The current wrestling industry is basically summed up in three letters: WWE. Despite this one company dominance in the new millennium, it hasn't always been this way in most fans lifetimes. Just forty years ago there were various major wrestling brand names across North America. In the 1980's, Vince McMahon set about cannibalizing these wrestling territories into his WWF pop culture circus. But twenty years ago fans still had a choice of wrestling to watch, the two big North American names of WCW and WWF were doing battle in a ratings war which produced some of the best wrestling content in television history. In 2001 the wrestling industry was changed forever. A series of creative and corporate mistakes saw WCW struggling to compete with the WWF. When Time Warner decided wrestling was too low class for their network, WCW died a death. Vince McMahon swooped in and bought the bones of the once mighty organization at a bargain price. The man who had gave the world Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin had achieved the unthinkable - a complete ownership of the pro wrestling industry. There are of course small businesses that have popped up since, plus Japan and Mexico are still wrestling hotbeds. But in truth, the WWE is on a different planet to any other 'wrestling company' doing business. Ring of Honor and TNA have a very small audience, and the majority of key wrestling fans (the casual ones) have never heard or seen TNA. If these small organizations ever managed to seriously hit some industry benchmarks, McMahon could just gobble them up into his empire. It is ants versus gorillas. The WWE is king of the world. Is it a shame for wrestling? It is debatable. WWE is a sports entertainment corporate giant. It is a different world and a different business, there have been positives and negatives to the drastic changes within the industry. It is fair to say, that despite the blunders of the final WCW years, many fans to this day miss the World Championship Wrestling. WWE own the rights, brand, logos, content and various other pieces of WCW. But since gaining ownership, there has been little in the way of promotion or exploitation of the WCW brand. Yes, there has been a couple of DVD's and the initial 'Invasion' angle, but on the whole, Vince McMahon has happily cast the WCW brand to a grave. WCW was a giant name in wrestling, it had it's own range of legendary characters and matches. Vince McMahon currently finds himself facing a level of staleness in his own wrestling company, the WWE struggling to boost pay per view numbers as well as other woes. Here we look at why Vince McMahon should reawaken a sleeping giant. Ten reasons why Vince McMahon should bring back WCW alongside the WWE...
