The day WCW screwed itself

[sMark]

Many still wonders when exactly WCW screwed itself of it's future, well the answer in April 19, 1998, event Spring Stampede
Main Event was Sting vs Randy Savage for WCW title, i don't know exactly did Savage's contract allowed him to choose the outcome of all his matches (Hogan's did for sure), but someone (WCW or Savage) did put the title on the Macho Man this night. This wasn't a tragedy by itself, only a wrong decision, but the day after it on Nitro, Savage defended the title against Hogan (who's first contract was almost up, because it ended in May of this year), and Hogan did put the title on himself, leaving WCW in desparate need of resinging him on all of his terms (because he was now the champ), so Hogan got exactly what he wanted, the main thing here, outside of HUGE amount of money was the very same rule he had before:“approval over the outcome of all wrestling matches in which he appears.”, which costed WCW in a big way. Not only Hogan got his own fat contract, but other main eventers looked up at this situation and started to ask for the same fat contract for them, which resulted in a huge money income for them and huge money drop for WCW.
Look, in the beginning of 1998, WCW pushed new maineventers in DDP, Booker T and Goldberg and started to push Scott Steiner, so the new generation of top players was coming in, but it all died, when Hogan got his belt and his contract, now matches and angles outcome was in his, Nash, Hall and Savage hands, these 4 guys for sure didn't want to lose their star power (well, it looks like Savage was the only one who understood the situation and that WCW need to evolve), and all future main events were screwed, and WCW couldn't let these guys go because of WWF and because they got guaranteed big money, so WCW was forced to use them anyway.
Now, if Sting didn't lose his title this very night, Hogan will be resigned for sure, but the power would be on WCW's side, and all could be done right - nWo trio slowly going into the sunset and leave WCW with new crop of maineventers, Radicalz & Jericho will probably not jump ship, because WCW would have a room to push these guys a year later, since Booker/Goldberg/DDP/Steiner will become the new main event players, and WCW would have their hands free in booking any matches, feuds and outcomes they want.

Now, just imagine, what could WCW do if Sting didn't drop the title this night to Savage who lost it to Hogan.
No fingerpoke of doom, maybe no new nWos (because who else would lobby for them if Hogan didn't get the bonus for wearing it's t-shirts, maybe it was the reason why Wolfpac used nWo logo after all, and not the wolf they had), Radicalz & Jericho still here, younger guys in main event and financial side is ok.
All could be very different, if Sting was still the champ.
Yes Goldberg needed to beat the main heel on the roster, who was Hogan, but if WCW waited just a few more days, they could done it on their terms, not on Nitro, but on PPV, Goldberg will still become a huge star, but WCW will get the money and the future is bright, not in question.

And there is Hogan's contract (look at the dates and what he got):
http://www.maxim.com/entertainment/hulk-hogans-1998-wcw-contract-2015-10

WCW (under Russo) will eventually drop Hogan 2 years later and understand the situation, but it was way too late.

Hogan himself will sent Big Show to the WWF, because probably he understood that WCW is nearly done, but did it stopped him from going over all young guys and stealing a spotlight from them? No! He simply held WCW for the money, not the other way around.

 

[Mr.Maikeru_Sawyer]

In 2000, AOL purchased Time Warner for US$164 billion. The deal, announced on January 10, 2000 and officially filed on February 11, 2000

THAT WAS THE DAY THAT TED TURNER SCREWED WCW.
the moment Turner sold to AOL WCW was SCREWED PERIOD. end of story

 

[sMark]

Nah, this was the final nail in WCW's coffin.

 

[SSJPhenom]

I'm tired of hearing about the AOL/Time Warner merger as being what killed WCW. WCW was on its last legs way before that merger.

These events killed WCW: the Halloween Havoc fiasco, the nWo, hiring Russo, the Finger Poke of Doom, and putting the title on David Arquette. Those events, together, is what killed WCW. Viewership and ratings were already in the toilet by the time of the merger, which is why they wanted to get rid of WCW in the first place. Use common sense. If WCW was still making money when the merger happened; would they have wanted to get rid of it?

