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It's Starrcade 97' and you can save the company, what do you do?

posted 18 years ago by eyebrowmorroco
5 replies | jump to latest

I pinpoint this as the start of the end for WCW. Remember the horrible booking of the Sting and Hogan match. Knowing what you know, how and what would you do to fix the problem? Here is what I would have done

Late 97'

*At Starrcade, Sting defeats Hogan despite the interference of the entire nWo. Bret Hart acts as the interim referee seeing as Nick Patrick is knocked to the floor. On the same night Zbysko wins control of nitro for WCW, The Giant does face Kevin Nash and gets the win; DDP wins the US title from Hennig.

*The following night on Nitro, there is no Hogan and Sting return bout; instead the nWo shows signs of disintegrating. Hogan is livid over his loss and blames the nWo and Bret Hart who "souled out" on the nWo. Hogan, in a fit of rage, challenges Bret Hart to a match on Nitro. Bret Hart walks out and accepts. Bischoff defuses the situation by forcing Bret Hart to face Machoman tonight and if he succeeds, then he can have a "dream bout" against Hogan at WCW Souled Out. Bret Hart defeats Machoman with Sting keeping the nWo at bay. Before the show goes of the air, Hogan ousts Machoman out of the nWo.

Early 98'

*At Souled Out, Bret Hart defeats Hogan who demands no interference from the nWo. Hogan shows glimpses of his "American made" character by pumping up and putting on a good show. On the same night, Sting successfully defends the WCW Championship against his good friend DDP (US champ and #1 contender).

*In the next month, Hogan begins to revert to his old character. He (heel) defeats Flair (face) cleanly on Nitro and in subsequent weeks calls off nWo's attacks on Flair, Luger and DDP. In another few weeks, Hogan in red and yellow comes out and saves Flair, DDP and Luger by attacking the nWo.

*At Superbrawl, Scott Hall (winner of last WW3) wins the WCW Championship over Sting with the final assistance of Machoman. Goldberg's streak comes to an end at the hands of Chris Benoit. Goldberg goes on to become a mid-card heel. Benoit goes on to capture the US title.

*In the next month, the nWo becomes stronger (but they do not expand), they have the WCW Championship with Scott Hall, Machoman is welcomed back to the fold and is appointed the new leader by Hall and Nash due to his unselfishness, Hogan emphatically left and Bischoff is taken apart as he is the last link between Hogan and the nWo. Hogan vows to get revenge for Bischoff (indefinitely sidelined with "injury") against the new leader of the nWo- Machoman in the steel cage at Uncensored. Hogan gets the win.

Mid 98'

* Chris Benoit whilst being US champ shockingly defeats Scott Hall and wins the WCW Championship. He relinquishes the US title. The US title becomes a legitimate stepping stone to the WCW Championship and strengthens the lower division. Over the next year guys like Jericho (provided he has re-signed), Guerrero, Raven and Booker T are guaranteed WCW World Championship reigns. They are all elevated to main event status in the beginning of the new phase for WCW. Some veterans are released such as The Giant and Piper, Jimmy Hart, R.Steiner, Stevie Ray, Ray Traylor, Barry Wyndham, Brian Adams, as they are no longer part of the plan. Of course, there has to be a good mix of young and old. Wrestlers like Regal, Finlay, Ultimo Dragon, Malenko, Saturn, Mysterio and Vampiro are given big pushes. I would make this transition period as quick as possible. I would not bring in the likes of Sid, Bam Bam Bigelow, Animal, S.Douglas and Warrior. I would bring up the powerplant guys (I had a big wrap on Mike Sanders who I believe could have been the next color commentator sensation, of couse Mark Madden was their choice) and make Christopher Daniels and Lance Storm stars upon joining the company.

