History YMMV / WCW

** The infamous [[FashionVictimVillain Shockmaster costume]] -- namely, a big burly warrior with a black cape and silver-painted Stormtrooper helmet -- was always stupid, but it's even funnier nowadays due to coming across less like a "terrible zero-budget last-minute WrestlingMonster costume" and more a "terrible zero-budget last-minute [[Film/TheForceAwakens Captain]] [[Film/TheLastJedi Phasma]] cosplay."
* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: The writing was on the wall for WWE years ago. Dubbed crowd reactions, booking prehistoric veterans on "The Road to [=WrestleMania=]", constant burying of crowd favourites. It is very similar to how many fans wryly enjoyed WCW...in 1999.

* TheFireflyEffect:
** It wasn't as simple as WWE acquiring their viewer base. Wrestling as a whole is down and hasn't been 'mainstream' in a long, long time. ''Raw'' and ''Nitro'' together had more viewers than ''Monday Night Football''. (''[=MNF=]'' was still on Creator/{{ABC}} at the time, and ''Raw'' [[{{TechnologyMarchesOn}} didn't even air on basic cable]] for a majority of the Monday Night Wars, so that's saying something.) Two and a half years after WCW folded, ''Raw'' was [[{{EpicFail}} getting beat by reruns of]] ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants''. Dave Meltzer went on rants throughout 2001 about the WWF's post-''{{Wrestling/WrestleMania}}'' ratings and how the potential "Invasion" by ex-WCW wrestlers ''needed'' to be a success if they had any hope of attracting old WCW viewers, since a lot (if not most) of them who held on quit watching wrestling altogether once WCW folded. By the end of 2001 (''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries''), the crossover was quietly dropped because the stars cost too much money and the rest were [[CListFodder poorly-booked]]. For comparison, the final ''Raw''/''Nitro'' broadcasts in January 2001 drew a combined 8.0 rating: 5.4 from ''Raw'' and 2.6 from ''Nitro'', which was just over 8 million viewers. The last Monday of January 2002, 2 months after the ''[=InVasion=]'' angle ended, Raw drew a 4.5 rating. Despite WCW going off the air a year earlier, the WWF lost 1 million viewers. The nWo coming in three months later didn't move the needle at all.
** Meltzer said that WCW going out of business was the worst thing that ever happened to professional wrestling, not just because they were a competitor to WWE, but because Turner had endless resources. In order for a company to seriously compete, they would need a billionaire crazy enough to absorb a lot of losses before they could start turning a profit and hopefully sustain it. Case in point, Creator/{{TNT}} is currently airing Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling's weekly shows ''Dynamite'' and ''Rampage'' on Wednesday and Friday nights, respectively. AEW is financed by car manufacturer Shahid Khan, the richest Pakistani in the world (who's even richer than "[[UsefulNotes/TedTurner Billionaire Ted]]"), and his son Tony. AEW's big-money backing, and the accompanying all-star talent, is the reason why fans are optimistic about about the future of the North American wrestling scene.

** The Puroresu and Lucha Libre stars (such as Wrestling/JushinThunderLiger, Wrestling/UltimoDragon, Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr, Psicosis, and Juventud Guerrera) who put on phenomenal matches every night, even to the very end, or at least until they all realized they'd never get pushes and started leaving in droves. Wrestling/LaParka in particular was massively over, but he was held back in the Cruiserweight division even though it was clear the crowd wanted more of him. Granted his look is kind of 'out there' but his "[[ChairmanOfTheBrawl chairman]] of WCW" stuff was a hit. At the first ''Souled Out'', he took 7 people out with his chair, stood on the chair and danced.
** Objectively speaking, Wrestling/ChrisBenoit was one of the best wrestlers to come from WCW. Many would argue that his rivalry with Wrestling/BookerT was the best of either's career. Another plus was the cruiserweight division and the focus on insane athletics and moves that you never saw with the likes of Hogan, Nash, Goldberg, etc. It not only included the aforementioned foreign guys, but also Benoit, Wrestling/DeanMalenko, Wrestling/ChrisJericho, Wrestling/EddieGuerrero, and Wrestling/BillyKidman as well: they were the wrestlers who opened up the show to pump up the crowd, and were usually the best match of the night. It pretty much opened the gate for the lucha and puro styles. The Malenko-Jericho feud was one of the best of the year across both brands. It's a shame that WCW themselves never really saw them the same way.
** Wrestling/AlexWright (''[[FunnyForeigner Das Wunderkind!]]'') is weirdly-[[SmartMark popular online]], moreso today than in his prime. Possibly the tallest "cruiserweight" of all time (billed as 6'4" in some places). He was too young, the U.S. was [[TwoDecadesBehind still trying to forget about disco]], and multiple, seemingly unrelated wrestlers did what they could to bury him.

