wcw roster 1997

The change was poorly received by fans. [47], In 2014, Sting would make his first appearance in WWE, interrupting the Survivor Series main event. All Rights Reserved. Wrestlers who care about their fans, management who cares about the wrestlers, and a wrestling product that continously gives a passionate damn about the quality! They cannot vote on matters? The lawsuit dragged on for several years, culminating in the WWF agreeing to drop the suit in exchange for the right to bid on WCW properties should they ever come up for liquidation. In contrast to professional wrestling of the time, which was marketed more towards families, Eastern Championship Wrestling was geared more toward adults and fans who craved a more athletic and violent wrestling product. When recalling this event years later, Paul Heyman stated the following: The National Wrestling Alliance was old-school when old-school wasn't hip anymore. And yeah while I mostly hated a lot of the 80s guys getting another shot you'd sometimes get something like Rick Martel suddenly having good matches again on PPV out of nowhere (damn shame he got injured right as his career was peaking again and it was over for him). 1995 -WCW ROSTER The WCW roster for January 1995 was as follows: Earl Bobby Eaton, Sting, "Fly'in" Brian Pillman, "The Enforcer" Arn Anderson, Brad Armstrong, Big Van Vader, "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes, Johnny B. Badd, "Stunning" Steve Austin, "Diamond" Dallas Page, Marcus Alexander Bagwell, "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff, Lord Steve Regal, "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, "Pretty" Paul Roma, Stevie . This presentation both mimicked Nitro's "Anything can happen" atmosphere, and acknowledged the growing phenomenon of "smarks," wrestling fans who used the Internet to gain a wide base of knowledge on the real-life, backstage workings of the industry. [16][17] On top of this, Rude also appeared on ECW's Hardcore TV during that weekend (November 1416 as the show was syndicated differently depending on the market). Our complete Pro Wrestlers Database allows you to travel through time and see the WCW Roster by Year or any specific Date in history. WCW PAYROLL INFORMATION (1997) Note: Financial Data runs from January 1, 1997 to December 31,1997, and reflects actual payments made to wrestlers during that period. Although these elements helped to garner the WWF more attention than it had enjoyed in the wake of the nWo storyline, the injury of Steve Austin at the SummerSlam pay-per-view, which put him out of action for three months, proved to be a severe blow to Raw Is War's popularity. Solie's assumes no responsibility for keeping them updated. This influenced Kellner's decision to ultimately cancel WCW programming. Tazz would later appear on WWF programming with the title. It says on wiki that Chelsea Green has resigned I don't know if this is true or not but I just thought I'll let you know, in wwe draft. Always over with the fans, Savage reinvented himself in 1997, joining the NWO and elevating DDP to the main event. After jumping from WCW to run roughshod over the WWE roster, Sid returned to terrorize once again, taking on the likes of Kevin Nash, "Hollywood" Hogan and Goldberg. By Ralphmilne. [51][52][53][54] In August, WWE announced that it would move NXT to the USA Network beginning with the show's September 18 episode and change the show's format to a live two-hour program which will compete with AEW's live weekly program. Raw originated from The Grand Ballroom at the Manhattan Center, a New York City theater, and aired live each week. Everything is all about the money. The main event featured Sting defeating Ric Flair with the Scorpion Deathlock as a culmination of their trademark feud, then both men embraced one another at the match's conclusion. The former WWE management will still be rich off your hard earned money and chilling on the beach! He's Bret Hart. Since nobody but Bischoff and Luger's good friend Sting knew that Luger would return to WCW, the shock value generated by his appearance was great. Surprisingly for Bischoff, Turner granted him one live hour on TNT[a] every Monday night, which specifically overlapped with Raw. The NWA repeated the practice again the following year, with a Clash coinciding with WWF's WrestleMania V. Although the main event of the Clash saw NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ricky Steamboat defeat Flair in a best-of-three-falls match that lasted for almost an hour, ratings and attendance for the event fell well below expectations compared to WrestleMania V. Thus, the practice of conflicting major events would cease for six years. Dominic Ward is a S Tier troll fr. WCW countered that in June, Hall and Nash had emphatically stated on-camera that they were no longer WWF employees, and that Hall's current persona was, in fact, a reworking of his previous WCW character, The Diamond Studd. Raw Is War's ratings began to rise steadily, bringing