WCW WorldWide WCW WorldWide was a syndicated TV show produced by World Championship Wrestling . History . " Wide World Wrestling " . The show began in 1975 ( as Wide World Wrestling ) , a syndicated one - hour program produced by Charlotte , North Carolina - based Jim Crockett Promotions . It was taped each Wednesday night at WRAL - TV television studios in Raleigh , North Carolina , following the taping of the syndicated " Mid - Atlantic Championship Wrestling " . The original host of " Wide World Wrestling " was former Georgia Championship Wrestling announcer Ed Capral . Later hosts of " Wide World Wrestling " included George Scott , Sandy Scott , Dr . Tom Miller and Les Thatcher . " World Wide Wrestling " . In 1978 , to avoid confusion with ABC ' s " Wide World of Sports " ( many newspapers would incorrectly mix the two shows up in their listings ) , JCP changed the name of the show to World Wide Wrestling . Rich Landrum became the new host and was joined shortly thereafter by veteran wrestler Johnny Weaver as color commentator . In the summer of 1981 , WRAL television opted not to renew its contract with JCP , citing that it needed the studio space to produce a new local version of " PM Magazine " . Crockett initially worked out a deal with WCCB television in Charlotte to house the tapings , but that fell through . So he instead went with WPCQ in Charlotte ( a station immortalized by Ted Turner when it was WRET because the future cable mogul once held a telethon to save the channel from going bankrupt ) . WPCQ ( now WCNC ) had briefly played host to tapings for Eddie Einhorn ' s International Wrestling Association in the 1970s so it seemed like a natural fit . The physical studio itself was very cramped however and it made for a claustrophobic viewing experience . The ring , television sets , banners , and camera platforms , which had been positioned in perfect symmetry at WRAL , were now oddly positioned and the result was to say the very least , ugly . Landrum left " World Wide Wrestling " in 1982 after being released by Jim Crockett Promotions in a cost cutting measure . David Crockett left his position as Bob Caudle ' s color commentator on " Mid - Atlantic Championship Wrestling " to take over play - by - play duties on " World Wide " . For a time , " World Wide " ran with a three - man announce team as wrestler Ray " The Crippler " Stevens joined . Rowdy Roddy Piper would also occasionally be thrown into the mix as well . Not pleased with the studio situation , Crockett began to make plans to rectify matters and by July 1983 , had moved his tapings out of WPCQ and into major arenas , buying a mobile TV truck for $ 1 million and hiring his own crew . In 1984 , Tony Schiavone replaced Weaver as color commentator on " World Wide " ( with Weaver moving over to join Caudle on " Mid - Atlantic " ) . Schiavone had previously worked for JCP as the announcer for their minor league baseball team the Charlotte O ' s , and as the host of their market - specific promotional interview segments , which were used to promote events in individual towns . Tully Blanchard for a time joined " World Wide " as a color commentator as well . After the sale of JCP ' s wrestling assets to Turner Broadcasting in 1988 , " World Wide Wrestling " went through a revolving series of announcing teams and included at various times such names as Schiavone , Jim Ross , Gordon Solie , Lance Russell , Chris Cruise , Terry Funk , Dutch Mantel l , Ole Anderson , Jesse " The Body " Ventura , Scott Hudson , Bobby " The Brain " Heenan and Larry Zbyszko . " WCW WorldWide " . Under the Eric Bischoff regime , the name " World Wide Wrestling " was changed to WCW WorldWide . " WorldWide " was originally made up of matches from television tapings around the country . From 1993 onward , the show was taped at Disney / MGM Studios . As such , these shows recorded , were the source of the infamous " Disney Tapings . " In 1995 , " WorldWide " moved to a custom built set on a soundstage at Disney / MGM Studios and later to Universal Studios Florida in Orlando , Florida . In mid - 1998 , WCW started taping " WorldWide " at the same arenas they would tape " WCW Saturday Night " until early - 2000 , when they moved the tapings before " Thunder " tapings . In November 2000 , the show would change formats , no longer featuring exclusive matches , and instead showing matches from previous WCW pay - per - view events ( as well as providing a recap of that week ' s " Monday Nitro " and " Thunder " ) . " WorldWide " was cancelled along with " Monday Nitro " and " Thunder " before the World Wrestling Federation purchased WCW ' s tape library and intellectual property . At the time of its cancellation , " WorldWide " was the longest - running , uninterrupted weekly syndicated show of any kind on the air in the United States . " WorldWide " in the United Kingdom . WCW WorldWide is one of only two American wrestling shows ( the other being WWE Sunday Night Heat on Channel 4 ) to have a regular slot on UK terrestrial television , having appeared on two different over the air networks during its lifetime . Beginning in 1991 , WCW WorldWide was broadcast in the UK on the ITV network originally overnight at 1 or 2 a . m . alongside other U . S . imports such as American Gladiators and America ' s Top Ten . Late in 1992 however , it moved to a Saturday afternoon slot . The day ' s football scores would be scrolled across the bottom of the screen as part of ITV ' s Saturday Sport line up . In late 1995 , however , the show was moved back to the late night slot and disappeared from the network . During July 1999 , Worldwide returned to TV in the UK on Channel 5 , who broadcast the show at 7pm on Friday evenings , although occasionally the show would be broadcast in a late - night mid - week time - slot instead . These shows were a collection of matches from Nitro , Thunder and WCW Saturday Night , which had taken place five or six weeks before . The announcers were usually Scott Hudson and Larry Zbyszko , who provided dubbed commentary with references aimed at the UK viewers . Due to being moved around the schedules and skipping some weeks , the show continued until May 2001 over a month after being bought by the WWF . As mentioned , WCW was purchased by the World Wrestling Federation , and ceased to produce any more new programming . Even though the show wasn ' t broadcast from 1995 until 1999 on British Television in English , it was on the German speaking channel DSF , along with other WCW content not seen anywhere else in the country . Following the purchase of WCW by the World Wrestling Federation , older versions of " WorldWide " were repeated on Sky Sports .