WWE vs WCW

Pro - Wrestling through the 90's. A look at the transformation of the sport in the last fifteen years
On
November 01, 2005
The World Wrestling Federation:
The way pro wrestling has shaped up in the last few years is due in great part to the organisation currently known as WWE. Vince K McMahon took control of the company in the early 80's from his father Vince McMahon sr. Vince Jr. turned a sport that was fading into oblivion and completely revolutionised the concept, and the sport itself. Athletes were suddenly in better shape, and their show's became all about the drama, not to mention agility and all round wrestling pace improved and quickened too, which increased the entertaniment factor greatly.
The introduction of a talented group of young hotshots throughout the late 80s and early 90s meant that the concept of wrestling would change fow eva. This talent included:
The Undertaker

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Bret "Hitman" Hart

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Razor Ramon


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and many others such as Shawn Michaels," Mr. Perfect" Curt Hennig etc. These athletes were bread for the sport and entertained audiences like never before. Michaels has gone on to be one of the greatest and most loyal WWE superstars of all time, as has the Undertaker. But the same cannot be said for a few of the others. The emergence of a new company in the early 90's named "World Championship Wrestling" under the leadership of a man named Eric Bischoff meant that wrestling as the world knew it, was about to undergo another dramatic change. Whether it was a change for the better or the worse remains to be seen, but while it lasted, the heated rivalry never ceased to entertain.

Many of the wrestlers pictured above made a hasty transition to WCW in 1996. these included Razor Ramon and Diesel who, because the WWF owned the rights to their characters names, were forced to compete in WCW under their real names, Scott Hall (Razor) and Kevin Nash (Diesel). This caused no stir to WCW as Bischoff had an ace up his sleeve. He used the new names and characters to form the most famous group in wrestling history, the "New World Order" (nWo). It was Bischoffs decision to turn his biggest superstar heel (bad), as he put the seemingly unkillable Hulkamania to rest for a while, and drew out a new evil character from Hulk Hogan, who also used to compete for the WWE, for the first time in his career. Many believed that this move was the wrong one, and that turning wrestlings ultimate good guy bad would spell disaster for the company but it did the exact opposite. This new group lead WCW's mainstream show "Monday Nitro" into an incredible lead in the ratings battle against WWEs "Raw Is War".
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For a long time there was seemingly nothing Vince McMahon could do to stop the growing popularity of WCW and the NWO. The introduction of WCW's new ultimate good guy spelled only more trouble for McMahon as GOLDBERG became a household name, seemingly overnight. Vince introduced a short lived group named D Generation X to combat the nWo, and he didnt recieve the desired effect. It seemed as thought the end was imminent for the WWE until a string of personal problems and serious injuries of WCWs top talent (Hogan, Scott Steiner, Scott Hall etc.) led the company into a slump, and all of a sudden, the WWE capitolised on the WCWs unfortunate situation and used its top talent in the form of The Rock, and Stone Cold Steve Austin to create the most in your face, A#s kickin' era of wrestling, known as the attitude era.

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With its biggest stars gone, and the creative flare of Bischoff missing, WCW had nowhere to go but down. The introduction to WCW of a former WWE writer named Vince Russo was supposed to bring the ailing company back to prosperity but he did nothing but dig the company itno a further rut with ridiculous stories and a series of Over The Top Matches night after night. In 2001 Vince McMahon acquired WCW and much of its main talent has since appeared in the WWE. A host of unfortunate situations lead to the downfall of WCW, but it cant be denied that a lot of WCW's initial success was due to the hiring of WWE talent. But as they say, all is fair in love and war, and this was a war for the ages.
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