History Horrible / WCW

** ItGotWorse, yes I know we don't like that trope but here it's accurate. Nitro ran ten minutes longer than Raw. Why is that significant? Because fans who saw Foley's win and changed back to WCW saw what is in any top three DethroningMomentOfSuck lists for wrestling. That half a million fans turned into most of WCW's viewership, and in one night WCW was killed. It took two years afterwards to happen but this was the night experts point to where WCW died.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerpoke_of_Doom The Fingerpoke of Doom,]] a self-induced HumiliationConga that many see as directly responsible for WCW's collapse in 2001. It started with the main event--Hulk Hugan, Kevin Nash, and the poke in question, which knocked Nash over and allowed Hulk to pin him, marking the reunion of the NWO. Soon after, Tony Schiavone gave away the results of MickFoley's WWF championship match, sarcastically claiming it would "put some butts in seats." Immediately, hundreds of thousands changed the channel to [[WWeRAW RAW]] and the live audience threw bottles and refuse into the ring. For months after, fans migrated to RAW shows in droves, bearing signs reading "MickFoley put my ass in this seat."

* '''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerpoke_of_Doom The Fingerpoke of Doom]]''' is often labeled as the pivotal moment (though by no means the only moment) that led to WCW's collapse in 2001, made worse because there were several ways the promotion ''could've'' saved the angle (such as ''not destroying [[{{Goldberg}} their top draw at the time]]''), but on the bright side at least it had [[FingerpokeOfDoom a Trope]] named after it. At the end of the telecast, the fans made their displeasure known by throwing all manner of bottles and trash into the ring.
** As an added bonus: on that same show, Tony Schiavone launched a TakeThat at [[MickFoley Mick "Mankind" Foley]] and the WWF, revealing that he was going to win the WWF Championship and sarcastically proclaiming "that'll put some butts in seats". Hundreds of thousands of fans immediately switched over to ''[[WWERaw Raw]]''; throughout the next few months, signs showed up on ''Raw'' that said "MickFoley put my ass in this seat". In Schiavone's defense, he was ordered to say it by Bischoff despite not wanting to.

{{WCW}} was once the second-most popular wrestling/sports-entertainment promotion in the United States (and even ''beat'' its chief rival, Wrestling/{{WWE}}, for a decent stretch of time), but it made so many mistakes that WrestleCrap and Figure Four Weekly were able to write a book about the company's downfall (''TheDeathOfWCW'').

The sheer amount of terrible angles, GimmickMatches, backstage politics, VinceRusso booking, and horrendous business decisions led to a company worth $500,000,000 and backed by Ted Turner becoming a hollow shell of a promotion bought by VinceMcMahon for just $3,000,000.

* In the 1990s, Tony Schiavone was an adequate, if not good, commentator with a pair of bad habits in irrational exuberance and calling just about every move he didn't know the name of a "face jam". But as WCW hit the skids and management began to fall apart, so did Schiavone's commentary. Part of this was due to the EnforcedMethodActing that WCW used on the commentators to keep their commentary "more spontaneous" - they never allowed them to see the pre-taped segments, so they would then not know how to sell them and make stupid comments. However, Schiavone was bad enough on his own. He proclaimed every episode of ''Nitro'' to be "[[ItsTheBestWhateverEver the greatest (moment/night/event) in the history of our sport!]]", for which he ([[MemeticMutation and the phrase]]) was mocked mercilessly by [[SmartMark smarks]] and [[{{Fan}} marks]] alike. He also proclaimed just about everything "the most shocking swerve ever" after VinceRusso came in. This went over even less well, and was so mocked it became [[ShockingSwerve a Trope of its own]].

{{WCW}} was once the second-most popular wrestling/sports-entertainment promotion in the United States (and even ''beat'' its chief rival, {{WWE}}, for a decent stretch of time), but it made so many mistakes that WrestleCrap and Figure Four Weekly were able to write a book about the company's downfall (''TheDeathOfWCW'').

*** Appropriately enough, the "Shockmaster" angle was quite literally a DarthWiki/WallBanger. What makes this whole thing even more hilarious was the whole buildup that got the crowd into the whole thing; when {{Wrestling/Sting}} announced the partner's name "The SHOCK. MASTER!!" and the whole thing kicked off, you could hear the crowd cheering like crazy for the guy who would save the faces in this match. When Ottman came barreling through the wall and faceplanted, the entire crowd went ''absolutely '''dead.'''''

