A Potential Comeback That Wasn't To Be

A Potential Comeback That Wasn't To Be

January 21, 2015

By Ryan Porzl

On March 26, 2001, WCW held their final show due to the WWF buying the promotion. The promotion had been owned by Ted Turner since 1988 and had been around under various incarnations decades before. Every long time fan knows the story that saw WCW go from coming extemely close to driving the WWF out of business to being bought by them cheap only a few years later. There's been many reasons why from backstage politics to incompetent management to bad booking. Here's a question for you. If WCW wasn't bought, could they have made a comeback? Could they have regained their momentum and take advantage of the WWF/E's declining fortunes? I think so. While not overnight, I do believe that if the company wasn't bought that they could've made a comeback within two-three years and I'm going to explain why. Obviously, these are "what ifs" since I don't know where the booking and matchmaking would've gone. Instead, I'll look at where things were in the last few months.

Talent

The first reason for a possible WCW comeback was in the talent. By March 2001, WCW slowly but surely were righting things regarding talent. The established but aging names were finally being taking out of the main event to make way for new comers. Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper who commanded big salaries and had nothing left in the company were gone, Scott Hall was finally fired after one too many incidents due to his personal problems, and Ric Flair was being used as an authority figure instead of a wrestler. Meanwhile, the main eventers available were being phased out of the main event and becoming reliable. Goldberg and Diamond Dallas Page were still around and still very popular. Kevin Nash, Lex Luger, and Buff Bagwell all reportedly had histories of being difficult but towards the end were becoming helpful with Nash cleanly losing the WCW World Title to Booker T and taking the pinfall loss to Chuck Palumbo and Sean 'O Haire thus losing the WCW Tag Titles. Speaking of O'Haire and Palumbo, Luger and Bagwell would go on and lose to them cleanly in less than a minute at the Greed Pay-Per-View. 

Then there is the young up and coming talent that many were starting to see potential in. Sean O'Haire and Chuck Palumbo were riding high as the WCW World Tag Team Champions where they scored wins over Kevin Nash & DDP as well as Lex Luger and Buff Bagwell. O'Haire was rightfully seen as a potential superstar and future World Champion. Though inexperienced, he was getting better and better in both ring skills and mic work. Palumbo had also begun to establish himself as a good tag team wrestler. While he likely would never make it to the main event, he was very good in tag teams. He was the kind of wrestler that could be paired with anyone and could make it work. Shawn Stasiak was also coming into his own in early 2001. He was a talented wrestler, good athlete, and a good talker. By the time WCW closed, Stasiak began a singles run as the “Mecca of Manhood” and looked like another future star in the making. Had WCW stuck around, it wouldn't be surprising if they booked him to win the United States Title that year. Then there's Mark Jindrak. While Jindrak lacked charisma and mic skills, those could be masked. With a manager, being in a stable, or being in a tag team, he could be put with someone that can cover that. Jindrak was a good wrestler and a great athlete so he was a great hand. Mike Sanders had shown to be both a solid wrestler and good talker. He not only had a good future as a wrestler but as a manager once he retired. The Wall was starting to come into his own as a wrestler during this period. He showed promise during the early months of TNA in 2002 as Malice and then in All Japan Pro Wrestling as Gigantes. He definitely showed potential as a monster type main eventer or an enforcer to a main eventer. While he passed away in late 2003, it's unknown if it could've been prevented or not had WCW still been around and him being there. Mike Awesome was also starting to be rebuilt nicely during this period. After debuting under a career killing gimmick, Awesome spent the last half of 2000 with ridiculous gimmicks like the Fat Chick Thrilla and That 70s Guy. By early 2001, Awesome was given his Career Killer gimmick back, paired with Lance Storm in his Team Canada stable, and his mullet was cut to give him a new modern haircut. Lance Storm was signed in 2000 and was quickly established as an upper midcard star who would win the United States Title and challenge for the World Title. Kanyon seemed to finally tap into his potential after turning on DDP and be given a DDP like gimmick as Positively Kanyon. Kanyon always seemed to have what it took to be a star and he was finally given the TV time and commitment from the company.

Then you have reliable veterans like Rick Steiner, Shane Douglas, Bam Bam Bigelow, and Hugh Morris who could put on good matches, be upper midcard champions, and tag team champions. Finally, WCW was successful in creating new main event stars in Jeff Jarrett, Booker T, and Scott Steiner with the latter being one of the hottest acts in American Wrestling at the time.

Then you have to ask yourself, "what about other talent"? Remember, ECW went out of business and if WCW remained then TNA would not exist. WWF may have gotten many of the great ECW talent but they didn't get everyone great. Many ECW stars that weren't pick up could have went to WCW and been great assets. Steve Corino would fit into the main event and possibly become a world champion. CW Anderson would work very well in the United States Title picture and possibly become a future world champion. Simon and Swinger would've been great additions to the heavyweight tag team division while the FBI would've been just as great for the cruiserweight tag team division. Mikey Whipwreck, Super Crazy, Nova, and Julio Dinero would fit in the cruiserweight division with Dinero also potentially reuniting with Jason Jett. Then there are TNA talents. They already had AJ Styles in the tag team Air Raid. Meanwhile, Christopher Daniels was briefly signed and Chris Harris did a pre show match at Superbrawl Revenge. Who knows who else could've been brought in?