** [[Wrestling/ChavoGuerreroJr Chavo "Chavito" Guerrero Jr.]] and [[Wrestling/GregoryHelms Shane Helms]] really stuck out in late WCW (2000); Chavito had a silly gimmick but the crowd were down with him. Even midcard guys like {{Wrestling/Konnan}} (¡ÓRALE! ¡ÓRALE! ¡ARRIBA LA RAZA!) could've theoretically been bigger draws, but WCW just didn't know how to maximize that potential. It's also a shame that Chavo Jr. kind of fizzled out post-WCW.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: ''Goldberg's the only guy WCW ever made'' -- WWE narrative

** WCW's numbers at the end weren't far off from where ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw]]'' is today. The difference is that WWE are making money, whereas WCW were losing it by the boatload.

** Still, their numbers at the end weren't far off from where ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw]]'' is today. (The difference is that WWE are making money, whereas WCW were losing it by the boatload.)

* TheChrisCarterEffect: Things came unglued in 1998, when Hogan announced his "retirement" from wrestling. Wrestling/KevinNash won a sixty-man Battle Royal at the ''World War 3'' '98 pay-per-view, earning a title shot against {{Wrestling/Goldberg}}, the then-undefeated World Heavyweight Champion and the logical end to the nWo. At ''Starrcade'' '98, Nash defeated Goldberg when Wrestling/ScottHall shocked Goldberg with a cattle prod. In January 1999, a rematch was slated to take place. On the same night that Wrestling/MickFoley defeated Wrestling/TheRock to win the WWF World Title, Goldberg was replaced by [[TenMinuteRetirement the returning Hulk Hogan.]] Hogan [[FingerpokeOfDoom gently poked Nash in the chest]], and Nash fell over for the pin. They officially lost the [[Wrestling/MondayNightWars Monday Night War]] after that, since it became very plain that the nWo were never going to lose. Not only that, but it seemed like there was never a plan or an endgame to it all. Instead, Hogan, who immediately said he didn't care about the title and had bigger fish to fry, brother, then had a modest title run with very few memorable moments or victories. Big turn-off to the casual fan. 'Go away' heat. And away they went.

* BaseBreakingCharacter:
** Opinions about Wrestling/TonySchiavone's role as commentator are all over the place. Detractors point out that when the luchadores were killing themselves with suicide dives and chair shots, he was either ignoring it, making fun of the masks/names, droning on about some [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]] stuff, or laughing at some vaguely racist joke; and overreacting to something like David Flair winning the Hardcore title, to which he would give his "the greatest night in the history of our sport" slogan and so on. (And that stern face he always gives.) However, supporters point out that, re-watching WCW in its sad, dying days, the man had to sell absolute car crash TV, but with a vigor and air of professionalism few could muster. Moves are being called, talent is being put over—and when he's in there with Mike Tenay, calling lucha or puroresu matches, he does bring his A-game.
** WCW was always different from WWE, mostly in tone and how they presented themselves. They were nastier and bloodier than the people of New York, with an old-school fanbase who grew up on [[Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance NWA]] wrestling. They definitely tried some outlandish stuff, but it didn't get over. Wrestling/HulkHogan is a completely different animal. He had full control over everything. Brought in all of his other cartoony friends and kicked out anyone who didn't fit his narrative. He was everything those kind of fans hated, and after the initial nostalgia surge (it's only fair to acknowledge that while Hogan was ''divisive'' from the word go, his presence ''did'' help WCW to turn a corner financially when he first came in), they had to watch him demolish all of the people they liked. He was booed constantly in various arenas, and although kids still cheered him, Hogan was already sort of seen as a selfish character by fans, and had selfish elements to the performance. When he turned, it was plausible.

