Eric Bischoff blames everyone else for WCW's demise | Wrestling Observer Radio

[@obsoleteworlds]

I love how Dave throws the question back to Alvarez then immediately interrupts him. Classic Meltzer.

[@ronniesouthern7829]

Exactly. What do think Bryan? Oh wait a minute, it’s uhm uhm uhm my turn to uhm uhm you know talk.

[@Playerzville]

​@@ronniesouthern7829😂😂😂

[@Chuckscantina]

@@ronniesouthern7829 here’s a thing too. If he’s so good why wasn’t he on the show when he’s been on other Vice things? These are people WHO ACTUALLY WORKED FOR TURNER WCW. I await any reply but like Dave I’ll just interrupt you and tell you you’re wrong lol

[@ReactwithRespect-i5i]

​@ronniesouthern7829😂😂😂😂

[@TheHardys01]

😂

[@thecedex]

Bischoff ... "everything successful in WCW was my idea or I was responsible", "every disaster in WCW was because of someone else"

[@SasukesSharingan.]

Well it was... I mean what did Ted do other than over his money. No eric no 83 weeks . Get over it

[@rustykuntz94]

Or Bischoff says he doesn’t recall 😂

[@thecedex]

@@rustykuntz94 that too 🤣

[@stevemccullagh36]

"I don't recall the *exact* details..."

[@travismcdonald6576]

@@rustykuntz94. Or he’s like to sit down and have a beer with someone he once didn’t get along with.

[@silxix2599]

Nash hates when they talk about the poke of Doom, bc he came with that dumb idea.

[@danielstack4158]

Then maybe don't do the show? There again, he probably got paid a few bucks from Vice so he did it of course.

[@silxix2599]

@@danielstack4158 Some go, just to defend themselves, or try to exclude themselves from any responsibility.

[@GrymmJymm]

Only thing i can think of is, on paper, if they are “getting the band back together” then yeah, finger poke gives them instant heat in the turn. On paper. In reality it was the wrong kind of heat. It showed that there wasn’t any effort on doing it in an interesting way, and came off for what it was, a way to quickly get back to wcw vs nwo (minus wolfpack) so that they can make Goldberg fight the corrupt boss a la Austin/McMahon at the time, and they also realized they gave away that first Goldberg vs Hogan title match for free….and even then they didn’t follow through afterwards with anything interesting. The fingerpoke COULD have worked, if what happened from it afterwards were interesting. Given where booking afterwards went, it was simple desperation done in the most low effort way possible.

[@norbertschnurrbart936]

I am pretty certain that was Hogan's brainchild. Creative control brother. Hogan wanted the money for the Wolfpac merchandise. And of course he wanted to be champion.

[@silxix2599]

@@norbertschnurrbart936 I've seen Nash have that question asked to him several times, & now that Hall is dead, he says Hall was one of the few that was there to know, but he's now dead. And Hogan is a man that lies, and has no problem pointing fingers. And him and Nash haven't always gotten along. Nash was also booker. He could've just told Hogan what he wanted to hear, bc Hogan just wants to win. If he loses, he wants to be the center of attention.

[@LRM5195]

Nash saying “my paycheck didn’t change” is all you need to know about the buffoon.

[@brianboese9884]

Yeah that was one of the stupidest things I've ever heard. It just confirms every bad thing people said about him during that period and completely destroys his credibility as a booker.

[@Charsi_Escobar]

@@brianboese9884trusting him and Hogan as bookers, might as well trust Ray Charles to drive a city bus 😂

[@Buckdawg]

"aLl aBoUt tHe mOnEy bRo" 😅 what a prick he is

[@haroldplemmons9479]

I mean does anyone here do their job for the love of the industry or do yall do it because you get paid?

[@Charsi_Escobar]

@@haroldplemmons9479 better product leads to better ratings equals more revenue, especially for the top guys who worked incentives into their deals. Those favored nations clauses, among royalties from PPV sales licensing merch etc would have made them even richer. And they might still be in business.

[@mynameisnotearl4383]

people like bischoff will never change he’ll go to is death bed telling everyone, me and hogan had nothing to do with wcws death

[@keithwiggins3131]

I would put Vince Russo in that list because he didn't do much for WCW either.

[@taduuuma]

eric is good at spinning the narrative. The guy did great in making wcw big but also played a huge factor in it imploding. I really think if the show is good, you generally get viewers and in turn make money. The show was awful and no new stars were created. they kept going back to nwo/hogan.

[@DBecks09]

They did create DDP and Goldberg and were on the verge of creating Booker T/Scott Steiner. They also had Sting. Even a Nash was super over. Those guys just couldn't do their things in the spotlight because of freaking Hogan.

[@shaunmartinell5825]

WWF/WWE was also starting to become the show to watch at the time NwO Red and Black and The Fingerpoint of Doom happened. McMahon/Austin was the hotter angle and WWE never looked back.

