Death of WCW, The by Bryan Alvarez & R.D. Reynolds

Author:Bryan Alvarez & R.D. Reynolds [Alvarez, Bryan]
Language: ara
Format: epub
Tags: Wrestling
Publisher: ECW Press
Published: 2014-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

Although the Nitro featuring the Nash-Rey fiasco was better than the usual crapfest the show had become, WCW got destroyed in the ratings: 4.32 to Raw’s 6.32. At the time, the WWF had hit on their own winning formula: big stars (Steve Austin, Vince McMahon, Rock, and Mick Foley) combined with over-the-top raunchiness (half-naked women, transvestites, simulated sex, and more). In fact, things were getting so wild that the mainstream media were starting to take notice, and some of the WWF’s own allies were pleading with them to tone it down. One, TSN in Canada, was so outraged that they began to heavily edit the shows (axing both language and entire segments) to the point that some of them in no way resembled the original broadcast.

Bischoff, in a pre-show Nitro meeting on March 1, again claimed that the WWF’s strategy would backfire because sponsors would pull out within a year (his theory would eventually prove to be correct; it just took longer than he thought). Therefore, the company was going to change its course again. He went over a laundry list of things that would now be banned, including crotch-grabbing, talking about hoochies, and lewd dances. He said WCW was going to go in the opposite direction of the WWF, because even if their ratings went down, if they had sponsors and WWF didn’t, they’d win. It was a good theory.

More real-life tragedy struck on February 22, when Richard Wilson, the Renegade and many-time “stunt double” for Warrior during his disastrous 1998 run, shot and killed himself after an argument with his girlfriend. He’d been released from his WCW contract weeks earlier and was said to be very despondent over it. In case you haven’t noticed by now, the real-life casualties of this so-called wrestling war were beginning to pile up. By the time the Monday Night Wars ended, Rick Rude and Bobby Duncam Jr. would also be dead, and Bret Hart and Sid Vicious would both have suffered career-ending injuries.

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