So I’ve narrowed down the three BTB’s I want to do. I’ll continue WWE 2009, I’ll continue to repost ECW, and then there’s this bad boy. Honestly, I’ve wanted to do this for YEARS, but ECW took up to much time. I don’t want anybody to get fooled, this will not be a traditional WCW BTB. This will be recapping a bunch of stuff as per this below post, and then from there, I will be posting shows.
What recapping will allow me to do is get to a point in mid-2000 where I’ve crafted somewhat of a super roster. Yep, expect to see guys like Angle, Edge, Christian, Hardyz all debut in WCW instead of WWF/E. So there’ll be a few more posts like the below before I’ll post a PPV (the first proper show) which will detail the results of the first night Cornette was head booker, without having to deal with Bischoff.
Just to reiterate, unlike in the past with my BTB’s where I stick to realism, this will not be the case here. Plenty of outrageous stuff in the works…
The intro to the podcast is finished. Recently retired head of creative Jim Cornette sits in a room alongside Conrad Thompson. The two have finished shooting the shit, and it’s time to get into the point of the podcast, Cornette going over his time in WCW, the number one professional wrestling company in the world. The time now is 2023. The time then? Well, Cornette joined WCW in 1997, and the first question from Conrad is surrounding Cornette leaving the World Wrestling Federation for WCW.
“This probably isn’t a surprise to many, Conny, but I’m not exactly shy on givin’ my opinion on things. To put it frank, I was MISERABLE at the WWF. The old man has his funny ways for sure, but this is not a knock on Vince McMahon. I’ll tell you who it is a knock on though, Vince fuckin’ Russo. That brainless ass backwards magazine writer… Yes, because that’s what he is, a magazine writer, Russo is the main reason I left. I got sick and tired of the direction the company was heading. To me, the sport of professional wrestling was still important, but all the WWF and Russo cared about was tits and ass. Every idea I put out there got shut down for being to southern, so I eventually said to hell with it, I’ll join the southern alternative then.
Conny and Cornette go back and forth over the dealings with Eric Bischoff and WCW to get him over to the company. Conrad then asks Cornette what his initial duties were, as we all know he didn’t actually become head booker until 2000. In 1997, Cornette was just part of the team.
“I didn’t really like Bischoff either to be honest, but anybody who wasn’t as blind as Stevie Wonder could see that he’d struck gold with the NWO. Turning the biggest name in the history of the business heel the way they did? Hogan can’t work a lick, but this angle worked perfectly. When I first joined, I wasn’t really sure how it would work, and whether I’d need to run all my ideas by Eric, the way I was forced to with Russo in WWF. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. Bischoff had complete control of the main events and the NWO, and look how that turned out, but I basically got free reign with the mid card. Guys like Booker T, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Kurt Angle, Edge, Christian, I’m sure there’s plenty I’m missing, but I got to do whatever I wanted with these guys and that suited me just fine. Sure, the NWO was where the money was at when I joined, but I much preferred the in ring wrestling and simpler angles that I could produce with the, well, back then at least, lesser names."
Conrad refers to the fact that at one point or another, Bischoff’s relationship with WCW soured, and that’s when Cornette got to step in and take control. We’ll go more in depth in on all of that later, but Thompson does wonder what stands out to Cornette in terms of storylines and angles in the early stages of his tenure in WCW.
“I mean, NOW wise, for the better part of a year and a half they had been building for Sting to come back and take the title off of Hogan at Starrcade. Sting was out of shape and blown up within three minutes and Hogan can’t work, but thankfully there was no way they could fuck that one up. One of the things I remember throughout 1997 though was to many unimportant people joining the NWO. It got convoluted and was already starting to lose it’s impact, but after having Scott Hall win War Games in November 97, I thought Bischoff played a really smart hand here. After Sting defeated Hogan at Starrcade, they met again at Souled Out the following month. Sting retained the title, putting a definitive end on that feud, but then The Outsiders or whatever the fuck they called themselves… Nash and Hall came in and turned on Hogan, beating him to a pulp. That really stands out to me because at the time it was clear WCW was a one trick pony with the NWO angle, and this was a good way to keep it fresh.
From my perspective, I was having the time of my life booking the mid card. I had Chris Benoit start to feel really important, he beat Jeff Jarrett at Halloween Havoc in a Loser Leaves Town match, and from there he went to Starrcade and beat Curt Hennig to become US Champ. Not long after Starrcade I had Benoit and Raven start a program over the US Title, meanwhile Eddie and Jericho traded the Cruiserweight title back and forth. That was crucial in the development of Jericho as he turned from happy go lucky, to a real paranoid champion with a mean streak. And I was using the TV Title to put over Booker T as well, I had him go over Syxx at Souled Out to retain, which took some battling with Bischoff because Syxx was NWO. Luckily, Waltman was a sport and happy to take the L at the time.
I guess it would be remiss of me not to call out that we also had Goldberg debut at this time and he begun squashing people with his two moves he could do well.
