12 Misconceptions About WCW You Probably Believe
2. Everything From The Final Year Sucked
As aforementioned, there were some brutally bad episodes of Nitro and Thunder under Russo's watch between October 1999-January 2000, then again from March until the end of the year. His nonstop, 'nevermindthatsegmentwhataboutthisone' style made it near-impossible to focus on one thing at a time. Here's something one learns from binging a lot of it at once: WCW in 2000 and into 2001 is a rollercoaster ride if you go in refusing to take it too seriously.
There's some good stuff in amongst all the crud during the promotion's final year as a standalone entity. Scott Steiner came into his own as a full-on heel badass who finally scored the WCW World Title, Booker T's push was a delight to witness (even if it only happened due to backstage fallout between Russo, Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff), the Cruiserweights were back on form, and it's difficult to get literally bored when watching the product.
Viewers could be found shaking their heads at the screen, and you'll still do that if you watch a chunk of it today, but they were nonetheless left wondering which madcap direction WCW TV was going to go next. Several things can be true at once. Nitro, Thunder and WCW pay-per-view proved to be undoubted garbage for the most part, but it's also some laugh to witness.
That's true in retrospect if you're late to the (Nitro watch) party too. There will be something you look at and say: 'Hey, that was actually really good'. Guaranteed. Give WCW 2000-2001 a try if you need a jolt. 90% of it will make you thankful for 2025 WWE and AEW - the other 10% will introduce you to a new favourite wrestler/match/angle/promo.