Unveiling the Collapse: The Dramatic Downfall of WCW

[@Unitenotfight]

The finger poke happened on my 14th birthday, though I was completely oblivious. I was a die hard WWF fan, hated WCW. So watching Mick win that night was easily the best birthday I’d ever had at that point.

[@GAURAV25855ify]

That was the worst thing that happened to wcw

[@meztizo_americano86]

Your a WWE fan not a wrestling fan

[@HaughtKarl-jx9vr]

@@meztizo_americano86 Don't drop out of K-12.

[@ReinEngel]

"the last thing we wanted to do (with Oklahoma) was hurt (Jim Ross)." Pretty sure that was the first thing you wanted, bro.

[@dominiquejones3805]

I mean really

[@jamesteegardner2273]

This was an amazing time to be a young man. Back in college in the 90s we would get 3 TVs together in one room so we could all watch the WWF, WCW, and Monday Night Football at the same time. I can't explain just how HUGE professional wrestling was back then. Even the girls would watch with us sometimes. Watching WCW and the WWF was just something everyone did back then if you were in your early 20s. It was an amazing time to be young and carefree!

[@zacharythomason7359]

😎😎😎😎

[@zacharythomason7359]

Quick question, How do you feel about WWE not doing DVDS & Blu - Rays?

[@WesleyWilkins-qf2ky]

@zacharythomason7359 They want you to have the wwe network instead plus it’s cost saving since ppl don’t use disc anymore like they used to

[@harveymcelroy9332]

Amazing times I agree with you

[@unbroken1010]

You guys try to impregnate each other and trade flesh jacks?

[@bigpasty1582]

Also unfortunately Hogans back stage whining and crying definitely ruined many angles and wrestlers... and vince russo making himself an onscreen character was also crap

[@violentbryan21]

Scott Hall said it best “We made a ton of money and spent WAY MORE then we made.”

[@GamingManual]

I'll never forget my father taking me to the WCW house show in Boston in April 1999, and HOGAN showed up for the main event against Flair. My father, to this day, says that's the single-most electric moment he's felt at an event (he lived through the 70's and 80's, so you can imagine the comparison to shows and concerts, etc.) EVER; Hogan came out and the arena went UNHINGED. Trash in the ring after the match, Hogan using the belt like a shield to block Coke cups, etc., lmao. A night my 11 year-old self will NEVER forget! Great video!

[@joeyperrone3168]

Lance Storm was pretty funny in wwf. "If I could be serious for a minute....." 😂

[@Conflict1922]

He's a really good wrestler, it's unfortunate he wasn't a draw. His in ring skills were fantastic

[@cfairfax85]

I was there. Let me just say that no one cared and we weren't confused until afterwards. We wanted him to win so bad that at the time that we completely ignored the slow count. The building EXPLODED. I'll never forget it..the entire show was great and I'm fortunate to have seen these men in their primes. Well...some of them lol. Starcade 97'.

[@DeUndefined1]

WCW should've been sold in 1999 when they started losing money and viewers. But they really should've sold due to AOL and Time Warner called themselves to merge and Ted Turner was no longer in charge. They shouldn't had been sold last minute in 2001.

[@unclegreenskatesoda9570]

It's crazy too because if you watch the monday night wars from the start, wcw started off sooooooooo strong and was SO dang good. after a couple years though they just kept recycling the same story, it got lost in itself and redundant, all the while WWE was evolving and gaining the edge with the attitude movement.

[@dominiquejones3805]

They just wouldn't let the NWO go

[@P2D_x]

Wrestling Bio’s nitroraw documentation is brilliant!

[@fallyneprinciotta9058]

@@P2D_xabsolutely never miss a Thursday or Sunday. He is so damn funny too.

[@doyouevendab77]

NEW...NEW...NEW WORLD ORDER!!! NWO 4 LIFE!!!! how long can you do that? Eventually you got to expand from that. It got boring after 2 years. All I got to say is SUCK IT!!!!

[@doyouevendab77]

Suck it good gabroni!!!!!!!

[@Sabu8000]

In 1998, it was still WWF. Just call it that.

[@reloadpsi]

The video does call it that. Unless the joke is that your username being Sabu means you botched your comment and I'm just being slow.

[@SoggyMs]

He literally does...

[@Sabu8000]

​@@SoggyMsNot even 1 minute into the video he says [WWE's dominance at the time].

