World Championship Wrestling

The name "World Championship Wrestling" was first used as a brand and television show title in 1982. Jim Barnett (who had worked for the World Championship Wrestling promotion in Australia) came to Atlanta, Georgia in the 1970s during an internal struggle over Georgia Championship Wrestling.[10] Barnett ultimately became majority owner of the promotion, and began using his previous employer's name for his new promotion's television program in 1982. The promotion was eventually purchased by Jim Crockett Promotions.

Influential wrestling magazine Pro Wrestling Illustrated and its sister publications thereafter habitually referred to Jim Crockett Promotions as "World Championship Wrestling", "WCW" and most commonly "the World Championship area" and continued to do so until early 1988 when it began referring to the company solely as the NWA, reasoning that "it has become apparent that the NWA and the World Championship area are one and the same."[11][12]

However, it was not until November 2, 1988[13] that an actual, National Wrestling Alliance (NWA)-affiliated promotion called 'World Championship Wrestling' appeared on the national scene. This entity was under the ownership of media mogul and cable-TV pioneer Ted Turner, based in Atlanta. While initially the new company was called the Universal Wrestling Corporation (launched October 11, 1988), very shortly following the purchase the decision was made to utilize the familiar "World Championship Wrestling" TV show name, as the brand name for this new promotion.

WCW went through various changes in business and creative leadership during its existence. Some figures, like Jim Herd and Kip Frey, were TV executives lacking in wrestling-promotion experience; others, like Bill Watts, Ole Anderson, and Dusty Rhodes had extensive experience in the business, but were so entrenched in the outdated "territory" ways of operating (which their respective careers had thrived under) that they were ineffective at growing WCW's largely regional audience, into a national—and international—one (as Vince McMahon had successfully done with the WWF).

Although Eric Bischoff has received much criticism for some mistakes in judgment as executive producer (and later, WCW president), he combined an understanding of wrestling (largely gained as a staffer with Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association) with a willingness to make the changes needed to raise WCW's profile with mainstream media, its target audience, and especially TV advertisers. These changes included moving some television tapings from Atlanta to Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando, Florida and signing a mix of veteran U.S. main-event performers and younger stars from promotions around the world (e.g., Rey Mysterio, Jr.).

Some of the creative freedoms that Bischoff granted main-event-level talent hurt the promotion, as such performers were less-than-cooperative in making stars out of the young performers—even though doing so (known in the industry as "doing what's best for the business instead of for just yourself") has been a staple of the industry since its inception. Once Bischoff was relieved of his duties in 1999, Vince Russo, a former senior storyline writer for the WWF, came aboard as lead writer of all of WCW's storylines. Although Russo did not last long in this role, departing in January 2000, WCW opted to bring Russo and Bischoff back in April 2000 in hopes that the duo might re-spark flagging fan interest in WCW. The two, however, did not get along well and Bischoff soon resigned from the sinking company. It was only a few months later that Russo would also depart after suffering from a concussion at the hands of Goldberg, although he remained under contract for the rest of WCW's existence. Following Russo's departure, creative was handled by a booking committee which included John Laurinaitis and Terry Taylor.

From 2000 to 2001, Monster Jam had a series of monster trucks based on wrestlers' names. These include nWo (2000), Sting (2000–2001), Nitro Machine (2000–present; currently Inferno), Madusa (2000–present) and Goldberg (2000–present; currently Max-D). The first to go was nWo, which only ran for a season. Next, all but Goldberg, Nitro, and Madusa were retired after the WCW sponsorship was lost. Nitro then became 'Flashfire', and then was converted into 'Inferno'. 'Madusa' has stayed the same since its creation, driven by its namesake Debrah Miceli. As for 'Goldberg', it was changed to 'Team Meents' in 2002, then into 'Maximum Destruction' (later shortened to 'Max-D'), which debuted in 2003 and continues to compete in the series and rivals the legendary Grave Digger in popularity on the circuit.

WCW also had a presence in NASCAR from the mid-1990s to 2000, sponsoring the #29 team in the Busch Grand National Series full-time and the #9 Melling Racing team in the Winston Cup Series part-time. In 1996, Kyle Petty's #49 car in the Busch Grand National series was sponsored by the nWo, and Wally Dallenbach Jr. briefly drove a WCW-sponsored for Galaxy Motorsports.

Several WCW video games were made in the 1980s and 1990s, including WCW Mayhem, WCW/nWo Revenge, WCW/nWo Thunder, WCW vs. the World, and WCW Backstage Assault. Several other games were made as well.

In 2000, several potential buyers for WCW were rumored to show interest in the company. Ted Turner, however, did not hold influence over Time Warner before the final merger of AOL and Time Warner in 2001, and most offers were rejected. Eric Bischoff, working with Fusient Media Ventures, made a bid to acquire the company in January 2001[14] (shortly following the AOL/Time Warner merger), and it appeared that WCW would continue.

Soon after, WCW went out of business, and the WWF purchased selected WCW assets in 2001, including its video library, some wrestler contracts, and selected intellectual property, including the WCW name and championships.[7][8] The corporate subsidiary, which was retained to deal with legal obligations and reverted to the Universal Wrestling Corporation name, officially became defunct in 2017.[9]

One of the primary backers in the WCW deal backed out after AOL Time Warner refused to allow WCW to continue airing on its networks, leaving Fusient to take that offer off the table while it attempted to bring a new deal around. In the meantime, the World Wrestling Federation began speaking to the new AOL Time Warner about acquiring the WCW brand. Jamie Kellner was handed control over the Turner Broadcasting division, and deemed WCW, along with Turner Sports as a whole, to be out of line with its image. As a result, WCW programming was cancelled on TBS and TNT, leaving Vince McMahon's company, which at the time had an exclusive deal with Viacom, free to acquire the trademarks, video libraries, and some contracts of World Championship Wrestling through its new subsidiary W. Acquisition Company, which was renamed WCW Inc. afterwards.[7][8] AOL Time Warner maintained a subsidiary, the Universal Wrestling Corporation, to deal with legal obligations and liabilities not acquired by WWF.[9] The UWC was listed as a subsidiary of Time Warner until 2017, when it was merged into Turner Broadcasting System.[15][16]