Jim Cornette Reviews Who Killed WCW? Episode 4

From Episode 539 of the Jim Cornette Experience
Artwork by Travis Heckel!
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[@louis3141]

The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that Russo needs to be on camera

[@mrowley7300]

I needed to win the world title bro Vince Russo..... probably

[@asurlybarber3620]

If only Thurston Howell III had been tracking quarterly ratings when Russo put himself on TV. Worst case of "change the channel heat" I think I have ever seen.

[@standardofexcellence]

Or that vince didnt shit on people, hogan didn't have an ego

[@maeschder]

Except no one was ever convinced of that... except Russo lol

[@user-fj9nd8zv7h]

Even the devil wanted nothing to do with Russo, sent his ass to church 😂😂

[@paulc1553]

That's one of Travis' best artwork ever. Kudos!

[@benjaminperez7328]

Even their heights are (fairly) accurate….. Wonderful attention to detail.

[@paulc1553]

@benjaminperez7328: This. LOL at Vince Russo as the cripple as well.

[@roccojamison89gooker51]

@@benjaminperez7328 It's missing Dave Meltzer, Doug Dillinger, Brian Knobbs, and Jerry Flynn with an "F"

[@mattmcadam5550]

Jamie Kellner was one PoS. He was responsible for cancelling WCW, Batman:The Animated Series, and The Animaniacs. He also said that if you went to the toilet during an ad break it's "the same as stealing." His passing was not mourned by me.

[@paulc1553]

@mattmcadam5550: Well said especially cancelling Batman: The Animated Series. That's the best Batman of all time. I fucking love that show.

[@paulc1553]

@asurlybarber3620: This. Batman: The Animated Series is the fucking best. My Batman collection pride and joy is Batman: The Animated Series especially Combat Belt Batman, a holy grail piece.

[@crosstraffic]

He also ruined Pinky and the Brain by forcing the animation team to use Elmyra which changed the whole dynamic of the show.

[@QuickManEXE]

Wow.... i did not know that... so that case, screw Jamie Kellner.

[@jaredgarrison333]

@@asurlybarber3620agreed

[@Boa_Omega]

They let the inmates run the asylum. Letting wrestlers control the programming for everyone else. Shocker it did not work out.

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

Boy I can't see anyone being foolish enough to emulate such achievements.

[@Michael-cz6ob]

People have been saying that for nearly 25 years. So why do people still wanna keep hearing and talking about this same old rubbish over and over?

[@VersaceVyper]

Worked for Buddy Rogers back in the day and plenty of others, the executives at the top who didn't like wrestling are ultimately to blame for the death of the company, all the sh*t got past them because they didn't like wrestling.

[@maxxdahl6062]

@@Michael-cz6ob Because it's happening again and people are "Wut happuned?!?"

[@user-ye7md8lk1o]

@@Boa_Omega that's the exact same thing we'll be saying about aew....

[@mikejackson1003]

Hogan's orange skin on that thumbnail is amazing 😂😂

[@jsimsgt96]

Yea brother!

[@JunkyardJake618]

The original Orange Cassidy....😂

[@rickydiehl6973]

Omfg!! I didnt actually notice that till I read your comment, that is absolutely hilarious!!! Lmfao 😂😂😂😂

[@Forever_Thatter]

it's Corny trying to spite his next president

[@JRacer85]

"That doesn't work for me brother." 🤣

[@kiprandom7208]

Giving Ted Turner a chair with no vote is worse than kicking him out from every book I've read about the guy

[@sc30002001]

It was said that he was going to be Vice Chairman but they said fuck you at the last minute

[@Hellwolf36]

My honest opinion is that it was a death of a thousand cuts brought on by several factors.

[@Axs_Nice_Hair]

Yes. Thank you for parroting what Kevin Sullivan said in the first two minutes of the series.

[@KennyA09]

The "Usual Suspects" artwork is great.

[@prestonpfeiffer]

The best lines of this entire docuseries were Kevin Nash in pt1: “THANKS FOR THE CASH🎬” and Bret Hart’s tirade on Idiots

[@russellspear6188]

Nash has been terminally depressed ever since Scott Hall and then Kevin's son died. He never seems happy anymore. The only time he even smiles is if he says something sarcastic. He can't get excited or even enthusiastic about anything. That man could take his own life .

[@southbeachtalent]

​@@russellspear6188It doesn't help he has to do that horrible podcast with Sean Oliver. That would make anybody depressed

[@RaytheMagician]

Or when Nash said that after the Finger Poke or Doom, his check didn't change.

[@EDorb]

​@@russellspear6188Yeah you can tell the spark is gone now, he's got none of that laid back humour to him anymore. Feel awful for the guy, he lost two of his best friends in as many years.

[@j86485]

@@southbeachtalent That podcast is so boring especially because Sean Oliver has the personality and charisma of dry paint

[@jesterr7133]

WCW was charging $50 in the 90s. My friends and I used to throw in and watch them at a different person's house every month.