[@pleaseshutup7053]

Easy e at least ain’t a crook like the rest of his contemporaries

[@taduuuma]

​@@pleaseshutup7053 LOL Thats like saying someone is a liar but at least they go to church on sundays.... What? Haha Apparently DDP only got the push because they were playing swapsies, Bischoff is good friends with hogan, who is known to love swapsies too..... LOL I'm talking about how he spins the narrative.

[@pleaseshutup7053]

@@taduuuma no that’s nothing like that at all. Bischoff was loyal to hogan for good reason hogan turned things around in wcw. The truth is the merger killed wcw the executives didn’t want wrestling on their station the first chance the got they got rid of it

[@JohnRigby5011]

That just don't work for me brother

[@BYWhistory]

Bischoff didn't blame the 96 merger for the demise of WCW. He said that was the beginning of Ted Turner losing his power and influence. Without Ted backing him up, Eric was at the mercy of the other executives.

[@DAEDRICHHHH-TUCKER19]

Which those other executives oversaw WCW's biggest years in 1996, 1997, and the first couple months of 1998.

[@blablablaa14]

Yeah mercy for his decisions and success. WCW was not a successful company because they were bleeding money due to poor booking over a long time. The reason it shut down was because it was bleeding money, if it wasn't TV execs would have kept it, but eventually Eric/WCW had to pay for his decisions

[@IAEMThatIAEM]

Their ratings were behind WWF in late 98 and early 99; but they werent that far off. 2000 was when the shhh really hit the fan

[@Bama20512]

Seeing as the final time Nitro beat Raw was in Oct. 98’ was part of the beginning of the end

[@michaelsinger4638]

Nah the collapse really started in mid-1999. 2000 was just the nail in the coffin.

[@marsspacex6065]

From about April 99 is when the collapse accelerated.

[@Bama20512]

@@michaelsinger4638 they just stop caring at that point 😂

[@quentinkaasa47]

Hogan vs Flair in 1999 did more PPV buys than Austin vs McMahon in a cage.

[@stevemccullagh36]

Something nobody ever remembers about 01/04/99 is that the WWF themselves spent a week promoting that there was going to be a title change that Monday.

[@TheYEAHRevolution]

Yes! I thought I was the only one who remembers that. 😂 I actually attended the taped Raw on Dec. 29, 1998 where Mick won the title. The first thing I did when I got home was check the WWF website & they had already announced that Mick Foley had won WWF the championship in Worcester that night. The WWF WANTED people to know about the title change & Eric Bischoff played right into their hands by having Tony announce it on Nitro.

[@EfrenBlackjack]

JJ announced the match on Thunder. Four days later, Goldberg defeats Hogan.

[@Charsi_Escobar]

Not even on a PPV to try and make some money. Just wow

[@williammccormick984]

@@Charsi_Escobar They even had a PPV 6 days later.

[@cb3648]

They don't say it, but I think they also did that to try and schmooze the turner people, it was at the Georgia dome and what a show to have the executive people come watch.

[@JeroenZM]

To be fair. I watched that match as a kid on television and it made me a fan for life. But yeah, giving it away for free was an incredibly weird move from a business standpoint

[@marcus813]

@@Charsi_Escobar That made no sense to me. A whole lot of fans would've put down stacks to watch that on PPV! Eric Bischoff was too worried about winning the Monday Night War to understand that.

[@nohbuddy1]

Goldberg also never got the belt back. Could have salvaged it if he got it back in early 1999

[@pleaseshutup7053]

That’s crazy I never realized

[@nohbuddy1]

@@pleaseshutup7053 Yep. They turned Hogan babyface in early 1999 too

[@pleaseshutup7053]

@@nohbuddy1 so hogan got the belt back 😂😂😂

[@pleaseshutup7053]

@@nohbuddy1 hogan and Goldberg never had a rematch so dumb

[@blablablaa14]

Yeah I mean bad booking is a killer

[@-The-Darkside]

Dave made a few claims early that werent true.

[@BainesMkII]

Dave needs fact checking more than Vice does.

[@RobertoTheOriginalManFromTheA]

Eric has blame in WCW demise..like some others...but he keeps defending Hogan...Like he had no fault in nothing.

[@Charsi_Escobar]

Followed the money train, right off a cliff 😅

[@MotherHen2012]

Eric said on his podcast with Conrad that not ONCE did Hogan ever play the creative control card. Conrad told him "You're lying through your fucking teeth Eric!!"

[@JohnRigby5011]

@@MotherHen2012 Sting just didn't have a tan Brother 😂😂

[@Jcssss-z4q]

it was ted turner himself who gave hogan his power .

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

His blowing of Hogan is cringeworthy. Hulk Hogan has always been uncool.

[@catholicguy3605]

The AOL execs said they didn't like wrestling. When Ted lost his power they cut wrestlers.

