• Home
  • Movies
  • Music
  • TV
  • Video Games
  • Wrestling
  • Topics
  • Latest Comments on Cult of Whatever
Search
Cult of Whatever logo
  • Movies
    Featured
    • The Living Daylights: Timothy Dalton as James Bond

      The Living Daylights is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 28, 2022
      Movie Blogs
    Recent
    • Lethal Weapon: Danny Glover and Mel Gibson as Roger Murtaugh and Martin Riggs

      Lethal Weapon is still awesome thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 9, 2022
    • Nope: Keke Palmer and Daniel Kaluuya

      REVIEW: “NOPE” wants to be more than it is, which is just good enough

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 22, 2022
    • Brave: Kelly Macdonald voices Princess Merida

      Ten years later, BRAVE remains Pixar’s most underrated film

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 21, 2022
    • A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Heather Langenkamp as Nancy

      A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 is still awesome, thirty-five years later

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 20, 2022
    • Where The Crawdads Sing: Daisy Edgar Jones and David Strathairn

      REVIEW: Where the Crawdads Sing deftly blends genres to good effect

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 19, 2022
    • Thor Love and Thunder: Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth as The Mighty Thor and Thor

      REVIEW: THOR – LOVE AND THUNDER is an adventure of mirth and sadness alike

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 9, 2022
  • Music
    Random
    • Michael Jackson Thriller Album Cover

      Thirty years ago music fans said "Nevermind" to Michael Jackson

      By Matthew Martin
      | March 21, 2021
      Music Blogs
    Recent
    • The Beatles: Get Back

      What GET BACK reveals about the Beatles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 15, 2021
    • Simon And Garfunkel at Feyenoord Stadium in Rotterdam1982

      The Boxer is a song about being conned

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 4, 2021
    • Lady Gaga: Chromatica Album Cover

      Lady Gaga’s discography is totally out of order

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 3, 2021
    • Queen II Album Cover

      On Queen’s The Miracle, and the importance of track ordering

      By Matthew Martin
      | February 16, 2021
    • Linda Paul Mccartney 1976

      50 years ago, McCartney dropped “Lennon” and went solo…

      By Matthew Martin
      | June 5, 2020
    • Beatles Usa 1964

      50 years ago the Beatles said “The End”

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 31, 2019
  • TV
    Featured
    • Nancy Drew S03e01: Kennedy McMann as Nancy

      Nancy Drew S03E01 Review: The Warning of the Frozen Heart - Uh-oh!

      By Salome G
      | October 10, 2021
      TV Blogs
    Recent
    • American Horror Stories S02e04 Cody Fern and Seth Gabel as Thomas and Walter

      American Horror Stories S02E04 Review: Milkmaids – Very ambitious

      By Salome G
      | August 14, 2022
    • Roswell New Mexico S04e09: Allie Myers and Jeanine Mason as Shiri Appleby and Liz Ortecho

      Roswell, New Mexico S04E09 Review: Wild Wild West- Okay…

      By Salome G
      | August 11, 2022
    • Evil S03e09: Party Time

      Evil S03E09 Review: The Demon of Money – Dark moments…

      By Salome G
      | August 8, 2022
    • American Horror Stories S02e03: Bella Thorne as Marci

      American Horror Stories S02E03 Review: Drive – Unsettling experiences

      By Salome G
      | August 8, 2022
    • The Orville S03: Penny Johnson Jerald and Mark Jackson as Dr. Claire Finn and Isaac

      The Orville season three finale review: Don’t say goodbye

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 8, 2022
    • Roswell New Mexico S04e08: Michael Vlamis as Michael Guerin

      Roswell, New Mexico S04E08 Review: Missing My Baby – The truth hurts

      By Salome G
      | August 3, 2022
  • Video Games
    Featured
    • Arkham Knight

      Batman: Arkham Knight - A fitting end to a trilogy

      By Tom Farr
      | July 18, 2015
      Video Game Reviews
    Recent
    • Nintendo Switch Logo

      Looking ahead to the Switch 2: Predictions and Wants

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 15, 2022
    • Legend Of Zelda

      Can a Legend of Zelda movie work?

