quite simple, at least as it appears to me.

Vince McMahon was covertly helping one company (ECW) and wanted the other company DEAD at all costs.

Vince seems to be happy that WCW is dead and gone, and I cannot see him ever bringing it back, even for one night. I mean, unless it was a horrible hatchet job where every WCW star jobbed to a WWE talent. Something like that might not be beyond him.

Bottom line is, would you expect a company that won a bitter war with it's archrival company, culminating in that company's demise, to EVER bring that company BACK? If Coke killed Pepsi, do you think they'd EVER bring back Pepsi, even as a one off? I doubt it.

This is exactly it

[quantum]

Oct 16, 2009 4:47:36 GMT -5 Rorschach said:

The answer is actually quite simple, at least as it appears to me.

Vince McMahon was covertly helping one company (ECW) and wanted the other company DEAD at all costs.

Vince seems to be happy that WCW is dead and gone, and I cannot see him ever bringing it back, even for one night. I mean, unless it was a horrible hatchet job where every WCW star jobbed to a WWE talent. Something like that might not be beyond him.

Bottom line is, would you expect a company that won a bitter war with it's archrival company, culminating in that company's demise, to EVER bring that company BACK? If Coke killed Pepsi, do you think they'd EVER bring back Pepsi, even as a one off? I doubt it.

This is exactly it

[bob]

if they wanted to revive a WCW brand it could work and here's how:

free agents or soon tbe who worked in WCW: Booker T, Sid, Buff Bagwell, Shannon Moore, Evan Karuagis, Lance Storm, Elix Skipper, Billy Kidman, Juventud Guerrera

former WCW talent under contract: Helms, Chavo, Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Big Show, William Regal