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Wrestling What Ifs


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I honestly think Michaels being the 3rd man would have hurt WWE more than it would have helped WCW.  He was a huge star then, but at that time a lot of WCW's fanbase were the casuals that had been brought in when Hogan came over and after Nitro had become a hit show.  Hogan turning had the impact that it did because he had been -the- top face and hero of WCW for so long.  Shawn would have been over, but it wouldn't have had the impact as someone like Hogan turning on the fans.  If Hogan stayed the main face of the company I could see the NWO being a bigger and more long-running Dungeon of Doom with all the members jobbing clean or unclean to him at some point, but with his side ultimately winning the war. 

 

Others are right in that HHH would have likely jumped as well and joined them, leading to The Kliq becoming an official stable when they eventually split with whomever else they'd recruited in the NWO a la The Wolfpack.  DX never happens but the NAO's schtick would probably have gone much the same as it did.  That just leaves me to wonder that if the rest of the Kliq had jumped to WCW, what would have happened to them after WCW died?

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Vince did a prototype of Mr. McMahon in Memphis in '93, so it's not totally inconceivable that the character might get used eventually anyway.

I'm gonna look that up because it sounds wonderful.

 

 

It was, as were Bret Hart and Macho Man cutting ridiculous heel promos on Jerry Lawler/the people of Memphis. 

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What if outside buyers purchased and saved both WCW and ECW? Likely TNA wouldn't have started when it did, but would one or both still be around today?

 

WCW still dies when Jamie Kellner pulls it off television.

 

 

The same token- I don't think WCW dies if Kellner pulled it off television- we can assume that Jarrett would have been one of the core guys in a outside-bought WCW, and since TNA did start when it did, it's likely that Jarrett (or even Russo, who was close to doing the same in 2001) would have brought up the possibility of going to weekly PPVs like TNA did (and WCW's name brand probably could have gotten a WCW TV deal quicker than TNA got one.) 

 

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What if outside buyers purchased and saved both WCW and ECW? Likely TNA wouldn't have started when it did, but would one or both still be around today?

 

WCW still dies when Jamie Kellner pulls it off television.

 

 

The same token- I don't think WCW dies if Kellner pulled it off television- we can assume that Jarrett would have been one of the core guys in a outside-bought WCW, and since TNA did start when it did, it's likely that Jarrett (or even Russo, who was close to doing the same in 2001) would have brought up the possibility of going to weekly PPVs like TNA did (and WCW's name brand probably could have gotten a WCW TV deal quicker than TNA got one.) 

 

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OK, here's my "What if," which approaches a discussion going on right now from a slightly different angle:

 

What if Jamie Kellner could see into the future: a future where live programming is at a premium because it is the only thing that can get a viewer to actually watch live television and avoid DVR, going online to view, etc? Because of this, he keeps WCW Nitro and Thunder on the schedule and Eric Bischoff and Fusient complete the sale and take possession of the promotion.

 

What does the wrestling landscape look like right now?

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OK, here's my "What if," which approaches a discussion going on right now from a slightly different angle:

 

What if Jamie Kellner could see into the future: a future where live programming is at a premium because it is the only thing that can get a viewer to actually watch live television and avoid DVR, going online to view, etc? Because of this, he keeps WCW Nitro and Thunder on the schedule and Eric Bischoff and Fusient complete the sale and take possession of the promotion.

 

What does the wrestling landscape look like right now?

Bischoff would've run it out of business by now, or Fusient would have abandoned ship before he could and it would have folded becasuse of that. Hogan would never have come back to WWE while Bischoff was running WCW, and I don't think Goldberg would have either as I think Bischoff could have kept it going until at least 2008-09. Hall and Nash I think would have still returned to WWE when they did so they could go make money working with Austin and Rock. Once Bischoff finally killed it because he didn't have a billionaire's pockets to reach into anymore, I think you still would have seen Jarrett start TNA just a few years later than he actually did.

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Here's a big "What If?"

 

What if MTV or TNN or some other newer cable network in the early 1980s had decided to start a wrestling company as a means of generating revenue through cheap programming? For the sake of argument, let's say that MTV just skipped the middle man and scooped up Hulk Hogan to start a company in 1983. I would assume that MTV would've raided the territories to build their roster. 

 

What becomes of the wrestling world in a situation where national expansion is done by a media conglomerate and not Vince McMahon? 

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Exactly.  Look at WCW: the latter with Watts, the former with Bischoff, and both with Herd.

 

Does it change McMahon's plans? At the time, I would imagine that its failure would be attributed to a national wrestling company not being a viable model. I wonder if there's any chance that MTV would actually convince a good booker/wrestling guy to work for them. 

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(Since I'm stuck in class and bored, I'll take a stab at fleshing the idea out):

 

Assuming the idea succeeds, it would probably have had a profound impact on wrestling working conditions. Since it's a company started organically by a TV company and not a takeover of a wrestling company (like Turner did to Crockett), it would likely have a different business model than your typical wrestling company. I imagine that an MTV company would be focused on TV ratings and not attracting live gates. Given that, I wonder if we would see more of a model that would come 12 years later with Nitro with big matches on TV. The house show schedule would be lighter and pay would be higher than what anyone could get on the territories. If MTV could lure a wrestling guy to run the wrestling side of it, it would be interesting to see how it develops. It would exist purely as a profit generator or time slot filler for MTV so I imagine they'd be like Turner and almost completely hands off. 

 

in terms of raiding, I assume they'd grab Hogan and make a play for Flair and other top territorial stars. MTV figured out how to spread their network nationwide and air videos that appealed to different groups of people, they might have been better at most than figuring out which wrestlers would appeal to enough people to make this idea a success. 

 

The biggest question would be the fate of the company when MTV got tired of it. The best case scenario is that MTV just sticks it on VH1 when the fad dies and it continues to function. 

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Guys MTV DID start a wrestling promotion. Remember?

 

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That was well after MTV starting a wrestling promotion would've been interesting. "The War To Settle The Score" was actually a big deal in 1985, but no one really cared about the WWF's return in 2000. The limited options on cable in early 1980s changes the landscape dramatically.

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OK, here's my "What if," which approaches a discussion going on right now from a slightly different angle:

What if Jamie Kellner could see into the future: a future where live programming is at a premium because it is the only thing that can get a viewer to actually watch live television and avoid DVR, going online to view, etc? Because of this, he keeps WCW Nitro and Thunder on the schedule and Eric Bischoff and Fusient complete the sale and take possession of the promotion.

What does the wrestling landscape look like right now?

Wrestling still isn't immune to dvr and watch later like other sports. Look at any raw thread to the number of people who post about watching it Tuesday or watch it on an hour delay so they can skip over acts they don't like.

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