WCW WorldWide was a syndicated TV show produced by the now-defunct World Championship Wrestling.
| WCW WorldWide | |
|---|---|
 WCW Worldwide logo 1999-2001 | |
| Created by | Jim Crockett Promotions / World Championship Wrestling |
| Starring | See World Championship Wrestling alumni |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multicamera setup |
| Running time | 60 minutes per episode |
| Original release | |
| Network | Syndicated |
| Release | 1975 – 2001 |
History
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 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.
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 WNCW) had briefly played host to tapings for Eddie Einhorn's International Wrestling Association in the 1970's 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 due to legal problems and 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, 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.
Under the Eric Bischoff regime, the name World Wide Wrestling was changed to WCW World Wide, since those in charge felt (like rival promoter Vince McMahon) that "wrestling" was a dirty word and could not be used to sell advertising.
WorldWide was originally made up of matches from television tapings around the country. From 1993 onward the show was taped at Disney/MGM Studios and as such was on of the shows recorded at the infamous Disney Tapings and in 1995 moved to a custom built set on a soundstage at Disney/MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida.
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).
The last episode of WorldWide aired in March 2001 and 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, World Wide Wrestling was the longest-running, uninterrupted weekly syndicated show of any kind on the air in the United States.
Worldwide Around the World
WCW Worldwide is also the only American Wrestling show to have a regular slot on UK terrestrial television having appeared on 2 different over the air networks during its lifetime.
Begining in 1991 WCW Worldwide was broadcast in the UK on the ITV network originally overnight at 1 or 2 am alongside other US imports such as American Gladiators and America's Top 10. Late in 1992 however it moved to the Saturday afternoon slot previously occupied by World of Sport which had featured British Wrestling each week. In 1994 however the show was moved back to the late night slot and dissapeared from the network.
The show returned to television in the UK in 1999 when Channel 5 picked up the rights and aired the show at 7pm on Friday nights until the demise of the company in 2001.
Reruns of older editions of Worldwide Wrestling were also broadcast on Sky Sports as editions of the WWF/WWE Classics show after the WWEs aquisition of WCW in 2001