* Jim Herd was the president of WCW during the early part of the 1990s. He had no previous experience with wrestling, and despite Flair being a world-famous World Champion, was convinced that Flair was too old to draw. First he tried to {{retool}} Flair into a Roman gladiator named Spartacus (to which Kevin Sullivan famously replied "while we're doing this, why don't we go down to Yankee Stadium and change Mickey Mantle's number?"). Then he simply fired Flair. The problem? Flair was WCW World Heavyweight Champion at the time. And since he had put down a $25,000 deposit on the belt, which WCW did not refund to him after he was fired, Flair decided he owned the physical title belt. He then showed up on WWF television with the WCW belt. Flair went on to be promoted as "The Real World Champion" by heel manager BobbyHeenan and work a great (and financially successful) program with Hulk Hogan. WCW, on the other hand, was devastated by the loss of their top draw and their inability to find anyone to replace him. At the nadir, fans were ignoring the actual matches and chanting "We Want Flair". Herd would eventually resign in disgrace.
* In the 1990s, Tony Schiavone was an adequate, if not good, commentator with a pair of bad habits in irrational exuberance and calling just about every move he didn't know the name of a "face jam". But as WCW hit the skids and management began to fall apart, so did Schiavone's commentary. Part of this was due to the EnforcedMethodActing that WCW used on the commentators to keep their commentary "more spontaneous" - they never allowed them to see the pre-taped segments, so they would then not know how to sell them and make stupid comments. However, Schiavone was bad enough on his own. He proclaimed every episode of ''Nitro'' to be "[[ItsTheBestWhateverEver the greatest (moment/night/event) in the history of our sport!]]", for which he ([[MemeticMutation and the phrase]]) was mocked mercilessly by [[SmartMark smarks]] and [[{{Fan}} marks]] alike. He also proclaimed just about everything "the most shocking swerve ever" after VinceRusso came in. This went over even less well, and was so mocked it became [[ShockingSwerve a Trope of its own]].

* The real "beginning of the end" may have taken place about a month prior to ''Starrcade 1997''. In a backstage locker room meeting, Eric Bischoff declared that VinceMcMahon would be out of business ''within six months'', then declared that HulkHogan, Roddy Piper, and RandySavage are his only real draws (in an attempt to reign in ScottHall and KevinNash's egos). Bischoff's boast does little to reign in Hall and Nash's egos ''and'' it alienates Ric Flair in the process. Six months later, at the time when the WWF was supposed to be finished:

*** Appropriately enough, the "Shockmaster" angle was quite literally a DarthWiki/WallBanger. What makes this whole thing even more hilarious was the whole buildup that got the crowd into the whole thing; when {{Wrestler/Sting}} announced the partner's name "The SHOCK. MASTER!!" and the whole thing kicked off, you could hear the crowd cheering like crazy for the guy who would save the faces in this match. When Ottman came barreling through the wall and faceplanted, the entire crowd went '''''absolutely dead.'''''

* Tony Schiavone. In the 90s Schiavone was an adequate if not good commentator with a pair of bad habits in calling just about every move he didn't know the name of a "face jam", and irrational exuberance. But as WCW hit the skids and management began to fall apart, so did Schiavone's commentary. Part of this was due to the EnforcedMethodActing that WCW used on the commentators to keep their commentary "more spontaneous" - they never allowed them to see the pre-taped segments, so they would then not know how to sell them and make stupid comments. However, Schiavone was bad enough on his own. He proclaimed every episode of ''Nitro'' to be "[[ItsTheBestWhateverEver the greatest (moment/night/event) in the history of our sport!]]", for which he ([[MemeticMutation and the phrase]]) was mocked mercilessly by [[SmartMark smarks]] and [[{{Fan}} marks]] alike. He also proclaimed just about everything "the most shocking swerve ever" after VinceRusso came in. This went over even less well, and was so mocked it became [[ShockingSwerve a Trope of its own]].
** Schiavone gave away the results of MickFoley's title win on ''WWERaw'', even though Foley was a friend of his. The joke was ultimately on Schiavone, [[InsultBackfire because his "that'll put some butts in the seats" comment cost WCW countless viewers]] and (possibly) the MondayNightWars. In Schiavone's defense, he was ordered to say it by Bischoff despite not wanting to.
* '''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerpoke_of_Doom The Fingerpoke of Doom.]]''' This was made worse because there were several ways the promotion ''could've'' saved the angle (such as ''not destroying [[{{Goldberg}} their top draw at the time]]''), but on the bright side at least it had [[FingerpokeOfDoom a Trope]] named after it. At the end of the telecast, the fans made their displeasure known by throwing all manner of bottles and trash into the ring.
** As an added bonus: on that same show, Tony Schiavone launched a TakeThat at [[MickFoley Mick "Mankind" Foley]] and the WWF, revealing that he was going to win the WWF Championship and sarcastically proclaiming "that'll put some butts in seats". Hundreds of thousands of fans immediately switched over to ''[[WWERaw Raw]]''; throughout the next few months, signs showed up on ''Raw'' that said "MickFoley put my ass in this seat".

