Posted in: Mr. Tito
MR. TITO STRIKES BACK - Why WCW Truly Failed and Why WWE Peaked through 2000
By Mr. Tito
Jun 30, 2015 - 12:27:23 AM

Follow Mr. Tito on Twitter.com: @titowrestling

Welcome back to the Excellence in Column Writing as the man, Mr. Tito, is back in town... Or at least back with another delightful column here at LordsofPain.net / WrestlingHeadlines.com. Took a little break to recharge the batteries, but I deserve it. Since mid 2012, I've produced at least 1 column per week and that's impressive considering I'm the old man around here heading into my 17th year as Mr. Tito. Plus, if you don't like Old Man Tito's columns, I give you something weekly to complain about in the Comments section. How about them apples?

And give me credit... I now have the WWE Network and I think I'll keep it beyond my FREE month of June. I'm a sucker for documentaries and WWE Network is full of them whether they are original content or something from a DVD/Blu-Ray that I didn't purchase. Honestly, I have barely watched any actual wrestling events from the past. As I advised as a reason for not purchasing WWE Network, watching older events does little for me. I either enjoyed them live or have seem them multiple times through other means. For example, I had the RAW box set that was in VHS form of the first 15 Wrestlemanias. For a period of about 7 years, I actually watched that entire thing once a year to get ready for Wrestlemania. I did a lot of tape trading and once owned many events on official release...

But I love documentaries. I really like the Rivalries shows and I especially enjoyed the Dusty/Flair and Piper/Hogan shows. But I have also been watching the Monday Night Wars specials. In all honesty, those shows have been hit or miss for me. Lots of recycling going on with those shows that has already been covered on other DVD/Blu-Ray programs. Plus, the actual Monday Night Wars shows themselves borrowed from each other. Throughout the documentaries, the shows try to pinpoint why World Championship Wrestling (WCW) failed and lost the Monday Night War with WWE. Lots of WCW bashing in terms of their talent, booking, and just how amazing the WWE became during 1998-2000. Nothing new to add to the conversation, same old WWE propaganda.

Simultaneously, I'm reading through the Death of WCW book by Bryan Alvarez and RD Reynolds. Overall, that's a good read especially the 2014 re-release. That book gets more in-depth with the booking and overall decision making by WCW officials.

Between WWE Network and that book, I believe that both missed out on the true reason why not only WCW failed, but why the United States pro wrestling market has seen some shrinkage since WCW closed its doors during March 2001.

That reason? CASUAL FANS.

Let me give you a great analogy, especially in non-traditional sports towns. When a professional sports team goes deep into the playoffs or wins championships, the fanbase seems to grow exponentially. Not just within the town or state of the pro sports team, but nationally as well. Take the Chicago Bulls of the 1990's. They won 6 championships and had possibly the greatest pro basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan. Bulls and Air Jordans were not just selling well in Chicago or Illinois, but nationwide. Everybody became a Chicago Bulls fan. Locally here in Ohio, there are actually more Steelers fans than Browns/Bengals fans, particularly in the Baby Boomer generation (born between 1945-1965). Why? Because the Pittsburgh Steelers won 4 Superbowls during the 1970's. Better yet for the Steelers, they kept winning during the 1990's and have kept winning since the 2000's.

"Everybody Loves a Winner"

Then, of course, when the teams start losing, fans quickly disappear. Particularly in warmer weather cities where there are more things to do, there exists many fairweather fans who care when the team wins and not so much thereafter.

Many call them BANDWAGON fans.

See where I'm going?

Let me post the following chart. Below is a chart of the combined ratings between WWE RAW and WCW Nitro. Please observe the combined ratings during 1996 through early 2000. THICK in wrestling viewership with the Monday Night Wars at their peak.



Obviously, more competition and more choices will create more viewership. But in my opinion, it goes deeper. I believe that the Monday Night Wars were thick in casual fans who were caught up in the wave of the New World Order (NWO), Degeneration X, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, the Rock, and briefly, Bill Goldberg.

