While plenty of focus can be placed on the failures of WCW and the many mistakes they made when it came to failing to capitalise on golden opportunities, it is also important to give credit to the WWF for playing their part in the Monday Night Wars. When WCW rose to prominence the WWF was on its last legs. Featuring an array of cartoon-esque wrestlers, the promotion was only kept alive thanks to the quality of performances from main event talent such as Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels. During this period the company managed to acquire the services of a number of WCW castoffs, including Steve Austin, Mick Foley and Paul Levesque, who would become known as Triple H. Slowly but surely the WWF managed to gain some ground, mostly on the back of the performances of Austin and his rise to prominence following his "Austin 3:16" promo at King of the Ring 1996. Still, with the NWO running roughshod over in WCW, coupled with the enigma of Sting, the WWF was still struggling to gain real traction. That all changed after Wrestlemania XIV. Austin finally completed his ascent to the top of the ladder, defeating Shawn Michaels in a match that included former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson. From there the Attitude Era of WWF exploded, showcasing raunchy and high impact television that converted viewers in droves. By contrast, WCW were still offering the NWO and were making increasingly bizarre decisions that would see the competition's product eventually equal and then supplant them as the top wrestling company in the world. WCW was responsible for much of its own downfall but were it not for the WWF being able to take advantage of it with the Attitude Era, the promotion may still be alive and kicking today.
Lee Price is a writer for 411mania.com and Starburst Magazine, which is published in the UK. He is currently working as a freelance writer. He hopes to one day fund his addiction to video games by writing about video games, and he maintains a sporadically updated blog at leesrandombulls*it.wordpress.com