* The infamous "Drunk ScottHall" angle from 1998 is seen as this by many now, with no help whatsoever from RealLifeWritesThePlot and HarsherInHindsight. Lowlights included Hall collapsing and stumbling around the ring (often while slurring promos), some very awkward "acting" from other wrestlers (especially KevinNash) and, of course, Hall "vomiting" on Eric Bischoff. Hall's ex-wife went so far as to write [[http://www.fortunecity.com/olympia/wolfpac/107/hall.html an open letter]] on the subject, which says ''something'' regardless of Hall's more recent problems.

* As bad as David Arquette as WCW champion was, it was only the second most idiotic championship reign in WCW history -- second only to ''Vince Russo's''. Yes, Russo gave ''himself'' the WCW Championship not long after he gave it to Arquette. Unlike Arquette, he felt absolutely no regret for doing it and could've stopped it from happening at any time because he was one of the bookers. Vince Russo is, to this day, one of the most despised figures in wrestling. Imagine that.

* The real "beginning of the end" may have taken place about a month prior to ''Starrcade 1997''. In a backstage locker room meeting, Eric Bischoff declared that VinceMcMahon would be out of business ''within six months'', then declared that Hogan, Roddy Piper, and RandySavage are his only real draws (in an attempt to reign in ScottHall and KevinNash's egos). Bischoff's boast does little to reign in Hall and Nash's egos ''and'' it alienates Ric Flair in the process. Six months later, at the time when the WWF was supposed to be finished:

*** Appropriately enough, the "Shockmaster" angle was quite literally a DarthWiki/WallBanger. What makes this whole thing even more hilarious was the whole buildup that got the crowd into the whole thing; when Wrestler/{{Sting}} announced the partner's name "The SHOCK. MASTER!!" and the whole thing kicked off, you could hear the crowd cheering like crazy for the guy who would save the faces in this match. When Ottman came barreling through the wall and faceplanted, the entire crowd went '''''absolutely dead.'''''

** Even Ed Ferrara has since admitted that the whole thing was in horrible taste. When Jim Cornette slapped him across the face, Ferrara admitted that he deserved it rather than retaliating.
* Jim Herd was the president of WCW during the early part of the 1990s. He had no previous experience with wrestling, and despite Flair being a world-famous World Champion, was convinced that Flair was too old to draw. First he tried to {{retool}} Flair into a Roman gladiator named Spartacus (to which Kevin Sullivan famously replied "while we're doing this, why don't we go down to Yankee Stadium and change Mickey Mantle's number?"). Then he simply fired Flair. The problem? Flair was WCW World Heavyweight Champion at the time. And since he had put down a $25,000 deposit on the belt, which WCW did not refund to him after he was fired, Flair decided he owned the physical title belt. He then showed up on WWF television with the WCW belt. Flair went on to be promoted as "The Real World Champion" by heel manager Bobby Heenan and work a great (and financially successful) program with Hulk Hogan. WCW, on the other hand, was devastated by the loss of their top draw and their inability to find anyone to replace him. At the nadir, fans were ignoring the actual matches and chanting "We Want Flair". Herd would eventually resign in disgrace.

** As an added bonus: on that same show, Tony Schiavone launched a TakeThat at [[MickFoley Mick "Mankind" Foley]] and the WWF, revealing that he was going to win the WWF Championship and sarcastically proclaiming "that'll put some butts in seats". Hundreds of thousands of fans immediately switched over to ''[[WWERaw Raw]]''; throughout the next few months, signs showed up on ''Raw'' that said "Mick Foley put my ass in this seat".

