Praise for WCW?

[Stingersplash89]

I've seen alot of shoot interviews and write ups where past talent have blasted WCWs backstage situation (and for good reason) but does anyone know of any scenarios where wrestlers/management have ever gave a positive insight about the behind the scenes working of the company ? I've always been a huge fan of late 90s WCW but most of what I've seen is the WWE propaganda machine spewing out negative insight

 

[GoatfaceKiller]

It's not propaganda when it's true. Just read Mick Foley's book. Him and Bret Hart will both iterate the lack of basic human compassion that the WCW powers-that-be showed most wrestlers during their tenure there. Trust me, it showed in their in-ring product quite a bit.

 

[Headman]

I've seen alot of shoot interviews and write ups where past talent have blasted WCWs backstage situation (and for good reason) but does anyone know of any scenarios where wrestlers/management have ever gave a positive insight about the behind the scenes working of the company ? I've always been a huge fan of late 90s WCW but most of what I've seen is the WWE propaganda machine spewing out negative insight

There honestly wasn't much to praise about the late 90's. With that said the WWE often praises their cruiser weight division and the formation of the nWo. The nWo overstayed it's welcome by several years and the booking was inexcusable. So it's no really WWE propaganda. It's the truth.

 

[whoopin' ass]

Given that you rarely hear praise at the best of times unless someone is sucking up and there is no one to suck up to in this case, you probably won't hear much good. I have heard a lot of wrestlers talk about how good the locker room moral was compared to WWF even into the nWo days and I not talking about your Hogan's and Nash's who had it good. A lot of the guys didn't care for how Vince ran things. A lot of people should be thankful to WCW - Bishoff never would have gotten his chance anywhere else, Hogan got a second run and lots of money at a time that no one really wanted him around and a lot of talent were able to establish themselves by working there. It just sucks that the behind the scenes was such a mess as it tainted at lot of people's memories of the place.

 

[whoopin' ass]

Just to touch on what Headman said, no it isn't propaganda but it is a little revisionist - WWF had some pretty questionable booking too. That's part of the reason why WCW became successful. WWE has a tendency to ignore that fact when they talk about the Monday night wars and makes it sound like they were constantly giving the best product and people just started watching WCW for no reason.

 

[Cub McCallister]

Its a shame that wcw ended so early but its there own fault because of the booking they did, they had so many great talents that they let slip through their hands. I've watched so many shoot interviews where wrestlers who talk about how wcw messed up because they constantly shoved the nwo & old genereation wrestlers down the fans throats.

Chris Jericho said in an interview that when he was at wcw it was all black and white with no sense of direction and when he came to the wwe the place was filled with colour, I think if wcw would of done the right thing they would still be here today and that bischoff should of pushed the future guys instead of being dependant on the guys of hogan nash hall and others. Just like vince made new stars thats what wcw should of done and they had the money and the talent they just didn't do anything to capitalise on that.

 

[AJ1981]

I was into wrestling the most during my teens which were in the late 90's and I watched both the WWF & WCW. Although Jim Ross and others recognise how competition between WWF and WCW made WWF's product better, WWE tend to downplay it. WCW did have a compelling product from 1996-1998 but then egos began to take over and as many others have famously said "the inmates took over the asylum". The nWo became a bloated mess and the creative control clauses in the main eventers contracts prevented most mid-carders from breaking through the glass ceiling. That being said up until 2000 WCW had a better midcard than the WWF, WCW had the some of the best wrestlers in the world under contract and the first 2 hours of Nitro from an in ring standpoint were far superior to what WWF were doing at the time it was just the main events that let them down. At the time I loved WCW's undercard and WWF's main events.

 

[TellMeWhy]

There honestly wasn't much to praise about the late 90's. With that said the WWE often praises their cruiser weight division and the formation of the nWo. The nWo overstayed it's welcome by several years and the booking was inexcusable. So it's no really WWE propaganda. It's the truth.

