What If WCW won the "Monday Night Wars"?

[James the AH Fan]

Point of Divergence: Survivor Series 1997-No Montreal Screwjob->no heel McMahon->no Austin-McMahon feud->downfall of the WWF.

Survivor Series 1997​

Jerry Lawler: Look at this! Shawn Michaels attempting to lock in the Sharpshooter! That's Bret's move!
Jim Ross: No way is Michaels going to do this to Bret in his own hometown...wait a minute! Bret kicks Shawn away and gets up.
JL: Bret Hart putting Shawn Michaels on the ground for the sharpshooter to Michaels...and...it's locked in! Shawn Michaels crawling to the bottom rope!
JR: Michaels attempting to break the submission before its too late. Oh, he got to the bottom rope. Shawn's legs must be hurting from that.
JL: I know it, the sharpshooter is one of the most painful submissions in the WWF. What's Triple H doing at ringside, distracting the referee? Get him out of there.
JR and JL: OH MY GOD!
JR: Sweet. Chin. Music. To Bret Hart. The ref's turning around! Not this way! *1! 2! 3!* Not this way dammit!
JL: What the hell? We have a new champion!
*Here is your winner...and neeeewwwww World Wrestling Federation Champion, Shawn Michaels!*

Fast forward to 2000...​

WCW Monday Nitro averages 4.8-6.6 million viewers every episode, while Monday Night Raw averages 2.5 to 3.5 million viewers every episode. Clearly, WCW is winning the Monday Night Wars. Hardcore fans of the WWF are now switching to WCW because of the unpredictability of the program. WCW Thunder is also doing good, averaging 3 to 4 million viewers every Thursday. Vince's empire is collapsing, and nearing the end of its life.

To be continued...​

 

[Igeo654]

I'd love to see the events that transpired after Montreal that somehow put WCW on top. Quite frankly, I and several others did something similar to this last year, only with the Screwjob taking place at Wrestlemania 9 when Hogan stole the title from Bret, leading to Bret Breaking Kayfabe and walking out of the company for WCW, leading to Hogan never leaving and WCW going down this road of Puro-Resu lite, while WWF promoted Vince Russo to the top of creative and let him do whatever he wanted unchecked. I don't know what you have in mind exactly for your timeline, since Hogan is still part of WCW I'm guessing, but please continue.

 

[James the AH Fan]

I'd love to see the events that transpired after Montreal that somehow put WCW on top.

Here's what happened:
Monday Nitro was already ahead of Raw because of the NWO. Without the Screwjob and "Bret screwed Bret", we wouldn't have heel Vince vs face Steve Austin down the line. That was the reason why the WWF ultimately won the ratings war.

 

[Nivek]

Here's what happened:
Monday Nitro was already ahead of Raw because of the NWO. Without the Screwjob and "Bret screwed Bret", we wouldn't have heel Vince vs face Steve Austin down the line. That was the reason why the WWF ultimately won the ratings war.

Nah Steve was already being pushed as the pissed out superstar since his short sting in ECW. Anything this might affect WWF/E in doing something and scale down, good news, no XFL(SORRY Maddox), and maybe keeping a more grounded style for WWE to compete with WCW.

Still sucess means jackshit, warner executive and aol ones hate wrestling...unless WCW mega sucess make Turner more powerful and avoid awful AOL merger

 

[Igeo654]

Nah Steve was already being pushed as the pissed out superstar since his short sting in ECW. Anything this might affect WWF/E in doing something and scale down, good news, no XFL(SORRY Maddox), and maybe keeping a more grounded style for WWE to compete with WCW.

Still sucess means jackshit, warner executive and aol ones hate wrestling...unless WCW mega sucess make Turner more powerful and avoid awful AOL merger

Maybe he could merge with some other 90s internet giant instead? Like Yahoo or eBay? That'd be fun. Also, I just realised. If the screwjob never happens, that means no Attitude Era, so how does WCW change as a result. Do they become more ECW-lite?

 

[Nivek]

Maybe he could merge with some other 90s internet giant instead? Like Yahoo or eBay? That'd be fun. Also, I just realised. If the screwjob never happens, that means no Attitude Era, so how does WCW change as a result. Do they become more ECW-lite?

WCW was always a hard PG(PG-13 Lite) MOSTLY because turner own guidelines, if anything would be WWE the one becoming ECW lite(and absoring the competent ecw talent), the rest is up the air, Vince would hate be upstaged but WWE is still healthy anyway

 

[Neshomancer]

You still have to deal with WCW's structural problems, with so many people having creative control, or pro wrestling in America will become even more niche as both major companies collapse.

 

[MorphyVSFischer]

Nah Steve was already being pushed as the pissed out superstar since his short sting in ECW. Anything this might affect WWF/E in doing something and scale down, good news, no XFL(SORRY Maddox), and maybe keeping a more grounded style for WWE to compete with WCW.

