A Brief History Of World Wrestling All-Stars
What happened between WCW closing its doors and TNA opening for business?
When the bell tolled one final time on World Championship Wrestling, the sports entertainment landscape would never be the same again. No more Monday Night Wars, no more channel hopping from one wrestling show to the other and, worst of all, no more competition for Vince McMahon.
However, out of the ashes of World Championship Wrestling rose the phoenix of World Wrestling All-Stars. Okay, “phoenix” may be a bit of a stretch... maybe more of an angry, defiant seagull. Either way, WWA was born and WCW loyalists had a new fix to stave off the Nitro withdrawal.
Travelling the world between 2001 and 2003, World Wrestling All-Stars was a short-lived touring promotion that held several wrestling PPVs across the globe. WWA boasted countless stars of the Attitude Era, bolstered by an array of impressive up and coming talent, and seemingly picked up where WCW had left off.
In an era dominated by WWF as the sole survivor of the wrestling war, fans were given a much needed alternative, if they knew where to look. WWA has since become a forgotten part of wrestling history but their existence was influential in shaping the landscape of things to come.
Enough chit chat. Grab your reading glasses and open up the WWA scrapbook as we relive the history of World Wrestling All-Stars.
10. Post-WCW
When WCW died in April 2001, for many viewers across the globe, it spelled the end of their tenure as wrestling fans. Simultaneously, it also signalled the end for the in-ring careers of many performers as well.
When the letters of WCW were adopted by the World Wrestling Federation, World Championship Wrestling as we knew it was no more. With no sign of Goldberg, Sting, or the New World Order, the WCW that resided in Vince McMahon's world was a poor representation of the original.
While some name-value stars - such as DDP, Booker T, and Billy Kidman - did float over in the buyout, for the most part, WWF simply picked up the stars they wanted and discarded the ones they didn’t. Time Warner contracts also hindered the talent transfer and allowed many of WCW's top stars to simply sit at home and earn big money.
Regardless of the representation, WCW was now WWF property and the machine kept on moving without so much of a look in the rear-view mirror at the trail of destruction left behind. McMahon took the name of WCW and continued to toy with the lifeless carcass for the remainder of the year.
With the Monday Night Wars over, a cocktail of name-value stars and world class up and comers were suddenly free agents. All of which provided an opportunity for a new upstart company to enter the fray...