Bruce Prichard shoots on WCW going out of business

[@creoleDJ]

When I saw Stephanie & Shane being a part of the “invasion,” I knew it was doomed from the start

[@claytron3000]

I disagree about Shane. He made WCW seem cool when he took over in March. Had Stephanie been replaced with Bischoff in July? And have Heyman and Bischoff, along with Shane? Then you had a big money angle.

[@Nostalgicguy2242]

@J D They should had kept Shane as the heroic face who "saved" WCW from Vince's evil deeds.. The angle very much looked like Bret Hart's WCW career. It started on a positive note, but it fizzled out and ran out of steam very quickly

[@keepthatsameenergypodcast]

Facts creole should have just been bischoff and Heyman

[@creoleDJ]

@@Nostalgicguy2242 you’re right on that!

[@creoleDJ]

@@keepthatsameenergypodcast I think Bischoff was unavailable at the time but he could’ve came in later on; Heyman should’ve been kept as ECW’s head man

[@thebandit7623]

If WWE closed WCW would have closed right after. Since the talent was more in charged then the bosses.

[@RedRaptor7]

The worst day ever in the business. It hasn’t recovered since. An episode of Sunday night heat from 2001 would beat Raw ratings today. Embarrassing

[@MattSingh1]

Great statement, and a sentiment I've held in my mind ever since the day of the sale to McMahon (I'm old enough to have lived thru this as a fan at the time). 'Never recovered/hasn't recovered since' is the same term Dave Meltzer uses whenever he discusses it. It's legit. sad to think that those 3 million-odd fans that WCW had at the end never came back to pro wrestling. With the 20 year anniversary just passed, I can't help but feel utterly nostalgic and emotional. I miss WCW.

[@jimbowlan5804]

Wwe was going to have wcw as a third show but buff bagwell vs broiler was so bad they killed that idea

[@jimbowlan5804]

Booker

[@CasualVideoGamer]

With the exception of early 2001, most of Sunday Night Heat ratings for 2001 were on average below the 1.7 - the same as RAW's lowest rating in 2021 back in March. Middle of August 2001 was the last time Heat got 1.7. From that point on, the ratings dwindled to nothing. Keep in mind, ratings were done differently back then and streaming devices weren't the norm. Shows on demand and things like tivo weren't as common at the time either (but starting to grow). All that said, wrestling certainly hasn't been as exciting as it was back in the late 90s. (Possible exception of the rise of Daniel Bryan and/or Summer of Punk.) These days, ratings aren't as vital as they were before as worst comes to worst, Vince can take the product and put it online or send it overseas to draw big numbers there once the pandemic ends. However, I hope with AEW growing and other companies gaining momentum, there may be another opportunity to at least get a variety out there.

[@Sluggen7n7]

Worst day of the worst three months in wrestling history Jan 01- Mar 01. ECW Closing, WCW Closing, Austin turns into annoying heel while hugging McMahon, Rock goes to Hollywood for first major role with Scorpion King. Each one of those were knockout blows to the industry.

[@MohamedAli-xu3uw]

A dark day.

[@tonyslicer7399]

What if wwf went out of Buisness if they couldn't beat Nitro would it be dark day then or postive day since many hates wwe now

[@DUFFYISBACK]

@@tonyslicer7399 would of been even worst, ted was the only one from turner broadcasting who wanted wcw on tv, wcw would of folded either way

[@murraysaucedo897]

@@DUFFYISBACK that’s what’ll happen to the wwe. Now watch within 9 months tops, alright TOPSSS, they’ll sell to whomever Disney+, Comcast, NBC Universal, Netflix, etc. take your pick for all I care and they’ll get shelved a few years down the road.

[@rondoughhowell6442]

Well it would have been very impossible to do wcw invasion angle without Goldberg and now guys plain and simple

[@zackfair6791]

They should have waited until 03 or so for the invasion so they would have the other big WCW guys for the storyline when their time warner contracts are up.

[@Nonegiven14582]

Where would the wrestlers go in the meantime? And by then people would have forgot what WCW was? Certainly casual fans.

[@marka.graffakasnakebitenat3736]

If WCW would have bought WWF Eric would have had all of The McMahons kissing every WCW person's behind on the first show.

