10 Ideas That WWE Stole From Other Companies

8. The Second Show

NWo DX
WWE

Introduced in early 1998, WCW Thunder was a secondary show designed to give talent an opportunity to shine away from the company’s flagship Nitro broadcast, with a strong emphasis on wrestling over sports entertainment.

It aired on Thursday nights, and ultimately fell flat after developing an unfortunate “B-show” stigma with little in the way of storyline progression of main event-level star quality.

Sound familiar?

Of course it does! SmackDown came into existence a year after Thunder started airing and immediately adopted a near-identical format to WCW’s second show, even going so far as copying its trademark blue branding.

WWE will look to reinvigorate SmackDown as a major-level show with next week's talent draft, but WCW had no such designs with Thunder. Taped immediately after Nitro every week, the show became more synonymous with names like Prince Iaukea and Lash LeRoux than Sting and Goldberg.

Give McMahon credit for attempting to switch his own formula up, but the early blueprint came straight from WCW.

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Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.