Still sucess means jackshit, warner executive and aol ones hate wrestling...unless WCW mega sucess make Turner more powerful and avoid awful AOL merger

If WCW was doing as well as it did in 1997 in the ratings and profits they wouldn't cancel WCW. Yes executives didn't like wrestling but frankly they had every reason to cancel it given the entire company was in a tailspin.

 

[eldandythedoubter]

If WCW was doing as well as it did in 1997 in the ratings and profits they wouldn't cancel WCW. Yes executives didn't like wrestling but frankly they had every reason to cancel it given the entire company was in a tailspin.

Unfortunately, that kind of success would eventually peter out. Also, most of the main event talent had financially unreasonable contracts.

 

[MorphyVSFischer]

Unfortunately, that kind of success would eventually peter out. Also, most of the main event talent had financially unreasonable contracts.

They need to stay profitable and not lose the money they did in 2000, which isn't exactly a high bar considering they lost 40+ million in a single year. So long as WCW is making money and doing good rating execs won't cancel it. The evil execs hating wrestling is a nice narrative for fans but isn't true.

As for contracts, it only became a problem when WCW was losing money, they did just fine before hand. And indeed the WWE today gives its top stars guaranteed contracts. (For example John Cena was assured 10 million, and that was before getting a percentage of PPV numbers and 10% on his merch.

 

[tallthinkev]

No Jim Herd?
No Eric Bischoff, Ric Flair falling out?

 

[Megafighter3]

The thing to saving WCW is you need to be able to make changes to the status quo. Stagnation is the death of wrestling companies, so you'd need to have the nWo be dissolved. For an idea of a POD, have Bret be announced as the guest ref for Sting vs. Hogan at Starrcade '97 from the outset and have Hogan lose clean. Then, the story heading into 1998 can be the Fall of the nWo. Have a stipulation that if an nWo member loses a match for a title, they are out of the stable. You also build new stars at the same time. Bret will be a major help for guys like Benoit, Jericho, Malenko and Guerrero, while Goldberg is already making waves, so you got a lot of promise here.

 

[Neshomancer]

Then you have to figure out which WWF talent is most likely to make the jump to WCW. Would they getpeople like The Rock and Stone Cold, or The Undertaker or would it be the reverse of OTL's Invasion?

 

[Megafighter3]

Alright, in talking the "No Screwjob" scenario proposed, that would most likely require a finish that allowed them to get the belt off Bret without Shawn winning. I'd suggest a double-pinfall finish with both men having their shoulders on the mat. Without the Screwjob, there's also a change in the roster from OTL as Davey Boy, Neidhart and Brian Adams will not be compelled to leave in protest, meaning they're in WWF.

 

[eldandythedoubter]

Then you have to figure out which WWF talent is most likely to make the jump to WCW. Would they getpeople like The Rock and Stone Cold, or The Undertaker or would it be the reverse of OTL's Invasion?

Shawn and the Kliq would always be an option. There's also Marc Mero, Goldust, Jeff Jarrett, and Vader provided they minimize Hogan's backstage stroke.

 

[Neshomancer]

Shawn and the Kliq would always be an option. There's also Marc Mero, Goldust, Jeff Jarrett, and Vader provided they minimize Hogan's backstage stroke.

Yeah, but people are going to want to see matches like Austin v Hogan or Sting v Taker (Back when they were still young enough to to put on a real match) Goldberg may have a longer wrestling career (He didn't like the WWE, hence the one year contract.
If they dismantle the NWO, and can poach the talent from WWF's fall D-Generation X could be the new heel stable. A lot of careers could go in differet directions: Batista, Daniel Bryan, Brock Lesnar, etc.

 

[Nivek]

Brock Lesnar

They could Use Lesnar as goldberg 2.0, specially with his shoot collegiated wrestling background, something turner and others would love but again Lesnar is one love easy money for less..so knowing how to squeeze every cent from him is the key.

Batista

In a Debate of who of 02's generation would fare the best, the concesus was batista, as he was older(and WCW like older guys as thought were more responsible), have the hogan/goldberg bodytype and the knowledge to play the backstage politics to survive, Cena was one might get his chance later but his stick might not work in the more southern WCW..other will have it harder.

Daniel Bryan

Like this guy...

 

[Neshomancer]

Like this guy...

Bryan might be able to make waves in the Cruiserweight division and maybe get over like he did OTL and work his way up the card, but that's my fanboyism talking probably.

 

[Nivek]

Bryan might be able to make waves in the Cruiserweight division and maybe get over like he did OTL and work his way up the card, but that's my fanboyism talking probably.

Bryan wasn't a heavyweight since day one?

 

[Neshomancer]

Bryan wasn't a heavyweight since day one?

Not from what I can see from his Wikipedia page, seems like he was in the lighter part of the card early in his career.