pOE8T3SNphk

The WCW (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Wrestling/WCW) used to be pretty awesome. Many would consider it among the most important wrestling promotions ever to exist. This video attempts to explain how it became so popular and what (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnLMDwDi-qk) caused (http://newwrestlecrap.proboards.com/thread/33896/jamie-kellner-murderer-wcw?page=1) its downfall (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRnHZ8qf3as).

Ever heard of the book about WCW's decline by Guy Evans?

What sucks is that the WWF is more oe less a monopoly on this "sport", which basically killed the territories and the local wrestling companies. My city of Memphis had a very successful wrestling show from the late 1970's to the late 1990's, and a lot of top stars came through Memphis. The show was good (sort of "Jumped the Shark in the 1990's however) because it had really great wrestlers who were real characters, and a lot of them were actually funny as hell.

I do know that a company in Memphis is starting a new promotion but it is a mere shadow of the 1980's Memphis company. In its height, about 10,000 people or more came every Monday night but when the company folded around 2000, maybe less than 2000 would come. The guys on the new Memphis promotion are mostly decent athletes with moves, but many dont have a personality and this is what is needed. On the old Memphis show, I enjoyed the interviews and jokes more than the "wrestling".

Eric Bischoff killed it for me. Also, one link in the first post requires a log in and another has been blocked by WWE on copyright grounds. Suggest finding another source.

From mid-late 1998 to early 2001, World Championship Wrestling lost its own magic for the most frequent part because the growing success of World Wrestling Federation’s Attitude Era. It(WCW) have made many creative mishaps/mistakes during its last years(‘99-‘01) via horrible painful booking.

What definitely killed WCW (at least if you ask me) was the AOL-Time Warner merger. The bad booking and creative decisions (especially when Vince Russo was there) and reckless spending didn't help. And unfortunately, by the year 2000, WCW had become something of a money pit.

But WCW was you could say, a pet project of Ted Turner's. He always had a certain fondness and loyalty towards professional wrestling because that was one of the first major shows on TBS. Many of Ted's people didn't want WCW around even before that, because it rarely made a profit. But the general belief was that as long as Ted Turner was in charge then WCW had a place on TBS and TNT.

But when the AOL-Time Warner merger happened, Ted was reduced to being in effect, a figurehead of his own company. Basically, he no longer had any real executive power.

So the new head of programming of the Turner network, Jamie Kellner was brought in, and one of the first things that he did was cancel all wrestling programming. Kellner thought that wrestling was too low-brow and not upscale enough for the vision that he had for TBS and TNT.

WCW rapidly went down after the AOL Time Warner merger so I'm inclined to agree.

Didn't Bischoff come up with that whole NWO thing? That script went on way too long and really turned me off.