10 Moments That Killed WCW
10 moments that KILLED WCW
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.
