History Horrible / WCW

* There are very few, if any, instances where an entire promotion will JumpTheShark, but if one exists, it is undoubtedly ''Starrcade'' '97. Wrestling was at a turning point in late 1997, with the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob fresh in everyone's memories. The show was meant to the biggest one in WCW's history at a time where the product had never been hotter, and forever cement the legacy of Eric Bischoff; it ''did'' go down in history, but for all the wrong reasons. The main event was meant to be the crowning moment for Sting finally defeating Hollywood Hogan and overcoming the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]]. Instead, in true Hogan fashion, the Hulkster decided that Didn't Work For Him, Brother, and instead what we got was a slow, boring affair where Hogan ate up Sting's entire offence and made him look like a joke (apparently, because he thought Sting was out of shape). The finish was intended to have crooked ref Nick Patrick give a fast count, Montreal victim and new WCW talent Wrestling/BretHart come out and restart the match, and Sting win clean. However, Hogan got in Patrick's ear and had him do a normal count, making Hogan look like the screwed one, Sting look like a complete loser, and Bret look like an asshole! Sting never got his crowning moment over Hogan,[[note]]A rematch on ''Nitro'' was cut off for no reason to pop ratings for the new show ''Thunder'', and when Sting finally won at ''[=SuperBrawl=] VIII'', it was once again in a match where Hogan dominated and made Sting look a fool.[[/note]] completely cheating the WCW fanbase out of a conclusion to their hottest ever storyline. Meanwhile, up in New York, WWF managed to turn their part in Montreal into the Wrestling/Attitude Era, turning their fortunes around whilst WCW went into a nosedive. The rest, as they say, is history. As Reynolds and Alvarez would write in ''The Death of WCW'' a decade later:

Wrestling/{{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). When you're that hot, [[ProtectionFromEditors you can do no wrong]]. But pride comes before a fall, and the sheer amount of terrible angles, nonsensical matches, backstage politics, bad financial decisions, bi-yearly fatalities, and appearances by Wrestling/VinceRusso led to a company worth $500,000,000 and backed by UsefulNotes/TedTurner becoming, in a few short years, a hollow shell of a promotion bought by Wrestling/VinceMcMahon for just $4,000,000. The rise and fall of WCW was so sudden that Figure Four Weekly and ''Website/WrestleCrap'' co-wrote a book about it, ''Literature/TheDeathOfWCW''.

* ''Starrcade'' '97 was the beginning of the end for WCW. The main event was meant to be the crowning moment for Sting finally defeating Hollywood Hogan and overcoming the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]]. Instead, what we got was a slow, boring affair where Hogan ate up Sting's entire offence and made him look like a joke (apparently, because he thought Sting was out of shape). The finish was intended to have crooked ref Nick Patrick give a fast count, noted [[Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob screwjob-hater]] Bret Hart come out and restart the match, and Sting win clean. However, Hogan got in Patrick's ear and had him do a normal count, making Hogan look like the screwed one, Sting like a complete loser, and Bret look like an asshole! Sting never got his crowning moment over Hogan,[[note]]A rematch on ''Nitro'' was cut off for no reason to pop ratings for the new show ''Thunder'', and when Sting finally won at ''[=SuperBrawl=] VIII'', it was once again in a match where Hogan dominated and made Sting look a fool.[[/note]] completely cheating the WCW fanbase out of a conclusion to their hottest ever storyline. Then WWF got hot in 1998, and the rest was history.

* ''Bash at the Beach'' 2000 - if WCW didn't [[JumpingTheShark jump the shark]] at the Fingerpoke of Doom, it sure did here. Anything that had a chance not to suck was overbooked to hell... and most of it didn't stand a chance in the first place. The no-hopers included: non-wrestler/truck driver Ralphus getting a [[ADayInTheLimelight mostly-singles match]]; a wedding gown strip match between [[Wrestling/StacyKeibler Miss Hancock]] and Wrestling/{{Daffney|Unger}} that ended with David Flair taking his pants off for no reason; a graveyard-based walk-and-brawl between Vampiro and the KISS Demon conducted completely in pitch-black; Scott Steiner losing his US Title as a result of using a banned move, making him look like a moron; and Goldberg beating Kevin Nash to tear up the contract of Scott Hall, a man who hadn't been employed for half a year. The show is most infamous for Hulk Hogan refusing to lose to Jeff Jarrett, leading to a bizarre shoot incident where Jarrett laid down for Hogan, Hogan cursed Vince Russo out to camera afterwards, then Russo came out and derailed the show with a rambling promo about Hogan's politicking.[[note]]This would eventually get WCW sued for defamation. Why? Because Russo called Hogan "bald".[[/note]] As a result, the first ever World Title for Booker T went completely forgotten. Brian Zane of ''WebVideo/WrestlingWithWregret'' gave his first '''two''' [[BrokeTheRatingScale zero-star]] ratings in his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3Cr4B7mf5g review of this show]], to the Wedding Gown match and Jarrett/Hogan.

* 51-year-old Wrestling/PaulOrndorff (who had retired due to injury) was a surprise team member for the Filthy Animals when they took on the Natural Born Thrillers at ''Fall Brawl'' 2000. Old wrestlers doing one-offs aren't unheard of, but by this point you can see major atrophy (from his '''career-ending injuries''') on the right side of Orndorff's body, most notably in his arm. During an execution of a piledriver, he fell--''paralyzed''--to the mat, forcing Charles Robinson to call the bout early. It was announced later on in the PPV that he suffered a stinger, a temporary spinal injury. Wonder how many people Russo injured when he was booker?,[[note]]The match was finished the following night on 'Nitro' with the remaining participants in the match (the match was held under elimination rules) with the Filthy Animals picking up the win.[[/note]]

* 51-year-old Wrestling/PaulOrndorff (who had retired due to injury) was a surprise team member at ''Fall Brawl'' 2000. Old wrestlers doing one-offs aren't unheard of, but by this point you can see major atrophy (from his '''career-ending injuries''') on the right side of Orndorff's body, most notably in his arm. During an execution of a piledriver, he fell--''paralyzed''--to the mat, forcing Charles Robinson to call the bout early. It was announced later on in the PPV that he suffered a stinger, a temporary spinal injury. Wonder how many people Russo injured when he was booker?

