WWE Should Bring Back BattleBowl

Back in the days of the WCW era they company had some great ideas like War Games, World War 3, Thunder Dome and the Triple Cage. One concept and event I have always found fascinating was WCW Battle Bowl, the Lethal Lottery Tag Team Tournament. In the past, WWE has brought back nostalgic events and matches like ECW One Night Stand, Great American Bash, and most recently WarGames. Last year WarGames proved to be a success with three teams putting themselves through a lot of pain and physicality for the right to be called the best in NXT. WCW BattleBowl always brought the element of surprise because viewers had no clue who would be teaming with who and what their opposition would be. It created a lot of elements of surprise and storytelling, which is something that the WWE main roster is sorely lacking these days. Even though BattleBowl only took place four times it was a fun night of wrestling for everyone viewing it.

In 1991, the first Lethal Lottery took place and it kicked off by the Fabulous Freebirds being on the opposite side of the ring from each other. The most intriguing team that night was Sting and Abdullah the Butcher, because the Butcher only liked teaming with one guy and that was Cactus Jack. In fact, Abdullah was so angry about not teaming with Cactus he attacked Buddy Lee Parker who was picked to be his partner. At the end of this wild and crazy night it was Sting who won Battle Bowl and started what many thought to be a great tradition. One year later they went from 16 teams to 8 teams which made it a little less exciting. Although the excitement and some of the surprises weren’t there it was a exhausting night for the Great Muta. He won a Lethal Lottery Tag Team Match, fought for the the NWA World Championship and went on to win BattleBowl. When we arrived to 1993, Battlebowl was no longer apart of Starrcade and became it’s own pay-per-view. It went back from 8 teams to 16 team which made it the most exciting one out of the four. My favorite tag team of the event was assembled that night and it was Cactus Jack teaming with Vader. If anyone knows the backstory with these two you know they didn’t like each other. A month before they were beating the hell out of each other in a Texas Death Match at Halloween Havoc. That match was the last time that Vader and Cactus Jack got to face each one on one on American soil. Even though Cactus and Vader hated each other the team won and Vader went on to win Battlebowl.

Battlebowl did not take place in 1994 and 1995, but it returned in ’96 at Slamboree. This was the final time Lethal Lottery took place in WCW, but this time it wasn’t an established star who won Battlebowl. Prior to Battlebowl in 1996 Diamond Dallas Page was floundering in the mid-card and wasn’t a household name. This win propelled DDP into the next level and his Main Event rise slowly began that night. This is where the Lethal Lottery and Battlebowl ended, but with WWE’s lack of creativity that’s where it needs to start again. Could you imagine a Lethal Lottery situation on WWE’s main roster. Think of all the possibilities and outcomes that could happen in the ring and the storytelling that could be done with this concept. Money in the Bank usually propels people into the WWE Championship picture, but they don’t have a scenario where someone out of nowhere gets noticed. I think this would be a perfect opportunity for someone like a Tyler Breeze, Tye Dillinger, Aiden English, Apollo Crews, or members of some of the tag teams who aren’t being used properly. I would also leave this Lethal Lottery to all of WWE which would include 205 Live and NXT.

Whether or not WWE ever brings back anymore WCW remains to be seen, but considering how successful Wargames was in November I would say anything is possible. The WWE seems to be lacking creativity, unpredictability and good storytelling these days. Bring back Battlebowl and doing it right would address all of these issues in one night. It would also be a great opportunity to start new stories and feuds. Battlebowl is one of the WCW events that I never get tired of watching on the WWE Network. Battlebowl 93 has always been my favorite because of how star-studded it was. If you have never WCW Battlebowl I highly suggest doing so. Once you are doing watching you’ll understand why this would be a great concept to add to WWE.