Happy Wednesday Everyone!
Bit of a different slant on the feature for this week, as instead of rebooking a show that happened previously I’ll instead be booking a show that didn’t end up happening at all in the form of WCW’s ill-fated The Big Bang event of 2001.
For those not au-fait, Eric Bischoff and Fusient Media had intended to buy WCW in 2001 until Jamie Kellner essentially killed the company off by cancelling all of their TV. However, prior to the deal going belly-up, Bischoff’s idea had been for the company to go dark for a few weeks and then come back with a big pay per view event on the 6th of May 2001 called The Big Bang, whereby all of the babyface stars that WCW Champ Scott Steiner had been destroying since the autumn of 2000 would return and the company would get a fresh injection of life into it.
That event of course never ended up happening, so this week I’ll take a bash at putting together my own WCW return had the company survived in 2001 and Fusient had decided to hand over the reins to me. I’m going to try and both put on a good show and lay the foundation for further events going forwards, so let’s see if my version of The Big Bang can end up being a success!
Opener
Jason Jett Vs Kid Kash
10 Minutes
Jett had been getting a decent push towards the end of WCW and Kid Kash was in the process of jumping from ECW to WCW, so we’ll match them up in the opener here seeing as they had good chemistry in ECW when Jett was wrestling as EZ Money. For the finish we’ll have Kash counter a Jett top rope powerbomb into a rana, as that move always tore the house down when they did it in ECW and hopefully it will garner the same reaction here. By winning we’ve made a new Cruiserweight contender out of Kash and Jett had been booked strongly enough prior to this bout that the loss shouldn’t hurt him too much, meaning he’s still a viable star in the division, especially if this ends up being a good match.
Match Two
WCW Hardcore Title
Belt Vacant
Crowbar Vs Sabu
10 Minutes
Sabu was a hardcore guy who still had some vestiges of name value in 2001 and he would fit the Hardcore division well. Crowbar and Sabu had decent chemistry together as opponents, so this would hopefully be a fun outing. Sabu can pick up the win here to establish himself as the premier hardcore wrestler in the company and gradually we can start building up some of the other hardcore wrestlers so that he has opponents to work with. To be honest, I don’t just want to hire every out of contract ECW guy to work with him, but we might give a few of them like Balls Mahoney and Tony DeVito some non-written pay per appearance deals so they can come in and put him over whilst we build up our home grown guys. I always liked DeVito and thought he was under rated as a worker, so giving him some shots to work some hardcore matches seems like a good way to utilise him.
Match Three
WCW Tag Team Titles
Champs: Chuck Palumbo and Sean O’Haire Vs Steve Corino and CW Anderson
10 Minutes
Some more ECW guys get a chance here, as Corino and Anderson working as an Old School tag team would probably be a solid act and they should make good foils for some of the younger up and coming teams on the roster. Palumbo and O’Haire can retain here but we’ll keep Corino and Anderson in the mix. I might even start having Arn Anderson or even Ric Flair manage them, just because I think that dynamic would work well.
Match Four
WCW Cruiserweight Title
Champ: Shane Helms Vs Evan Karagias and Shannon Moore
12 Minutes
Three Count Explodes!!!
In all seriousness, the boy band gimmick had run its course by this stage so this is the final blow off, with all three going at it here until Helms puts Karagias away with The Vertebreaker. We can then repackage Moore and Karagias into slightly more serious gimmicks whilst trying to also work in the likes of AJ Styles, Jamie Noble, Kaz Hayashi, Jimmy Yang and Elix Skipper into the Title picture. We can also look to the Indies and give guys like Christopher Daniels and Low Ki some opportunities.
Match Five
Lance Storm w/ Tylene Buck Vs Diamond Dallas Page
10 Minutes
We’re going to try and give Storm some credibility as an upper card star again after he’d fallen down the pecking order a bit in the companies dying days, so he can go over DDP clean here. It should be a good match along the way due to both wrestlers being solid workers and DDP can survive a clean job to Storm if it’s done in a competitive match. We can always make a proper feud out of it or use it as a way to elevate Storm in order to get him in the US or World Title picture.
Angle
Mike Tenay can come down to the ring to announce that the World Television Title will be returning, and as a big surprise he can reveal that the debuting Rob Van Dam will be competing in the tournament to crown the new Champion. Chavo Guerrero Jr can be annoyed that RVD is getting so much hype, leading to RVD sending him packing in order to set the two up as the eventual finalists. I think Chavo Jr has achieved all he’s going to in the Cruiserweight ranks at this point after Title runs in both 2000 and 2001, so let’s mix him in with the Heavyweights and have him going for the TV Title.
Match Six
WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles
Two out of Three Falls
Champs: Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo Vs Kidman and Rey Mysterio Jr
20 Minutes
These two teams had a great match at Greed to crown the inaugural Champions, so we give them more time here in order to play with the formula a bit more. Kidman and Rey end up getting the win via a score of 2-1, after which we’ll split Skipper and Romeo up. It seems early to do so, but they always felt like a bit of a thrown together team to me anyway. Skipper can go for the Cruiserweight Title and we’ll try Romeo out in the new TV Title division to see if he can hang with the Heavyweights.