 

[Jack-Hammer]

There are so many different ways in which WCW ultimately shot itself in the foot that narrowing it down to one single "definitive" day is like trying to decide who to vote for this past Election Day: there was near infinite levels of God awful going around.

One thing that I don't think gets talked about enough, however, in regards to bad decision making is when WCW began giving certain wrestlers creative control of their matches as part of their contracts. The result was some wrestlers all but refusing to do anything to give a rub to younger wrestlers as they were too focused on their spots and getting paid even more than they already were. Even if it wasn't in their contracts, certain guys like Hall & Nash pretty much had the same thing, not to the same degree as Hogan of course but they had it all the same as all they had to do was tell Daddy, AKA Eric Bischoff, that they didn't want to do something and that was that. Politics is one thing, there are always backstage politicians and some wrestlers are going to have more stroke with the executives than others but what was going on in WCW was an altogether extreme level. Generally speaking, WCW was the asylum and the inmates were running it. Ted Turner bought it and, when it was eventually Bischoff's time to be in charge, gave Bischoff a blank check and told him to run things any way he wanted and to give the big names whatever they wanted.

 

[SSJPhenom]

There are so many different ways in which WCW ultimately shot itself in the foot that narrowing it down to one single "definitive" day is like trying to decide who to vote for this past Election Day: there was near infinite levels of God awful going around.

One thing that I don't think gets talked about enough, however, in regards to bad decision making is when WCW began giving certain wrestlers creative control of their matches as part of their contracts. The result was some wrestlers all but refusing to do anything to give a rub to younger wrestlers as they were too focused on their spots and getting paid even more than they already were. Even if it wasn't in their contracts, certain guys like Hall & Nash pretty much had the same thing, not to the same degree as Hogan of course but they had it all the same as all they had to do was tell Daddy, AKA Eric Bischoff, that they didn't want to do something and that was that. Politics is one thing, there are always backstage politicians and some wrestlers are going to have more stroke with the executives than others but what was going on in WCW was an altogether extreme level. Generally speaking, WCW was the asylum and the inmates were running it. Ted Turner bought it and, when it was eventually Bischoff's time to be in charge, gave Bischoff a blank check and told him to run things any way he wanted and to give the big names whatever they wanted.

A perfect example of this is when Hogan refused to lose to Jeff Jarrett in a title match and Jarrett just went out and laid down for him. Of course later, Russo said that was all planned. Hogan and Jarrett, however, say otherwise. With Jarrett saying he was fed up with Hogan's antics and Hogan saying that he NEVER refused anything.

Who knows anymore?

 

[sikkbones]

They day that wcw truly died had nothing to do with hogan, it was the day Kevin Nash got to be head booker.

 

[sMark]

Well, Hogan got creavite control the day he signed with WCW in 1994. While it costed WCW back then (Flair feud, Starrcade 1996 without title on the line), the positives (eye balls, crowds) outweighted it.But the second contract 4 years later, when everyone wanted Goldberg and Austin and not Hogan/Michaels was a mistake. Who knows, maybe HBK would sabotage Austin if he had a chance back then...anyway, Hogan did refuse to lose to Kidman, that's for sure.
This is actually funny, that nobody worked with Hogan all the summer of 1998 except for DDP, who is, as we all now, loved this bussiness way to much sometimes (Leno/Rodman/Hogan feud, David Arquette storyline, loss to Taker's wife), and before Goldberg took the belt off him. Then there was an infamous Ultimate Warrior rematch, and then Hogan disappeared until february of 1999 (5 months) and began just another feud with Flair with world title on the line. So fans had a "dilemma" of choosing between the story they already saw with 2 oldest guys on WCW roster vs Austin/Rock/Foley storyline in WWF. At Spring Stampede 1999 DDP finally became a champ, Hogan returned 3 months later before Road Wild as a face and became a champ again, now everyone who worked single matches with Hogan was turned heel - including Sting, when this didn't work, Hogan took another hiatus and returned in february of 2000, when he defeated Lex Luger, in the next month he worked with Flair again in "Yappapie indian strap match" as PPV's main event, then took a new hiatus again, got in feud with Kidman, pinned him on PPV clean and sweat, and then he got into Jarrett and Russo....