* BestKnownForTheFanservice:
** The Divas were Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s answer to the Nitro Girls, who were better dancers than they were [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=bOHuXDQQ9qk wrestlers.]] In 1999, the Nitro Girls had their own TV special based on their swimsuit calender.
** WCW circa 2000 was Russo's wacky house of fun. Rewatching ''[[Wrestling/WCWMondayNitro Nitro]]'' from that period is actually entertaining. Like the sort of entertainment you get from watching a train wreck, though; you want to turn away but can't. Wrestling/StacyKeibler, Wrestling/TorrieWilson and {{Wrestling/Daffney|Unger}} were the highlights.

** Meltzer said that WCW going out of business was the worst thing that ever happened to professional wrestling, not just because they were a competitor to WWE, but because Turner had endless resources. In order for a company to seriously compete, they would need a billionaire crazy enough to absorb a lot of losses before they could start turning a profit and hopefully sustain it. Case in point, Creator/{{TNT}} is currently airing Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling's weekly show ''Dynamite'' on Wednesday nights. AEW is financed by car manufacturer Shahid Khan, the richest Pakistani in the world (who's even richer than "[[UsefulNotes/TedTurner Billionaire Ted]]"), and his son Tony. AEW's big-money backing, and the accompanying all-star talent, is the reason why fans are optimistic about about the future of the North American wrestling scene.

** WCW was always different from WWE, mostly in tone and how they presented themselves. They were nastier and bloodier than the people of New York, with an old-school fanbase who grew up on [[Wrestling/NationalWrestlingAlliance NWA]] wrestling. They definitely tried some outlandish stuff, but it didn't get over. Wrestling/HulkHogan is a completely different animal. He had full control over everything. Brought in all of his other cartoony friends and kicked out anyone who didn't fit his narrative. He was everything those kind of fans hated, and after the initial nostalgia surge, they had to watch him demolish all of the people they liked. He was booed constantly in various arenas, and although kids still cheered him, Hogan was already sort of seen as a selfish character by fans, and had selfish elements to the performance. When he turned, it was plausible.

* TheScrappy: To fans of WCW, the most likely candidate for this trope would be Wrestling/HulkHogan. For a decade prior to Hogan's debut in WCW, Hogan was the face of their chief competition, the World Wrestling Federation, carrying the company on his shoulders as its most frequent champion and otherwise winning audiences with his charisma and [[NarmCharm overly energetic]] promos. In 1993, after Hogan left WWF as they entered the "New Generation" era, the wrestling icon jumped ship (which makes sense given that then-head Eric Bischoff was a ''HUGE'' fan of the Hulkster--perhaps to a fault), and WCW audiences immediately welcomed him with open arms. Right...? Not exactly. You see, World Championship Wrestling was a home-grown southern promotion, and its fanbase did ''not'' care for anything related to "the promotion up north", especially a stale [[AllAmericanFace heroic goody-two-shoes]] like Hulk Hogan, as opposed to someone like Wrestling/{{Sting}}, ''their'' homegrown hero who was said to be the southern wrestling equivalent to the Hulkster in his heyday, and that these audiences preferred realistic "wrasslin'" to WWF's colorful, larger-than-life "sports-entertainment" product. If that wasn't bad enough, WCW fans had to watch that damn hotdogger and grandstander Hulk Hogan make quick work of their promotion's talent, like Ric Flair and Vader, and ''then'', to add insult to injury, he brought in [[Wrestling/RandySavage many]] [[Wrestling/BigBossMan of]] [[Wrestling/{{Kamala}} his]] [[Wrestling/JohnTenta wrestler]] [[Wrestling/JimmyHart friends]] to fill the roster, and they would be followed by Wrestling/LexLuger, Wrestling/BretHart, Wrestling/KevinNash, Wrestling/ScottHall, and many others, much to the displeasure of WCW's fans, who tended to [[XPacHeat audibly boo his very presence]].

