10 Things WWE Suddenly Wanted You To Care About (After Programming You To Hate Them)

9. WCW

Baron Corbin
WWE.com

'Dubya See Dubya', in everything down to the elitist, condescending pronunciation, was framed by the WWF as a hopelessly derivative, practically evil product enjoyed by rednecks.

A retirement home for old fogeys, WCW was the enemy - to such a gotten-to extent that DX once invaded Nitro on what most remember as a tank. It wasn't a tank, but the Mandela Effect conditioned by the WWF's rhetoric put that image in the minds of its loyal fans, who perceived Triple H et al. as Putin-adjacent all-conquering strongmen.

And then the WWF won the Monday Night War in 2001, secured WCW's assets for a paltry sum, and asked the Tacoma, Washington audience in the Pacific Northwest to buy into the idea of a RAW main event performed by two stars of the Atlanta-based league.

Booker T Vs. Buff Bagwell was a return to the Omni only in that it was an omni-disaster: the fans revolted at the mere notion of the match, and the match itself was a deeply basic layout piss-poorly worked. Bagwell, visibly pissed off, was on another wavelength to Booker, and seemed to remonstrate with the crowd not as a heel but as a man who knew the WWF has tried to f*ck on him.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and surefire Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!