10. Choosing To Ignore Traditional Wrestling Booking
Tasked with upping the moribund ratings, Bischoff took one gamble too many when he ignored basic pro wrestling wisdom and repeatedly booked pay-per-view quality matches onto free television, often without any real advertising in advance. While to begin with the gambit would be rewarded with a spike in the ratings, it became apparent that it wasnt a one-off: Bischoff didnt understand that television built the storylines and characters and persuaded fans to pay to see angles blown off at special events. It was basic booking 101. The worst came when the epochal Goldberg versus Hogan WCW championship match fans had waited for was broadcast on Nitro in July 1998. A match that should have made millions was given away free, as a ratings boost. Imagine if Daniel Bryan had had his Wrestlemania moment on Monday Night RAW instead; thats the level of stupidity were talking about. Bischoffs successor was journalism graduate and former magazine editor Vince Russo, whod recently defected from his position as head writer for the competition. His tenure at the WWF had been marked by controversy and increased ratings: Attitude, basically. What people didnt realise until too late was that Russo had been reined in by McMahon in the WWF: everything went past Vince, who micromanaged to a ridiculous extent. Under Russo, the companys championships would leap from wrestler to wrestler like coked up groupies. Title changes occurred so often that they stopped bothering to change the names on the belts. Not only did that make it difficult for fans to know who the champion was at any given time, it meant they didnt care. The constant switching removed any sense of importance that the titles had, and if the fans werent interested in the championships, how could they be expected to be interested in the storylines detailing who was fighting for them? It also meant that the WWFs championships seemed of a much higher stature by comparison... especially when it came to David Arquette's appearances for WCW...
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.
