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125-625: Originally performing in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) from 1998 to 1999, the group was led by Eddie Guerrero . In 2023, it was revived in WWE by new leader Rey Mysterio, who is the only wrestler to be a member of both versions of the group. The group's name, created by American actor Jason Hervey during his time working backstage as a producer with WCW, is a parody of the New World Order (nWo) stable. The LWO

250-454: A "family-friendly" orientation, and drop the reforms that turned around the company's fortunes. Concurrently to WCW beginning to struggle under the weight of its own momentum, the WWF began to turn the corner on its own reforms. Having been caught flatfooted by the total reconfiguration of WCW and the success of Nitro in 1996 and 1997, by 1998 the WWF was building its own momentum. Taking most of

375-535: A San Juan street fight after interference from Savio Vega and Carlito . Balor and Priest participated in the tournament for the new World Heavyweight Championship , but they were both eliminated by the eventual champion Seth "Freakin" Rollins . At Night of Champions on May 27, Ripley defeated Natalya in 70 seconds to retain her title. On the June 12 episode of Raw, the SmackDown Women's Championship

500-484: A botched move at Starrcade 1999 , followed just days later by Goldberg very seriously injuring himself during an angle on Thunder , and Hollywood Hogan seemingly quitting the company live on PPV at Bash at the Beach 2000 only seemed to further a sense that the company was spiralling out of control. By July 2000 Bischoff had walked off the job. In 2000, several potential buyers for WCW were rumored to show interest in

625-471: A con-chair-to and Edge reluctantly submitted. After the match, Ripley still performed the con-chair-to on Phoenix. Around this time, The Judgment Day continued recruiting Styles, who turned down several offers to join the group. On the October 10 episode of Raw, Styles seemingly accepted their offer, but rejected it and introduced the returning Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson ; a brawl then ensued between

750-570: A duo. The pairing was not cohesive and frequently chafed over the direction of the company. Creatively, the year 2000 saw WCW attempt numerous publicity stunts to gain traction, such as making actor David Arquette (who then had no professional wrestling experience) the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. These moves only served to push traditional wrestling fans away from WCW. Events such as Goldberg forcing WCW World Heavyweight Champion Bret Hart into retirement following

875-603: A losing effort. On Night 2 of WrestleMania XL, Priest successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Drew McIntyre to win the World Heavyweight Championship immediately after McIntyre won the title from Rollins. Eight days later, Ripley was forced to vacate the Women's World Championship due to a legitimate arm injury, ending her reign at 380 days, tying Bayley 's record for the longest reign in

1000-471: A low ebb. To counter this, Bischoff felt that WCW was in need of radical reform; to this end, Bischoff sought to modernise WCW and move its image away from that of a Southern-based " rasslin " company. To achieve this, Bischoff increased WCW's production values, avoided unprofitable house shows , increased the number of WCW pay-per-views (PPVs, which were profitable), decreased the number of Southern accents on commentary, and began recruiting top stars away from

1125-494: A match to Eddie Guerrero. Chavo Guerrero Jr. , Eddie's nephew, wasn't included in the stable as he was deemed "mentally unstable" by the group and rejected as a member. A car accident suffered by Guerrero on January 1, 1999 would help bring a premature end to the LWO. Three days later, the two factions of the New World Order reunited , and before long, various members of the LWO were found lying unconscious backstage. The nWo approached

1250-656: A notable exception for almost a decade and a half. After the Invasion storyline concluded, the WWF divided the roster into two brands which was originally intended to revive WCW under the WWF umbrella but was instead divided into Raw and SmackDown! brands, named after two WWF's top programs at the time. Many other WCW wrestlers moved to the World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) or the XWF and then Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) which all started after

1375-454: A one-man con-chair-to , turning heel for the first time since 2010. At the event on April 3, Edge defeated Styles following a distraction by Damian Priest . Following WrestleMania, Edge and Priest revealed The Judgment Day as the name of the team. At WrestleMania Backlash on May 8, despite Priest being barred from ringside, Edge defeated Styles again after interference from a masked individual, later revealed to be Rhea Ripley , who became

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1500-616: A popular new group, which included Konnan, known as the Filthy Animals . In 2001, the World Wrestling Federation (renamed to WWE in 2002) acquired certain assets and television footage of WCW, including the LWO trademarks. Rey Mysterio, who was contracted under its parent AOL Time Warner, would not join the company until later in 2002. Over 20 years later on the March 31, 2023, episode of SmackDown , Rey, who

1625-526: A reunited nWo in the widely panned " Fingerpoke of Doom " angle. By September 1999, the rapidly declining ratings of Nitro (now half that of Raw ), drastic dropoff in revenue, and the increasing antagonism between Eric Bischoff and Time Warner executives prompted the head of Turner Sports , Harvey Schiller , to relieve Bischoff of his position. Almost immediately Schiller found a duo to replace Bischoff: former head writers for Raw Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera . Russo had just weeks prior walked off

1750-407: A shift to reality-based storylines , and notable hirings of former WWF talent. WCW also gained attention for developing a popular cruiserweight division, which showcased an acrobatic, fast-paced, lucha libre -inspired style of wrestling. In 1995, WCW debuted their live flagship television program Monday Nitro , and subsequently developed a ratings competition against the flagship program of

1875-501: A six-man tag team match. However, Lee missed the event due to travel issues, and a returning Carlito joined Wilde and Del Toro to win the match. On the January 5, 2024 episode of SmackDown : New Year's Revolution , Del Toro and Wilde brawled with Los Lotharios ( Angel Garza and Humberto Carrillo ; later shortened to Angel and Berto), who formed an alliance with Escobar a few weeks prior to reform Legado Del Fantasma, at ringside during

2000-575: A storyline began where Dominik was seduced by Liv Morgan . Dominik accidentally helped Morgan win the Women's World Championship from Becky Lynch on May 25 at King and Queen of the Ring , and accidentally helped her retain in a steel cage match two nights later on Raw . Morgan would also aid the group in their matches, helping Bálor and McDonagh win the World Tag Team Championship from The Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) on

