Global InformationWorld Championship Wrestling information
 The primary WCW logo used between 1988 and 1999 | |
Trade name | World Championship Wrestling |
|---|---|
| Formerly |
|
| Company type |
|
| Industry | Professional wrestling |
| Predecessor |
|
| Founded | October 11, 1988[1] |
| Founder | Ted Turner |
| Defunct |
|
| Fate | Deactivated and renamed by AOL Time Warner, later merged with Turner Broadcasting System; selected assets purchased by the WWF |
| Headquarters | Williams Street Atlanta, Georgia 30303 United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Television programming, Internet programming, and merchandise |
| Revenue | ~$500 million (1999)[2] |
Number of employees | c. 150 (March 1998)[3] |
| Parent |
|
| Website | WCW Wrestling (archived) WCW on WWE.com |
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territory Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) (which had aired its programming on TBS).
For all of its existence, WCW was one of the two top professional wrestling promotions in the United States alongside the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), at one point surpassing the latter in terms of popularity.[4] After initial success through utilization of established wrestling stars of the 1980s, the company appointed Eric Bischoff to executive producer of television in 1993. Under Bischoff's leadership, the company enjoyed a period of mainstream success characterized by a shift to reality-based storylines, and notable hirings of former WWF talent.[5] WCW also gained attention for developing a popular cruiserweight division, which showcased an acrobatic, fast-paced, lucha libre-inspired style of wrestling.[6] In 1995, WCW debuted their live flagship television program Monday Nitro, and subsequently developed a ratings competition against the flagship program of the WWF, Monday Night Raw, in a period now known as the Monday Night War. From 1996 to 1998, WCW surpassed their rival program in the ratings for 83 consecutive weeks.[7]
Beginning in 1999, WCW endured significant losses in ratings and revenue due to creative missteps and suffered from the fallout from the 2001 merger of America Online (AOL) and Turner Broadcasting parent Time Warner (later WarnerMedia, now known as Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)). Soon thereafter, WCW was shut down, and the WWF purchased select WCW assets in 2001, including its video library, intellectual property (including the WCW name and championships), and some wrestler contracts.[8][9] The corporate subsidiary, which was retained to deal with legal obligations and reverted to the Universal Wrestling Corporation name, officially became defunct in 2017. Its headquarters were located in Smyrna, Georgia.[10]
- ^ "Universal Wrestling Corporation". georgiacompanieslist.com. Archived from the original on September 24, 2017. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
- ^ Atlanta Business JournalJune 28, 1999 Archived May 29, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Eric Bischoff". Off the Record with Michael Landsberg. March 18, 1998. TSN.
Monday night is that one time during the week when I can forget that I'm the president of WCW, that I've got 150 employees to worry about.
- ^ Jericho, Chris; Fornatale, Peter Thomas (2007). A Lion's Tale: Around the World in Spandex. Grand Central. ISBN 978-0-446-40890-5.
[Bischoff] constantly trumpeted to anybody who would listen that Hogan and the nWo were the sole reason why WCW had pulled ahead of WWF in the ratings war. He never stopped to think that another reason may have been the hard work of the leprosy-afflicted cruiserweights.
- ^ "Sting". WWE.com. WWE. 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2017.
- ^ Mudge, Jacqueline (2013). Billy Kidman. Infobase. ISBN 978-1-4381-4646-1.
The cruiserweight division had become the most exciting aspect of WCW.
- ^ Bryan, Daniel; Tello, Craig (2015). Yes!: My Improbable Journey to the Main Event of WrestleMania. St. Martin's. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-4668-7662-0.
WWE was looking to start a new cruiserweight division like the one that was popular in WCW.
- ^ Green, Jordan (December 14, 2005). "I was famous for getting beat up': The glorious and tragic story of Carolina wrasslin". YES! Weekly.
- ^ Assael, Shaun; Mooneyham, Mike (July 16, 2002). Sex, Lies and Headlocks: The Real Story of Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation. Crown Publishers. p. 252. ISBN 0-609-60690-5.
- ^ "The WWF's Light Heavyweight Division: The 10 Ways to Make it a success". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. 17 (12). London Publishing Co.: 33 December 1997. ISSN 1043-7576.
The light heavyweight division, like WCW's cruiserweight division, can be a rousing success