* TheScrappy: To fans of WCW, the most likely candidate for this trope would be Wrestling/HulkHogan. For a decade prior to Hogan's debut in WCW, Hogan was the face of their chief competition, the World Wrestling Federation, carrying the company on his shoulders as its most frequent champion and otherwise winning audiences with his charisma and [[NarmCharm overly energetic]] promos. In 1993, after Hogan left WWF as they entered the "New Generation" era, the wrestling icon jumped ship (which makes sense given that then-head Eric Bischoff was a ''HUGE'' fan of the Hulkster--perhaps to a fault), and WCW audiences immediately welcomed him with open arms. Right...? Not exactly. You see, World Championship Wrestling was a home-grown southern promotion, and its fanbase did ''not'' care for anything related to "the promotion up north", especially a stale [[AllAmericanFace heroic goody-two-shoes]] like Hulk Hogan, as opposed to someone like Wrestling/{{Sting}}, ''their'' homegrown hero who was said to be the southern wrestling equivalent to the Hulkster in his heyday, and that these audiences preferred realistic "wrasslin'" to WWF's colorful, larger-than-life "sports-entertainment" product. If that wasn't bad enough, WCW fans had to watch that damn hotdogger and grandstander Hulk Hogan make quick work of their promotion's talent, like Ric Flair and Vader, and ''then'', to add insult to injury, he brought in [[Wrestling/RandySavage many]] [[Wrestling/BigBossMan of]] [[Wrestling/Kamala his]] [[Wrestling/JohnTenta wrestler]] [[Wrestling/JimmyHart friends]] to fill the roster, and they would be followed by Wrestling/LexLuger, Wrestling/Bret Hart, Wrestling/KevinNash, Wrestling/ScottHall, and many others, much to the displeasure of WCW's fans, who tended to [[XPacHeat audibly boo his very presence]].

* TheScrappy: To fans of WCW, the most likely candidate for this trope would be Wrestling/HulkHogan. For a decade prior to Hogan's debut in WCW, Hogan was the face of their chief competition, the World Wrestling Federation, carrying the company on his shoulders as its most frequent champion and otherwise winning audiences with his charisma and [[NarmCharm overly energetic]] promos. In 1993, after Hogan left WWF as they entered the "New Generation" era, the wrestling icon jumped ship (which makes sense given that then-head Eric Bischoff was a ''HUGE'' fan of the Hulkster--perhaps to a fault), and WCW audiences immediately welcomed him with open arms. Right...? Not exactly. You see, World Championship Wrestling was a home-grown southern promotion, and its fanbase did ''not'' care for anything related to "the promotion up north", especially a stale [[AllAmericanFace heroic goody-two-shoes]] like Hulk Hogan, as opposed to someone like Wrestling/{{Sting}}, ''their'' homegrown hero who was said to be the southern wrestling equivalent to the Hulkster in his heyday, and that these audiences preferred realistic "wrasslin'" to WWF's colorful, larger-than-life "sports-entertainment" product. If that wasn't bad enough, WCW fans had to watch that damn hotdogger and grandstander Hulk Hogan make quick work of their promotion's talent, like Ric Flair and Vader, and ''then'', to add insult to injury, he brought in [[Wrestling/RandySavage his many friends]] to fill the roster.

