25 Years Ago...WCW's BIG BANG!

Remember May 6, 2001? World Championship Wrestling presented The Big Bang.

It was the first WCW pay-per-view run by Fusient Media Ventures, headed by Brian Bedol & Stephen J. Greenberg, as owners and Eric Bischoff as President.

Based out of Las Vegas, Nevada, The Big Bang was the perfect reboot to the promotion that had a tumultuous two-and-a-half years.

The returns of Goldberg, Kevin Nash, Diamond Dallas Page, and Sting following being forced out of wrestling by Ric Flair’s Magnificent Seven for six months prior were rejoiced by WCW fans, providing the stars with a hero’s welcome as they saved WCW World and United States Champion Booker T from another beatdown following his classic title defense against “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner.

Sean O’Haire stole the show in his Tag Team Championship match with his incredible athleticism; however, Chuck Palumbo, jealous of his partner’s impending stardom, turned on him with a Superkick, providing Lance Storm and Mike Awesome a victory and the belts.

Rob Van Dam stunned audiences with an electric performance and debut against Jeff Jarrett in “the Chosen One’s” Open Challenge. “The Whole Dam Show” delivered an immediate impact, nailing Jarrett with a Van Terminator, leaving the fans unglued with excitement.

The Cruiserweight Division had a banner night, as “Sugar” Shane Helms successfully defended his singles title against Jason Jett, and Rey Mysterio, Jr and Kidman fought off both Air Raid of AJ Styles & Air Paris and Dragon Kid & CIMA from Ultimo Dragon’s Toryumon promotion.

The biggest shock of the night was “the King of Old School” Steve Corino making a surprise appearance from the crowd, taking out both Dusty and Dustin Rhodes, who were thanking the WCW fans for never giving up on the product in a passionate speech. 

The broadcasting even got a little extreme flavor, as Mike Tenay was joined by ECW’s old pay-per-view team of Joey Styles and Cyrus the Virus.

Needless to say, WCW’s Big Bang was a much needed boost and really began the road back to the promotion’s glory days.

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For 25 years, I have envisioned a world where The Big Bang took place. This was what I’ve always pictured, according to all the rumored plans and stories that have come out about this event over the past two-and-a-half decades.

I truly believe in my heart that, had WCW actually been purchased by Fusient, this would have been the day where WCW reestablished a foothold into the mainstream pro wrestling landscape. The WWF was reeling post-WrestleMania X-Seven, and with the failure of the XFL, May 6, 2001 would have been a shot across the nose.

To me, and many others, WCW going away changed professional wrestling forever, and not necessarily for the better. 2 million dedicated WCW fans went away forever, and they’ve never come back. In fact, the pro wrestling audience has gone down 10% each year from the previous year’s audience, although their hardcore fan base has carried them through some tough times.

The only real proof that this event was planned was off that legendary advertisement from Issue 72 of WCW Magazine in 2001.