World Championship Wrestling

:There was also a World Championship Wrestling circuit in Australia from 1964 to 1978. This article is about the U.S. promotion.

Vince McMahon Strikes Back

After WrestleMania XIV in March 1998, the WWF regained the lead in the Monday Night Wars with its new WWF Attitude brand, led in particular by rising stars Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock and Mankind. The classic feud between McMahon (who was re-imagined and re-branded as the evil company chairman character Mr. McMahon) and Austin (who, ironically, had been released by Bischoff in the summer of 1995 for not being marketable) caught the imaginations of fans. The April 13, 1998 episode of RAW, headlined by a match between Austin and McMahon, marked the first time that WCW had lost the head-to-head Monday night ratings battle in the 84 weeks since 1996. WCW attempted to counter this by dividing the nWo into the Hogan-led heel nWo Hollywood faction and the Nash-led face nWo Wolfpac faction, but many felt that it was a poor rehash of the original WCW vs. nWo storyline. Undeterred, WCW also launched a new Thursday TV show, WCW Thunder, around this time.

Related Topics:
WrestleMania XIV - March - WWF Attitude - The Rock - Mankind - 1995 - April 13 - 1996 - WCW Thunder

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WCW's next big attempt at ratings supremacy was marketing ex-NFL newcomer Bill Goldberg as an invincible monster with a record-breaking winning streak. Goldberg was indeed incredibly popular from the outset, with chants of 'Gold-berg, Gold-berg' heralding his approach to the ring, but business still quickly fell off for WCW, especially as the list of stars ready to be destroyed by Goldberg grew shorter. One of WCW's last big genuine wins in the Monday night ratings war was in July 1998, when WCW gave the long-awaited World Title match in Atlanta between Hogan and Goldberg, away for free on Nitro. By doing this, they indeed 'spiked' and inflated their TV ratings for a week, but flushed away millions of possible PPV dollars in the process, as Hogan vs. Goldberg was a clear PPV main event. On September 14, 1998, WCW won the ratings war once again with a memorable moment that featured Ric Flair's return to WCW and the reformation of the legendary Four Horsemen. On October 25, 1998, WCW's Halloween Havoc PPV ended up running longer than the time allowed due to the last-minute addition of a Tag Team Title match. As a result, several thousand people lost the PPV feed at 11pm which was during the World Title match between Diamond Dallas Page and Goldberg. The following night, WCW decided to correct the problem by airing the entire match for free on Nitro and thus winning the ratings war for the final time.

Related Topics:
Bill Goldberg - Destroyed - July - September 14 - Four Horsemen - October 25 - Halloween Havoc - Tag Team Title - Diamond Dallas Page

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WCW slowly slid into a period of extravagant overspending and creative decline; why this happened and who let it happen is a matter of debate among wrestling fans and historians. Some attribute the slump to the overuse of celebrities, such as employing Dennis Rodman and Jay Leno to wrestle PPV matches. Others blame the stale, pointless and at time self-serving storylines from inexperienced bookers such as Nash, while still others claim that the top-level stars had no motivation to excel in the ring due to their long-term guaranteed-money contracts, and only gave their utmost when it suited them to do so.

Related Topics:
Dennis Rodman - Jay Leno

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As mentioned before, people questioned the storylines of Nash (which were dominated by his onscreen persona). After booking himself to win World War 3 in November 1998, he went on to end Goldberg's winning streak on PPV just one month later. Then came the infamous 'fingerpoke of doom' match with Hogan. The World Heavyweight Championship changed hands when Hogan knocked Nash to the ground by prodding him in the chest with one finger and then pinning him, further damaging the credibility and perceived value of the title. It was the same episode of Nitro that Tony Schiavone announced the Mick Foley WWF Title win.

Related Topics:
World War 3 - November - Fingerpoke of doom

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Also in 1998, The Ultimate Warrior, a former WWF star, was recruited to feud with Hogan. Their October 1998 encounter at Halloween Havoc was subpar, and Warrior vanished soon after. The Ultimate Warrior also insisted on a number of elaborate and costly apparatuses such as a trapdoor in the ring, which badly injured The British Bulldog when he landed on it.

Related Topics:
The Ultimate Warrior - October - The British Bulldog

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In addition, no matter who was in charge, WCW did not like promoting its younger stars to the company's top slots. Despite having many talented younger wrestlers such as Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Billy Kidman, Chavo Guerrero, Jr., Eddie Guerrero, Scott Steiner, Perry Saturn, Raven, and Booker T (just to name a few) on its roster, they were kept away from the main event scene. WCW's poor talent decisions combined with the massive popularity of the new, hip and edgy WWF Attitude Era, likely began WCW's rapid demise.

Related Topics:
Chris Jericho - Chris Benoit - Billy Kidman - Chavo Guerrero, Jr. - Eddie Guerrero - Perry Saturn - Raven - Booker T

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Bischoff was eventually removed from power by the Turner higher-ups in September 1999, the last straws perhaps being a mystifying and expensive on-screen push for the 1970s rock group KISS through WCW shows, a storyline involving rapper Master P and The No Limit Soldiers that saw Master P last only two weeks (the No Limit Soldiers flopped so badly that the West Texas Rednecks heel stable that they were feuding with was cheered by the southern WCW fans); an announced million-dollar contest that was later cancelled, and Bischoff's long-standing desire to put on a huge, outdoor rock 'n' wrestling concert on December 31, 1999.

Related Topics:
1999 - Push - 1970s - Rock group - KISS - Rapper - Master P - West Texas Rednecks - December 31

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