WCW Nixed Avengers Style Storyline

Pro wrestling has seen a lot of amazing plans come to fruition on screen, but even more have suffered the fate of getting squashed and never materializing during the creative process.

According to Vince Russo on Wrestling Binge, the WCW Avengers concept was inspired by the popular Marvel Comics superhero team, the Avengers. Hogan was set to play the leader of the group, with other wrestlers filling out the roster. However, the storyline was never fully realized, much to the frustration of Russo and the creative team.

“Bro, I swear to God, we did this thing in WCW. We never got to tell the whole story due to politics. But what I first tried to do when I went to WCW is – we were eliminating the legends, one by one. All of them with a different story. Because the endgame was gonna be that these guys were gonna get back together, almost like the Avengers before there was an Avengers,” 

“So we eliminated Hulk (Hogan), we eliminated Savage (Randy), we were trying to eliminate Hennig (Curt). We eliminated Piper (Roddy). These guys were gonna come back as Avengers because the interesting dynamic is these guys haven’t gotten along throughout their careers, they are gonna get along now? That was the beauty, there was so much meat to that story.”

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While the WCW Avengers storyline was ultimately scrapped, Hogan remained a prominent figure in WCW until the company was purchased by the WWF (now WWE) in 2001. Russo’s comments about the scrapped storyline offer a unique insight into what could have been, and have sparked speculation about the possibility of the concept being revisited in the future.

It is worth noting that Russo has a controversial history in the world of professional wrestling. He has been both praised and criticized for his creative contributions to WCW and WWE, with some fans and industry insiders praising his boundary-pushing ideas and others criticizing his penchant for shock value. Regardless of one’s opinion on Russo, it is clear that the WCW Avengers storyline was a missed opportunity that could have potentially changed the course of professional wrestling history.