10 Moments That Killed WCW

The reason World Championship Wrestling eventually closed in March of 2001 had much more to do with what was happening off-screen than on, but there is no question that a lot of the promotion’s television output contributed to its demise in some form or fashion.

From the end of 1997 onwards, WCW habitually made ill-advised booking decisions as the product began to reflect the chaotic situation unfolding behind the scenes and provided the televised nails in the coffin for the promotion.

These are 10 Moments that KILLED WCW.

10. The main event of Starrcade 1997

Starrcade 1997 should have been one of the biggest and best nights in WCW’s history. It was their biggest pay-per-view of the year during a period where they were on fire and still resoundingly kicking WWE’s backside in the Monday Night Wars.

The main event – with Sting wrestling his first match in an age as he attempted to dethrone tyrannical WCW World Heavyweight Champion and New World Order leader Hulk Hogan – had been built up expertly.

Regrettably, what should have been a slam dunk (and ended with the Stinger pinning the Hulkster clean to win the title) turned into a total and utter mess.

Word is Hogan and Eric Bischoff got cold feet when Steve Borden showed up for the pay-per-view without a radioactive tan and Terrible Terry conspired with Nick Patrick to make the planned fast count for the finish a normal one.

That meant that Sting and Bret Hart looked like total idiots when the match was restarted and allowed Hogan to walk away from the match looking like he was the one who had been screwed over.

Just a lamentable episode of politics playing for all to see and a sign that the rot had begun to set in.

9. Ending Goldberg's Streak

One year on from Starrcade ’97, WCW – who were by this point in a significantly weaker position due to WWE riding a Steve Austin-led wave of immense popularity – decided to end their biggest pay-per-view of the year on yet another downer that left fans disappointed and critics shaking their heads.

The headliner was, of course, Goldberg defending his WCW World Heavyweight Title against Kevin Nash.

Goldberg had been a revelation, getting over huge with fans by tearing through the competition in dynamic squash matches on his way to beating Hogan to win the big gold belt on the historic July 6, 1998, episode of Nitro.

He was WCW’s most popular homegrown star and the man most likely to carry the company going forward.

So WCW did the one thing they could do to cut off his momentum while he was at the peak of his powers. Rather than having him beat Big Sexy and extend his unbeaten run to 174-0, Da’ Man succumbed to a Jackknife Powerbomb after being neutralised by Scott Hall’s taser.

A bad ending to a much-hyped match, but there was worse yet to come.

8. Fingerpoke Of Doom

Eight days after Goldberg lost his title he was due for a rematch on the January 4, 1999, episode of Nitro.

Taking place in the Georgia Dome – the sight of his previous triumph – odds were decent that he would reclaim the belt many fans felt he had been robbed of at the pay-per-view. But the 40,000 in Atlanta that night – not to mention the millions watching on TV – wouldn’t get to see a happy ending.

Far from it.

Goldberg was arrested earlier in the show (due to some unsavoury business with Elizabeth) and Hogan took his place.

Instead of having an actual match, he and Nash did the infamous Finger Poke of Doom, as the Hulkster took back the title after prodding the champ in the chest.

So Hogan’s the world champ, the nWo is reformed and – but wait, here’s Goldberg fresh out of the slammer to wreck fools and…nope, scratch that, here’s Lex Luger, turning heel and joining the new New World Order as Goldberg is beaten down.

A total disaster on every level, this made WCW’s top babyface look like an idiot, their main title worthless, and screwed fans out of two matches they actually wanted to see.

7. Hulk Hogan Lies Down For Sting

In October of 1999, WWE head writer Vince Russo handed in his notice and signed a deal with WCW.

Could he steady the sinking ship and help usher the promotion into a new era of popularity? Obviously not.

WCW fans got a taste of what Russo (and his co-writer Ed Ferrara) were capable of during his very first pay-per-view with the pencil.

The scheduled main event of Halloween Havoc ’99 was set to be Sting defending the WCW Title against Hulk Hogan. After failing to come out to his music twice, Hogan eventually sauntered out in street clothes and simply laid down on the mat for Sting to pin him before sulking off.

This eye-rolling worked shoot was supposed to get the internet in a tizzy (as people perhaps assumed this was a real instance of Hulk exercising his ‘creative control’ clause and refusing to lose) while planting the seed for a storyline when Hulk returned from a layoff.

That storyline never happened and the aftermath – with Goldberg beating Sting in an impromptu match, only to be stripped of the title the day after – only muddied the waters further.

6. The Radicalz Show Up On WWE Raw

Throughout the course of the Monday Night Wars, stars routinely went back and forwards between WCW and WWE.

Some departures were more damaging than others, but no one wrestler jumping ship was ever viewed as a particularly crucial blow. That was until four men decided to walk out of WCW at the same time.

Upset with Kevin Sullivan being made new booker after Vince Russo spit the dummy out, hardworking mid-card quartet Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Chris Benoit and Perry Saturn asked for their releases, which were given to them unconditionally after WCW official Mike Graham threatened Benoit with violence.

