The publicity for this movie (having David Arquette win the real WCW world heavyweight title to promote the movie) was a big factor in the death of WCW. David Arquette even admitted he thought it was a stupid idea.
sharethis movie was so dumb. it wasn't even funny.... wrestling is already a joke... but they made wrestling even more pathetic with this idiot movie.
I always believed that what killed WCW was not taking wrestling seriously enough. The WWE, even today, strikes the perfect balance by putting out an entertaining show that, while you know it's fake, is fun and has a little something for everybody.
But hey, I wasn't watching pro wrestling back then. I can't judge what these guys might have thought were good ideas. I can only look back from where we are now.
- Dark Reality
Well it's not that WCW didn't take wrestling seriously. Just by watching WCW from 1996 to late 1998, it's obvious they knew what to do for the most part. They just never were able to properly fix a problem. Like by early '99 things were goin' downhill (for various reasons) and while they tried everything they could to make things work, nothing seemed good enough. Then Vince Russo came in and wrote shows the way he did for WWF. But WCW, thinkin' Russo would be the answer they were looking for, decided to give him control over everything, meaning he wouldn't have to run ideas through other people (like he HAD to in WWF). Russo just went crazy with all the crap he was writing and the ratings suffered as a result. When Time Warner/Turner were buying, selling and re-scheduling time slots and shows, they saw the low ratings that WCW was pulling and decided to cancel it's TV deal and sell the company. Bischoff would've bought the company but decided not to when he realised he wouldn't have a TV deal.
From what I've read, watched, researched, this is the general jist of what happened. Of course, Arquette being champ (to promote the movie) would've lowered the ratings for a period of time and p***ed of some fans who would've just turned to the WWF, but it's certainly not what cause the death of WCW. People just blame that whole thing (The Movie and the storyline) for WCW's death because a) The storyline was dumb and b) The movie wasn't a commerical or critical success.
I hope that makes sense. lol
I have to disagree at least a little. It was GOOD that WCW didn't take itself too seriously; after all, WWE didn't (take WWE seriously, I mean), so it made sense for WCW to do so even more. I thought the movie was funny and entertaining, with the exception of Oliver Platt playing a wrestler character alongside the actual wrestlers. They should have instead brought back a former pro wrestler with an acting background and had him play himself. (Terry Funk, perhaps?) And, of course, David Arquette shouldn't have become a champion in "real life."
I miss WCW terribly. That's strange, because I didn't even watch NITRO when it was on and only later (after I had seen this movie) went back and learned about it secondhand, but it was a very successful show and deserved to be. But READY TO RUMBLE is not what killed it.
There were two factors that led to WCW's downfall, and they were sort of related. The more obvious of the two, of course, is that the New World Order got way too big and dominated the show too much (a mistake that, I might add, TNA is repeating now on IMPACT with Immortal). I don't think nWo in itself could have ruined everything, though. The REAL problem, as I see it, is not that nWo was so hated, but that it was so hated AND at the end there was no major babyface/tweener hero to put it in its place. That man, of course, would have been Sting.
There's no question that Steve Borden was what gave WCW the edge over WWE for a time. Just look at the years during which NITRO consistently beat RAW in the ratings (1996-1998), and you'll notice that those were the years when Sting was at the height of his popularity. It was a stroke of genius to turn Sting into a vigilante character like Batman (albeit one who looked a lot more like the Joker!) because WWE had never done anything like that. Sting is the one who should have been the top face in WCW as the 21st century began, not Booker T or anyone else. The problem was that Russo eventually ran out of ideas for Sting and just didn't know what to do with him. Once Russo had him jobbing to Vampiro (of all people!), it was a sure sign that WCW's best days were behind it.
No it didn't. Ted Turner, Vince Russo (can't remember the oher schlub's name) and Vinnie Mac did.
Granted, the lame ass publicity stunt did hurt, but was merely the first of many unfortunate bad decisions.