* It seems ironic that WCW tried to regain the lead in the MondayNightWars through one man whom WWE had reused earlier with limited success, The UltimateWarrior. Warrior's stint in WCW did not go well, from a needlessly long and confusing introduction dashed with various motifs blatantly stolen from ''Batman'' to his lacking in-ring skills, fans were treated to a show that was goofier than ever. The climax was a notoriously bad match between Warrior and Hulk Hogan at ''Halloween Havoc 1998'', which Hogan won after a cheap run-in. Just to make things that little bit worse, Warrior had a number of perks and high pay hardly matching his lax workload in his contract. Also of note is that Davey Boy Smith badly injured himself on a trap door that Warrior used to enter the ring and was later fired via Fed Ex.

* Jim Herd was the president of WCW during the early part of the 1990s. He had no previous experience with wrestling, and despite Flair being a world-famous World Champion, was convinced that Flair was too old to draw. First he tried to {{retool}} Flair into a Roman gladiator named Spartacus (to which Kevin Sullivan famously replied "while we're doing this, why don't we go down to Yankee Stadium and change Mickey Mantle's number?"). Then he simply fired Flair. The problem? Flair was WCW World Heavyweight Champion at the time. And since he had put down a $15K deposit on the belt, which WCW did not refund to him after he was fired, Flair decided he owned the physical title belt. He then showed up on WWF television with the WCW belt. Flair went on to be promoted as "The Real World Champion" by heel manager Bobby Heenan and work a great (and financially successful) program with Hulk Hogan. WCW, on the other hand, was devastated by the loss of their top draw and their inability to find anyone to replace him. At the nadir, fans were ignoring the actual matches and chanting "We Want Flair". Herd would eventually resign in disgrace.

* While many say that MichaelCole is the worst commentator of all time, his feud with BryanDanielson has kept him off this list. The same fate doesn't apply to Tony Schiavone, who was so terrible at commentary in WCW he makes Cole look like JimRoss.
** A major factor of this was that WCW didn't allow its commentary team to see anything that occurred outside the ring. The idea behind this is essentially the same one behind EnforcedMethodActing; it backfired horribly, however, because the commentators -- having not seen the backstage segments -- wouldn't know what happened and thus wouldn't be able to sell the feuds properly. One infamous example was a segment where the NewWorldOrder lured Ric Flair away from the arena and beat him up in a field; this segment literally cost millions of dollars to make (one of the action shots was filmed ''from a helicopter''). Flair hitchhiked back to the arena in a farmer's turnip truck, and when he finally got there -- stumbling around and clutching an axe handle -- the announcers had no idea what to say about it. It was actually BobbyHeenan, not Schiavone, who said "What happened to Flair? He looks drunk." The practice of not letting the commentary team see the backstage segments caused that sort of thing to happen over and over again.
** Schiavone proclaimed every episode of ''Nitro'' to be "[[ItsTheBestWhateverEver the greatest (moment/night/event) in the history of our sport!]]", for which he ([[MemeticMutation and the phrase]]) was mocked mercilessly by [[SmartMark smarks]] and [[{{Fan}} marks]] alike.
** Tony also proclaimed just about everything "the most shocking swerve ever" after VinceRusso came in. This went over even less well, and was so mocked it became [[ShockingSwerve a Trope of its own]].
** He gave away the results of MickFoley's title win on ''WWERaw'', even though Foley was a friend of his. The joke was ultimately on Schiavone, [[InsultBackfire because his "that'll put some butts in the seats" comment cost WCW countless viewers]] and (possibly) the MondayNightWars. In Schiavone's defense, he was ordered to say it by Bischoff despite not wanting to.

* Jim Herd, the president of WCW during the early part of the 1990s, deserves special mention here. In his autobiography, Flair goes into detail about working with Herd, then the head of the WCW booking committee, whose previous work experience included manager at a local radio station and an executive for both a bank and ''Pizza Hut''. Herd's "brilliant" ideas included lumberjack Big Josh (a pre-Doink Matt Bourne), attempting to create a tag team called "the Hunchbacks" (who couldn't be pinned because of their humps), and trying to {{retool}} Flair into a Roman gladiator named Spartacus (to which Kevin Sullivan famously replied "while we're doing this, why don't we go down to Yankee Stadium and change Mickey Mantle's number?").

