One MIND-BLOWING Secret From Every Year Of WCW History
11. 1991 | Oooh, Yeah
What might WCW have looked like, had Eric Bischoff simply opted to bring in just Macho Man Randy Savage, and not Hulk Hogan?
The promotion was probably still doomed because the man who succeeded Ted Turner, Jamie Kellner, somewhat understandably could not sanction the idea that prospective buyers Fusient Media had reserved the right to own and program the WCW time slots at Warner - even if WCW programming was cancelled subsequent to their purchase of it. Zellner, aware that two key primetime options were limited to “failing wrestling outfit” or “anything Fusient wanted”, cancelled WCW before the sale agreement could be finalised. And, since the abject failure of ECW on TNN spooked the TV industry over the long-term future of the waning wrestling fad, there was nowhere else Fusient felt they could go, and the wretched era of WWE monopoly began.
Still, Savage in WCW might have worked out very well indeed as the talisman. Because Hogan was such a singularly massive star, people forget how big Savage was. He too had crossed over, and his drawing record as a babyface champion in 1988 was phenomenal.
He was very obviously putting in the graft in WCW, until his knee blew out, and showed far more willingness than Hogan to make other guys look good (see: his awesome 1997 feud with Diamond Dallas Page). Maybe if WCW wasn’t in such a lamentable and unpopular state in 2001, and was actually functional and drew better numbers, Fusient wouldn’t have needed to buy the company and leave Kellner - who actually grew up as a wrestling fan, and once negotiated with Vince McMahon, as was revealed in Guy Evans’ ‘Nitro’ book - with no choice but to kill it. Savage might have left WCW better than he found it.
This actually almost happened; per the September 30 Observer Newsletter, Savage had talked with WCW officials about coming in. This never happened, obviously; the WWF thought the possibility was so remote that they booked Savage in an angle with Jake Roberts, even though he was able to leave imminently.
This arrogance would haunt WWF in a few years.