** There was also a "match" between Wrestling/JimmyHart and "Mancow" Muller, a horrible radio DJ based in Chicago who was/is ripping off Creator/HowardStern. He was brought in solely as a ploy to sell more tickets, i.e. they promoted the hell out of WCW on his shows.

* The 1996 ''Uncensored'' was a slight improvement over the 1995 edition, key word being slight. Two matches ended in DQ and no-contest respectively, and a title was defended, again despite this being unsanctioned. A horrid man/woman match between Col. Robert Parker and Wrestling/{{Madusa}} wasted time, and Sting and Booker T vs. the Road Warriors saw Hawk and Animal both gassed after 2 minutes and still go 30. But the most infamous match was a 2-on-8 triple-decker cage match with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs. the "Alliance to End Hulkamania", made up of 2 of Wrestling/TheFourHorsemen, 4 of the Wrestling/DungeonOfDoom, and [[Creator/TinyLister two]] [[Wrestling/RobertSwenson guys]] whose most notable connection to WCW was being in a movie with Hogan. One of whom was called "The Final Solution" until someone realised that was a Holocaust reference, so they had to rename him to the Ultimate Solution. As for the match itself, nobody knew what was going on, and there was no real indication of how to win. Hogan and Savage defeated eight men, that we know, but it's hard to tell how. Bobby Heenan was incredibly hyped for this, and there was no real way to tell why.

* ''Wrestling/TheGreatAmericanBash'' '91, which had the entire Baltimore audience switching back and forth between two reactions: sitting on their hands, and chanting "WE WANT FLAIR!" (including during the main event). They were protesting Flair's firing just days earlier. Note that {{kayfabe}} was far from dead at the time, and Flair was the biggest heel in the company. Flair, meanwhile, would join the WWF, taking the NWA World Heavyweight Championship with him (since he wasn't paid back the $25,000 deposit he put down on the belt when he received it for the first time). Flair kept calling himself the "Real World's Heavyweight Champion" to antagonize then-champ Wrestling/HulkHogan...but everyone knew the TakeThat was really meant for Jim Herd, who was running WCW at the time. As a result, the main event featured Wrestling/BarryWindham and Wrestling/LexLuger in a steel cage, fighting for Wrestling/DustyRhodes' old Pacific Wrestling Federation belt with a plate bolted over that read "WCW WORLD CHAMPION", since the new belt wasn't finished yet. It was capped off with the first of many unnecessary heel turns by Luger.[[note]]Up until the TurnOfTheMillennium, this was considered the worst wrestling PPV ever, with the [=WWF's=] ''Wrestling/KingOfTheRing'' 1995 the only other serious contender. Between Vince Russo's time in both WCW and [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]], and some of the absolute garbage WWE has shoveled out over the last 20 years (say what you want about ''GAB'' '91 but at least it didn't last as long as a transcontinental flight), this show just comes off as really boring rather than downright offensive to modern eyes.[[/note]]

* ''Halloween Havoc'' '91, which followed ''The Great American Bash'', showed that it would still take a while for the company to escape from the fallout from ''Bash''. Most elements that could have been good were marred by minor issues (the "Refer-Eye" cam making the otherwise good Light Heavyweight Title match hard to see, Steve Austin and Dustin Rhodes botching the slightly-too-late-fall spot in the TV Title time limit draw, the Halloween Phantom being obviously Rick Rude and ruining the surprise reveal, etc.). On top of that there were many glorified TV matches on PPV (The Enforcers vs. The Patriots, Big Josh and P.N. News vs. 2 jobbers dressed up as "The Creatures", Jimmy Garvin vs. Johnny B. Badd). Those were at least redeemable in a vacuum; the truly Horrible moments of this show, however, are the following.