* Booker T. engaged in an angle in which his partner from Harlem Heat, Stevie Ray, became jealous and started a feud with him. Stevie also brought in Tony "Big T" Norris (WWF's Ahmed Johnson, now very out of shape) for the angle, forming Harlem Heat 2000. What made it horrible was when they started feuding over the ''rights to the letter T''. Booker ''lost'' this feud, forcing him to drop the "T" from his ring name and be called simply "Booker". He was also forced to change his theme song to a nursery rhyme sounding jingle because Harlem Heat 2000 won the rights to the theme song. This was abruptly dropped when Booker reverted to a military gimmick he'd used in the indies called G.I. Bro and joined the Misfits in Action, a stable made out of WCW's tenured midcarders and given military names and gimmicks. He then followed up by almost never appearing with the M.I.A anyhow.

* To promote the film ''Ready To Rumble'', WCW allowed actor David Arquette to win their heavyweight title, keep it for a good clip of time, then [[FaceHeelTurn turn heel]] as part of one giant ShockingSwerve (with overzealous announcer Tony Schiavone branding it "the ''ultimate'' swerve"). This was the angle that cemented booker VinceRusso as being certifiably insane amongst wrestling fans. Even [[OnlySaneMan Arquette]] protested it, since he ''[[GenreSavvy knew]]'' it would [[XPacHeat infuriate the fans]], but it was in his contract.

* There's WCW's ''Great American Bash 1991'' PPV, which had the entire Baltimore audience chanting "''WE WANT FLAIR!''" for the entire show (and especially during the main event) to protest RicFlair's firing from WCW just days before the event. Flair, meanwhile, would join the WWF, taking the NWA World Heavyweight Championship with him (because he wasn't paid back the $25,000 deposit he put down on the belt when he received it for the first time) and calling himself "The ''Real'' World's Heavyweight Champion" (a TakeThat aimed at then-WWF champ HulkHogan and at booker Jim Herd, who was running WCW at the time).

* To promote the film ''Ready To Rumble'', WCW allowed actor David Arquette to win their heavyweight title, keep it for a good clip of time, then [[FaceHeelTurn turn heel]] as part of one giant ShockingSwerve (with overzealous announcer Tony Schiavone branding it "the ''ultimate'' swerve"). This was the angle that cemented booker VinceRusso as being certifiably insane amongst wrestling fans. Even [[OnlySaneMan Arquette]] protested it, since he ''[[GenreSavvy knew]]'' it would [[XPacHeat infuriate the fans]], but it was in his contract. Oh yeah, did we mention that Arquette weighs about half as much as your standard wrestler/boxer? Because the bookers didn't seem to take that into account ''at all''.
** Arquette really deserves no criticism for this incident. [[OneOfUs He was a lifelong wrestling fan]] and argued hard against being given the title, but Russo was insistent on the angle. Arquette further redeemed himself by quietly donating the paychecks he received during his WCW tenure to the families of OwenHart, Brian Pillman, Bobby Duncum Jr., Brian Hildebrand (all deceased), and Darren "Droz" Drozdov (paralyzed from the waist down following an in-ring accident).
** It should also be noted that the origin of the angle allegedly traces back to, of all people, Tony Schiavone -- he allegedly [[TemptingFate suggested the swerve as a joke during a production meeting]].

* From the time KevinNash ended Goldberg's streak to when VinceMcMahon bought the company, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship changed hands 32 times within the next 2 1/4 years. THIRTY-TWO TIMES!! That includes 19 times in the year 2000 alone!

