Kemo
06-07-2023, 09:08 PM
Was WCW destined to go out of business, no matter the success and shortcomings of the promotion?
This past March marked 22 years since the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro aired, a simulcast alongside WWF Monday Night Raw. The show featured Sting facing Ric Flair in the final match in WCW history, a fitting main event given the connection both men had to the company.
In the decades since WWE has never shied away from bringing up their victory over WCW. Mere months after the promotion's demise, WCW 'invaded' the WWF in the summer of 2001, and the WCW/ECW Alliance was defeated again that November. In 2015, Triple H's feud with Sting leaned heavily on WCW's demise, with the Game's WrestleMania 31 win being touted on commentary as the true end to the Monday Night War.
Despite defeating Raw in the ratings for 83 weeks in a row, the collapse of WCW was quick and painful from a fan's perspective. Non-sensical storylines, frequent title changes, and backstage politics made up much of the final years of the now-defunct promotion.
While WCW's collapse was quick, Tony Schiavone long expected the promotion to fall far sooner than it did. During the latest episode of his What Happened When podcast, the WCW commentator said that the promotion would have folded eventually.
"I was just kind of waiting for all of this to end," Schiavone said. "I was waiting for it. I thought in my mind, any time, Turner is going to say 'You're done.'"
Schiavone said that while the arrival of Eric Bischoff in 1993 saw a lot of good ideas brought in, nothing could save WCW from Turner Network Television.
"Bischoff just prolonged it. That's all he did. He came in with great ideas and a great vision and did great things, and it just prolonged what the eventual reality would be, and that is Turner getting tired of wrestling."
Ironically, it was only after Ted Turner relinquished his influence over WCW that the death knell came. Following the AOL-Time Warner merger, higher-ups decided they didn't want to be associated with wrestling, especially given the many setbacks WCW had faced.
This past March marked 22 years since the final episode of WCW Monday Nitro aired, a simulcast alongside WWF Monday Night Raw. The show featured Sting facing Ric Flair in the final match in WCW history, a fitting main event given the connection both men had to the company.
In the decades since WWE has never shied away from bringing up their victory over WCW. Mere months after the promotion's demise, WCW 'invaded' the WWF in the summer of 2001, and the WCW/ECW Alliance was defeated again that November. In 2015, Triple H's feud with Sting leaned heavily on WCW's demise, with the Game's WrestleMania 31 win being touted on commentary as the true end to the Monday Night War.
Despite defeating Raw in the ratings for 83 weeks in a row, the collapse of WCW was quick and painful from a fan's perspective. Non-sensical storylines, frequent title changes, and backstage politics made up much of the final years of the now-defunct promotion.
While WCW's collapse was quick, Tony Schiavone long expected the promotion to fall far sooner than it did. During the latest episode of his What Happened When podcast, the WCW commentator said that the promotion would have folded eventually.
"I was just kind of waiting for all of this to end," Schiavone said. "I was waiting for it. I thought in my mind, any time, Turner is going to say 'You're done.'"
Schiavone said that while the arrival of Eric Bischoff in 1993 saw a lot of good ideas brought in, nothing could save WCW from Turner Network Television.
"Bischoff just prolonged it. That's all he did. He came in with great ideas and a great vision and did great things, and it just prolonged what the eventual reality would be, and that is Turner getting tired of wrestling."
Ironically, it was only after Ted Turner relinquished his influence over WCW that the death knell came. Following the AOL-Time Warner merger, higher-ups decided they didn't want to be associated with wrestling, especially given the many setbacks WCW had faced.