10 Big Misconceptions People Have About WWE's Attitude Era

2. The Attitude Era Put WCW Out Of Business

First things first: Mismanagement, ego and Ted Turner losing power in his own company put WCW out of business. Losing millions of dollars at a clip put WCW out of business. An unwillingness to cut ties with egotistical old timers more concerned with their spot at the top rather than the betterment of the promotion put WCW out of business. The company became a money grab for the experienced power players behind the scenes and their work ethic became nonexistent. But there is one thing Vince McMahon and his company were able to do that really put WCW out of business and it had nothing to do with vulgarity, sex appeal, edgy content or over-the-top personas. No, McMahon simply took tremendously talented professional wrestlers that Eric Bischoff and his power trust ignored, featured them prominently on his shows and let them get over by being the best group of wrestlers on the planet. Simply put: McMahon used Bischoff's own guys to beat him. Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Perry Saturn were workhorses for Bischoff. While Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Kevin Nash, Ric Flair, Scott Hall and the rest of the old guard were having outrageously terrible matches at the top of the card, it was those workhorses that carried the show and provided fans with satisfying wrestling matches. When they grew tired of being cast aside in favor of the same-old, same-old, they hopped ship and became bigger stars immediately, The arrival of Jericho and the Radicals put the final nail in the coffin of WCW and won McMahon the war. The boss had already had top stars in Austin, Rock, Mankind and Undertaker to lead the way but with the arrival of the former WCW stars, he had the tremendous in-ring work to back up the stories and the star power. It was a lethal combination for WCW, a company already nearing extinction.