25 Crazy WCW Facts (That Get Progressively More Ridiculous)

5. Dying In A Land Down Under

Kwee Wee WCW
WWE.com

WCW was not doing great in the autumn of 2000. 

The shows were absolutely worthless, with ever-shortening pointless matches, desperate attempts to copy the WWF with multi-way bikini contests, and, on the September 25, 2000 edition of Nitro, Booker T lost the World Heavyweight title to Vince Russo. This should have been a shocking transgression of everything that is pure about the sport, but by that point, who gave a sh*t? Give the belt to Mark Madden, have him defend it in a Burger on a Pole match, and book him to lose when he eats it and gets distracted. Who cares? 

WCW had a lifeline of sorts, in that they were set to tour in an under-served market in October. The Australia tour was a huge success that attracted close to or in excess of 10,000 fans on each of the three dates. The shows were not amazing - unless you’re interested in ‘Down Underwear’ matches between Torrie Wilson and Tygress, and technical classics like Kwee Wee Vs. Johnny The Bull - but they were well-attended. For a couple of weeks, WCW looked like the big time again - and, while this sense of scale would not last, the promotion at least raked in a nice amount of cash at the live gate. Except, no it didn’t. 

That is because WCW conspired to lose money on such a well-attended tour. WCW was so confident of selling out the venues that, to make the agreement favourable with the local promoter, WCW said that it would buy back any unsold seats. The problem there is that WCW neglected to specify that these seats did not include any that could not be sold because the space was needed to set-up TV equipment. Enough seats needed to be moved to accommodate the production that WCW ended up losing $400,000. 

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick (Creative Writing BA Hons) is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over a decade of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential UK institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!