Wrestling businesses wrestling Denise Williams Senior Staff Reporter Was it a battle for bragging rights or a battle for ratings? Whatever you want to call it, it’s getting good between the top two professional wrestling businesses in the world, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling/New World Order. On the WWF side, we’ve got a feud between the owner, Vince McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin, the most popular wrestler today, that’s lasted for over a year and recently ended up in a steel cage match between the two, which Austin won. With WCW/NWO, we’ve got practically 5 groups in one: WCW, NWO Wolfpac, NWO Hollywood, NWO Red and Black, and the newest group, the LWO (Latino World Order). Let’s just say everyone’s feuding with each other. The champions of each company are practically alike. Newly crowned WWF Champion The Rock is McMahon’s idea of a “Corporate Champion” with an ego to match. WCW/NWO’s also newly crowned champion Hulk Hogan also has a huge ego, and is WCW/NWO owner Eric Bischoff’s idea of a perfect champion. WCW/NWO is fairly new while the WWF has been around for over 50 years. The ratings war goes back and forth between the two. Recently WCW/NWO Monday Nitro unknowingly helped WWF Raw/War Zone set a new record by telling the fans not to watch Raw because it was taped and Mick Foley would win the WWF Championship. Well, he did, and Raw got a 5.8 in the ratings; the show’s highest ever! Also the WWF set another record with its January Pay Per View, the Royal Rumble: No Chance In Hell, its second highest PPV buy rate ever with over 600,000 sales! They expect to beat that, not only with February’s PPV St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, but with the upcoming Wrestlemania XV as well.Don’t count out WCW/NWO yet. With the surprising popularity of such superstars as Bill Goldberg, Sting and NWO Wolfpac, they’ll be tough competition for the WWF’s Stone Cold, Degeneration X, Mick Foley, and the newly formed Ministry of Darkness led by the Undertaker. Whether it’s through house shows, television, Pay Per Views, or clothing sales, this war between WWF and WCW/NWO will be drawing attention for months to come.