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March 26 marks 18 years since WCW closed its doors. The primary Southern wrestling company, WCW used Ted Turner's vast wealth to go global and challenge the WWE during the 90s. For a while, the company became the #1 wrestling promotion in the world, overtaking Vince McMahon and co.
While the history of WCW is littered with a number of highlights including the initial run of the nWo, characters like Goldberg and Crow Sting, the introduction of luchadors and Japanese wrestlers, the company has now become more remembered for costly mistakes it did which eventually led to it closing its doors.
An overreliance on Hulk Hogan, letting future legends like Stone Cold, Triple H, Chris Jericho, and Eddie Guerrero leave, and the literal garbage they produced on TV during the 2000s do not keep them in a good light.
This list looks at three often overlooked mistakes WCW allowed to happen during its existence in the late 90s and early 2000s, which eventually led it to go out of business.
Please note that this list does not include the more diabolical decisions like the finger poke of doom, David Arquette & Vince Russo world title fiasco, etc, which are still fresh in memory.
#1 Goldberg won the world title only once
Former WCW head, Eric Bischoff, often points to Bill Goldberg as the prime example for WCW being able to produce homegrown talent. Goldberg's character coincided with the greatest period in the history of the WCW and the fans could not wait to see him defeat the evil Hollywood Hogan to ascend to the top of the company.
When that moment came, WCW gave the match away for free on a Nitro rather than on a PPV. Worse, it had just 3 days build. While the reaction from the crowd on the night was fantastic, WCW lost a lot of potential money for not saving the match for their premier event - Starrcade.
What is even more baffling is that despite being the top babyface in the company, WCW never booked Goldberg to win the world title again. Hollywood Hogan clearly did not want to play second fiddle to him, and the company's reluctance to get behind the popular Goldberg developed more fan backlash.
In the end, Goldberg is tied with Vince Russo and David Arquette as one time winners of the big gold belt.
#2 The WCW world title changed hands 25 times in 2000
WCW was squarely against the wall when the new millennium came about. WWE had better storylines, more popular stars, and an overall better product, whereas WCW fans had just gotten tired of the booking decisions. As a last ditch effort to steady the ship, former WWE head writer, Vince Russo, was brought in by WCW. Things only got worse.
Russo had a lot of absurd ideas - which was named 'Crash TV' - which did nothing to help the longterm future of WCW. Having swerves just for the sake of swerves infuriated the WCW viewers, especially when Russo started switching around the WCW World Heavyweight title for apparently no reason.
In the last full year of its existence (2000), the world title changed hands a whopping 25 times if you include the number of times the title was vacated. It started when Bret Hart vacated the title in January due to a legitimate injury which would later end his career. WCW placed the title on an unwilling Chris Benoit who promptly left for the WWE a day after winning the belt.
Further title changes would include booker Kevin Nash booking himself to win the title, and on another occasion simply giving the title to Ric Flair. Even Vince Russo himself and actor David Arquette won the title that year, undermining the credibility of the title. Sid Vicious, DDP, Jeff Jarrett, Scott Steiner, and Booker T all won the title during this period before WCW inevitably shut its doors.
#3 'Big Lazy' Kevin Nash
Kevin Nash was a pivotal player in wrestling during the 90s, with the nickname 'Big Sexy'. However, Nash's attitude was allegedly a cause for concern ever since he moved on to the more relaxed confines of WCW from WWE.
Nash never seemed too comfortable being the sole attraction in a company after his 'Diesel' persona didn't draw much in the WWE. Nash was more comfortable acting the part of a 'cool guy', standing in the shadows of Hulk Hogan, which wouldn't require him to work in the ring every week.
That persona came out even more during the last years of Nitro when each episode had the authority figure Nash taking his sweet time to trash talk his opponents, and on all accounts - provide a slow, prodding effect to the general direction of the show.
The fact that he put the world title on himself soon after becoming booker and ended Goldberg's undefeated streak with a taser attack didn't improve his standing either.
The same issues reared its head during his initial run back in WWE when Nash seemed content to once again hide behind the likes of Hulk Hogan, and later Shawn Michaels.
It continued when he moved on to TNA, with Nash engaging in awful talk-segments, rarely wrestling, and choosing to play the supposed cool guy two steps behind the likes of Kurt Angle and Jeff Jarett - solidifying his derisive nickname 'Big Lazy'.
The entire persona might have been planned by Nash himself to get heat - but if it was, it did not make fans want to see more of him.