WWE's booking in the late 90s was by no means genius either. In fact, it was horrendous. Outside of the main event scene and the hardcore division, WWE wasn't that good. In fact, it was a mess. Lots of WWF matches were so overbooked. WCW at least presented itself like a sport, brought in international talent, and had plenty of matches that had clean finishes (excluding many nWo matches). WCW didn't get bad until they started incorporating WWF style booking thanks to Vince Russo. WWE until this day never talks about how stupid it was for Vince Mcmahon to become a WWE champ yet WWE will bring up David Arguette any chance they get. it's revisionist.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

Unfortunately with WWE winning the Monday Night Wars and buying WCW, WWE's propaganda in bashing WCW isn't going to stop anytime soon. I mean sure they praise WCW in certain aspects but you can tell there's a ton of biases when depicting the Monday Night Wars.

I remember watching the Monday Night Wars DVD and they often talk about how WCW raided the talent from the WWE with guys like Hall and Nash. The DVD made it seem like Vince was a victim of unfair tactics by Bishoff but in reality Nash and Hall had frustrations with the creative direction of the company as well.

Also the Monday Night Wars DVD never mentioned the terrible creative direction WWE was taking from 1994 to 1996 era with Cartoon Character gimmicks and so on. Where as the DVD had no problems calling out WCW's creative blunders when the company was down.

 

[MCMG]

I don't think it's propaganda. WCW is dead and WWE/F won. The war is over and so what ever needs to be said can be. Also, surely the fact there is no longer any WCW means there was something inherently wrong.

Guys like Jericho, Bret Hart, Austin, Paul Heyman and Chavo have all said bad things about WCW. There are several good podcasts right now and it is always interesting when WCW comes up. Jericho talks about how the top guys and the rest never interacted. Also, how the midcard talent rarely got a chance which proved fatal. Austin, HHH, Jericho, Foley, Benoit all had potential but were not used correctly.

Bret Hart talked about how he was paid ridiculous money but was sometimes never used. Chavo and Jericho mention how no-one was paying attention to their matches and they could have done what they want because no-one would have noticed.

The only person I can remember praising WCW is Kevin Nash. Why? Because he was fucking running the place. Of course he would enjoy it. He was getting paid an incredible amount to travel the country with his best friends, partying and achieving great success. WCW died but Nash and Hall played an incredible game. Now, one of their best friends is running the only big wrestling company.

I honestly think WCW was just an absolute mess and that is the reason they failed. No propaganda involved. Some wrestlers were paid too much. Some were not given opportunities. There was a shitload of politics and the high profile wrestlers used their influence. Late 90's WCW didn't make many stars aside from absolute freaks like Big Show and Goldberg. Booker T who paid his dues first and DDP who was good friends with Bischoff. The company was a mess and that is why it failed.

 

[Mustang Sally]

The only person I can remember praising WCW is Kevin Nash. Why? Because he was fucking running the place. Of course he would enjoy it. He was getting paid an incredible amount to travel the country with his best friends, partying and achieving great success.

Yes, he enjoyed it, why wouldn't he? Nash "running the place" revolved around everything being done the way he wanted, a condition which surely does make a person happy.

If I read it correctly, Nash worked on a personal services contract rather than one that most wrestling performers operate under, which enabled him to collect his big salary whether he worked or not. While that might be terrific for him, can you imagine the tension it would create in the locker room among performers who weren't as "contractually fortunate" as he?

This was WCW. They threw cash around like Monopoly money, but I doubt they did it equitably.....and the differences between the "haves" and "have-nots" were probably so enormous that tensions in the Middle East looked like a love-in by comparison. Plus, those with personal service contracts likely skirted a lot of ring and publicity duties, leaving the "have-nots" to work double time to fill in.....which created further resentment.

Yes, any organization (sports entertainment or not) is going to have people who are unsatisfied with their working conditions, yet WCW seemed to go out of its way to create a bad situation, starting mainly because they had too much money for their own good.

 

[justtxyank]

You don't hear praise for WCW now because WCW lost the war and Vince HATED WCW. Since he's the only one in the industry left that can really pay you in the business anymore, you do what he wants you to do.

Back when WCW was winning the ratings war and WWF was hurting financially, wrestlers slammed the WWF, Vince, etc. The backstage atmosphere was one of drugs and bullying. All the way to the end of the attitude era women frequently logged sexual harassment complaints. Until HBK was gone he and his boys were complete jerks to anyone they could fine. Vince is reportedly a tyrant that is brutal to work for. They work a horrible schedule and Vince has always believed in grinding his workers to the ground. Vince has never had a problem with bullies or with his male wrestlers harassing the women.

But, now that WWE is the only place a wrestler can work and get rich, you rarely hear those complaints. When you do it is from an old hand that has his money or from a rare breed that doesn't care.