[@rickhaavisto9023]

I’m a bit fan of wrestling, but even I would think about cutting wrestling shows if those shows were costing our company over 60 million 1999 dollars in one year

[@C-Lyfe85]

​@@rickhaavisto9023 60 million was nothing compared to what they were actually bringing in. That was just an excuse to get rid of it. Wrestling was like their most highest rated show

[@rickhaavisto9023]

@@C-Lyfe85 Their NET was -$60 Million, so it obviously wasn’t nothing compared to what they were bringing in

[@blablablaa14]

The show was bleeding money. They would have kept the show if it made them profits. But no one likes a losing asset

[@jamesy1318]

Shows great when it agrees with him. Terrible when it doesn't

[@JoeGamer81]

Hot take on Bret v Goldberg: the kick didn’t concuss Bret. Bret concussed himself taking a shoulder block earlier in the match. The kick was gnarly but that is at least not the first one he suffered in the match. And anyway, guys in the UFC take harder shot than that and their careers aren’t over. If concussions ended Bret’s career, it’s because of the compounding effects of a lifetime of headshots, not just one stray kick.

[@ikill4klondikebars]

Dude, he blasted him in the face. That was a mule kick. No way you can downplay that it wasn't the thing that knocked him loopy.

[@GenoFalcone-hf6ih]

Dave saying someone else needs a Fact Checker is fucking comedy.

[@SasukesSharingan.]

Goldberg vs Scott hall is literally ryback vs cm punk , goldberg literally admitted he had NO IDEA what he was doing...

[@TheCfk84]

on the topic of goldberg, they were more saying that he was a danger to himself and others in the ring rather than that he "just" couldn't work. nash was definitely not a workrate guy, but i don't think anyone has ever suggested that he was a danger in the ring. goldberg was a permanent danger. not saying that i buy that argument, but it was broader than just "he can't work"

[@travissmith6380]

Nash wasnt entirely wrong about GOLDBERG.That spot he fked up against Scott Hall was basic stuff.

[@Octavian2]

And also correct that eventually the Goldberg run needed to end.

[@alfredoleyva27]

Drink every time dave says you know🍺🍸🍷🥃🍹

[@Charsi_Escobar]

I’m in jail, please hurry.

[@rickroberts7611]

Just got back from getting my uh you know uh my stomach pumped 😭

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

Fuck that

[@blablablaa14]

Isn't it how new yorkers speak?

[@DukeDurrango]

Bret knew the kick was coming but not to his temple, that kick should have landed around the jaw. How ever, lots of people blow moves or spots, unfortunately, this one ended a career.

[@megamanxhunter]

And he made the concussion worse because he kept wrestling.

[@electric-up2tr]

​@megamanxhunter of course to pay the bills

[@Charsi_Escobar]

@@electric-up2trwhich is wild, considering how so many other guys there would just sit at home and collect their guaranteed money.

[@michaelsinger4638]

A man who is concussed should not have been making those choices. WCW should have shut him down for awhile. These days, they probably would have due to concussion protocols.

[@icantthinkofacooname3025]

He also banged his head earlier in the match doing a figure four leg lock on the ring post. I think that knocked him for a real loop which later made him miss blocking that kick. He had his hands up but totally missed the foot. The kick might have finished him off but that head to the mat started it all.

[@joshuaclark3630]

I’ve been saying Bischoff killed WCW for years. He was in the drivers seat and drove it off a cliff.

[@merk_dat_azz6939]

Once WCW signed Russo as head of creative, WCW was doomed

[@Jcssss-z4q]

there were people telling him where to drive . he had to listen to hogan because hogan was given creative control by ted turner .

[@Mdowlz]

Tony khan could never have the run Bischoff had.

[@412StepUp]

No chance in hell

[@0f128]

Should we blame dave and the iwc for the fall of aew 🤔

[@rickroberts7611]

Yes

[@six6thdisciple]

STOP TRYING TO SHIFT THE CONVERSATION WITH YOUR AEW HATE

[@johnm140]

Goldberg's a bum, couldn't work a lick

[@rewing84]

bullseye

[@meherenow793]

still more over in '98 than any modern wrestler will EVER be

[@duckmercy11]

​@@meherenow793 Nah, the two are incomparable.

[@meherenow793]

@@duckmercy11they ARE incomparable, and that's for a reason

[@duckmercy11]

@@meherenow793 The reason is wrestling of the last 20 years is generally less popular, although that's slowly starting to change.

[@marsspacex6065]

The fact is Bishoff was in charge and ran a chaotic ship which sank. He was captain and let the crew run wild.

[@pleaseshutup7053]

He was out by 99

[@SasukesSharingan.]

Your welcome he beat vince the only one that did and ever will ..

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

​@@SasukesSharingan.He didn't beat him. If you're 2-1 up with 2 minutes to go and go on to lose 2-3 you dont sit there going "well we were winning for 88 minutes but two late goals that are statically irrelevant means we won". Plus WWE exists WCW doesn't. That's a loss if I ever saw one.

