History Wrestling / WCW

* DarkerAndEdgier: ''"Where the big boys play." But look at the adjective: play. We're not here to play!''
** Kevin Nash has professed to be many things, but never claimed to be [[YouMakeMeSic an English major.]]

** Ric Flair. Full stop. The [=nWo=] didn't have room for the Nature Boy since, well, Bischoff sort of '''[[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute already was]]''' their Nature Boy--updated for the edgy nineties.

** Even Russo, crazy as he is, would never have booked that.

** Ric Flair. Full stop. The [=nWo=] didn't have room for the Nature Boy since, well, Bischoff sort of '''[[SuspiciouslySimilarSubtstitute already was]]''' their Nature Boy--updated for the edgy nineties.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard:
-->'''Tony Schiavone:''' That's gonna put some butts in the seats!

->''WCW: 1988 - 2001''' -- Where the Big Boys Played''

'''''WCW: 1988 - 2001''' - Where the Big Boys Played''
--> [[Wrestling/KevinNash ''Look at the adjective: play.'']]

** Ric Flair. Full stop. The [=nWo=] didn't have room for the Nature Boy since, well, Bischoff sort of '''already was''' their Nature Boy--updated for the edgy nineties.

* InsaneTrollLogic: Used to explain Sting's [[FaceHeelTurn face heel turn]] in a [[http://youtu.be/Vwifa3PVPIM truly amazing hype video.]]
** In a nutshell someone in a white hummer tried to run over Kevin Nash. On a different show Sting was seen coming out of a black hummer. So Sting must have been the one who ran over Kevin Nash.

At Starrcade 1998, Nash defeated Goldberg for the the World Title, which also ended Goldberg's undefeated streak; two weeks later on ''Monday Nitro'', Nash and Hogan were scheduled to have a match for the World Title, but instead, Nash [[FingerpokeOfDoom took a poke to the chest from Hogan and sold it like he'd been shot with a cannon]], laying down on the mat. After the pinfall, the two [=nWo=] factions reformed and ended up beating down an enraged Goldberg, who had been kept out of the arena for most of the show by nWo trickery. This incident came to be known as the Fingerpoke of Doom; in addition to the main event swerve, announcer Tony Schiavone, per Bischoff's orders, revealed prior to ''Nitro'''s main event that fan-favorite [[Wrestling/MickFoley Mick "Mankind" Foley]] would be winning the WWF Championship on a pre-taped edition of ''Raw'' [[ItWillNeverCatchOn ("That's gonna put some butts in the seats, heh.")]], essentially inviting over ''half a million viewers to change the channel''-- which they did. The incident ended up turning many fans away from WCW and towards the WWF (you can read all about the incident, and its impact on both WCW and the WWF, on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fingerpoke_of_Doom That Other Wiki]]).

** Ric Flair. Full stop.

At Starrcade 1998, Nash defeated Goldberg for the the World Title, which also ended Goldberg's undefeated streak; two weeks later on ''Monday Nitro'', Nash and Hogan were scheduled to have a match for the World Title, but instead, Nash [[FingerpokeOfDoom took a poke to the chest from Hogan and sold it like he'd been shot with a cannon]], laying down on the mat. After the pinfall, the two [=nWo=] factions reformed and ended up beating down an enraged Goldberg, who had been kept out of the arena for most of the show by nWo trickery. This incident came to be known as the Fingerpoke of Doom; in addition to the main event swerve, announcer Tony Schiavone, per Bischoff's orders, revealed prior to ''Nitro'''s main event that [[Wrestling/MickFoley Mick "Mankind" Foley]] would be winning the WWF Championship on a pre-taped edition of ''Raw'' [[InsultBackfire ("That's gonna put some butts in the seats, heh.")]], which led to over ''half a million viewers changing the channel'', because fans wanted to see the well-liked Foley win the championship. The incident ended up turning many fans away from WCW and towards the WWF (you can read all about the incident, and its impact on both WCW and the WWF, on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fingerpoke_of_Doom That Other Wiki]]).