** Besides the loss of Flair, this show featured such "classics" as a scaffold match with unclear rules (capture-the-flag) and no payoff bump, Johnny B. Badd (Marc Mero playing basically LittleRichard as a wrestler) vs. [[CharlieBrownFromOuttaTown the Yellow Dog]] (Brian Pillman[[hottip:*:"Johnny don't be bad, [[CrossesTheLineTwice Johnny B. GAY!"]]]] in a godawful outfit); Big Josh (a lumberjack who usually came out with dancing bears) vs. Blackblood (Billy Jack Haynes as an...executioner, or something) in, appropriately, a lumberjack match; Ron Simmons vs. Oz (KevinNash as an evil ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''-type character); and Jorge "El Gigante" Gonzalez vs. One Man Gang (with Gigante coming out with [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment midgets that had nothing to do with the match and played no role afterwards]]).
* ''Starrcade 1997'' is a legitimately polarizing example for a number of reasons; it's more of a meta-example -- the product itself is reasonable, but it's regarded by some as the moment where it becomes clear that WCW wouldn't win the MondayNightWars.
** After being a sneak and avoiding him for pretty much the entirety of 1997 (and a few months at the end of 1996), "[[NewWorldOrder Hollywood]]" HulkHogan was going to fight Sting at ''Starrcade'' for the WCW World Heavyweight Title. The match practically wrote itself -- they brawl, Sting gets jumped by the [=nWo=], Sting fights them off, Sting makes Hogan tap out to the Scorpion Deathlock, and the crowd goes '''nuts''' as Sting basically defeats the [=nWo=] once and for all. WCW, however, decided to take a different route...
** Since WCW had also been building the story of Nick Patrick being a referee in the back pocket of the [=nWo=] ''and'' had just signed former WWF champion BretHart following the MontrealScrewjob, WCW changed the plan to recreate the Screwjob (Hulk pins Sting with Patrick delivering a fast count), then have Bret (who served as guest referee for an earlier bout ''[[DarthWiki/WallBanger in his WCW debut]]'') stop the bell from being rung, knock Patrick out, and toss Hogan back in the ring so Sting can make him tap out. While the changed plan isn't ideal -- as a fully clean victory from Sting would have been the best way to blow the feud off -- it still sounds okay on paper. [[ItGotWorse However...]]
** During the actual match, Patrick's "fast" count wasn't actually "fast" -- it was a normal three-count (some rumors say Hogan paid Patrick to do this to sabotage the angle), making the whole ending of the match (including Bret's interference) look bad, especially considering how Hogan had dominated Sting for the majority of the match. Many feel that this was the moment it became clear that the politicking in WCW was going to be the end of the company; as such, the whole thing is really quite hard to watch nowadays.
** In the brief period after ''Starrcade'', the [=nWo=] angle would be extended by the formation of the "Wolfpac" group '''and''' Sting would be stripped of the WCW Championship thanks to the controversy of the "fast count" (he regained the title two months later, but the damage had already been done). The really sad thing about this example? The crowd was ''red hot'' for the entire match, and everyone went '''nuts''' after Sting made Hogan tap. It's just sad that we now know this was the beginning of the end, and reading into the entire match in hindsight makes it difficult to watch.
** It should be noted for historical reference that ''Starrcade 1997'' was WCW's biggest PPV ever -- 17,500 fans attended the event live (for a $543,000 box office take), and the show did a 1.9 buyrate (meaning another approximate $6 million in revenue), capping off what was arguably the most successful year in WCW history -- and it took place a mere ''three years and three months'' before the company went out of business.
** The ultimate irony was that ''Starrcade 1997'' was supposed to be the final nail in the coffin for the WWF in the MondayNightWars. Eric Bischoff even proclaimed such on live television, saying that the WWF would be out of business "this time next year" in November 1997.

** Ottman was later turned into a construction worker who was deliberately clumsy. It wasn't much better.

** It's HilariousInHindsight, too, when you know what all the buildup is going towards.
** Fred Ottman's page on TheOtherWiki goes into some detail on this incident, with a quote from a WWE.com interview with the Shockmaster himself. A snippet: "They put me in a Storm Trooper mask which they painted and covered in glitter, I couldn't see a thing." GenreSavvy viewers already know that you can't see a thing in those helmets...
*** Thanks to Dusty Rhodes, we found out how this is even more of a DMOS: it turns out that what was shown was ''the second attempt'' at The Shockmaster going through the wall. The first time went off without a hitch, but when they went to do it live, a producer nailed a two-by-four to the bottom of the wall without telling anyone involved.

** [[ItGetsWorse Worse]], somewhere along the line, after David Flair would eventually forgive Stacy, Russo would reveal that Stacy was the result of an affair RicFlair had with another woman, [[BrotherSisterIncest making her and David siblings]].

* Jim Herd, the president of WCW during the early part of the 1990s, deserves special mention here. In his autobiography, Flair goes into detail about working with Herd, then the head of the WCW booking committee, whose previous work experience included manager at a local radio station and an executive for both a bank and ''Pizza Hut''. Herd's "brilliant" ideas included lumberjack Big Josh (a pre-Doink Matt Bourne), attempting to create a tag team called "the Hunchbacks" (who couldn't be pinned because of their humps), and trying to {{retool}} Flair into a Roman gladiator named Spartacus (to which Kevin Sullivan famously replied "while we're doing this, why don't we go down to Yankee Stadium and change Mickey Mantle's number?").
* '''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingerpoke_of_Doom The Fingerpoke of Doom.]]''' This was made worse because there were several ways the promotion ''could've'' saved the angle (such as ''not destroying [[{{Goldberg}} their top draw at the time]]''), but on the bright side at least it had [[FingerpokeOfDoom a Trope]] named after it.

