They say history is written by the victors, and thats certainly the case when it comes to the eventful history - the rise and fall - of World Championship Wrestling. World Wrestling Entertainment is largely in charge of the narrative: at the very least, theyre the ones shouting loudest about how and why WCW died, so their voice (for better or worse) is the one most people hear. The weird thing is, the real story is more entertaining than the diet version WWE tells: theres a convincing argument to be made that that it makes Vince McMahon and the WWF/E look a lot better, too. This isnt that argument though, and its not the point of our article except to say that WCW wasnt always the headless turkey it became in the last year or two. In fact, the promotion of announcer Eric Bischoff in 1993, first to Executive Producer and then Executive Vice President of the company was the catalyst for huge things for WCW as the promotion squared off against the complacent, boring WWF. He ushered in the live Monday Nitro to compete directly with the taped Monday Night RAW, and made sure that it started earlier to grab the WWFs viewers before RAW could begin. He was responsible for hiring major stars normally associated with the WWF, including Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Lex Luger, the Ultimate Warrior and Bret Hart. He created the ultimate cool heel stable, the New World Order, made stars of Kevin Nash and Scott Hall and revitalised Hogans career. He popularised the concept of the heel authority figure when Vince McMahon was playing a squeaky-clean announcer in a WWF blazer. He brought in the best young wrestling talent in the world to form the cruiserweight division, meaning that WCW had the most skilled midcard in the business. Initially at least, it was Bischoffs innovation and chutzpah that built WCW into the behemoth it became, and led to Nitros 84 week ratings winning streak against Monday Night RAW well over a year and a half. Buy rates for pay-per-views had soared too, and attendance at live events was through the roof. And then it all began to collapse. Heres a breakdown of the points that helped to kill the place where the big boys played.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
