WCW WorldWide

Infobox Television
show_name = WCW Worldwide


creator = Jim Crockett Promotions / World Championship Wrestling
caption = WCW Worldwide logo 1999-2001
format = Wrestling
picture_format = 480i (SDTV)
camera = Multicamera setup
runtime = 60 minutes per episode
starring = See World Championship Wrestling alumni
country = USA
network = Syndicated
first_aired = 1975
last_aired = March 21, 2001
num_episodes =
website =
tv_com_id =
imdb_id = |

"WCW WorldWide" was a syndicated TV show produced by the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling.

History

"Wide World Wrestling"

The show began in 1975 (as "Wide World Wrestling"), a syndicated one-hour program produced by Charlotte, North Carolina-based Jim Crockett Promotions. It was taped each Wednesday night at WRAL-TV television studios in Raleigh, North Carolina, following the taping of the syndicated "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling". The original host of "Wide World Wrestling" was former Georgia Championship Wrestling announcer Ed Capral.

Later hosts of "Wide World Wrestling" included George Scott, Sandy Scott, Dr. Tom Miller, and one of the true pioneers in wrestling television and marketing, Les Thatcher.

"World Wide Wrestling"

In 1978, to avoid confusion with ABC's "Wide World of Sports" (many newspapers would incorrectly mix the two shows up in their listings), JCP changed the name of the show to "World Wide Wrestling". Rich Landrum became the new host and was joined shortly thereafter by veteran wrestler Johnny Weaver as color commentator.

In the summer of 1981, WRAL television opted not to renew its contract with JCP, citing that it needed the studio space to produce a new local version of "PM Magazine". Crockett initially worked out a deal with WCCB television in Charlotte to house the tapings, but that fell through. So he instead went with WPCQ in Charlotte (a station immortalized by Ted Turner when it was WRET, due to the fact that the future cable mogul once held a telethon to save the channel from going bankrupt).

WPCQ (now WCNC) had briefly played host to tapings for Eddie Einhorn's International Wrestling Association in the 1970s so it seemed like a natural fit. The physical studio itself was very cramped however and it made for a claustrophobic viewing experience. The ring, television sets, banners, and camera platforms, which had been positioned in perfect symmetry at WRAL, were now oddly positioned and the result was to say the very least, ugly.

Landrum left "World Wide Wrestling" in 1982 after being released by Jim Crockett Promotions in a cost cutting measure. David Crockett left his position as Bob Caudle's color commentator on "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling" to take over play-by-play duties on "World Wide".

For a time, "World Wide" ran with a three-man announce team as legendary wrestler Ray "The Crippler" Stevens joined the mix. Rowdy Roddy Piper would also occasionally be thrown into the mix as well.

Not pleased with the studio situation, Crockett began to make plans to rectify matters and by July 1983, had moved his tapings out of WPCQ and into major arenas, buying a mobile TV truck for $1 million and hiring his own crew.

In 1984, Tony Schiavone replaced Weaver as color commentator on "World Wide" (with Weaver moving over to join Caudle on "Mid-Atlantic"). Schiavone had previously worked for JCP as the announcer for their minor league baseball team the Charlotte O's, and as the host of their market-specific promotional interview segments, which were used to promote events in individual towns. Tully Blanchard for a time joined "World Wide" as a color commentator as well.

After the sale of JCP's wrestling assets to Turner Broadcasting in 1988, "World Wide Wrestling" went through a revolving series of announcing teams and included at various times such names as Schiavone, Jim Ross, Gordon Solie, Lance Russell, Chris Cruise, Terry Funk, Dutch Mantell, Ole Anderson, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, Scott Hudson, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, and Larry Zbyszko.

"WCW WorldWide"

Under the Eric Bischoff regime, the name "World Wide Wrestling" was changed to "WCW World Wide".

"WorldWide" was originally made up of matches from television tapings around the country. From 1993 onward, the show was taped at Disney/MGM Studios. As such, these shows recorded, were the source of the infamous "Disney Tapings." In 1995, "WorldWide" moved to a custom built set on a soundstage at Disney/MGM Studios and later to Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Florida. In mid-1998, WCW started taping "WorldWide" at the same arenas they would tape "WCW Saturday Night" until early-2000, when they moved the tapings before "Thunder" tapings.

In November 2000, the show would change formats, no longer featuring exclusive matches, and instead showing classic matches from previous WCW pay-per-view events (as well as providing a recap of that week's "Monday Nitro" and "Thunder").

"WorldWide" was cancelled along with "Monday Nitro" and "Thunder" before the World Wrestling Federation purchased WCW's tape library and intellectual property. At the time of its cancellation, "WorldWide" was the longest-running, uninterrupted weekly syndicated show of any kind on the air in the United States.

The last episode of "WorldWide" was the final WCW program broadcast, airing on March 21, 2001. It contained footage of workers tearing down the show's set. The final match was a replay of the WarGames match from the 1994 "Fall Brawl" PPV.

"Worldwide" in the United Kingdom

"WCW Worldwide" is also one of only two American wrestling shows (the other being "WWE Sunday Night Heat" on Channel 4) to have a regular slot on UK terrestrial television having appeared on two different over the air networks during its lifetime.

Beginning in 1991, "WCW Worldwide" was broadcast in the UK on the ITV network originally overnight at 1 or 2 a.m. alongside other U.S. imports such as "American Gladiators" and "America's Top Ten". Late in 1992 however, it moved to a Sunday afternoon slot. In 1994, however, the show was moved back to the late night slot and disappeared from the network.

"WCW WorldWide" returned to television in the UK on Friday, July 30, 1999, when Channel 5 started airing the show at 7 p.m.-8 p.m. on Fridays, until the purchase of the company by the WWF in 2001. These shows were an edited-together collection of matches from episodes of "WCW Monday Nitro", "WCW Thunder" and "WCW Saturday Night", and were usually around a month behind current WCW programming. The show was usually announced by Scott Hudson and Larry Zbyszko, whose re-recorded studio commentary was dubbed over the actual "Nitro"/"Thunder"/"WCW Saturday Night" commentary.

Reruns of older editions of "WorldWide" were also broadcast on Sky Sports as editions of the "WWF/WWE Classics" show after WWE's acquisition of WCW in 2001.

External links

* [http://www.100megsfree4.com/wiawrestling/pages/wcw/worldarc.htm WCW WorldWide results (1997-2001)]