8 Awesome WCW Ideas That Didn't Last
3. The Crockett Cup
The Crockett Cup wasn't technically a WCW idea, but one the company imported when Ted Turner bought out Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988. That was also the point at which, despite now owning the concept, it was inexplicably abandoned.
The cup - the Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Tag Team Tournament, to give it its full title - was as simple yet effective as they come. Across two days, 24 of the finest tandems in the NWA would compete for a shot at a mammoth million dollar cheque (the prize was faked, naturally). It was only right and proper that the first event, taking place in 1986, was conquered by the day's very best pair: the Road Warriors.
Two further tournaments took place. 1987's bogus windfall was scooped by the team of Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff, the the following year's helped make stars of two top of the NWA's most promising youngsters, Sting and Lex Luger.
Although the three tournaments had drawn thousands of fans to New Orleans, Baltimore and the Carolinas, the annual event was annulled as soon as Crockett sold his assets to TBS. It's understandable Turner wanted to disassociate an expansionist WCW from the small-time stylings of family-run JCP, but couldn't the tournament have been rebranded? It was eventually revived in 2019 as part of a joint alliance between the NWA and ROH.