1999 would be the year when things really started to go sour for World Championship Wrestling, but even though the then-WWF would catch the company up and reclaim top spot in the world of North American pro wrestling, 1998 would be a banner year for Ted Turner's grappling promotion. Pay-Per-View buyrates were high, merchandise sales were through the roof (mainly because the nWo concept was still hot in '98), and crucially, attendances at both televised and live events were incredibly high. For evidence of this, just look at the numbers WCW pulled for an episode of Monday Nitro at the massive Georgia Dome on July 6th, 1998. Attracting over 40,000 fans, the company trumpeted the event as a success, and rightly so. With all that in mind, it doesn't take a genius to realise that cracks were really starting to show in the WCW formula. Most notably, the promotion didn't really seem to have any ideas outside of pushing the New World Order as the focal point, something which came with several key problems. For one, the nWo were heels, villains who desperately required strong babyfaces, something WCW should have had with the likes of Sting and Goldberg, but refused to push over the heel squad. Sure, 1998 was still a good year, but things would change remarkably by mid-1999. Even so, back in '98, there was a lot happening, some even the most hardcore of fans might not really be aware of.