[@poorchristopher15]

World wildlife fund might get mad and his video may be removed.

[@MrAjking808]

@@poorchristopher15no it won’t lol .. same thing as yall censoring yourselves in comments

[@everyonelovesmajima]

One of my favorite things they did was take out a $10,000 newspaper ad for Nitro that appeared in Tuesday’s paper.

[@robalt1983]

When WWF didn't wait a year to do the invasion angle, they made a huge mistake. So much more of the main event WCW roster would've been there to tell a great story. Could've been the greatest story of all time.

[@GAURAV25855ify]

Exactly that was a missed opportunity it took sting 13 years after wcw folded to come to wwe got buried anyway despite his impact

[@NathanSeitz]

The biggest WCW names had guaranteed contracts where they could sit at home and collect a check for doing nothing.

[@robalt1983]

@@NathanSeitz Yep that's exactly why WWF needed to wait a year. By 2002 they were all available.

[@SmithCommaBenjamin]

Except WWF had never actually been good at booking, except for 2 periods in its entire history (85-90 & 96-99). Vince was never a genius, just a conman that bribed his way to getting rid of competition

[@evasimpson722]

WCW got buried 🤣🤣 music to my ears

[@claytonclifford2323]

I wanted to be a WCW guy but it was cause of their midcard and cruiserweight divisions mainly. Booker T, Chris Jericho, Raven, DDP, Eddie Guerrero, Rey Mysterio Jr, Kidman, Juventud Guerrera, Beniot, Malenko, Saturn, Chavo Guerrero, Kanyon, etc.

[@WrestlePod]

I loved it as a kid!

[@darionigro]

“What about me, what about Raven!” Loved that every time he would rip that out 😂😂

[@vinceraven1501]

I recorded the WWF in the living room & WCW in my bedroom lol. Monday nights was a family pizza party wrasslin night.

[@Ryan-hl4ur]

Yea, remember they use to have "nitro parties" & wcw would broadcast large groups of "pals" all watching in their living rooms like it's the SB.

[@markwrenn5965]

I was a WCW boy myself. Of course, i watched both, but wcw was my wrestling

[@Amaterasu-zl5yh]

Sorry to hear that

[@markwrenn5965]

@@Amaterasu-zl5yh why?

[@Amaterasu-zl5yh]

@@markwrenn5965 why not?

[@markwrenn5965]

@@Amaterasu-zl5yh right.

[@Amaterasu-zl5yh]

@@markwrenn5965 true

[@delbertprince5302]

I am big fan of the NWA prior to the change of the WCW. I love the Jim Crockett Promotion...

[@buhbuhjaychampagne1706]

JCP had the it all. The wrestling was top notch. Great character work. The Four Horsemen ruled the ring. They just tried to go National and they weren’t ready.

[@poorchristopher15]

You must be a dinosaur.

[@joshmeads]

Goldberg's streaking wasn't inflated near as much as originally thought. On Reliving the War his steak was counted and the real number was only like 5 below this given one.

[@DonSmith2323]

Wrong more like 25

[@Groverismyspiritanimal]

the inmates running the asylum is what truly ruined WCW

[@WrestlePod]

I agree

[@D1Snr]

I'm from the UK, and I always preferred WCW from a very young age.. It used to get shown on ITV on a Saturday afternoon in the early 90's when Bischoff used to interview the wrestlers before he became the CEO. Going back even further, ITV used to show NWA wrestling at about 2 o'clock in the morning on a Tuesday night.

[@mahoganyhippie27]

I liked both products but I loved WCW more. It was so diverse in different genres of wrestling. You have old school to lucha to technical styles. It really could've killed WWF in the late 90s. It's just sad they allowed the backstage buffoonery to destroy it and with that hurting the business.

[@lindenbyass6902]

I heard that before Vince Russo WCW came very close to bankrupting WWE

[@buckiemohawk3643]

no it was going down hill after Starrcade where Sting beat Hogan.... The NWO should have been finished. Yet they continued and it was complete schlock. When Austin Won the belt, WWE were having better shows@@lindenbyass6902

[@dominiquejones3805]

The Cruiserweight Division was the show

[@poorchristopher15]

WCW never really had a chance to kill the WWF. WCW'S fall was inevitable, even if the time Warner deal never happened The attitude era killed WCW.

