Jim Crockett Promotions
Before it became the name of a wrestling promotion, “World Championship Wrestling” was the name of a television program produced by Georgia Championship Wrestling. In the mid-1980s, GCW was purchased by Jim Crockett Promotions, a prominent promotion in the National Wrestling Alliance. From then on, “WCW” was used colloquially to refer to JCP until the title World Championship Wrestling was officially adopted in 1988. WCW parted ways with the NWA five years later.
The Monday Night Wars
In 1994, Eric Bischoff was promoted to Senior Vice President of WCW and consequently took over WCW’s creative and financial direction. Bischoff sought to modernize WCW and separate it from its Southern, traditional roots.
Bischoff’s most ambitious endeavor was the creation of WCW Monday Nitro, a weekly television program that aired on TNT and competed directly with WWE’s flagship program, Monday Night Raw. Nitro debuted on September 4, 1995, marking the beginning of the Monday Night Wars.
The Monday Night Wars led to immense growth for the wrestling business. WWE and WCW competed with each other week in and week out to create the most exciting television possible, and the fans were the ultimate victors. After trading wins for the first several weeks, Nitro gained the upper hand in the Monday Night Wars and started a streak of 83 continuous victories over Raw. WCW has a few men in particular to thank for this success.
The nWo Takes Over
On June 10, 1996, Kevin Nash reunited with his best friend Scott Hall on Monday Nitro. The pair dubbed themselves as The Outsiders and embarked on a hostile takeover of WCW. At Bash at the Beach on July 7, The Outsiders introduced their mystery partner, Hulk Hogan. The three then formed the New World Order, also known simply as the nWo.
The nWo would go on to become one of if not the most influential faction in wrestling history. Several other wrestlers joined the faction over the next few years, including Ted DiBiase, Randy Savage, Scott Norton, and Buff Bagwell. The faction even had offshoots form, including the Wolfpac and nWo Japan.
Unfortunately, WCW’s success would not last forever.
Collapse And Sale To WWE
To this day, fans like to debate with each other as to what really caused WCW to fail. In reality, it was a combination of several factors that all acted in tandem. First, the quality of WCW’s onscreen product began to drastically decrease. The company strayed from the sports-centric, grounded storylines that had made it so popular and began airing convoluted soap opera-like stories. The booking office also made several unpopular decisions, including the infamous “Fingerpoke of Doom” angle in January 1999.
Just as viewers started to get frustrated with WCW, WWE presented a groundbreaking, endlessly entertaining product in their Attitude Era. Fans jumped ship from WCW to WWE, only furthering WCW’s financial hardships.
In 2001, WCW programming was cancelled on TBS and TNT. The company was then purchased by their biggest rival, the WWE. The Monday Night Wars were brought to an end, and the curtains closed on WCW.