From there, Conrad stops Cornette and talks about all the great memories they’ve just rehashed there. Conrad promises there’s more to come and falls into one of his real estate scheme ads…
What recapping will allow me to do is get to a point in mid-2000 where I’ve crafted somewhat of a super roster. Yep, expect to see guys like Angle, Edge, Christian, Hardyz all debut in WCW instead of WWF/E. So there’ll be a few more posts like the below before I’ll post a PPV (the first proper show) which will detail the results of the first night Cornette was head booker, without having to deal with Bischoff.
Just to reiterate, unlike in the past with my BTB’s where I stick to realism, this will not be the case here. Plenty of outrageous stuff in the works…
World Championship Wrestling by Jim Cornette
The intro to the podcast is finished. Recently retired head of creative Jim Cornette sits in a room alongside Conrad Thompson. The two have finished shooting the shit, and it’s time to get into the point of the podcast, Cornette going over his time in WCW, the number one professional wrestling company in the world. The time now is 2023. The time then? Well, Cornette joined WCW in 1997, and the first question from Conrad is surrounding Cornette leaving the World Wrestling Federation for WCW.
“This probably isn’t a surprise to many, Conny, but I’m not exactly shy on givin’ my opinion on things. To put it frank, I was MISERABLE at the WWF. The old man has his funny ways for sure, but this is not a knock on Vince McMahon. I’ll tell you who it is a knock on though, Vince fuckin’ Russo. That brainless ass backwards magazine writer… Yes, because that’s what he is, a magazine writer, Russo is the main reason I left. I got sick and tired of the direction the company was heading. To me, the sport of professional wrestling was still important, but all the WWF and Russo cared about was tits and ass. Every idea I put out there got shut down for being to southern, so I eventually said to hell with it, I’ll join the southern alternative then.
Conny and Cornette go back and forth over the dealings with Eric Bischoff and WCW to get him over to the company. Conrad then asks Cornette what his initial duties were, as we all know he didn’t actually become head booker until 2000. In 1997, Cornette was just part of the team.
“I didn’t really like Bischoff either to be honest, but anybody who wasn’t as blind as Stevie Wonder could see that he’d struck gold with the NWO. Turning the biggest name in the history of the business heel the way they did? Hogan can’t work a lick, but this angle worked perfectly. When I first joined, I wasn’t really sure how it would work, and whether I’d need to run all my ideas by Eric, the way I was forced to with Russo in WWF. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. Bischoff had complete control of the main events and the NWO, and look how that turned out, but I basically got free reign with the mid card. Guys like Booker T, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Kurt Angle, Edge, Christian, I’m sure there’s plenty I’m missing, but I got to do whatever I wanted with these guys and that suited me just fine. Sure, the NWO was where the money was at when I joined, but I much preferred the in ring wrestling and simpler angles that I could produce with the, well, back then at least, lesser names."
Conrad refers to the fact that at one point or another, Bischoff’s relationship with WCW soured, and that’s when Cornette got to step in and take control. We’ll go more in depth in on all of that later, but Thompson does wonder what stands out to Cornette in terms of storylines and angles in the early stages of his tenure in WCW.
“I mean, NOW wise, for the better part of a year and a half they had been building for Sting to come back and take the title off of Hogan at Starrcade. Sting was out of shape and blown up within three minutes and Hogan can’t work, but thankfully there was no way they could fuck that one up. One of the things I remember throughout 1997 though was to many unimportant people joining the NWO. It got convoluted and was already starting to lose it’s impact, but after having Scott Hall win War Games in November 97, I thought Bischoff played a really smart hand here. After Sting defeated Hogan at Starrcade, they met again at Souled Out the following month. Sting retained the title, putting a definitive end on that feud, but then The Outsiders or whatever the fuck they called themselves… Nash and Hall came in and turned on Hogan, beating him to a pulp. That really stands out to me because at the time it was clear WCW was a one trick pony with the NWO angle, and this was a good way to keep it fresh.
From my perspective, I was having the time of my life booking the mid card. I had Chris Benoit start to feel really important, he beat Jeff Jarrett at Halloween Havoc in a Loser Leaves Town match, and from there he went to Starrcade and beat Curt Hennig to become US Champ. Not long after Starrcade I had Benoit and Raven start a program over the US Title, meanwhile Eddie and Jericho traded the Cruiserweight title back and forth. That was crucial in the development of Jericho as he turned from happy go lucky, to a real paranoid champion with a mean streak. And I was using the TV Title to put over Booker T as well, I had him go over Syxx at Souled Out to retain, which took some battling with Bischoff because Syxx was NWO. Luckily, Waltman was a sport and happy to take the L at the time.
I guess it would be remiss of me not to call out that we also had Goldberg debut at this time and he begun squashing people with his two moves he could do well.
From there, Conrad stops Cornette and talks about all the great memories they’ve just rehashed there. Conrad promises there’s more to come and falls into one of his real estate scheme ads…