* TheScrappy: To fans of WCW, the most likely candidate for this trope would be Wrestling/HulkHogan. For a decade prior to Hogan's debut in WCW, Hogan was the face of their chief competition, the World Wrestling Federation, carrying the company on his shoulders as its most frequent champion and otherwise winning audiences with his charisma and [[NarmCharm overly energetic]] promos. In 1993, after Hogan left WWF as they entered the "New Generation" era, the wrestling icon jumped ship (which makes sense given that then-head Eric Bischoff was a ''HUGE'' fan of the Hulkster--perhaps to a fault), and it was expected that WCW audiences would welcome him with open arms...right...?

** ''Bash at the Beach'' 2000's [[WeddingSmashers Wedding Gown Match]] between Stacy (known at the time as Ms. Hancock) and Daffney. The first opponent to rip the other girl's gown off wins. The backstory is that David Flair is engaged to Daffney, but has [[YourCheatingHeart started seeing Ms. Hancock on the side]]. This was Stacy's second match in her career and her first singles match overall. It ended with Ms. Hancock voluntarily stripping herself of her wedding gown to give a lap dance to the men in attendance and Daffney hitting her square in the face with wedding cake as a big {{food fight}} ensues. The really funny part comes after the match, with the ring crew trying their best to clean up the cake mess at ringside, but they can't, so they just end up flipping the ring mats on the other side because a multi-million wrestling company somehow couldn't find a mop which worked. This match was rated -1 star by Dave Meltzer.

** Meltzer said that WCW going out of business was the worst thing that ever happened to professional wrestling, not just because they were a competitor to WWE, but because Turner had endless resources. In order for a company to seriously compete, they would need a billionaire crazy enough to absorb a lot of losses before they could start turning a profit and hopefully sustain it. Case in point, Creator/{{TNT}} is currently airing Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling's weekly show on Wednesday nights. AEW is financed by car manufacturer Shahid Khan, the richest Pakistani in the world (who's even richer than "[[UsefulNotes/TedTurner Billionaire Ted]]"), and his son Tony. AEW's big-money backing, and the accompanying all-star talent, is the reason why fans are optimistic about about the future of the North American wrestling scene.

** It wasn't as simple as WWE acquiring their viewer base. Wrestling as a whole is down and hasn't been 'mainstream' in a long, long time. ''Raw'' and ''Nitro'' together had more viewers than ''Monday Night Football''. (''[=MNF=]'' was still on Creator/{{ABC}} at the time, and ''Raw'' [[{{TechnologyMarchesOn}} didn't even air on basic cable]] for a majority of the Monday Night Wars, so that's saying something.) Two and a half years after WCW folded, ''Raw'' was [[{{EpicFail}} getting beat by]] ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' reruns. Dave Meltzer went on rants throughout 2001 about the WWF's post-''{{Wrestling/WrestleMania}}'' ratings and how the potential "Invasion" by ex-WCW wrestlers ''needed'' to be a success if they had any hope of attracting old WCW viewers, since a lot (if not most) of them who held on quit watching wrestling altogether once WCW folded. By the end of 2001 (''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries''), the crossover was quietly dropped because the stars cost too much money and the rest were [[CListFodder poorly-booked]]. For comparison, the final ''Raw''/''Nitro'' broadcasts in January 2001 drew a combined 8.0 rating: 5.4 from ''Raw'' and 2.6 from ''Nitro'', which was just over 8 million viewers. The last Monday of January 2002, 2 months after the ''[=InVasion=]'' angle ended, Raw drew a 4.5 rating. Despite WCW going off the air a year earlier, the WWF lost 1 million viewers. The nWo coming in three months later didn't move the needle at all.

** It wasn't as simple as WWE acquiring their viewer base. Wrestling as a whole is down and hasn't been 'mainstream' in a long, long time. ''Raw'' and ''Nitro'' together had more viewers than ''Monday Night Football''. (''[=MNF=]'' was still on Creator/{{ABC}} at the time, and ''Raw'' [[{{TechnologyMarchesOn}} didn't even air on basic cable]] for a majority of the Monday Night Wars, so that's saying something.) Two and a half years after WCW folded, ''Raw'' was getting beat by ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' reruns. Dave Meltzer went on rants throughout 2001 about the WWF's post-''{{Wrestling/WrestleMania}}'' ratings and how the potential "Invasion" by ex-WCW wrestlers ''needed'' to be a success if they had any hope of attracting old WCW viewers, since a lot (if not most) of them who held on quit watching wrestling altogether once WCW folded. By the end of 2001 (''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries''), the crossover was quietly dropped because the stars cost too much money and the rest were [[CListFodder poorly-booked]]. For comparison, the final ''Raw''/''Nitro'' broadcasts in January 2001 drew a combined 8.0 rating: 5.4 from ''Raw'' and 2.6 from ''Nitro'', which was just over 8 million viewers. The last Monday of January 2002, 2 months after the ''[=InVasion=]'' angle ended, Raw drew a 4.5 rating. Despite WCW going off the air a year earlier, the WWF lost 1 million viewers. The nWo coming in three months later didn't move the needle at all.

** It wasn't as simple as WWE acquiring their viewer base. Wrestling as a whole is down and hasn't been 'mainstream' in a long, long time. ''Raw'' and ''Nitro'' together had more viewers than ''Monday Night Football''. (''[=MNF=]'' was still on Creator/{{ABC}} at the time, and ''Raw'' didn't even air on basic cable for a majority of the Monday Night Wars, so that's saying something.) Two and a half years after WCW folded, ''Raw'' was getting beat by ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' reruns. Dave Meltzer went on rants throughout 2001 about the WWF's post-''{{Wrestling/WrestleMania}}'' ratings and how the potential "Invasion" by ex-WCW wrestlers ''needed'' to be a success if they had any hope of attracting old WCW viewers, since a lot (if not most) of them who held on quit watching wrestling altogether once WCW folded. By the end of 2001 (''Wrestling/SurvivorSeries''), the crossover was quietly dropped because the stars cost too much money and the rest were [[CListFodder poorly-booked]]. For comparison, the final ''Raw''/''Nitro'' broadcasts in January 2001 drew a combined 8.0 rating: 5.4 from ''Raw'' and 2.6 from ''Nitro'', which was just over 8 million viewers. The last Monday of January 2002, 2 months after the ''[=InVasion=]'' angle ended, Raw drew a 4.5 rating. Despite WCW going off the air a year earlier, the WWF lost 1 million viewers. The nWo coming in three months later didn't move the needle at all.

** [[{{Wrestling/ChrisJericho}} Hold 265: ARM!!!!! BAR!!!!!]]

* SnarkBait:
** Ladies and gentlemen, the company who sent Chris Jericho checks for zero dollars and zero cents. (True story.)
** [[https://i.imgur.com/DG8nwLH.png This]] parody cover by ''World of Wrestling''.
** Russo's WCW is pretty much the laughingstock of pro wrestling, though TNA (under Russo, Bischoff and Hogan) gave it a serious run for its money. Maybe there is a pattern here.

** Still, their numbers at the end weren't far off from where ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw]]'' is today. (The difference is that WWE are making money, whereas WCW were losing it by the boatload.

** In hindsight, the Wolfpac is seen as an obvious rehash of the nWo. However, in the summer of 1998, the biggest stars in WCW were in the Wolfpac. nWo Hollywood vs. nWo Wolfpac sold-out arenas that were filled with merch from both. Kevin Nash, who was already white-hot with the crowd, destroyed the stars WCW created all on their own, and got ''cheered'' for it. People were jumping up and down like they'd won the lottery. The Fingerpoke of Doom just made it retroactively worse [[ShaggyDogStory since there was no real blowoff.]]