- During 1996-1998, you had the New World Order. WCW grabbed 2 top WWE superstars in Kevin Nash and Scott Hall and shocked the world by turning Hulk Hogan heel. They were injected into a lame WCW product that had an identity crisis between being a Southern promotion and trying to recreate Hulkamania. Fans actually believed Hall and Nash were invading and the showcasing of many older WWE veterans brought older fans back to pro wrestling. Many fans who loved the WWE during the late 1980's opted to return to the product and proudly sport the NWO t-shirt. Then, WCW raided ECW and International markets of its best talent and caught outside attention with amazing Cruiserweight action.

- During 1998, Bill Goldberg arrived and helped WCW limp along following how bad Starrcade 1997 actually was. While most argue that WCW was failing during 1998, their ratings held steady between 4.0 to 5.0. WWE was just out-growing WCW during 1998. By year-end, Bill Goldberg lost his edge and his popularity. In my opinion, Bill Goldberg peaked during his Georgia Dome championship winning match against Hulk Hogan during the Summer of 1998. After that, the NWO faded and Goldberg struggled on his own. But for a moment, casual fans enjoyed seeing the ex-football player dominate in pro wrestling.

- "Stone Cold" Steve Austin delivered his famous "Austin 3:16 says I just whooped your ass" speech following King of the Ring 1996. All of a sudden, WWE fans were holding up Austin 3:16 signs and then the t-shirts sold extremely well. On top of that, Austin was a great wrestler... As WWE kept pushing and pushing Steve Austin, the WWE product became stronger and stronger. But what brought additional fans to the table was the Vince vs. Austin feud. Viewers could live vicariously through Steve Austin as he challenged his actual boss, Vince McMahon. Fans ate it up and in all honestly, because of Austin's neck injury, he did more talking segments than wrestling on RAW. Casual fans tuned in to the soap opera of Austin fighting the Corporation and Vince.

- The Rock is a movie star today... Since his 1997 heel turn, the Rock developed into a mega superstar who can draw box office numbers. As the Rock improved on the mic and as a wrestler, WWE only became stronger. Rocky transcended the WWE and could walk away and remain popular outside of the WWE by 2004.

- Degeneration X was WWE's merchandise answer to the NWO but unlike the NWO, Degeneration X was wildly popular with teenage fans. I was a Senior in high school back then and everybody was doing the crotch chop and saying "suck it".

By 2000, each entity peaked or were gone...

See that downhill slide that started during early 2000? WCW was quickly eroding during 1999 and quickly shot under 3.0 in the ratings throughout 2000. NWO and Goldberg were long gone and WCW had nothing to replace both. In other words, WCW failed to captivate casual fans after NWO/Goldberg. In fact, as the Monday Night Wars documentaries report, there was a 500,000 fan shift between Nitro to RAW when Tony Shiavone announced the spoiler that Mick Foley would win the WWE Title on the first RAW in 1999. Casual fans were tired of the New World Order gimmick and seeing Hulk Hogan as WCW Champion. Which is better to watch? NWO rehash or battles between Rock against Mick Foley/Steve Austin all in their primes?

As seen by the ratings from early 2000 and beyond, the WWE peaked... Many casual fans loved Stone Cold Steve Austin and without him, WWE was at risk to lose fans. But I believe with time during 2000, fans wore thin on the Rock's repetitive babyface act and weren't all impressed with how dominant Triple H/Stephanie McMahon were becoming on screen. Since 2001, the WWE drained from 5.0 ratings to barely hanging onto 3.0 ratings through today. WWE did not have anything to follow-up Austin 3:16, the Rock, and Degeneration X. I believe that WWE angered many casual and loyal fans by the botched WCW/ECW Invasion of 2001. The 2002 NWO return in the WWE was short-lived and the Hulk Hogan nostalgia quickly wore thin...

I very much believe that the 2000 move to TNN - The National Network (later to become Spike TV) was incredibly damaging to RAW's ratings. To the casual fans, they knew WWE wrestling to be on USA Networks. WWE was only able to advertise the TNN move within 1 week of the move. Maybe, just maybe, the WWE lost many casual fans to this TNN switch. With a regressing product without Austin in his prime, many casual fans might have moved on when they couldn't find RAW on USA Networks any longer. Sure, they could look for it, but the TNN switch could have opened the door to some legitimate fan erosion.

