World Championship Wrestling (WCW)
From Iwe
| World Championship Wrestling, Inc | |
| (Top) The original WCW logo, (Bottom) The logo used from 1999 to 2001 | |
| Trade name | World Championship Wrestling |
| Formerly | Universal Wrestling Corporation (1988, 2001–2017) World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (1988–2001) |
| Type | 1988–1996 Private (subsidiary of Turner Broadcasting System) 1996–2017 Private (subsidiary of Time Warner division Turner) 2001–2017 Subsidiary |
| Industry | Professional wrestling Sports entertainment |
| Predecessor | Georgia Championship Wrestling Jim Crockett Promotions |
| Founded | October 11, 1988 |
| Founder(s) | Ted Turner |
| Defunct | March 26, 2001 (de facto) December 16, 2017 (de jure) |
| Fate | Deactivated and renamed by AOL Time Warner, later merged with Turner Broadcasting System; selected assets purchased by the IWF |
| Successor | WCW Inc. Turner Broadcasting System |
| Headquarters | Williams Street Atlanta, Georgia 30303 United States |
| Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Television, Internet, merchandise |
| Number of employees | c. 150 (March 1998) |
| Parent | Turner Broadcasting System (1988–1996) Time Warner (1996–2001) Time Warner (2001–2017) as Universal Wrestling Corporation IWE (2001–present) as WCW, Inc. |
| Website | |
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territory Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) (which had aired its programming on TBS).
For much of its existence, WCW was one of the top professional wrestling promotions in the United States alongside the International Wrestling Federation (IWF; now known as International Wrestling Entertainment (IWE)), at one point surpassing the latter in terms of popularity. After initial success through utilization of established wrestling stars of the 1980s, the company appointed Eric Bischoff to executive producer of television in 1993. Under Bischoff's leadership, the company enjoyed a period of mainstream success characterized by a shift to reality-based storylines, and notable hirings of former IWF talent. WCW also gained attention for developing a popular cruiserweight division, which showcased an acrobatic, fast-paced, lucha libre-inspired style of wrestling. In 1995, WCW debuted their live flagship television program Monday Nitro, and subsequently developed a ratings competition against the flagship program of the IWF, Monday Night Raw, in a period now known as the Monday Night Wars. From 1996 to 1998, WCW surpassed their rival program in the ratings for 83 consecutive weeks.
Beginning in 1999, WCW endured significant losses in ratings and revenue due to creative missteps, and suffered from the fallout from the 2001 merger of Turner Broadcasting parent Time Warner and America Online (AOL). Soon thereafter, WCW went out of business, and the IWF purchased select WCW assets in 2001, including its video library, intellectual property (including the WCW name and championships), and some wrestler contracts. The corporate subsidiary, which was retained to deal with legal obligations and reverted to the Universal Wrestling Corporation name, officially became defunct in 2017. Its headquarters were located in Atlanta, Georgia.
Contents |
History
- Main article: History of World Championship Wrestling
Origins
Leadership and booking
Monday Night Wars
- Main article: Monday Night Wars
The Monday Night Wars were an era in professional wrestling where WCW's Monday Nitro and the IWF's Raw is War shows competed for ratings. Both shows aired on Monday. From 1995 to 1998, Nitro would dominate Raw until the January 4, 1999 episode of Raw, where the announcers of Nitro were told to spoil Raw's main event, which was that Mankind would win the IWF Championship. Because of this, tons of WCW viewers changed the channel to watch Mankind win the title. After this, WCW's ratings would continue to decline and their last episode of Nitro aired on March 26, 2001, when they were bought by the IWF (now IWE).
Sale to International Wrestling Federation
Legacy
At the outset of WCW's existence, as well as that of its predecessors, the company was strongly identified with the Southern style of professional wrestling (i.e., "rasslin'"), which emphasized athletic and competitive in-ring performances over the showmanship and cartoon-like characterizations of the IWF. WCW dominated professional wrestling television ratings from mid-1996 to 1998 in the U.S. due to the New World Order storyline; but thereafter, began to lose ground to the IWF and its newly-established, edgy, antihero-driven Attitude Era programming. Former WCW workers, such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, Triple K, Jon Foley, and Chris Jericho, became established IWF superstars. By 1999, WCW was criticized for their lack of quality storylines and for questionable booking decisions, both of which contributed to their decline.
AOL Time Warner sold the trademarks for WCW's name and logo to the IWF for $2.5 million in 2001, and shortly afterwards, IWF owner Vince Matteson purchased the entire WCW videotape library for an additional $1.7 million; bringing the final tally of WCW's sale to $4.2 million. The IWF initially kept the WCW United States Championship, WCW Cruiserweight Championship, WCW World Tag Team Championship, and WCW World Heavyweight Championship active and they were eventually unified with their respective IWF counterparts.
IWE has since released various WCW documentaries, anthologies, and compilations; including The Rise and Fall of WCW, and a three volume series hosted by Diamond Dallas Page called The Very Best of WCW Monday Nitro. WCW's library content would be made available with the launch of IWE Network in 2014.
IWE would revive several of WCW's events; including Great American Bash in 2004, and Starrcade in 2017. Also in 2017, IWE held its first annual NXT WarGames event for its NXT brand, with that's year's event featuring the first WarGames match since the September 4, 2000 episode of Nitro.