Cruiserweights

The Second reason for a potential comeback is the fact that WCW had something that WWF never had which was a strong cruiserweight division. With the right booking, WCW would be able to lure fans with this since WCW was really the only one of the two companies to have a cruiserweight division as WWF was never committed to lighter weight wrestlers. More importantly is the fact that right before WCW closed, they created a Cruiserweight Tag Team Division. Already very popular in Japanese Wrestling, WCW was the first company in America to have a lighter weight tag team division which gave Cruiserweights more to do while they didn't have to worry about potentially getting booked to be squashed by bigger wrestlers. In 2000, WCW had many talented teams like the Jung Dragons and 3 Count who were putting on great matches but never got near the World Tag Team Titles. Now with a Cruiserweight Tag Team Title, these teams had purpose and something to go for all the while not having to worry about getting squashed in matches against bigger teams like O'Haire/Palumbo, Team Canada, and Kronik. The company also had a solid singles division with Shane Helms winning the title at Greed and being positioned as the face of the division as well as former champion Chavo Guerrero, Jamie Knoble who just became a singles wrestler, and newcomers Jason Jett (formerly EZ Money in ECW) & Kash (formerly Kid Kash). Rounding things out were Kaz Hayashi, Yang, Shannon Moore, Evan Karagias, Air Styles (AJ Styles), Air Paris, Lash LeRoux, Elix Skipper, Kid Romeo, Billy Kidman, and Rey Mysterio, Jr to name some.

Little to No WCW Talent for the WWF to use

The WWF/E relied on WCW talent for the first few years after the sale. Without the WCW talent, the WWF would have been short on many tag teams and cruiserweights. For the sake of argument, let's say the WCW stayed for the forseeable future. Look at how much the WWE would lack. They wouldn't have as many teams as they did without the WCW guys. The very popular Booker T and Goldust team wouldn't have happened because both were in WCW. Los Guerreros wouldn't have happened because Chavo was in WCW. Edge and Rey Mysterio's team wouldn't have existed because Mysterio was still in WCW. Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon wouldn't be there because both were in WCW. Then there are the Cruiserweights. Imagine WWF's version from 2001-2004 only without Shane Helms (The Hurricane), Rey Mysterio, Jamie Knoble, Billy Kidman, and Chavo Guerrero. The division would be kind of barren, huh? Meanwhile, a lot of the legends we saw in the WWE likely wouldn't be there. Ric Flair, Diamond Dallas Page, Kevin Nash, Scott Steiner, Goldberg, and Booker T were all under contract to WCW for years with the WWE not being given the opportunity to buy them out. Even if they did show up, it would likely be much later than they did. Sure, the WWE would likely bring guys up from developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling to make up for these losses but they would be unknowns and would take time to establish them.

Tag Teams

In 2000, the WWF had a very strong tag team division with Edge & Christian, The Hardy Boyz, and the Dudley Boyz on top as they stole the show many times while the gold kept changing hands. Meanwhile, the company also had other extremely popular teams like the APA and Too Cool while teams like The Holly Cousins, T & A, and the Right to Censor rounded things out. Fast forward a year and the tag division began to rapidly fall apart. T & A broke up at the end of 2000 or early 2001. Too Cool were broken up after Grandmaster Sexay was fired in the spring of 2001. At the same time, The Right to Censor imploded. The company's top team Edge & Christian broke up in the summer of 2001 to begin singles careers. The Hardy Boyz broke up in December 2001, reunited in January 2002, and broke up for good in the summer. Both the Dudleyz and the APA would break up in the spring of 2002. While they did reunite in the fall of 2002 and early 2003 respectively, they were really stale and the magic was gone. With no WCW talent, what teams would they have? Sure, La Resistance, the Basham Brothers, and Team Angle/World's Greatest Tag Team but that wasn't enough.

Now compare that to the WCW teams at the time. For the heavyweight tag team division, they had the World Tag Team Champions Chuck Palumbo & Sean O'Haire, former two time tag team champions Kronik, former two times tag team champions The Mamalukes, Totally Buffed, Lance Storm & Mike Awesome, and the Insiders. Meanwhile, the Steiner Brothers were both in Ric Flair's Magnificant Seven stable so there was always the chance of them reuniting on certain occasions.

The cruiserweight tag team division was also very strong in it's short history featuring first champions Elix Skipper & Kid Romero, last champions Rey Mysterio, Jr. and Billy Kidman, The Jung Dragons, 3 Count, and Air Raid which featured indy wrestler Air Paris and future TNA legend AJ Styles (as Air Styles). All in all, the Cruiserweight Tag Team Division would also bring eyes to WCW since no American company had anything like it and as of writing, no American company has done it since.