[@cb3648]

Bischoff was the only person in charge who actually turned a profit, something Herd, Frye, Watts, etc couldn't do.

[@SasukesSharingan.]

@cb3648 they don't understand that , for some reason success is only relevant for tony khan , but Is failing if we honestly compare the two he claims he's not gonna do what they did wrong LOL 😑 eric actually drew a profit, and didn't have a max capacity of 2,800 fod tv tapings but if you Ask them tony khan is the booker of the century.

[@domdom3810]

This new series just exposed just how much of a bunch of marks they are. You people donating your money to them are paying for the opinions and misleading information given to them by “insiders” By no means is Eric cleared of mistakes, but clearly there were corporate factors playing a huge part in this as well. It’s utterly embarrassing that you are pretty much saying that the actual people who not only worked there, but stated how upstream the battle was against corporate are lying, and to believe your narrative spun by two people who whose only line to being anywhere near it were by disgruntled wrestlers. Take your L.

[@kyleolson279]

Exactly. That's not what fans want to hear though unfortunately. The corporate structure at Turner and distain Turner execs had for wrestling were the biggest factors in WCW's demise.

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

​@@kyleolson279wrestling fans are some of the worst fans imaginable.

[@branhasyoutube]

Nash exposed himself when he said Benoit and Guerrero would never make it because they were below 5'10

[@pleaseshutup7053]

When did he say this?

[@cb3648]

strangely enough though he wouldn't say that about Shawn or X PAC despite Eddy and Chris looking much more athletic and tougher than they did.

[@quentinkaasa47]

They WERE vanilla midgets compared to guys like Nash and Hall.

[@au7oma7ic]

Nash’s point is valid…the baby chase IS the money run. A movie is a heroes goal to his journey. Very seldom will you see a movie whose premise is the hero at the top and staying at the top.

[@sandboxplayerz667]

So, Hogan staying at the top didn't draw money and ratings for WWF? Or before him, Bruno Sammartino with years and years long title runs. After Hulk, Austin did record business when he was at top.

[@LokiTricksterG]

"Very seldom will you see a movie whose premise is the hero at the top and staying at the top" All the Rocky sequels.

[@devious187]

Kevin Nash's whole philosophy of the babyface constantly chasing the champ is so ridiculous... Hogan held the belt for like the entire second half of the 80s, I'd say he was a pretty good draw

[@shawngreenidge3591]

The Georgia Dome show was in '98.

[@quentinkaasa47]

The January 4, 1999 Nitro was there too. That was the night of the "Finger Poke of Doom."

[@eddieroche8176]

Look I could give two shits about Bischoff, but the show literally said the merger was in 96 BEFORE the boom period, so what tf is Dave waffling about?

[@kayfabe10]

Dave sounds miffed he wasn't involved.

[@conormoncrieff5942]

I very rarely defend Dave but I don’t think he was he pissed he wasn’t involved, he was pissed Bryan wasn’t involved considering he wrote the book ‘The Death Of WCW’

[@AliciaWade-sk4we]

These 2 have never actually worked in a corporation I can see. When a merger happens it takes years for all of that to sort out, and with the creative accounting used that was acceptable GAAP it’s easy to see why it fell apart. No one is blameless in this but it’s also not one persons fault. Everyone’s to blame. The corporation, direct management, and talent.

[@pleaseshutup7053]

The biggest blame are the execs that wanted to get rid of wrestling

[@rewing84]

and you know that how????

[@icantthinkofacooname3025]

They needed Meltzer on the episode to tell the real truth because he was there the entire time.

[@chriskay1449]

LOL Metlzer has his own truth and his own narrative. Also guess what? Everyone that was on the show was also there the entire time.

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

​@@chriskay1449woooooosh

[@six6thdisciple]

🤷

[@VanDammage87]

There hasn't been anything more notable compared to what was already shown on the "Monday Night Wars" Doco on WWE Network.

[@neilefc877]

In fairness, the WWE "rise and fall" doc is also a great watch on the network.

[@geneanthony3421]

The Nitro book is a good read and has a ton of interviews who worked at Turner about what was going on during the merger. Eric has repeatedly put over the book as well as one of the writers of the Death of WCW. Based on everything that was said in the Nitro book, WCW wasn't respected in the Turner organization. Since they were trying to improve the value of Turner to Time Warner and they didn't want to keep WCW in the end, they started manipulating the numbers to pass expenses from other departments on to less desirable departments like WCW. For example, forcing them to buy overpriced equipment from another department instead of cheaper equipment. It's not uncommon for businesses to manipulate numbers in order to get the end result they want. Even though the merger didn't happen immediately, they were preparing for it awhile before. It's no different than what WWE did right before selling to TKO. You saw signs that a sale was coming for years.