[@JOHNN01.82]

We the fans were robbed of the ultimate storyline in the wrestling business, all Vince had to do was wait one year all the top wcw stars all came over anyway, rebrand Smackdown to WCW and have promotional brands against each other at PPVS keep Wwe and WCW stars their own Raw shows exclusive until PPVS, Wwe left a lot of money on the table because of his ego

[@russelloviatt9665]

Enjoyed wcw during the pre NWO days.

[@allclevernamesgone]

Agreed. They actually had wrestling matches and were not just jerking off for 5 minutes doing DQ finishers.

[@bubbacalling]

Vince should have just paid the top stars the rest of their contracts and had the biggest storyline of all time. Would have made a TRUCKLOAD of money. But no, McMahon, as usual runs his business with personal grudges at the forefront rather than what would be 'best for business'.

[@patrickrushing3972]

Again, every time y’all talk about this, Vince McMahon was too cheap and he should’ve never done the invasion. He wasn’t willing to spend the money to do it right biggest blunder and wrestling history.

[@Nonegiven14582]

Companies phone you for quick appearance. Get you there straight away. Before you can change your mind. See sense.

[@tmirkin]

The shoe on the other foot saying doesn't truly fit here.. Eric was not the owner of WCW and wasn't with them when they were bought by Vince. Even when he was with WCW, and at his peak ladder-wise there, he didn't have the same vested interest as Vince had as the owner of the WWE.

[@creoleDJ]

You’re right. What many people fail to realize is that WCW was owned by Turner Networks and later was part of tue Turner/Time-Warner/AOL merged conglomerate, whereas WWF/WWE was, at that tome, privately owned entity that didn’t have to deal with shareholders, etc.

[@hardluckwoman3448]

Conrad never let's his guest talk

[@Nonegiven14582]

Conrad is right. I got lured back to a company once by a personal phone call from the millionaire owner. Just being asked to go back wouldn't have been enough.

[@dansmith6748]

I miss WCW. It had a darker look to it. The story lines were far more believable. The feuds appeared more real. Everything had a better look and 'feel' than WWF/WWE.

[@Nostalgicguy2242]

@Bruce Michael WCW pre-Hogan had great in ring action and storylines

[@djihn13]

The nwo angle would of been better without hogan... they should of went with the original plan by adding sting as the third member

[@gumdeo]

@@djihn13 Hall-Nash-Sting sounds great.

[@zackfair6791]

I miss the WCW guys and Nitro. Sting, DDP, Goldberg, etc. If only they had good management and merger didn't happen. Imagine if WCW was better at building up new guys and managed to snag Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar. Or if they recognized the talent and potential of people like Mark Calaway, Paul Levesque, Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero, Paul Wight, "Stunning" Steve Austin, etc.

[@GLPitt1]

Why would you not consider Bischoff as part of the creative team? Bruce Pritchard & Freddie Prinze Jr were really coming up with "such good shit"? Lol.

[@mrchopsticks3]

Yeah, Freddie Prinze Jr is the hallmark of quality.

[@GLPitt1]

@@mrchopsticks3 To be fair, when he was there it was definitely a not Attitude Era good but better than 2010-current WWE writing.

[@Matt-cr4vv]

Well I mean to be truly fair I don't think they were there together for very long. Freddie was hired summer 2008 and Prichard was fired December 2008 lol.

[@terryo3512]

I know I smoke a lot but..😂 Who came up with "The Powers That be"😂😂

[@Itiswrittenkjv1611]

Sad day

[@GLPitt1]

It's funny to me that in Bruce's mind all "the boys" were bitter towards Bischoff because he fired them, didn't give them a push, screwed them over, kind of let the lunatics run the asylum at WCW. Yet McMahon has done all kinds of shit to "the boys". Montreal Screw Job, not trusting/pushing Scott Hall, Brett Hart, etc, etc but pushing Warrior & Lex Luger because of their physiques. Never signing Sting. Bringing in Steve Austin to be "The Ring Master". And on and on. How many wrestlers did he treat like shit and they still kiss his ass. But they could never deal with Bischoff in any backstage role?

[@spheremode3271]

I think you misunderstand most wrestler's feelings toward Vince. A lot of them, especially from that time period seem to love him. Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying I love him or I have positive feelings towards him. I'm just telling you that a majority of people who worked for him claim he is incredibly charming and personable. Even a bitter guy who hates everything Vince represents in terms of wrestling like Jim Cornette says he was a really likable person. My personal view of him as someone from the outside is that he's a greedy inconsiderate monster, but that doesn't change the fact that he was well liked by most people he worked with.