Unfortunately for WCW, their success didn't last. As the WWF reinvented itself with a new darker and edgier image [[FollowTheLEader lifted in part from ECW]], WCW kept [[ArcFatigue milking the nWo for all it was worth]]. The group was originally planned to dissolve after Starrcade 1997, where WCW mainstay Sting defeated Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Instead, the group split into two factions (the "original" nWo, led by Hogan, and the nWo Wolfpac, led by Kevin Nash), which [[EvilVsEvil feuded with each other]] throughout 1998--fitting for the era, but not particularly scintillating to watch. Things were looking up, though. WCW not only managed to secure a second major show in ''Thunder'', but it was building up a new megastar in Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}. Booked as a near-invincible human wrecking machine, Goldberg's undefeated streak became legendary. His biggest victory was during the ''Nitro'' on July 6, 1998, where he defeated "Hollywood" Hogan for the World Heavyweight Championship; while the match helped give WCW its last major ratings victory against the WWF, it cost them potentially millions in pay-per-view revenue. 1998 also saw several other bad moves by the company that led into its decline, such as several pay-per-view matches with non-wrestlers (including Jay Leno and Karl Malone) and [[Wrestling/UltimateWarrior The Ultimate Warrior]]'s short WCW tenure (which culminated in one of the worst matches ever as he faced "Hollywood" Hogan at Halloween Havoc 1998). Their biggest mistake, however, was yet to come.

At Starrcade 1998, Nash defeated Goldberg for the the World Title, which also ended Goldberg's undefeated streak; two weeks later on ''Monday Nitro'', Nash and Hogan were scheduled to have a match for the World Title, but instead, Nash [[FingerpokeOfDoom took a poke to the chest from Hogan and sold it like he'd been shot with a cannon]], laying down for Hogan. After the pinfall, the two [=nWo=] factions reformed and ended up beating down an enraged Goldberg, who had been kept out of the arena for most of the show by nWo trickery. This incident came to be known as the Fingerpoke of Doom; in addition to the main event swerve, announcer Tony Schiavone, per Bischoff's orders, revealed prior to ''Nitro'''s main event that [[Wrestling/MickFoley Mick "Mankind" Foley]] would be winning the WWF Championship on a pre-taped edition of ''Raw'' [[InsultBackfire ("That's gonna put some butts in the seats, heh.")]], which led to over ''half a million viewers changing the channel'', because fans wanted to see the well-liked Foley win the championship. The incident ended up turning many fans away from WCW and towards the WWF (you can read all about the incident, and its impact on both WCW and the WWF, on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fingerpoke_of_Doom That Other Wiki]]).

In the promotion's early years as WCW, it was horribly mismanaged and badly written by people who had no idea what wrestling fans wanted to see, and devised [[GimmickMatch stunts and gimmicks]] intending (and failing) to capture the glamor and flash of the WWF: such as a live appearance by Franchise/RoboCop(!) at a pay-per-view event, or the infamous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Scorpion_(professional_wrestling) Black Scorpion]] storyline. Jim Herd, a former TV station manager and Pizza Hut executive with no experience in the wrestling industry, ended up making the biggest mistake in the company's early years when he asked Wrestling/RicFlair to drop the "Nature Boy" persona, shave his head, and take up a gladiator gimmick. On top of that, he wanted to move Flair, the company's biggest draw, away from the main event, and he wanted Flair to drop the WCW World Title to Wrestling/LexLuger (Flair refused, because he wanted to drop the belt to Wrestling/{{Sting}}). This led to WCW officially firing Flair prior to the Great American Bash in summer 1991. Flair jumped to the WWF, taking the Big Gold Belt with him (since WCW didn't return the deposit he'd paid on it, he felt he didn't have to return it). Herd was fired not too long after this. Unfortunately, he was replaced by "Cowboy" Bill Watts, who, among other poor decisions, made top-rope moves illegal, severely restricting some wrestlers' movesets.

In the promotion's early years as WCW, it was horribly mismanaged and badly written by people who had no idea what wrestling fans wanted to see, and devised stunts and gimmicks intending, but failing, to capture the glamor and flash of the WWF - like a live appearance by Franchise/RoboCop at a pay-per-view event, or the infamous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_Scorpion_(professional_wrestling) Black Scorpion]] storyline. Jim Herd, a former TV station manager and Pizza Hut executive with no experience in the wrestling industry, ended up making the biggest mistake in the company's early years when he asked Wrestling/RicFlair to drop the "Nature Boy" persona, shave his head, and take up a gladiator gimmick. On top of that, he wanted to move Flair, the company's biggest draw, away from the main event, and he wanted Flair to drop the WCW World Title to Wrestling/LexLuger (Flair refused, because he wanted to drop the belt to Wrestling/{{Sting}}). This led to WCW officially firing Flair prior to the Great American Bash in summer 1991. Flair jumped to the WWF, taking the Big Gold Belt with him (since WCW didn't return the deposit he'd paid on it, he felt he didn't have to return it). Herd was fired not too long after this. Unfortunately, he was replaced by "Cowboy" Bill Watts, who, among other poor decisions, made top-rope moves illegal, severely restricting some wrestlers' movesets.

