You can't say Hogan's ego did not have a detrimental effect no matter what Vince says. So during WCW's reign they had good mid card talent, unfortunately these wrestlers stayed midcard too long (guys like Benoit, Jericho, Eddie) and left for the WWE. WWE basically was able to beat WCW by taking their legs out. By the time WCW was about to fold, they had virtually no established midcard wrestlers, and very old main eventers.
Bingo. Financial problems and bad ratings are all things WWE went through and yet still survived. WCW could have done the same. All they needed was the one thing that all wrestling promotions need to survive the toughest times: talent. The cream always rises to the top.
Think about all the of the early 2000s stars in WWE: Jericho, Eddie, Benoit, Rey, all of them came from WCW. WCW had these guys and they let them go. Well, more accurately those guys left due to not seeing any future for them in WCW's plans.
Instead of hiring that idiot Russo and trying to make WCW as equally raunchy as WWF's product, they should have simply realized that they were never going to be able to do that. Why be second best at one thing when you can be number one at something else? They had the better wrestlers, but they let them all go.
While WWF was pushing nudity, language, blood and violence, WCW could have been the alternate wrestling program promoting a more traditional style. They should have stated flat out, that if you want Jerry Springer TV, go watch WWF, but if you want the best wrestlers stick with us. Fans eventually grew tired of the "Attitude Era" as evidenced by WWE hitting the bottom of the low brow barrel with segments like HLA and Triple H simulating intercourse with a corpse in 2003. If WCW had just hung on a few more years with the likes of Bret, Hennig, Flair, Eddie, Benoit, Jericho and Rey, while making smart free agent signings like Kurt Angle, they could and would have eventually surpassed WWE once again in the ratings. Rock eventually left for Hollywood, Austin became too banged up to work, and the "Attitude" trend came to an end.
Unfortunately WCW tried to be the poor mans WWF in 99-2000, and it led to all their midcard talent jumping ship. People get tired of raunch, but wrestling fans never grow tired of quality wrestling. As long as you have that, you've got a chance. That's why WWF, with the likes of Bret, Shawn and Austin, were able to survive the turbulent mid 90's. WCW was unable to do the same because they let all their Bret's and Shawn's walk.
Also, they should have given the NWO thing a rest after Hogan lost to Goldberg. That should have been the end of it. You can always resurrect it again a few years later when people were hungry to see it once more, as was the case in 2002.
WCW should still be around to this day.