Edit: The reality is that most wrestling companies that are of any notable size are going to be rough places to work for some people. It's a cut throat business with people who take themselves way too seriously, egos are out of control, drugs and alcohol rage, there is little respect for women both backstage and on screen, etc.

 

[justtxyank]

This was WCW. They threw cash around like Monopoly money, but I doubt they did it equitably.....and the differences between the "haves" and "have-nots" were probably so enormous that tensions in the Middle East looked like a love-in by comparison. Plus, those with personal service contracts likely skirted a lot of ring and publicity duties, leaving the "have-nots" to work double time to fill in.....which created further resentment.

More Vince-washing of history. This is how all businesses work that rely on ppv draws and ratings. UFC does the same thing.

Go read what Kamala has said about his pay schedule in the WWF and how mad he was when he found out how much the stars were getting while he was barely getting enough to get by.

But yes, WCW did throw money around like monopoly money. But what people will never understand is that WCW had more money in the game than the WWF did.

WCW was playing with Timewarner's money. Imagine for a moment:

Think of the money Vince gets from his tv deals. (He's currently in a pay dispute with USA of this). Now, realize that however much they are willing to pay the WWE for their shows, they make at least twice that much back. Now realize that WCW wasn't getting that kind of money to air their shows on Turner networks, because the Turner networks owned them!

The WWF puts on a show to get a cut of the pie from the network and then a cut of the pie from the ppv providers. WCW wasn't getting the tv cut of the pie (not in the same proportions anyway) but the pie owned them!

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Yes, he enjoyed it, why wouldn't he? Nash "running the place" revolved around everything being done the way he wanted, a condition which surely does make a person happy.

If I read it correctly, Nash worked on a personal services contract rather than one that most wrestling performers operate under, which enabled him to collect his big salary whether he worked or not. While that might be terrific for him, can you imagine the tension it would create in the locker room among performers who weren't as "contractually fortunate" as he?

This was WCW. They threw cash around like Monopoly money, but I doubt they did it equitably.....and the differences between the "haves" and "have-nots" were probably so enormous that tensions in the Middle East looked like a love-in by comparison. Plus, those with personal service contracts likely skirted a lot of ring and publicity duties, leaving the "have-nots" to work double time to fill in.....which created further resentment.

Yes, any organization (sports entertainment or not) is going to have people who are unsatisfied with their working conditions, yet WCW seemed to go out of its way to create a bad situation, starting mainly because they had too much money for their own good.

The problem in WCW wasn't the cash itself but the lack of care with which the deals were structured. The moment Hall and Nash had "Safe Harbour" clauses the damage was done... no one could be paid more than them who came in after... even if Hogan re-signed they got the same... once they had it, everyone had it compared to their "level" so Konnan couldn't get less than Jericho or Benoit, Norton couldn't get less than Bagwell... it goes on and on... Most guys were not required to work... indeed Jericho made a big point in his book about sitting at home dodging shows to avoid signing his new deal so he could go to the WWF. Add ego into that equation from Bischoff and you have issues... guys like Flair, Waltman and eventually Bischoff himself were paid NOT to show up cos they were unwanted by someone, normally one person... If you hate somewhere you'd almost WANT to be put in that position... whereas in the WWF you HAD to be booked to make money... so it was worth your time to improve and hustle/work hard cos politics didn't work the same.


That one clause removed would have eliminated a lot of WCW's problem as it was all about finding out what x made to make sure you got the same or more...

Guys like Nash had genuine booking ideas and a mind for it, but that coupled with their deals made it self defeating... the only one who I think really deserves credit of the big guns was Bret, for seeing out his deal as best he could, knowing it was shite and not rocking the boat booking wise... it was "head down for 3 years and get out" sadly, it was head bust in 2... or the guys who left money on the table to walk like Benoit, Eddy and Jericho... no guarantees with Vince but they took the risk and prospered. Unlike the guys who sat out their deals post buyout.

 

[justtxyank]

Bias shows when you give "credit" to Bret Hart. Bret Hart half-assed it in WCW most of the time. For all the crap WCW gets for not booking him properly, Hart put on weight and became incredibly surly. Worst of all, his matches fell off. Sure he would pull out a good one every now and then, but most of the time he looked like he wasn't interested.