History YMMV / WCW

** 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 ''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.

* AntiClimax: In 1992, a feud between Wrestling/{{Sting}} and Wrestling/JakeRoberts led to WCW booking them in an "unsanctioned" match for that year's ''Halloween Havoc'' with the stipulation chosen by spinning a wheel with 11 dangerous potential match choices. For weeks on ''WCW Saturday Night'' they hyped this match and how dangerous it was, and what might happen if the wheel ended on "Spinner's Choice" as to what sort of ruthless match would Roberts pick in that case. Then, come the PPV and the choice ended up being...a Coal Miner's Glove match, basically the least risky of the bunch [[note]] It's a match with a steel-lined glove on a pole which the opponent ''can'' use, but isn't needed to win the bout at all. [[/note]] Yes, the match did end with Jake's cobra biting him, but still, not quite the career-ending, dangerous, slugfest they'd built it up to be.

###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.

** Ladies and gentlemen, the company who sent Chris Jericho checks for zero dollars and zero cents (true story).

** A classic case of this: the Dynamic Dudes (Wrestling/JohnLaurinaitis and Wrestling/ShaneDouglas), who were basically every TotallyRadical stereotype crammed into one tag team (right down to skateboarding). When they received a push by having Wrestling/JimCornette turn heel on them and join an opposing faction (Wrestling/TheMidnightExpress), the audience cheered Corny[[note]]Of course, Cornette was just playing the Dudes for fools and was in cahoots with the Express (Bobby Eaton and Stane Lane) the whole time. All 3 of them would eventually turn babyface for real when [[Wrestling/PaulHeyman Paul E. Dangerously]] would bring back the ''original'' Midnight Express (Dennis Condrey and Randy Rose) and leave Cornette a bloody mess. ("I said '''a little''' blood, kid...")[[/note]]

*** Meanwhile, the Rednecks recorded the riotously-funny "Rap is Crap". They held their own against the No Limit Soldiers despite being outnumbered almost two-to-one, plus they were led by "Mr. Perfect" Wrestling/CurtHennig, widely-considered one of the greatest wrestlers in history. Once fans cheered the Rednecks and booed every time the Soldiers chanted "hootie-hoo," the angle ended barely a month in.

** In the summer of '98, The Ultimate Warrior (known simply as "Warrior" in WCW) had a disastrous comeback. His debut on ''Nitro'', where he interrupted a Hollywood Hogan promo, was well-received. The crowd were losing their minds after literally every sentence. The Warrior formed the One Warrior Nation ([=oWn=]) to counter the nWo. That was supposed to be the big selling point: the man Hogan couldn't beat. It wasn't long before Warrior was getting booed heavily, despite playing a face to Hogan's heel. His gimmick was outdated for 1998. He couldn't do anything except bellow out his 1990-style promos. The event Hogan vs. Warrior would take place, ''Halloween Havoc'' 1998, was hyped up as a momentous event, and it wound up being one of WCW's worst ever pay-per-views: the undercard was middle-of-the-road at best, Warrior vs. Hogan was the [[http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/hogan-warrior-ii/ drizzling shits,]] and the saving grace of the show (Goldberg vs. DDP) ran over and was cut about 90 seconds in. WCW paid Warrior $3 million to work three PPV matches, but Warrior got hurt after two (at ''Fall Brawl''). Even Bischoff admits the whole thing was a huge mistake on WCW's part. WCW stopped using him once they realized how stale his act was, and Warrior was on a short contract so he was gone quick. It was widely-assumed that Warrior was signed on so that Hogan could get back the loss he suffered at ''[=WrestleMania=]'' VI.

** A classic case of this: the Dynamic Dudes (Wrestling/JohnLaurinaitis and Wrestling/ShaneDouglas), who were basically every TotallyRadical stereotype crammed into one tag team (right down to skateboarding). When they received a push by having Wrestling/JimCornette turn heel on them and join an opposing faction (Wrestling/TheMidnightExpress), the audience cheered Corny.

* {{Padding}}: A clear indicator of when WCW really started to go off the rails. Even for much of '98 (when they were still incredibly popular), there were episodes of ''Nitro'' that started off with a promo, went to commercial, came back to Tony Schiavone interviewing someone, cut to a promo backstage, went to commercial, and then came back to recaps...They had some bad direction, or none at all, by the summer of '98. Just one example: Kevin Nash once cut a promo where he asked if Goldberg would tag with him in the main event. Then Goldberg came out, going through his entire entrance, which takes anywhere from 2-5 minutes from the locker room, to fireworks, to the ring, only to come into the ring and say "you got it." Then he left.

