Chuck Jones
01-26-2005, 07:50 PM
I figured the forums could have a decent discussion. I'm curious as to what you guys believe caused the death of WCW. Was it Russo? Bischoff? Hogan? The idiots in charge?
Vince Russo's shoot on Hogan
http://s7.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3...781UYOGWSQ8YRO7
The fact that any of this shit made it onto a PPV shows the one prong effect- WCW was run like a bunch of bullshit, from day 1. And Crockett ran HIS company into the ground before that. WCW lasted a long time due to a strong fan base, Flair, Sting and one or two others, and an injection of money and big names in the mid 90s. And the mid 90s injection was when it really went over the top and we saw crap like this, which we saw every show to some extent. I remember one show I saw some of, can't remember anything about it other than the announcers trying to play what was happening in the ring off as a shoot- "He's not supposed to be doing that!!!!" etc and wondering how the hell this shit was on the air.
The smart ones made a lot of money off the sinking ship.
I place blame on the people in charge.
That's right. But the clip above is a product of the whole system in WCW. There's too many things to talk about;
We'll take it from NWO era onward-
- NWO came and took the place over. Great storyline and it drew huge.
Problem was this- Nash, Hogan and co were basically booking everything.
Secondly, the NWO were supposed to be heel but within a month they were getting a huge fanbase going. Nothing wrong with that, but instead of trying to run with that and make proper face guys from NWO, or go really into a heel team they simply rode it and made all the WCW faces look like shit.
- Sting: The guy was WCWs most popular wrestler for a year and a half without even wrestling! He comes back in one of the biggest matches ever and what do they do? In what should have been Hogans greatest beating ever, they have HOGAN beating Sting, Sting struggling and picking up a cheap win! Money, money, money and it's all down the toilet. They did not know how to run things.
-Bret Hart: While Bret may not have been as over in WCW as WWF, they wasted it. They could've brought him in as the "undefeated champ". The fucking angle was already done for them, by Vince. They ignored it. And the rest is history.
- Goldberg: Goldberg put another few years on WCWs lifline. He couldn't work a damn but he was SUPER-over. So what do they do? They have him lose. NOONE wanted that. And when you have him lose that's the end of him because he WAS the streak.
- Storylines: One week a guy was heel, next he was face, next he had a mask, next he was fighting comedy matches, next he was from a different country. Angles were brought in and forgotten twice as fast. I'll never forget John Tenta (pray for him, he's got some good news lately), he had a huge tatoo of a tiger on his shoulder. But he came in as SHARK, so Bischoff told him to change it. He did, and within a month, the shark gimmick was no more.
- A lot of people won't understand exactly how bad that place was. First hand from people who were there, and I've heard this from a dozen people at least; they would go to Kevin Sullivan and ask for the finish, or the plan of the match. They'd get it. Then they'd do it and Bischoff would devour them for not going according to plan! Noone worked together, there was no collusion.
And you wanna know why? Cos noone cared. And you know why noone cared? Because nobody, NOBODY there had a dime invested in it. Nobody. And the smart ones, whether you like it or not, rode that train and made incredible money by playing the system. In a way I would've loved a job there. I wouldn't have been able to watch what was happening without challenging it, but the money that was to made in that company for a guy who knew when to keep his mouth shut and when to say "yes, no problem" to everyone who asked you to do something, that money was huge.
So, lets discuss.
What caused the Death of WCW?
Vince Russo's shoot on Hogan
http://s7.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=3...781UYOGWSQ8YRO7
The fact that any of this shit made it onto a PPV shows the one prong effect- WCW was run like a bunch of bullshit, from day 1. And Crockett ran HIS company into the ground before that. WCW lasted a long time due to a strong fan base, Flair, Sting and one or two others, and an injection of money and big names in the mid 90s. And the mid 90s injection was when it really went over the top and we saw crap like this, which we saw every show to some extent. I remember one show I saw some of, can't remember anything about it other than the announcers trying to play what was happening in the ring off as a shoot- "He's not supposed to be doing that!!!!" etc and wondering how the hell this shit was on the air.
The smart ones made a lot of money off the sinking ship.
I place blame on the people in charge.
That's right. But the clip above is a product of the whole system in WCW. There's too many things to talk about;
We'll take it from NWO era onward-
- NWO came and took the place over. Great storyline and it drew huge.
Problem was this- Nash, Hogan and co were basically booking everything.
Secondly, the NWO were supposed to be heel but within a month they were getting a huge fanbase going. Nothing wrong with that, but instead of trying to run with that and make proper face guys from NWO, or go really into a heel team they simply rode it and made all the WCW faces look like shit.
- Sting: The guy was WCWs most popular wrestler for a year and a half without even wrestling! He comes back in one of the biggest matches ever and what do they do? In what should have been Hogans greatest beating ever, they have HOGAN beating Sting, Sting struggling and picking up a cheap win! Money, money, money and it's all down the toilet. They did not know how to run things.
-Bret Hart: While Bret may not have been as over in WCW as WWF, they wasted it. They could've brought him in as the "undefeated champ". The fucking angle was already done for them, by Vince. They ignored it. And the rest is history.
- Goldberg: Goldberg put another few years on WCWs lifline. He couldn't work a damn but he was SUPER-over. So what do they do? They have him lose. NOONE wanted that. And when you have him lose that's the end of him because he WAS the streak.
- Storylines: One week a guy was heel, next he was face, next he had a mask, next he was fighting comedy matches, next he was from a different country. Angles were brought in and forgotten twice as fast. I'll never forget John Tenta (pray for him, he's got some good news lately), he had a huge tatoo of a tiger on his shoulder. But he came in as SHARK, so Bischoff told him to change it. He did, and within a month, the shark gimmick was no more.
- A lot of people won't understand exactly how bad that place was. First hand from people who were there, and I've heard this from a dozen people at least; they would go to Kevin Sullivan and ask for the finish, or the plan of the match. They'd get it. Then they'd do it and Bischoff would devour them for not going according to plan! Noone worked together, there was no collusion.
And you wanna know why? Cos noone cared. And you know why noone cared? Because nobody, NOBODY there had a dime invested in it. Nobody. And the smart ones, whether you like it or not, rode that train and made incredible money by playing the system. In a way I would've loved a job there. I wouldn't have been able to watch what was happening without challenging it, but the money that was to made in that company for a guy who knew when to keep his mouth shut and when to say "yes, no problem" to everyone who asked you to do something, that money was huge.
So, lets discuss.
What caused the Death of WCW?