[@Skibbitypappappa]

Brad & Steve verified this story

[@KingNerdius6993]

My dad and his friends did the same recorded them on vhs i had bags of tapes and vhs up until about 3 years ago i could have never afforded to put those all on discs and now with streaming it wouldnt havent mattered

[@thesupervisor3270]

I had the cheata box so I didn’t pay for a PPV from late 96-00 for all 3 companies (WCW, WWF and ECW) only thing I regret was not tapping the PPV’s

[@comradecrimsonsmaidenporiu8766]

Yep remember vividly. 50 bucks a show was standard. IIRC even Tyson/Holyfield was 50 bucks

[@AZK91]

​@KingNerdius6993 I reckon you're better off putting them on to discs or storage, what with this censoring culture we're living in

[@JerryWShields]

Jeremy Clarkson: “After long and careful consideration, I’ve decided…it was all of them. Good Night.”

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

Correct answer my friend

[@CarlosMedina-wu8ug]

And on that note......

[@mrowley7300]

*guitar stars playing*

[@kiprandom7208]

Props on the Clarkson quote

[@ITIS2000MAN]

Too right. Ask Clarkson. Clarkson knows.

[@mrowley7300]

I can't wait for the "who killed AEW" show where everyone blames Punk 😂

[@matt92550]

Rent free in your head

[@PJBlick]

@@matt92550 *their heads

[@charleyboytheredeemed3347]

Starring the bucks and their friends.

[@user-do2ev2hr7h]

While the big company manages to make him a top draw/star even while he's injured.

[@TheSoundwaveprime]

The bucks and their buddies will blame Punk for sure 😆 Everyone else will immediately point fingers at the bucks and their immature behavior and clique attitude. Really anyone with any sense will know it's the elites fault

[@Beer_Baron_]

Not only was Siegal’s niece dating Scott Hall, but Raven as well?!? Oh Lordy, I gotta see a picture of her!

[@stevew7571]

#Skeezer

[@perfectblindguy]

I met Raven at an indy show in 97 and he is nowhere six ft and he weighed maybe 180. I bought him a snickers...greatest day of my life

[@cb3648]

@@perfectblindguy Did he mention his high IQ by chance?

[@bloodeagle6458]

They also left out how they put Jay Leno to head one of there PPVs😮😂😂

[@RaytheMagician]

Yeah, Jim Ross said that when Jay Leno put an arm bar on Hulk Hogan, that's when the business went down the tubes. (To be fair, Kevin Eubanks did a pretty decent version of the Diamond Cutter! 😁)

[@NoneofYabiz-rx3zi]

It still got over 350k PPV buys, which means it's in their top 10

[@oldschoolboxingtalk2940]

I believe the Turner Executives killed WCW because they did not want wrestling

[@dildonius]

Nah, they just delivered the killing blow. But they wouldn't have struck that blow if it weren't for everyone _else_ doing all of the shit that _they_ did over the years as well.

[@lauromunoz4692]

Thank you. That started around 87 to 88. 👍😎

[@genkidamatrunks6759]

This. If there was ever any doubt the WCW was done for, that night that Jim Duggan ran out to the ring after being missing for months and started brandishing a bendable 2 x 4 which he then bent back straight 😂, should have informed everyone.

[@mical2great]

Bruh cut it out. HOGAN, Bishoff, and NASH shot wcw point blank and turner just tripped it after the fact.

[@TheFailedmessiah]

I think that's the most realistic and true comment. They just didn't want wrestling anymore and any excuse to get it off the programming was their way out

[@frankrivera6384]

Nash is a miserable person, always was. Tore his quad putting on his pants

[@goldenpeacock8843]

But he's part of The Kliq😂🤣

[@MilMaska]

"Bro. Im gonna be 1000% honest with you" - Vince Russo

[@perfectblindguy]

you forgot to add a hundred more bros in his comment.

[@Axs_Nice_Hair]

It's easy to do that when you're mentally ill and believe your own lies

[@jaywortham697]

No..Vince Russo was handed control after bishoff allowed Hogan to f**k up the progress he had built 94 95 96 97.Russo was an idiot but it's not his fault.

[@doubles7533]

Artwork it amazing. Russo as the cripple Verbal Kent is perfect lol

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

I still think Kevin Nash doesn't get enough blame. Massive dose of barbs from day one that took its time to work it's way through the veins.

[@stevew7571]

Nash is far more responsible than most assume for his role in poisoning the well in WCW. Diesel is still trying to smarm and bullshit his way through it. Revisionist history is his style

[@it_punkkid7298]

Kevin Nash also had problem in this drama

[@keithwiggins3131]

Nash & Kevin Sullivan got to take responsibility to. But the main culprits are Eric Hogan Vince Jim heard Ted Turner and the other companies that wanted this to happened.

[@justin7409]

💯 right!!! I like Kevin Nash, from '94-'98 he was one of my favorite wrestlers. But damn over the last 20 years after I found out how much Nash had to do with the bullshit (example I only learned a year or two ago Nash was the booker behind the stage -anybody could call out anyone it seemed and get a match in 5 seconds and he did more than his fair share of it!) I've lost alotta respect for him. He's still one of my top 20 favorites maybe top 25. That said he should get 20% of the blame pie.

[@justin7409]

On second thought I'll be nice and bump it down to 10% because after I thought about it there's at least 5-7 ppl that need blame and shame.

[@kevinwhite3685]

Hogan is the blame and his creative control. He was involved in 3 of the biggest blunders they had. Starcade 97 finish, finger point of doom, bash at the beach. Eric is partly to blame for letting Hogan do whatever he wanted.

[@Ben-td1zv]

Travis you've done it again.