[@21Invincible259]

I’m from the South so Dubya C Dubya was my rasslin of choice

[@ridddoggrecordz]

When they stopped Hogan v Nash from having a real match, then Hogan v Hall, Hogan v Steiner and alot of other matches that should have happened. WCW had the wrestlers, they just dropped the ball on their booking. Russo chased Hogan out rather than book Hogan to wrestle the appropriate matches for the company.

[@MrCromocrunch]

The first sign of the end was the finger poke of doom vs foley’s title win. One was something people hated and one was something people loved.

[@Odious_One]

Nah the FIRST sign of the downfall was about 4 months earlier, WCW had Bret Hart join the NWO because they clearly had no idea what to do other than that. I mean they had Black/White Nwo, Red/Black Nwo, Tan Nwo, The Lwo and I think there was one more but c'mon man LOL.

[@Noah-fv6dt]

I was WWF all the way by 1998. Mankind, UNDERTAKER, Stone Cold and Kane. But I would still watch both shows. I recorded Raw. I wanted to have it on video. But that was hard to do because it meant watching the boring stuff on WCW and couldn't fast forward it because it was live

[@nichhodge8503]

16:46 what everyone forgets is Goldberg’s loss to Nash was his second loss in WCW. Goldberg lost to Mongo McMichael early in his WCW career even Kevin Sullivan said “I did a good job at making everyone forget Goldberg’s loss to Mongo and making people think that Goldberg was still undefeated”

[@Dovah21]

WCW is one of the only promotions I can think of that, on multiple occasions, went, "You know what? These two aren't having a match tonight! They're gonna get in that ring, sure, but there sure as fuck isn't going to be any wrestling going down in it. Suck a dick!" It was a peak late '90s vibe, I'll admit, but it has not aged well at all. You can really only laugh at it all now.

[@bizmonkey007]

Yeah, there was a lot of cynicism in the late to early 00s and that was reflected in the product. Eventually you have to give people a real pay-off and WCW forgot that - they just kept insulting the audience over and over.

[@christopherbaker9676]

These videos are by far the best on YT. I am so glad they're other's that love pro wrestling like I do. Keep up the good work.

[@WrestlePod]

I appreciate that!

[@KinnereyB]

For me, Mike lost his awesomeness when he lost his mullet. It’s one of the few mullets I’ve respected

[@jamesesslinger1976]

Vintage wrestling, yes! I was wondering what happened to WCW. When I stopped watching in 1996 WCW was finally on top. Also would you consider doing the beginning of pro wrestling video touching on wrestlers from the 1880s, thanks!

[@WrestlePod]

Good question!

[@Haplo699g]

Vintage? Damn, I got old! LOL

[@P2D_x]

@@Haplo699gShrek was made in 2001 ☹️😂

[@Haplo699g]

@@P2D_x Daaaamn!

[@LuciferBiscuit]

I was letting this video play in the background as I play games, and I had to tab to this video just to see why you're referencing Shawn Michaels when talking about WCW era NWO, also using Tough Enough, NXT credits for the legends you're talking about when the subject is WCW era. Boggles the mind.

[@NTwisp13]

same thing, guy tries so hard convincing us he watched it at the time while mostly embarrassing himself... for example, in other video he was talking about war games 2000 being one of the worst ppvs while the match actually happened on nitro... other cringy moment is when he constantly tries to prove how even though he was 7-9 years old he was already thinking about the product (with today's eyes, of course)

[@artgaignard8817]

I have read books written on LSD. William Burroughs and Hunter S Thompson's unexprigated unedited works had more narrative than the last 3 years of WCW

[@WrestlePod]

😂

[@David-lx4yb]

You had to have been on an acid trip to understand the Russo period at WCW.

[@vivalafonz]

Konnan isnt the founder of AAA, Antonio Pena founded and created AAA. Konnan is the booker of AAA.

[@assassssasa]

The reason why WCW was sold so cheaply was the Jamie Kellner didn't want the wrestling

[@TheGreatDevlin]

How was nWo having a separate show going to work? The heel faction would just run the show with the odds against babyfaces in every match? Things would flip on the other show?

[@astuteandy]

That's what happens when you have people who don't understand wrestling producing wrestling. They're ignorant.

[@Grumhead]

@@astuteandy Understand what? This is a show for 10-16 year olds.

