Circuit Idea - WCW 2001: WCW Lives On!

[LillaThrilla]

March 26, 2001: In a surreal moment in wrestling history, Vince McMahon appears simultaneously on both WWF’s RAW and WCW’s Nitro. He has bought WCW from AOL Time Warner and conclusively won the Monday Nitro Wars. WWF stands alone with both WCW and ECW gone within months of each other.

Did it have to end like that? Late in 2000, Fusient Media Ventures (Eric Bischoff and a group of investors) were interested in buying WCW, but there were delays (problems coming up with enough money some say). Then Jamie Kellner became head of Turner Broadcasting and canceled all WCW programming, killing the Fusient purchase hopes dead. Unlike Fusient, McMahon could pick up the wrestlers, the rights, and the video library (and stroke his ego) plus there was the possibility of negotiating a WCW show on a Viacom network.

What if Fusient came up with the money and Kellner either didn’t become head of Turner Broadcasting or was at least persuaded not to cancel all the programming? WCW could have lived on as an independent entity. TNA’s creation becomes much less likely and ROH’s roster is likely frequently poached by WCW’s Cruiserweight division.

First Card: Greed PPV on March 18, 2001
Weekly Shows: Monday Nitro (2 hours - live), Thunder (2 hours – taped Mondays, aired Wednesdays)

Monthly PPVs
Sin
Superbrawl
Greed
Spring Stampede
Slamboree
The Great American Bash
Bash at the Beach
(previously Road Wild & New Blood Rising)
Fall Brawl
Halloween Havoc
Mayhem
Starrcade

Champions as of March 17, 2001
WCW World Heavyweight Title: Scott Steiner
WCW United States Title: Rick Steiner
WCW Tag Team Titles: Chuck Palumbo & Sean O’Haire
WCW Cruiserweight Title: Chavo Guerrero Jr
WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles: vacant - not yet awarded
(WCW TV Title and Hardcore Title had been discontinued by this point)

Greed PPV Lineup
Jason Jett vs Kwee Wee
Cruiserweight Tag Title Tournament Finals: Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo vs Rey Mysterio Jr & Billy Kidman
Shawn Stasiak vs Bam Bam Bigelow
Lance Storm & Mike Awesome vs Konnan & Hugh Morrus
Cruiserweight Title Match: Chavo Guerrero Jr vs Shane Helms
Tag Titles Match: Sean O’Haire & Chuck Palumbo vs Lex Luger & Buff Bagwell
Ernest Miller vs Kanyon
US Title Match: Booker T vs Rick Steiner
Dusty Rhodes & Dustin Rhodes vs Ric Flair & Jeff Jarrett
World Heavyweight Title Match: Scott Steiner vs Diamond Dallas Page

WCW Roster As Of March 18, 2001

INJURED
Bill Goldberg [shoulder - returning soon]
Sid Vicious [severely broken leg - can't wrestle until 2004]

HEAVYWEIGHTS
Bam Bam Bigelow
Booker T
Buff Bagwell
Chris Kanyon
Chuck Palumbo
David Flair [inactive]
Diamond Dallas Page
Dustin Rhodes
Elix Skipper
Ernest Miller (w/ Ms. Jones)
Hugh Morrus
Jeff Jarrett
Jim Duggan
Kaz Hayashi
Kevin Nash
Lance Storm
Lex Luger
Mark Jindrak
Mike Awesome
Mike Sanders
Reno
Ric Flair
Rick Steiner
Road Warrior Animal
Scott Steiner (w/ Midajah)
Sean O’Haire
Shane Douglas
Shawn Stasiak (w/ Stacy Keibler)
Sting
The Wall

CRUISERWEIGHTS
Alex Wright
Billy Kidman
Chavo Guerrero Jr.
Christopher Daniels
Disco Inferno
Evan Karagias
Jamie Noble
Jason Jett
Jason Lee
Johnny Swinger
Kash (Kid Kash)
Kid Romeo
Konnan
Kwee Wee (Allan Funk)
Lash LeRoux
Michael Modest
Mike Sanders
Rey Mysterio Jr.
Shane Helms
Shannon Moore

TAG TEAMS
3 Count (Shannon Moore & Evan Karagias)
Air Raid (Air Styles & Air Paris)
Jung Dragons (Kaz Hayashi & Yang)
Kronik (Brian Adams & Bryan Clark)
The Harris Brothers (Ron & Don Harris)
The Mamalukes (Big Vito & Johnny the Bull)
Team Canada (Lance Storm & Mike Awesome)
Totally Buff (Lex Luger & Buff Bagwell)

STABLES
The Filthy Animals (Konnan, Rey Mysterio Jr, & Billy Kidman w/ Tygress)
The Magnificent Seven (Ric Flair, Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, Rick Steiner, Lex Luger, Buff Bagwell, & Road Warrior Animal

MISC
Commentators - Nitro & PPVs: Tony Schiavone & Scott Hudson
Commentators - Thunder: Tony Schiavone & Mike Tenay
(I think Larry Zybysko was also still under contract, but didn't commentate on the last PPV, last Nitro, or last Thunder.)
Ring Announcer: David Penzer
President: Ric Flair

NOTES
The purchase of WCW should take place soon after the Greed PPV and would probably need to be addressed on-screen. If Bischoff's group are the new owners, an on-screen role for Bischoff is likely such as replacing Ric Flair as WCW President.
It is possible that if allowed to remain on Turner Broadcasting, WCW might this possibly a changed schedule of weekly shows. This might include Nitro moving to Tuesdays (to avoid competition with RAW) and a corresponding move of Thunder to Friday or Saturday (or possibly canceled entirely).

[LillaThrilla]

Let me know if you think I got anything wrong, missed anyone from the roster, or think there's something I should change/add.

TNMUK has an export pack for the very end of WCW that would be quite useful if someone were to use this circuit idea.

[allpowerfulgarth]

I'm almost sure Bret Hart had been released future endeavored FedEx'd by this point. I feel like I remember reading in his book that he was let go from his WCW contract while WCW was still a standalone entity. Also, you're missing Ron and Don Harris as well as Hacksaw Jim Duggan (not that I blame you), and the Magnificant Seven stable only has six members as Rick Steiner is missing, though he does appear in the main roster. Finally, I don't see Sid Vicious anywhere on your roster; it would have been only two months since he snapped his leg in half at Sin, putting him on the shelf indefinitely, but he still had a year left on his contract and could have conceivably been kept around in a non-wrestling role.

My nitpicking aside, this is a good idea for a circuit, and one that would be interesting to see someone take on. I'm sure there are a lot of people who wonder what would have happened had the WWF not bought WCW, but the question is, who's brave enough to try to right the rapidly sinking ship that was WCW 2001?

ETA: Goddamn, how many different ways can I misspell "FedEx'd?" It's not even a real word!

[LillaThrilla]

Correct on all counts, Garth. Thanks for the nitpicking; I've made changes accordingly.

Jun 21, 2011 8:21:35 GMT -5 allpowerfulgarth said:

My nitpicking aside, this is a good idea for a circuit, and one that would be interesting to see someone take on. I'm sure there are a lot of people who wonder what would have happened had the WWF not bought WCW, but the question is, who's brave enough to try to right the rapidly sinking ship that was WCW 2001?

After nearly killing off the Cruiserweight and Tag divisions, bringing them back (albiet sans luchadores) and adding Cruiserweight Tag Titles were good moves on WCW's part. They'd signed up some nice young cruiserweights (Modest, Daniels, Jett, AJ Styles). But the booking was a mess.