[@JTfromMN]

Travis is Brilliant

[@positively_broad_st3780]

The Usual Suspects!

[@markfroman738]

Travis was on Tooney Talk Wrestling last week!

[@bjg8638]

This was propaganda designed to make Eric Bishoff look as good as possible, your milage may vary though. Most of the wrestlers looked all right. Bret Hart made me belly laugh several times. The Rock added literally nothing to this lol

[@mikejackson1003]

@bjg8638 It's ridiculous that The Rock is even part of it

[@RustyMuck]

Bro, it helped that Russo makes himself the villain just by opening his mouth, bro, with all that verbal effluvia he spews, bro, bro, bro, bro, bro

[@marilynsgirl01]

I have loved Bret since I was a little girl. He’s not one to mince words. 😂

[@benjambreeg]

@@mikejackson1003that’s his gimmick now. Inserting himself into unrelated things to look cool and relevant

[@HelenM1994]

@@marilynsgirl01 Same, I enjoyed listening to him speak 🩷🖤

[@gunnarjordan6980]

You’ll never convince me it wasn’t Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Eric Bischoff, and Vince Russo.

[@LRM5195]

Why not throw the AOL merger in there as well? I mean, you’re already like 90% there lmao

[@JPS47]

You could tell Bischoff was full of crap through out the series. He may not have solely killed WCW but he was a part of it.

[@End_Of_Decay]

Absolutely. Hogan got d rode so hard.

[@perfectblindguy]

My take is that signing Hogan did not help wcw at all. He simply was not worth the money.

[@JPS47]

@@perfectblindguy not at first or after NWO but Hogan turning heel by joining the outsiders was worth it.

[@PJBlick]

Actually, one of the main parts. Every one of his braindead decisions led to it's inevitable failure.

[@EDorb]

Worth noting that Guy Evans, one of the talking heads, wrote the Nitro book (one of the inspirations for the show) and was also co-author on Bischoff's second book. Guy is a very talented writer and Nitro is an incredible achievement, but definitely feel like both of them being involved in a show that goes out of its way to make Eric look good is not a coincidence.

[@blankwavemessiah]

I think Bischoff was the only person who actually cared. He wasn't perfect, but he cared WAY more than the others. You could tell it mattered to him. And he provided the most details, the clearest picture, etc. I'm not saying some of his choices didn't screw stuff up... But MANY of his choices led to their ride on top. I kinda see him as a divorced parent who takes it hard on themself when their kid goes down a strange path. Y'know??? That Siegel dude wreaaaaaked of bullshit. Did NOT like him... Cheers to all. Hail the Cult.

[@TheEnoEtile]

Yeah its a bit weird how much people want to blame Bischoff when he's responsible for it being successful to begin with. Sounds like the way things were running at Turner/WCW before Bischoff took over at WCW they were trying to pull the plug by 97 or earlier.

[@blankwavemessiah]

@@TheEnoEtile exactly man… exactly. “Captain of the ship goes down with the ship????” He’s a good fall guy, plain and simple. I just find it incredibly endearing that He’s the only one who accepted his flaws

[@quietdignityandgrace]

A Greater Mystery: Who Keeps Whipping The Horse's Corpse?

[@mattm7798]

Ever diminishing ratings of cable tv.

[@markfroman738]

The Rock was about 15 years late to this party.

[@Axs_Nice_Hair]

The rock had no business even being in this Doc. Seriously, why the hell did they need his input? Claiming he had a list of all the stars he wanted to work with.. yeah right. Sure thing Dwayne 🙄 More like, he had a list of people he wanted to Bury like when he buried Booker T and said to him, "Who are you?" and took away all his cred as WCW champion. That dumb little stunt he pulled cost the company a chance at signing Sting.

[@televiper11]

Turner killed WCW by ceding control of his company via those mergers. He would’ve likely protected WCW for longer.

[@randrake4]

He did with Time Warner. AOL basically pushed Ted into being powerless when AOL merged. They sold the Hawks, Braves, and Thrashers too. AOL killed Ted's power.

[@GregLeopard-br2he]

It wasn’t insider info that WCW couldn’t be sold to a Bischoff team. It was common sense. If Biscoff fails, you’ve got an eyesore taking up prime time tv on a flagship channel. If Bischoff succeeds it’s even worse: you just sold a company to a guy who tanked WCW’s value while employed by you, sold it to him for pennies on the dollar, and then “miraculously “ turned it around and made it valuable again. The seller would look like they just fell for a multimillion dollar fleecing.

[@trae1226]

Right on time for the Saturday night this should be a good one

[@LS-fd6tl]

Bischoff gets a lot of blame for the bad but he also deserves a lot of credit for the good too.

[@JohnKobaRuddy]

@@LS-fd6tl beyond the Luchas and the nwo what good did he do?

[@LS-fd6tl]

@JohnKobaRuddy "beyond" like those are just two minor things that didn't entirely change the business for the better and elevate the entire industry's popularity? Btw - you could also add heel boss, seeing as he was doing that for a year before Vince did

[@paulmolive1821]

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 killed WCW!

[@john_blues]

They mentioned PPV buys. Here's some data. Forbidden Door ppv buys this year: 110,000 to 116,000 Last Year: 127,000 Year Before: 131,000

[@DR.64A9]

That's actually not a terrible decline. The TV ratings drop is far worse.

