WCW One Night Stand

WCW One Night Stand Petition
https://www.facebook.com/WCWONSPetition

It's time for a WCW One Night Stand

WCW has become relevant again thanks to the release of the Rise and Fall of WCW DVD. WWE produced a similar home video about Extreme Championship Wrestling a few years back. Sales and interest generated the need for a tribute show and another brand. Could a WCW One Night Stand work and could the WWE pull it off?

I loved ECW and as a matter of disclosure, I worked there as a ring announcer from 1995-1998. I was excited when WWE brought ECW back for ECW One Night Stand. At the same time, I wondered why nobody ever thought of this for WCW. Why has a company so deep in tradition been completely ignored by the WWE up until now?

The math works in this equation. As much as I loved ECW, they never had the viewership that WCW had at its peak with the NWO and Goldberg. So it amazed me that WWE would put so much time into rebranding a company like ECW, while letting over 50 years of tradition sit. Millions of people tuned into WCW back in 1997. They aren’t tuning in now. Could some of these fans be lured back by the scent of their old favorite wrestling company?
WCW fans and WWE fans were a totally different breed for many years. WCW fans were more southern and preferred a slower wrestling. In my opinion, this is also one of many reasons that Vince Russo didn’t work in WCW. Russo didn’t understand the WCW culture. How did Kevin Nash go from being a bomb as WWE champion to being a WCW money machine? One of the answers I feel is that WCW fans loved his slow and methodical style which didn’t fly in the WWE.

The timing may be a little late for this, but sales from the Rise and Fall of WCW show that there is still an audience for this. WWE owns the entire WCW tape library and could build this into one hell of a show. Sure, some of WCW’s biggest stars are wrestling for TNA Wrestling. However, one star will soon be a free man and could change the entire landscape of such an event.

Sting’s TNA Wrestling contract is expected to expire shortly. It is expected that he will retire from TNA. Sting alone could carry a WCW One Night Stand. This is the WWE’s chance to fix the terribly booked Invasion Angle. Bill Goldberg is also free and available. A Sting vs. Goldberg match could carry this entire show. Even better, a Sting and Goldberg team vs. a top WWE team could make for an even more intriguing match.

Ric Flair wants to wrestle again. I don’t want to see it, but I think the WWE could get away with Flair coming back for one more match if it was on a show like this. A Sting-Flair match is exactly what could bring old WCW fans back into the fold. Unlike Goldberg-Sting, I don’t think this would be a strong enough main-event. However, this match could be an important part of the package.

Hulk Hogan is also still available. I don’t necessarily want to see Hogan wrestle in 2009 or 2010. Yet, he could finally get his long awaited WWE match with the Big Show that the two have wanted for years. It would make perfect sense to match them up on a WCW One Night Stand. Whether he is wrestling Big Show or not, Hogan would need to be a big part of this show to make it work. I wouldn’t be opposed to keeping his in-ring activity short in some kind of a tag team match. Hell, team up with a celebrity!

There aren’t a lot of other top ex-WCW wrestlers available. Guys like Diamond Dallas Page, Lex Luger, Scott Hall, Kevin Sullivan, Rick Steiner, and Eric Bischoff are available for the right price for appearances. Booker T’s TNA future is in serious doubt and is rumored to be heading back to the WWE. Package the above names with a solid undercard featuring current WWE stars like Rey Mysterio, Chavo Guerrero, Jamie Noble, and Chris Jericho who wrestled for WCW and you have a hell of a lineup.

The action up top won’t be the greatest, but it doesn’t need to be if it is truly a one night stand. Hell, reunite the Nitro Girls on the show for all I care. In the end, maybe WWE attracts some old fans back to pro wrestling. Time is ticking so I wouldn’t see this being an annual event. One night, one time, bring back World Championship Wrestling. Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson, Stevie Ray, and Larry Zbysko are all available for the announcing duties. As long as this doesn’t turn into another mediocre brand, I am all for it.