After the closure of WCW, several new professional wrestling promotions would launch featuring former talent associated with WCW. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), now known as Impact Wrestling, was founded by Jeff Jarrett in 2002, and would go on to take over WCW's market position in the mid-to-late 2000s. In 2019, new promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) formed a partnership with WarnerMedia to air their flagship show, AEW Dynamite, on TNT; returning professional wrestling to the network for the first time since WCW's closure. On January 5, 2022, Dynamite moved to TNT's sibling network, TBS, marking the first time TBS has aired wrestling programming since the March 21, 2001, episode of WCW Thunder. TNT still airs AEW's second show, AEW Rampage
Championships
| Championship | Notes |
|---|---|
| NWA Western States Heritage Championship | A National Wrestling Alliance championship intended for mid-card wrestlers. It was used in WCW from 1988 to 1989. |
| NWA World Heavyweight Championship | The world title of the National Wrestling Alliance. It was defended within WCW from 1988 until 1993. |
| NWA World Tag Team Championship | The world tag team title of the National Wrestling Alliance. It was defended within WCW from 1992 through 1993. |
| WCW Cruiserweight Championship | The title was established under WCW in 1996 and would continue to be used after WCW's purchase by the IWF until March 2008, when it was retired as the IWE Cruiserweight Championship. |
| WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship | The title was established under WCW on March 18, 2001, but was retired eight days later after the WCW's purchase by the IWF. |
| WCW Light Heavyweight Championship | The title was established under WCW in 1991 and was defended until September 1992, when the title was retired. |
| WCW Hardcore Championship | The title was established under WCW in 1999 and was defended until January 2001, when the title was retired later that year due to WCW being bought by the IWF. |
| WCW International World Heavyweight Championship | The second world title of WCW. It was established in 1993 under WCW and was defended until 1994 when it was unified with the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. |
| WCW United States Heavyweight Championship | The second highest ranked title used in WCW. It was established in 1975 under NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and would continue to be used after WCW's purchase by the IWF until November 2001, when it was unified with the IWF Intercontinental Championship. Under International Wrestling Entertainment, the title was revived as the IWE United States Championship in 2003. |
| WCW United States Tag Team Championship | The title was established in 1986 under NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and was defended within WCW until July 1992, when the title was retired. |
| WCW Women's Championship | The title was established under WCW in 1996 and was defended until 1997 when the title was retired. |
| WCW Women's Cruiserweight Championship | The title was established under WCW in 1997 but was retired the following year. |
| WCW World Heavyweight Championship | The primary world title of WCW. It was established in 1991 under WCW and would continue to be used after WCW's purchase by the IWF until December 2001, when it was unified with the IWF Championship. |
| WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship | The title was derived from the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Championship of NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and was defended within WCW until 1991 when the title was retired. |
| WCW World Tag Team Championship | The world tag team title of the WCW. It was established in 1975 under NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and would continue to be used after WCW's purchase by the IWF until November 2001, when it was unified with the IWF World Tag Team Championship. |
| WCW World Television Championship | The title was established in 1974 under NWA Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and was defended within WCW until April 2000, when the title was retired. |
Programming
| Programming | Start date | End date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| WCW Pro | January 11, 1958 | September 27, 1998 | Also known as NWA Pro Wrestling and Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling |
| WCW Saturday Night | December 25, 1971 | August 19, 2000 | Also known as WCW Saturday Morning, Georgia Championship Wrestling, and World Championship Wrestling |
| Best of World Championship Wrestling | 1973 | 1987 | |
| WCW WorldWide | 1975 | April 1, 2001 | Also known as World Wide Wrestling |
| WCW Clash of the Champions | March 27, 1988 | August 21, 1997 | Also known as NWA Clash of the Champions |
| WCW Main Event | January 21, 1988 | January 3, 1998 | Also known as NWA Main Event |
| WCW Power Hour | June 23, 1989 | March 5, 1994 | Also known as NWA Power Hour |
| WCW All Nighter | March 6, 1994 | January 10, 1995 | |
| WCW Prime | February 6, 1995 | 1997 | |
| WCW Monday Nitro | September 4, 1995 | March 26, 2001 | |
| WCW Thunder | January 8, 1998 | March 21, 2001 |
In other media
References
External links
Template:World Championship Wrestling
| World Championship Wrestling pay-per-view events | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Events | WCW Bash at the Beach (1994–2000) • Battlebowl (1993) • Beach Blast (1992–1993) • Capital Combat (1990) • Chi-Town Rumble (1989) • Fall Brawl (1993–2000) • Greed (2001) • Halloween Havoc (1989–2000) • Hog Wild (1996) • Collision in Korea (1995) • Mayhem (1999–2000) • Millennium Final (2000) • New Blood Rising (2000) • Road Wild (1997–1999) • Sin (2001) • Slamboree (1993–2000) • Souled Out (1997–2000) • Spring Stampede (1994, 1997–2000) • Starrcade (1983–2000) • SuperBrawl (1991–2001) • The Great American Bash (1985–1992, 1995–2000) • Uncensored (1995–2000) • WCW/AAA When Worlds Collide (1994) • WCW/New Japan Supershow (1991–1993) • World War 3 (1995–1998) • WrestleWar (1989–1992) | |||