* As part of the movement towards youth in the storylines, Bischoff returns to a position of authority for the first time in a year and deregisters the nWo. Many members leave the nWo to re-join the roster of WCW. The vets like Machoman, Hall, Nash, and Hennig stick it out and become a rebel faction that causes havoc but cannot partake in in-ring competition. Bischoff lifts the ban for special occasions such as PPV. This is extremely important, so that the majority of veteran wrestlers can still have a legitimate program to be a part of, and so that they can be kept out of the WCW Championship proceedings for the most part and wrestle part-time. The top of the company can almost be separated into the wrestlers vying for the WCW championship and the wrestlers with a score to settle almost like a seniors tour of professional wrestling. Guys like Sting, Hart, Flair, Hogan, DDP and the nWo members can be involved in the latter (and in some cases the former). I genuinely think putting an end to the nWo is a bad idea, how many times have they tried to resurrect or emulate the idea? The nWo should go through phases but not be stamped out to the point that they need to be re-introduced.

Late 98'

*Factions can be re-introduced (some temporary, some permanent) for nostalgic purposes and to work the War games angle of Fall Brawl. It can be the nWo (Nash, Hall, Machoman, Hennig) vs. 4 Horseman (Flair, Luger, DDP, Sting- no longer crow rip-off) vs. Hart Foundation (Hart, Neidhart, British Bulldog, Benoit- no longer WCW Championship, it could be Raven's turn).

*Bret Hart could win WW3 and win the WCW Championship at Starrcade heading into the following year.

What do you think? What would you have done different?

[–] brianwmoule 18 years ago

I agree with most of what you said ^^

[–] sdpadres 18 years ago

So do I with a couple of notable exceptions:

1. I think the nWo should have just ended with Hogan going face.

2. There is no way I would have had Goldberg's streak ended that early (or at all for that matter). He was the best thing they had going for them and was way over with the fans. If he finally did lose, it should have been to another young up and comer and not Nash. But I don't agree with what you said about basically making him a midcard heel. He was so incredibly over. If you doubt that, go watch the match when he beat Hogan for the title. Nobody in wrestling gets that kind of reaction anymore.

[–] delmo-05910 8 years ago

Change what started the decline. I would have halloween havoc go on past eleven. Keep Bishop and Bill as the show runners. Bishop drew in the crowds and knew how to keep the storylines interesting. Bill had the wrestlers doing more moves and the whole psychological treatment.

I would have brought in new wrestlers with cool bios, costumes and different moves. Keep it fresh.

No match can be over by paying down and playing knocked out.

Go through big cities like Chicago and the Midwest they slipped completely.

[–] isbabo 8 years ago

1- You don't give wrestlers creative control.

2- Have Hogan out with NWO. Every time Sting gets ahead they cheat. Then have Bret Hart come out in Sting's corner (think WM4 finish). That evens the odds outside the ring. Sting beats Hogan clean.

[–] Damovieplayer (48) 6 years ago

Only thing I'm not a fan of is your making Goldberg go from having the winning streak to just becoming some midcard heel that apparently goes nowhere considering you failed to mention his name anymore after that comment. You just don't do that to a popular character like that regardless of your own personal opinion on him. It's bad for business and it's decisions like this that will make the WWF take advantage. Make Goldberg unhappy and he leaves and helps the competition skyrocket with a matchup with Stone Cold Steve Austin. That alone can pretty much outweigh all of your ideas here.

Also don't like the idea of The Giant being released. I always thought that WCW should have kept him. He was still in his 20s when he left so there's still plenty left in him. I loved his time with WWF so having him still with WCW can bring in a lot of possibilities.

Oh and you'd also should keep an eye on who becomes a free agent from WWF and ECW. Maybe WCW could have brought in some other guys from ECW like Taz, Rhyno. THe Dudley Boyz. A feud between the Dudleyz and Harlem Heat would surely be money. Taz up against Scott Steiner could be a great feud. Him and Chris Benoit, etc. All these guys worked together in ECW a few years back from 97 so they'd surely have chemistry.

I'd definitely get Shane Douglas in there. Very fun character and Revolution was a great faction imo so there's no way I change that from the WCW history books. Rob Van Dam is definitely someone I'd go after and make a bigger star out of.

The idea of putting the WCW title on Hall sounds great but you have to remember he had issues with alcohol that kept getting him fired so unless you go to him with this knowledge early on in 97 and keep an eye on him nothings going to change there.