10 Things You Didn't Know About WCW In 1999

As the calendar turned from December 31, 1998 into January 1, 1999, there was still a lot of optimism in World Championship Wrestling. After all, 1998 had been a spectacular year, and even though Vince McMahon's WWF had managed to catch back up with the company, it was still doing monster business across the board. Pay-Per-View buyrates were relatively high, attendance and merchandise sales were through the roof, and - perhaps most crucially to Eric Bischoff - the all-important TV ratings had managed to stay competitive. In fact, WCW was competing heavily on all fronts against Vince McMahon, and it was pretty much expected that the promotion were here to stay. Besides, the only thing that could kill WCW would be WCW itself, right? As history would later dictate, that would pretty much be the case. That said, as 1999 shot into view, nobody could have expected that just 2 years later, WCW would be bought out by none other than Vincent Kennedy McMahon. Incredible stuff, but in '99, things were heating up in Atlanta. The promotion needed something new to help launch it back to the top of the industry once more, and it was clear that the nWo idea was starting to flag somewhat, but things looked bright. Here are 10 things many fans might not know about WCW in 1999. As always with WCW, hold onto your hats, it's a bumpy ride!