[@mattmorgan2534]

No, this has been so far the best documentary covering the death of WCW. And the reason for it is because they actually have all the Turner executives that are up there telling the truth about how they did not really want wrestling as part of their cable network, particularly for TNT, and the branding TNT was trying to do at the time. Other documentaries on the same subject are just wrestlers and former creative writers/bookers talking about the subject. With a major Wwe spin on it.

[@micahjohnsonboxing6409]

​@@mattmorgan2534Nothing new has come out of this documentary so it's not the best.

[@SuperMutant2099]

Finger poke of doom is when WCW hit the iceberg. You don't put that against Mick Foley winning WWF Title. You don't literally laugh at your audience. Yeah they beat St. Valentine's Massacre PPV. That was there only win in next two years against WWF. Funny is the talk of WCW not making newer stars. When you think of a lot of WWF roster. Other then like The Rock. Majority of it at time was in WCW first. Jericho, HHH, Undertaker, Austin, Foley, Edge, Christian, etc

[@-The-Darkside]

Ratings went up after the poke, for months they stayed steady

[@SuperMutant2099]

@@-The-Darkside They never beat them in the ratings after the poke. Never did over a 5.0 except when raw was preempted. All things you can look up

[@cb3648]

I think Edge worked a few squash matches as Sexton Hardcastle, but I don't think Christian ever worked WCW.

[@SuperMutant2099]

@@cb3648 Christian did. I forget as what

[@johnstrika9170]

Meltzer is just bothered because the show didn't come to him and nobody cares what he says or thinks anymore. He's nothing but a joke. He's lost any credibility he ever had

[@barrystewart5946]

Had my 3-D glasses on waiting for uncle Dave to lunge at the camera 😂

[@rob1390]

Just to add a bit to what Dave said, the first day sales on 5/29/1998 for the Georgia Dome Nitro were about 14,600. Hogan volunteered for the non-title dark match against Goldberg on 5/29 though it was not announced publicly as a dark match until 6/12. They were at about 21k sold just before that announcement in Atlanta and at about 27k or so just before the announcement on TV that it would be a title match.

[@Shizuma]

Hart used to say he didn't blame Goldberg for what happened. He even said they were FRIENDS. It's true they dug in their heels but it really was some newer thing that started around Goldberg's return run in WWE. some work, worked turned shoot? Hart being jealous, or maybe simply changing his mind?

[@michaelsinger4638]

Goldberg got to come back, make tons of money. Win two world titles, and still kept botching and nearly injuring people. Bret never got that.

[@kyleolson279]

It probably has to do with Bret's legal battle with his insurance company. Bret usually seemed to be pretty forgiving to Goldberg before his legal issues after doing WrestleMania against Vince. After that it's seemed his disdain for Goldberg has grown.

[@IAEMThatIAEM]

Go back and listen to eric bischoff on his earlier podcasts and you can hear him form these new narratives. He is one of these dopey guys who fancies himself the smartest guy in the room

[@judyschilligo]

Biggest mistake WCW made was have Flair walking around without the heavyweight championship as much as they did. He looked naked without the big gold belt.

[@Behaving_Golem]

And yet some claim this is the guy that TK should be listening to. Say what you like about TK and AEW but the idea that he needs to listen to Bischoff of all people is laughable

[@Charsi_Escobar]

Not a Bischoff diehard, but he drew ratings that AEW has not come close to drawing in its 5 years.

[@Behaving_Golem]

@@Charsi_Escobar Different time. Wrestling was way hotter back then than it is now. With the exception of WWE of course

[@Charsi_Escobar]

@@Behaving_Golem no argument there, however, their first episode is still their highest rating ever. I love competitive business for everyone, but driving folks away with indie garbage ain’t the recipe for success.

[@Behaving_Golem]

@@Charsi_Escobar Sure their ratings aren't as good as they have been. I think that AEW caters to a more niche taste in wrestling. It's not going to pull in as many people but I don't think that's inherently a bad thing. NJPW, TNA, CMLL etc. cater for a different taste and they also don't pull in huge numbers. Again, nothing wrong with that. I find that quite a lot of the most toxic WWE fans can't come to terms with the fact that there are wrestling fans that like something different to what WWE provides. WWE is the market leader and for good reason but I just find their in ring product boring. AEW is far from perfect but the in ring product is much more to my taste.

[@Charsi_Escobar]

@@Behaving_Golem you can have all the 5 star matches in the world but if no one watches then who gives a damn imo. The booker (TK) need to tell a story about each program, not just rely on everyone to hop on social media and see the next feud play out on a vlog. Just give us a reason to give a shit about their angle and payoff match. If not, then what separates them from everyone else, hitting all their moves for 20 minutes until one gets pinned?

[@JRAYDABEAST]

I’m shocked Dave hasn’t been yelled at by Alvarez

[@veryannoying7257]

"Briiiiaaan!"

[@JRAYDABEAST]

@@veryannoying7257 god that’s so funny

[@stevenmckenzie1524]

Meltzer likes to make out he knows better than people who were actually there. Yes, those there may well be lying but there's no chance Meltzer knows better. The guy is clueless.

[@FinalFlameProductions]

Dave "they need fact checking' Meltzer.

[@bb-gc2tx]

but everything is great with aew right dave 🤣

[@zemm9003]

I am sure TK will do the same thing in the Rise and Fall of AEW Netflix Series.

[@pleaseshutup7053]

Not popular enough to get a Netflix series they lucky to get a dark side of the ring if cm punk wants to talk about brawl out

[@timetraveller07070]

20 or so years later , people are still talking about WCW ...finger poke of doom , NWO and vince russo in 2000 ....but i dont think no one will talk about young bucks or tony getting kicked by jungle boy in 2040 LOL

[@mattfischer7140]

Starrcade 97 is the night the company really died.

[@quentinkaasa47]

1998 was their biggest year financially.

[@mattfischer7140]

I don’t know how old you are but if you’re too young to remember, this was their BIGGEST STORY they ever had. Even bigger than Goldberg, and they screwed everything up at th every last match. The fans deflated, and financially it may have been their biggest year, but creatively? They NEVER recovered.

[@quentinkaasa47]

@@mattfischer7140The fans weren't that deflated considering live gates peaked in 1998. The company didn't really start to die until April/May of 1999.

[@Bucks607]

Meltzer really needs to read the Guy Evans Nitro book!

[@zartan215]

Dave needs to stick to writing. Speaking, it's worse than nails on a chalk board!!!

[@laxnrc]

Two things One: Who would Goldberg face at World War 3? Two: Not to mention that the Nitro in which Goldberg won the WCW Championship was the go home show to Bash At The Beach

[@swingforthefences7439]

No, I used to think the stories from Eric Bishop were kind of a joke. Then I started seeing this podcast pop up on my feed and I watched a little bit of it and it’s 72 times worse. No wonder all the people that actually worked in wrestling crap on Meltzer. Completely deserved.

[@jaysonjay9165]

It shows how insignificant wrestling has been since then since we’re still talking about it

[@blablablaa14]

I think its hilarious we still talk about it. WCW died by the same thing that has killed any wrestling promotion. Bad booking. Usually it sneaks on you and then you just book bad and its a spiral that's tough to stop

[@NuMetalfan1996]

I think one of WCW’s biggest ever mistakes was firing Bischoff initially in September 1999. As I think Bischoff could’ve turned things around. But Hogan and Nash had a huge factor into WCW’s demise, with their creative control, one of WCW’s biggest ever mistakes was giving them creative control. The problem with creative was no one could see eye to eye, there was too many cooks in the kitchen in 2000 WCW. The creative and backstage team in WCW after April 2000 was Bischoff, Russo, Ed Ferrera, Kevin Sullivan, Jimmy Hart, Johnny Ace, and with Hogan and Nash butting in, no one could agree on anything. Bischoff and Russo didn’t get along, Russo wanted to push the younger names in Jarrett, Booker T and Steiner, and Hogan was like “that don’t work for me brother”. And Russo and Hogan didn’t get along. Russo wanted Hogan gone. WWF on the other hand was a well oiled machine at the time, with everyone getting along. Vince, Pritchard, Stephanie, Hayes, and head writer Brian Gerwirtz was the creative team at that time in WWF. They all knew what to do at that time, and they were all agreeing with each other on what to do. A creative and backstage team can only work when they are mostly all in agreement with one another, once you start getting creative differences, that’s when it doesn’t work because they can’t agree on anything.

[@Charsi_Escobar]

They never get Hogan without guaranteed creative control. It definitely hurt the company more than it helped, but they don’t beat WWE for 83 weeks without him

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

​@@Charsi_Escobarbeing beaten by somebody long before your 83 weeks and every week afterwards is not a win.

[@Khornebrzrkr1]

Personally I think, as fascinating as the WCW story is, they should probably stop giving these guys screentime to get themselves over on.

[@ykdavid]

Nash's booking makes sense to me. Look at Cody, they had him chase for two years. Now he's on top and we know his matches aren't worth watching.

[@KnightofFunnyJunk]

I believe Eric when he tells the story about how the people at Turner absolutely wanted to reschedule WCW to a different timeslot but on the other hand he then segways that story with "I dunno where they got off with me being poor with money." Eric. Are you assuming people dont think you used to not drink and do cocaine all day with the boys?

[@MrBen1980]

Facts are relative. Btw the effects of mergers on a company come with a huge delay (at least when enterprises merge) so the date of the AOL merger doesn’t matter that much - its the culture and ripple effects that happen that are some valid reasons for Bischoff to cite that as a big reason.

