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For a short stint, Battlebowl was an annual attraction for WCW. The unusual event entailed wrestlers being assigned to randomly drawn tag teams. They’d compete in traditional tag team matches, out of which the winners would compete in a battle royal to crown the victor.
The Battlebowl had its limitations. Famously, promoters are reticent to book events that focus on tournament-style wrestling because it’s difficult to advertise the card in advance, and thus difficult to draw unless the tournament itself is considered a draw.
Moreover, WCW rarely had clearly defined stakes attached to Battlebowl, meaning that it felt more like fun, but a forgettable contest for its lack of consequences—not unlike, for example, the Greatest Royal Rumble or the World Cup tournament.
However, there were some unique prospects inherent to the Battlebowl concept, particularly when executed to its full potential. This article takes a look at what might be if All Elite Wrestling were to bring back and make use of this old school concept.
#5 Working within an established gimmick
At Double or Nothing, AEW introduced the Casino Battle Royale concept. It was an innovative idea that put a fresh spin on the gauntlet battle royal format popularized by WWE’s Royal Rumble. Moreover, it matched up well with the Las Vegas setting for that specific PPV. Finally, the fact that Hangman Page ultimately won was a refreshing move to insert a relatively new face on the national scene immediately into the world title picture.
For all of these strengths, the Casino Battle Royale didn’t necessarily come across well on the whole to the viewing audience. The rules for entry felt both a bit convoluted and random and the presentation of the different “suits” wasn’t particularly well produced to come across like it meant anything.
Double or Nothing went on to be an excellent show, but this bout demonstrated the company isn’t necessarily ready to successfully promote original gimmick matches. Battlebowl would lend AEW a concept that simultaneously has established and well-conceived rules and hasn’t already been over-exposed for few promotions doing anything like it since WCW’s original run of events.
#4 Further deepening the tag ranks
AEW has immediately distinguished itself for its emphasis on tag team wrestling. When The Lucha Bros arrived on the scene, the company treated them as one of the biggest debuting acts, not to mention that they forewent Pentagon’s hot solo act in favor of pushing this tag team with his talented brother Rey Fenix.
Given that they wear two hats as not only featured wrestlers but executives, The Young Bucks aren’t going anywhere either. From there, AEW’s ranks also feature The Dark Order, SCU, The Best Friends, Angelico and Jack Evans, and the Rhodes brothers as sometimes partners, and that’s a deep roster.
Given this focus, it would only make sense for AEW to promote an event largely focused on tag team wrestling. Moreover, in forcing odd couple pairs of wrestlers to team up, Battlebowl would invite unexpected new teams to come up among talents who don’t have clear directions otherwise or to revisit the timeless angle of partners who don’t get along, but to nonetheless succeed in the ring when working together.
#3 Sparking new rivalries
The Battlebowl concept invites partnerships between reluctant partners who don’t entirely trust one another. It also invites characters that seemingly get along well enough to develop dissension among them based on the perception that one of them is the weak link or cost the team a victory. As such, Battlebowl offers an organic way to start new rivalries.
Thus far, AEW has been successful at developing storylines and feuds pretty organically. However, with the pressure looming of producing weekly, episodic television, it wouldn’t hurt to start thinking about opportunities to generate new grudges as the makeshift tag teams from Battlebowl splinter.
From another angle, if an established tag team were to be so lucky as to wind up together in the Lethal Lottery, and yet wind up losing to an ad hoc team, that might be enough to drive a wedge between them. While it’s probably too soon to think about breaking up most of the teams in AEW, in the long run, this would be one device for doing so while pushing the new tag team that beat them.
#2 Establishing fresh title contenders
AEW has done a fine job of assigning stakes to its matches without even yet having titles in play. The initial Casino Battle Royale matches, for example, earning the victors entry into to title matches was good, sequential storytelling that also paved the way for a less established star to naturally shoot straight into a featured spot.
Battlebowl would offer another natural opportunity to grant the winner a title shot, or another featured opportunity. Whether it’s a matter of elevating a fresh face, providing a storyline reason for a main event guy to move into the title scene, or offering a platform for the surprise introduction of a new addition to the roster, Battlebowl works on a variety of levels as a way of mixing up the title scene.
Particularly as a new promotion, it will be vital for AEW to avoid the trap of featuring a small cluster of talents—and particularly the same two wrestlers—battling in the main event over and over again. Concepts like Battlebowl offer a night of something genuinely different in its own right, while paving the way forward for the top of the card.
#1 Cashing in on WCW nostalgia
AEW is not WCW. The company has already featured a style of wrestling and straightforward telling that flies in the face of many of WCW’s shortcomings, particularly from its latter years when swerves abounded, and marquee matches rarely delivered in the ring. Just the same, comparisons between AEW and WCW are inevitable.
AEW represents the closest thing to competition WWE has faced since WCW, and that’s not least of all because of a billionaire’s backing, a weekly show on TNT, and the Rhodes family having significant input on what’s going on both behind the scenes and on air.
There are plenty of mistakes WCW made that it’s important for AEW to steer clear of. However, there is also a substantial body of fans that followed WCW and didn’t come over to WWE or otherwise stick with wrestling past 2001.
If AEW can snag the attention of old WCW fans in constructive ways, like borrowing from and improving upon old gimmicks that haven’t already been over-exposed elsewhere, it could go a long way toward recapturing some of the magic from decades past.