Watts was replaced by Eric Bischoff in 1993 (whose promotion from ''announcer'' to ''Executive Vice President'' of the company led announcer Wrestling/JimRoss to leave WCW and join the WWF, a decision that very few would question these days). Bischoff eagerly set about trying to build the promotion into a juggernaut, and he did so by poaching away the WWF's biggest names with lucrative contracts (all backed by the money of Turner Broadcasting) and pairing them with both old WCW/NWA mainstays and the hottest young talent that they could lure away from a fledgling upstart promotion by the name of [[Wrestling/{{ECW}} Extreme Championship Wrestling]]. He also started populating the roster with international wrestlers through working arrangements with Mexico's Wrestling/{{AAA}} promotion and Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling (mainly high-flying "cruiserweights" like Wrestling/UltimoDragon, Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr, and Wrestling/EddieGuerrero). Bischoff took the fight right to the WWF's front doorstep, asking Turner (who owned WCW as well as the TBS and TNT networks, which aired WCW programming) to give them a timeslot right alongside the WWF's ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Monday Night Raw]]''. Turner relented, and WCW debuted ''[[Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro Monday Nitro]]'' in 1995; Bischoff decided to take advantage of the timeslot by airing the show live every week and, in several instances, giving away the results of WWF shows which were often taped weeks in advance.

Unfortunately for WCW, their success didn't last. As the WWF reinvented itself with a new [[DarkerAndEdgier darker and edgier]] image lifted in part from ECW, WCW kept milking the nWo for all it was worth. The group was originally planned to dissolve after Starrcade 1997, where WCW mainstay Sting defeated Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Instead, the group split into two factions (the "original" nWo, led by Hogan, and the nWo Wolfpac, led by Kevin Nash), which feuded with each other throughout 1998. Things were looking up, though. WCW not only managed to secure a second major show in ''Thunder'', but it was building up a new megastar in Wrestling/{{Goldberg}}. Booked as a near-invincible human wrecking machine, Goldberg's undefeated streak became legendary. His biggest victory was during the ''Nitro'' on July 6, 1998, where he defeated "Hollywood" Hogan for the World Heavyweight Championship; while the match helped give WCW its last major ratings victory against the WWF, it cost them potentially millions in pay-per-view revenue. 1998 also saw several other bad moves by the company that led into its decline, such as several pay-per-view matches with non-wrestlers (including Jay Leno and Karl Malone) and [[Wrestling/UltimateWarrior The Ultimate Warrior]]'s short WCW tenure (which culminated in one of the worst matches ever as he faced "Hollywood" Hogan at Halloween Havoc 1998). Their biggest mistake, however, was yet to come.

* The WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship. After WWE's purchase of WCW, this was the only title to be abandoned and never be defended on WWE programming.

* AmazonBrigade: WCW had two women's championships, though they were rarely showcased on television and almost exclusively defended outside of the United States, mostly in Japan. The Nitro Girls and [=nWo=] Girls were mostly there to dance for the crowd during the commercial break.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Among the various people that WCW thought weren't worth a main event push were "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Mick Foley, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Jericho, and Rey Mysterio, Jr. All of these guys became celebrated world champions when they went to WWE. WCW also let Jim Ross go because they thought he wouldn't go over well with mainstream America. Whoops.

* NonIndicativeName: On March 8, 1999, Kevin Nash had the brilliant idea to not have any wrestling for the first hour of ''Nitro''. This, predictably, lead to ''Raw'' slaughtering ''Nitro'' that night.

* NonIndicativeName: In March 1999, someone at WCW had the brilliant idea to cut back on the wrestling that happened on WCW shows. This, predictably, lead to ''Raw'' slaughtering ''Nitro'' until they went back to wrestling.

