10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About WCW
DX's false "invasion" of Nitro, ratings misery, the Invasion, and other WCW moments.
True competition in American professional wrestling ended on 26 March 2001, when Vince McMahon purchased Ted Turner's ailing World Championship Wrestling and absorbed the Atlanta-based promotion into his sports entertainment empire.
Turner Broadcasting exeuctive Jamie Kellner hammered the coffin's last nail. Decreeing WCW's programming no longer fit for the broadcaster's image, he swung the axe by cancelling all shows, leaving the brand and its libraries, properties, and contracts open to the McMahon buyout. A paltry $4.2 million was all Vince paid to end a war that began in the territories 19 years prior.
Outlasting and outperforming his toughest competition gave Vince immediate power to control the WCW narrative. His skewed take on the Monday Night Wars has poisoned the well to the extent that some would have you believe WCW was a day-one dumpster fire, bringing no good to the wrestling world, though the truth is quite the opposite.
Vince Russo, the Fingerpoke of Doom, and New Blood Rising all happened. Indeed, there's a reason "late period WCW" is frequently used as a damning comparison point. The company brought plenty of dumb, destructive content to the table, and is partly responsible for its own damaged reputation.
But don't let WWE shoot holes in your memory...
10. The Most Overhyped Segment In WWE/WCW History
A perennial fixture on any piece of WWE-produced content referencing the Monday Night Wars is this segment from Raw's 27 April 1998 episode, in which D-Generation X "invaded" WCW Nitro in their "tank."
Hyped as a big, ballsy move that threatened to send the competition into complete disarray, it is the most overhyped segment in WWE (and maybe American wrestling) history. Triple H's clown troupe accomplished nothing. While convincing fans outside of Nitro to chant "DX!" may have sparked a tinge of WCW embarrassment, this was literally the extent of their rebellion. Arena staff literally pulled down the shutters, stopped DX from getting in, and that was that. Invasion over.
The segment is as pathetic as the company narrative on it. Four grown men turned up in a sh*tty little Jeep (not a tank), made some noise, and got turned away. No more rebellious than a gang of drunk students getting refused entry from a nightclub on fancy dress night, it is nonetheless celebrated as a rogue act of wrestling rebellion.
Triple H has since claimed that WCW were so spooked, they called the local police, claiming they were under attack from a militia group. Vince Russo described the segment as an "all-out assault."
Really, the "all-out assault" would have gone down had DX gotten inside the building and ran into Meng.