10 Things Everybody Gets Wrong About WCW
7. "Raids"
Eric Bischoff has gamely tried to defend himself on this subject numerous times, but like so many prevailing narratives on the era, WWE's mandated explanation often steals headlines.
As an arm of Turner Broadcasting rather than a company stood alone, WCW was a different entity to WWE entirely, but Vince McMahon was no stranger to operating on a different playing field to his opposition. His capitalistic 1980s model flew in the face of historic agreements his father had made with countless US promoters as he barged through territories with his travelling circus of local heroes-turned-inflated megastars.
Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were integral to WCW building on Monday Nitro's early momentum, and his ability to sign them away wasn't greatly different from McMahon's own clout a decade earlier. Similarly, 'Easy E's propensity for poaching ECW talent was fair game in a time when performers would have been insane not to ply their trade with the highest bidder. If Paul Heyman's missed payments and Vince McMahon's financially insecure guarantees didn't equal the certainty of a WCW payslip, that's not a raid, that's just business.