** His famous burning of the ''Observer'' at ''World War 3'' '95. “[[VerbThis OBSERVE THIS]], BROTHER!!”[[note]]Flair said in one of his books that Hogan was obsessed with the ''Observer'' (probably because they were the ones [[DearNegativeReader reporting all of his burials...]]) Hogan cut a promo about "ragsheets" and burned a copy of the ''Observer'' on live PPV in response to a story about Wrestling/RandySavage's injured arm. It is simultaneously hilarious and scary that WCW wanted to prove a point by making Savage wrestle twice that night. He had torn his tricep and it was really noticeable. One arm was smaller than the other.[[/note]]

###In hindsight, the Wolfpac are 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.]]

** While many people consider him stupid and his AmbiguouslyGay/GorgeousGeorge character would probably not fly today, watching old WCW events fans would pop for [[Wrestling/MarcMero Johnny B. Badd]].

*** If you were watching at the time, you probably don't remember the Rednecks doing anything heelish. In one of the segments where Master P [[AdvertisedExtra actually bothered to showed up]], the No Limit Soldiers came across as heels since they were the ones who started the feud: NLS threw Master P a birthday party and the WTR came out to give him a ten-gallon hat as a gift. The NLS proceeded to gang up on and throw birthday cake at them. Master P also wasn't viewed by hip hop enthusiasts as a particularly good rapper at the time, and after he was booed during his first appearance, he simply refused to return. The remaining members consisted of [[YoungerAndHipper re-packaged veterans]] and rookies no one had ever heard of before.

* AntiClimax: In 1992, a feud between Wrestling/Sting and Wrestling/JakeRoberts led to WCW booking them in an "unsanctioned" match for that year's ''Halloween Havoc'' with the stipulation chosen by spinning a wheel with 11 dangerous potential match choices. For weeks on ''WCW Saturday Night'' they hyped this match and how dangerous it was, and what might happen if the wheel ended on "Spinner's Choice" as to what sort of ruthless match would Roberts pick in that case. Then, come the PPV and the choice ended up being...a Coal Miner's Glove match, basically the least risky of the bunch [[note]] It's a match with a steel-lined glove on a pole which the opponent ''can'' use, but isn't needed to win the bout at all. [[/note]] Yes, the match did end with Jake's cobra biting him, but still, not quite the career-ending, dangerous, slugfest they'd built it up to be.

* AntiClimax: In 1992, a feud between Wrestling/Sting and Wrestling/JakeRoberts led to WCW booking them in an "unsanctioned" match for that year's ''Halloween Havoc" with the stipulation chosen by spinning a wheel with 11 dangerous potential match choices. For weeks on ''WCW Saturday Night'' they hyped this match and how dangerous it was, and what might happen if the wheel ended on "Spinner's Choice" as to what sort of ruthless match would Roberts pick in that case. Then, come the PPV and the choice ended up being...a Coal Miner's Glove match, basically the least risky of the bunch [[note]] It's a match with a steel-lined glove on a pole which the opponent ''can'' use, but isn't needed to win the bout at all. [[/note]] Yes, the match did end with Jake's cobra biting him, but still, not quite the career-ending, dangerous, slugfest they'd built it up to be.

* 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 Hogan's very presence]]. Thankfully, he was RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap when he turned heel and formed the [[Wrestling/NewWorldOrder nWo]].

** ''Starrcade'' '85's "Mexican Death Match" wherein Manny Fernandez would be risking...his sombrero. During the match, Schiavone keened, "Manny Fernandez is fighting for his heritage, that beautiful sombrero."

###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.

** Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage. WCW's willingness to make him look strong vs. the nWo was huge for him, especially at such a late stage in his professional life (he was seen as the 'old guy' despite being in his late-30's): he turned down membership with the nWo, nailed Hall with the Diamond Cutter, pulled the rope down as Nash [[BullfightBoss charged at him]], and then he peace'd out. [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]] was the "People's Champion", but so was DDP (it was proposed in the run-up to the [=WCW=] / {{Wrestling/ECW}} [[IntercontinuityCrossover "InVasion"]] that he and Rocky feud over who was the People's Champ), and during that brief period in '97 his merchandise was everywhere. He was the original ''[[FinishingMove (finisher)]]'' '''OUTTA NOWHERE''' judging from the WWE Network Vault; part of his appeal was seeing all of the creative ways he'd go for the Diamond Cutter. His main event run from 1997-2001 in WCW was solid from top-to-bottom, whether as a face or a heel. Even his mid-card feuds with Wrestling/{{Raven}} and Benoit are considered classics. The only blip on his career is how WWE misused him. (But that's a "blip" [[BadassDecay a lot of wrestlers have.]])

** [[Wrestling/FredOttman The Shockmaster]] turned a worthless segment which everyone would have forgotten about into one of the most memorable botches ever. It would have been laughable even if he hadn't fallen on his face, but Sting's failed introduction (and the [[{{Corpsing}} disbelief]] of his co-stars) has more entertainment value today than just about anything from that era of WCW. The Shockmaster actually did wrestle a few matches: he lost the fur coat and helmet and had about a 6-month run, repackaged as a [[TheKlutz klutzy]] construction worker. (Maybe an electrician, thus the "Shockmaster"?). Weirdly enough, his finisher was a perfect [[Wrestling/TheUndertaker Tombstone Piledriver]]... but upside-down. The only thing it finished was his knees. (They included the move with Typhoon in the new DLC pack, though in that version he doesn't drop to his knees, just a straight slam.)

** ''nWo Souled Out'' '97. This is well-documented as one of the worst/most bizarre [=PPVs=] ever (''i.e.'' it's a must-watch.) Cackling bad guys riding in on garbage trucks for 10 minutes, with no voiceovers or music. Wrestlers in dad-jeans. All-black everything and the fisheye lens shots. Fake live bands. Eric Bischoff attempting to be cool. The [[https://imgur.com/a/DTVHW "Miss nWo"]] contest. Jeff Katz and his silly questions. Poor Nick Patrick having to ref every match. Poorly-thought out production ideas. (''Let's interview people in front of giant speakers, hyuck!'') Calling Eddie Guerrero a "Mexican Jumping Bean". It was a neat idea. It was duly [[http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/nwo-souled-out-1997/ inducted]] into ''{{Website/WrestleCrap}}'', and if you can find the video of Bryan & Vinny reviewing the show, it's thoroughly entertaining; especially when it comes to the Miss nWo contest.

** WCW had such a staggering amount of polished women wrestlers pass through with little to show for it. Wrestling/LeilaniKai, Misty Blue, Wrestling/{{Jacqueline}}, Wrestling/SherriMartel, Malia Hosaka, Brandi Alexander, Lexie Fyfe, Wrestling/LunaVachon, Little Jeannie, [[Wrestling/MollyHolly Starla Saxton]] are just among the better known names stateside. From GAEA in Japan there were the additions Toshie Uematsu, Chigusa Nagayo, Devil Masami, Infernal KAORU, Meiko Satomura, and Sonoko Kato immediately available with many more they could call plus ''other'' Japanese wrestlers like Wrestling/BullNakano. Other international names included Susan Sexton from Australia and Monster Ripper from Canada. Under the impression all of those names would be the foundation of a great WCW women's division, {{Wrestling/Madusa}} and "Reina Jubuki" Akira Hokuto were willing to give up being champions of the WWF's and Wrestling/{{CMLL}}'s, the former of which disappeared in 95 and wouldn't be right again until 2003 (and that return to form wouldn't even last two years but the independent circuit would pick up more of the slack by then), the latter of which became less active until going dormant completely in '03, and would not get back on track till 2005. This means WCW also played a hand in reducing women's wrestling to near-death for seven years in the US. (Luchadoras lucked out because Mexico's scene is much less monopolized than north of the border.)
** Ladies and gentlemen, the company who sent Chris Jericho checks for zero dollars and zero cents. (True story.)

* 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.

** Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage. WCW's willingness to make him look strong vs. the nWo was huge for him, especially at such a late stage in his professional life (he was seen as the 'old guy' despite being in his late-30's): he turned down membership with the nWo, nailed Hall with the Diamond Cutter, pulled the rope down as Nash [[BullfightBoss charged at him]], and then he peace'd out. The Rock was the "People's Champion", but so was DDP (it was proposed in the run-up to the [=WCW=] / {{Wrestling/ECW}} [[IntercontinuityCrossover "InVasion"]] that he and Rocky feud over who was the People's Champ), and during that brief period in '97 his merchandise was everywhere. He was the original ''[[FinishingMove (finisher)]]'' '''OUTTA NOWHERE''' judging from the WWE Network Vault; part of his appeal was seeing all of the creative ways he'd go for the Diamond Cutter. His main event run from 1997-2001 in WCW was solid from top-to-bottom, whether as a face or a heel. Even his mid-card feuds with Wrestling/{{Raven}} and Benoit are considered classics. The only blip on his career is how WWE misused him. (But that's a "blip" [[BadassDecay a lot of wrestlers have.]])

* 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.

** 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.

** It seems like Hogan made a personal commitment to drop a steaming pile annually at every ''Halloween Havoc''. Before the infamous Hogan vs. [[Wrestling/UltimateWarrior Warrior]] match in the 1998 event, two other Hogan abominations had took place at said pay-per-view back in both 1995 and 1996. The 1996 event itself is only remembered [[http://i.imgur.com/jlOjrTF.jpg thanks to Hogan's spiky hair toupee]] (which led to jokes about it giving Wrestling/ZackRyder ideas). Hogan and Savage were great characters but they were incapable of adapting their ring work to stand out in 1996--not to mention all of the shenanigans, with so much outside interference from both [[Wrestling/BigShow The Giant]] and Wrestling/MissElizabeth that one wonders why a referee was even present there in the first place. Hogan's 'best' showing at ''Havoc'' might have been at the 1995 event, in which he "fought" in a monster truck sumo match vs. The Giant, who was supposedly there to [[AvengingTheVillain avenge]] his "father" Wrestling/AndreTheGiant. That's the one where The Giant [[JokerImmunity fell off a tall building and then reappeared 15 minutes afterward]], not even limping his way to the ring. Hogan acted like he was dead.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: David Flair was a wash, but his mental breakdown made a good introduction for Crowbar and Daffney, both of whom became fairly popular and actually helped elevate David, if only for a while

** Judy Bagwell On A Pole. Goldberg refusing to "follow the script." Tank Abbott's nipples. Stacy Keibler's miscarriage. THIS IS NEW BLOOD RISING. It's an alright show, if you're the kind of person who likes to watch train wrecks. It's rotten, but it's rotten in a way which was never seen before and will never be seen again. ''Bonus'': It's called ''New Blood'' Rising, yet the main event is three older guys in a triple threat match. Kevin Nash saying "I'm gonna go over" in the opening package really defines the state WCW was in.