2125-452: A tag team match, Escobar revealed that it was Carlito who attacked Lee. Carlito then attacked Rey and Lee, turning heel and leaving LWO. At Night 2 of the 2024 WWE Draft , LWO (including Carlito) were drafted to the Raw brand . It was later revealed that Rey pulled some strings to get Carlito drafted to Raw alongside LWO to ensure that Carlito pays for his actions against the stable, reigniting

2250-490: A three volume series hosted by Diamond Dallas Page called The Very Best of WCW Monday Nitro . WCW's library content would be made available with the launch of WWE Network in 2014. WWE would revive several of WCW's events, including Great American Bash in 2004, Starrcade in 2017 and Halloween Havoc in 2020. WWE also utilized the Night of Champions name and theme used on the last episode of Nitro beginning in 2001, which

2375-481: A unique and popular identity by integrating and mixing wrestlers from all around the world and from vastly different wrestling styles, particularly Mexican luchadores such as Rey Misterio Jr. , Psicosis , and Juventud Guerrera , but also Japanese "Super Juniors" such as Último Dragón . North American wrestlers, such as Chris Jericho , Eddie Guerrero , Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit , who had travelled abroad to Mexico and Japan earlier in their careers and learned

2500-422: Is the reigning Women's World Champion in her first reign as a member of the group and second reign overall, while Bálor and McDonagh are the current World Tag Team Champions in their first reign as a team. The stable was founded in 2022 by its original leader Edge at WrestleMania 38 with a supernatural /dark gothic theme ; Damian Priest was the first to join with Edge, followed by Rhea Ripley . Edge

2625-556: The 2023 men's Money in the Bank contract , ultimately winning the World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania XL . On the February 21, 2022, episode of Raw , Edge reflected on all the WrestleMania moments in his career before issuing an open challenge for WrestleMania 38 . The following week, his challenge was accepted by AJ Styles , to which Edge responded by performing a low blow on Styles before hitting him with

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2750-735: The NXT North American Championship at NXT Deadline . At the event, Rey accompanied Lee to the match, and Lee defeated Dominik to win his first title in WWE. On the December 19 episode of NXT , Lee successfully defended his title against Charlie Dempsey and Joe Coffey in a triple threat match . After the match, Dempsey's stable, The No Quarter Catch Crew, beat down Lee. Wilde and Del Toro then ran out to save Lee, which led to Lee, Wilde and Del Toro facing The No Quarter Catch Crew ( Drew Gulak , Damon Kemp, & Myles Borne) at NXT : New Year's Evil on January 2, 2024, in

2875-557: The NXT Women's Championship at WrestleMania 36 . At Elimination Chamber on February 18, Bálor and Ripley lost to Edge and Phoenix in a mixed tag team match despite interference from Dominik, while Priest failed to win the United States Championship inside the namesake structure after he was eliminated by Montez Ford . At Night 1 of WrestleMania 39 on April 1, Dominik lost to Rey after interference from

3000-558: The Speed Championship #1 contender's tournament , defeating NXT's No Quarter Catch Crew 's Tavion Heights and Akira Tozawa in the quarterfinals and semifinals respectively. He then received a bye to the championship match, where he defeated Speed Champion Andrade for the title on the November 15 taping of Speed aired on November 20. World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling ( WCW )

3125-615: The USA Network . The meeting led to Turner greenlighting the creation of WCW Monday Nitro , which would air on TNT on the same day and in the same time slot as Raw . Nitro would debut on September 4, 1995, and directly lead into the Monday Night War era of professional wrestling, in which WCW Nitro and WWF Raw would fiercely compete to beat each other in the Nielson ratings each and every week. The struggle between

3250-718: The X Division . Throughout the 2000s, WWE would incorporate elements into their shows formerly associated with WCW. Former WCW Championships such as the WCW World Heavyweight Championship , the WCW United States Championship and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship would be reactivated in WWE, with their WCW lineages acknowledged. The Cruiserweight division concept was introduced to WWE in 2002 and since then has been used intermittently throughout

3375-454: The nWo Wolfpac . On August 17, Guerrero cut a shoot interview, where he claimed to want out of his WCW contract. After being taken off television for several weeks, Guerrero returned on the October 5 edition of Monday Nitro , forming the LWO with several other Mexican wrestlers. The group consisted of the majority of the Mexican roster, as well as Guerrero's friend Art Flores, who played

3500-558: The 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, including WCW Wrestling , WCW SuperBrawl Wrestling , WCW vs. the World , WCW vs. nWo: World Tour , WCW/nWo Revenge and WCW Mayhem . The Judgment Day The Judgment Day is a villainous professional wrestling stable performing in WWE on the Raw brand . The group is composed of Finn Bálor , "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio , JD McDonagh , Carlito , Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez . Morgan

3625-580: The 2000s, 2010s and 2020s from 2002 onwards. Some WCW mainstays such as Booker T, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit and Chris Jericho were able to achieve long-term top positions within WWE by the mid to late 2000s. Similarly, promotions such as Total Nonstop Action would also make use of former WCW talent when possible and also continued the legacy of the Cruiserweight with their X-Division. WWE has since released various WCW documentaries, anthologies, and compilations, including The Rise and Fall of WCW , and

3750-536: The 24th Grand Slam Champion and The Judgment Day also became the second faction after The Bloodline to hold titles across all three brands. Ripley went on to retain the Women's World Championship against Raquel Rodriguez later that night. At NXT No Mercy on September 30, Dominik lost the NXT North American Championship to Trick Williams , ending his first reign at 74 days. However, following an ultimatum from Ripley, Dominik regained

3875-502: The April 24 episode of Raw with Rey defeating Priest by disqualification when Priest threw a steel chair at Rey. The LWO also debut a new entrance music, which paid tribute to the original founder and leader of the stable, Eddie Guerrero. On the May 5 episode of SmackDown , Bad Bunny helped the LWO save Rey from an attack from The Judgment Day, leading to Mysterio giving Bunny an LWO shirt.. On

Latino World Order - Misplaced Pages Continue

4000-518: The August 11 episode of SmackDown , Escobar was taken out by Theory before the match started. Due to Escobar's injury, WWE Official Adam Pearce allowed Rey to take Escobar's place for the title match and defeated Theory to become the new United States Champion. This marks the first title win in the stable's history. On the September 9 episode of SmackDown , Escobar requested Rey for a dream match for

