It seemed like just yesterday. There existed a challneger to Vince McMahon’s
wrestling empire. Coincidentally it was owned by a fellow billionaire. However, due to a chain of events, this
company no longer exists. This company was WCW.
How could this be possible? WCW was number one then. The ratings of Nitro were beating out Raw. Almost all of the legends that the WWE produced that were still active were there – Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Bret Hart and the list goes on. They also had some of the best workers in Chris Benoit and Dean Malenko. The same thing was true with their signature cruiserweight division with the likes of Rey Mysterio Jr. and Eddie Guerrero. To top that off, Ted
turner was backing up the whole operation and did not care if it made money or not.
If you asked a wrestling fan during those days if he would ever think that WCW would close shop, he would simply laugh or brand you as a hater. There was simply no way. However, it did. Several factors contributed to this such namely the following:
-Backstage politics.
People like Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash were running the show and didn’t give the younger talents a chance. Hogan had the strap on him most of the
time and invoked his creative control each and every time. Meanwhile, the WWE was grooming Stonecold, Triple H and The Rock for the spotlight.
-Vince Russo – Vince was a factor in the putting the nail in the coffin. He caused
Eric Biscoff and Hulk Hogan to leave and WCW went down the drain. His ideas like having David Arquette win the championship also backfired on the company.
-The AOL / Time Warner merger – AOL sold a lot of companies that were under the Time Warner umbrella and also caused Ted Turner to lose control of his empire. Without Turner’s backing and all of the restrictions on WCW, WCW officials had their hands tied. Also, WCW was scheduled to lose its slots in the Turner Network which sank Eric Bischoff’s plans to buy it.
-David Arquette winning the WCW Championship – This may have made the cover of USA today but did a lot in helping WCW to go under. Who would ever believe that somebody like David Arquette who has no wrestling or mixed martial arts experience could win a wrestling title?
-Not Giving Young Talent its Due – WCW became an old boys club and young but talented people like Rey Mysterio Jr., Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero and Chris Benoit were never given the spotlight. Many of them jumped ship before WCW’s demise.
-The Departure of Eric Bischoff – Its not fair to give Easy E all the credit for WCW’s success but he was a big part of it. The nWo was his brainchild and it was what propelled WCW to the top. He also was able to lure top talent into WCW. Removing him and replacing him with an accountant and other unqualified people led to poor programming and booking.
-Bill Goldberg’s Heel Turn – A heel turn revived Hogan’s career but Goldberg’s heel turn was mishandled and served to damage his drawing power. Not to mention he kept on losing during this run. This tarnished his status as an invincible monster that destroyed opponents in the ring.
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