Ancient WCW Video Game Unearthed
1989's unreleased UWC features Ric Flair and Sting.
18 years after the company's death rattle sounded out of Atlanta, a brand new WCW game has unexpectedly been unearthed, and nope, it isn't a late PS1-era brawler cancelled alongside the demise of the outfit featuring such luminaries as Lash Leroux and Kwee Wee, but an 8-bit time-piece predating even the first WCW game on the NES.
Enterprising YouTuber Archon1981 happened across the unreleased 'UWC' game on a 1989 review cartridge. The title, developed by now-defunct Japanese studio SETA, is something of a cross between the Nichibitsu WCW game which actually hit stores the same year, and SEGA's Master System classic Pro Wrestling.
Though the name might suggest otherwise, this is definitely a WCW game; the acronym presumably stands for 'Universal Wrestling Corporation', the banner under which the company was initially founded following Ted Turner's takeover of Jim Crockett Promotions.
The roster is also a pretty obvious clue, featuring all WCW's top names at the back-end of the '80s, including Sting, Ric Flair, and The Road Warriors. Bobby Eaton and Stan Lane of the Midnight Express also star, as well as Barry Windham and what appears to be Jimmy Garvin.
UWC now becomes the earliest known WCW game. The last WCW game was 2000's horrific Backstage Assault, in which the wrestling ring was removed entirely. It was something of a digital metaphor for the company's predicament at the turn of the millennium.
Footage of the unreleased UWC can be seen below: