4 WCW blunders which were also done by the WWE

WCW shut its doors on March 26, 2001. As we approach the 18th anniversary of the demise of WWE's biggest challenger, the old adage 'history is written by the victors' has never been more apparent.

We have seen numerous WWE produced DVDs criticizing WCW for all the stupid decisions they made prior to their demise- all the while conveniently ignoring similar dumb decisions McMahon and co. themselves made. Numerous WWE personalities - past and present - have given interviews portraying WCW as the big bad corporate giant that wanted to drive the WWE out of business, rather than care about profits of their own.

History has definitely been muddied over the years considerably, but let us see honest. If there was no NWO, there wouldn't be a DX, if Eric Bischoff hadn't decided to produce Nitro live, Monday Night RAW would still have taped two episodes a night today.

This list aims to throw things into perspective a little bit by pointing out 4 times WWE were as crass and cheap as their Southern rivals. We will be looking at some of the biggest blunders WCW were accused of doing, and see if WWE did a similar blunder as well.

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#1 Vince Russo's WCW title win vs Vince McMahon's WWE/ECW title wins

Vince as ECW Champion

One of the biggest lows in WCW history was booker Vince Russo winning the WCW title. Often considered as the second most embarassing WCW title reign after David Arquette's, Russo's WCW title win was a vanity project that was rightly criticised by industry veterans.

'The title was devalued'- was the usual war cry. But did WWE never do something similar? Of course they did.

The WWE Championship was certainly not elevated when Vince McMahon somehow beat Triple H for the belt in the late 90's. Russo's vanity booking would definitely be inferior to Vince considering that McMahon booked himself to win the ECW World title a decade later, even going on to defend it on a few occasions

In addition to that, Vince is also a Royal Rumble winner, Stephanie McMahon held the Women's title for a considerable time and Shane McMahon won the European and Hardcore titles, even successfully defending the former title at a WrestleMania.

#2 Fingerpoke of Doom vs DX degeneracy

DX had a

fingerpoke

of their own

WWE has tried to hold up the fact that the Fingerpoke of Doom was the beginning of the end for WCW. The incident involved WCW World Champion Kevin Nash laying down for Hollywood Hogan to pass the title to Hogan and reform the NWO. The implication for the backlash was that WCW had cheated its fans out of the main event and that the inmates were running the asylum.

Hmmm... wasn't there a group similar to the NWO in WWE always running around breaking the rules? Yup, DX was definitely influenced by the huge success of the NWO, and back in the day, WWE booked DX to cheat their fans out of the main event as well.

Shawn Michaels was the undisputed main event player of the WWE in 1997 and he held the WWE Championship and the WWE European Championship simultaneously. Michaels and his then lackey Triple H were running around the company as DX, bringing attitude to the throats of nine-year-old kids.

On an episode of RAW, authority figure Sgt. Slaughter booked Michaels vs Triple H for the European title. The outcome - Michaels laid down for Triple H who beat his stablemate with a harmless splash to become Champion. How was it different from what Hogan and Nash did? Nobody is sure.

#3 Yeti vs Gobbledy Gooker and so much more

Well, the picture says it all

WCW has been mocked for introducing a lot of ridiculous characters on TV which basically insulted fans' intelligence. RoboCop, The Shockmaster, Glacier, Oz, The Fat Chick Thrilla, Arachnaman, The Bootyman, The Shark and the Ding Dongs, all made their way to WCW TV.

Particularly alarming gimmicks were those of the Zodiac - based on the serial killer of the same name and The Candyman - supposed to have pedophilic connotations. The stupidest gimmick undoubtedly was allotted to Ron Reis who was brought in by the Dungeon of Doom to help The Giant fight Sting. He made his debut at the main event of Halloween Havoc '95 - having a heavily bandaged appearance resembling a mummy, but being called 'The Yeti' - Enough said!

Well, let us look at the equivalents from Connecticut - Repo Man, The Berserker, The Dumpster, Kerwin White, Sexual Chocolate, Zeus, Eugene, Issac Yankem, Bastian Booger and Max Moon. The worst, however, has to be the Gobbledy Gooker who burst out of an egg at the 1990 Survivor Series, and proceeded to tarnish poor Hector Guerrero's reputation, who had to wear that awful chicken suit.

#4 Airing dirty laundry on TV: Scott Hall and Hawk

Road Warrior Hawk had a drinking problem that was made part of an angle

WCW was heavily criticized in its final years for trying to use anything it could come up with to get an audience. Particularly alarming was the company's decision to build an angle around Scott Hall's real-life drinking problems. He was booked to come to the ring like a drunken mess and even puked on Eric Bischoff.

A match with longtime partner Kevin Nash ended with Nash getting out of the ring to spare Hall more embarrassment. It was a tasteless angle which insulted someone who was a big part of the success of the company. Noble WWE would never do something like this, right?

Well - about the same time, WWE used a similar angle with Road Warrior Hawk. Hawk was also struggling with drinking and drugs problems, and against the wishes of both Hawk and his partner Animal, WWE incorporated it into a storyline.

Hawk was portrayed as having suicidal tendencies, with a segment airing that had new Road Warriors member Droz pushing a confused Hawk off the titantron to his apparent death. Both Hawk and Animal left WWE immediately after the angle.