12 Misconceptions About WCW You Probably Believe
1. They Always Just Copied WWE
In a word, no.
If anything, there’s way more proof that Vince McMahon was copying WCW’s homework than the other way around. Amongst other things, WWE lifted WCW’s edgy nWo cool for their own ‘Attitude Era’, McMahon himself was a rip off of Eric Bischoff’s evil boss character, WrestleMania was “granddaddy of them all” after Starrcade did it first, Hell In A Cell’s cage was very WarGames, SmackDown came hot on the heels of the similarly-blue Thunder, and WCW had more than one World Title before that was the done thing in WWE.
See? It's McMahon and WWE who looked elsewhere for inspiration across the board, not World Championship Wrasslin. Claims that WCW went into copycat mode as a WWF clone should be shot down with a decidedly 90s Nerf foam blaster immediately. Eric Bischoff created the earliest blueprints McMahon would follow for an awful lot of things. Fact.
That's not to say the WWF couldn't look to other places when they badly needed to rethink a stinky, stale product from 1996 onwards. Paul Heyman's original ECW also helped; McMahon just had the budget and audience to make a bigger deal by tweaking 'Hardcore Revolution' into 'WWF Attitude'. Meanwhile, WCW managed to maintain an ultra-cool edge with the nWo even though Bisch couldn't go as raunchy as Raw.
He deserves a massive pat on the back for that. WCW made a ton of mistakes and was deservedly laughed at many, many times, but it wasn't a wannabe WWF clone and nothing else. This article opened with proof that certain execs tried to mimic cartoony "sports entertainment" to little fanfare. Bischoff changed most of that once he started calling the shots, then inspired his own competition to finally up their game.
What other misconceptions do people have about WCW? For more wrestling, check out 12 WWE Face & Heel Turns That IMMEDIATELY Backfired and 15 Times WWE Stars Made Cameos BEFORE They Were Famous!