Booking 10 WCW Concepts In Modern-Day WWE

Wrestling old-timers often spoke of the industry being cyclical. It was commonly a promoter's justification for financial downtime beyond creative malaise, but remarkable boom periods in the 1980s and 1990s added certain weight to the theory. Following WWE's 2001 purchase of WCW though, the paradigm shifted again.

From that point onwards, merely competing with the monolithic McMahon empire for a share of the market was success enough - there was no longer time to wait around for an upswing whilst innovations and trends were there to be devised and monetised.

Despite being the only organisation best placed to roll out retreads and retries since then, WWE have been frustratingly stubborn about reissuing purchased concepts as their own. Countless new formats were rolled out with mixed fortunes despite proven entities figuratively shelved alongside the literal signs and set dressings inside the company's cavernous storage facility.

But the clunky evolution of WWE continues in earnest. Just 24 hours before the organisation presents the 30th edition of a show conceived with the expressed purpose of driving a stake through the heart of Starrcade, NXT will host the first ever McMahon-endorsed WarGames match. A Greensboro, North Carolina house show exactly one week later has been branded in the image of the NWA/WCW 'Grandaddy Of Them All'.

If yet more changing times reflect an overdue warmth towards the Atlanta outfit, there are countless ways WWE could re-badge selected favourites. More than ratings, buyrates and gate receipts, this would perhaps highlight just how cyclical the industry still is after all.

Triple decker cages are something of a punchline for wrestling historians thanks to the atrocious mismanagement of otherwise impressive structures in WCW.

A 'Russo's Revenge' Nitro WarGames match was an abysmal waste of time thrown on television in a failed bid for a ratings point, but it at least made use of the expensive structure commissioned as a stage for David Arquette's heel turn earlier that year. The 2000 vintage at least bettered 1996's horrific Doomsday Cage. A blocky, ungainly structure that housed one of the worst matches of all time, it was a fittingly unpleasant setting for a rotten eight-on-two match won easily by babyface conquerors Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage.

As of writing, Shane McMahon has hurled himself of WWE's highest height twice in the last two years, but what's the need in him going for the hat-trick at this point? He should save his next tumble for the roll-out of this magnificent mental monster. He doesn't even need Vince Russo's nod to go ahead with such a stupid stunt.

It's easy to once again rely on Russo as a punching bag for worthless execution, but after WWE's persistent success with Hell In A Cell, the logic for the bigger and (not really) better version was clear enough. He wasn't even the first WCW head honcho to try and do things three times bigger than WWE...