In the latest move in the Wednesday Night Wars, WWE is countering AEW's reworking of its Fyter Fest pay-per-view into a two-week special on TNT. The July 1 and July 8 episodes of NXT are a revival of the Great American Bash, a house show tour created by Dusty Rhodes in the '80s that evolved into a long-running WCW pay-per-view.
WCW nostalgia has been in style since AEW debuted. Beyond WCW arguably being the animating spirit of the company, AEW revived the Bash at the Beach name for an episode of Dynamite earlier this year. It's also actively pursuing old WCW trademarks like Slamboree and SuperBrawl. But both companies could -- and should -- go even further in mining WCW's past for gold.
Halloween Havoc
This year's installment of WWE's Extreme Rules pay-per-view is subtitled the Horror Show, but it already has a horror themed pay-per-view in its catalog thanks to WCW. Halloween Havoc took place every October from 1989-2000. Outside of 1991's infamous Chamber of Horrors Match, where Adbullah the Butcher lost a tag team match by being strapped in an electric chair, the show was never very macabre outside of its sets.
Unlike the Bash and Starrcade, WWE hasn't used the name for so much as a house show. A Havoc revival would make sense as a WWE Network special featuring supernatural characters from WWE's past and present, from the Fiend to the Boogeyman. The Undertaker could even make a special, post-retirement appearance. Aside from serving as a special event, branding an episode of Raw, SmackDown, or NXT as Havoc could spice up the usual pumpkin-filled hardcore match WWE holds to celebrate the holiday.
Battlebowl
The Battlebowl was a series of tag team matches where the winners qualified for a battle royal. The teams were drawn at random via "the lethal lottery," which led to tag partners on opposing teams or bitter rivals teaming together. WCW used the concept at the Starrcade and Slamboree pay-per-views and held one stand-alone Battlebowl event in 1993.
WWE's stacked roster could easily accommodate the Lethal Lottery format, either as a pay-per-view or to add some variety to an episode of Raw, which runs roughly the same length as the original WCW PPV. Given its love of tag team wrestling, AEW could also use the concept under a new name. It would give the Young Bucks an excuse to wrestle each other outside of their own backyards.
New Japan Supershows
From 1991-1993, WCW and partner promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling ran joint shows at the Tokyo Dome. Those shows were later broadcast in the U.S. on pay-per-view and are among a handful of WCW shows not available on the WWE Network. The final two were the first of NJPW's annual January 4 Dome show, which evolved into its current biggest show of the year, Wrestle Kingdom.
A joint show between either of the U.S.'s big two companies and NJPW feels like a pipe dream in 2020. AEW was formed when the Elite jumped from NJPW, and there still seems to be bad blood on both sides over how that relationship ended. Fans may have to be content with Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley's appearances in NJPW as special attractions (once travel restrictions allow those to happen again, of course).
A WWE/NJPW partnership seems even less likely given how poorly WWE plays with others. Neither side is likely to be fond of the other for encroaching on their territory. NJPW's American expansion plans have been put on hold due to the pandemic. Its second Madison Square Garden show has been postponed to 2021 and NJPW of America touring plans are on hiatus. WWE reportedly had ambitions to expand NXT into Japan before the pandemic put that on the back burner.
That said, "never say never" is the biggest caveat in wrestling for a reason. NJPW and AEW may one day follow Chris Jericho's advice and get put their egos aside in order to give fans of both promotions what they want. A WWE/NJPW joint show could also be a huge draw based solely on the fact that they're the two biggest promotions in the world. Matches like Kazuchika Okada vs. Roman Reigns are so improbable that they'd have to be seen to be believed.
Location Shows
One way WCW stood out from WWE during the Monday Night Wars was holding events in unique venues. The first WCW Monday Nitro was held in Minneapolis, Minnesota's Mall of America. The final episode came from the Broadway Beach Resort in Panama City, Florida, as part of WCW's tradition of airing a Nitro live from Spring Break. In between, WCW ran the Road Wild pay-per-view from the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota.
AEW has followed in WCW's footsteps by airing an episode of Dynamite from Chris Jericho's Cruise and the original Fyter Fest at the CEO gaming convention. Before it became its home venue during the pandemic, the Daily's Place Amphitheater was also a novel setting for a wrestling show.
Even before the pandemic, WWE desperately needed a change of scenery for its weekly shows. Trying to throw some unconventional venues in Raw and SmackDown's touring schedule and taking NXT on the road should be a top priority for WWE once it can hold shows outside the Performance Center.
The Crockett Cup
The Crockett Cup was held by the NWA's flagship territory, Jim Crockett Promotions, from 1986-1988. Billy Corgan's incarnation of the NWA revived it in 2019, crowning tournament winners Brody King and PCO its new tag team champions, and a 2020 version of the Cup was set to be the NWA's next pay-per-view before the pandemic.
WWE actually has its own version of the cup -- named after a former Crockett Cup winner -- in the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. A version of the tournament would fit the tag team focused AEW perfectly. If nothing else, it would help alleviate the log jam in its crowded tag team division by giving some underutilized teams a chance to stand out. It could also lead to some interesting "super team" pairings, along the same lines as previous winners like Rhodes and Nikita Koloff and Sting and Lex Luger.