Since 2001, while WWE was able to create new stars like Randy Orton, Batista, John Cena, and Brock Lesnar (yes, the "Class of 2002"), none of them were captivating like Steve Austin, the Rock, or the NWO. Brock Lesnar is probably the closest MEGA DRAW that we'll ever see as proven by his spikes in Pay Per View buyrates and RAW ratings (pushed RAW to 5 million viewers after Wrestlemania 31), but he's a part-time wrestler. John Cena, on the other hand, seems to draw well with younger fans but isn't exactly compelling older fans to stick around. Worse yet, his appeal outside of the WWE is a lot thinner than Austin or the Rock. The "buck stops here" with John Cena and viewership/buyrates declined with Cena (and Orton) on top. Numbers speak for themselves.

WCW died because they had no follow-up acts to the New World Order and Bill Goldberg, both possibly peaking on the same night when Goldberg beat Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Title during Summer 1998. WCW tried to foolishly rehash the NWO not once (early 1999) but twice (late 1999). WCW foolishly assumed that purchasing more former WWE veterans would recreate what happened in 1996. The NWO became boring to casual wrestling fans at the same time that Austin/Rock were so appealing. WCW made things worse by bringing in a burned out Vince Russo who couldn't recreate his WWE success with a much thinner and older WCW roster. Russo's Crash TV storylines did worse damage as his booking actually alienated many loyal Southern WCW fans. When AOL merged with Time Warner, the newly formed AOL/Time Warner corporation wasn't impressed by the salaries of WCW superstars that caused WCW to lose $65 million during 2000.

By 2000, many casual fans were getting off the WWE/WCW bandwagon. It was no longer "cool" to act like a wrestling fan.

Since early 2000, the WWE has failed to create a long-term storyline that captivates an audience beyond their loyal fanbase. They've tried a few things like the Nexus invasion, the Authority, Degeneration X's return, and turning guys like Randy Orton repeatedly heel/face. I maintain that the best storyline opportunity could have been CM Punk winning the WWE Title at Money in the Bank 2011 and then defending the title at random Indy promotions to create a "sense of urgency" that WWE had lost its champion. Instead, the WWE held a goofy tournament to crown a new WWE Champion and then had Title vs. Title at SummerSlam 2011. That match, John Cena vs. CM Punk, ended so poorly with Kevin Nash randomly attacking CM Punk (still awaiting that explanation) and Alberto Del Rio cashing in Money in the Bank. Based on the way ratings and the MITB 2011 PPV buyrate popped, that was the WWE's opportunity to create something unique to grow the business. They failed.

For now, you have to hope that Brock Lesnar can continue to shake things up... But getting beat up by the LAME Authority feels tired already. What happened to that momentum of Lesnar going INSANE after Wrestlemania 31 when he attacked the announcing crew and trashed anything in sight? Opportunity already squandered...

If the WWE wants to grow beyond its 3.0 rating territory and even its 1,000,000 WWE Network subscribers, they have to appear to fans beyond their loyal fanbase. It's like Comcast and their Xfinity Cable/Phone/Internet Products. Loyal, long-time consumers have to beg for special deals. However, if you're a brand new customer, there are plenty of amazing deals to obtain for signing up. The deals are there to entice individuals who might not be interested in obtaining Cable to actually sign up. Comcast knows what a pain it is to switch television, phone, and internet utilities so thus they take their loyal customers for granted. Why? Because they already have their money and will keep receiving it.

WWE needs to do something out-of-the box and different with their top stars... Notice how wrestling fans have changed their opinion lately on John Cena since he's been allowed to actually wrestle? Throw better in-ring opponents at him and suddenly, he looks different? Funny how that works... I'm sure the drumbeats of "turn Cena heel" will come out, but this United States Title "open challenge" gimmick is working quite well. You know what's NOT working out well? The Authority, which without Triple H/Stephanie, struggles when it's the Kane & Seth Rollins show. RAW has been consistently under 4 million viewers since the RAW after Wrestlemania 31. WWE also needs to find a breakout star from its developmental system. Maybe it's Kevin Owens? Maybe one of the former Shield members? But so far, nobody is even close to being a draw like John Cena let alone like Austin/Rock. With the way WWE has booked Bray Wyatt, Wade Barrett, Dean Ambrose, Rusev, and others to lose crucial matches or lose repeatedly... I worry greatly about the WWE's future. If WWE wants to grow, they need casual fans... Sometimes they can get them back for Wrestlemania or with Rock/Brock Lesnar, but as seen by the rest of the year without those, numbers are flat or are declining. I guarantee that WWE will attempt to lure in as many casual fans as possible into AT&T Stadium in Dallas for Wrestlemania 32. I'm sure we'll see Brock, Rock, and Steve Austin on that show in some wrestling capacity... Sure, that will draw in business for 1 shining day, but what do you do on the day after?