[@astuteandy]

@@Grumhead Yeah, the ratings for demographic ages would disagree with you. More adults than children watch wrestling.

[@Grumhead]

@@astuteandy hahahaha shame

[@astuteandy]

@@Grumhead I really don't care what you have to say, man. Have a good day.

[@MrWhiskers65]

Oh God! Brian Pillman, that’s a name from the past! He played for the Calgary Stampeders football club of the CFL. He then went into wrestling and became a popular wrestler for Calgary’s Stampede Wrestling in the 80’s but then I lost track of his career because I stopped watching wrestling shortly after that time.

[@WrestlePod]

Glad to jog those long lost memories!

[@LexBundy]

Chris Jericho's debut was probably one of the best.. from the periodic countdown to interrupting the Rocks promo.. shit was tight ⏸️

[@ConspiracyQueryDotNet]

During the not-fast count, Sting should've just kicked out a millisecond before three. And then everything else proceed the same from there with Bret getting involved.

[@WrestlePod]

Absolutely

[@paranormedic]

I rarely watched WCW, I NEVER missed an episode of WWF!!!

[@GAURAV25855ify]

Did u ever go to ATLANTA

[@T1214-k9c]

I dont give a damn what they say, the Oklahoma gimmick was made for one reason only. To make fun of JR. Making fun of a man who has a condition he cant control is sick

[@kevinb4081]

I grew up watching wcw still checked in on wwf from time to time wishing wcw could get the rock and Austin they had Austin one time but didn't know what to do with him

[@travisford6663]

It’s crazy to watch this video when you’re talking about falling below 3.0 now neither one of these companies get this and mainly because TVs watch different but it’s just not the same in every way

[@JUVI9596]

I miss WCW , bro

[@Reggie_91]

This video is so frustrating to watch as the time line jumps all over the place

[@petevaldezbc1]

I didn't watch much WCW, and I'm no country music fan, but Rap is Crap was everywhere when it came out. It was actually big

[@MadHatter-ek7vh]

Also Booker T was one of my favorites in WCW because his move set I liked the kicks he would do.

[@perfectblindguy]

The fact is that when Nash beat Goldberg for the title, the crowd popped like crazy. Goldberg might have been over, but not as much as Nash.

[@LostOneOmega]

Personally, I can see that being the case as Nash was "cooler" than Goldberg. However, what turned me off of continuing to watch was when Nash got back with Hogan. Once that happened it put a sour taste in my mouth about him winning in the first place. Had Nash stayed face and beat Hogan, and THEN turn. It probably wouldn't have been as bad.

[@nick56677]

Correct. The problem wasn't ending the streak, the problem was the writing thst came afterwards. They had no long-term plan. Nash joining Hogan killed the entire year of 1998s storylines. At that point as a fan I was done because why invest in something thats gonna be taken away? Then we had hogan in the wolfpac wearing jncos, talking gangster "my trigger finger brother" it was cringe and unwatchable.

[@One.Zero.One101]

@@nick56677 This is the main factor for me, what's the point of getting invested when they're just blindly throwing darts on the dart board? Similarly this is also my issue with modern Hollywood franchises, I don't get invested in the lore anymore because they're just gonna retcon it in an upcoming prequel.

[@One.Zero.One101]

Nash fanboys can defend it all they want, but it's undeniable it deflated the momentum not just of Goldberg but the company itself. There was increasing amounts of "Go Away Heat" or "Change The Channel Heat".

[@weswolever7477]

It really hurt to watch a promotion I loved to watch turn itself into a joke

[@GAURAV25855ify]

Thats to poor mismanagement

[@Lemont5236]

My pops was a huge JCP/WCW fan back in the days.

[@JediGamingX]

The NWA/WCW that we know so well was actually started in 1948 by Jim Crockett Sr and not 1905 like Jim Ross always claimed during his calling of matches. The NWA as a hole like Ross claimed was a group of promotors who ran regional areas in the US like The Pacific area, Virginia, St Louis and even up North where one of those promoters was Vince Sr.

[@ignatiusjackson235]

Shawn Michaels never even signed with WCW in the '90s, let alone was he in the nWo. That would've been too sweet, but it didn't happen. Shawn Michaels was added in the WWE revival faction, long after it mattered.

[@darthnowlan]

It almost happened when after the backstage fight with Bret Hart, Shawn went to McMahon's office and announced he was quitting, he wanted to join Hall and Nash in WCW.

[@ignatiusjackson235]

@@darthnowlan That doesn't surprise me at all, but calling Shawn a member of the nWo is a bit disingenuous, especially in the context of the Monday Night Wars. It would have been nifty to see, though, for sure.

[@meztizo_americano86]

the Giant had to be retrained how to wrestle when he went to WWF

[@ignatiusjackson235]

@@meztizo_americano86 ...and the first Council of Nicaea took place in the year 325 A.D. What's your point?

[@meztizo_americano86]

@@ignatiusjackson235 My point is some WWE fans are narrow minded. Don't get me wrong the attitude ers is the best but it was always good to see all three promotions. Once Vince had no more competition his product became s***

[@stevenoconnor3256]

WCW and Jim Crockett promotions were always the second biggest wrestling organizations in the 80s and 90s. Jim Crockett promotions would have lasted longer if they had not bought a bunch of other promotions and overextended themselves. Besides the WWF sabotaging them on Pay-per-view. The Turner sale led to the ultimate demise of the company because they put incompetent leadership in, the mid-90s was just a bit of hot shotting that ultimately always leads to a massive crash if not managed well. The Pizza Hut exec they put in crashed the house show business in the early nineties and drove Flair to the WWF. Hogan really wasn't a fit for the southern audience like Ric Flair was.

[@BrockAwesome]

23:07 I recognize that edit of Chris Jericho lol. Its ripped directly from my Chris Jerichos Funniest Moments video. You are welcome to use it. 😊👍

[@wolfiewolfdog9771]

41:25 surprised all of this wasn't cut out in post lol

[@hcaballero57]

Great video, very well done. But it was Kevin Nash who said "The Band is Back Together"

[@ScotNation1987]

I love this guys stuff he’s great to watch

[@davidjsaul]

Unfortunately I feel like AEW is already headed in this direction. WCW thought it was too big to fail and they were dead wrong. Tony Khan needs to pull his head out of his ass and start running that place properly.

[@WrestlePod]

What would you do different?

[@davidjsaul]

@@WrestlePod he needs to hire producers who will pull the wrestlers in line when their egos get overinflated,, hire a competent booking crew as doing it on his own he's clearly and naturally burned out,, hire a talent scout who won't sign every indie darling to mega contacts he'll never see a return on, he needs to have a clear divide between on screen talent and those in actual authority roles within the company, he needs to learn how to properly format a TV show.

[@danielwebster5748]

With the exception of Goldberg maybe Booker t and few others Vince mainly buried the WCw talent I mean look what he done to goldust. None of wcw. As much televised time as the WWF and most of them were handed their pink slip.

[@WrestlePod]

It’s sad so much missed potential

[@danielwebster5748]

@@WrestlePod it absolutely was a lot of potential.

[@sklba632]

I gotta correct you on something. Rap is Crap was not poorly perceived overall. The song was getting played on country radio. There was a ground swelling around this song at the time. It struck a never with a certain audience. You can see the same thing in country music this year with divisive political songs aimed at certain demographics. If WCW had put that song in jukeboxes, it would have made them mint.

[@ronfroehlich4697]

Rap is an abbreviation for crap

[@sklba632]

@@ronfroehlich4697 it's a genre of music, nothing more, nothing less. Like it, don't like it, whatever, but one can also argue the cunt in country music is well deserved with its deep history of racism, spousal abusers, drunks, druggards, and all sorts of other terrible people who made music certain people enjoyed.

[@ymca4547]

What divisive political songs do you refer to?

[@MrAjking808]

Wrong 😂🤦🏾‍♂️

[@MrAjking808]

@@ronfroehlich4697hater

[@jamarcuscarter5197]

Those where the day's WCW Monday Night Nitro

[@WrestlePod]

So much nostalgia!!!

[@matg5760]

Expand this Beyond just 70s prog,to just 60s and 70s bands in general embracing synth wave in the 80s. And phil collins solo career also contributed to what Genesis became.

[@Breakbeats92.5]

Growing up, the WCW was always that "other" promotion. It was like Nintendo and Sega, you were in one camp or the other. It wasn't until The Road Warriors came over to the WWF that I saw that they might have had a leaner and meaner roster and I should have tuned into the promotion sooner.