[@DominusHydra-yc1lc]

Some People don't want to accept this but the main reason WCW died was The Boys were working the suits for millions of dollars for a few years and the suits got payback

[@michaelriverajr8891]

Nash came off as a politician but bischoff deserves both the credit for the success of wcw and the downfall also. Also catering to hogan and Letting him do what he wants or not. Russo made things go from bad to worse. Meltzer and alvarez should read guy Evans book

[@retroshane8844]

Kevin Nash has a great mind for wrestling. The irony of marks like Meltzer and Alvarez scoffing at him. He's right about Goldberg too, Kevin nash wasn't bret hart in the ring but he did know it was a work unlike Goldberg who was dangerous and hit ppl as hard as he could. They also forget that Nash was super over at this point and Goldberg chants were being piped in.

[@pleaseshutup7053]

Idk about great mind for wrestling I think he’s just an entertaining guy he’s big and friends with hbk hulk hogan Scott hall. From what I’ve heard hbk and Scott hall had great ideas. Nash saying that he babyface draws the most when chasing when he hulk hogan is around was crazy to say

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

Goooooldberg berg berg berg berg through an empty arena.

[@johnstrika9170]

I agree with Nash as far as Goldberg shouldn't be on top if he can't work, especially when the champion has to wrestle against multiple styles. He did sound stupid with the "baby face has to chase" shit. I grew up with Bruno, Pedro and Backlund lol. 8 years and 3 years for Bruno, 3 years for Pedro and 6 for Backlund. If you had in Hogan's 4 years, that's 24 years of babyfaces on top

[@six6thdisciple]

STING…BABYFACE CHAMP…😂😂😂

[@xShoTime83x]

Bret Hart's schtick with Goldberg was amusing, now he's just gone full on bitter old man, instead of taking some accountability for having ten matches following the kick from Goldberg, including a hardcore match with Terry Funk where Bret got blasted in the head a few more times. CTE is a hell of a drug.

[@limitlessandy1117]

Who is the booker that dave is referring to?

[@LRM5195]

Booker T

[@micahjohnsonboxing6409]

I assumed HHH

[@varunaX]

that was the most nothing burger story hes ever told. the moral of the story is that he knew a booker that only watched wwf?? cool story dave

[@matthewchmura1677]

Ironic that a guy who never gets his facts right says this show needs fact checking. 😂😂😂

[@ArcaneAzmadi]

_Kevin Nash_ said that Goldberg couldn't work, so they shouldn't push him. How utterly laughable.

[@johnstrika9170]

Because you're some kind of expert? Please, show some examples of anyone saying Nash ever hurt anyone in the ring

[@ikill4klondikebars]

@@johnstrika9170 Nash couldn't even wrestle without hurting himself! dafuq outta here

[@hadhoda12345]

I never understood why there are wrestling fans who legitimately don't put any of the blame on Bischoff for what happened. This is not say that he didn't do anything good, the NWO would have never happened without him, but he took A LOT of horrible decisions towards the end, the money being lost monthly as astronomical it gave the executives no choice but to call an end to this. Regardless of whether they loved wrestling or not, they surely loved money, and had WCW been profitable at that time odds are they would have never shut it down.

[@keni95851]

Bryan is mad actual WCW execs who know what happened are discrediting his sad little book

[@Shisui5752]

They always do that. I've also noticed that Meltzer gets super negative towards the people who prove him wrong, people like Dave Scherer, Wade Keller, Mike Johnson, and the whole of WWE.

[@Titanscw]

Did you read his book

[@keni95851]

@@Titanscw yeah and I promptly took it to goodwill because it was basically a lot of the same crap he's peddled online in articles for years before that with a lot of "sources" some named, a lot not. It's not credible and neither is he or Meltzer

[@Titanscw]

@@keni95851 why are you watching the this video

[@keni95851]

@@Titanscwto laugh at how mad he's getting about being proven wrong by people who were ACTUALLY THERE

[@rickdangerous1956]

lol at the triggered bischoff marks in the comments

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

There are about 5 of them. Against an entire ocean..

[@MrTambourineMan.]

I didn’t use to blame Bischoff much for WCW’s demise. He booked some of the best tv I’ve ever seen. WCW was a lot of fun. But seeing how SUPER critical Bischoff has been of AEW these last few years, I can’t cut him any slack. He doesn’t do that for other promotors

[@pleaseshutup7053]

Bischoff made wcw one of the biggest companies in the world not just wrestling. A lot of his ideas are still felt throughout the business today. Bischoff can do what ever he wants he made the impact also one of the greatest authority figures ever

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

Awwwww he doesn't like trampolines

[@joinjeremy]

"And it wasn't a babyface chasing a heel champion" What was it then? A sandwich?

[@iamdb1990]

it's insane how Dave can easily say it about Eric and WCW, yet Tony and AEW is doing the same crap and that's somehow great

[@megatinmand5524]

They're putting championships on actors and writers? Promoting big matches just to have a wonky finish? Putting their championship on a guy that literally can't wrestle and injures people?

[@cfbpeekaroundthecornerwgre4877]

AEW is a 5 year old company which is about to land a media deal that will make them a profit. EB took a decades old company and drove it into the financial abyss. Not close to the same situation.

