25 Crazy WCW Facts (That Get Progressively More Ridiculous)

16. Can’t Do Right For Doing Wrong

WCW was so ridiculous, so phenomenally cursed, that the promotion literally couldn’t do right for doing wrong. 

The history of the promotion is infested with examples of horrendous communication. On countless occasions, WCW failed to inform viewers of the rules to certain matches. And failed to communicate properly with its partners. 

In one infamous example of WCW’s problem in this area, a widely-known fact that isn’t even the subject of this entry, the liaison to pay-per-view providers neglected to inform carriers that Halloween Havoc 1998 was scheduled to last longer than the usual three hours; this resulted in 25% of paying fans missing the main event between WCW World champion Goldberg and Diamond Dallas Page. Because so many fans opted for a refund instead of a free replay, since WCW aired the main event on Nitro for free, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Dave Meltzer estimated that WCW lost out on close to $1 million dollars in revenue. 

Along similar lines, WCW for years simply did not tell viewers when certain episodes of TV were set to be pre-empted. This was just par for the course. Either nobody cared, somebody forgot, or nobody knew whose responsibility it was. Not sure what’s worse. 

WCW resolved to get it right ahead of the October 5, 2000 Nitro. This episode was meant to start 35 minutes later than the usual 8PM slot. That is because it was meant to be pre-empted by a NASCAR race. WCW stressed that the programme would begin at 8:35PM. 

Unfortunately for WCW, the one bloody time that the promotion actually did the right thing, they were wrong. Nitro hadn’t been preempted after all.