[@ryfreedman]

Excellent video!

[@WrestlePod]

Thank you

[@extremeuzer3]

It’s so crazy how we all watched WCW die on live TV and Dixie Carter/TNA still thought it made sense to bring in bischoff and hogan

[@MadHatter-ek7vh]

I loved wcw it was different than Wwf back then it seemed more exciting and interesting..I watched both but Wcw seemed much more interesting.

[@johngroves3251]

Banger Nuff Sed

[@johnm5889]

Saw WCW live a few time when they toured the UK.

[@akingwithwords2144]

I was a WCW fan as a youngin’ The problem is people tend to remember how it ended and not the years prior. WCW was better than WWF before late ‘99… WWF was pretty much cartoonish before the famed “Attitude” era…

[@MCDCSZN]

Imagine waiting and buying tickets to go see the Goldberg vs Kevin Nash rematch, and you get there and see the finger poke of doom.

[@generalkayoss7347]

You can't convince me Russo wasn't on Vince's payroll the entire time.

[@reloadpsi]

I often wonder if that was industrial espionage myself.

[@JoshieMadhatt]

Seems like something Vince would do

[@MrAjking808]

@@reloadpsitinfoil hats

[@TheIdiotsHaveTakenOver]

I was a hard-core WCW fan, and I remember when Goldberg was robbed. The disappointment I felt when they decided to end his streak, in that way, was huge. I thought it couldn't get worse, but when Nash took the dive to Hogan, I was proven wrong. Nash was one of my favorite characters, and I couldn't stand Hogan, so that outcome was even more devastating to me than the Goldberg debacle.

[@JPPorcaro]

"the fracture" was enormously popular.

[@billytheyid626]

How did you watch this aged 7 in the UK when WCW wasn't available in the UK at this time? Something doesn't stack up.

[@JimmyChangE16]

I always remember WCW in like 90 or 91 and it looked so budget! Dubya see Dubya Pro!!!

[@WrestlePod]

I loved the look during that time period

[@jessmcafee2557]

Preferred WCW for most of the 90s. I taped Raw and watched both tho. But it was getting tough to watch toward the end.

[@cosmoissleeping]

One of the darkest days in 40 year old virgin history was when WCW folded

[@wintersouljah8437]

What??

[@cosmoissleeping]

@@wintersouljah8437 rasslin is for 40 year old virgins

[@MrAlvin714]

Lmaaaaao whaaat ?

[@cosmoissleeping]

@@MrAlvin714 rasslin has an audience of, largely, 40 year old virgins

[@GrantAugustus1]

I was a WWF guy knew WWF would WIN but WCW MADE A LOT OF TERRIBLE MISTAKES!!!!

[@weswolever7477]

My favorite was the night it took 90 minutes of a 3 hour program to get to the first match

[@Clown_Wizard]

25:14 The 3 hr run time is what turned me away. I was in high school and didn’t have 3 hours to burn every Mon. They did a segment called The Eric Bischoff Show which was a talk show like format complete with couches. It was clear they were padding for time, and that was the last time I watched WCW.

[@jacksmith-mu3ee]

Lingchi is not just in china but most central asia

[@danielmarkle9000]

I was a wwf fan myself. I remember occasionally watching WCW and I did find the nwo interesting but I couldn’t help but notice that aside from them and sting they really didn’t have anything special going on despite all the talent they had. I never liked Goldberg because he only did 2 minute matches. It got old really fast. Wwf had all kind of things going on. And they did a good job of using a lot of there talent.

[@787_rayray3]

I loved wcw when i was like 6 or 7 when scott hall nd kevin nash went to wcw frm wwf then came nwo nd i was hooked but i also watched wwf back then i loved stone cold so i really did not understand it was a war nitro vs raw i just enjoyed watching man it was great

[@KinnereyB]

I was all in on WCW when Hall and Nash were signed in 1996. The rise seemingly came out of nowhere. I was even more over on WCW when Goldberg seemingly appeared from nowhere to take the wrestling world by storm and alongside Stone Cold and The Rock became my favorite wrestler. In 1998, wrestling had never been hotter. By 1999, almost everyone in our football and basketball locker rooms had tuned out Nitro in favor of Raw. Then by 2000, I was watching Raw exclusively. The blame is often rightly given to Russo, who certainly expedited it. But to quote the soft spoken Jim Cornette, “Everyone had a finger in that whore.” The collapse came as fast as the rise, seemingly out of nowhere, as fast as a finger poke or cattle prodder.

