Ultimately, you can't single out just one of these points in the feature. We ranked them, but really they all combine to make one big reason why the WWF popularity waned: a culmination of mistakes along with unavoidable realities. Of course the company was going to suffer, they basically lost all three of their biggest stars - Hunter to injury, Rock to Hollywood, Austin to heel character oblivion. With three main eventers basically finished, they then had to contend with the swirling drama of absorbing WCW. This confused and over-faced the audience even more, it added to the growing problem of overbooking. Then you have the reality that the industry was just in a downward trend anyway (as WCW and ECW dying proved), the fad of wrestling has simply expired from its lifespan. In fact, the WWF actually did really well to manage three hot years. Throw in the fact that Vince was also pushing a new show in Smackdown and a new brand in the XFL, as well as trying to steer his product away from gimmicks to athleticism, and you have the perfect storm of reasons why the WWF so suddenly went from popularity to moderate interest.