In the end of the day there was absolutely no positive in Hogan under this fat contract. The only thing Hogan did right - he lost title to Goldberg. That's it. He turned freakin Sting heel, worked in main event matches that nobody wanted to see, especially on PPVs and defeated younger guys who got in his way.

So if WCW didn't resign Hogan in 1998 at all, they only will be in better shape, but they forced themselfes to when they decided to put WCW title on him in april of 1998.
You know, there could be these same Goldbergs/Steiners/Stingers/Booker Ts/DDPs in these main events and storylines, Warrior will never step foot into WCW ring, Flair will probably be a comissioner (on screen), Savage will never return. Maybe even Bret Hart will finally do something important and memorable instead of being in tag matches and fighting for USA title and behind the scenes it all will be much easier to do.

 

[tak161]

I'm tired of hearing about the AOL/Time Warner merger as being what killed WCW. WCW was on its last legs way before that merger.

You may be sick of heating it, but it's true. The merger was responsible because they didn't want wrestling. Had Turner stayed in control, WCW would have stayed on TV. Wheyher it was making money or not, Turner was so protective of WCW that he would have kept it no matter what. The day the merger happened, and Turner lost control, WCW was dead in the water. It wouldn't have mattered if it was making millions of new revenue dollars, AOL/Time Warner would have killed it. WCW's stupid decisions played a part, but the merger is what put the nail in the coffin, and sealed its fate.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

It wasn't so much the merger but when Jamie Kellner took over as head of programming. Even after the original merger things were ok but once Kellner took over he immediately said no more wrestling. He believed in shows catered to teens like Gilmore Girls, 7th heaven etc. and he wanted the networks to be built around that. Wrestling didn't fit into that so he wanted it gone.

That killed it but another thing that killed it was the attitude era. Not because it crushed WCW in ratings but because sponsors and television wanted to steer completely clear of wrestling so WCW couldn't find another network that would take them. Bischoff had the investors ready, so he had the money to buy them but unfortunately no networks would take wrestling because very few sponsors wanted anything to do with it because of what Vince was putting out there.

In sponsors eyes all wrestling fans were sleazy, poor neanderthals that had no disposable income. So they were unwilling to buy ad space. Without ad space Networks makes no money so because of that none were willing to take on wrestling. Because of that Bischoff and the investors backed out. That was the final nail.

 

[sMark]

As far as i know, Eric found a network, but Kellner sold WCW earlier than planned and than the deal with a network was finalized.
Maybe because Kellner didn't want WCW to exist at all in any shape of form, maybe because he saw that WCW could after all strike back, being on another network, who knows.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

As far as i know, Eric found a network, but Kellner sold WCW earlier than planned and than the deal with a network was finalized.
Maybe because Kellner didn't want WCW to exist at all in any shape of form, maybe because he saw that WCW could after all strike back, being on another network, who knows.

I'm just basing my info off the book "The Death of WCW" and according to that after Kellner axed WCW from Turner, Eric pitched it everywhere and couldn't find anybody. He even went to USA(who just lost RAW to TNN) and the head of USA said he would never take wrestling again and the only people that watched it were "Pimply faced teenagers with no lives". The attitude era buried wrestling so far that nobody would touch it. So without a TV deal Bischoff realized that the company was worthless.

 

[johnbragg]

I
In sponsors eyes all wrestling fans were sleazy, poor neanderthals that had no disposable income.

Just so you know, this was also true before the Attitude Era. During the kayfabe era, the assumption was that wrestling fans weren't smart enough to know that it was scripted.

I remember reading in a boxing magazine in 1994 or 1995, a boxing champion talking about being a pro wrestling fan.
The first question was don't you know it's fake?
He answered, "So what. Kung fu movies are fake, Arnold Schwarzenneger movies are fake, tv shows are fake, people watch those, what's the difference?" That was a new look at wrestling, and it's right before the Attitude Era takes off. IMO, the end of kayfabe was a big factor leading to the 90s wrestling boom.