* ''Uncensored'' 1995 was, in story, unsanctioned by the WCW board, so its matches wouldn't be subject to the usual rules (why they were still using WCW's brands and staff for it wasn't clear). In reality, this was just an excuse for more bad gimmick matches than usual. It started off with a "King of the Road" (match on the back of a truck filled with hay) between Dustin Rhodes and [[Wrestling/BarryDarsow Blacktop Bully]], which was not only devoid of real action and barely visible due to being filmed at sunset, but resulted in '''both men and the road agent''' being fired due to violating a blading ban (which forced WCW to use shots that were too dark to notice the blood, or literally edit the daylights out of the match, despite being billed as Uncensored). The KotR match was also pre recorded, meaning this was the best they could come up with on the editing table. Two "different style fights" (Meng vs. Jim Duggan in karate and Johnny B. Badd vs. Arn Anderson in boxing) just looked lame and added nothing. Production issues reared their head again, most glaringly the finish of the Harlem Heat vs. Nasty Boys brawl happening ''off camera''. Randy Savage vs. Avalanche ended in DQ because Ric Flair interfered dressed as a woman, despite this event being full of no-DQ matches apparently. The main event (Hogan vs. Vader in a strap match) saw Vader be too heavy for Hogan to believably wrangle him around, so they just had him pin Flair instead! ''The entire pay-per-view'' [[http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/uncensored-95/ made it]] into ''[=WrestleCrap=]''.
* ''World War 3'' 1995 was headlined by its disastrous titular gimmick match: a 3-ring, 60-man battle royal. Sounds great for a live audience, but godawful for PPV. Just showing it required 3 picture-in-picture feeds with 2 commentators each, but the small screens just made it harder to follow the action (not to mention the fact that at some points, 2 screens were showing the same feed at the same time!). This rendered it a chore to keep track of eliminations and spots. They advertised a "giant in every ring" - the original plan was for The Giant, Power Plant graduate Reese, and a returning [[Wrestling/GiantGonzalez El Gigante]] as "The Yeti", but Gigante had visa issues, so they put Reese in the Yeti suit, then [[RetCon took him out again]] as his debut sucked. Later plans for Wrestling/TheOneManGang or [[Wrestling/GiantHaystacks Loch Ness]] to appear all fell through for some reason, so they had to advertise Hulk Hogan as the third giant. The finish was painfully lame as Hogan went under the ropes, rather than over them, making planned winner Randy Savage look weak. The end visual being not Savage triumphant, but Hogan bitching at him, did not go over well with the crowd at all, marking the time everyone knew Hulkamania was dead.
* The 1996 ''Uncensored'' was a slight improvement over the 1995 edition, key word being slight. Two matches ended in DQ and no-contest respectively, and a title was defended, again despite this being unsanctioned. A horrid man/woman match between Col. Robert Parker and Madusa wasted time, and Sting and Booker T vs. the Road Warriors saw Hawk and Animal both gassed after 2 minutes and still go 30. But the most infamous match was a 2-on-8 triple-decker cage match with Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage vs. the "Alliance to End Hulkamania", made up of 2 of Wrestling/TheFourHorsemen, 4 of the Wrestling/DungeonOfDoom, and [[Creator/TinyLister two]] [[Wrestling/RobertSwenson guys]] whose most notable connection to WCW was being in a movie with Hogan. One of whom was called "The Final Solution" until someone realised that was a Holocaust reference, so they had to rename him to the Ultimate Solution. As for the match itself, nobody knew what was going on, and there was no real indication of how to win. Hogan and Savage defeated eight men, that we know, but it's hard to tell how. Bobby Heenan was incredibly hyped for this, and there was no real way to tell why.

* Harlem Heat's original gimmick: "The Posse". Booker T and Stevie Ray, as "Kole" and "Kane" respectively, wore prison outfits and were carried in chains by SouthernGentleman Col. Robert Parker, who won their services in a card game. The initial concept only lasted a single house show, where the audience became outraged by the obvious UnfortunateImplications: they were meant to portray convicts, but looked more like slaves. The team did perform on-screen as Kole and Kane for close to a year, but without the prison motifs or Parker (who would later go on to manage them again alongside Sherri Martel). Curiously enough, pictures of Booker and Stevie wearing the prison suits managed to sneak into [[https://i.imgur.com/DTx1B05.jpg the poster]] for ''Fall Brawl'' 1993.

** This was also the night where [=nWo=] Hollywood leader Hulk Hogan, returning from his [[BatmanGambit yearly football vacation]][[note]]Hogan liked to take yearly vacations just in time for the [[UsefulNotes/NationalFootballLeague NFL]] playoffs, which usually drew viewers away from WCW, and then return when the playoffs ended, claiming the improved ratings were because of him. He did the same thing during the UsefulNotes/{{NBA}} playoffs, which ''really'' messed with [=WCW's=] ratings because ''WCW Monday Nitro'' would get pushed back to 11 p.m.[[/note]], was going to announce his running mate in his bid to become President of the United States. This never happened, and instead Hogan decided that if Goldberg couldn't make it, he would face "that spoon Kevin Nash" in a "retirement match" — and supposedly, to settle the feud between the [=nWo=]'s split factions.\\\

* To promote ''Film/ReadyToRumble'', WCW had actor Creator/DavidArquette win the WCW Title in an embarrassing tag-team title match--him and new champion Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage versus Wrestling/EricBischoff and Wrestling/JeffJarrett. (Fun fact: Russo booked this based off a joke suggestion from Wrestling/TonySchiavone.) The match had a contrived stipulation that basically [[TheLoad let Arquette win the belt from Page]] despite not even pinning the legal man. He spent the next two appearances apologizing to DDP, trying to give the belt back and generally acting scared to death that he might actually have to defend it. He kept it for a while, in order to build up to a triple-cage match at ''Slamboree'' 2000 (because the movie had one). He [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl87W1BOYQY#t=330s turned heel]] (which Wrestling/TonySchiavone called "the ''ultimate'' swerve!") midway through, and ultimately lost to Jarrrett, making the company look like a joke to pop ratings, and tie in with a movie few of the marks even liked. After this match, Wrestling/{{Kanyon}} came out to save DDP from a beatdown, to get tossed off the second tier of the cage onto the entrance ramp. This near-fatal bump could've been on par with any of Wrestling/MickFoley's best... except it occurred in the final 10 seconds of the show and got zero replays. (Another fun fact: Russo also booked this--in the same arena Owen Hart died in.) Even Arquette, a lifelong wrestling fan, fought against it--he knew it would annoy the fans--but he was contractually obligated. He quietly donated his paychecks to the families of [[Wrestling/OwenHart Hart]], [[Wrestling/BrianPillman Pillman]], Duncum, and [[Wrestling/BrianHildebrand Hildebrand]] families, and Darren "Droz" Drozdov. ''[=WrestleCrap=]'' presented their [[https://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/david-arquette-wcw-world-champion/ very first annual Gooker Award]] to Arquette's championship run, and [[WebVideo/CinematicExcrement Smeghead]] talks about everything that happened in [[https://vimeo.com/254965894 Part 2]] of his ''Ready to Rumble'' review.

