Meanwhile, both firms would establish each formal and informal partnerships with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), with ECW performers both showing on WWF and WCW exhibits whereas nonetheless beneath contract, or outright leaving ECW to work for one in every of the other two corporations. In retrospect, wrestling commentators have come to see the Monday Night War as a golden age of professional wrestling, together with the 1940s-1950s and 1980s booms, with the competition between the WWF and WCW bringing out their greatest quality product both by way of creativity and the performances of their wrestlers. While WCW was the dominant promotion for much of the mid-nineties, a variety of factors coalesced to show the tide in the WWF’s favor at the top of the decade, together with a radical rebranding of their previously family-pleasant product into extremely sexualized and violent reveals geared towards older teenagers and adults. Turner, displeased with McMahon’s handling of programming on his network, pressured McMahon into selling his time slot to Jim Crockett Promotions, one other wrestling promotion.
Because of this, he was pressured to sell his company to Turner, by means of a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, who wished to retain the steady, sturdy ratings of the JCP wrestling programs. The company also drew casual fans’ attention by filming occasions at in style tourist venues such as Disney’s Hollywood Studios, and reached out to Mexican and Japanese wrestling followers through its cruiserweight division, which featured wrestlers from a diverse array of ethnic and racial backgrounds competing in matches featuring styles of wrestling common in Latin America and Asia. Shows have been taped earlier than a small reside, in-studio viewers, as were most professional wrestling television reveals of the interval. GCW’s television present, hosted by Gordon Solie, was recorded in considered one of WTBS’s studios at 1050 Techwood Drive in downtown Atlanta. While still working steadily, Barnett and the Briscos offered their entire stock in GCW (including the television deal) to McMahon, and on July 14, 1984 (in any other case often known as “Black Saturday”), the WWF took over GCW.
In 1983, the WWF started its own cable present referred to as WWF All American Wrestling, airing Sunday mornings on the USA Network. On January 24, 1988, another scheduling battle occurred between the WWF and NWA: the NWA presented the Bunkhouse Stampede on PPV, while WWF aired the Royal Rumble totally free on the USA Network. On Thanksgiving night time 1987, McMahon’s WWF aired Survivor Series on pay-per-view (PPV) towards the NWA’s Starrcade, which Crockett marketed because the NWA’s answer to WrestleMania. The NWA repeated the observe once more the next 12 months, with a Clash coinciding with WWF’s WrestleMania V. Although the primary event of the Clash saw NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ricky Steamboat defeat Flair in a finest-of-three-falls match that lasted for nearly an hour, ratings and attendance for the occasion fell properly under expectations in comparison with WrestleMania V. Thus, the practice of conflicting main events would stop for six years. The first episode featured Sean Mooney reporting from the streets of latest York City and interviews by Bobby Heenan, Yokozuna defeating Koko B. Ware, The Steiner Brothers defeating The Executioners; WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels defeating Max Moon; and The Undertaker defeating Damien Demento. Fans also responded negatively to a number of gimmicks intended to reinvigorate interest in the promotion, together with the introduction of actor David Arquette as WCW World Heavyweight Champion.