 

[Aquaman6686]

There were so many times WCW screwed itself, that it's really just a matter of opinion as to which one was the nail in the coffin. For me personally, I think it was the night Eric Bischoff "rebooted" WCW, vacating all titles and trying to give himself some breathing room. It was literally just him giving up and saying "f*** it, at this point nobody cares". Whatever shred of legitimacy the company had left died in that instant.

 

[sMark]

I remember that, but the idea itself was good, choices were wrong, he could rid of all old guys who couldn't draw and wrestle anymore (or never could) - Hogan, Hall, Rick Steiner, Lex Luger, Buff Bugwell, Curt Hennig, Sid, deathrone Jarrett into midcard territory, hire new young stars (cruiserweights?) and evolve in the better wresttling matches expirience. Yes, WCW that many fans loved in 96-98 will die, but it was dead already. Hire cruiserweights, hire RVD, hire some international stars, drop the dead weight - this is what needed to be done back then and what is now must be done with TNA, but TNA doesn't have Turner's pockets.

 

[Chris1-16]

IMO it was really 1997 WW3.

With Hogan coming out last in the battle royal to take Nash's place, they could've had him win it and after dropping the title to Sting could use the battle royal win to build up to a big rematch instead of the shit that actually went down. Scott Hall getting the title shot when he was still in that tag title picture with Nash was illogical as hell, the entire NWO even celebrated with Hall afterwards, did they forget the previous year when Giant won and got kicked out the NWO for refusing to give up his title shot? WCW even in late 1997 when they had the industry in the palm of their hand couldn't understand to do simple things like this.

 

[SSJPhenom]

You may be sick of heating it, but it's true. The merger was responsible because they didn't want wrestling. Had Turner stayed in control, WCW would have stayed on TV. Wheyher it was making money or not, Turner was so protective of WCW that he would have kept it no matter what. The day the merger happened, and Turner lost control, WCW was dead in the water. It wouldn't have mattered if it was making millions of new revenue dollars, AOL/Time Warner would have killed it. WCW's stupid decisions played a part, but the merger is what put the nail in the coffin, and sealed its fate.

Yes it is true, but to a degree. It's nowhere near the reason that WCW folded, though. Idc how much the executive board hated wrestling, if it were still making 80-120 million a year like it was in 96, 97, and 98 they would not have gotten rid of it. It's that simple. So then, the question becomes, why wasn't it making money anymore? The answer to that is the reasons that I laid out already and several others that I hadn't laid out.

WCW did a hell of a job when the nWo first started being exciting, unpredictable, and realistic. The problem with that, though, is that after the nWo became stale and tired they continued to have it dominate their storylines. Also, they never ever built new stars. Everyone that was over in WCW were old stars except for Goldberg and after Goldberg finally lost (which was also a horrible idea) they had no idea how to use him. Then he punches through a window and that's it for him.

If WCW had of used the nWo the right way, which would've been to get new stars over, they might very well be in business today. If they hadn't put a glass ceiling on guys like Guerrero and Jericho and even the Giant, they might still be in business today.

 

[FlairFan2003]

And yet with Hogan & The re formed NwO on top feuding with Flair WCW was drawing big ratings, twice topping the 5.0 mark while airing opposite RAW & the SuperBrawl PPV in Feb 99 was one of the most watched shows of the year. Go figure.

Hogan & Flair were both huge draws, Hogan was detested as a heel & Flair was very popular. The problem booking wise wasnt having a "face" Flair oppose Hollywood Hogan, that drew big numbers, the problem was actually before that.

Now Savage title win (and immediate loss) in my view was a mistake. WCW wanted to protect Sting but Hogan wanted the belt back so a screw job ending with Savage followed by a legit injured injured Randy getting screwed by Hogan was to enhance the Hogan Heel dynamic, make him more hated, and keep Sting from being cleanly beaten for the belt. Personally after a 15 month build up with his exile & return I think Sting should have kept the title for a few more months, maybe into the summer. It seemed to waste so much build & excitement to have him drop it so soon, but WWE did essentially the same thing having Austin lose to Taker shortly after his historic Mania win. WCW was still doing strong business, Sting was protected, and this did set the stage for Hogan-Goldberg so its hard to say this failed.