** The Yellow Dog (Brian Pillman under a mask), from "The Kennel Club".

* InsultBackfire: How many times has this actually killed a business? WCW might well be the first when they revealed Mick Foley would win the WWF Championship, which caused over half a million fans to switched over after WCW insulted him.

* InsultBackfire: How many times has this actually killed a business? WCW might well be the first when they revealed Mick Foley would win the WWF Championship, which caused over half a million fans to switched over after WCW insulted him.

* TheMovie: ''[[Film/ReadyToRumble Ready to Rumble]]'', as much as fans would rather not acknowledge the fact.

* InsultBackfire: How many times has this actually killed a business? WCW might well be the first when they revealed Mick Foley would win the WWF Championship, which caused over half a million fans to switched over after WCW insulted him.

* TheMovie: [[Film/ReadyToRumble Ready to Rumble]], as much as fans would rather not acknowledge the fact.

WCW started as a regional promotion, Jim Crockett Promotions (which was affiliated with the Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance, NWA). The "World Championship Wrestling" name was used in various forms by various promotions affiliated with the NWA. When Ted Turner purchased JCP, the company began using the WCW name full-time. Turner was bought out by Time Warner in 1996; WCW's association with the NWA was dissolved in 1991 (and fully ended in 1993), which resulted in the NWA's World Heavyweight Championship becoming a WCW belt, as WCW owned it (the "Big Gold Belt", as it came to be known; it is now known as the WWE World Heavyweight Championship).

* AmazonBrigade: WCW had two women's championships, though they were rarely showcased on television and almost exclusively defended outside of the United States Of America, mostly in Japan. The Nitro Girls and NWO Girls were mostly there to dance for the crowd during the commercial break.

* CardboardBoxes: There were always plenty of them backstage for someone to be knocked into. And clangy poles, which served no other purpose than to be knocked down and make noise (at least the boxes could be {{justified|trope}} as emptied of equipment used during the show).

-->'''Tony Schiavone''': That's gonna put some butts in the seats!

* InsultBackfire: How many times has this actually killed a business? WCW might well be the first when they revealed Mick Foley would win the WWF Championship, then offended the over half a million fans who switched over when WCW insulted him.

** In fact, this and the Shocking Swerve are the two main reasons why WCW went out of business in the first place.

* NonIndicativeName: In March 1999, someone at WCW had gotten the brilliant idea to cut back on the wrestling that happened on WCW shows. This, predictably, lead to Monday Night Raw slaughtering Nitro until they got back to wrestling.

* RememberTheNewGuy: Related to enforced method acting above, during the late 1990s and 2000s, WCW would sometimes debut new wrestlers or teams with no debut vignettes or promos, just as though they expected everyone to already know who they were and what they were about.

* SquashMatch: TropesAreNotGood, TropesAreNotBad. The abundance of squash matches on WWF programming lead to viewers jumping ship to watch WCW, which mostly showcased competitive matches. WCW did use squash matches to create its top draw, Goldberg, though.

* TheMovie: Ready To Rumble, as much as fans would rather not acknowledge the fact.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: You don't even need to look at the Hulk Hogans, Roddy Pipers or Four Horsemen. Look at Booker T's Haircut!

* EnforcedMethodActing: Starting in the late '90s, WCW management decided to not allow the commentators to see the pre-taped segments, thinking that this would make their commentary "more spontaneous". What it ended up doing was making sure the commentators had no idea how to sell the angles that were taking place. One of the more notorious examples of this was when WCW shot an expensive film segment where the [=nWo=] beat up Flair in a field, and Flair hitchhiked to the arena in a turnip truck. When he got back to the arena, dirty and clutching an axe handle, the commentators, having seen none of this, speculated that Flair might have been drunk.
* ExecutiveMeddling: David Arquette fought the idea of his being WCW Champion as viciously as he could, believing that [[PromotedFanboy (as a wrestling fan himself)]] fans would hate a non-wrestler becoming champion. He was right. He then donated the money he made for the angle to the families of deceased wrestlers Wrestling/BrianPillman and Wrestling/OwenHart and to Darren Drozdov, a wrestler rendered quadriplegic in an in-ring accident, ensuring he was the only person involved in the angle to walk out with a good reputation.

* OneSteveLimit: Australia's major wrestling promotion in the '60s and '70s was also called World Championship Wrestling. It was owned by American promoter Jim Barnett, who had a stake in the American WCW (the Georgia incarnation) before Black Saturday and was a consultant for the later Turner-owned promotion.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Dear god, where to even begin...