the "Attitude Era" to its highest point. A compromise was reached which resulted in Awesome losing the title at an ECW event to Tazz, who was formerly of ECW and at the time contracted to the WWF. Traditionally, wrestling shows were taped on sound stages with small audiences or at large arena shows. On the October 2, 2000 edition of Nitro, Russo would relinquish the championship saying that he was "not an athlete nor did I [Russo] ever claim to be". I told you people that WWE does not care about any of you! Because the fans are not in control! After declining ratings, the show returned to its Thursday timeslot in May 2010. An argument can be made that they had the best match in WWE history up to that point at SummerSlam 1991. Although the WWF (and Pillman himself) were forced to issue apologies to avoid Raw being canceled for breach of contract, the ensuing discussion of the incident in the fan community generated the most attention the WWF had received since the beginning of the Monday Night Wars. Imagine having that 1997/98 WCW roster, then ADDING Bret Hart, Sid Vicious, Warrior, British Bulldog, Shane Douglas, Mike Awesome, Lance Storm and more.. then manage to kill the company. broadcast, an attempt by WWF to compete with WCW's Thunder broadcast on Thursday nights; they became known on-screen as unseen management known as "The Powers That Be". I told you people that WWE does not care about any of you! In 1995, WWE boldly built their WrestleMania card around the attraction match of Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Lawrence Taylor. In the same year as the premiere of Monday Night Raw, WCW promoted former commentator and American Wrestling Association (AWA) announcer/sales associate Eric Bischoff to the position of Executive Vice President. [19] On April 13, 1998, Raw defeated Nitro in the ratings for the first time since 1996.[23]. Jim Barnett, Jack and Gerald Brisco had major stakes in the organization, while Ole Anderson was head booker and was in charge of operations. Souled Out was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in January from 1997 through 2000. made up to look like various WCW shows, including Pay-Per-Views like Starrcade, Superbrawl, and Halloween Havoc. However, the WWF's show on TBS was a ratings disaster, as GCW fans, disliking the cartoonish characters and storylines of the WWF, simply stopped watching. Bischoff's attempt to deliver a "dream match" never produced by the WWF paid off, and the PPV drew a disproportionately high buy rate by the company's standards. WCW and the nWo continued to grow in popularity, and for the next 84 consecutive weeks Nitro beat Raw in the ratings. The rivalry, which was cast as a battle between blue collar redneck Austin and white collar executive McMahon, became one of the defining storylines of the Attitude Era, as each engaged in ever-escalating acts of sabotage and violence against the other. Wrestlers who care about their fans, management who cares about the wrestlers, and a wrestling product that continously gives a passionate damn about the quality! During the match between Jeff Jarrett and Hollywood Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, Jeff Jarrett, by Russo's order, lied down in the ring to let Hogan pin him and win the title. This led to the infamous moment which saw Hogan poking Nash in the chest with his finger, nicknamed the "Fingerpoke of Doom", causing Nash to lie down for Hogan to win the belt. While the material involving Hogan and Savage usually poked fun at their old ages, the skits aimed at Turner were decidedly more inflammatory in nature and contained material that could have been considered slanderous. However, Savage still felt he had a lot left in the tank as a performer. . In May 1985, McMahon sold the TBS time slot to another Southern-based and NWA-affiliated wrestling company, Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), under heavy pressure from station owner Ted Turner, who was unhappy with the declining ratings. To Monday nights, in direct competition with Raw. 1996 represented WCW's arrival in the big time. Archive Note: (July 13, 2005) These records were compiled for a while and then abandoned by their creator. 2019 should be updated in the post draft only. Maybe for once the fans get to choose/organize the product going forward. update the picture of DREW MCINTYRE please, please add Karl Fredericks to World Wrestling Entertainment and remove him from New Japan Pro Wrestling, Brian Kendrick is not wwe producer he just come for one show ; not signed at this time, Sudu Shah leave WWE !, Stevie Turner is back on NXT. This commment is unpublished, pending moderation. Page would keep that momentum rolling into 1998 where he'd experience even more career success. WCW's losses were then written-off via purchase accounting; according to Evans: "in the post-merger environment, the new conglomerate was able to 'write down' money losing operations, essentially eliminating those losses because of their irrelevancy moving forward."