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Frey’s
tenure is best remembered for one of the most confusing decisions in wrestling
history, and one that will have title histories filled with asterisks forever.
During his brief tenure, which lasted less than a year, Frey decided to bring
back the NWA name, and made a deal with the existing board members (the NWA was
strictly an organization in name only at that point) to bring back the NWA
“World Title”. However, instead
of switching the names of the existing titles, it was instead decided to have a
separate tournament for the NWA World Title, and have WCW recognize the
existence of two World Titles (NWA and WCW) and later two tag titles. This mess would blow up in 1993, when the NWA board refused
to have Rick Rude win the title, and WCW instead declared their “other”
World title to be the “WCW International World title” until they finally
gave up with the concept and “unified the two belts.”
After Frey’s failure, TBS decided to bring a
“wrestling guy” into the Executive Vice President position, and called on
Bill Watts to lead the company. Watts
had lead his Mid-South organization to great success as a territory in the early
80’s, then transformed it into the UWF, which made a strong run in its attempt
to become a third national promotion until Watts sold it to Crockett and the
group was absorbed into WCW. Watts was a strict disciplinarian, which pleased
some, while dismaying others. He
also made two rule changes which fans, even to this day, still argue.
Watts said in a televised interview that WCW wrestlers had to be tough,
and said that the protective mats at ringside would be removed. However, in the same interview, he banned top rope maneuvers,
making them an automatic disqualification.
For a company that boasted high flyers like Brian Pillman and Bobby
Eaton, this made little sense to most. Backstage,
Watts instilled more “old school” rules, like not allowing heels and faces
to be seen together outside the buildings, further annoying the talent.
However, none of those things led to Watts departure from the company.
Comments he made, which were construed as being racist, reached baseball
legend Hank Aaron, who held an office position with Turner Sports.
Soon thereafter, Watts was gone from the company, opening the door for
longtime announcer Eric Bischoff to step into the Executive Vice President
position. Bischoff would not only
become the longest running Executive Vice President in WCW history, but he would
also be the most successful as well.
It should be pointed out that, up until this
point, Ted Turner was the primary factor behind WCW even existing.
Turner had a soft spot for wrestling, since it was the only programming
that drew ratings for him when he first started his Superstation.
His loyalty to wrestling eventually led to him buying out Jim Crockett
Promotions, just to secure that he would always have wrestling on television.
Now, WCW would actually become something more in the Turner universe.
Eric Bischoff, from the start, tried different
tactics in promoting WCW. He worked
more closely with New Japan Pro Wrestling in getting talent exchanges.
More importantly, he did what none of his predecessors had even
attempted, and began to work within the Turner (and later Time Warner)
infrastructure. WCW had always been
run separately from the massive corporation, despite being owned by it.
Bischoff convinced Turner that WCW could be a successful asset if some
time and money were put into it. He convinced upper management to give him the
ball and let him run with it. At
first, it appeared he was doomed to an expensive failure.
After working with the talent he had for a time,
Bischoff made the signing that surprised many in the wrestling industry.
With the WWF embroiled in the steroid trial, and Hulk Hogan a free agent,
Bischoff signed him to WCW on June 11, 1994 amid a sea of fabricated hoopla.
The Hogan “contract signing” was done at Disney World, and
accompanied by a ticker tape parade and “press conference” which included a
“reporter” asking Hogan to flex his muscles.
The wrestling community snickered at this attempt to recreate the
original Hogan era, but Bischoff was not done yet. On December 3, 1994, Randy
Savage made his debut appearance on WCW Saturday Night and WCW began to resemble
the late 80’s WWF. When Starrcade
’94 came with a Hulk Hogan vs. Brutus “Butcher” Beefcake main event, and
no Ric Flair, many fans wrote off the company.
However,
a funny thing happened in 1995. WCW
started picking up steam. More fans
started tuning in to see the old WWF favorites, and Bischoff became more
aggressive in his desire to compete with the WWF.
In what was considered a suicidal decision, WCW announced a new program
“WCW Monday Nitro” to be held Monday Nights on TNT opposite the WWF’s Raw
on the USA network. Nitro, as we would be reminded constantly, was live every
week, while the WWF’s product was often taped.
The inaugural episode was broadcast from the Mall of America in
Minneapolis on September 4, 1995, when Raw was pre-empted.
The show featured the shocking return of Lex Luger, who had just wrestled
for the WWF that weekend. This
would usher in the era of guaranteed contracts, as the two companies began to
battle over talent.
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