World Championship Wrestling officially came into existence as a professional wrestling company (rather than just a catchy television headline to promote the National Wrestling Alliance) in November 1988. With Ted Turner as its financial benefactor, the revamped company eventually severed ties with its NWA roots and grew to heights few had thought possible with a program called WCW Monday Nitro. The Monday Night Wars offered the best of times and the worst of times for WCW, ultimately driving the promotion into the ground. It is hard to believe that it has been over thirteen years since WCW ceased to exist. More than any time since the initial years passed its buyout by WWE in March 2001, the wrestling world has been talking about WCW. So, today, we celebrate it by looking back at the top 20 matches in its history. Nothing before November 1988 was considered; just matches from World Championship Wrestling as we knew it. And the list is a mixed bag. You will see matches that drew critical acclaim, hidden gems, and bouts that were chosen more for their historical significance than their excellence.
20. The Outsiders & Mystery Partner vs. Sting, Lex Luger & Randy Savage (Bash At The Beach 96)
Arguably the most famous match in WCW history was the one that gave birth to The New World Order. It was not a great performance by the five men who were advertised, but it was so historically significant that its place in WCW lore cannot be exaggerated. It changed the wrestling business. Once Hulk Hogan came down to the ring, seemingly to come to the rescue of Savage, Sting, and Luger, nothing was ever quite the same. The industrys profile still benefits from the chain of events that began at the 1996 Bash at the Beach. What began as a solid handicap match concluded with a moment that has and will continue to echo through generations. Hogan looked toward the hard camera, donning the yellow and red tights that had come to define him and the sports entertainment genre that he had helped create. He took a deep breath and then turned straight toward Macho Man, dropping the big leg across his neck. It was the single most shocking heel turn ever. Not to be undervalued were Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, whose respective contracts with WCW were groundbreaking in their own right. With all that guaranteed money on the table, WCW pushed them to the moon and weaved a creatively genius web around them. They were taking over and all that they needed to start an all out war both in kayfabe terms against WCW and in real life against WWE was a third manHulk Hogan, the ultimate babyface gone rogue. Rudimentary as the PPV match that revealed Hogan as the third man may have been, it is hard to create a list of top WCW matches and not include it.
"The Doc" Chad Matthews has written wrestling columns for over a decade. A physician by trade, Matthews began writing about wrestling as a hobby, but it became a passion. After 30 years as a wrestling fan, "The Doc" gives an unmatched analytical perspective on pro wrestling in the modern era. He is a long-time columnist for Lordsofpain.net and hosts a weekly podcast on the LOP Radio Network called "The Doc Says." His first book - The WrestleMania Era: The Book of Sports Entertainment - ranks the Top 90 wrestlers from 1983 to present day, was originally published in December 2013, and is now in its third edition.
Matthews lives in North Carolina with his wife, two kids, and two dogs.
