World Championship Wrestling
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Details | |
|---|---|
| Acronym | WCW |
| Established | 1983 |
| Style | Rasslin' |
| Location | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Founder(s) | Ted Turner |
| Owner(s) | Turner Broadcasting System (TBS)/Turner (1988-96) Time Warner (1996-2001) |
| Parent | Turner Broadcasting System (TBS)/Turner (1988-96) NWA (1996-2001) World Wrestling Entertainment |
| Formerly | NWA Eastern States Championship Wrestling NWA Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling Georgia Championship Wrestling Jim Crockett Promotions NWA World Championship Wrestling Universal Wrestling Corporation |
| Merged with | World Wrestling Entertainment |
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion which, in its proper form, existed from 1988 to 2001. Although the name "World Championship Wrestling" had been used as a brand and television show name by various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)-affiliated promotions (most notably the Charlotte, North Carolina-based Jim Crockett Promotions) since 1983, it was not until five years later that an actual NWA-affiliated promotion called World Championship Wrestling appeared on the national scene, under the ownership of Atlanta, Georgia-based media mogul Ted Turner.
For the entirety of its existence as a separate promotion, WCW was the chief rival of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now World Wrestling Entertainment or WWE), and even Jim Crockett Promotions (WCW's forerunner company) regarded the then-WWF as their major competitor. At the outset of WCW's existence, as well as with the promotions that came before it, the company was strongly identified with the Southern-style of professional wrestling (or rasslin'), which emphasized athletic in-ring competition over the showmanship and cartoonish characters of the WWF. This identification persisted into the 1990s, even as the company signed former WWF stars such as Hulk Hogan and "Macho Man" Randy Savage. WCW dominated pro wrestling's television ratings from 1996 to 1998, mainly due to its incredibly popular New World Order (nWo) storyline, but thereafter began to lose heavy ground to the WWF, which had recovered quite nicely with its new WWF Attitude branding. The promotion began losing large amounts of money, leading to parent company AOL Time Warner selling the company to the rival WWF for $7 million in 2001.
Contents |
[edit] Final champions
This is a list of the champions as they were at the end of the last WCW Monday Nitro on March 26, 2001
| Championship | Final champion(s) |
|---|---|
| WCW World Heavyweight Champion | Booker T |
| WCW United States Champion | Booker T |
| WCW World Tag Team Champions | Hobo Joe and Hobo Joe |
| WCW Cruiserweight Champion4 | Gregory Helms |
| WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Champions | Peter Gruner and Oscar Gutirrez |
Here's a list of the final WCW Champions under the WWF banner.
| Championship | Final champion(s) |
|---|---|
| WCW World Heavyweight Champion1 | Chris Jericho |
| WCW World Tag Team Champions2 | The Dudley Boyz |
| WCW United States Championship3 | Edge |
Footnotes
- 1Renamed the World Championship after Survivor Series 2001; unified with the WWF Championship at Vengeance 2001. The belt design was later reintroduced as the WWE sanctioned World Heavyweight Championship in September 2002.
- 2Unified with the WWE World Tag Team Championship at Survivor Series 2001.
- 3Unified with the WWE Intercontinental Championship against Test. Reactivated in 2003 as the WWE United States Championship.
- 4Kept active after WCW and renamed WWF Cruiserweight Championship after The Invasion.
[edit] WCW titles
- WCW World Heavyweight Championship
- WCW United States Heavyweight Championship
- WCW Cruiserweight Championship
- WCW World Tag Team Championship
- WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship
- WCW World Television Championship
- WCW Hardcore Championship
- WCW United States Tag Team Championship
- WCW World Six-Man Tag Team Championship
- WCW International World Heavyweight Championship
- WCW Light Heavyweight Championship
- WCW Women's Championship
- WCW Women's Cruiserweight Championship
[edit] Books/DVD
- The Death of WCW by R.D. Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez, 2004, ISBN 1-55022-661-4.
- The Monday Night War: WWE Raw vs. WCW Monday Nitro World Wrestling Entertainment, 2004, ASIN B0001CCXCA.
- Controversy Creates Cash by Eric Bischoff and Jeremy Roberts, 2006
[edit] See also
- World Championship Wrestling alumni
- List of professional wrestlers
- List of professional wrestling stables
- List of WCW pay-per-view events
- List of WCW television programming
- Jim Crockett Promotions
- The Alliance
- Monday Night Wars
- Nitro Girls
- WCW Saturday Night
- WCW Monday Nitro
- WCW Thunder
- WCW Main Event
- WCW Power Plant
[edit] External links
- WCW Title Histories
- DDT Digest - "The Unofficial Resting Place Of WCW"
- The Complete History of WCW
- WrestlingWorldOrder.it - WCW (WCW on an italian site)
| History |
|---|
| Black Saturday | Monday Night Wars | Montreal Screwjob The Invasion | Brand Extension |
| Programming |
| Current programming | Former programming | Pay-per-view | Ratings |
| Developmental territories |
| Ohio Valley Wrestling | Deep South Wrestling, LLC |
| Subsidiaries |
| WWE Films | WWE Records | WWE Video Library | WWE video games |
| Other wrestling organizations acquired |
| WCW | ECW |
| Defunct subsidiaries |
| Coliseum Video | World Bodybuilding Federation | The World | XFL |
| Talent |
| Alumni | Current roster | Diva Search | Draft Lottery | Hall of Fame | Tough Enough |
