10 Things WWE Wants You To Forget About WCW
3. The Buyout Alienated Millions
One of the great hopes of Vince McMahon's purchase of WCW was that WWE's audience would be bolstered by millions of fans crossing over from the other channel, putting untold volumes of new eyes on Raw. Theoretically, WWE would almost double its popularity - because where else could WCW fans go to have their wrestling itch scratched?
Instead, the buyout turned out to be history's single most destructive night in terms of driving viewers away from professional wrestling for good.
Raw and Nitro scored a combined television rating of 7.7 when they last went head to head on 26 March 2001. Raw's numbers stayed in the 5.1 to 5.7 region for the next few weeks before dropping down into the 4's. Averaging 3.7 by December 2001 and 3.4 the following year, the removal of competition from the American wrestling market precipitated a near-immediate decline in popularity the sport has never recovered from.
The data tells us that millions of WCW loyalists, many of whom had been watching wrestling for decades, tuned out forever when Vince announced his purchase. McMahon's vision of pro wrestling didn't match their own. The common assumption that they'd buy into it was false, and thus began the decades-long rot.