Match Seven
Kanyon Vs Dustin Rhodes
8 Minutes
This is another singles match where we give a Heel win in order to strengthen that side of the divide. 8 minutes isn’t a lot of time to work with, but Kanyon was a good worker and Rhodes could deliver during this period when motivated. This is something where we’ll make it a proper feud going forwards, with Kanyon and Rhodes going at it for a couple of months, with the hope being that it’ll rejuvenate Rhodes somewhat to be in there with a rising star, whilst Kanyon can pick up some wins and get himself over in order to get him in the mix for the TV and US Titles.
Semi-Main
WCW United States Title
Champ: Booker T Vs Jeff Jarrett
15 Minutes
This one is all about giving Booker hard-fought clean win, as we’re going to want the US Title to have credibility so Booker needs to be pinning everyone who isn’t Scott Steiner or Goldberg whenever he defends it. Jarrett isn’t going to be hurt by losing here and we’ve got the likes of Storm, Kanyon and even guys like Mike Awesome and Shane Douglas waiting in the wings as potential challengers down the line for Booker. We’ll keep the belt on Booker whilst also giving him regular wins in big match settings in order to build both him and the belt up.
Main Event
WCW World Title
Champ: Scott Steiner Vs Kevin Nash Vs Sting Vs Goldberg
The story here is that Steiner sent both Nash and Sting packing, whilst he also defeated Goldberg at Fall Brawl 2000 and Goldberg never really got revenge. Thus you’ve got three angry challengers who are all looking for payback in their own way. Eventually Goldberg picks up the win, although he pins Nash so we can save his win over Steiner for a singles match. Goldberg is going to be the top guy, so he gets the belt and the big push, with the furious Steiner demanding rematches because he never actually got pinned to lose the belt, leading to Goldberg eventually pinning Steiner clean in the middle in order to settle that dispute.
In Conclusion
Tony Khan would sure love all this stuff what with all the ECW guys, clean finishes and cornucopia of Title belts wouldn’t he? I didn’t even realise that until after I’d written this and started reading it back!
It should be of little surprise to anyone that I was a big ECW fan, which is why a lot of ECW refugees are getting thrown a lifeline here such as Kash, Corino, Anderson, Sabu and RVD. However, if you wanted to bring in some fresh opponents for the resident WCW guys then bringing in former ECW guys as well as talent from the Indies is the best way to do that, and it would certainly give the “new” WCW a different feel straight out of the gate.
Some may think that we’ve got too many belts going on here, but I think the World, US, Cruiserweight, Hardcore and TV belts all serve different functions and thus it won’t be overkill in the singles ranks. The World Title is for Main Eventers. The US Title is for guys the next rung down who are ready to step up and just need a bit of credibility first. The Cruiserweight Title is for the talented smaller wrestlers who can work a more athletic exciting style. The Hardcore belt is for the brawlers and less scientifically sound wrestlers who can be hidden in plunder matches. And the TV Title offers something different with its 10-15 minute time limit and regular defences on television.
Two Tag Titles might be too much, but we’ll try it and we can always axe the Cruiserweight belts and just have the smaller teams mix it up with the regular Tag Champs if needs be.
This show has a lot of in-ring wrestling on it, which might be a bit too much for some, but we need this first pay per view under the new owners to provide some great matches because we don’t have the star power to compete with the WWF right now. Pushing younger hard-working wrestlers is going to be one of our bigger selling points, with the likes of AJ Styles being key in that. The WWF never really caring about the Light Heavyweight Title will work to our advantage in that regard, as the indies are going to see an explosion of talented smaller workers in the next couple of years such as Paul London, Bryan Danielson, Spanky, Amazing Red, Homicide etc. and WCW will be a solid destination for them if the Cruiserweight’s are actually getting pushed.
This version of WCW is going to have to lean into being an alternative as opposed to competition for the WWF, especially when you consider the incredible run the latter company was on at that time. WCW needs to push good wrestling, logical storylines and youth. We’ve still got respected figures like Ric Flair, Sting, Steiner and DDP to bring some experience, as well as seasoned guys entering their primes such as Booker, Kanyon, Storm and Jarrett, so over time we need to start getting the younger guys in the mix with these types in order to build them up.
The likes of Rick Steiner, Lex Luger and Buff Bagwell can be either phased out or just plain released, as we’re not going to gain any real benefit from them at this point if the Greed pay per view in March is anything to go by. The likes of Sting, Flair and DDP will still take pride in their work and can actually be an asset, and Kevin Nash will be kept on a short leash with the trigger getting pulled if he tries to politic. Nash can still be useful, but the second he becomes a problem it’s time to wish him well.
Scott Steiner will need to be pacified as he can actually be a difference maker and genuine Main Event star, as can Goldberg, but we don’t need to be appeasing too many folks right now. We need enough guys to get a rating that Turner is happy with, which means we’re going to have to contend with a few egos, but the likes of Kevin Nash and Lex Luger don’t fall into that category.
Let me know what you think of this booking attempt and please feel free to share some of your own ideas in the comments section. There’s a chance this version of WCW will still crash and burn, but I’m hoping this will be a strong opening salvo at the very least!