[@smarkslowplay3512]

Who is releasing these numbers?

[@larrylutz6825]

Bro, the greatest trick the devil ever did bro, was convince the world he did not exist, bro!

[@dubiouscaesar3709]

You forgot to drag out de-vil, con-vince, and ex-ist, bro 😅

[@jabrockobiden9434]

Thats the truth

[@daxxyboy3686]

Look, I am a Cult of Cornette member, loud and proud for over 15 years. However, Jim is incorrect on this one. Eric Bischoff wasn't the greatest human being in the world at one time, but he was the BEST thing that ever happened to WCW. Without him and without the signing of Hulk, which is ENTIRELY because of Etic, WCW would have shut down probably by 1994 or 1995 at the absolute latest. The AOL/Time Warner merger killed WCW, simple as that.

[@chrisrodgers1087]

I agree! They never would've had those highest of highs w/out Eric.

[@adammeyer347128]

If it were still a profitable business, WCW would have survived the merger. It wasn’t profitable thanks in large part to Hogan and Bischoff.

[@DR.64A9]

​@@adammeyer347128Bad take. It was never profitable before them.

[@nathanialharris3300]

More accurate to say Gagne. He's the one Bischoff stole the nwo idea from, who facilitated the Hogan meeting, and who got screwed and let go shortly after. kzbin.info/www/bejne/mGW0Z6B3qayngdksi=5GGYEqurckQhbQFP

[@jonnya4209]

Yeah, the anti-Bischoff narrative was old and uncool over 10years ago and belongs with indy-marks. I'd never have watched WCW were it not for what he did and wouldn't be interested in wrestling now.

[@jesterr7133]

The issue with canceling the show and killing the Fusient deal does lead me to believe Bischoff's version of events. Bischoff was going to pay $60 million for WCW. AOL/Time Warner would have had a show that was still doing good numbers when compared to their normal stuff, and they would have no financial responsibility for WCW. Instead, they canceled it and killed the deal, while selling the company to WWE for a fraction of what Bischoff was offering. They also continued paying the top guys for years after the company sold. If you are an executive for the company, how does it make financial sense to kill the Fusient deal? It doesn't. They lost a lot of money and maintained financial responsibility for WCW for years as a result of canceling the show. I believe Bischoff. I think they just did not want to be involved in wrestling, and Siegel basically confirmed it. I am subscribed to Bischoff, Nash, and Shitstain's channels. I have heard all of them go into more detail on their podcasts than in this series. Everyone has some degree of culpability. No one person or thing killed WCW, but I think Bischoff is the most honest of all the people involved. He openly discusses his mistakes and takes responsibility for them, unlike the other two.

[@mattm7798]

Agreed. My theory is financially, it makes no sense, but to the execs who want to continue to climb the corporate ladder, it does because it's all about perception within the company. They don't want to be associated with wrasslin' so they sacrifice money for prestige short terms, better long term it will be worth it. Still, any competent exec would realize exactly what you said: "let's sell to fuscient, make some money back, get the company off our books, and get a bump in ratings a couple nights a week". I listen to Eric's podcast but I don't remember if the fuscient deal would have aquired the big money contracts(i.e. if AOL/TW would pay the difference between what fuscient would put up). I'll have to rewatch the sale of wcw episode(I believe they did one on that topic)

[@erikpoe5970]

Hogan with what Kidman once brilliantly referred to as “that grotesque orange tan of yours.”

[@HyperActive7]

In the end.. WCW killed..WCW -Vince McMahon.

[@larrylutz6825]

The perfect thumbnail drawing doesn’t exisssss….I stand corrected.

[@JTfromMN]

And Great job once again Travis, Usual Suspects theme Pure Brilliance, 😂

[@lovelywaz]

I don't care what anyone says, to me the single most important factor (with few other minor ones) was Eric Bischoff giving creative control to the big names, mainly Hulk Hogan and Friends. It was all fun and games at the start when they were also beating RAW, but when time came to do the jobs and make changes, including creating and putting younger talent over, everything went downhill... BECAUSE of creative control clauses. Any booker had their hands tied because of that stupid reason, bad booking was obviously another big reason but as I said, nobody could "book better" when the top guys were waving their creative control flag for anything and everything.

[@nerdrage557]

The show should have ended in typical end of WCW fashion: a masked man hits another guy that shows up in frame with a chair and says "I told the internet I'd do it!" Cut to another clip of the world title being on a forklift for no reason and finally the show goes off the air with a brawl in the background just because. "4.25 stars wasn't in Japan would have been higher"- Meltzer probably

[@PJBlick]

Don't forget that it gets cut off with Tony Schiavone yelling at us to tune in next week! xD

[@libertychip526]

Add in someone’s 50-some-year-old mother and a few Halliburton briefcases and.. yea sounds about right.