* ''Film/ReadyToRumble''. To promote the movie, WCW allowed actor Creator/DavidArquette to win the WCW Title, keep it for a good amount of time, have him compete in a triple cage match at ''Slamboree'' 2000 similar to the one in the movie, then '''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tl87W1BOYQY#t=330s turn heel]]''' during said match (with the overzealous Wrestling/TonySchiavone calling it "the ''ultimate'' swerve!!"). For those who don't feel like reading, [[WebVideo/CinematicExcrement Smeghead]] talks about everything that happened in [[https://vimeo.com/254965894 Part 2]] of his review for the aforementioned movie.[[note]]Trivia: Wrestling/JohnCena makes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it uncredited appearance in the film during the scene with Wrestling/{{Goldberg}} in the gym.[[/note]]
** Arquette's win would've been fine (or at least bearable) if they had reversed it the next week for not pinning the legal man. Arquette took part in a tag team match, teaming up with then-champion Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage (who had won the title the day before) vs. Wrestling/EricBischoff and Wrestling/JeffJarrett, with the stipulation being that whoever scored the winning pinfall would win the title. The match was filled with [[{{Slapstick}} tomfoolery]] and could hardly have been considered an athletic contest: the climax saw Arquette awkwardly spear Bischoff as Jarrett clobbered Page with the belt. So yeah, that means that Arquette won the title [[TheLoad from his tag team partner]]. He spent the next two appearances apologizing to DDP, trying to give the belt back and generally acting like he was scared to death of the fact that he might have to defend it in a match against actual wrestlers.
** But, no. They actually ran with it, [[FaceHeelTurn turned David heel]], and had him purposely lose the title to Jarrett at ''Slamboree'' 2000. The entire company was made to look like a joke in order to pop ratings and tie in with a movie which most fans at the time thought was worse than ''Film/NoHoldsBarred''. Even Arquette (a lifelong wrestling fan himself) fought against it since he knew it would annoy the fans, but he was contractually obligated. He quietly donated his paychecks to the families of Wrestling/OwenHart, Wrestling/BrianPillman, Bobby Duncum Jr., [[Wrestling/BrianHildebrand Brian "Mark Curtis" Hildebrand]] (all deceased), and Darren "Droz" Drozdov (paralyzed from the waist down following an in-ring accident), so at least some good came of it. ''[=WrestleCrap=]'' presented their [[https://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/david-arquette-wcw-world-champion/ very first annual Gooker Award]] to Arquette's championship run.
** Perhaps the dumbest part of Wrestling/VinceRusso's decision to put the belt on Arquette? It was based off a joke suggestion that Schiavone came up with during a meeting. That's right, Russo took a clear joke seriously and made everyone upset.
** After the match at ''Slamboree'' 2000, Wrestling/{{Kanyon}} came out in an attempt to save DDP from a beatdown, only for Kanyon to be tossed off the second tier of the cage onto the entrance ramp. This was an amazing bump, close to Wrestling/MickFoley's in terms of awesomeness. It occurred in the final 10 seconds of the PPV, and there were zero replays of it. So, basically, Kanyon almost died for 7 seconds of footage. '''Bonus Russo Points''' for doing it in the same arena Owen Hart died in.

* ''Starrcade'' '97. Many call the FingerPokeOfDoom the beginning of the end, but for many it was really this match and what followed it.
** No one was hotter than Sting in '97. The three biggest stories in the history of wrestling came to a climax that night: Sting's redemption after an entire year of build-up, [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]] vs. WCW, and Wrestling/BretHart's first PPV since [[Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob the most infamous night in wrestling history]]. What everybody wanted was for Sting to go over Hulk Hogan cleanly, win the World Heavyweight Championship, and end the nWo once and for all. That's the one night in his whole career that Hulk Hogan needed to take a clean loss. They have a slow, plodding match (with fans chanting "BORING" during it), Hogan gets a lot of offense while Sting gets almost nothing and looks like a chump, Hogan hits the Big Boot, the Leg Drop, and... wins with a perfectly legit three-count from referee Nick Patrick. Before the bell can ring, however, Bret Hart comes out to prevent an "injustice." He kicks out Patrick, becomes the impromptu referee for a match which is still continuing, and Sting wins...we think? Who approved this? How is this allowed? ''Why?'' It made Sting look weak for losing clean to Hogan, and it made Hart look stupid for saying it was a fast count, sinking his post-WWF career. If you can't make a decision this simple and easy, there's no way you can compete with ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw]]''.
--->'''''The Death of WCW'':''' ''Starrcade 97'' was, without question, the biggest money-maker WCW had ever produced. 17,500 fans. A $543,000 gate. An incredible 1.9 buy rate, meaning nearly $6 million in revenue. [[JumpingTheShark And the beginning of the end.]]
** The story which gets told is that Hogan paid the ref off. In Patrick's words (in a ''[=PWInsider=]'' interview), he had one side telling him to count fast and one telling him to count normally. We can assume the "sides" being Bischoff and Hogan. So to compromise, he counted medium-fast. Uh-huh.
** On Ric Flair's podcast, Bischoff claimed that Sting didn't come back in as good a shape as Hogan wanted (although adding that he didn't have a tan is a bit much), so they had to improvise. Bischoff also alluded to the fact that Sting was fighting a bunch of personal demons at the time (drugs/alcohol/marriage) and wasn't all there mentally, hence him not contributing to the planning. Hogan had creative control and it looks like he was wielding it.
** The rest of the show wasn't exactly better: Nash vs. The Giant didn't happen because Nash no-showed (he was pissed that Hogan had refused to defend the belt for over a month)[[note]]In subsequent interviews over the years, Nash has claimed a whole host of different excuses as to why he wasn't there, the most recent one being that he ate an entire pan of brownies laced with cannabis and got so wasted that he thought he was having a heart attack[[/note]]. Wrestling/{{Raven}} vs. Chris Benoit didn't happen because Raven was hurt (he had an appendectomy a couple weeks before the show, WCW knew he wouldn't be able to wrestle yet continued to advertise him anyway), so Wrestling/PerrySaturn wrestled Benoit instead. Eric Bischoff vs. Larry Zbyszko was a mess because the metal plate in Bischoff's shoe flew out early in the match, so everyone was left standing there like an idiot.[[note]]This perhaps needs a little explanation; Bischoff originally beat Zbyszko after hitting a kick with a metal plate that Hall put in his boot; however, because of his martial arts background, he wasn't wearing traditional boots but more like ninja-style socks, which is why the plate flew out so easily.[[/note]] Scott Hall attempted to do a run-in...only to receive a Sharpshooter from special referee Bret Hart as Zbyszko choked Bischoff with his karate belt, making Zbyszko the winner. (???)
** Sting/Hogan had a rematch on ''Nitro'' which was cut off (on purpose?). It was never made clear, but it was intended as a setup for ''Thunder'', which was debuting the next week and would address the "title controversy". Then, Sting had his title stripped after Hogan complained to kayfabe then-commissioner James J. Dillon, which made very little sense in-storyline because Dillon had always been opposed to the nWo. They had another rematch at ''[=SuperBrawl=]'', the second PPV of the year, for the vacated WCW title. It was the same thing all over again: Hogan dominated him, so even though Sting "won" the match, it felt like a fluke almost.

