The time has come for the final episode of Who Killed WCW. Over the last month, Vice TV has done a wonderful job tackling this series as it gave fans a new insight into what happened during the Monday Night Wars. Now in this episode we are finally going to answer the question of who killed the company. Let’s find out!
At this point, the WCW roster was in disarray. People were going into business for themselves and rumors were swirling that WCW was going to close their doors. They were not making money and as Bischoff returned he realized that there was no saving the company. AOL and Turner Broadcasting started their merger and Turner and other executives were more concerned with AOL than WCW. As much as different people tried to fix the weekly product it kept getting worse and worse as the weeks went on. The pay-per-view buys were dropping by 81% and people were getting more frustrated. Before WCW closed its doors, Bischoff inquired about possibly selling WCW. Quickly he was turned down and it was said that Turner Media only buys things they do not sell. As the merger took full swing Turner was taking a backseat as he was pushed aside and people within the company were taking its spot. During one of the chair meetings, it was discussed that since WCW was losing money it was a waste to own and they were seeking options on what to do with the company.
Now a couple of months later Bischoff was reached out to by Turner Media to attempt to find someone to buy WCW. Fusient Media Ventures was interested and they had a deal put together for them to purchase WCW. One of the ideas was that Hard Rock in Vegas was going to be the location for the weekly show and this was all going to kick off with a pay-per-view called The Big Bang. The show would still air on Turner Broadcasting, but Fusient Media and Bischoff were responsible for raising the funds and getting everything situated.
However, Turner Broadcasting appointed a new CEO. The new CEO did not like wrestling and he said that he wants WCW to be gone as soon as possible. This led to what originally was going to be a hiatus which then led to the permanent exit of WCW. The whole reason for WCW leaving was that the new CEO did not want their prime time spot to be dedicated to wrestling and they wanted other things. Bischoff was devastated as his new deal which would have saved WCW was ultimately taken off the table. As people within WWE were hearing about the falling out of WCW they realized that there was an opportunity to do the unthinkable. After working tirelessly to get the deal done WWE had officially bought WCW.
On March 26th, 2001 history was made as the last episode of Nitro aired. The episode started with Vince McMahon saying that he bought WCW and that the fate of WCW was in his hands. With WWE buying WCW that meant that they finally won the war and it was truly the end of the Monday Night Wars. People within WCW did not know what the next move was, who was going to stay employed, and who was going to be let go. When Booker won the title that night he took it as an audition as he wanted to prove himself to WWE and when he won the title he knew there was a chance that he was going to the next level. The thing that made people most concerned was that WWE had bought WCW for almost nothing, as people had their theories of what happened during the process of the deal.
WWE had only bought WCW for $4 Million, where at its peak the company was generating $200 Million. Bob Ryder who had worked for WCW.com had written a long post about how there was a conspiracy as to why the sale was for a cheap amount. The reason for this was just to do a quick sale and for Turner Media to just get rid of WCW. The theory has yet to be proven, but it would not be out of the ordinary if it was proven to be true. Although multiple people within Turner Media have said this is not true, Bischoff still has his suspicions that this could be a possibility. Turner was the only one who believed in WCW and without having him as a backing it would be hard for the company to survive in the wrestling world.Â
At one point WWE had thought about WCW possibly just going away for a little bit and then coming back as a separate show. When the deal was finalized none of the contracts came with the deal and many of the top names like Sting and Goldberg refused to go to WWE. Booker T had a year left on his deal and they offered him a 50% buyout or he would sit out for a year. He decided to go to work and he came into WWE. The invasion angle started next with team WWE against Team WCW/ECW, but without a lot of the bigger names, it did not work. When the NWO got brought in they saw that they were going to be on the losing end of a lot of matches so they decided to leave. WWE wanted to prove that they won the war which is why they continued to bury a lot of the former WCW talent. When 2002 rolled around the unthinkable happened as Eric Bischoff was named the new general manager of Monday Night Raw. He saw this as his time to rewrite the last chapter of his story. After a couple of years, Stephanie McMahon said that Bischoff was no longer going to be employed. The last thing he did as a full-time employee of WWE was get put in the back of a garbage truck by Vince McMahon to put the final chapter in their story as he moved on to the next chapter of his wrestling career.
The episode ends with the producers asking everyone who killed WCW. Most people said AOL and Turner Media. Some people said the top people within the company or the company just killed itself. It is worth noting that Bret Hart blamed both Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff in typical Hart fashion. There was then a montage of top WCW moments while other WCW talent talked about all the good moments during the company. As Nash put Bischoff over he got emotional knowing the success he was able to obtain. He says that everything is a blur now, but he is proud of all of his work and he would do it again in a heartbeat. He is grateful for every moment because he would not be where he is today without professional wrestling.
Overall: I enjoyed this series. I thought it was different from the Dark Side of the Ring where all of the information that needed to be presented during the episode was presented. Vice also did not just get wrestling people involved in the series; multiple people used to work for Turner Media who added new details to the story that a casual fan may not have known about. I think this series appeals to any wrestling fan who enjoyed the Monday Night Wars as well as someone who just wants to learn more about the business. I 100% recommend this series to any wrestling fan!