[34]. The 1998 edition featured three teams of three battling for the No. Our complete Pro Wrestlers Database allows you to travel through time and see the WCW Roster by Year or any specific Date in history. His appearance on WCW television led to legal threats from ECW owner Paul Heyman. Bash at the Beach 2000 not only exposed the backstage hardships under Russo, but it was also the last event for Hogan as he would never appear in WCW again following the incident. Replay. Promoting the Area of: Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Florida, West Virginia, Delaware Promoter: Paul Heyman. made up to look like various WCW shows, including Pay-Per-Views like Starrcade, Superbrawl, and Halloween Havoc. The incident would be talked about for years to come in the burgeoning internet wrestling culture, and, along with WWF's Gobbledy Gooker, "Shockmaster" became wrestling parlance for an exceptionally poorly executed idea. Throughout the late 1990s, the WWF began to rise in popularity after it rebranded itself as a more adult-themed, sexualized and violent product, a period in the company's history now referred to as the Attitude Era. During their mid-1995 meeting, Turner asked Bischoff how WCW could compete with the WWF. On this page you find the full WCW Roster in the year 1997. It is the sequel to 1997's WCW vs. nWo: World Tour. These people operating things just do not care. WCW's coup of obtaining Luger was significant for several reasons. With this event, Eastern Championship Wrestling seceded from the NWA and became Extreme Championship Wrestling. By 1997, Luger was undoubtedly one of WCW's top stars. One of those lesser WWE performers was Wrath, who had worked in WWE as "Adam Bomb" until 1995. But anyway I am elderly old woman who used to be a wrestling fan. It feels like a forced meal we do not want to eat. By 1988, Crockett's acquisition spree had severely drained his coffers. SLRaw As wrestling began to grow in popularity in the early 1990s, the organizations and, as a result, their programming became a venue through which the business feud could continue, with each company working to drive the other out of business. On this page you find the full WCW Roster & Alumni across the All-Time History of the company. Whenever there were any potential young talents, like Bill Demott, WCW would immediately ruin them by giving them a rib name like "Hugh Morris." WCW Roster for 1997 The WCW roster for January 1997 was as follows: Bobby Eaton, Sting, "The Enforcer" Arn Anderson, Jack Boot, "Diamond" Dallas Page, Marc "Buff" Bagwell, Lord Steven Regal, "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair, Stevie Ray, Booker T., Brian Knobbs, Jerry Saggs, Mark Starr, Big Bubba Rogers, "Taskmaster" Kevin Sullivan, Steve Armstrong, Meng, "Das Wunderkind" Alex Wright, "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Brutus "The Bootie Man" Beefcake, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggin, "Big" John Tenta, "Dirty" Dick Slaytor, Scott Armstrong, Randy "Macho Man" Savage, Sgt. Despite Sting having cut a promo on Raw saying the match would not be about the war between the companies "because that would be ridiculous at this point",[48][unreliable source] the match finish has been interpreted as a desire of McMahon to reiterate his victory in the Monday Night Wars, with Scott Hall commenting, "That's Vince just reminding you who won, even if he's going to make money the other way".[49][50]. Saudi Arabia now owns WWE! As many of the cruiserweights incorporated elements of lucha libre into their performances, the division also helped WCW take advantage of the popularity of wrestling amongst Hispanic, Latin American, and Asian fans. Fans vote on management, creative, and talent. [37] The actual WCW entity was reverted to Universal Wrestling Corporation solely to deal with both legal and administrative issues. Now this sham company sells out everything and everyone. On August 25, 2009, WWE released The Rise and Fall of WCW on DVD. This includes the list of all WCW Wrestlers, division between Men and Women Roster, as well as Managers, Announcers, Authority figures, Producers and other personalities in World Championship Wrestling. Hall and Nash were in control of the match when Hulk Hogan came to the ring. Now you people realize who you have been feeding this entire time? The best rivalry for Curt Hennig in WWE came against Bret Hart when they feuded over the Intercontinental Championship. They stopped caring after the attitude era. The garbage they come out with now is disgusting. Before World Championship Wrestling was formed, Jim Crockett Promotions existed. Comments. First one to score a pin fall, submission, or count out is the winner. The show that succeeded it, Monday Night Raw, changed how wrestling on cable television would be presented. Shawn Michaels, Triple H, and Chyna formed D-Generation X (DX), a rule-breaking, frat boy-themed stable of wrestlers who laced their vignettes with sexual innuendo