I honestly think it was smart to have a wrestler win the title. They should have famous people wrestle as like a "second career." that way, more people will watch it. C'mon how hard is it really to fake fight?! Most of us have been doing it since we're little kids. Imagine if all pro wrestlers were also actors and writers and stuff. Then we'd actually care about them.
Except Kanyon, he was awesome. His finisher, what was that called?
Flat-liner
shareWrestling is not easy. No famous person would want to put their bodies through all the pain and agony when they can make money doing much easier things. One off appearances like hosting Raw is one thing, but doing it full time would be stupid for them.
And wrestlers are actors for the most part. They might not be in movies or on tv shows, but they're still acting.
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wrestlings fake!
LIKE A BOSS!
Wrestling's not FAKE!
shareThank god for TNA, granted its not at the level that WCW was, but it has the potential. Whoever said TNA sucks has tunnel vision. Granted the mic skills are lacking, but then again if you're tuning in for mic skills, stick to the morans at WWE
I hope Vince gets whats comin to em, and WWE goes out of business. O HAPPY DAY.
TNA is the future, and WCW will be sorely missed, but it is fun to see the old days with this movie, granted its one of my top ten movies of all time!
I can't believe people still debate this.
AOL/Time Warner WOULD NOT continue to show "Rasslin'", despite viewing figures or whatever else might have mattered. They simply HATED the idea of it!
Turner had to bow to the board!
"You can always count on Americans to do the right thing - after they've tried everything else."
Well, why the hell does every form of entertainment have to be promoted by some outside conglomerate. Walt Disney wasn't incorporated until about 1985, and look how well THEY did.
We need to have WCW back. I really mean it. WWE was doing okay for a while, but I finally had to stop watching its programming because their storylines have just gotten silly, from Jerry Lawler getting title shots he doesn't deserve (grudgingly tolerable) to Kelly Kelly retaining Edge's World Heavyweight Championship for him (Ugh!). At don't get me started on the ridiculous amount of booking lavished on Michael Cole. I swear, WWE's practically become "Michael Cole Entertainment" now!
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling is more entertaining these days, but even they have their missteps. For one thing, I'm sick of Immortal hogging the spotlight every week for the past six months; it's not as bad as nWO was, but it's getting that way. And the top babyface should be Kurt Angle or maybe Rob Van Dam, not Sting or Mr. Anderson. (Mr. Anderson is fun, sure, but if they keep using him so much he'll go stale.) Christopher Daniels needs to go; he just doesn't fit. And Matt Morgan should get another big push: he's always had the potential to be another Goldberg, but the bookers just haven't known what to do with him.
WCW started the slow process of death when they hired Hogan. Him and his pals he got hired in screwed with EVERYTHING. I agree with what Ric Flair said about Arquette being the World Champ. He bought drinks for the guys, gave his salary to the families of dead wrestlers, and worked his butt off, even if he thought the angle was stupid. That makes him a far more worthy champion than most of the guys who held the WCW Title during those last few years.
I guess the meek can inherit the Earth now. It looks like the stupid aren't doing anything with it.
Things WCW did well in the mid to late 90s:
1. Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall form the nWo
You can't blame them for bringing Hogan in. And from a pure booking standpoint, nWo is what propelled them past WWF for the first time. It was the hottest thing in the business and effectively started the attitude era. It wasn't until the Bret Hart/Austin feud in late 1996, early 1997 that WWF finally responded with a bit of attitude.
2. Sting turns into the crow
This was the hottest storyline in all of wrestling at the time. Is Sting with the nWo? Is Sting with WCW? Sting felt betrayed by WCW questioning his loyalty... Sting hanging out in the rafters, dropping down to the middle of the ring, WCW begging him to be on their side and help them fight the nWo... Finally leading to Starrcade '97 which was probably WCW's biggest PPV ever (don't actually know the figures, but I consider this the height of their popularity).
