What’s the story?
Former WCW and WWE ring announcer ‘Mean’ Gene Okerlund is one of the most respected names in the business, having worked virtually everywhere in the pro wrestling world and making friends with huge names in the process.
During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, Okerlund discussed watching stars jump over to WCW during the heyday of the Attitude Era and the Monday Night Wars.
In case you didn’t know...
Okerlund worked for the WWE from 1984-1993 before joining the WCW in 1993. After the WCW was bought out by WWE in 2001, he returned to his work there before subsequently retiring from ring announcing.
The heart of the matter
Here’s what Okerlund had to say about stars jumping over to WCW (courtesy of Wrestling Inc.):
"Ric and I would drink Dirty Ketel One Martinis, but I'd never try to out-drink Ric. I was too smart to try that, but my move to WCW helped a lot. Now I went over there first, all alone, and brought guys like Bobby Heenan with me shortly thereafter. I came in late 1993, and Bobby Heenan started in the first part of 1994. Then the coffers opened from Ted Turner, and the list of talent kept growing bigger and bigger and bigger. Then, finally, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall came in and formed the NWO with Hogan. Virtually all of the top stars went over there, and that was a storyline that had legs for a couple of years."
What’s next?
While it was nice to have some competition for the WWE back in the day, today it remains the sole power house in professional wrestling, leaving only really the indies and smaller promotions such as TNA to go to instead.
Sportskeeda’s take
Today the WWE stands alone atop the professional wrestling mountain, but it would be nice to have some competition and different mainstream products to choose from for the fans. It would do only good for the business overall.
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