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 6, 2022
    • Super Mario 64

      Which system had the better launch: A battle of four Nintendo consoles

      By Matthew Martin
      | December 1, 2021
    • Luigi's Mansion

      Happy twentieth to Nintendo’s underrated gem, the Gamecube

      By Matthew Martin
      | November 18, 2021
    • Metroid Dread

      Metroid Dread – Post Game analysis and sequel needs

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 29, 2021
    • Mario Headphones

      The SNES Turns 30: A look at some of the system’s best soundtracks

      By Matthew Martin
      | October 22, 2021
  • Wrestling
    Featured
    • Wwe Payback 2017 Poster 2

      Your SO OF COURSE preview of WWE Payback 2017

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 30, 2017
      WWE Blogs
    Recent
    • AEW Dark: Ricky Starks (22/09/20)

      The future of the AEW World Championship

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 14, 2022
    • AEW Forbidden Door 2022: Claudio Castagnoli

      ROH Death Before Dishonor 2022 kickstarted a new era with a bang

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 25, 2022
    • Vince Mcmahon Stone Cold Podcast

      Vince McMahon is out as WWE chief. First reactions here…

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 22, 2022
    • AEW Double or Nothing 2022: CM Punk vs Adam Page

      REVIEW: AEW Double or Nothing 2022 delivered an up-and-down show

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 30, 2022
    • MJF on AEW Dynamite 17th November 2021

      Getting AEW to the next level…

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 29, 2022
    • Raw 210501: Triple H and Stephanie McMahon

      May 21, 2001 – A (forgotten) date that will live in WWE infamy

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 20, 2022
  • Topics
    • site logo
    Latest
    • Looking ahead to the Switch 2: Predictions and Wants
    • American Horror Stories S02E04 Review: Milkmaids - Very ambitious
    • The future of the AEW World Championship
    • Roswell, New Mexico S04E09 Review: Wild Wild West- Okay...
    • Lethal Weapon is still awesome thirty-five years later
    • Evil S03E09 Review: The Demon of Money - Dark moments...

    Forgotten PPVs and WWE’s burial of history

    By Matthew Martin
    | August 3, 2017
    WWE Blogs

    When Vince McMahon purchased WCW in 2001 he not only ended a business rivalry that at one point nearly brought down his family’s company, he also swallowed up the legacy of a pro wrestling dynasty that dated back a generation. Soon after, he did the same with ECW, and though Paul Heyman’s little-promotion-that-could never existed long enough to have the word “dynasty” attached to it, it was still a powerful third place promotion with a fiercely loyal fanbase behind it.

    Awcwlogo

    In the span of a few months the World Wrestling Federation went from being the most watched pro wrestling show on TV to being the only wrestling show on TV. And though the company tried to mount a WCW comeback, that endeavor died a quick and messy death. Just as soon as the WCW relaunch began it was ended, and soon after the frustrating “Invasion” storyline began in its place. ECW wrestlers and logos were eventually folded into the endeavor but less than a year later the whole thing was scrapped and considered a colossal waste of talent and opportunity.

    The WCW and ECW acquisitions were certainly successful “business” moves, initially, but they led to terrible “creative” moves (which in turn led to diminished business), because the WWF/E writers, and particularly Vince McMahon himself, made one critical mistake: They refused to treat their newly-acquired assets, and the history they now owned, with respect.

    Fast-forward sixteen years and both WCW and ECW are memories left to history. But the same mistake that was made sixteen years ago is still being made today: The WWE continues to shy away from embracing the history of the businesses they purchased in favor of their own brand. Meanwhile the company sits on a goldmine of brilliant ideas and concepts that have been left to wallow at the bottom of some filing cabinet in Stamford, simply because they were ideas dreamed up by someone named Crockett or Rhodes, and not McMahon. When pressed about some of those bygone ideas, Vince McMahon will give some PR spin about how the company has to look to the future not the past in order to succeed.

    He says this, mind you, with a straight face.

    Just last month the WWE hosted a PPV entitled “Great Balls of Fire,” a show whose title and theme song were taken from a rockabilly record that is exactly sixty years old (but still younger than Vince by eleven years so maybe he thinks it’s fresh?).

    With that said, here are three events synonymous with WCW (that is, Jim Crockett Promotions) that WWE owns and could very easily resurrect for a PPV event, so that they don’t have to plunder from the well that is Sam Phillips-produced 45s.

    THE GREAT AMERICAN BASH

    Wcw Great American Bash

    WHAT IT WAS:

    An annual summertime tradition which featured the best of the best wrestlers from Jim Crockett Promotions and later World Championship Wrestling.

