12 Misconceptions About WCW You Probably Believe

12. Early WCW Was A Realistic Wrestling Haven

First, a little balance.

There's a lot of staunch defensive grandstanding here, because the chap writing this has a ton of affection for WCW. Warts and all. However, he's not stupid enough to miss out the fact that misconceptions can work both ways. Sometimes, wrestling fans say things about the company that are meant to be polite but skim over some harsh truths. Case in point: The company's early days.

Back in 1988 following Ted Turner's soft name change (they still promoted events under the NWA banner for ease), WCW carried many of the traditional territory vibes people had come to know and love. It's often said that early WCW was everything the WWF could never be, but...that simply isn't true.

WCW in the late-80s wasn’t some love letter to traditional pro wrestling goodness and nothing else. Many point to bouts like Ric Flair vs. Ricky Steamboat from 1989’s Chi-Town Rumble and say, ‘Oh, that was a cut above what the WWF could offer in-ring’. Well, yes and no. Steamboat had worked a classic with Randy Savage at WrestleMania III a few years prior, and some of the undercard stuff on WCW shows was truly dire.

Select gimmicks, like The Ding Dongs, were as cartoony as anything McMahon produced. In fact, scratch that. They were much, much worse. Various executives misinterpreted the WWF's family friendly style, and they awkwardly squashed it right up next to the world class work put on by guys like Flair, Steamboat, Sting, Terry Funk and others.

It was jarring, and it didn't do much for love-filled thoughts that WCW was a realistic wrestling haven that avoided "sports entertainment".