** Still, their numbers at the end weren't far off from where ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw']]' is today. (The difference is that WWE are making money, wheras WCW were kosing it by the boatload.
** There's a disconnect between "Worst WCW Moments" lists and the crowds' reactions when you go back and re-watch those shows. In almost every case, the crowd was on fire during those matches. That being said, the negative effects were felt almost immediately afterwards, which why today they are viewed as embarrassments:

* CriticalDissonance: There's a really weird disconnect between "Worst WCW Moments" lists and the crowd's reaction when you go back and re-watch those shows. In almost every single case, the crowd was on fire during those matches. That being said, the negative effects were felt almost immediately afterwards, which why today they are viewed as embarrassments:
** Franchise/{{RoboCop}} and Creator/DavidArquette, World Champion. Both sold out the arena. Though it must be said that after the Arquette match, ticket sales plummeted and ratings dropped a full five points.
** There's a bit of revisionist history regarding the popularity of the nWo since people never got a proper payoff for it. Audiences never really [[XPacHeat got sick of the nWo]]: From 1998-98, average attendance from was up 46.7% (5,472 to 8,029), average gate receipts up 90.1% ($87,413 to $166,190), average television rating up 56.0% (2.14 to 3.40), average ''Nitro'' rating up 19.7% (3.70 to 4.43), and average PPV buyrate up 17.7% (0.79 to 0.93). WCW in '98 made $350 million in revenue and pumped out over $50 mil in profit; no other promotion in history had come close to that. Wrestling/{{Sting}} winning at ''Starrcade'' '97 would have been a catalyst for major change, but getting rid of the nWo altogether was out of the question from Wrestling/EricBischoff's viewpoint. The nWo re-made WCW; it's what the company was built upon. As for Goldberg, he debuted in front of sold-out arenas. He rode the wave the nWo created.

** The Fingerpoke of Doom actually fulfilled its purpose, at least initially: not only did it spike their ratings, the following PPV (''[=SuperBrawl=]'') actually got more buys than the WWF's competing ''St. Valentine's Day Massacre'' event. It got people tuning in and their ratings remained steady (around 4 or 4.5) until April.

** Even when it was clear that the company was keeping him away from the main event, Wrestling/RicFlair was one of the bright spots of WCW during their end. ''Wrestling/TheWrestlingObserverNewsletter''[='s=] Dave Meltzer used to make a list of the people who drew the biggest segment ratings on ''[[Wrestling/WWERaw Raw]]'' and ''Nitro''. He would calculate the rating they drew, who they were up against on the other channel, and how much the rating went up or down from the previous segment. From late 1997 until he got pulled off TV in 1998, Flair was the biggest ratings draw in either company. His television segments were getting higher ratings than Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin at this point. When he came back in late '98, he was still consistently in WCW's top 3 along with Hogan and Goldberg. His match against Wrestling/BretHart at ''Souled Out'' '98 also did a huge buyrate. Back then, [=PPVs=] were split into "Hogan [=PPVs=]" and "Non-Hogan [=PPVs=]", because the buyrates were normally 20-25% higher (at minimum) when Hogan wrestled. The Flair-Hart match (which was one of the only decently-promoted matches Flair had during this period) went way above expectations into Hogan territory. It's actually one of the biggest [=PPVs=] in WCW history. And to top it off, in 1999 when WCW was losing steam and the nWo angle was fading, Flair and Hogan main-evented ''[=SuperBrawl=]''. Both men were years past their prime, and everyone had seen them wrestle 100 times before. It popped a giant buyrate which surpassed expectations. They even did a better buyrate than the WWF PPV that month. Which WWF match did they outdraw? Austin vs. Wrestling/VinceMcMahon for the first time.

** [[Wrestling/ChavoGuerreroJr Chavo "Chavito" Guerrero Jr.]] and [[Wrestling/GregoryHelms Shane Helms]] really stuck out in late WCW (2000); Chavito had a silly gimmick but the crowd were down with him. Even midcard guys like {{Wrestling/Konnan}} could've theoretically been bigger draws, but WCW just didn't know how to maximize that potential. It's also a shame that Chavo Jr. kind of fizzled out post-WCW.