The WWF/E's decline

Finally, the biggest reason WCW could've made a comeback is because of the WWF's own declining fortunes. In the years following the WCW purchase, the WWF would decline and become a shell of their former selves. The company would come off very vulnerable in the first few years alone as many of their big names would leave or go down one at a time. "Stone Cold" Steve Austin walked out on the company due to unhappiness in 2002 and then attempted a comeback in 2003 only to be forced into retirement after Wrestlemania XIX. The Rock began spending more time in Hollywood in an attempt to launch a movie career which resulted in his schedule decreasing every year. He missed three months in 2001, six months in 2002, nine months in 2003, and only made a hand full appearance while wrestling one match in 2004 when his contract expired. Triple H went down with a torn quad in May 2001 and missed the rest of the year. Chris Benoit suffered a neck injury in June 2001 and missed eleven months. Kurt Angle began suffering neck problems by the end of 2002 and would be have periods of inactivity over the years. Big Show began suffering with weight issues that left him obese and no longer the promising up and comer he was in WCW. Even promising up and comers had problems as Edge went down with a severe neck injury in 2003 while Jeff Hardy suffered from a drug problem for many years. The company also suffered greatly without Austin and the Rock as the other attitude era stars like Triple H, Kane, and Undertaker couldn't carry the load. Sure they were draws but they couldn't fill the void.

Then there was the case of WWE barely building any new stars. In fact from 2001-2014, the company only got behind six wrestlers and had a serious committment. They were Brock Lesnar, Randy Orton, John Cena, Batista, Edge, and Alberto Del Rio. Sadly for them, not one of these wrestlers truly became the megastar the WWE had needed. Brock Lesnar had the excellent wrestling pedigree along with god given strength and look. However, as talented and athletic as he was, he lacked the charisma and mic skills to take him to that next level. Worst of all, Lesnar never showed a love for the business and ultimately quit after two years because he couldn't take the schedule. Orton seemed like a future star but he never reached the heights the WWE wanted. Cena has since been crowned Austin's successor as the face of the WWE but a combination of Cena's limitations as well as the WWE's insistance of shoving him down fans throats has made Cena arguably the most hated fan favorite in wrestling history. Batista seemed to have the best chance as he grew as a wrestler while showing good mic skills, charisma, and swagger. Unfortunately, Batista didn't have the same longevity as the others being eight years older than Brock & Cena while being eleven years older than Orton. A late bloomer in the business, Batista didn't turn pro until he was 28, made it to the WWE main roster at 33, and won his first World Title at 36. Add bouts of injuries and you have the ingredients for a short shelf life. Edge seemed like a no-brainer especially after catching on with his Rated-R Superstar gimmick but a severe neck injury sidelined him for almost all of 2003 and into 2004. While Edge later became a main event star, the WWE likely wasn't comfortable completely investing in him. Sadly, Edge would eventually be forced into retirement due to his neck problems. Finally, there's Alberto Del Rio who was supposed to be the successor to Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio as the WWE's new star for the hispanic fanbase. Unfortunately, Del Rio is a decent wrestler but nothing great. He didn't have the exciting style of Guerrero and Mysterio nor their charisma or Guerrero's mic skills. Sadly, every other wrestler that had potential was never fully backed by the WWE as the company squandered many wrestlers who they could've done so much with. From the infamous Zack Ryder burial of 2012 to CM Punk being WWE Champion for more than a year only to play second fiddle to John Cena and his matches to the WWE only getting behind Daniel Bryan after the 2014 Royal Rumble crowd spewed their venom.

I know a lot of people would argue things would be different if WCW was around because Vince is supposed to be at his best when there's competition and when he's getting his ass kicked. The problem is would it be different? I have no doubt Vince would be more motivated but the problem is that Vince can be as motivated as he wants. If he doesn't know what to do or where to go then it doesn't matter. It's now fourteen years since the end of WCW and it's become clear with every passing year that Vince has lost it. He's clearly outdated and stubborn which is a bad combination. Vince will go down in history as one of the greatest wrestling promoters the sport has ever seen but time has passed him by. Like Verne Gagne in the 80s, Vince was a great promoter in his day but now is a tired and outdated old man who doesn't get it anymore. Look no further than his product. It's 2015 at the time of this writing and yet we still see Vince prefer to push the handsome, tall, strong, G.I. Joe action figures all the while not getting behind wrestlers like a Daniel Bryan because he may not have the look. He's buried and sabotaged wrestlers like Zack Ryder because they caught on with the fans on their own without the WWE marketing machine or because Vince wanted them to. We get outdated gimmicks like Russian sympathizer Rusev that would fit during the Cold War to bull fighters in Los Matadores that would be awful in the New Generation Period. Every year we see at least one evil authority figure and the sad thing is that you would actually have to go all the way back to 1997 to find the last year where WWE didn't have an evil boss at any point in the calendar year. The company has also relied heavily on aging legends like a crutch which is ironic since most were the same ones the WWF ridiculed for being old in the 90s when they were in WCW. 

Ultimately, we'll never know if WCW could've made the comeback if they stuck around. However, it's fascinating to wonder "what if" especially with the attempted rebuilding the company was making before the plug was pulled. You also have to wonder with the WWF declining the way it had, was WCW sold at the worst possible time? Timing is everything and it seemed like if WCW was poised to make a comeback then it would've been at the time they were sold.