* ''Bash at the Beach'' 2000 - if WCW didn't [[JumpingTheShark jump the shark]] at the Fingerpoke of Doom, it sure did here. Anything that had a chance not to suck was overbooked to hell... and most of it didn't stand a chance in the first place. The no-hopers included: non-wrestler/truck driver Ralphus getting a [[ADayInTheLimelight mostly-singles match]]; a wedding gown strip match between [[Wrestling/StacyKeibler Miss Hancock]] and Wrestling/{{Daffney|Unger}} that ended with David Flair taking his pants off for no reason; a graveyard-based walk-and-brawl between Vampiro and the KISS Demon conducted completely in pitch-black; Scott Steiner losing his US Title as a result of using a banned move, making him look like a moron; and Goldberg beating Kevin Nash to tear up the contract of Scott Hall, a man who hadn't been employed for half a year. The show is most infamous for Hulk Hogan refusing to lose to Jeff Jarrett, leading to a bizarre shoot incident where Jarrett laid down for Hogan, Hogan cursed Vince Russo out to camera afterwards, then Russo came out and derailed the show with a rambling promo about Hogan's politicking.[[note]]This would eventually get WCW sued for defamation. Why? Because Russo called Hogan "bald".[[/note]] As a result, the first ever World Title for Booker T went completely forgotten. Brian Zane of ''WebVideo/WrestlingWithWregret'' gave his first '''two''' [BrokeTheRatingScale zero-star]] ratings in his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3Cr4B7mf5g review of this show]], to the Wedding Gown match and Jarrett/Hogan.

* ''Bash at the Beach'' 2000: Along with ''Starrcade'' '97 and the Fingerpoke of Doom, this is one of those "WCW JumpingTheShark" touchstones. With the exceptions of the actual main event (Booker T vs. Jeff Jarrett) and the tag team title match, the matches that weren't outright terrible were overbooked, such as:
** The "graveyard match" between Vampiro and "The Demon". Because for some reason, WCW paid Gene Simmons $3 million for the license. The obligation? The Music/{{KISS}} Demon had to win some matches. Here are the rules: The match started out in a graveyard. The winner was the first wrestler to arrive to the arena and enter the ring. Not only did this stipulation make no sense, it was impossible to see anything. The Demon and Vampiro battled it out in a dark graveyard, somehow ending up in a pond at one point. Even the announcers had no clue what was going on because it was so dark. This match would be a lot more infamous if it weren't followed almost immediately by the Hogan/Jarrett/Russo debacle. Fun fact: Vampiro entered from backstage to the ring and was shown passing Hogan on the way. So technically, Hogan's final WCW appearance was during the Graveyard Match.
--->'''Tony Schiavone:''' We've gone to new boundaries now!
** And now, the sole reason everyone remembers this PPV: Jarrett laying down for Hogan to pin him, Vince Russo throwing Hogan the belt, and thus humiliating Hogan, resulting in him quitting the company with the famous parting line, "That's why this company's in the damn shape it's in: because of bullshit like this!" Vince Russo would later come back into ring and launch into a shoot promo disparaging Hogan for being a politician, and telling him to "kiss my ass". While Russo claims that both men knew he had something planned (even if they didn't know the full extent of it), Hogan would later sue for defamation (claiming Russo went too far and actually did harm to his reputation), and it was eventually settled out of court. All of this buried what should've been the night's biggest takeaway: Booker T's first world title win.
** Brian Zane of ''WebVideo/WrestlingWithWregret'' actually gave his first [[BrokeTheRatingScale zero-star match]] rating in his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3Cr4B7mf5g review of this show]] to the Wrestling/{{Daffney|Unger}} vs. [[Wrestling/StacyKeibler Miss Hancock]] Wedding Gown match (a glorified Bra and Panties match which Miss Hancock basically forfeited when she decided to do a striptease in the middle of the ring), and then his ''second'' zero star rating for the Hogan vs. Jarrett match.

