Most fans wish WCW hadn’t folded and that we could’ve had another choice for the last twenty years. It would’ve kept the WWE honest and engaged with fans as we would’ve had legitimate option the wouldn’t require us to dig through the web to find obscure, non-WWE related professional wrestling promotions. This has become a prevalent topic since AEW came into existence and Vince McMahon and the WWE has displayed signs of panicking despite their claims otherwise. What’s really cool is Hulk Hogan agreed with fans when he admitted in a 2014 interview that he wanted WCW and WWE to thrive, but with WCW as the top brand.
He prayed both would succeed
Like most of us, he enjoyed having both companies competing and wanted it to continue. (Special thanks to ftw.usatoday.com for the interview segments.
FTW: Just before that pay-per-view, WCW started an 84-week streak of beating the WWE in Monday night ratings. During this period, did you ever think that the WCW would win the war, and WWE might disappear?
Hogan: I was praying to God that wouldn’t happen. I prayed to God that we would become the No. 1 wrestling show, and that WWE would thrive and stay the monster that they were. WCW might become a little bit [of a] bigger monster. I never wanted anybody to go away. I wanted two different companies so talent could have a choice where they could work and make big, big money.
As we’ve said many times, the Monday Night Wars were an awesome time to be a wrestling fan. Everywhere we turned there were people wearing wrestling shirts. Everyone knew what Austin 3:16 meant and what too sweet represented. It was a historic moment many of us never expected to see again. Then along came AEW and the game didn’t change as much as it shifted.
Learning from the past
We’ve often talked about the past and the difference between the matches then and the stories they told and the matches now that resemble video games and lack the same storytelling. It’s not a surprise that the fans aren’t alone in this belief.
FTW: Do you ever go back and watch your old matches on the WWE Network?
Hogan: Oh my gosh, my wife Jennifer, she goes ‘you’re living in the past! you’re living in the past!’ I say ‘no I’m not, I’m just getting good ideas!’ Some of that stuff we did back in the day was brilliant, some of the storylines and the delivery and the cadence of the storylines, how they were built…. They’d create drama and excitement. I just learned so much from that old stuff we did. I kinda like to watch the Network and go back to my roots just to keep in check with myself.
When it comes to entertaining and proving one can be as big or bigger than the business for a time (this isn’t popular, but the business tried to bury Hogan a few times), Hulk Hogan is in a class all by himself. His career spanned decades and he continues to receive cheers and standing ovations in his mid-sixties for the memories he’s given us.
What are your thoughts? How different would the wrestling world be if the WCW had survived and thrived? Let us know in the comments.
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