3. Excellent mid-card
While outside of Sting - the main event scene was not very great. But the mid-card was fantastic. It's funny when WCW was killing WWF in the ratings, I always thought WCW had a weak main event scene, but amazing mid-card scene. And WWF had a great main event scene but awful mid-card scene. Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Dean Malenko, Raven, Eddie Guerrero, Diamond Dallas Page, Rey Mysterio, Kidman, and the rest of the cruiserweights.... These guys were having fantastic matches on the undercard.
4. Building up Goldberg
Outside of Sting there was no top babyface who could be seen as a legit threat to the nWo. Whether he was good in the ring or not doesn't really matter. The guy was over as hell and was a big draw in 1998.
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WCW started falling apart after Starrcade 1997 in my opinion - and by the same time the following year it was never going to turn back around:
1. Not letting Sting go over Hogan clean
nWo had been the top heel group for 1.5 years. Eventually the good guy needs to win. Much like Steve Austin was booked strong and eventually took down both heel D-X at WM14 and the Corporation at WM15 - Sting NEEDED to go over Hogan in the biggest way at Starrcade 1997 - and effectively that should have ended the nWo. They had booked Sting so well leading into this PPV it is crazy how poorly it all fell apart after this. He should have had a 6 month long babyface title run... it lasted for all of 11 days before being vacated and a few short months later it was right back on Hogan.
2. Keeping the nWo strong for far too long
Same point as above, really. It got stale very fast after Starrcade '97. And let's not even mention how it was STILL going strong with Nash/Hogan past Starrcade '98. Stale story. No one cared. Quite literally, the same night Nash laid down for Hogan after Starrcade '98 - EVERYONE changed the channel to WWF and never turned it back.
3. No new stars
They had the two hottest things in the business after Starrcade '97: 1) Crow Sting and 2) the recently screwed out of the WWF title Bret Hart. If I put my armchair booker hat on around January 1998 I would have had nWo dismantled after Sting took down their leader and built the main event scene around Sting, Bret Hart, Goldberg and Diamond Dallas Page and elevated Chris Jericho. Would it have been enough to compete with Stone Cold vs. Vince McMahon, plus the rise of The Rock? No, in the end probably not, but all five were insanely over at this time. It could have at least slowed their demise.
4. Backstage politics
Of course the main reason that all this happened was the backstage BS. Hogan and Nash with too much power and in Bischoff's ear. And no Vince McMahon to keep them all in check. Nash's recent comments about Benoit and Guerrero are a pure indicator of why WCW failed in the late 90s. Would he put CM Punk over if not for Vince McMahon telling him to? By the time Russo got there it was already a *beep*
Its pretty common knowledge - even by the people working in WCW at the time in interviews now - that three things killed WCW:
1. Vince Russo. He was successful in the WWF only because he had people to vet his good ideas from his horrible ones. In WCW, he was given total control and it just degenerated into a lame Jerry Springer knock-off instead of a good wrestling program;
2. They didn't push talent. Any time that Nash, Hall, Hogan, Sting or Goldberg were around... everybody else got flushed out. They always focused on their older superstars instead of pushing fresh talent who were the ones who put asses in the seats - like Malenko, Jericho, Benoit, Guerro, etc. WWF offered the good, talented wrestlers more exposure for the same pay. It was a no-brainer for anybody who got a call from McMahon's people.
3. The nWo and "Guaranteed Pay Contracts." The biggest mistake and greatest idea Bischoff came up with was the "invasion" storyline where Nash and Hall came in. The problem is, when he signed them, he gave them contracts that stipulated they'd make the most amount of money of any other wrestler and - worse yet - if WCW ever hired other big-name talent for more money, they would have to BUMP Nash and Hall up to that. They could write their own ticket. So, whenever they brought in their buddies like Luger and others, they were guaranteeing themselves more money. So WCW couldn't win.
And there were only two storylines that ever got "pushed" in WCW: the nWo angle that was done to death and reincarnated too many times, and Bill Goldberg's winning streak. Once we had nWo, nWo: Wolfpac, nWo revisited with Hogan, Hall and Nash, nWo Latino and, finally, nWo Silver... it was played out. And once Goldberg was finally defeated, he became just another wrestler. Nobody special.
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