* In mid-1998, the WWF was on the rise and starting to get regular ratings wins against WCW. Eric Bischoff, desperate to regain his lead, decided to un-retire someone who had already been un-retired by the WWF years earlier: The Wrestling/UltimateWarrior, or rather, just Warrior.[[note]]Jim Hellwig had just come off a legal battle between him and the WWF over who owned the rights to the Ultimate Warrior name, with Hellwig even legally changing his name to Warrior to help his case. In the end it was decided that while WWF did not have the rights to the Warrior name, they did have the rights to the Ultimate Warrior name.[[/note]]
** Warrior's first appearance saw him interrupt another Hulk Hogan promo. Eric Bischoff claimed on his ''83 Weeks'' podcast that Warrior was supposed to talk for "seven or eight minutes", but he rambled on for ''over twenty'', and Bischoff did nothing to cut him off so as to not kill Warrior's momentum on his first night.
** He proceeded to have a ridiculous feud with Hogan, in which he appeared as a vision on the mirror only Hogan could see, and kidnapping and converting one of the nWo's most valuable members - The Disciple (Hogan's lackey, Ed Leslie).
** Warrior's run-ins had him rise out of a thick cloud of smoke in the ring. Whether it made him look badass or detracted from the show is up for debate, but the trapdoor he used for the stunt was incredibly dangerous. [[Wrestling/DaveyBoySmith The British Bulldog]] accidentally fell into said trapdoor at ''Fall Brawl'' 1998, and shattered his back so badly he spent over six months in the hospital with a full-body staph infection, later getting a painkiller addiction that probably led to his death in 2002.
** Warrior and Hogan settled their feud at ''Halloween Havoc'' 1998, in a trainwreck of a match where neither man seemed willing to cooperate with each other. Its intended finish was to be the Hulkster finishing off Warrior with a fireball, but it literally backfired on Hogan's face, leading to an audible where Hogan's nephew Horace ran in and gave Warrior a chairshot to the back to let his uncle steal the pin. The match ran so long that the entire event ran over its allotted time slot, and many pay-per-view providers cut the feed to the event while the main event between Diamond Dallas Page and Goldberg for the heavyweight championship was ongoing. This resulted in WCW having to refund viewers and replay the entire match for free on ''Nitro'' the next night.
** Warrior's run lasted another three weeks before he vanished from the company and retired. While Warrior was not known for his grasp on reality, the timing of his departure gives credibility to his own claims that his WCW run was only to give Hogan his win back from ''[=WrestleMania=] VI''.

** Warrior and Hogan settled their feud at ''Halloween Havoc'' 1998, in a trainwreck of a match where neither man seemed willing to cooperate with each other. Its intended finish was to be the Hulkster finishing off Warrior with a fireball, but it literally backfired on Hogan's face, leading to an audible where Hogan's nephew Horace ran in and gave Warrior a chairshot to the back to let his uncle steal the pin.

* ''Uncensored'' 1995 was, in story, unsanctioned by the WCW board, so its matches wouldn't be subject to the usual rules (why they were still using WCW's brands and staff for it wasn't clear). In reality, this was just an excuse for more bad gimmick matches than usual. It started off with a "King of the Road" (match on the back of a truck filled with hay) between Dustin Rhodes and [[Wrestling/BarryDarsow Blacktop Bully]], which was not only devoid of real action and barely visible due to being filmed at sunset, but resulted in '''both men and the road agent''' being fired due to violating a blading ban. Two "different style fights" (Meng vs. Jim Duggan in karate and Johnny B. Badd vs. Arn Anderson in boxing) just looked lame and added nothing. Production issues reared their head again, most glaringly the finish of the Harlem Heat vs. Nasty Boys brawl happening ''off camera''. Randy Savage vs. Avalanche ended in DQ because Ric Flair interfered dressed as a woman, despite this event being full of no-DQ matches apparently. The main event (Hogan vs. Vader in a strap match) saw Vader be too heavy for Hogan to believably wrangle him around, so they just had him pin Flair instead! ''The entire pay-per-view'' [[http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/uncensored-95/ made it]] into ''[=WrestleCrap=]''.

Then Hogan and Nash got in the ring. After gesturing around for a bit, Hogan poked Nash in the chest, Nash took [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhS4ZDnRqJQ the biggest bump of his career]], and Hogan covered him to win the belt and reform the [=nWo=]. As they celebrated, it was revealed that Goldberg had been released and was arriving at the arena — in a car, even though the police station was across the street. The logical thing to do was have Goldberg [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge utterly wreck]] the reformed [=nWo=], which he even began to do to massive pops... and then they buried Goldberg to oblivion, taking turns humiliating him by tazing him, spray-painting him, handcuffing him to the corner, etc. Of course, Hogan orchestrated his revenge and regained the world title at the Georgia Dome — the same place Goldberg beat him for the title six months before.\\\

->''"If, as the saying goes, an infinite number of monkeys, given an infinite amount of time, could sit at an infinite number of typewriters and eventually write [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare's]] ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'', then two of them, in a half an hour, could book ''Nitro'' and ''Thunder''."''

* Amazingly, we had not yet reached rock bottom as Vince Russo, WCW World Heavyweight Champion (won from Wrestling/BookerT, no less), was soon to follow. Russo gave himself the title[[note]]Joining Wrestling/VinceMcMahon, Jeff Jarrett, Verne Gagne, Wrestling/JerryLawler, Wrestling/KevinNash, Wrestling/GiantBaba, Wrestling/AntonioInoki, and countless others on the list of people that have booked themselves to win a world title. Of course, you'll notice that all but the first name on that list are actual professional wrestlers.[[/note]] not long after he gave it to David, getting speared through a steel cage wall and winning via "escaping the cage" stipulation (so at least he didn't "beat" Booker and only won by dumb luck). The one good thing better about Russo's title run in comparison to Arquette's was that it was mercifully shorter: Arquette held the belt for 12 days, while Russo only held it for a week. Russo did vacate the title, but still it's worth mentioning that after Goldberg dropped the belt at ''Starrcade'' '98 there were 30 title changes in two years[[note]]In the first seven years of the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, there were 20 title changes, not counting vacancies and the like. The last three years and 3 1/2 months of WCW's existence? ''33'', 25 of which came in 2000 alone.[[/note]]; Jerry Lawler himself would have to shake his head, because at least he traded titles with people who met at least two qualifications (athletic and over).