** In fairness, the stupidity of destroying Goldberg wasn't the Fingerpoke -- that happened much later that same year, when they had him attempt to break a limo window with a pipe. During the course of filming the segment, Goldberg lost the pipe and proceeded to try to break the window with his bare hands. He succeeded...but at the cost of [[GameBreakingInjury badly injuring his arm and coming within a centimetre of severing a blood vessel that may have cost him his life]]. Goldberg disappeared for months as a result of the injury, and WCW, left without its top box office draw, was run over by the [[DwayneJohnson Rock]]/[[StoneColdSteveAustin Austin]] feud in the WWF.
*** The limo incident occurred in December 1999, when Austin was out of action due to his problematic neck (which caused his early retirement). The [=McMahon=]-Helmsley era had just started, IIRC.
* The famous attempt to play BookerT and his brother Stevie Ray as what appeared to be '''''slaves''''' (they were called "The Posse" and supposed to be convicts). Stevie was to be called "Kole" and Booker was to be called "Kane". This was tried at a house show and met with such vehemence that it never made it to TV, as the image of two black men in shackles led to the ring by Col. Rob Parker (a rich white Southerner) [[UnfortunateImplications raised way too many red flags]]. Booker and Stevie did initially come out as Kane and Kole, just not with the slave gimmick.
** Speaking of Booker, how about him feuding with Stevie and Tony "Big T" Norris (formerly Ahmed Johnson in the WWF) over the ''letter T''? It sounds like something right out of ''SesameStreet''. Booker ''lost'' this feud, forcing him to drop the "T" from his ring name and be called simply "Booker"...at least until VinceRusso put him into the (horrible) AllAmericanFace stable "Misfits In Action" and made him revive his old "G.I. Bro" gimmick for a few months.
*** Yet again, this wasn't ''all'' Russo: Booker volunteered to join the Misfits, figuring (correctly) that it would take a main eventer like him to give the angle the needed rub to elevate it above bad joke level. (Naturally, YMMV as to whether this succeeded.)

* WCW had a bevy of bad gimmicks in the early 1990s, ranging from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Neu untalented (and fat) rappers]] to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dungeon_of_Doom a stable of various overweight misfits trying to destroy Hulkamania]] to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnaman blatant plagiarism]]. It makes one wonder how they were even able to survive long enough to ''start'' the Monday Night Wars.
* It seems ironic that WCW tried to regain the lead in the MondayNightWars through one man whom WWE had reused earlier with limited success, The UltimateWarrior. Warrior's stint in WCW did not go well, from a needlessly long and confusing introduction dashed with various motifs blatantly stolen from ''Batman'' to his lacking in-ring skills, fans were treated to a show that was goofier than ever. The climax was a notoriously bad match between Warrior and Hulk Hogan at ''Halloween Havoc 1998'', which Hogan won after a cheap run-in. Just to make things that little bit worse, Warrior had a number of perks and high pay hardly matching his lax workload in his contract. Also of note is that Davey Boy Smith badly injured himself on a trap door that Warrior used to enter the ring and was later [[MemeticMutation fired via Fed Ex]].

** Since WCW had also been building the story of Nick Patrick being a referee in the back pocket of the [=nWo=] ''and'' had just signed former WWF champion BretHart following the MontrealScrewjob, WCW changed the plan to recreate the Screwjob (Hulk pins Sting with Patrick delivering a fast count), then have Bret (who served as guest referee for an earlier bout ''[[DarthWiki/WallBanger in his WCW debut]]'') stop the bell from being rung, knock Patrick out, and toss Hogan back in the ring so Sting can make him tap out. While the changed plan isn't ideal -- as a fully clean victory from Sting would have been the best way to blow the feud off -- it still sounds okay on paper.

The sheer amount of terrible angles, GimmickMatches, backstage politics, VinceRusso booking, and horrendous business decisions led to a company worth $500,000,000 and backed by TedTurner to become a hollow shell of a promotion that was bought by VinceMcMahon for just $3,000,000.