** Hall and Nash generally, but Nash was only on top in WWE because the business as a whole was in a downward spiral. It got revitalized only after the nWo revolution. His push in WCW was deserved, as he was consistently one of the most-over heels. WWE have expunged the Wolfpac from history but it was actually one of the most-popular stables ever.
** In the summer of '98, The Ultimate Warrior (known simply as "Warrior" in WCW) had a disastrous comeback. His debut on ''Nitro'', where he interrupted a Hollywood Hogan promo, was well-received. The crowd were losing their minds after literally every sentence, almost like they were high or something. The Warrior formed the One Warrior Nation ([=oWn=]) to counter the nWo. That was supposed to be the big selling point: the man Hogan couldn't beat. It wasn't long before Warrior was getting booed heavily, despite playing a face to Hogan's heel. His gimmick was outdated for 1998. He couldn't do anything except bellow out his 1990-style promos. Hogan vs. Warrior was hyped up as a momentous event, and it wound up being one of WCW's worst ever Pay-Per-Views: the undercard was middle-of-the-road at best, Warrior vs. Hogan was the [[http://wrestlecrap.com/inductions/hogan-warrior-ii/ drizzling shits,]] and the saving grace of the show (Goldberg vs. DDP) ran over and was cut about 90 seconds in. WCW paid Warrior $3 million to work three PPV matches, but Warrior got hurt after two (at ''Fall Brawl''). Even Bischoff admits the whole thing was a huge mistake on WCW's part. WCW stopped using him once they realized how stale his act was, and Warrior was on a short contract so he was gone quick. It was widely-assumed that Warrior was signed on so that Hogan could get back the loss he suffered at ''[=WrestleMania=]'' VI.
** The No Limit Soldiers, a stable of [[HipHop rappers]] led by Music/MasterP, were formed by WCW in an attempt to rope in the urban/hip hop crowd on Monday nights. Master P also wanted to give his cousin Swoll a break in the wrestling business. WCW then formed a {{country music}} stable, the West Texas Rednecks, to feud with them (the original name for the latter group was the West Texas Outlaws; West Texas Rednecks was supposed to be an insult, but between the commentators almost never calling them the Outlaws and the predominately-white audience not interpreting "redneck" as an insult, it became the official name). WCW, whose primary fanbase consisted of southern white males, formed a stable of country music-loving rednecks, and made them out be heels battling a hip-hop stable, who were supposed to be the faces. [[OffendingTheCreatorsOwn Yeah, that'll go over well in the South]].
###If you were watching at the time, you probably don't remember the Rednecks doing anything heelish. In one of the segments where Master P [[AdvertisedExtra actually bothered to showed up]], the No Limit Soldiers came across as heels since they were the ones who started the feud: NLS threw Master P a birthday party and the WTR came out to give him a ten-gallon hat as a gift. The NLS proceeded to gang up on and throw birthday cake at them. Master P also wasn't viewed by hip hop enthusiasts as a particularly good rapper at the time, and after he was booed during his first appearance, he simply refused to return. The remaining members consisted of [[YoungerAndHipper re-packaged veterans]] and rookies no one had ever heard of before.
###Meanwhile, the Rednecks recorded the riotously-funny "Rap is Crap". They held their own against the No Limit Soldiers despite being outnumbered almost two-to-one, plus they were led by "Mr. Perfect" Wrestling/CurtHennig, widely-considered one of the greatest wrestlers in history. Once fans cheered the Rednecks and booed every time the Soldiers chanted "hootie-hoo," the angle ended barely a month in.
** Bischoff was partnered with former head of WWF creative Vince Russo and launched two new stables: New Blood, the new generation being held down by the old, and the Millionaire's Club, a cabal of veterans who were only interested in keeping their top spot. The idea was to get the young talent over without burying the veterans, but the booking showed a lack of preparation and thought put into it: Shane Douglas in his thirties complaining about getting held down and being the "future" of wrestling just doesn't wash. Both factions disbanded once management realized the angle was a flop, as the Millionaire's Club got most of the fan reaction. Russo holding the book in 2000 didn't help matters, as he said [[NinetiesAntiHero he doesn't believe in pure "heels" or pure "faces".]] Indeed, the New Blood came off as heelish right away: violently attacking the established stars, spray-painting their chests, mowing them down with 4x4 vehicles, and printing t-shirts declaring "TRADITION SUCKS". Bryan & Vinny have reviewed this saga and pointed out on how screwed up it was that Billy Kidman is [[DesignatedHero supposedly the babyface]] of his feud vs. ex-girlfriend Torrie Wilson and her new kayfabe boyfriend Shane Douglas, yet Kidman released a revenge porn of Torrie, made a video of some fat woman [[YouAreFat pretending to be her at Torrie's birthday party]], then physically abused her to the point where she [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U_gQa5WXmcQ nearly fell off a balcony]], risking either [[FatalMethodActing paralysis or death]]. How exactly were Shane and Torrie [[DesignatedVillain the heels]] in this feud?

** Russo, genius that he is, told Cornette to go out and trash-talk their company because he thought the general public would disagree with it, elevating Jim to a heel and setting up an NWA invasion (which was intended as old-School "wrasslin'" vs. "Sports Entertainment"). Turned out, not only did Russo's idea fail, but people sent letters and emails ''agreeing'' with Cornette's opinions on the nWo and how the wrestling aspect was being diluted for the sake of shock value storytelling, people calling themselves "Icons" because they think they're rock stars, and so forth.

