10 Classic Wrestling Rivalries With ONE THING MISSING
4. WWE Vs WCW - A Twist In The Tale
There wasn't much to grieve when WWE put WCW out of its misery in March 2001, because there'd been almost two years to go through all seven stages of the process.
If you were a WCW homer (or indeed somebody who didn't particularly want a monopoly) The shock of Vince McMahon actually turning his product around came with subsequent denial on the other side that WCW was built to last. It was endless anger as month after month of bad booking followed.
Then came the bargaining and depression respectively as Eric Bischoff tried and failed to get money together to own and run the whole show. That back-to-basics early-2001 run with the Magnificent Seven and cruiserweight tag bangers? A little bit of late testing before the crushing acceptance when a simple graphic dropped on both websites to say that the deal was done.
Even when the ratings went back and forth for a brief period in 1998, the momentum was with WWE and creatively they never looked back. You never say never in wrestling, WCW kicking out at 2.999999999 in 1999 was one of the industry's safest ever bets.