** The much-hyped opener was [[Wrestling/GiantGonzalez El Gigante]], Wrestling/{{Sting}}, Rick and Wrestling/ScottSteiner) against Wrestling/AbdullahTheButcher, [[Wrestling/ScottHall The Diamond Studd]], [[Wrestling/MickFoley Cactus Jack]] and [[Wrestling/{{Vader}} Big Van Vader]] in a Chamber of Horrors Match. Putting aside the bizarre premise (a steel cage with an electric chair in the middle, the winner is the first to give their foe a HighVoltageDeath) the match was poor. In addition to being marred by the "Refer-Eye" cam above, it was basically a structureless, hard-to-follow brawl with almost no tags. At one point, a masked man jumps out of a casket, is wiped out by Hall, and is carried off by crew in zombie costumes, all seemingly for no reason. The lever for the electric chair gets knocked down into the "on" position in front of camera, leading to a referee outside trying to tape it upright. The match ends when Abdullah is electrocuted by Cactus Jack[[note]]Who was nearly crushed by the chair as it was being lowered until Rick Steiner broke character to make sure Cactus got out of the way[[/note]] who mistakenly thinks he's shocking Rick Steiner (despite the chair being obviously in sight for Jack), then Abby {{No Sell}}s it and attacks Jack and several staff. Pointless, hopeless, clueless.

* In mid-1998, the WWF was on the rise and starting to get regular ratings wins against WCW. Eric Bischoff, desperate to regain his lead, decided to un-retire someone who had already been un-retired by the WWF years earlier: The Wrestling/UltimateWarrior.

* Of almost equal importance was the fate of the WCW World Television Championship. True, it was secondary silver in the championship hierarchy, but it had an uninterrupted history of over 25 years dating back to the company's NWA days, longer even than the WWE's own Intercontinental Championship title. Aside from that, the title had also served as a heat-building device in allowing {{heel}} wrestling champions to escape with it via a time limit draw of either 10 or 15 minutes from within a wrestling match, and its list of champions is a who's who of names that became legends of pro wrestling.[[note]]Namely, that list includes Ric Flair, Wrestling/GregValentine, Wrestling/RickySteamboat, Bill Eadie aka Ax from Wrestling/{{Demolition}} (as The Masked Superstar), Wrestling/RoddyPiper, Wrestling/RockyJohnson (the father of [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson]], as Sweet Ebony Diamond), Jimmy Valiant/Charlie Brown (the TropeNamer for CharlieBrownFromOuttaTown), Wrestling/MikeRotunda, Dick Slater, The Great Kabuki, Tully Blanchard, Wrestling/DustyRhodes, Wrestling/ArnAnderson, Wrestling/NikitaKoloff, Rick Steiner, Sting, Wrestling/TheGreatMuta, Bobby Eaton, [[Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin Steve Austin]], Wrestling/BarryWindham, Wrestling/ScottSteiner, Wrestling/PaulOrndorff, Wrestling/WilliamRegal (as Lord Steven Regal), Larry Zbyszko, [[Wrestling/MarcMero Johnny B. Badd]], Diamond Dallas Page, Wrestling/LexLuger, Wrestling/PerrySaturn, Booker T, Wrestling/RickMartel, Wrestling/ChrisBenoit, Fit Finlay, Wrestling/ChrisJericho and Wrestling/{{Konnan}}, among others.[[/note]] The title itself was unceremoniously abandoned on November 29, 1999 by Wrestling/ScottHall, who literally threw it in a dumpster after he decided onscreen that it was not worth defending. Granted, WCW had already reduced its value to that of scrap metal, but few were [[Wrestling/{{Madusa}} the]] [[Wrestling/ShaneDouglas people]] who'd dared to treat their own titles [[WastebasketBall like garbage.]] It was fished out of the garbage by Wrestling/HacksawJimDuggan a few months later, since he defended it a few times on ''WCW Saturday Night'', but the title itself would soon be deactivated following WCW's reboot. A few months before that skit, Chris Benoit was on FAN 590 (original call letters of CJCL, owned by Rogers Media; now titled ''Sportsnet Radio'' 590-The FAN) in Toronto and was asked if he thought that there was a conspiracy to destroy the company from within. He said, "It appears that way". When you have a wrestler straight-up calling a long-running title "garbage", no wonder why Benoit thought that.[[note]]About two months after that skit aired, Benoit would ask for his release along with Wrestling/EddieGuerrero, Wrestling/DeanMalenko, and Perry Saturn (rumor has it that Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr and Konnan also asked to be released but were talked out of it). Shockingly, WCW would grant this request despite Benoit ''winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship the night beforehand'' at ''Souled Out'' 2000 and the quartet, now dubbed The Radicalz, had immediately jumped ship to the WWF.[[/note]]

* Columbia, South Carolina was a recipient of the infamous Sting vs. Bret Hart U.S. Title main event match that took place on the October 5th, 1998 episode of ''Nitro''. The "match" took place entirely in the back, displayed on the Titantron, and with a screwjob finish to boot. The audience rightly booed it, and many of them likely never paid $40 to see ''Nitro'' again. A shame because Columbia was a stronghold for WCW when it was still the Mid-Atlantic NWA region. Oh, and [[NeverTrustATrailer despite what Schiavone said]], there would be no U.S. Title changing hands that night.