4125-463: The Beach series of shows with AEW Bash at the Beach on January 15, 2020. However, a lawsuit by WWE prevented further reuse of that branding. Beginning in 2021, AEW began presenting their own version of WCW's WarGames match , held at the AEW Blood & Guts event. Who Killed WCW? , a four-part documentary series based off the downfall of WCW premiered June 6, 2024 on Vice TV . The series

4250-759: The Hall and Nash debuts as it gave the show an unscripted, "anything can happen at any time" feeling to the television audience. The start of the nWo angle, which immediately proved immensely popular and intriguing to wrestling fans, was part of a wider shift in the WCW presentation still being pursued by Eric Bischoff. As part of his overhaul of WCW, Bischoff wanted to grow WCW's audience amongst 18 to 35-year-olds . To that end, he alongside WCW's booker Kevin Sullivan began grounding WCW characters and storylines more in reality, utilising real names and darker themes in contrast to

4375-427: The June 13 episode of Raw , Ripley, Priest and Bálor appeared on the titantron, interrupting Bianca Belair 's interview in the ring where they explained their actions and declared that the group would consist of equality with no leaders. The Judgment Day then began a feud with The Mysterios ( Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio ) in an attempt to recruit Dominik into their ranks. On July 30, Bálor and Priest lost to

4500-519: The June 24 episode of Raw . On the July 8 episode of Raw , Dominik teamed with Morgan to defeat Rey Mysterio and Zelina Vega after Dominik pinned his father. After the match, just as he was about to kiss Morgan, Ripley returned from injury and confronted Dominik. On August 3, at SummerSlam , Ripley failed to regain the Women's World Championship from Morgan following a distraction by Mysterio, who kissed Morgan and left with her afterwards, and Priest lost

4625-583: The June 9 episode of SmackDown . However, Vega and Escobar failed to win their respective Money in the Bank ladder matches in the namesake event . Escobar and Rey then faced each other in the United States Championship Invitational tournament finals on the July 28 episode of SmackDown , where Escobar went on to face Austin Theory for the title after Rey suffered a kayfabe injury and was therefore unable to continue. On

4750-415: The LWO a man short for Fastlane. At Fastlane on October 7, Carlito made his permanent WWE return and joined the LWO to defeat Lashley and The Street Profits. At Crown Jewel , Rey lost the United States Championship to Logan Paul , ending his reign at 89 days. During the match, Escobar appeared at ringside to snatch away a set of brass knuckles from a member of Paul's entourage but left the brass knuckles at

4875-423: The LWO and demanded they immediately disband or face further consequences. The next week, Ric Flair also asked the LWO to disband and fight for WCW, promising he would treat them better than Bischoff did and also promising them money, women and limousines. Every member except Mysterio agreed, removing their LWO shirts and exiting the ring. Mysterio, who was not originally a willing member of the group, proved himself

5000-406: The LWO, and Dominik and Escobar set for Night 1 of WrestleMania XL . However, Lee was found attacked backstage and rendered him unable to compete for the match. Andrade was then named as Lee's replacement, and Rey and Andrade went on to defeat Dominik and Escobar at WrestleMania XL. On the April 26 episode of SmackDown , after Rey and Lee (who had returned from the attack) defeated Los Lotharios in

5125-691: The May 13 episode of Raw, Carlito helped Bálor and McDonagh win a fatal four-way match to become the #1 contenders for the World Tag Team Championship . One week later, Bálor and McDonagh failed to win the titles from Awesome Truth (The Miz and R-Truth) after Braun Strowman prevented Carlito from interfering. In the main event of Clash at the Castle: Scotland on June 15, despite The Judgment Day being barred from ringside, Priest defeated McIntyre to retain his title after interference from CM Punk . During Ripley's absence,

Latino World Order - Misplaced Pages Continue

5250-518: The Mysterios at SummerSlam after interference from the returning Edge. At Clash at the Castle on September 3, Bálor and Priest lost to Edge and Rey. After the match, Dominik attacked Edge with a low blow, followed by a clothesline to Rey, turning heel for the first time in his career. Two days later on Raw , Dominik officially joined The Judgment Day by helping the group attack Edge and Rey. On

5375-472: The NWA and becoming a standalone wrestling promotion. In February 1993 former commentator Eric Bischoff was appointed as Executive Producer of WCW, and by 1994 he had been promoted once again to Senior Vice President, a position which gave Bischoff both creative and financial control of WCW. At this point, the promotion was struggling financially and was widely perceived within the wrestling industry to be at

5500-570: The SmackDown Tag Team Championship to A-Town Down Under ( Austin Theory and Grayson Waller ) and the Raw Tag Team Championship to The Awesome Truth ( The Miz and R-Truth ) respectively in a six-pack tag team ladder match , ending their second reign with the undisputed titles at 173 days. Dominik teamed up with Legado Del Fantasma 's Santos Escobar against his father, Rey, and Andrade in

5625-574: The United States Championship #1 Contender Tournament finals match between Escobar and Kevin Owens . The next week, Del Toro and Wilde were defeated by Los Lotharios in a tag team match with Carlito brawling with Escobar at ringside. Wilde and Del Toro participated in NXT 's Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic tournament, defeating Chase University 's Duke Hudson and Riley Osborne on the January 16 episode of NXT but lost to Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams in

5750-457: The United States Championship. Two weeks later on SmackDown , Rey defeated Escobar to retain the title. After the match, the pair were attacked by The Street Profits and Bobby Lashley . A six-man tag team match between the LWO against Lashley and The Street Profits at Fastlane was made official the next day on SmackDown LowDown . On the following week's episode of SmackDown , Lashley and The Street Profits took out Wilde and Del Toro, leaving

5875-545: The United States alongside the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE), at one point surpassing the latter in terms of popularity. After initial success through utilization of established wrestling stars of the 1980s, the company appointed Eric Bischoff to executive producer of television in 1993. Under Bischoff's leadership, the company enjoyed a period of mainstream success characterized by

6000-489: The WWE immediately and participated in The Invasion storyline as part of The Alliance which lasted until the end of 2001, however many of WCW's top stars had contracts with AOL Time Warner rather than WCW itself that the WWF did not acquire, and most choose to sit out the length of their contracts rather than breaking them in order to work for the WWF. Most would eventually find their way to WWE, although Sting remained

