World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) that appeared on the national scene under the ownership of media mogul Ted Turner. The promotion ended in 2001 when it was sold to the World Wrestling Federation Although the name "World Championship Wrestling" had been used as a brand and television show name by various promotions affiliated with the NWA since 1983, (most notably Georgia Championship Wrestling and Jim Crockett Promotions) it was not until five years later that an actual NWA-affiliated promotion called World Championship Wrestling appeared on the national scene, under the ownership of media mogul Ted Turner and based in Atlanta, Georgia. At the outset of WCW’s existence, as well as with the promotions that came before it, the company was strongly identified with the Southern style of professional wrestling (or rasslin’), which emphasized athletic in-ring competition over the showmanship and cartoonish characters of the WWF. This identification persisted into the 1990s, even as the company signed former WWF stars such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage. WCW dominated pro wrestling’s television ratings from 1996 to 1998, mainly due to its incredibly popular New World Order storyline, but thereafter began to lose heavy ground to the WWF, which had recovered greatly due to its new "Attitude" branding. The promotion began losing large amounts of money, leading to parent company AOL Time Warner selling the name copyrights and tape library to the WWF for $4.3 million in 2001. We have now planned to re-introduce World Championship Wrestling. Fans will be very exciting when we prove to the world how much better professional wrestling and entertainment is better when it's in a WCW ring!!!