[@keni95851]

​@@cfbpeekaroundthecornerwgre4877"about to land" according to who? Sources "trust me bro"

[@cfbpeekaroundthecornerwgre4877]

@@keni95851 This will not age well for you.

[@Charsi_Escobar]

@@megatinmand5524better to put the belt on a wrestler with his hands in his pockets, then. 😅

[@thomasgorman9615]

Lol @dave saying fact checkers, why don't we fact check everything he has said or wrote.

[@johnm140]

Pot calling the kettle black

[@Filmation77]

The first two episodes have been S.O.S. - Same Old Shit (it's stuff that you have read online for the past 20 years) I'm actually waiting for some NEW facts

[@MichaelSpikes-pv6kl]

Excellent video

[@nohbuddy1]

Bret had more matches after that Starrcade match, including a HARDCORE match with Terry Funk taking shots to the head

[@kylewheeler4550]

Who would blame Nash? He knew the ship hit an iceberg and there was catastrophic damage, why not ask the nieve captain for the keys to the ship while it still runs

[@TribalChief3000]

Bischoff dislikes and shits on Tony Khan, but doesn't realize that he himself was Tony Khan in the 90s.

[@Shisui5752]

Actually, Bischoff does acknowledge that on his show, and he has said it many times that shouldn't make the same mistakes he and WCW did.

[@chriskay1449]

LOL no he wasn't. He actually beat WWE in the ratings. Tony Khan has never come within spitting distance.

[@Tim_Dunkin]

EB/Nash avoid the truth & accountability like they're deathly allergic....Bret harping on good wrestlers not injuring ppl is so ironic. His brother literally paralyzed a man. Clear lack of awareness

[@Appleanche5]

Fun fact about Brett. He wrestled after that kick. In a hardcore match where he took multiple headshots. Even after Brett was on good terms. Brett jumped all this up when the Saudi nostalgia paydays came in and he felt bitter that Goldberg got paid millions and that he couldn’t.

[@micahjohnsonboxing6409]

Bill Goldberg apologist.

[@Appleanche5]

@@micahjohnsonboxing6409 I'm actually not, I think he sucks too actually, I just think Brett making his entire persona around hating Goldberg and making snide comments about him in any possible situation is fucking sad.

[@phoenixmodellingphotography]

Nah Bret just does it for the meme, dude's an absolute memelord

[@Appleanche5]

@@phoenixmodellingphotography Nah man if you listen to his interviews he's really seriously very bitter about it. I read it was also a symptom/trait among stroke victims sadly.

[@Buckdawg]

I'm enjoying the show, but it's EXACTLY what I expected... ZERO accountability. Endless finger pointing. And absolute BOLLOX spoken by the actual guys who killed it. Entertaining, but kinda embarrassing. Although the one thing I didn't expect was Nash and Goldberg coming across as the absolute bellends they have 🤦🏻‍♂️

[@brianboese9884]

Sounds like Dave and Junior are bitter that they weren't asked to be on the show. Maybe it's because they aren't credible narrators.

[@ao513]

Not once in the show did they claim they sold 40,000 tickets in an hour.

[@varunaX]

yes it was said during the cspan segment

[@ao513]

@@varunaX ah I only heard DDP say they had 40K in the building

[@meherenow793]

Bryan: "What'd ya think?" Dave: "What did _you_ think?" Bryan: "....." 🤣

[@rustykuntz94]

Bischoff was blowing himself with Conrad over this episode.

[@jfeenix]

The Irony of Dave saying someone needs fact checkers 😂

[@SasukesSharingan.]

Its crazy how everyone admits eric beats vince but in the same breathe try to act like it he didnt ... especially now that he doesn't openly praise aew for trying to be wcw and FAILING

[@lossavageles]

I remember when bichoff was trying to criticize aew and don’t get me wrong criticism is good just not from this guy

[@jrod2059]

Dave thinks he’s right about everything

[@DrSprigs]

in this case he is though, this is all just historical facts you can look up yourself.

[@silversurfer7104]

Start your own podcast. We won't listen

[@jrod2059]

@@silversurfer7104go to hell

[@rickroberts7611]

Uh uh um well you know uh yea 5 stars

[@varunaX]

you know, i mean, you know, i mean

[@geordie.apostolidis]

How these guys are successful blows my mind.

[@jotac87278]

Meltzer calling people out for fact-checking is hilarious. He hasn't had credibility in quite sometime now.

[@Dr_1212]

RIP WCW Gone but never forgotten

[@jaredbrady5566]

Bret is my favourite wrestler of all time. I think he's the best in-ring and most believable, and for what Goldberg was, he was great. I have to side with Goldberg here... Yes, he got it wrong, but he can't be blamed for ending his career. In any contact sport, it's never the final ring of your bell that breaks it.

[@nachomanrandysauvage8257]

Bischoff sucks so much. I’m so sick of hearing from him.