* NamesTheSame: Australia's major wrestling promotion in the '60s and '70s was also called World Championship Wrestling. It was owned by American promoter Jim Barnett, who had a stake in the American WCW (the Georgia incarnation) before Black Saturday and was a consultant for the later Turner-owned promotion.

* CrushingHandshake: Played with at WCW Bash at the Beach 1998. Stevie Ray faced Wrestling/ChavoGuerreroJr, with the stipulation that if Chavo didn't win the match, he had to face Eddie Guerrero in a "loser gets their head shaved" match immediately following. Chavo, wanting to be fresh for the next match (and ''really'' wanting to get to Eddie after weeks of abuse at his hands) offers Stevie a pre-match handshake and immediately taps out once a shocked-looking Stevie takes his hand. [[EpicFail Chavo would proceed to lose to Eddie and shave his own head.]]

WCW's fortunes didn't really pick up, however, until they came up with an idea that was as simple as it was brilliant. When Wrestling/ScottHall and Wrestling/KevinNash (Razor Ramon and Diesel in the WWF) defected to WCW, people wondered if they were actually under contract to WCW or if they'd been sent by the WWF to "invade" the promotion. Bischoff ran with this and labeled Hall and Nash "The Outsiders", booking it as though they were looking to destroy WCW from the inside out. But they weren't alone: leading up to the 1996 Bash at the Beach pay-per-view, Hall and Nash teased a "third member" of their group. At the event, the Outsiders (and their "third man") were booked to face Lex Luger, Wrestling/RandySavage, and Sting, but the Outsiders chose not to reveal their third man just yet, leaving them in a 2-on-3 situation. During the match, Luger was incapacitated, leaving it as a 2-on-2 match; eventually, Wrestling/HulkHogan came out to the ring, looking as if he was going to aid Sting and Savage. [[FaceHeelTurn Instead, he turned on them]], helping the Outsiders beat down both men and revealing himself as the third member of the group. From this moment, and Hogan's now-famous post-match promo, the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]] was born.

At Starrcade 1998, Nash defeated Goldberg for the the World Title, which also ended Goldberg's undefeated streak; two weeks later on ''Monday Nitro'', Nash and Hogan were scheduled to have a match for the World Title, but instead, Nash [[FingerpokeOfDoom took a poke to the chest from Hogan and sold it like he'd been shot with a cannon]], laying down for Hogan. After the pinfall, the two [=nWo=] factions reformed and ended up beating down an enraged Goldberg, who had been kept out of the arena for most of the show by nWo trickery. This incident came to be known as the Fingerpoke of Doom; in addition to the main event swerve, announcer Tony Schiavone, per Bischoff's orders, revealed prior to ''Nitro'''s main event that [[Wrestling/MickFoley Mick "Mankind" Foley]] would be winning the WWF Championship on a pre-taped edition of ''Raw'' [[InsultBackfire ("That'll put a lot of butts in the seats!")]], which led to over ''half a million viewers changing the channel'', because fans wanted to see the well-liked Foley win the championship. The incident ended up turning many fans away from WCW and towards the WWF (you can read all about the incident, and its impact on both WCW and the WWF, on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fingerpoke_of_Doom That Other Wiki]]).

* CrushingHandshake: Played with at WCW Bash at the Beach 1998. Stevie Ray faced Chavo Guerrero, with the stipulation that if Chavo didn't win the match, he had to face Eddie Guerrero in a "loser gets their head shaved" match immediately following. Chavo, wanting to be fresh for the next match (and ''really'' wanting to get to Eddie after weeks of abuse at his hands) offers Stevie a pre-match handshake and immediately taps out once a shocked-looking Stevie takes his hand. [[EpicFail Chavo would proceed to lose to Eddie and shave his own head.]]

** Triple H too. He debuted in WCW in 1994 as a generic blonde heel jobber named Terra Ryzin, then got repackaged as a snobby [[ForeignWrestlingHeel foreign wrestling heel]] named Jean-Paul Levesque in a tag team with [[Wrestling/WilliamRegal Lord Steven Regal]]. In January 1995, he jumped ship to the WWF after being turned down for a singles push and the rest as they say is history.

** In fact, this and the [[ShockingSwerve shocking swerve]] are the two main reasons why WCW went out of business in the first place.