Hello and thanks for checking out The Prime Cut! With all the shenanigans that have been happening lately on WWE TV, it was really hard to pick a good subject for my column. Well, there has been one thing many people have pondered over for a while now and that’s if WCW will ever return. There have been plenty of similarities between the current WWE RAW and the former WCW Nitro. Well, today, I’ll take a look at the chances of WCW being brought back on TV. The only way to start is to discuss all the similarities between Eric Bischoff’s RAW and… well, Eric Bischoff’s Nitro:
* The G.M/President — How It All Started *
The last we saw of WCW was at Survivor Series 2001, where the group led by Shane McMahon and their partners, Stephanie McMahon‘s ECW, lost to Team WWF. Since then, everybody thought that for the time being there’s going to be no WCW soon, as if the company was to bring the “promotion” back it’ll be after a while and with probably more manpower added to it.
July 16, 2002 — Vince McMahon announces on WWE RAW that the show will have its own General Manager, who happens to be making his debut for the company the very same night. The man? WCW’s President, the man who made WCW into what it was — Eric Bischoff. The wrestling on-line world went crazy. Storylines were already being talked of and mentioned. The possibilities were numerous. Let’s face it, if WWE RAW is to become Nitro, something really major needs to happen and the man who once tried to bury the company is the key to that — Eric Bischoff, the GENERAL MANAGER of Monday Night RAW.
* The Championship *
Let’s face it. A promotion’s significance is always associated with its Heavyweight Championship belt. Well, I don’t think I need to say much here but remind to all of you that the World Heavyweight Championship, currently held by Triple H, is the former WCW Championship. It’s been held by WCW’s biggest players, as logic would have it. The rumors of a possible WCW return really started growing even bigger then they already were once the WCW Championship became the “RAW Championship” recently. The similarity here is 100%.
* The Wrestlers *
When Vince McMahon purchased World Championship Wrestling in 2001, he had secured the services of most midcarders the company had to offer, alongside 2 women (Stacy Keibler and Torrie Wilson), as well as two accomplished main eventers in the likes of Booker T and Diamond Dallas Page. Well, in 2002, Vince McMahon brought back a group that turned WCW into a huge phenomenon — the nWo. Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Hulk Hogan, who have all been in WWF in the past, were brought back on TV. Just the mention of “nWo” rings the bell for WCW in the head. By securing the services of these three, most of WCW’s big players were back in the WWF. Recently, Scott Steiner signed with World Wrestling Entertainment, adding even more of the “WCW flavor” to the mix. Nash, Hall, and Hogan all started on RAW, and it looks like Steiner is headed there as well!
A wrestler by the name of Goldberg continues to play the role of a “free agent” and continues to state that he doesn’t like WWE’s style and has never met with anyone or discussed anything. It’s doubtful that he’ll wrestle for the company, even according to the guy himself. They all say that. 🙂 Hey, you never know… You never say never in this business!
Bottom line is, the main players WWF couldn’t afford to get in 2001 such as Flair, Hogan, Nash, Hall, Steiner are now aboard.
* The Referees *
Not a lot of people have noticed that, but it’s something interesting to note here. Earl Hebner is the senior official/referee on RAW and is usually refereeing the main event. However, more recently, the second main event match (10 PM) or even the main event has been handled by Nick Patrick or Charles Robinson. Yes, you guessed it right my friends, Patrick and Robinson are the 2 WCW officials and they have been assigned to more and more matches as of lately. Another tease on WWE’s side.
* The Set/Broadcasting Position *
OK, many of you won’t agree with that, but RAW’s set is very similar to what Nitro’s set used to look like. Sure we don’t have any logos or anything like that but the usage of that stopped a while ago, even in the old WWF, so I won’t look for that here. The old RAW set was pretty significant and could be easily recognized from others. Since RAW got a new set once Ric Flair took over the show, it’s resemblance in structure and even some of the so-called decoration do remind people of the Nitro set. I personally won’t make that big of a deal over that similarity, but it’s still worth mentioning as many people have talked about that before.
In probably what’s more convincing and of importance here, Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler have been moved from ringside to a new location near the top of the ramp. That’s where the WCW commentators used to be as well, somewhere near the ramp is a good way to describe it. Another tease.
WILL WWE RAW turn into WCW RAW or WWE Nitro?
No. Nope. The 500th edition of RAW is coming up soon and as many within the company have already said, there is no way the WWE is going to drop the name that made them popular — RAW. I can’t see them calling the show WCW RAW either. I definitely think that the WWE is fully aware of what they were able to do with all these little hints and opportunities, especially now that they had the top guys from WCW on there. I just believe that this is not necessary at the moment. The WWE has RAW and SmackDown! as two separate competing entities, and in order to continue building on their storylines, the best thing to do is work around these two and not toy with the WCW idea too much.
BUT…and that’s a huge but… If ratings keep falling down and business seems to be headed nowhere, there’s always a chance. Remember one thing people, wrestling is wrestling because of its twists and surprises. That’s what the “entertainment” in “Sports Entertainment” should stand for, and not some necrophilia freak who humps a mannequin in a Kane mask. If things continue to slide and the return of Scott Steiner doesn’t seem to be helping, then hey, why not bring WCW back? Have Shane McMahon return to TV. That will make a lot of people happy as well. There’s a lot of things you can do with that storyline and they can all thigh up to the current RAW/SmackDown! storyline as well.
So will we see WCW show up anytime soon? I highly doubt it, but if survival is the means WWE has to go through, I can assure you that the big bucks will be paid, and the big change will be made.
Interpret that little rhyme any way you want! 🙂 Thanks for reading and feel free to e-mail me. My address is at the bottom. Feedback is deeply appreciated and you will receive an answer from me. Thanks for reading The Prime Cut and stop by again!
Eddie
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