and lewd gestures. However, the anticlimactic end of the match proved unpopular: Bret Hart made his WCW debut by accusing the referee of corruption, declaring himself the referee, and then awarding the belt to Sting, only for it to be stripped moments later on a technicality. Take the best deal for income and drop everything else. The incident marked one of the first times that pro wrestlers had so flagrantly broken character in front of an audience, and forced both the WWF and WCW to begin acknowledging fans' growing awareness of the backstage happenings of their respective companies. The 1997 and 1998 WCW Souled Out PPV events were held on Saturdays due to the Super Bowl being played the next day, the 1999 and 2000 shows were held on Sundays. During this time WCW brought in The Ultimate Warrior, now known as The Warrior, and then later reformed the Four Horsemen for Ric Flair's television return. [24] However, the decision to stage the match on live cable television was questioned backstage at WCW: several employees felt that the match should have been the highlight of a pay-per-view, where it could have generated more revenue. This whole entire time nobody ever gave a damn! Perhaps even more impressive than the fact that Sting only wrestled once in 1997 is the fact that he didn't even speak throughout the whole year either. The time has come to bring back the glorious old days of wrestling where stars were made! When Eastern Championship Wrestling was founded, it was a member of the NWA, and "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert[3] was its head booker. Ole Anderson was part of the group as an advisor, but made only one appearance on A Flair for the Gold. Difficulties also began to arise around Goldberg, who had become the company's flagship performer. For alumni of that promotion, see List of former Jim Crockett Promotions personnel.. Deceased individuals are indicated with a . Later that year, with WWF's WrestleMania IV around the corner, Crockett decided to use McMahon's own tactics against him, developing his own PPV-caliber event and airing it for free on TBS opposite WrestleMania. WCW PPV RESULTS 1997. On April 13, 1998, an advertised Austin vs. McMahon main event was enough for Raw Is War to finally beat Nitro in the ratings for the first time in nearly two years. The company was ultimately unable to sustain itself while paying wrestlers their contracted salaries, and WCW went up for sale. On March 27, 1988 the same night as WrestleMania IV the first Clash of the Champions aired. WWE Hall of Fame: Full List of Members & Inductees, All Legends & HOF Classes by Year. In April 2000, WCW hired the reigning ECW World Heavyweight Champion Mike Awesome, who left ECW over a contract dispute. Fans vote on management, creative, and talent. As many fans had waited for a decisive victory of one faction over the other, the convoluted sequence of events was seen as a way to artificially extend the storyline without allowing it to come to an organic conclusion, beginning a sharp decline in the popularity of the nWo angle amongst fans. This "match" may have started the permanent ratings slide that was to follow for WCW, as Nitro according to Nielsen ratings numbers listed by TWNPNews.com-[27] only got a 5.0 rating three times afterwards. [27], Raw Is War was dominating Nitro to the point where WCW was making "quick fixes" to stem the tide, including hiring rapper Master P, bringing in Megadeth, Chad Brock, and Kiss for concerts, and conducting a contest to find a new member of the Nitro Girls (all of which flopped in the ratings). It takes a special type of performer to be so over without wrestling or uttering a single word for over a year. By 1997, the entire wrestling world was captivated by the ongoing story of Sting trying to save WCW from The nWo. Welcome back to the clown world that everyone has fallen asleep to! The show also featured an interview with Razor Ramon. The credibility of the company, which did not present the match that had been advertised, was damaged. There was just something about Jeff Jarrett during the 90s that made him extremely unlikable to fans. Like WCW's nWo storyline, the WWF began to blur the line between real life and kayfabe: Vince McMahon, taking advantage of fans' genuine dislike for him following the Montreal Screwjob, recast himself as the evil Mr. McMahon, a corrupt businessman who despised his own fans and valued sycophancy over talent. The rivalry between the companies steadily escalated throughout the 1990s to include the use of cutthroat tactics and the defections of employees between the two companies. Dominic Ward is a S Tier troll fr. Many of you are going to finally realize that much of WWE has never truly invested in their fans or followed our desires for the product! And elevating DDP to the clown World that everyone has fallen asleep to were in of... Changed how wrestling on cable television would be presented him one live on... 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