Editorial - January, 26 1999
A completely different angle...
Wrestling is a big money business. Years ago, wrestling promotions were
regionally based and struggling to survive. Vince McMahon changed that.
In the mid 1980's Vince decided to have a "super card" called
Wrestlemania.
Following the success of Wrestlemania's, WWF created
new
super cards like Summer Slam and the Royal Rumble. Today, the demand on
promotions to produce fresh entertainment nightly is enormous.
WCW and WWF each produce between 4 and
7
hours of television programming every week. Both companies also produce
monthly pay-per-views. So how can a company produce several weekly TV
shows and pay-per-view every month? Here is one idea...
WCW and NWO officially split and
become
separate promotions. In football terms, WCW would be
like
the NFC and NWO would be the AFC. WCW
would control Nitro and produce 5 pay-per-views a year.
NWO would control Thunder (in a better time-slot
perhaps,
2 hours long) and be responsible for 5 pay-per-views a year. Each
company
would have their own talent, TV shows, commentators, angles/storylines,
belts, etc. WCW wrestlers would not appear or perform
at
NWO events and vice versa. Twice a year,
WCW and NWO would host joint card
pay-per-views. These joint card pay-per-views would serve as a
"championship game" for the two companies.
Using WCW/NWO as two separate
companies
would allow more athletes to get over with the fans. It would be much
easier to give young talent a push. With Nash, Hall, Hogan and crew in
their own promotion, WCW could push guys like Chris
Jericho, Chris Benoit, and Saturn while still using Flair, Sting, DDP
and
others. NWO would be able to push their younger guys
too,
people like Bryan Adams and Scott Norton could get quality matches and
storylines even though Hogan, Nash, Hall, Savage, Hart would still be
the
big stars.
Since WCW would only be responsible for producing 1 TV
show a week; it would be easier to create consistent quality
entertainment.
Likewise NWO would only have to worry about having 1
TV
show to prepare for each week. The pay-per-views would also rise in
quality. WCW would produce a ppv in January and have
until March (their next ppv) to build new stories and feuds.
NWO would produce a ppv in February and then have until
April to develop their new stories and feuds. Then comes the payoff -
twice a year. Superstars from WCW face Superstars from
NWO. NWO champions vs.
WCW champions. It would be fairly easy to create large
and tremendous card, no jobber bouts to bring down the pay-per-view.
The bottom line, this would be good for the wrestlers. They wouldn't be
forced to perform as frequently. Young wrestlers could more easily get
the
push they deserve. The quality of the TV and pay-per-view programs
would
rise substantially. The big winners would be the fans.
Credits go to Mark E. Matt