6125-529: The WWF free to acquire the key assets of WCW through its new subsidiary W. Acquisition Company, which was renamed WCW Inc. afterwards. AOL Time Warner sold the rights to the World Championship Wrestling name, branding, championships, and all other remaining assets aside from the talent roster and video library to WWF for $ 2.5 million in March 2001. Shortly afterwards WWF paid an additional $ 1.8 million to cover costs to AOL Time Warner in

6250-443: The WWF in January 2000, an incident which resulted in a number of firings amongst WCW management. With shakeups to WCW management becoming more and more frequent, the WCW talent began to lose any sense of leadership or direction, which in turn caused them to form bickering political cliques amongst themselves. In April 2000, WCW attempted to resolve its creative issues by asking Eric Bischoff to return but work alongside Vince Russo as

6375-564: The WWF seizing back the ratings lead as well as WCW's own internal problem caused tension amongst both the on-screen talent and management. By November 1998 Kevin Nash had become head booker of WCW, overseeing the creative direction of both Nitro and Thunder . Nash's tenure was fraught with unpopular decisions, such as the move that saw the popular undefeated streak of WCW Champion Goldberg ended by Nash himself, who then became champion, only for Nash to then lay down for Hollywood Hogan and reform

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6500-742: The WWF throughout 2001. The storyline began proper at the WWF Invasion pay-per-view, which received 775,000 buys and became one of the highest-grossing wrestling pay-per-views of all time. Although WWF was able to recruit many of those on the WCW roster at the time of the purchase, it was unable to secure the use of most of its top-level stars, as they were signed to long-term contracts with AOL-Time Warner rather than WCW. As such, these stars could remain inactive but still continue to be paid, and were not incentivized to join WWF until those contracts expired. It would not be until 2002 onwards that headline WCW stars such as Goldberg or Scott Steiner would join

6625-453: The WWF to fight a proxy war. They also alleged that they would soon be joined by a third major figure; this "third man" was eventually revealed to be Hulk Hogan at Bash at the Beach 1996 . A major advantage WCW Nitro initially had over WWF Raw was that Nitro was live-to-air every week, while Raw alternated between live episodes and ones taped in advance and aired the following week. Nitro ' s live atmosphere enhanced segments such as

6750-483: The WWF, Monday Night Raw , in a period now known as the Monday Night War . From 1996 to 1998, WCW surpassed their rival program in the ratings for 83 consecutive weeks. Beginning in 1999, WCW endured significant losses in ratings and revenue due to creative missteps and suffered from the fallout from the 2001 merger of America Online (AOL) and Turner Broadcasting parent Time Warner (later WarnerMedia, now known as Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD)). Soon thereafter, WCW

6875-446: The Women's World Championship while The Judgment Day and McIntyre lost to Rhodes, Rollins, Uso, Zayn and the returning Randy Orton in a WarGames match after Rhodes pinned Priest. On December 9 at NXT Deadline , Dominik lost the NXT North American Championship to Dragon Lee , ending his second reign at 67 days. Over the next few weeks, the group began feuding with R-Truth over his efforts to join them. According to Bálor, he felt

7000-561: The World Heavyweight Championship to Gunther after interference from Bálor. On the following episode of Raw , Ripley and Priest were removed from the group as Carlito and Morgan became official members. At Bad Blood on October 5, Morgan lost to Ripley by disqualification after the returning Raquel Rodriguez attacked Ripley, allowing Morgan to remain champion since titles do not change hands via countout or disqualification unless stipulated. Rodriguez also became

7125-428: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF). This led to marquee names such as Hulk Hogan and "The Macho Man" Randy Savage joining WCW's ranks and helping to supplement its business. In 1995, during a face-to-face meeting with Ted Turner, Bischoff was able to convince Turner that in order for WCW to become competitive with the WWF, WCW would require an equivalent to WWF's new flagship cable show WWF Raw , which aired on

7250-624: The X-Division was considered a direct spiritual successor to the style developed in the WCW Cruiserweight division and became influential in its own right. WWE and TNA/Impact have continued to experiment and use the Cruiserweight/X-Division concept on and off throughout the 2000s and 2010s and into the 2020s. Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s WCW

7375-529: The acquisition of WCW by WWF/WWE in 2001, WWE revived the Cruiserweight division in 2002 to be a feature of its Smackdown brand, with the WWE Cruiserweight Championship being deemed by the promotion to be the direct lineal successor to the WCW title. Simultaneously, the newly formed Total Nonstop Action wrestling promotion heavily featured their X Division , which did not limit participants by weight but rather by style. Nonetheless,

7500-432: The battle for the largest television audience. However, in June 1996, Nitro would begin a streak of 83 constructive victories over Raw , initially sparked by the start of the New World Order (nWo) storyline. The start of the nWo angle saw former WWF talent Scott Hall and Kevin Nash unexpectedly leave the WWF to come to Monday Nitro on consecutive episodes, and each time insinuate that they were there on behalf of

7625-696: The circuit. WCW also had a presence in NASCAR from the mid-1990s to 2000, sponsoring the #29 team in the Busch Grand National Series full-time and the #9 Melling Racing team in the Winston Cup Series part-time. In 1996, Kyle Petty 's #49 car in the Busch Grand National series was sponsored by the nWo, and Greg Sacks briefly drove a WCW-sponsored for Galaxy Motorsports. Several WCW video games were made in

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7750-423: The closure of WCW, several new professional wrestling promotions would launch featuring former talent associated with WCW. The most prominent of these, Total Nonstop Action (TNA), was founded by Jeff Jarrett in 2002 and would attempt to take over WCW's market position in the mid-to-late 2000s using some former WCW stars such as Sting. TNA would also adopt their own version of the Cruiserweight division, branded as

7875-454: The company initially less dependent on the nWo storyline for ratings. However, beginning in Spring 1998, WCW began an angle which saw the nWo split into a heel faction, nWo Hollywood (centered around "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan), and the rival face nWo Wolfpac (consisting of stars such as Kevin Nash, Sting, Lex Luger and Konnan ). Speaking in hindsight in 2023, Eric Bischoff has said the angle