[@poorchristopher15]

I also watched WCW up until 1998. Once I saw the Austin vs McMahon wars, I was hooked. The majority of my classmates in school also switched to RAW. I think every wrestling fan has a similar story to ours.

[@KinnereyB]

@@poorchristopher15 100% agree 👍

[@Scorch1028]

The Finger Poke of Doom signaled the end of WCW.

[@JoshieMadhatt]

Fun fact: This was also the episode of Nitro where Eric Bischoff made the incredibly stupid decision to give away Mankind's victory over Rock to win the WWF Championship with the famous "that'll put butts in the seats heh" and ofc failing to realize that wrestling fans weren't partisan like them and they loved Mick Foley. Apparently after they spoiled the victory about half a million ppl immediately switched channels to see it. That Nitro was honestly a snapshot of all that was ( and would continue) to go wrong with WCW

[@RandallDenison]

Total ignorance destroyed WCW. The last shows were bordering 3 stooges silliness.

[@irvingsmith6559]

I loved the WCW cruiserweight division. Outstanding wrestlers.

[@blachubear]

When Hogan arrived to the WCW, i knew it was the beginning of the end. The Attitude Era slowly killed WCW. David Arquette winning the title was the final nail in the coffin.

[@GAURAV25855ify]

No it wasnt WCW RATTINGS GOT HIGHER WHEN HULK HOGAN ARRIVED IN WCW KNOW YOUR HISTORY BEFORE HULK HOGAN CANE TO WCW WWF WAS KICKING THERE ASSES EVEN BEFORE THE MONDSY NIGHT WARS IT WAS ULTIMATE WARRIOR FIRST OF ALL THAT PROJECT OF BRINING HIM IN KILLED WCW SECONDLY ITBWAS FINGERPOOK OF DOME in Atlanta’s.

[@Darktalent1986]

Can anyone tell me what the first decapitation clip is from? I'm more interested in seeing what tha's about

[@danielwebster5748]

I remember when I was a young man both of them were in existence and I would if it was a work day I would take them both if it was not a work day I would tape one and watch the other one. And that day I could not decide which one I like better I actually like them both.

[@WrestlePod]

Both had so many pros and cons, there was something for everyone

[@gotd4m]

I stopped watching wrestling when WCW died. Never like WE/F.

[@WrestlePod]

There’s so many good companies out there now to jump back in. Impact, ROH, New Japan, AEW

[@nikkyray3558]

I've never seen a wrestler more over than Nash at that starcade

[@Jerry-zc5qt]

When the kiss segment gave Nitro its lowest rating ever Noone said it directly but basically wcw attitude was "how dare people tune in to a wrestling show and expect to see wrestling "

[@jamestakacs]

Just remember this. That finger poke garbage was in the same ring that true legends like Harley Race and Dory Jr wrestled 60 minute matches and when you left to go home you wanted more

[@dennisblackmon8773]

I was a wcw fan until the fingerpoke of doom it ruined wcw for me and I never changed back I stayed a wwf fan until wcw went out of business and wwf became wwe so yeah

[@eddie9244]

I tried to like wcw in the late 90s but they made it so difficult

[@rodneywaugh8535]

Growing up in the south in the Carolinas.... It was always NWA / WCW.... When Vince bought WCW..... It's just too bad that he could not run them both as two separate entities.... Have a WCW champion and a WWE champion... And have one guy that was a true world champion

[@el-kiote]

36:26 why is Judd Nelson hosting a talk show?

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

They had no creative direction or actual writers.

[@Ryan-hl4ur]

We'd of probably kept doing it but the cops were getting too many calls about a "vicious attack" in progress (fugazi) & kids are trick or treating so they can't floor it. We never "routed for the good guys." (point being)

[@troublenyc4092]

Good morning all! Happy Friday!

[@WrestlePod]

Good morning!

[@bigpasty1582]

As soon as the nwo had about 10 members it was so lame it didnt matter what wwf was doing it just seemed way cooler. Plus wcw kept pushing the old guys that were absolutely the lamest groupnof 40+ year old dudes trying to act young and hip😂 nobody bought Hogan or nash as gangsters lmfao