WCW vs. WWF and Why We Can't Let History Repeat Itself

You read Jericho’s new book didn’t you?

I’ve actually noticed similar parallels with MMA and professional wrestling. I always felt that WWE=UFC, WCW=Strikeforce, and ECW=Bellator (especially since ECW was known to be hemorrhaging money, and Bellator is reportedly hemorrhaging money as well. Both are loved by their respective hardcore fans). These three MMA orgs were run similarly to what I felt were their professional wrestling counterparts.

Not sure if the juice is worth the squeeze, but then again- maybe it is.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate my nerdom coming in to play :)

Chris, I’ve always thought the same. Bellator does things differently with a hardcore fan base and a nut head guy = ECW.

… maybe ever. Beats the crap out of the editorial garbage that the lead writers are farting across the main page these days.

Plus, I like a man who has the confidence to point out the many similarities between pro wrestling and mma knowing full well that he’s going to be heckled and harassed by a crowd of faux-intelligent overcompensators.

I hope you start working on a post just in case ZUFFA buys Bellator out of nowhere and have a good ol’ time reminiscing about ECW.

outstanding.

That was at like 1am, and I just now finished reading the article :/

which sent me down a whole ’nother rabbit hole :/

While I agree it would be great for SF to remain as is, promoting great fights that are not the most meaningful in pure sporting terms. I don’t think this is Zuffa’s aim despite what Danna White says.

They wish to use SF as a means to stop a competitor emerging and tie up virtually all mid and upper level fighters. SF will mop up Dream fighters, WVR fighters and marketable US based fighters. With competition unable to form a divisions worth of decent fights the UFC will eventually be the only place to go for elite talent

SF will block a company moving onto Showtime for another 2 years making it difficult for competition to get exposure beyond HDTV.

The UFC will tie up the talented staff at SF, the only company that has come close to a profitable competitor on a national level in recent years. With this added staff Zuffa can run shows week in week out. For example the current UFC staff run a PPV, former WEC staff run a Fight Night and former SF staff run a third show in the month. Zuffa will be in a position to saturate the market nationally, while being the forerunner internationally.

So while I agree that it would be nice for SF to remain, I believe the UFC will fold SF just like they did with the WEC. I disagree that the motive will be a hatred of SF fighters or pride like the motives of McMahon. The motive will be the expansion of the UFC brand into the undisputed big leagues of MMA.

Sorry for being a little tl/dr

1/2 of Vicious and Delicious, the greatest tag team of all time not named The Road Warriors. Scott Flash Norton was so underrated.

damn you for this article. I actually remember undertaker being ambushed by kronik. I miss the old days of wrestling deeply ;_________;

Rec’d because I’ve never ever been a pro wrestling fan but I still found this post very interesting

Good times good times. Good post, mister.

Nice post but it is a bit of a onesided look at that era and the WCW guys (I was watching when it was still Georgia Championship Wrestling).

One of which was a former WCW Tag Team champion reduced to installing cable in my apartment after the buyout. Also, DDP is one of the nicest and most intelligent people that you will ever meet. And his wife is just ridiculously good looking in person.

I totally agree with your conclusion. I think the SF model is really valuable, and adds to the sport. If Zuffa puts in the time and effort to preserve it as more than just a pure feeder…or a spare parts depot, the sport will be better for it.

WWE can make any match they won’t they just had to come up with a half decent story line and boom feud. It didn’t matter really that O we are finally going to see Booker T v HHH or whom ever. What matters is the narrative they set up.

in UFC its all about the fights. If they don’t give us the fans relevant fights we want to see than we most likely and hopefully will not buy there product. With the eventual UFC Strikeforce absorption the relevant fights to be made will become very very possible and we will demand them.

A Strikeforce absorption is a good thing.

Nice post btw

Frankly, I think it is quite stupid. But this was a very well written, well thought out, accessible article for even a guy who had never heard of the WCW before. Good job and rec’d.

way back before fun was invented, but this is a very well done post. Fwiw, I too fear Dana’s pride will get in the way of his business sense and this deal goes sideways.

Even integrating their top guys and then using it as a feeder league would be a better use than simply killing it off.

Greatest fanpost ive read yet on BE. Thanks for that. It was great to understand how things went down after pro wrestlings merger.

but dig ur post… full of piss n vinegar… n i like it!
so thanks… and yes, lets hope DW and Zuff’E’Nuff crew don’t just slowly let all the air out of SF, it would be a waste… i guess the one thing I didn’t get from your post was if there was a Coker equivalent left to oversee WCW in any way and whther or not they retained any kind of power (which given what little I understand of VM, I would guess to be no) in which case – therein lies another possible dimension of difference btn ufc/sf and wwf/wcw… if coker stays ‘in the mix’…

also beams me up to see how many hardcore BE headz r old core wrestling fans…

Gold.

and maybe most embarassingly, Diamond Dallas Page, a man who has paid his dues something fierce, was the babyface of all babyfaces in WCW, was reduced to stalking The Undertaker’s wife, who looks like Avril Lavigne + 20 years + chain smoking, when his wife at the time, was a fucking Playboy Playmate.

Kimberly Page…. sooooo hot, want to touch the hiney.

Also, you gotta remember that WCW fans HATED WWF/E so once those guys went north, the fans weren’t likely to follow.

I am such a mark for anything pro wrestling related from pre- 2005 or so. It was really interesting to see the parallels you drew and made me think of how Lorenzo Fertitta compared his business model to WWE’s on Fighting Words.

Also, I enjoyed some aspects of ECW, like the Malenko/Benoit/Guerrero trio. I would have loved to see those guys in the cage. I didn’t like Sabu and kind of loved seeing him get owned constantly.

I mean, I guess I just didn’t particularly find the way he wrestled to be technically pleasing. I know he trained under some of the best, but, as you could see by who I enjoyed in ECW, I didn’t have a lot of love for the guys who were loved for doing all that crazy shit.

 That Vince let his bias decide the fate of WCW. I grew up an NWA/WCW fan. When I first saw the WWF I thought it was garbage. Of course I grew to like it but NWA/WCW was always the best to me. I am hoping beyond hope that they keep Strikeforce up and running and that they do a “Superbowl” type show once a year and a special “cross promotional” match once a quarter or something like that. It won’t happen but one can dream.

Great post btw.

strikeforce is more of an ecw than a wcw, not that big of a league compared to the ufc
wcw ran themselves 6 feet under before wwf purchased them
pro wrestling and mma have nothing in common