10 Times WCW Was The Most Insane Company In The World
8. Hog Wild
Though WCW were ostensibly a wrestling company, one would never have believed it from their complete cluelessness of how the business operates.
The company changed the landscape of television wrestling with Monday Nitro, but whilst most promotions would have used the flagship broadcast to build matches for a profitable pay-per-view payoff, the programme instead existed merely as a ratings vehicle.
WCW's - and specifically Eric Bischoff's - lunacy was perfectly exemplified by the 1996 Hog Wild event. A huge motorcycle fan, Bischoff thought it would be a good idea to stage a wrestling show in the middle of the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally - with free entry for all chopper riders.
Wrestling and motorcyles should never be allowed to mix. That's how we end up with the Disciples of Apocalypse, American Badass Undertaker, and The Giant in a monster truck.
The event was an act of total egomania as an unchecked Eric indulged his own fantasies. 5,000 motorcyclists turned up with more interest in revving their engines than watching wrestling, whilst meanwhile the show didn't bring in a single penny for the company.
The Sturgis crowd booed when Dean Malenko and Chris Benoit went into overtime, but even more shamefully reacted to Harlem Heat's appearance in the most vilely racist manner, vociferously jeering the pair as sections of the audience held up Confederate flags. The whole show was a disgrace, and an embarrassment to the company.
Obviously WCW decided to repeat it for the next three years. Incomprehensible.