    Legends like Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, The Road Warriors, Ricky Steamboat and many more made this a must-watch show every July. As with many of the great ideas of JCP, it was conceived by Dusty Rhodes. The American Dream saw the potential in a show that could tap into mid-80’s American patriotism, and it worked. The event ran every year until 2000. After that WCW folded and the concept laid dormant until 2004 when WWE brought the show back as a Smackdown Brand PPV. It lasted until 2008, when the “Great American” part was de-emphasized in advertisements. By 2009 the show was renamed “The Bash” and was phased out entirely in 2010. Under WWE’s control, the show never wholly embraced its potential, nor did it treat the show as anything more than another PPV in-between the big ones (WrestleMania and SummerSlam). In fact, since it always fell just a month before SummerSlam, the show was often used as a set-up event where all the big stuff was…well, set-up, in order to be paid off on the important show in August.

    WHAT IT COULD BE TODAY:

    An annual WWE Network special every fourth of July.

    The company has already played around with the idea of a WWE Network-exclusive show around Independence Day; back in 2015 they ran a show from Tokyo that featured Finn Balor capturing the NXT Championship from Kevin Owens. The idea is sound and running a show on America’s birthday with a title like “Great American Bash” makes too much sense not to do. It’s not like the company is averse to using “Merica” in its branding. The only reason not to do take advantage of “The Great American Bash” name is stubbornness over the name’s origin.

    STARRCADE

    Wcw Nwo Starrcade Logo

    WHAT IT WAS:

    An oddly-spelled (“Starrcade”) supershow, hosted by Jim Crockett Promotions and later WCW.

    The WWE history books define “Starrcade” as “WCW’s version of WrestleMania.” Never mind that Starrcade predates WrestleMania by a good year and a half. The annual event was, much like WrestleMania, the big climax to the company’s biggest storylines at the time. Ric Flair carried the top match in the first eight shows, and main-evented ten in all. The show was huge and even in the darkest days of WCW was still treated as a major event where big things happen. Some of the most memorable moments in all of pro wrestling can be traced to one Starrcade or another. Ric Flair won his second World Heavyweight Championship at the inaugural event, in what was Harley Race’s torch-passing moment. Dusty Rhodes had his big moment at the 1985 show, defeating Ric Flair for his second World Heavyweight Championship (although it would be reversed “because Dusty”). Sting and Flair had their big two-year show in 1989 and 1990, and of course there’s the 1997 show where Sting defeated the nWo, followed a year later by Goldberg’s win-streak finally snapping.  The show has huge history behind it and the fact that the WWE never did anything with it, apart from a DVD compilation, is a travesty.

    WHAT IT COULD BE TODAY:

    A “Night of Champions/Clash of Champions” special but with prestige. First of all, ditch the second “r” (the old TV show “Starcade” is a distant memory) and merge the idea with the “every title on the line” PPV concept that’s been batted around the WWE calendar since 2007. Night of Champions started out in June and then moved to July, and then September and then October before moving back to September (as well as being renamed “Clash of Champions” last year). No matter where they place the event it’s rarely ever given the attention a concept like that should deserve. Granted, for most of its existence the company basically held PPVs every month where every title was on the line anyway, so there wasn’t much novelty. But in the brand-split days a good way to set the show apart might be to feature every title and only title matches, with a show hosted by both Raw and SmackDown. Such a big idea deserves a big name, and Starcade would be perfect.

    WARGAMES

    Wcw Fall Brawl Wargames

     

    WHAT IT WAS:

    Only the best gimmick match in the history of gimmick matches.

    WHAT IT COULD BE TODAY:

    Only the best gimmick match in the history of gimmick matches…in HD!

    Don’t tell me it can’t work. Don’t tell me it wouldn’t sell. That second idea is especially moronic; WWE’s production department is so amazing they could run a three minute hype video about a turtle feuding with a dead parrot and I would pay $9.99 to watch the fight.

    There’s been talk about doing the match over the years and one of the things mentioned was that the way modern arenas are built these days they can’t accommodate the massive double-caged structure since there’s usually a big digital scoreboard hanging in the middle of the rafters. That’s a fair point, except that WWE has shown great ingenuity in the past in the way certain structures like Hell in a Cell and the Elimination Chamber are erected; I have no doubt the great engineers working for Vince could make it work if they wanted to do it.

