10 Things You Didn't Know About Raven

8. He Walked Out On WCW When Nobody Else Would

Raven Kanyon WCW
WWE.com

By the summer of 1999, WCW was beginning to circle the drain. The company was getting pasted by Vince McMahon in the ratings and something drastic was needed in order to turn the ship around, although everyone sort of knew that the hole in the hull wasn’t going to be patched up any time soon. Eric Bischoff was back in charge, and at the very least he needed to be seen trying to do something.

In August 1999, Bischoff held a backstage meeting with every single contracted member of WCW’s staff, which was a number well into the hundreds. Embracing a siege mentality, Bischoff told the crowd that anyone unhappy with the company, in particular the creative direction of the company, was free to leave. Only one man took Bischoff up on that offer, and you don’t need to be a genius to realise that that man was Raven.

Raven had been extremely vocal about his displeasure with the company in the weeks leading up to the meeting, going on radio shows and blasting the creative direction and its obsession with the stars of yesteryear, along with attempts to keep younger stars down. He even featured on the ECW website, saying that he’d rather be working for ECW. Raven deciding to leave WCW was no great shock, but having the balls to walk out when no one else did sure is something.

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Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.