10 Incidents That Led WCW To Destruction

2. Hiring Vince Russo

He was the man who was credited with creating the Attitude Era in the WWF and was the mind behind the "Crash TV" concept that had brought so much attention to WWF programming. He emphasised stories over the in-ring action and had become notable in the business for his propensity for booking swerves that often made absolutely no sense at all. He was Vince Russo. For a time the team of Vince Russo and Vince McMahon seemed like an unstoppable force in professional wrestling. With Russo acting as an inexhaustible fountain of ideas and McMahon acting as a filter for those ideas, the WWF had managed to establish a foothold in the Monday Night Wars and was delivering television that simply couldn't be missed by any fan of the business. WCW took notice and eventually made overtures to Russo and writing partner Ed Ferrera that would see them jump ship to the company in an effort to inject some new life into a stale product. Early signs were encouraging, with Russo placing an emphasis on new talent over what he saw as the stale and outdated acts of Hulk Hogan and the other main event players. Unfortunately, without his filter Russo was free to bring practically every idea that he had to television. Abominations such as the Oklahoma character began to appear, as did an unhealthy fixation with pole matches that eventually led to Buff Bagwell's mother being competed over. Russo's "Crash TV" wasn't getting over and, furthermore, he faced opposition from the standards and practices folk at Turner, who wouldn't allow him to explore some of his raunchier ideas. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnELHxr8OXc Russo was eventually fired and then rehired with Eric Bischoff attempting to play the role of Vince McMahon in regards to his ideas. However, by the time Russo decided that he would make a great WCW Champion, fans simply no longer cared and the WWF had conclusively won the war.