8000-512: The company solely as the NWA, reasoning that "it has become apparent that the NWA and the World Championship area are one and the same." By late 1988, JCP was financially struggling after further territory acquisitions. Ted Turner , the namesake principal owner of Turner Broadcasting System, formed a new subsidiary in October 1988 to acquire most of the assets of JCP. The acquisition was completed on November 2, 1988. While initially

8125-496: The company went from struggling financially as late as 1995 to generating $ 55 million in profit in 1998. December 1997's Starrcade pay-per-view (PPV) event became the highest-grossing PPV of all time for the company, thanks in large part to the show being billed as the culmination of a year-and-a-half feud between Sting and "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan. 1996 and 1997 had been banner years for WCW, with profits and popularity soaring. 1998 saw profits continue to rise. However, maintaining

8250-615: The company. At the No Way Out pay-per-view in February 2002, WWE began their own version of the new World order centered around Hogan, Nash and Hall, but later incorporating former WCW stars the Giant (now known as the Big Show) and Booker T as well as WWE talent such as Shawn Michaels . Throughout the early 2000s, many former WCW headliners found it difficult to integrate into WWE, as there continued to be legitimate tensions between

8375-457: The company. Ted Turner, however, did not hold influence over Time Warner before the final merger of America Online (AOL) and Time Warner in 2001, and most offers were rejected. Eric Bischoff, working with Fusient Media Ventures, made a bid to acquire the company in January 2001. One of the primary backers in the WCW deal backed out after AOL Time Warner refused to allow WCW to continue airing on its networks, leaving Fusient to take that offer off

8500-505: The cruiserweight division and the talent represented therein probably had as much to do with the success of Nitro as the nWo storyline and Hulk Hogan, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash. I don’t think people recognize it. The talent in that division not only helped Nitro consistently defeat WWE...that talent forced WWE, as much as the nWo, to change the way they were presenting the product. The Cruiserweight division would continue to directly influence North American wrestling for many decades. Following

8625-479: The end of WCW. In the spring of 1996, WCW introduced its "Cruiserweight division", a segmented portion of the roster featuring smaller, faster and more agile wrestlers that contrasted starkly, both visually and stylistically, with their heavyweight counterparts. Although weight categories were not a new concept in wrestling or even WCW, the WCW Cruiserweight Division was quickly able to form

8750-660: The events that became known as Black Saturday , in which GCW and its television program briefly came under the ownership of the WWF, the promotion was eventually purchased by Charlotte, North Carolina-based Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), the promoter of the Mid-Atlantic territory immediately north of Georgia. Influential wrestling magazine Pro Wrestling Illustrated and its sister publications thereafter habitually referred to JCP as "World Championship Wrestling", "WCW" and most commonly "the World Championship area" and continued to do so until early 1988 when it began referring to

8875-549: The feud with The Judgment Day in the process. On the October 21 episode of Raw , Rey and Lee defeated American Made to qualify for the World Tag Team Championship #1 Contenders’ Triple Threat tag team match. The following week, Vega challenged Ivy Nile to a match and lost after the Creed Brothers took out Del Toro and Wilde, while Rey and Lee lost to The War Raiders in the #1 Contenders’ Triple Threat tag team match, also involving The New Day . In November, Lee joined

9000-437: The following episode of Raw , Dominik lost to Edge by disqualification after interference from The Judgment Day, who attacked Edge's leg with a steel chair after the match. On the September 26 episode of Raw , Edge returned and challenged Bálor to an "I Quit" match at Extreme Rules , which Bálor accepted. At the event on October 8, Bálor defeated Edge. In the closing moments, Ripley positioned Edge's wife, Beth Phoenix , for

9125-597: The following episode of Raw . In an backstage segment including Ripley, Dominik, and Bálor's longtime friend JD McDonagh , who advised Priest cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase soon so that he and Bálor get back on the same page. At Payback on September 2, Bálor and Priest defeated Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn to win the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship in a Pittsburgh Steel City Street Fight after interference from Dominik, Ripley and McDonagh. With this victory, Bálor became

9250-519: The following episode of Raw, The Judgment Day defeated The O.C. in an eight-person mixed tag team match to end their feud. On the January 9, 2023 episode of Raw, Bálor, Priest and Dominik won a tag team turmoil match to win a Raw Tag Team Championship match against The Usos ( Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso ). At Raw is XXX on January 23, Priest and Dominik failed to win the titles after Sami Zayn replaced an injured Jimmy Uso. At Royal Rumble on January 28, Dominik, Bálor, and Priest participated in

9375-484: The following night at Backlash , Vega failed to win the SmackDown Women's Championship from Ripley and Bad Bunny defeated Priest with the assistance of Savio Vega and Carlito . Vega defeated Lacey Evans to qualify for the 2023 women's Money in the Bank ladder match on the June 2 episode of SmackDown whereas Escobar defeated Mustafa Ali to qualify for the 2023 men's Money in the Bank ladder match on

9500-484: The following week of SmackDown , Escobar chastised Rey for not sticking with him while kicking Vega, Wilde and Del Toro from Legado del Fantasma. A match between Carlito and Escobar was announced for Survivor Series: WarGames . A day before the event, Escobar took out Carlito in the ring and backstage. Dragon Lee saved Carlito from Escobar and SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis allowed Lee to face Escobar as Carlito's replacement at Survivor Series: WarGames but Lee lost

9625-462: The fourth wrestler (after Shawn Michaels in 1995, Chris Benoit in 2004, and Edge in 2021) and the first female to win the Royal Rumble as the first entrant. On the following episode of Raw , Ripley declared that she would be challenging Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 39 . Flair previously won the 2020 Women's Royal Rumble and defeated Ripley for

9750-504: The group in November. The following year at SummerSlam , Priest and Ripley lost championship matches following interferences from Bálor and Mysterio respectively. After unofficially associating themselves with The Judgment Day beforehand, Carlito and Liv Morgan joined the group as replacements following Priest and Ripley's expulsions from the group. Raquel Rodriguez subsequently joined the group at Bad Blood . The Judgment Day have achieved several championship milestones in WWE. They are