{{WCW}} was once the second-most popular wrestling/sports-entertainment promotion in the United States (and even ''beat'' its chief rival, {{WWE}}, for a decent stretch of time), but it made so many mistakes that WrestleCrap and Figure Four Weekly were able to write a book about the company's downfall (''TheDeathOfWCW''). The sheer amount of terrible angles, GimmickMatches, backstage politics, VinceRusso booking and horrendous business decisions led to a company worth $500 million and backed by TedTurner to become a hollow shell of a promotion that was bought by VinceMcMahon for just $3 million.

[[folder: Championships]]

[[folder: Pay-Per-Views]]

[[folder:Angles and Gimmicks]]

[[/folder]]

* It seems ironic that WCW tried to regain the lead in the MondayNightWars through one man whom WWE had reused earlier with limited success, The UltimateWarrior. Warrior's stint in WCW did not go well, from a needlessly long and confusing introduction dashed with various motifs blatantly stolen from ''Batman'' to his lacking in-ring skills, fans were treated to a show goofier than ever. The climax was a notoriously bad match between Warrior and Hulk Hogan at ''Halloween Havoc 1998'', which Hogan won after a cheap run-in. Just to make things that little bit worse, Warrior had a number of perks and high pay hardly matching his lax workload in his contract. Also of note is that Davey Boy Smith badly injured himself on a trap door that Warrior used to enter the ring and was later [[MemeticMutation fired via Fed Ex]].

* Russo and Ed Ferrara's angle of "Oklahoma", which consisted of Ferrara dressing up as a parody of JimRoss complete with BBQ sauce and mocking JR's Bell's palsy (and calling matches just by yelling things repeatedly), was a [[DudeNotFunny completely tasteless gag]] that nobody thought was funny; many people within the company (including RicFlair) were outright pissed that Russo and Ferrara would do something so utterly crass. You can even hear Tony Schiavone utter a legitimately shocked "[[NoJustNoReaction Oh]], ''[[NoJustNoReaction no]]''." the first time Oklahoma came out during ''Mayhem 1999'', and he seems beside himself the whole time the mockery is going on.

----
[[AC:Championships]]

[[AC: Pay-Per-Views]]

[[AC:Angles and Gimmicks]]

* WCW had a bevy of bad gimmicks in the early 1990s, ranging from [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Neu untalented (and fat) rappers]] to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dungeon_of_Doom a stable of various overweight misfits trying to destroy Hulkamania]] to [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnaman blatant plagiarism]]. It makes one wonder how they were even able to survive long enough to ''start'' the Monday Night Wars.

{{WCW}} was once the second-most popular wrestling/sports-entertainment promotion in the United States (and even ''beat'' its chief rival, {{WWE}}, for a decent stretch of time), but it made so many mistakes that WrestleCrap and Figure Four Weekly were able to write a book about the company's downfall (''TheDeathOfWCW''). The sheer amount of terrible angles, GimmickMatches, backstage politics, and horrendous business decisions led to a company worth $500 million and backed by TedTurner to become a hollow shell of a promotion that was bought by VinceMcMahon for just $3 million.

* Russo and Ed Ferrara's angle of "Oklahoma", which consisted of Ferrara dressing up as a parody of JimRoss complete with BBQ sauce and mocking JR's Bell's palsy (and calling matches just by yelling things repeatedly), was a [[DudeNotFunny completely tasteless gag]] that nobody thought was funny; many people within the company (including RicFlair) were outright pissed that Russo and Ferrara would do something so utterly crass. You can even hear Tony Schiavone utter a legitimately shocked "Oh, ''no''." the first time Oklahoma came out during ''Mayhem 1999'', and he seems beside himself the whole time the mockery is going on.

** In fairness, the stupidity of destroying Goldberg wasn't the Fingerpoke -- that happened much later that same year, when they had him attempt to break a limo window with a pipe. During the course of filming the segment, Goldberg lost the pipe and proceeded to try to break the window with his bare hands. He succeeded...but at the cost of [[GameBreakingInjury badly injuring his arm]] and coming within a centimetre of severing a blood vessel that may have cost him his life. Goldberg disappeared for months as a result of the injury, and WCW, left without its top box office draw, was run over by the [[DwayneJohnson Rock]]/[[StoneColdSteveAustin Austin]] feud in the WWF.

* From the time KevinNash ended [[Goldberg Goldberg's]] streak to when VinceMcMahon bought the company, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship changed hands 32 times within the next 2 1/4 years. THIRTY-TWO TIMES!! That includes 19 times in the year 2000 alone!