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Five things WCW always managed to do better than WWE

Five things WCW always managed to do better than WWE

Feb 02, 2019
06:31 pm

What's the story

Now that WWE is the biggest wrestling promotion, it doesn't have to face competition at the same level as it did in the 90s. WCW was its chief competitor for a long time, and the two companies feuded over the now-famous 'Monday Night Wars', till WWE acquired WCW. But WCW was really a great show, and here are things it did better than WWE.

Storytelling

Clever storytelling and courage while booking

Unlike WWE, WCW never waited for big occasions to pit big stars against each other, involving them in matches every week in Nitro. This made each episode of its weekly show memorable, and fans flocked to Monday Nitro for the same reason. WCW also had clever storytelling, making Hogan the heel, Kevin Nash throwing Rey Mysterio, they went all-out every week.

Stars

WCW handled their stars much better than WWE

Compared to WWE, WCW knew how to handle its stars. For instance, WCW realized Goldberg was not capable of performing in long matches, and that is why it took a decision of giving him his long-undefeated streak. WCW handled Sting's character so wisely using the face-paint, baseball bat and vulture, that his merchandise sales were sometimes better than Stone Cold or NWO.

Match concepts

WCW had some really innovative match formats

WWE has invented some iconic match formats in its long history, but it comes nowhere close to what WCW did with its Battlebowl, Lethal Lottery, World War 3, and WarGames: The Match Beyond. WWE was far behind in creating such exciting concepts, and has now, so many years later, only borrowed the WarGames concept for NXT.

Cruiserweight

WCW's Cruiserweight division was far better than what WWE managed

WWE was quite inept in handling its lightweight (cruiserweight) division, something which WCW managed superbly. On the first episode of Nitro, WCW staged a match of Brian Pillman vs Jushin "Thunder" Liger, which is still fresh in the memory of fans. Wrestlers like Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio, Juventud Guerrera and others were all made into superstars by WCW.

Strong undercard

Having a strong undercard always helps

WWE has never had a strong undercard, which was especially true during the 90s, where it introduced baseless gimmicks for its lower-card matches. It only made the shows boring. DDP, Mongo McMichael, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko and other talented wrestlers crowded WCW's lower-cards and produced great matches. WWE, on the other hand, mainly concentrated on its top talents.