    And why wouldn’t they? It’s the single biggest thing they bought when they bought WCW, other than the letters, and arguably the letters were so tainted, and all the big wrestlers not even under contract, that maybe the best thing they actually bought was the gimmicks and names and concepts that had stood the test of time. The Great American Bash is one such concept. Starrcade is one such name. Wargames is one such gimmick. These events need to be seen; they need to rise again harder and stronger.

    Wcw Logo

    When WWE bought WCW they didn’t just buy a rival. They bought their way into an unofficial pro wrestling monopoly. They have an obligation, therefore, to ensure that the history of pro wrestling is preserved, because they’re the only ones with the means to actually do it. They’ve done great things in that regard with the WWE Network, but there’s more than could be done. Sticking historical facts in a history book is not the only way to preserve history. You can also keep the fire burning and keep the ideas of the past in the present…

    so that what is dead may never die.

    Share this article:

    Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit

    Tags

    great american bashStarrcadeWCWwcw wargamesWWE Criticism

    COMMENTS

    Please read our Commenting Policy before you join in with the discussion.

    Note: If you have email notifications enabled, please check your email spam folders to ensure emails are not missed.

    Subscribe
    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    Notify of
    guest

    Connect withD
    I allow to create an account
    When you login first time using a Social Login button, we collect your account public profile information shared by Social Login provider, based on your privacy settings. We also get your email address to automatically create an account for you in our website. Once your account is created, you'll be logged-in to this account.
    DisagreeAgree
    guest

    0 Comments
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments

    You might also like

    • Five Pay-Per-View Concepts From The Past

      By John Hancock
      | June 4, 2013
    • WWE: Why WarGames makes sense, now more than ever

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 20, 2014
    • War Games: WCW’s Most Notorious Matches DVD Review

      By Henry Higgins
      | July 7, 2013
    • Eric Bischoff Interview

      By Josh Modaberi
      | June 4, 2012
    • DVD Review: The Very Best of WCW Monday Nitro – Vol.3

      By Henry Higgins
      | September 27, 2015
    • DVD Review: WWE Monday Night War Vol.1 – Shots Fired

      By Henry Higgins
      | August 12, 2015
    • DVD Review: WWE Monday Night War Vol.2 – Know Your Role

      By Henry Higgins
      | October 1, 2015
    • “Macho Man” Randy Savage Passes Away At The Age of 58

      By Cassidy
      | May 20, 2011
    • ‘Hacksaw’ Jim Duggan Interview

      By Josh Modaberi
      | January 19, 2014
    • Booker T Interview

      By Josh Modaberi
      | October 10, 2012
    • DVD Review: Diamond Dallas Page: Positively Living

      By Henry Higgins
      | June 7, 2017
    • DVD Review: Macho Man – The Randy Savage Story

      By Henry Higgins
      | December 8, 2014
    • DVD Review: Sting – Into the Light

      By Henry Higgins
      | October 22, 2015
    • DVD Review: United We Slam – Best of Great American Bash

      By Henry Higgins
      | July 22, 2014
    • Interview: Chris Jericho

      By Josh Modaberi
      | December 7, 2014
    • Interview: Diamond Dallas Page (DDP)

      By Josh Modaberi
      | March 30, 2017
    • Interview: Vader

      By Josh Modaberi
      | May 11, 2014
    • How pro-wrestling got attitude

      By John Hancock
      | October 26, 2012

    FIND THE TOPICS YOU WANT...

    Wrestling Topics

    Recommended for you

    • The future of the AEW World Championship

      By Matthew Martin
      | August 14, 2022
    • ROH Death Before Dishonor 2022 kickstarted a new era with a bang

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 25, 2022
    • Vince McMahon is out as WWE chief. First reactions here…

      By Matthew Martin
      | July 22, 2022
    • Getting AEW to the next level…

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 29, 2022
    • Your WAY TOO EARLY predictions for WWE WrestleMania 39!

      By Matthew Martin
      | April 20, 2022
    • What we want from an AEW video game

      By Matthew Martin
      | May 31, 2021
    • About Us
    • Contact Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Affiliate Disclosure
    • Cookie Policy and Settings
    • Terms of Use
    • Photo Credits
    • RSS
    All Cult of Whatever articles, logos, illustrations and graphics are copyright CultOfWhatever.com. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. © 2021 CultOfWhatever. All Rights Reserved.
    • facebook
    • twitter
    wpDiscuz