* The famed Robin Hood match, January 13, 1997. In an attempt to promote their new show ''Series/TheNewAdventuresOfRobinHood'' (airing immediately after ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'') the Creator/{{TNT}} braintrust decided to start a Wrestling/HulkHogan vs. [[Wrestling/PaulWight Giant]] match with '''one minute''' left to air on ''Nitro'' and then promising "live" updates during ''Robin Hood's'' commercial breaks. Fans at home were expected to believe that Hogan and Giant wrestled for a half hour, fans in the building reported the match actually went about 5 minutes. And as you probably already guessed the finish was the usual [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]] run-in for the DQ. Both fans and wrestling critics killed WCW for this one, and even the WWF made a couple snide comments about it on ''[[Wrestling/MondayNightRaw Raw]]''. The Turner brass took the hint and never tried anything like this again, and ''Robin Hood'' only lasted two seasons. [=WrestleCrap=] inducts it [[https://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/the-robin-hood-nitro/ here]].
* South Carolina was a recipient of the infamous Sting vs. Bret Hart match in October 1998. The "match" took place entirely in the back, displayed on the Titantron, and with a screwjob finish to boot. The audience rightly booed it, and many of them likely never paid $40 to see ''Nitro'' again. A shame because Columbia was a stronghold for WCW when it was still the Mid-Atlantic NWA region. Oh, and [[NeverTrustATrailer despite what Schiavone said]], there would be no U.S. Title changing hands that night.

* The famed Robin Hood match, January 13, 1997. In an attempt to promote their new show ''Series/TheNewAdventuresOfRobinHood'' (airing immediately after ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'') the Creator/{{TNT}} braintrust decided to start a Wrestling/HulkHogan vs. [[Wrestling/PaulWight Giant]] match with '''one minute''' left to air on ''Nitro'' and then promising "live" updates during ''Robin Hood's'' commercial breaks. Fans at home were expected to believe that Hogan and Giant wrestled for a half hour, fans in the building sated the match actually went about 5 minutes. And as you probably already guessed the finish was the usual [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]] run-in for the DQ. Both fans and wrestling critics killed WCW for this one, and even the WWF made a couple snide comments about it on ''[[Wrestling/MondayNightRaw Raw]]''. The Turner brass took the hint and never tried anything like this again, and ''Robin Hood'' only lasted two seasons. [=WrestleCrap=] inducts it [[https://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/the-robin-hood-nitro/ here]].

* The famed Robin Hood match, January 13, 1997. In an attempt to promote their new show ''Series/TheNewAdventuresOfRobinHood'' (airing immediately after ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'') the Creator/{{TNT}} braintrust decided to start a Wrestling/HulkHogan vs. [[Wrestling/PaulWight Giant]] match with '''one minute''' left to air on ''Nitro'' and then promising "live" updates during ''Robin Hood's'' commercial breaks. Fans at home were expected to believe that Hogan and Giant wrestled for a half hour, fans in the building sated the match actually went about 5 minutes. And as expected the finish was the usual [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]] run-in for the DQ. Both fans and wrestling critics killed WCW for this one, and even the WWF made a couple snide comments about it on ''[[Wrestling/MondayNightRaw Raw]]''. The Turner brass took the hint and never tried anything like this again, and ''Robin Hood'' only lasted two seasons. [=WrestleCrap=] inducts it [[https://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/the-robin-hood-nitro/ here]].

* The famed Robin Hood match, January 13, 1997. In an attempt to promote their new show Series/TheNewAdventuresOfRobinHood (airing immediately after ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'') the Turner braintrust decided to start a Wrestling/HulkHogan vs. [[Wrestling/PaulWight Giant]] match with '''one minute''' left to air on ''Nitro'' and then promising "live" updates during ''Robin Hood's'' commercial breaks. Fans at home were expected to believe that Hogan and Giant wrestled for a half hour, fans in the building sated the match actually went about 5 minutes. And as expected the finish was the usual [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]] run-in for the DQ. Both fans and wrestling critics killed WCW for this one, and even the WWF made a couple snide comments about it on ''[[Wrestling/MondayNightRaw Raw]]''. The Turner brass took the hint and never tried anything like this again, and ''Robin Hood'' only lasted two seasons. [=WrestleCrap=] inducts it [[https://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/the-robin-hood-nitro/ here]].

* The famed Robin Hood match, January 13, 1997. In an attempt to promote their new show Series/TheNewAdventuresOfRobinHood (airing immediately after ''Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro'') the Turner braintrust decided to start a Wrestling/HulkHogan vs. [[Wrestling/PaulWight Giant]] match with '''one minute''' left to air on ''Nitro'' and then promising "live" updates during ''Robin Hood's'' commercial breaks. Fans were expected to believe that Hogan and Giant wrestled for a half hour, fans in the building sated the match actually went about 5 minutes. And as expected the finish was the usual [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]] run-in for the DQ. Both fans and wrestling critics killed WCW for this one, and even the WWF made a couple snide comments about it on ''[[Wrestling/MondayNightRaw Raw]]''. The Turner brass took the hint and never tried anything like this again, and ''Robin Hood'' only lasted two seasons. [=WrestleCrap=] inducts it [[https://www.wrestlecrap.com/inductions/the-robin-hood-nitro/ here]].

** The much-hyped opener was [[Wrestling/GiantGonzalez El Gigante]], Wrestling/{{Sting}}, Rick and Wrestling/ScottSteiner) against Wrestling/AbdullahTheButcher, [[Wrestling/ScottHall The Diamond Studd]], [[Wrestling/MickFoley Cactus Jack]] and [[Wrestling/{{Vader}} Big Van Vader]] in a Chamber of Horrors Match. Putting aside the bizarre premise (a steel cage with an electric chair in the middle, the winner is the first to give their foe a HighVoltageDeath) the match was poor. In addition to being marred by the "Refer-Eye" cam above, it was basically a structureless, hard-to-follow brawl with almost no tags. At one point, a masked man jumps out of a casket, is wiped out by Hall, and is carried off by crew in zombie costumes, all seemingly for no reason. The lever for the electric chair gets knocked down into the "on" position in front of camera, leading to a referee outside trying to tape it upright. The match ends when Abdullah is electrocuted by Cactus Jack who mistakenly thinks he's shocking Rick Steiner (despite the chair being obviously in sight for Jack), then Abby {{No Sell}}s it and attacks Jack and several staff. Pointless, hopeless, clueless.