9875-503: The group's leader (team captain) for that night only. After finishing their conversation, the group agreed that McDonagh should finally be added to their ranks after proving his loyalty and sacrifice for them. Priest officially added McDonagh to their ranks as a full fledge member on behalf of the group. Later that night, Priest and Bálor defeated Rhodes and Uso in a rematch to retain their titles after interference from McIntyre. At Survivor Series: WarGames , Ripley defeated Stark to retain

10000-546: The innovations WCW had implemented and reapplying them to their own presentation, WWF began its " Attitude Era ". Building around newly emerging stars such as Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock , as well as WWF promoter Vince McMahon becoming a major on-screen character himself, the WWF finally ended Nitro ' s 83 weeks of ratings victories on April 13, 1998. For the next four months, Nitro and Raw would trade wins until October 26, 1998, when Nitro scored its last-ever ratings victory over Raw . The combined pressure of

10125-441: The job at the WWF after a dispute with Vince McMahon over work hours, and Ed Ferrera soon followed. Russo and Ferrera were heralded at the time as the main drivers in the turnaround at WWF over the previous two years with their writing philosophy of "Crash TV", a presentation style that emphasized Soap opera style storylines, lengthier non-wrestling segments, frequent heel/face turns, an increased amount of female representation on

10250-421: The kickoff show, stopped him and ran off with the briefcase before he could officially do so. Later that night, Ripley successfully defended the Women's World Championship against Nia Jax, Raquel Rodriguez, Shayna Baszler , and Zoey Stark in a fatal five-way match while Priest lost to Rhodes despite interference from Bálor, Dominik, and McDonagh. On the November 13 episode of Raw , Priest declared himself as

10375-439: The leader of the group in front of their WarGames opponents on the opening in-ring segment of the show. Later that night, during a backstage segment at their clubhouse, the group were on a brief disagreement with Priest about what he said earlier, until Ripley thought that it could be a good idea for their upcoming WarGames match, with rest of Judgment Day (Bálor and Mysterio) agreeing with Ripley's idea that he should be appointed as

10500-436: The local styles were also able to thrive in the division. The division as a whole became a showcase of a fast-paced, aerial and athletic style of wrestling which became highly influential in both the short and long term in the industry. Eric Bischoff has credited with the division as becoming a defining feature of Monday Nitro that was as fundamental to the late 1990s popularity of WCW as the New World Order faction: I think

10625-534: The match, Bálor suffered an injury after getting hit by a ladder thrown by Edge and was medically treated in the ring; the injury led to Bálor getting 14 staples in his head. On the Raw after WrestleMania, Priest confronted Bad Bunny for his involvement in Dominik's match against Rey, leading to Priest chokeslamming Bunny through the announce table. At Backlash on May 6, Ripley successfully defended her title against Zelina Vega , while Priest lost to Bad Bunny in

10750-551: The match. On the December 1 episode of SmackDown , Escobar defeated Wilde and continued attacking him after the match, with Lee coming out to save Wilde. It was later announced that Lee will face Escobar in the United States Championship #1 Contender Tournament the following week, which Escobar won. On the December 5 episode of NXT , Rey announced that Lee will replace Wes Lee (who had to drop out as he needs back surgery) to face "Dirty" Dominik Mysterio for

10875-401: The men's Royal Rumble match . Bálor and Priest were eliminated by Edge, while Dominik was eliminated by the eventual winner, Cody Rhodes . Ripley also appeared at ringside to assist Bálor, Priest, and Dominik in their attack on Edge, only to be attacked by Beth Phoenix. Later that night, Ripley won the women's Royal Rumble match by last eliminating Liv Morgan . With this victory, Ripley became

11000-501: The men's Royal Rumble match . They were eliminated by Bron Breakker , Sami Zayn, CM Punk and Jey Uso respectively. At Elimination Chamber: Perth on February 24, Bálor and Priest defeated New Catch Republic ( Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate ) to retain their titles while Ripley, in her home country of Australia, defeated Nia Jax in the main event to retain her title. At Night 1 of WrestleMania XL , Ripley successfully defended her title against Becky Lynch while Bálor and Priest lost

11125-453: The more cartoon-like presentation which had dominated wrestling in the 1980s and early 90s. An example of this shift in tone was seen in the transformation of top WCW star Sting over the course of 1996 following the start of the nWo angle, whose persona shifted from a colorful and cheerful clean-cut face to a dark, depressed and brooding antihero inspired by the 1994 film The Crow . Another major innovation occurring concurrently in WCW

11250-419: The most loyal when he refused to remove his LWO colors. The nWo beat him down and forcibly tore off his LWO shirt, leading to a feud between Mysterio and The Outsiders . The reunited nWo also betrayed their only Latino member, Konnan, who objected to the brutality used against Mysterio, leading them to form a team against The Outsiders. As Eddie Guerrero healed and made his in-ring return, he and Mysterio formed

11375-419: The negotiations, bringing the final tally of WCW's sale to $ 4.3 million. AOL Time Warner maintained its subsidiary, which reverted to its original legal name of Universal Wrestling Corporation, to deal with legal obligations and liabilities not acquired by the WWF. The UWC was listed as a subsidiary of Time Warner until 2017, when it was merged into Turner Broadcasting System. Some of the WCW wrestlers joined

11500-430: The network for the first time since WCW's closure. On January 5, 2022, Dynamite moved to TNT's sibling network, TBS, marking the first time TBS has aired wrestling programming since the March 21, 2001, episode of WCW Thunder . TNT has also broadcast AEW's second show, AEW Rampage , since August 13, 2021, and added another AEW show with the June 17, 2023, debut of AEW Collision . In 2020, AEW revived WCW's Bash at

11625-415: The newly reformed Latino World Order (LWO) and Bad Bunny . Later that night, Ripley defeated Flair to win the SmackDown Women's Championship in a critically acclaimed match, becoming the seventh Women's Triple Crown champion, the fifth Women's Grand Slam champion, and giving the group their first championship. On Night 2, Bàlor, under his Demon persona, lost to Edge in a Hell in a Cell match . During

11750-421: The other trucks is most prominent with Goldberg. Driven by to great success by Tom Meents (including Monster Jam World Finals championships both years the truck ran), after the end of the sponsorship Meents continued to run the truck as "Team Meents" in 2002 before debuting its new name Maximum Destruction in 2003. Max-D continues to compete in the series and rivals the legendary Grave Digger in popularity on