[@GLPitt1]

@@spheremode3271 He might be great face to face. But he treats talent shit. Most pomoters do. The fact that so many wrestlers are fooled by his persona is amazing.

[@spheremode3271]

@@GLPitt1 Yeah, exactly. I agree that it's pretty bizarre how much they seem to like him. Bret was bitter about Montreal and Owen, but nowadays he is relatively soft when talking about Vince. But he keeps crapping on Bischoff like mad. Like, why? I get why personality matters, but to this extent? It seems really unfair when people are this bitter about Bischoff, but they like Vince because he was charming while doing everything he did. I swear, that guy has to be like a goddamn 4D chess brain manipulating mastermind or STH. Seriously, he keeps convincing people to do stuff, then he keeps charming people... it's actually incredibly creepy.

[@alexalexalex797]

@@spheremode3271 its obvious if you think about it. It’s because vince mcmahon is a man who revolutionized wrestling for ever (for better or worse). He was lets say “raised” in the business. While eric bischoff was simply a clever, sneaky “tv guy” who happened to be at the right place at the right time (for a short period). In other words vince has earned the respect of everyone simply by his resume. While bischoff has no actual “resume” in the business

[@BuffaloBillsJP]

Not pushing Bret Hart ? Dude was a 5x champion

[@Cre8Lounge]

Business must be boring to be talking about what happened 20 years ago.

[@Nonegiven14582]

It's the stuff we didn't get to hear 20 years ago? i used to read wrestling magazines in the 90's. But they weren't written by the people in control?

[@vongola11thboss67]

"If WCW won" has big caveat considering how bad it was on the business side and the AOL/Time Warner merger. Instead of having WWE existing, I see neither being alive.

[@Matt-cr4vv]

I always kinda hate the WCW was bad at business conversation. I don't think you can compare WCW to WWF business wise because they're two very different things when it came to the books. Besides the bookkeeping claims made in the Nitro book about how Turner would take a lot of their revenues for themselves and dump bad budget items on them it's also fair to consider it wasn't like WCW got tv rights similar to WWF or anything with their structure. That's not to say it was well managed but more so to say an apples to apples of their operating results isn't really fair.

[@ajw5691]

@@Matt-cr4vv Agreed. I felt that way for a long time. I've heard stories from Kevin Nash, Scott Hudson, Jim Cornette, Eric Bischoff, and Kevin Sullivan describing how the networks did things carelessly that hurt the ticket sales, programming, and numbers of WCW. The Turner networks got rid of popular shows, not just WCW, in favor of programming just as costly that had ratings that weren't any better.

[@briandickens9608]

Why on earth did Conrad clip in his own take on the situation?? We want Bruce not him 😂

[@rondoughhowell6442]

Well it was bad business the reason why WCW went out of business

[@CamberRockerCamber]

As much as I loved the WCW, I'm glad the WWE won that war. With the way the WCW unfolded, if they had won that war, they would've still put out a bad product and ruined wrestling. The WCW was that NFL team that signed a bunch of high price big game free agents for that one big push for the Superbowl. Once that one big push is made it all starts to fall apart because the contracts are too big and everyone has too big of a an ego. The WWE is the NFL team that built their team through the draft. Much more sustainable success.

[@invertedname3099]

Unfortunate how it all went down cause wcw was the superior product.

[@taylormay420rodgers]

95,96 sure... but wcw in 2000 and 2001 is BAAAAAD

[@Bellocks1]

Sure WCW 2000 was bad in compared to WWF 2000. But look at WWE now, it’s absolutely awful. WCW 2000 was better than WWE 2021. Regardless of that, Wrestling needs competition. Thankfully now, you have AEW, TNA, ROH, NWA, PWG and various other indies. Plus NJPW is bigger in the West now.

[@taylormay420rodgers]

your delusinal anything wwe did in the last 21 years is better than wcw 2000

[@Bellocks1]

@@taylormay420rodgers WCW 2000 is an easy, albeit brainless, watch. I watched it a month or so ago. Raw 2021 has been sanitised of everything of wrestling on a wrestling show.

[@taylormay420rodgers]

dont need to tag me... i dont give a shit what you think .