History Literature / TheDeathOfWCW

** Despite his immense popularity (and the huge paychecks WCW wrote for him), Wrestling/BretHart floundered in WCW after his arrival due to poor booking. {{Wrestling/Goldberg}} was buried after his initial rise to the top by [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder Hogan and Nash]]'s backstage pull.

* WeAllLiveInAmerica:
** In true stupidity, Bischoff decreed that Wrestling/{{Rey Mysterio|Jr}} needed to get with the program and stop wearing a mask (in the United States, non-heels who hide their faces are viewed as cowardly). Rey's unmasking did his career no favors. In Mexico, ''lucha libre'' considers surrendering a mask to be an act of shame; [[Wrestling/ElSanto some]] masked luchadors even insist on being buried in them when they die. In America, WCW merchandising took a serious hit after WCW discontinued sales of Rey Mysterio masks, which were big sellers.
** Aside from not believing in heels or faces (i.e., the backbone of professional wrestling storytelling), Vince Russo once gave an interview where he said no Japanese or Mexican wrestler would ever get over in the United States, because Americans don't want to see them. This was just before he became head writer for WCW, a promotion that had a significant number of Japanese and Mexican wrestlers on the roster. To say they were livid about Russo's remarks would be an understatement.

* AesopAmnesia: The 2014 version of the book contains new entries of "Lessons Not Learned" where it showcases how WWE and TNA alike pull the very same mistakes WCW made.
** Subverted when it talks about Rey Mysterio being forced to unmask in WCW. The entry is "Lesson Not... No, Wait, Lesson Actually Learned" by noting that when WWE hired Mysterio in 2002, they [[CanonDiscontinuity ignored his unmasking]] and let him wrestle with his mask on. This ''massively'' boosted his popularity, and his masks became huge merchandise sellers for the company.
* AffablyEvil: Kevin Nash was apparently very popular among his fellow wrestlers despite booking many of their burials, at least at first. Once it became clear what he was doing, his popularity tanked. He rejected being awarded the WCW Championship at ''Souled Out 2000'', because he feared what the locker room might do to him.
* AndTheAdventureContinues: Some remaining workers of WCW (such as Bischoff) ultimately went to TNA Impact Wrestling, and the book offers a LONG list of TNA's screw ups that show they haven't learned one damn thing from all the mess WCW became.

** WCW offered Bret Hart chances to appear on live television if he agreed to perform the kind of stunts that took his brother Owen's life. Bischoff was going to beat ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw]]'' if it killed him--or, preferably, someone else.
* BatmanGambit: Used in a lot of storylines, but often pulled in real-life as well by Hulk Hogan and other backstage politickers, who found out that Eric Bischoff was often the perfect mark, to let them run wild at the expense of the company.
** One particular gambit that Hulk Hogan liked to employ was to sync his vacations with the NBA playoffs. The playoffs usually drew viewers away from WCW. Hogan would return after the NBA season ended and then claim the improved ratings were because of his return. However this backfired when he stayed away too long and ratings improved without him.

* CelebrityStar: Cited as a major drain on resources at a time when WCW couldn't afford to waste money. The company literally spent millions to bring celebrities in for angles that didn't draw a dime, characters that didn't get over, and musical performances that did nothing but take up airtime.

** Bill Busch, Vince Russo, and Eric Bischoff count as this--or, at the very least, [[PointyHairedBoss Incompetent and Egotistical Corporate Executive]]. The book goes into detail about how much of these mens' decisions were based solely on hair-brained ideas or out-of-control ego.

* NegatedMomentOfAwesome: After the [=nWo=] wreaked havoc, Sting was the only viable player left to take them down. Eric Bischoff showed a level of patience that would never be seen again by delaying the big Sting vs Hogan main event for 12 entire months until Starrcade 1997. WCW fans were dying to see Sting defeat the nWo for good but Hogan dominated the match and then pinned Sting clean. However Bret Hart ran out and declared the ref had fast-counted and restarted, allowing Sting to win by submission, finally defeating the nWo for the championship. What should have been a massive grand finale of the nWo storyline ended up being a confused attempt at redoing the Montreal Screwjob, leading to the championship being vacated soon after. While the event ended up being the highest-grossing in WCW's history, it set the tone for the of the terrible booking that eventually killed WCW.
* NeverMyFault: This happened EVERYWHERE in WCW when numbers started to tank. Everyone in power had different reasons for why that shifted blame off of them. This lead to them keeping up the same behaviors that were sinking the company up until its demise:

* NeverMyFault: This happened EVERYWHERE in WCW when numbers started to tank. Everyone in power had different reasons for why that shifted blame off of them. This lead to them keeping up the same behaviors that were sinking the company up until its demise.