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PHAT QUESTIONS

Question #1: Why does the WWE use the term "sports entertainment" so much?

If you watch the Monday Night Wars documentaries on the WWE Network, you could get seriously thrashed in a drinking game for everytime "sports entertainment" is mentioned. Seriously.

"Sports Entertainment" was coined by the WWE and Vince McMahon during the 1980's as the WWE became more of a national company. Instead of touring just in the Northeast, the WWE wanted to move into other territories for houseshows, television tapings, and eventually, Pay Per Views. However, you need to consider how professional wrestling was perceived through the early 1980's... While many suspected that pro wrestling had staged outcomes, it wasn't officially well known as it is now. Thus, pro wrestling companies were actually subject to regulations by State Athletic Commissions if they were a legitimate sport.

What Vince quickly figured out was that he could avoid any regulations or scrutiny from State Athletic Commissions if he openly admitted that the WWE was NOT a sport but a form of entertainment. If you look at how boxing and mixed martial arts (MMA) are still heavily scrutinized and in fact they avoid certain states because of too much regulation, they have a certain amount of hassle in putting on shows. With a few exceptions, the WWE can tour virtually anywhere in the United States and not have states drug test performers, scrutinize the live and Pay Per View gate numbers, and review the winning purses for wrestlers. Better yet, by calling themselves "entertainment", they can avoid any issues with gambling by regulators.

WWE probably saves millions per year by considering themselves a form of "entertainment" instead of a "sport". WWE probably saves additional millions by having wrestlers act as independent contractors, but that's a different story. Goes to show you what an intelligent businessman that Vince McMahon truly is. Sure, he sort of exposed his WWE business, but by the late 1980's when wrestling was heavily televised on Cable, most people figured out that pro wrestling was staged. Thus, it became a non-issue to "expose" the business. In my opinion, it worked out for the better because promoters had to work harder to get fans to "suspend disbelief" and/or wrestling fans were actually willing to play along knowing that it's staged.

Question #2: Which tag team is the most successful of all time?

As much as I'd argue that the Dudleys are the best in-ring performers, you have to give it to Hawk & Animal, the "Road Warriors" or "Legion of Doom". No other tag team legitimately walked into the American Wrestling Association (AWA), National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) or World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and World Wrestling Federation (WWF or WWE now) and not just made an impact, but were legitimate draws. Can't forget Japan as well. They heavily influenced the badass tag team for a few generations.

Question #3: What do all of the recent talent moves mean for TNA wrestling?

First and foremost, TNA wrestling taped over a full month's worth of shows. I won't present spoilers, but anytime you do that, you're going to extremes to save costs. Secondly, TNA is seeing rapid departures of their talent. If you have read the spoilers, you'll know that something from the past has returned to help in some fashion.

In my opinion, these are moves of desperation. I believe that the Destination America cancellation of TNA programming following year 1 will occur. Rumors were swirling that Destination America was going to opt out of their television deal with TNA after just 1 year. That news was met with heavy opposition by TNA and all Destination America has done is just bring along another wrestling promotion to the channel. Something is going down and I believe television cancellation is happening. Why else would so much of their top talent bolt the promotion?

It will be a sad day because with the Panda Energy resources and the Spike TV deal, TNA Wrestling was the closest promotion that we'll ever see get close to competing with the WWE. If only TNA wrestling could have been better at developing unique talent, they could have really challenged the WWE. Sure, WWE is a publicly traded corporation, but their viewership on USA Networks has declined and before the WWE Network, Pay Per View buyrates were slipping. TNA just couldn't sway wrestling fans to tune in and they lacked any unique superstars to draw fans. Worse yet, they actually had several top minds contributing such as Dutch Mantell, Dusty Rhodes, Vince Russo, and Eric Bischoff and none of them could recreate their past booking successes to make TNA grow.

SO JUST CHILL... 'TIL THE NEXT EPISODE!

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