They saw it as a nuisance, as something disgraceful and like most snobish executives they were ashamed to be associated with it. This is why it got so mismanaged for so long and why Bischoff had so little opposition to take it over. It was for this reason why EB had carte blanche early on because they didn't care for it. But when the wrestling started to interference with their offices, they were annoyed and did things to interfere or did do enough to save it. It was a joy for them to pull the plug in 2001.
2ND REASON - BAD BUSINESS MODEL
This is something you see happening again under Bischoff in TNA that all WCW cared about during its periods was doing great shows on tv but the attention was never put enough on the rest of the earning side of a wrestling promotion. That is why the WWF even if it was getting its butt kicked by WCW in the late 90s still was doing better than them as far as merchandises, PPV buys and attendances. Hell WCW stars did not even bother being there on the road. It was all about the tv and the ratings and while it gave us great shows, you could see how the WWF could still do good tv shows yet keep their best stuff for the PPV. (journalists like Dave Meltzer was giving warning signs even when WCW was doing good about these very problems. he knew they couldn't survive doing bad business like this and it did bite them in the butt eventualy)
3RD REASON - BIG STARS WITH TOO MUCH MONEY RUNNING AMOK
I'm not even going to mention how the big guys prevented the younger guys to get ahead here(but I could). It's just that WCW had too many big stars making too much money and not enough reward for what they were making. That created an athmosphere of lazyness- Hell look at how Nash got overweight so fast in getting to WCW. Most of these guys didn't have to pull their weight. They didn't have to push themselves. And to many of them had big salaries. The WWF had maybe three guys with big contracts and WCW had 12. Not to mention the middle guys that were making a lot too. You can't run a business this way. Not only that but some of them had creative control and WCW couldn't tell them to do what they wanted. Nash actually no-showed during a big PPV where he had to face The Giant because he was protesting Syxx being fired. Hogan was also doing what he wanted. Was paid too much getting receipts from other wrestlers' figurine. What a mess.
FOURTH REASON - HIRING VINCE RUSSO
Oh WCW was doing badly before but they could still keep their head above water and doing OK numbers. But Russo coming in in 1999(and then 2000) completly destroyed the connection WCW had with its fan. Not only because it was mediocre but because he had a WWF late 90s Crash TV philosophy and WCW was more traditional wrestling and by wanting to transforming the company in his style, he alienated the WCW faithfull, we're talking about a tradition that had existed for ages going back to the 50s. He killed that fanbase.
FIFTH REASON - ERIC BISCHOFF FAILED
That's where the buck stops, right. He was behind all the decision. And not only he made bad decision that lead to the dead of WCW but in 1999 he had a burnout and had to leave for a while. Vince McMahon never has burnouts.
SIXTH REASON - INCONSISTENT BOOKING
WCW did a lot of great shows, great moments, of great tv. But with all this talent they had no reasons to fail. Forget the business side, they made a lot of mistake storyline-wise. Why there never was a nWo Hollywood vs nWo Red and Black feud? Why was Bret Hart booked so badly? Why was Benoit jobbed so often?
SEVENTH REASON - GOLDBERG'S BAD BOOKING
They had this Goldmine, they has no excuses to screw this up. McMahon didn't with Stone Cold. in January 1999 they had the nWo beat-up Goldberg and he never had a comeback. He should have went threw the old group and become super-Goldberg and save their company but they didn't.
EIGHT REASON - OBSESSION WITH THE WWF
You know what the WWF almost never mentioned WCW and they beat them by doing their own thing. Bischoff was so obsessed with the WWF that he kept changing things to beat them in the ratings. Bret Hart turned heel just because the WWF was beating them in the ratings for the first time, Austin had just won the WWF title and they needed to "strike back". They wanted a big swerve on that very night. Hogan asked Sting to turn and he refused. In 1999 just because the WWF was beating them in the ratings, they panicked and stop doing what they were doing. It was at that point that Nash started booking and EB went on "vacation" since he was burned out. But guess what WCW's ratings were still great! But it wasn't enough for Eric, losing to them was a failiure and in the end I think that's what did them in.
NINTH REASON - TOO MANY TOP GUYS, TOO MANY WRESTLERS
WWF had nothing, they had scraps, every wrestlers were jumping ship "down south" but it's when you have nothing that you start getting creative. WCW meanwhile had all the guys and thought that all they had to do was put them on screen and things would take care of itself. And that's not how it works. Furthermore, using a small dedicated crew is far easier to write things about. In WCW they had so many stars, so many wrestlers, they had to things with every single one of them. That's why they kept coming up with groups, it's far easier to put guys together in one place that write stuff for them individualy. WCW had Sting, Hogan, Luger, Hart, Nash, Hall, DDP, Goldberg, Macho Man, etc...It was like having a movie with 15 leading men, instead of one. In the WWF, it's was easier for the audience to know who was the bad guy, who was the good guy. And write "the story of rebel Stone Cold going after his Boss".
TENTH REASON - STARRCADE 1997
'Nuff Said.
ncG1vNJzZmien6fCrr%2BNsKmeq6Shsru7zZ5lnKedZMGpvsSam6xnp52utXnAq5xmrJiaenR5waKeoJ2jqXqzscCspqerXaywuHnWnqWtZaWjsaa%2BjWpwam1kaXw%3D