11875-513: The quality of the shows became difficult, particularly after WCW's owners Time Warner Entertainment (who bought Turner Broadcasting System in 1996) ordered the creation of a second live cable WCW program WCW Thunder , to air on Thursdays on TBS Superstation starting on January 8, 1998 , as well as ordering a third hour to be added to Nitro ' s runtime. Nonetheless, the creation of new major headline babyface stars such as Diamond Dallas Page and Goldberg were causes for optimism, making

12000-412: The role of a bodyguard named Spyder. The group consisted of almost every major Mexican wrestler on the WCW roster including Psychosis , La Parka , Hector Garza , and Juventud Guerrera . Their main feud lay with Rey Mysterio Jr. , after he refused to join the group. They also feuded with Billy Kidman , Mysterio's on-and-off American tag team partner. Mysterio was forced to become a member after losing

12125-466: The second stable (after The Bloodline ) to have simultaneously held titles across all three brands (Raw's Women's World Championship , the Raw and SmackDown Tag Team Championships , and NXT's North American Championship ). Also as part of the stable, Ripley won the 2023 women's Royal Rumble , ultimately winning the SmackDown Women's Championship at WrestleMania 39 , which was renamed to the Women's World Championship during her reign, whereas Priest won

12250-478: The semifinals two weeks later. Despite teasing a reunion with Wilde and Del Toro in December 2023, Elektra Lopez made her SmackDown debut on the January 26 episode of SmackDown to assist Escobar defeat Carlito to reunite with Legado Del Fantasma. Vega and Carlito entered their respective Royal Rumble matches at the titular event as the 17th and third entrants respectively. Vega was eliminated by Shayna Baszler and Zoey Stark whereas Carlito eliminated Escobar and

12375-555: The show, expanded storyline depth, frequent title changes, and a greater focus on developing mid-card talent. The tenure of Russo and Ferrera at the creative helm of WCW was short-lived; by March 2000 the pair had been suspended from their positions as their provocative and edgy angles caused constant protest from AOL Time Warner executives. AOL and Time Warner had merged in January 2000 and, according to Bischoff and Russo, headquarters′ eagerness to tone down WCW had only grown more intense because of this. Mounting frustrations amongst

12500-489: The side of the ring while chasing Paul's entourage away only for Paul to use it on Rey to win the match. On the November 10 episode of SmackDown , Carlito accused Escobar of purposefully leaving the brass knuckles in the ring at Crown Jewel. After Carlito's match with Bobby Lashley, Escobar attacked Rey as Rey was checking on Carlito, turning heel and leaving the LWO. It was later reported that Rey had undergone surgery for his injured knee and will be out for at least six weeks. On

12625-614: The stable was "losing steam, but the storyline around R-Truth gave the act a new life. On the December 18 episode of Raw, McDonagh lost to R-Truth in a Loser Leaves Judgment Day Miracle on 34th Street Fight match. However, the stipulation was not official, and McDonagh remained part of the group. Later that night, Bálor and Priest successfully defended the tag team titles against the Creed Brothers while Ripley successfully defended her title against their Diamond Mine stablemate Ivy Nile at Raw : Day 1 . At Royal Rumble on January 27, Bálor, Priest, Dominik and McDonagh participated in

12750-411: The stable's newest member. At Hell in a Cell on June 5, The Judgment Day defeated Styles, Finn Bálor , and Liv Morgan in a six-person mixed tag team match . The next night on Raw , Edge introduced Bálor as the newest member of The Judgment Day, however, Bálor, Priest, and Ripley suddenly attacked Edge with his own signature con-chair-to move, kicking him out of the group. The following week, on

12875-509: The subsidiary was incorporated as the "Universal Wrestling Corporation", following the purchase the decision was made to utilize the familiar "World Championship Wrestling" as the name for the promotion. In late Summer/early Autumn 1993, a behind-the-scenes dispute between WCW and the NWA Board of Directors over who had the right to authorize NWA World Heavyweight Championship title changes ultimately resulted in WCW formally withdrawing from

13000-523: The table while it attempted to bring a new deal around. In the meantime, Jamie Kellner was handed control over the Turner Broadcasting division in 2000, eventually succeeding Ted Turner on March 7, 2001. Along with AOL Time Warner, Kellner deemed WCW, along with Turner Sports as a whole, to be out of line with its image and saying that it "would not be favorable enough to get the 'right' advertisers to buy airtime" (even though Thunder

13125-399: The talent resulted in many leaving WCW for the WWF; The Giant and Chris Jericho were the first major talent to "jump" to the WWF in 1999, but they were soon followed by many others. Chris Benoit (WCW World Champion at the time), Dean Malenko , Eddie Guerrero and Perry Saturn , who performed together on WCW television as " The Revolution ", all collectively walked out of WCW and over to

13250-486: The title in a rematch 3 days later on NXT. At Fastlane on October 7, Bálor and Priest lost the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championship to Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso after McDonagh accidentally hit Priest's knee with the briefcase, ending their first reign at 35 days, but regained the titles in a rematch 9 days later. At Crown Jewel on November 4, Priest attempted to cash in on Rollins after his successful title defense against Drew McIntyre , but Zayn, who defeated McDonagh on

13375-431: The title's history. At Backlash France on May 4, Priest successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship in his first title defense against Jey Uso after interference from Bálor and McDonagh despite Priest asking them not to interfere. Around this time, Carlito , after defecting from the LWO in April, began to insert himself into the group, but was kept at arm's length by Priest, citing their past conflict. On

13500-432: The two groups. Former WCW performers such as Diamond Dallas Page (who had accepted a WWF contract in 2001) were perceived to be intentionally poorly used as part of a "victory lap" by WWF. In turn, this dissuaded some WCW stars from trusting WWE; for example, Sting choose to remain out of WWE until 2014, and even when he did join, WWE was criticised using Sting to perform yet another victory lap at WrestleMania 31 . After

13625-467: The two promotions, each one attempting to produce the best television show possible each week, led to an explosion in the popularity of professional wrestling in the United States and in hindsight is widely considered a golden era. WCW Monday Nitro proved a success for the company, which was immediately able to create a television audience of an equivalent size to WWF Raw . Between September 1995 and May 1996, Nitro and Raw regularly traded victories in