[@GarrettWebster-mx5wx]

It was, in order of responsibility and examples : 1) Bichoff’s long term booking/buisness choices : A) giving hall and Nash guaranteed contracts . He could have signed them for just a large pay increase. Giving them guaranteed money let them run wild and for hall to do every pull he could find and still get paid . 90% of the backstage problems from 96 to there closing involved one of them . I don’t put them on this list because you can’t blame a rattlesnake for biting you if your stupid enough to pick it up B) not having a clear end to the nWo storyline . The nWo is a top 3 angle in all of wrestling. Up until starcade 97 , it was executed to perfection. After that ppv though it was terrible . Think the first 5 seasons of game of thrones followed by the last 3 . C) his terrible booking of Bret hart . He had the HOTTEST baby face in the world (this was pre WM 14 Austin ) and one of the best in ring wrestlers ever . His opening angle was a special ref for a “control of nitro match . D) his ability to set money on fire! Just read about the history of “hog wild “ and you really will understand everything . 2) Vince Russo A) what he did to WCW in 18 months was the golden bullet. It wasn’t just bad wrestling (outside of David Arquette being WORLD CHAMP , WCW had something like 28 world title changes inn12 months ) it was bad everything (go watch anything with Russo on tv, the Oklahoma character , Mark fucking madden , or the Goldberg heel turn ) It was nonsensical and offensive to anyone who watched . If WCW could have pulled there ratings back up to the low 4s , AOL time warner would have kept it on air or they could have sold it to a company like fox . Russo was so bad it killed anyone wanting anything to do with it . And Last 3) Stone cold and The rock . People today do not understand how HUGE these two were from 98-2001 . This was like having the 90’s bulls and Shaq Kobe lakers on the same team playing every Monday night . Stone cold could have sold out Madison square garden just by saying he was gonna show up to stun a jobber . He was the bad ass everyone wanted to be . And The Rock was like the coolest , smoothest , and flashiest guy on earth . There is a reason he went from teaming with mick foley to becoming arguably the biggest movie star on earth for a min . These two where so good and there rivalry so strong that it made ALL other wrestling look like horse shit .

[@NoneofYabiz-rx3zi]

Everybody in WCW had guaranteed contracts, which eventually forced Vince to abandon his "In the WWF, we only guarantee opportunities" type of contracts. Now, the favoured nations clause was total bs and unnecessary. He basically already had their signatures by offering them around $700k per year and substantially less dates (180 iirc). At that point, Nash and Hall were making 250k - 350k (merchandise included) and worked around 300 dates a year in the WWF.

[@mattst.germain4023]

@@NoneofYabiz-rx3ziNash and Hall were making way more than $250/$350k in WWE before they left for WCW lol..

[@NoneofYabiz-rx3zi]

@@mattst.germain4023 No, but how would you know? You weren't even born back then

[@mattst.germain4023]

@@NoneofYabiz-rx3zi was born in 1980. Comment makes no sense either…

[@randrake4]

AOL didn't want any sports related thing. Turner had the Hawks and Braves plus Thrashers hockey. Time Warner kept those. AOL came and dumped all of those.

[@chadczternastek]

Those 4 episodes, all the hype, anticipation, we learn absolutely everything we already know. I really was so bored the whole time.

[@mattm7798]

Agreed. It's been 23 years, multiple tell all podcasts and books...nothing new. IMO it was a domino effect: other than goldberg, WCW had no great follow up to the NWO, WWF was getting red hot, leading to stars leaving for WWF, and finally, the execs in aol/time warner killed the timeslots, which is the actual thing that killed WCW. Turner execs never liked WCW, even with it's better than avg ratings. If they had been smart, they could have said "ok, we can sell to fuscient, get it off our books, but still get good ratings(albeit with worse advertisers)." Now, who's to say how successful a WCW based in Vegas under Bischoff would have been, but we'll never know.

[@prestonpfeiffer]

They didnt even talk about the changing of WCW’s logo for no real reason,which I believe played a big part in it as well.

[@delbertprince5302]

In my opinion, the combination of Turner administration,AOL internet,Kevin Nash,Eric Bishoff, Vince Russo and Hulk Hogan killed WCW.

[@ozzy6994]

The AOL executives definitely helped kill WCW, but so did Hogan, Nash and Bischoff. Vince Russo and Slapnuts put the final nail in the coffin towards the end though.

[@wcstults]

What did Jarrett do? Never heard much about his role.

[@federicodistefano6891]

​@@wcstults he was just the shits and a poor excuse for a Champ

[@archiemisc]

Vince McMahon put the final nail in the coffin

[@billmoseley5860]

It is easy to blame the network, since they don't give a damn and have more important things to do. But if WCW was so good, wouldn't you want away from AOL and be able to sell your product to the highest bidder? But I guess nobody else was interested in broadcasting WCW

[@NoneofYabiz-rx3zi]

It's not like it was officially on sale. Bischoff put his offer together because he internally approached them. Once Kellner got installed, they got rid of it real fast. Vince offered 6,7% of what Bischoff and Fusient media did and they agreed.

[@doomedhuh]

WCW picked a fight with WWF they were never going to win in the long run. Sure, they beat them for those 83 or however many weeks. but they spent so much $$ doing it their fate was sealed.

[@NoneofYabiz-rx3zi]

They were profitable tho, meaning they generated even more $$. You forget that during that time, Time Warner came down on them hard. While Vince was copying their realistic approach and added scantily dressed women, WCW was ordered to revert back to a more family friendly presentation. WWF was turning up the volume with wild outlandish promos while on TNT and TBS they couldn't even say "s hit"

[@doomedhuh]

@@NoneofYabiz-rx3ziThey were only profitable for a short amount of time. Turner bought jim crockett in 1988 and it never turned a profit until n.W.o era. They spent so much to finally become profitable that it was unsustainable. Remember around Wrestlemania 12 when they were doing the Billionaire Ted skits, Vince placed an ad in the new york times accusing Turner of defrauding shareholders due to a personal vendetta against Vince since wcw had never turned a profit.

