#4 The Monday Night Wars wouldn’t have been won so decisively
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Many wrestling observers have considered January 4th, 1999 – the night of the famous ‘butts in the seats’ comment by WCW commentator Tony Schiavone – as the night on which the Monday Night Wars turned in WWE’s favour forever.
But it was more than just that one comment that sealed WCW’s fate; WCW was rife with mismanagement and creative ineptitudes while WWE was riding a tsunami of momentum following the overwhelming success of the Austin-McMahon rivalry and the overall Attitude Era direction.
But this victory of WWE’s wouldn’t have been so easy had the Montreal Screwjob never happened. WWE’s storylines and overall creative direction at the time were very much centred on blurring the lines of reality and scripted, while also involving realistic characters that were merely extensions of their wrestlers’ personalities (with some exceptions).
At the heart of these intertwined rivalries was Mr McMahon doing whatever he could to screw over whichever wrestler stood in his way of him achieving his dream of having the perfect champion. Whether it was Austin, Rock, Mankind, the Undertaker, or anyone else, Vince acted as the ultimate evil – the great adversary, if you will – for all of them.
Had none of these storylines involving Mr McMahon ever surfaced, WCW might’ve enjoyed more success for a longer period, and could’ve held their own against WWE. This was especially true since the NWO was still relatively popular, and WCW had relatively superior technical workers, especially in their cruiserweight division.
However, the Montreal Screwjob didn’t have an effect on WCW’s own internal politics. Time Warner and Ted Turner choosing to take WCW in a more family-friendly direction during the peak of WWE’s Attitude Era was a crippling decision that forever stunted their ability to compete with Vince.
Had none of Mr McMahon’s rivalries with Austin or whomever ever happened, then WCW’s eventual collapse wouldn’t have happened so early into the new millennium. WCW would’ve likely held its own against WWE for quite some time longer, capable of competing thanks to the few assets that it had at the time.
But WCW’s death was inevitable, with or without the Attitude Era and the Montreal Screwjob. The only real difference was that WCW would’ve had a fighting chance for a longer period if WWE didn’t showcase such outstanding and entertaining segments on a weekly basis that centred on Mr McMahon being the evil boss that everyone wanted to see get his comeuppance.
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