WCW gave us some of the best pro wrestling around in the mid-90’s. From the legendary NWO storyline to Sting becoming his ‘Crow’ version, WCW gave us some of the most memorable moments of that era. Their edgy programming forced WWE to adapt and usher in the Attitude Era, and we can all agree that the boom period of the late 90’s changed the business forever.
However, in the later years of WCW, especially after the appointment of Vince Russo, their storytelling fell off a cliff. It is also worth noting that WCW had some terrible storylines in the pre-NWO era, so we can’t just blame every terrible WCW storyline on Russo.
In this article, we take a look at some of the worst storylines to ever come out of the company that once almost put WWE out of business.
5: ‘Last Call’ Scott Hall
People often say that the best gimmicks are the ones that have a grain of truth in them but that wasn’t the case with this insanely insensitive gimmick that was given to Scott Hall in the late ‘90s. Scott Hall’s problems with alcohol addiction have been well-documented and at the time he was going through some serious alcohol dependence issues.
During ‘98 and ‘99, Hall was arrested numerous times for drunk and disorderly behaviour. Hall’s wife Dana even publically appealed to the company for help at one point.
So what did WCW decide to do with Scott’s alcohol issues? Instead of sending him to rehab, they decided to factor it into a gimmick where Scott Hall turned up to wrestle ‘drunk’. He would slip out of the ring during matches to drink a beer. Eric Bischoff even came down to the ring once to talk to him, and Hall replied by ‘vomiting’ on Eric Bischoff.
And the big payoff to this ridiculous storyline? Hall was kept off television for an entire year. There was never any explanation for his absence either. This storyline wasn’t just ridiculous but also insensitive.
4: Ric Flair goes to the mental hospital
Ric Flair is one of the greatest pro wrestlers of all time. The 16-time World Champion has won titles everywhere he’s wrestled, but he was held in particular reverence by WCW fans, although the promotion themselves didn’t always know how important Flair was to them. This can be demonstrated with Jim Herd’s attempt to repackage Flair as ‘Spartacus’.
Flair didn’t always get the best storylines in WCW, especially during the Bischoff Era. While Ric Flair was serving as on-screen WCW President in 1999, he took part in a ridiculous storyline that saw him get locked up in a Florida mental institution. As part of the angle, we got Flair walking around the institution in boxers and his dress robe while bad mockeries of the disabled people roamed the halls around him.
During one occasion, we also saw Scott Hall in the mental asylum with Flair. Hall hadn’t been on WCW TV for months at this time and his appearance wasn’t ever explained.
3: Oklahoma
When you heard the words tasteless and offensive in regard to pro wrestling, more often than not you’re talking about a storyline written by Vince Russo.
The Oklahoma storyline was one of the most distasteful in the history of pro wrestling. The character was the brainchild of Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara and was brought to television soon after they’d jumped ship to WCW from the then-WWF.
The character was a caricature of WWE legend and fan favourite Jim Ross and tastelessly mocked JR’s Bell’s Palsy. This was a new low, even for Vince Russo.
Also read: Is WWE going the WCW way?
The character was played by Ferrara himself, which was itself sort of a joke since Ferrara wasn’t a wrestler. Why was it a problem? Because Oklahoma won the WCW Cruiserweight Title at one point after defeating future WWE Hall Of Famer Madusa.
The character was considered distasteful by most fans and Jim Cornette once almost came to blows with Ed Ferrara for making light of his long-time friend.
2: Robocop
Yeah, that isn’t a typo. Robocop himself appeared in a WCW storyline in the early ‘90s.
WCW always had a thing for crossover promotion. Whether it be Battle Bowl or a Chucky movie, WCW loved cross promotion.
On May 19, 1990, WCW held their first and only Capital Combat: The Return Of Robocop PPV in Washington DC to help promote the release of Robocop 2. During the show, Robocop made a triumphant and decisive appearance as he helped Sting escape the clutches of The Four Horsemen.
The Horsemen had locked Sting inside a cage at ringside when we saw Robocop walk (really slowly) out to Sting’s aid. He walked up to Sting’s cage, which was clearly gimmicked, and tore the door off its hinges before chasing the Horsemen away.
I don’t know what was worse about this segment – Sting needing help from Robocop or a legit tough guy like Arn Anderson having to look scared of Robocop.
1: David Arquette – WCW Champion
WCW crowned their booker Vince Russo World Heavyweight Champion in the year 2000 but earlier on in the same year, they put the Big Gold Belt on David Arquette. Arquette was an untrained actor who was only crowned champion to promote the movie “Ready To Rumble”.
Needless to say, the movie bombed regardless of WCW promoting it by making Arquette Champion.
David Arquette first appeared at ringside during the April 10, 2000, episode of WCW Thunder where he climbed the barricade to confront Eric Bischoff and the New Blood.
After defeating Bischoff in a singles match on the April 24th episode of Nitro, he teamed up with DDP on the following episode of Thunder to take on Bischoff and WCW World Heavyweight Champion Jeff Jarrett. The match had one of the strangest stipulations ever – whoever scored the winning pinfall would be crowned champion. Needless to say, Arquette pinned Bischoff to win the title.
Arquette held the title for 12 days and it did not help WCW get the mainstream recognition they thought they would. Instead, their top title was devalued and never regained the prestige it had once had when it had been held by the likes of Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan and Goldberg.
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