[@NoneofYabiz-rx3zi]

@@doomedhuh 95 was the first year they didn't lose money. They really started to make a profit in 96, 97, 98. 99 ended with a $9 million loss.

[@gavindoyle8717]

I would deal with the suspects the same way the Mafia would. Cue "The House of the Rising Sun"

[@asurlybarber3620]

"Where you going, jagoff?" - real former gangster Frank Cullotta in "Casino"

[@wewin03]

To me the moment it changed was the night Foley won the title on Raw and on the same night you had the finger poke of doom on Nitro. Hundreds of Thousands shifted their allegiance that night. So for me it was Bischoff

[@Joshua-ez5bs]

I agree and Schivaone giving away the outcome of raws main event. That was dumb and i believe that was Bischoffs idea.

[@lastdragon55]

Vince Russo being Keyser Soze is damn poetic.😂

[@johnnygrind77]

Every time they mention Ted Turner in anything, all I can think of is the Family Guy skit where Lois' mom is giving Ted a bath. "Ernie doesn't like the monsters!"

[@Chronoir3]

I am super glad Nash - Hogan - Bischoff - Russo doesn't have anything to do/say in the current wrestling scenery.

[@elijahechicagobearsboyd5734]

Agreed. Absolute self serving and dishonest bottom feeders.

[@Zafaryabism]

WCW was like the film The 9th Configuration: it was literally run by the inmates as stated previously.

[@Bill22252]

Amazing reference

[@Zafaryabism]

​@@Bill22252 I am really honoured! Thank you!

[@keeganhurley119]

Well Booker T believes it’s Bischoff’s fault

[@TRoller927]

Booker T is one of the few guys coming out of that company that isn't completely delusional.

[@NoneofYabiz-rx3zi]

Sure... Nice way of deflecting that he wasn't a draw as champion and interest went even further down the drain

[@kingslayer2999]

Somebody tell Cornette Tony Klown brought back Marko Stunt aka Dwarf Dong Sucker on AEW Collision tonight 😂😂😂

[@wilcee238]

I pray that they’re just going to use him to get MJF heat by beating him up.

[@C0wboyzfan4life]

😂

[@ValiantWrestling]

*Stunted-Growth.

[@chrisparkinson8130]

The most stupid thing is ric flair literally debuted the night after the invasion I still remember watching that episode of raw as a kid and thinking ok here we go the real invasion starts now and he ended up being the co general manager and about a month after the NWO debuted … you could of literally done the i casino with those 4 people ….wrestlemania 18 should of been the peak of the invasion in fact I think every match would of got that rock hogan reaction and it would of the been the biggest ppv in wrestling history It was from that day on I knew vince McMahon was a complete moron and have been proven right ever since

[@derkolossal9433]

The Rock bringing back Eric Bischoff as the “wiseman” for bloodline 2.0? The Samoan World Order vs the Paul Heyman Guys.

[@DB3XVI]

The Shopify bit was hilarious. Still laughing...

[@bert3969]

From everything I saw in the episodes it was basically the rise and fall of WCW DVD cut up and a few new updated interviews

[@elijahechicagobearsboyd5734]

We’re never going to get an honest documentary that holds the suspects accountable for their crimes…

[@ipot399]

@@elijahechicagobearsboyd5734 A documentary that attempts to quantify the damage that each person inflicted on the company would be one worth watching.

[@Brianraymond581]

Cornette does such a good job of giving Eric bischoff just the right amount of credit and the right amount of criticism.

[@wewin03]

Every documentary has a heel and a babyface.

[@James-bi4jz]

Its possible for Eric to be a hall of fame promoter and one of the people that destroyed WCW. He was the only person to ever beat Vince, he got Hogan when he was still seen as the biggest star in wrestling, got Hall and Nash from WWF when they were a some of the biggest 'new' WWF stars, the outsiders and NWO was one of the hottest things in wrestling, he got Hogan to turn heel, had Vince seriously consider selling up when the WWF was losing money and losing out in the ratings, had a real talent for selling wrestling to execs who didn't understand it. There was some luck/help/context in some of that, but still he has real achievements.

[@mjdf122]

Many killed WCW but Tony Khan solely killed AEW

[@wilcee238]

AEW was doomed the minute Cody left. He was the only adult in The Elite.

[@derekfuiten204]

He's got just as many overinflated egos in his ear as Bischoff had. Of course he won't replace himself. I think the fools in his ear are just as much to blame, given the situation.

[@mrnicemam8523]

@@derekfuiten204 The constant blaming of bischoff is just insane. Without bischoff WCW would never have been close to competition at all. Start giving him credit.

[@TheFailedmessiah]

The problem with Tony is he has almost endless money and is footing the bill himself of which tnt doesn't foot so it's not a net loss for tnt. They get to still advertise during aew events on Tony's dime

[@MarvinT0606]

​@mrnicemam8523 Bischoff did as much damage as good in WCW. Yes he beat Vince Mcmahon for 83 weeks, but being such a huge mark for Hulk Hogan and introducing bad contract practices led to their expenses going through the roof. It didn't help that Turner wanted to kill the product, but Eric poisoned the well when he allowed everyone to draw as much money as he did just to secure ex-WWF talent

[@SuperbNProsper]

I still have an aol address lol. Damn time flys

[@Beer_Baron_]

I wonder how long WCW would have continued for if Bischoff’s group had bought it.

