Late Stage WCW Was a Design Nightmare

Forget "Who Booked This s#!t"." 'Who designed this s#!t?"

It doesn’t take an expert on the wrestling business to know that the large stages of World Championship Wrestling were an organizational and creative nightmare. But one way that is not appreciated is how bad graphic design got in the company toward the late stages of the promotion’s demise.

For the rise of WCW, they of course used the classic WCW.

As most wrestling fans know, in 1999 it was changed to this monstrosity.

Much digital ink has been spilled concerning the new WCW logo, which has been called many things but not good. It has been called many things; an “giant butthole” by Eric Bischoff and “an exploding vagina” by Tony Schiavone being among the most memorable. But it was universally reviled then, and remains universally reviled today.

Part of the philosophy of this rebrand was to change and to update the product. After all, the WCW logo by that point had been used for almost ten years. Ratings were sagging. A new logo could help generate interest in the product and could show how WCW was following the WWF’s lead in creating an “edgier” product.

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During this brand transition, WCW programming had their sets revamped and WCW pay-per-view logos had their logos updated as well. And you have to appreciate just how bad some of these were.

For instance:

I mean….what even. Look how bad this is and realize it actually got worse from here.

No design thought went into this.

Speaking of no design thought…..

Want to see the love child bet ween these two logos? Here ya go.

Then we get to New Blood Rising, which was the replacement in 2000 for Road Wild. Is this for an event, a band, a coffee shop, or is it a movie rating?

From a distance, you can’t even see the WCW name on there. They didn’t even bother with the logo. Nor did they use it for several following pay-per-views until the end of the company

Is this wrestling or am I reading a hunting magazine?

Was anybody trying anymore?

No, they were not.

By December, even the Starrcade logo, which was practically unchanged for 25 years, got axed in favor of this.

This one didn’t even get the WCW logo on it. Here’s Starrcade, you figure out what it’s for.

It just keeps getting worse because now the shows are all being renamed and becoming edgier, or something. I present you with this logo that I swear was ripped off from somebody’s tattoo.

And for the last two events, Superbrawl Revenge and Greed, the company just gave up. Maybe they laid off the graphic design department or something.

At least the logo made its way back in there. Sorta.

Part of the issue that I (and others) have with WCW’s late-stage design kerfluffles is that it was tied in with the product being absolute trash at the time. Nobody really likes the Denver Broncos current uniforms, for example, but they have won three Super Bowls wearing them so there is no impetus to really change them. A quality product and good times can overcome a lot of general ugliness on the field.

The WWE has had its own issues with bad graphic design and creative over the years. Even in pay-per-view names and logos…..

Exhibit A

But WWE’s stability and creative (usually) overcomes such design handicaps. Since WCW had no such stability or anything resembling a quality product in from mid-1999 to 2001, they get no such leniency.

Late-stage WCW was bad. It should not be forgotten and should be remembered as a perfect example of what not to do when branding your product…

1. Fun fact: the original WWF “Scratch” logo signifying the start of The Attitude Era was first used at Survivor Series 1997. Yes, it launched on the same show as the Montreal Screwjob.