** It seems like Hogan made a personal commitment to drop a steaming pile annually at every ''Halloween Havoc''. Before the infamous Hogan vs. [[Wrestling/UltimateWarrior Warrior]] match in '98, two other Hogan abominations had took place at said pay-per-view back in the years of both '95 and '96. '96 itself is only remembered [[http://i.imgur.com/jlOjrTF.jpg thanks to Hogan's toupee]] (and somewhere in Long Island, Wrestling/ZackRyder has an idea...): Hogan and Savage were great characters but they were incapable of adapting their ring work to stand out in 1996--not to mention all of the shenanigans, with so much outside interference from both [[Wrestling/BigShow The Giant]] and Wrestling/MissElizabeth that one wonders why a referee was even present there in the first place. Hogan's 'best' showing at ''Havoc'' might have been at the '95 event, in which he 'fought' in a monster truck sumo match vs. The Giant, who was supposedly there to [[AvengingTheVillain avenge]] his "father" [[Wrestling/AndreTheGiant Andre]]. That's the one where The Giant [[JokerImmunity fell off a tall building and then reappeared 15 minutes afterward]], not even limping his way to the ring. Hogan acted like he was dead.
** ''Spring Stampede'' 2000 is amazing. Hulk Hogan keeps screaming "I'm going to eat your ass on ''Nitro''" at Bischoff, until a cop pulls a gun on him. Did Hulk mean he was going to "beat his ass"? [[http://i.imgur.com/xtGfaSF.jpg The close captioning agrees he's going to eat something.]]
** [[https://youtube.com/watch?v=beIKeOHtVNg "THAT'S THE WALL, BROTHER!"]]...observes Hulk Hogan from about 3 miles away and 15 stories down from where Wall is currently standing. Feuds like this really highlight WCW's goofiness.

* NoSuchThingAsBadPublicity: Tony Schiavone's announcement of Foley's title win. Let's break it down. Longtime WCW fans who remember Foley as Cactus Jack will tune in to see him win the title. Fans who watch both will shout "''HOLY SH*T FOLEY'S WINNING?''" and tune in. And people who don't know who Mick Foley is will hear Tony's disgust at the notion of this Foley guy winning the title and tune in for the train wreck...and instead see an incredible moment which highlights all of WWE's talent at the time: [[Wrestling/DGenerationX DX]], Foley, Rock, {{Wrestling/Kane}}, Vince, and Austin.

* {{Padding}}: It's clear when WCW really started to go off the rails. Even for much of '98 (when they were still incredibly popular), there were episodes of ''Nitro'' that started off with a promo, went to commercial, came back to Schiavone interviewing someone, cut to a promo backstage, went to commercial, and then came back to recaps...They had some bad direction, or none at all, by the summer of '98. Just one example: Kevin Nash once cut a promo where he asked if Goldberg would tag with him in the main event. Then Goldberg came out, going through his entire entrance, which takes anywhere from 2-5 minutes from the locker room, to fireworks, to the ring, only to come into the ring and say "you got it." Then he left.

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: David Flair was a wash, but his mental breakdown made a good introduction for Crowbar and Daffney, both of whom were fairly popular.

** A classic case of this: the Dynamic Dudes (Wrestling/JohnLaurinaitis and Wrestling/ShaneDouglas), [[TotallyRadical who were skateboarding wrestlers]]. When they received a push by having Wrestling/JimCornette turn heel on them and join an opposing faction (Wrestling/TheMidnightExpress), the audience cheered Corny.

** Hogan basically giving Meltzer free advertising; see above. (Supposedly this did killer business for Dave and he saw a massive uptick in subscriptions to the ''WON.'' However, Dave has said on numerous occasions it made no difference in his subscriptions.) Everyone but Hogan breaks character in regards to that fire which obviously got out of control, especially Sting; he's trying to blow the fire out.

* {{Narm}}: The same careless abandon, which produced what could easily be called garbage, also produced pure magic. Often for the same reasons.

** ''Halloween Havoc'' '91. The main event had a bunch of guys in a "House of Horrors" cage match. It involved Cactus Jack, Diamond Stud, Scott Steiner, and ended with Wrestling/AbdullahTheButcher getting fried in an electric chair. It looked like Abby had sparklers lit on top of his head.

** Arquette was against winning the world title. When he was finally persuaded by Russo into becoming champ, he chose to give all his earnings to the families of both Wrestling/OwenHart and Wrestling/BrianPillman. He also paid for everyone's drinks because he grew up hearing that a new world champ should always buy everyone a round at the bar.
** Poor Tony Schiavone has been getting grief for 20 years because of that Mick Foley call, which was a direct line from Eric Bischoff himself. He even admitted that he called Foley to apologize for it and that, if he were a viewer, he would have changed the channel, too.

** ''Starrcade'' '85's "Mexican Death Match" wherein Manny Fernandez would be risking his sombrero...which is the lamest goddamn risk attached to any wrestling match ever. During the match, Schiavone keened, "Manny Fernandez is fighting for his heritage, that beautiful sombrero."