[@FBA_God_Emperor_Doom]

More than likely not long because he was going to continue to let Hogan and Nash run it into the ground.

[@TuMalditaMadre]

TNA is still around 22 years later.

[@Beer_Baron_]

@@FBA_God_Emperor_Doom Yeah. Agree.

[@MichaelGray-qx9pe]

I love hearing these Good old classic WCW stories from Jim. They're great 👍 🙂

[@roobear78]

like him or not corny,eric does deserve a seat at the top table for being the only guy who managed to get mcmahon's knees to at least wobble in the ring! He might not have had the ability to knock him out but he did what the other reats couldnt thats for sure

[@cadavermanhim]

That thumbnail is a masterpiece

[@johnnybstuddd4482]

Looks like everyone in that line up were the culprits that killed WCW

[@deemen7132]

Usual suspects lol

[@shaunkenneally7597]

Funny addition to this story, Chris Jericho once said "When I heard what they sold WCW for I could have bought it". The fix was always in for VKM

[@goldenpeacock8843]

Yeah,especially with Hall and Nash as Shawn Michaels and Triple H's Buddies in The Kliq.Yeah,the supposed Outsiders.Vince,Stephanie,Triple H all i can see discussing The Plan.1st Spike the Ratings then Sabotage WCW.See,Hall and Nash know who bought them to the Dance.Their not giving up their Friendship in The Kliq😂🤣

[@MatthewSmith-nt7rj]

They really did mess up the invasion angle. There was so much potential. If they didn't announce, they bought WCW, and WCW guys started to show up on WWF TV unexpected what a reaction they would of gotten

[@CombatTalkRadio]

No. wCw should have remained a separate show. No Invasion. No "brand extension". Let Shane run wCw as a shoot and compete against each other. You're double-dipping money when you do that and it would have been compelling; they've done spinoffs of that concept anyway.

[@MatthewSmith-nt7rj]

@CombatTalkRadio That could work, but you have to remember WCW lost the network spot

[@stingrey1571]

Hogan doesn’t get enough blame. When hogan came to wcw, along with came his friends. Here comes honky tonk, Duggan, Brutus, and earthquake. Which meant wcw stalwarts were slowly phased out, mick foley, dustin Rhodes, Ron Simmons, Marc mero (a la sable) and STEVE FREAKING AUSTIN!!!

[@chrischar9428]

Kimala too

[@NoneofYabiz-rx3zi]

Honky worked on a per appearance basis and was eventually let go when he refused to job to Mero on PPV. Austin was fired because he refused to show up to cut promos while he was rehabbing his triceps injury. He not only refused, he let his wife answer the phone and lie to them that he wasn't home although they could hear him in the background insulting them. Mero left on his own accord. He was the first WWF guy who got a great paying guaranteed contract out of Vince. As a matter of fact, he and his wife got great paying guaranteed contracts. Foley didn't understand that WCW was a corporate entity and he couldn't do his extreme stunts. Dustin was fired when he bladed when they had a strict no blood policy.

[@chasethomas9238]

DDP took half the money, Jim, and it did NOT work out for him, I'd say.

[@NoneofYabiz-rx3zi]

DDP and Booker didn't have the same name value as Nash, Hall, Sting and Hulk. I get it why they took it. They needed to get back out there while they were still hot. The other big names did the right thing

[@danthemancushecan]

"The Usual Suspects" artwork is perfect for this episode. Notice how Russo is Verbal Kent. This is fitting because he was the one behind everything going to shit in the film.

[@JTfromMN]

I think they shouldve brought hulk hgan in but i bet u couldnt figure out what mega church he"s at today😂

[@daviddzwonkowski4722]

This is it. This IS THE PERFECT THUMBNAIL

[@stevew7571]

Bro....only needing Konnan!!

[@positively_broad_st3780]

None of those guys are smart enough to be Keyser Soze...😅

[@jimmymetal713]

Instead of the usual suspects, it's the unusual suspects 😂

[@user-uo1qr6vn1q]

8:10 …”Does it sound familiar?” Meaning in a few years, Travis is going to have to create a lineup that caps out at 6’0”. But he better keep 4’6” visible to fit in Chico Alvarez

[@corbinthepieguy0249]

Love the usual suspects thumbnail. Russo being Keizer suze fits in a way😂😂

[@mattst.germain4023]

You mean Verbal Kint? Kaiser Soze was fictitious.

[@corbinthepieguy0249]

@@mattst.germain4023 he was him all along. That’s literally the plot twist. He was Kaiser soze

[@kekohokko7213]

A lot of thought went into this Thumbnail. Great work.

[@travisheckel3788]

It did!! Thank you

[@benjaminperez7328]

@@travisheckel3788 You looked up their heights in order to get them right, didn’t you Travis? Magnificent attention to detail.. I salute you. 🫡

[@travisheckel3788]

@@benjaminperez7328 I did! Lol

[@prestonpfeiffer]

Crazy that Ted and Corny never crossed paths because I could see Ted Turner being a big Jim Cornette guy. Something about their bombastic,Southern personalities is very similar.