WCW did fail badly with Goldberg. Forget about winning the title on TV vs PPV. Forget about having a bigger build with a run through Hall, Steiner, Buff & the rest of the NwO B-Team (remember this was during the split between Black & White and Red & Black). Goldberg was white hot, lightning in a bottle, and WCW never gave him the spotlight even after crowning him champ. Goldberg won the belt in July but Hogan & his non title storyline got the top billing on the July, Aug, & Sept PPV, storyline Goldberg was not a part of. What should have been epic matches between him vs Big Show and vs Sting either were mid card fueds or wasted as "one of's" for TV, meanwhile Goldberg's title reign & his epic win streak were taking a backseat to Hogan. This here is the 1st nail in the coffin.

Goldberg is champ from July to Dec yet only main events two PPV, one of them he shares co main event status with Hogan (vs Warrior at Halloween Havoc). He doesnt get a PPV with a clear main event syoryline as the focal point till Dec, incidentally when he is booked to lose. You could argue his storyline had to share Starrcade promotional focus with Flair's return but I would counter major PPV like that typically have one or two other prime stories driving promotion yet at Starrcade GB was clearly portrayed as the main event and he wasnt sharing top billing like at Havoc (Taker-HHH was a huge storyline for Mania but Rock-Cena was the main event).

As bad as this was it didnt kill GBs momentum. WCW had also during this time completely mismanaged Brett Hart & Lex Luger (both of which along with Sting were out with injuries in late 98-early 99) and caused huge backlash and fan protests with Flair's firing and subsequent law suit, yet they were still neck & neck with WWE. Havoc 98 & Starrcade drew very good numbers beating almost all of the WWE shows for the year except Mania. As mentioned, SuperBrawl 99 drew strong numbers at a time when Nitro was hitting the 5 rating opposite Raw (imagine that many people watching wrestling today?). And yet here was WCW, in early 99, waiting to get Sting, Hart & Luger back in the ring, riding Flair's popularity, Goldberg's massive appeal, with a positive reaction to ending the split roster NwO, purging all of the mid carders out of the group, and going with a lean, small, but viscious army where only Bagwell & a very over Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner were alligned with the original Hogan/Nash/Hall trio, instantly back as a legit heel gang , so what does WCW do ?? Do they take advantage of Goldberg's continued popularity and try to build storylines around huge $$ re matches with Hogan & Nash ? No, WCW buries him on the mid card, never staging a Hogan re match and burrying a Nash re match as a mid card bout on an off month PPV with minimal build. Do they at least ride Flair's momentum upon his return and finally let him get over on Hogan ? Not really, they beat him to a pulp and screw job at SuperBrawl, then waste all that momentum with an out of nowhere heel turn. Although he does beat Hogan for the belt, this too was a disaster. Not only did the fan base not want Flair as a heel but WCW ( Hogan) used his title win as the fulcrum to destroy the newly re formed lean, mean, evil machine of tje NwO just two months after re establishing them as the top heel faction in the company. Did they at least let Goldberg back in the title picture vs a heel champ Flair....of course not, WCW pushed GB further down the card but did make DDP champ. DDP had a very strong & steady rise and was a legit rival on terms of popularity with Sting, Goldberg, & Flair. Of course, this was done so he could immediately job it back to Nash while a freshly returned Sting twisted in the wind & Flair dropped down the card for his 4th run vs Randy Savage (92, 95, 96, 99). And they might as well have put Goldberg on milk cartons by this point as the only way to have made him less a part of the show at this point would be if he were Brett Hart!!! This stage of massive mismanagement from Jan-June 99, one staggering miscue after another, was the 2nd nail in WCWs coffin

Bischoff's ouster & the revolving door of bookers (Russo, Sullivan, Taylor, Russo again) and the complete lack of continuity that ensued pretty much was the 3rd nail, and maybe the biggest, in the proverbial coffin. The company bled a lot of fan interest here that never returned at that point, the only thing left being the merger that effectively killed it for good