Would it have been more beneficial for Vince McMahon to keep wcw and ecw running

Idiopathic Joker
Idiopathic Joker Members, Moderators Posts: 45,691 Regulator
edited August 2012 in Off The Turn Buckle
Instead of burying both companies, would it have been better to hire people who could have made a profit with both companies to run them and still get paid of the brands?

Comments

  • Chi-Town Bully
    Chi-Town Bully Members Posts: 29,218 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ECW was done and all their big name talent had already left for WCW and WWE anyway. Vince would just have been losing money keeping those scrubs under contract.

    It could have worked with WCW if their big name talent had wanted to work for Vince.

  • TheBoyRo
    TheBoyRo Members Posts: 13,647 ✭✭✭✭✭
    the FANS, so they would have a choice of what company to watch
  • dalyricalbandit
    dalyricalbandit Members, Moderators Posts: 67,918 Regulator
    the thing about that is even if he did keep WCW running he would have still buried it cause he would never have put WCW over WWF
  • TheIraq
    TheIraq Members Posts: 5,527 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited August 2012
    ECW was dead by 2001 and 1999 or 2000 WCW just got stale.... I think it all boils down to the decline of boxing over the years (success for WWF/WWE/ WCW and wrestling in general) and the rise of MMA over the years (decline for WWE and wrestling in general)
  • Cymicaldane
    Cymicaldane Members Posts: 2,109 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yes and No

    Yes: If WCW didnt shoot themselves with a freaking AK-47 during 99/00, then they could at least pose a threat. They were getting beaten in the ratings anyway so no real competition. But by taking WCW out, Vince was a bit in no mans land creatively. And people were getting hurt (HHH and Benoit), some were on hiatus (Rock) and some people bombed as babyfaces (Kurt Angle, allthough he looked better later). The void creatively with some of the big names gone, would enable Vince to create some new stars. Apart from those established, he only really made something out of Edge as far as singles competition goes. Yeah i know he tried Test too. Also a lot of the big names were still under Time Warner contracts. WCW could work, if they had been the second brand

    No: Because WCW were a mess creatively and in ring wise. They had a severe lack of new stars. And it pretty much was the inmates that ran the asylum (as seen with people like Shane Douglas, Scott Steiner, Kevin Nash and others). What went wrong was that WCW were trying to raise the stakes on WWF/E, only to be outraised.

    As far as ECW goes. No. Their liabilities alone covered $8,000,000 alone. Of the talent that had not left ECW in early 2001, only Van Dam had real star quality. Maybe Rhino too. But the rest of the roster looked like little leaguers compared to the WWF/E wrestlers. Sandman werent gonna fit in the E because he had been to Atlanta, same with Whipwreck. ? Mahoney didnt have the look (even though he is/was underrated as a worker, same with Axl Rotten). Kid Kash, Super Crazy, Little ? and Tony Mamaluke would'nt be used considering the allergic reactions WWE used to have towards smaller and lucha libre style wrestlers. Doring, Roadkill and Chetti would also be lost in the shuffle. Even with Chetti being the cousin of Tazz.
  • powerman 5000
    powerman 5000 Members Posts: 3,084 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I like all these answers, everybody nailed it but, I'll also add that Vince's head was too big. Just the thought of someone watching wrestling without the wwe logo banging them in the face is too much for vince to handle. Ideally, it would make sense to talent and to fans and be very lucrative to subtly move wcw to tuesday and saturdays and ecw to wednesday, and pay everyone to do exactly what they were doing and just increase the budget. Vince supported ecw and even had ecw matches on raw. This was in like the mid 90s I believe, at that point, he should have pulled a hostile takeover and not said a word. If it needed to come to light, people would have been shocked like finding out nbc owned the penthouse channel. Vince could have been the pepsico of wrestling, something for everyone without competing with himself like how pepsico owns pizzahut, taco bell and kfc and nobody would ever need to know. Like Theboyro said, it sucks for the fans because there's just not enough stage for great wrestlers to shine on and we have to sit back and watch good wrestlers get ? on like the x division and Samoa joe.
  • deadprezadentz
    deadprezadentz Members Posts: 106
    the thing about that is even if he did keep WCW running he would have still buried it cause he would never have put WCW over WWF

    end of thread
  • Mally_G
    Mally_G Members Posts: 2,927 ✭✭✭✭✭
    it would have worked if Vince thought things through past only having the WWF succeed.

    Vince could have used ECW as a minor league/developmental federation. Similar to how he was doing anyway by sending his newly signed/fresh out the gym talent down to ECW and eventually calling them up to the WWF, he could have kept that formula working. In ECW, the talent could have worked on their cardio, basic wrestling, promo ability, basically, the basics, but at the same time, involve them in real situations to put on a show. When the talent is ready or have shown improvement in key areas, the talent relations/scouting department will send the "polished" talent to WCW.

    In WCW, the talent now has to work on other skills, that ECW didn't improve on, like working with smaller wrestlers, getting the gimmick polished and/or overhauled, and those types of things. In WCW, you have to work harder and work with more established talent, who will bring the best out of the individual. In WCW, there will be chance encounters with WWF wrestlers who were not doing so well in the WWF and were relegated to WCW for more work. So WCW is the middle tier to make it to the WWF. Once a wrestler has improved in all key areas that the WWF desires in their talent, and the fans who watch the show are solidly behind this individual, the WWF snatches them up when the timing is right. If they fail in WCW, they either stay, or get relegated back to ECW, where if they don't show any more improvement, FUTURE ENDEAVOR them.

    Once a talent has shined in WCW and they have built a fanbase, the WWF will bring them up to the top tier. The WWF could have been used as RAW is used, only the top talent work there. So if someone falls out of favor with the fans (X-Pac level), or they develop issues, or whatever it may be, they get relegated to WCW to work on those issues. And the trend continues up and down the tiers.

    This could have been played out on TV, seeing the development and future stardom of the wrestlers, seeing them rise and fall. ECW could have been seen in smaller markets and updated on WCW and WWF TV, so the TV clearances and money shelled out for an inferior product would have been minimum. Then WCW would have gotten the same type of TV clearance as the WWF, but not focused on as much. The WWF would have been the place to be, as only the true stars of the industry played. Placing talent on the different levels would have been no problem, and there are an abundance of talent to place on each tier and shifting them around to hone their craft would have such a piece of cake. At least they could have observed everyone as they grew into stars or duds.

    It was like that anyway, but Vince could have simply grasped the concept, controlled it better, and made out with 3 additional revenue streams. But his ego got in the way, and he elected to crush and put to rest everything that tested him and allowed his own product to become stale. But it worked out in his favor anyway because people still pack the shows and buy the merchandise. But if he kept 1 or both feds, he would have revenue, much more than what he's getting now.