[@travisheckel3788]

They probably did. Jim was there when turner bought it

[@Akanint]

I believe it was Vinnie Vegas in the library with the candle stick.

[@EvanTatum]

Usual Suspects so underrated:), kuddos Mr Travis lol

[@TheWhatMan80]

I'm about to watch The Usual Suspects now

[@CardShopReality]

For 20+ years I've said Jamie Kellner is WHO Killed WCW. This 4-part documentary did not change my mind however, the Seigal/Snyder relationship is suspicious as a culprit. THUMBS UP for the review!

[@chrischar9428]

He gave mercy flush

[@cardiuswalker7068]

I miss WCW

[@andrebdd5818]

Nash explained why he decided to stay home. He said him and Scott had 18 months left at $1.9 million a year. Wwe called and offered to give him half his wcw contract per year and a new wwe deal at $700,000 a year. So basically the wwe wanted to pay him $1.6 million a year to go to work 250 days a year or he could sit at home and collect $1.9 to sit by the pool and bust his body up. He said only an idiot would take that deal even if you could make a little more with incentives.

[@perfectblindguy]

Foley killed WCW. Sullivan stated that after KOTR 98, WCW could not compete with that.

[@NoneofYabiz-rx3zi]

Yeah, couldn't compete with the wild stuff WWF was doing. WCW was a corporate entity which had to adhere to Time Warner's standard and practices. WWF was run by one man: Vince McMahon.

[@perfectblindguy]

@@NoneofYabiz-rx3zi People say that but there was nothing family friendly about the vince russo era in wcw.........

[@jamaalmoses8821]

Flair should be on the lineup ,too. He negotiated Hogan's terms to sign in 94..had his son on TV ..kept himself in the spotlight too long,etc ..

[@chrischar9428]

Flair never had that much influence

[@amirpourghoureiyan1637]

Stevie Ray talked about how Flair politicked to mess with midcard guys' booking like Randy Savage and Harlem Heat.

[@anthonyjohnson4390]

Strange fun fact. For whatever reason David Flairs segments were some of the highest ratings.

[@chrischar9428]

@@amirpourghoureiyan1637 stevie froot booty

[@richardstange5939]

It was the execs that didn’t want WCW on their channel. They set it up to fail.

[@michaelradtke4801]

How did they bleed that much money in 2000 if the big contracts weren't on WCWs books

[@lutherheggs451]

Because in reality when 2 companies merge together, its common practice that you take the losses from other divisions in the company and move them to the one that you most want to get rid of. And AOL was embarrassed to even have "wrasslin" on their network. Its how Microsoft works and they've been doing it for decades. they spend billions on Xbox and it never makes them a penny so they spread around the numbers to make the losses look smaller and appease the shareholders who have wanted Xbox gone from Microsoft since the Xbox 360 days after they lost billions knowingly releasing a product with a 54% failure rate on the market and had to fix them

[@trishlang1310]

I think ultimately Bischoff deserves a good majority of the blame. He let his buddies do whatever they wanted even when it wasnt good, that includes giving them creative and booking control at times, and they obviously didn't have the business's best interests in mind. Just listen to some of Nash's interviews for evidence of his lazy selfish attitude. If the product remained good and semi competitive, I doubt the higher ups would be as quick to abandon it if it's making them money. Its Bischoff's job to make sure the product is professional, profitable, and is of high quality. For many different reasons, including not being willing to stand up to his star buddies and take charge, and most likely not having enough knowledge to do so - the ball he dropped was the heaviest and most damaging I think.

[@emperortrevornorton3119]

I blame all parties involved Nash the least because of reasons but they all had a hand in destroying WCW every single one

[@deemen7132]

Nash is oure luck masquerading as talent/work ethic

[@deemen7132]

Pure

[@ericl7435]

Poke of doom was terrible so unperfesional

[@derekfuiten204]

I just finished the episode 3 review! Excellent!

[@garlicjrmade6409]

its been so many years now but i was a teenager in highschool that was absolutely obsessed with wrestling during these years and what brain said almost 38 minutes in really rings true, when vince bought wcw and there was supposed to be all these wcw guys in wwf, but all we got was some of the mid card guys, thats when i started to tune out of even wwf and just stopped watching wrestling period. Just because it was already getting kind of stale and then you remember being disappointed in not seeing guys like sting, Goldberg, Hogan, Nash, Hall, back in wwf, and its like well this is just lame.

[@kyleloney4191]

You don’t understand history if you get mad at the Mt Rushmore remark. Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Teddy did one good thing just like Eric is the only person ever to beat Vince.

[@C0wboyzfan4life]

Correct

[@veegob5287]

Corney, I love ya…that State Farm joke was the DRIZZLING, Arby’s Beef & Cheddar, screaming cheetah Willie 💩s!!! Woof!!!!!

[@bentheman1980]

what confuses me is that there is a WWE DVD that came out about 10 years ago dealing with exactly the death of WCW just from the viewpoint of Bischoff. Every topic discussed on Who Killer was discussed there already. Apart from Russo, even with the same talking heads. Think it was calles Wrestling Most Controversial Figures or something.

[@jonathancarlson6127]

Imagine if Cornette had been given the power instead of Russo? WCW may have not made it, but it would have gone out with dignity...