13750-412: The two teams. At Crown Jewel on November 5, Bálor, Priest, and Dominik defeated The O.C. (Styles, Anderson and Gallows) after interference from Ripley. On the following episode of Raw, The O.C. introduced the returning Mia Yim as their solution to counter Ripley. At Survivor Series WarGames on November 26, Bálor lost to Styles while Ripley's team lost to Team Belair in a WarGames match . On

13875-471: Was a television show produced by Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) since 1982. Jim Barnett (who had briefly owned the Australian promotion of that name ) came to Atlanta in the 1970s during an internal struggle for control of GCW. Barnett ultimately became majority owner of the promotion, and began using his previous promotion's name for GCW's weekly Saturday television program in 1982. Following

14000-419: Was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System , through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) territory Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) (which had aired its programming on TBS ). For all of its existence, WCW was one of the two top professional wrestling promotions in

14125-479: Was assisted by Bálor and Priest. Rey went on to win his match against Dominik and celebrated with his wife, Angie, and his daughter, Aalyah, in the ring. Afterwards, Zelina Vega confronted night 1’s musical performer Becky G backstage in order to make her an honorary member of the LWO. On the April 7 episode of SmackDown , the LWO lost their first match as a team with Rey and Escobar losing to The Judgment Day's Dominik and Priest. The LWO earned their first victory on

14250-417: Was eliminated by Bobby Lashley. Rey returned on the March 1 episode of SmackDown to help Carlito defeat Escobar in a street fight match. Two weeks later on the March 15th episode of SmackDown , Rey would challenge Escobar to a match. The following week, Rey would lose to Escobar due to an interference by his son, Dominik. This led to a tag team match between Rey and Dragon Lee, who became an official member of

14375-416: Was extremely influential within professional wrestling in the 1990s and several elements innovated and introduced by WCW would continue to be used in professional wrestling decades after its closure. In the immediate aftermath of WWF's purchase of WCW, a significant portion of WCW's active roster was integrated into the WWF. These former WCW talents would be used as part of a "WCW vs WWF" storyline that ran in

14500-407: Was formed in late 1998 after Eddie Guerrero 's spat with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) head Eric Bischoff in a real-life conflict that was turned into a storyline. The group was the idea of Jason Hervey , an actor and friend of Bischoff who was working in a creative position in WCW. The stable was originally supposed to revolve around Konnan , but it was given to Guerrero after Konnan joined

14625-521: Was later known as Clash of Champions , similarly named from WCW's Clash of the Champions . In 2017, WWE held its first annual NXT WarGames event for its NXT brand , with that's year's event featuring the first WarGames match since the September 4, 2000, episode of Nitro . In 2019, new promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) formed a partnership with WarnerMedia to air their flagship show, AEW Dynamite , on TNT, returning professional wrestling to

14750-486: Was presented by Dwayne Johnson and featured former WCW personalities including Bill Goldberg , Eric Bischoff , Bret Hart , Booker T , Kevin Nash , amongst others. From 2000 to 2001, Monster Jam had a series of monster trucks based on wrestlers' names. These included the nWo , Sting , Nitro Machine, Madusa and Goldberg . Following the end of WCW, Debrah Miceli , the only one of the truck's namesakes to actually drive them, remained in monster trucks. The legacy of

14875-614: Was renamed to the Women's World Championship and Ripley was presented a brand-new championship belt. At Money in the Bank on July 1, Priest won the Money in the Bank Ladder match. On July 18, Dominik defeated Wes Lee on NXT to win the NXT North American Championship , the first singles title in his wrestling career. At SummerSlam on August 5, Bálor failed to win the World Heavyweight Championship from Rollins despite interference from Priest, which Bálor and Priest argued about on

15000-487: Was rushed, ill-conceived and had no long-term direction. By this point, many critics began to argue that WCW was now completely overreliant on the nWo storyline and unable to pivot to a new grand concept. Additionally, beginning in the summer of 1998, Bischoff has claimed that Time Warner Entertainment management began to increasingly micromanage WCW and meddle in its presentation. Executives at Time Warner Entertainment began to increasingly advocate that WCW should pivot to more

15125-699: Was set to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2023 later that night, and was scheduled to wrestle his son, Dominik Mysterio , at WrestleMania 39 that weekend, revived the LWO and invited Legado Del Fantasma ( Santos Escobar , Joaquin Wilde , Cruz Del Toro , and Zelina Vega ) to join LWO as the group had aided Rey in his fight against The Judgment Day (Dominik Mysterio, Finn Bálor , Damian Priest , and Rhea Ripley ) for several weeks prior. On Night 1 of WrestleMania 39, Escobar, Wilde, Del Toro, and Bad Bunny assisted Rey in his match against Dominik, who

15250-583: Was shut down, and the WWF purchased select WCW assets in 2001, including its video library, intellectual property (including the WCW name and championships), and some wrestler contracts. The corporate subsidiary, which was retained to deal with legal obligations and reverted to the Universal Wrestling Corporation name, officially became defunct in 2017. Its headquarters were located in Smyrna, Georgia . "World Championship Wrestling"

15375-515: Was the highest-rated show on TBS at the time). As a result, WCW programming was cancelled on TBS and TNT . Another factor in Kellner's decision to cancel all WCW programming was the terms of the company's purchase deal with Fusient, which included giving Fusient control over time slots on TNT and TBS even if those slots did not air WCW programming. WCW's losses were then written off via purchase accounting. The cancellation of WCW programming left

15500-532: Was the introduction of the Cruiserweight division, which saw the introduction of smaller, more agile and more athletic wrestlers performing fast-paced, high-flying dangerous matches on WCW shows. This added another unique element to WCW shows that helped propel their surging popularity. The combination of a more adult-orientated presentation, live and unedited television, more reality-based storylines, new top-level talent, new and intriguing characters, and more varied in-ring action saw WCW's fortunes dramatically shift;

15625-427: Was then expelled from the group following Finn Bálor 's addition. Following Edge's removal, the supernatural elements aspect faded to more of a street thug/goth bully group, and a no leadership ideology was implemented. Later that year, Dominik Mysterio betrayed his father to join the group after initially feuding against them. In 2023, Bálor worked to recruit his real-life student JD McDonagh , who officially joined

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