Everything You DIDN’T KNOW About WCW’s Final Days

4. Visions Of The Future And A STAGGERING Tease Of A Working Relationship

Mitsuharu Misawa
Pro Wrestling NOAH

In January 2001, with the Fusient Media deal close to being finalised, defacto booker Johnny ‘Ace’ Laurinaitis appeared on Wrestling Observer Live to lay out his vision of the new WCW’s future.

He said some stuff that should have been obvious, yes, but this stuff eluded his predecessors for years. He maintained that WCW needed to get away from the non-finishes that had plagued the promotion for an eternity, and that storylines should span several months in a move away from Vince Russo’s nonsensical hot-shot booking. It’s funny; between Ace’s comments here and the moves Eric Bischoff made elsewhere, the WCW reboot chat was very reminiscent of AEW’s “everything you hate about wrestling, we’ll do the opposite” messaging of 2019.

Laurinaitis also let slip that he wanted to work with New Japan Pro Wrestling or, fascinatingly, Pro Wrestling NOAH. Jesus, can you imagine Goldberg mowing down Kenta Kobashi with a spear before Kobashi fired the f*ck up in spirit-drenched defiance?

Would have ruled.

While it’s fascinating to ponder this new pro wrestling utopia, you have to remember that people within wrestling are pure carnies that work for the audience in front of them. Laurinaitis knew that the only remaining WCW fans were those who actually liked wrestling, and believed that the promotion would one day return to its more rugged and athletic roots. These fans did not like sports entertainment - they’d have jumped over to the WWF in 1998, were that the case.

Ace knew this, and might have just told them what they wanted to hear in a bid to regain their trust. He was on Wrestling Observer Live; of course he was going to dangle some Akira Taue-shaped keys in front of those listeners. Then again, Ace also said in this January interview that he wanted to introduce a set of Cruiserweight Tag Team titles - which WCW did, right at the death, on March 18.

So perhaps the idea of Mitsuharu Misawa Vs. Sting wasn’t so far-fetched…

Advertisement
In this post: 
WCW WCW facts
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick (Creative Writing BA Hons) is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over a decade of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential UK institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!