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• WCW Worked By Being Different From What WWE Was Doing

• WCW's Rings Was Smaller Than The One Used In WWE

• Did Wrestlers Prefer WCW Or WWE's Rings?

WCW was WWE's biggest competition throughout the 1990s. The company was owned by billionaire Ted Turner and at the time had a lot of momentum on its side. Vince McMahon's company never saw such competition before and will probably never see it again. There were a lot of things that made WCW successful in its time and one of them was that it was absolutely different from WWE. From the characters to the matches, even the ring, were in contrast to WWE.

WCW Worked By Being Different From What WWE Was Doing

WCW represented a modern and realistic attitude change when it came to wrestling. While WWE was stuck in the tired old larger-than-life gimmicks, fans wanted something different. They no longer wanted to see simple old good guy vs bad guy wrestling stories. It was an era defined by complex, realistic characters who were neither simply heels nor babyfaces. When WCW brought this change in the wrestling industry, they changed all the rules of the game and brought in their own style of wrestling with the biggest names in the industry working for them. Those who have seen an episode of Nitro or any WCW show might notice that the ring seemed smaller than that of WWE's and that was no accident.

WCW's Rings Was Smaller Than The One Used In WWE

There were certain visual differences in WCW's show. While the standard ring size for WWE has been 20x20 feet for decades, WCW and many other independent wrestling promotions used a smaller ring size. WCW used an 18x18 feet ring throughout most of The Monday Night Wars. The reason was that they wanted more wrestlers to have faster matches without compromising the experience of the fans. With a smaller ring and smaller ropes, the wrestlers could give high-impact action at a faster pace than they would in a bigger WWE ring. WCW also boasted that it is where "the big boys play". While that was meant to be highlighting the fact that bigger stars of the industry were working in the company at the time, it also turned out to have a literal meaning.

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When WWE ushered in its new era, the old wrestling mold of large men being wrestlers was broken. Men like Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart were not as large as the likes of Kevin Nash and Hulk Hogan. With the larger stars leaving WWE and joining WCW, a smaller ring worked in their favor, as it would require less effort to execute their moves which worked in favor of their large size.

Did Wrestlers Prefer WCW Or WWE's Rings?

Even the ropes WCW used weren't the same as WWE. WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley, who worked in both WCW and WWE, disclosed the difference between the ropes used by both promotions in an interview on his Foley is Pod channel. He commented that the WCW ropes were like, "a rubber coating over what we thought were elevator cables and that's pretty much standard for most rings except for WWE."

He also revealed his preference when it came to the rings of both companies. "Once I got used to the ropes I liked the ropes. I just saw within the past few days, X-Pac stating a preference for the 18-foot rings with the cables because he thought it kept the action going." Foley also discussed why WWE's strategy was unique. He said," I think that the 20-footer, I think it looks better on tv, and it makes WWE stand out as the one company with the 20-foot ring, but it feels like you're running through The Sahara desert the first time you're in there."

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While Foley gave a preference to WWE's ropes over WCW's, wrestling legend Jeff Jarrett had a completely different view. In 2021, on his "My World with Jeff Jarrett" podcast, he revealed, "It was the WWF (a.k.a WWE) rings of the early 90s that were much, much harder on the body" He explained that they were built for bigger men like Hulk Hogan and Legion of Doom to fall on. he gave a clear preference to WCW rings as he thought that wrestling in a WWE ring was like wrestling on bricks. In the end though, WWE had the winning formula as they won The Monday Night Wars and eventually Vince McMahon bought WCW in 2001.