This was the day after The Crippler had won the WCW World Heavyweight Title at the Souled Out 2000 pay-per-view, but not even that carrot could convince him and his running buddies that their careers were in safe hands.

The Radicalz, as they were dubbed, sent shockwaves through the industry when they showed up unannounced on the January 31 edition of Monday Night Raw.

Their collective exit and walking into a prime spot with the competition was seen as yet another sign that the so-called War was well and truly over and that WCW were not long for the wrestling world.

5. The Great Reset

Kevin Sullivan’s tenure as booker didn’t last too much longer after The Radicalz showed up in WWE. With ratings continuing to decline, decision-makers felt that the best course of action was to bring Russo back as head writer, alongside the returning Bischoff.

Their big idea was a company-wide reboot, with ongoing storylines dropped and all the current champions surrendering their belts so that new holders could be crowned via tournaments and whatnot.

A fair idea in theory but the execution was handled atrociously. The big reset took place at the start of the April 10, 2000, episode of Nitro, with the roster assembled in the ring as Russo and Bischoff rambled on in a never-ending trainwreck of a segment full of insider references that only served to alienate the few diehards who continued to watch the product.

They might have thought lines like Bischoff asking Sid if he ‘can’t find his scissors’ (in reference to his hotel room fight with Arn Anderson almost a decade beforehand) were cute, but it was simply brutal watching them fall flat and die a death out there as the ‘New Blood’ versus ‘Millionaire’s Club’ angle got off to a wretched (and very confusing) start.

4. David Arquette wins the WCW World Heavyweight Championship

Back when WCW still had a bit of hope and half a prayer, Warner Bros. studios greenlit a major motion picture based on a fictionalised version of the promotion.

By the time Ready to Rumble was actually released (on April 7th, 2000), WCW had less than a year of its existence left.

But still, a film about the company in theatres was a good thing, right? It was extra publicity, after all, and surely the movie would bring some punters back?

In a misguided piece of cross-promotional synergy, WCW made the terrible decision to put their World Heavyweight Title on actor David Arquette on the April 26 episode of Thunder, an idea that was apparently suggested by Tony Schiavone.

To be fair to Arquette, he was a genuine wrestling fan, didn’t even want the honour and donated his WCW pay to the families of deceased wrestlers.

No heat on him personally, but the storyline was a complete dud, serving only to further devalue the title and push WCW fans away.

Ready to Rumble was also a critical flop and box-office bomb, earning back a little over half of its production budget.

3. Goldberg turns heel

Having his streak broken and losing the title and then being involved with the whole Fingerpoke of Doom nonsense may have hurt Goldberg’s mystique, but he continued to be one of the company’s biggest stars against the odds (and bad booking).

Shortly after making his return from injury – the one he caused himself by elbowing a limo window – the WCW brain trust, in their eternal wisdom, decided to turn him heel for the first (and only) time in his career.

At the end of the positively atrocious Great American Bash pay-per-view, Goldberg turned on Kevin Nash, costing him the title and joining the New Blood stable.

Not only did it completely halt any momentum that Goldberg had, but the man himself didn’t want to turn because he, like everyone else not named Vince Russo, realised it was nonsensical.

His heel run didn’t last long, mind, as he switched back at the New Blood Rising pay-per-view in a rotten worked-shoot angle where he walked out of a match after ‘refusing’ to follow the script and take Nash’s powerbomb.

2. Bash At The Beach 2000

So, how did Russo and co. follow up on that wonderful piece of business at WCW’s next pay-per-view? Why, by double-crossing and insulting the biggest star in the history of the industry so badly that he left the company and filed a major lawsuit against them and Vince Russo, of course!

The circumstances surrounding the events at Bash at the Beach 2000 – where Jeff Jarrett laid down and relinquished the WCW Title to Hulk Hogan, who then left the building only to have Russo come out and trash him in an expletive-laden promo later on – are disputed.

Everyone has their own take (and all the major players are far from reliable narrators), making it difficult to ascertain just what was planned and who knew what when.

Was it a work? Or a shoot? Or a worked shoot? Or did somebody not know it was a work when they worked a work and worked themselves into a shoot?

What we do know is that it was another black eye for a promotion that was well and truly circling the drain…

1. Vince Russo wins the WCW World Heavyweight Title

Well, if the company was circling the drain before, they may as well have flushed it down the toilet when Russo booked himself to win the WCW World Title.

Arquette winning it was an insult to the majority of fans still watching (not to mention the boys in the back), but at least you could argue they were doing it to try and promote the movie.

But what was the logic in Russo getting the strap by beating Booker T in a Cage Match on the September 25, 2000, episode of Nitro?

Russo and whoever else had a say in WCW creative at the time made the decision based on the belief the casual fan wanted to see a non-wrestling heel hold the promotion’s most prestigious prize.

Prestigious in theory, anyway, since the title had been denigrated so much since Russo’s arrival that it actually meant less than WWE’s European Championship by this stage.

It didn’t work, either, as the ratings continued to tumble. As for Russo’s ‘run’ as champion, that lasted exactly one week when he vacated the title after deciding he was not a wrestler and didn’t want it.