Last week, VICE premiered the new pro wrestling docuseries "Who Killed WCW?", produced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions and the team behind Dark Side of the Ring, and we were treated with new interviews from wrestling legends Kevin Nash, Bret Hart, and Booker T. — among others — about the rise and demise of the once great wrestling promotion World Championship Wrestling.
To answer the titular question, Episode 1 pointed to WCW’s senior vice president Eric Bischoff and his megastar wrestler Hulk Hogan, whose lucrative contract included full creative control of his on-screen character after leaving the WWE in 1994.
Hogan’s contract stipulation resulted in many disagreements with the pre-written WCW storylines. It ultimately kept the Hulkster going over many of the up-and-coming talents, stifling the momentum of these characters.
Episode 1 dove deeply into WCW’s flagship pay-per-view Starrcade in 1997, where Hogan defended the WCW Championship against the company's top babyface Sting.
Having gone in a new direction with the Sting character, complete with The Crow-like ring gear and face paint, mysteriously watching Hogan and his faction the NWO for a solid 18 months, the storyline was to culminate at WCW’s Wrestlemania-equivalent PPV.
But it was not the night, brother.
Hogan’s creative control ultimately led to a clunky finish wrestling diehards and WCW staff and talent hated. While the downfall of WCW can be traced back to this moment, a sneak peek of episode 2 implies there is more than one triggerman that lit the TNT.
With the release of Episode 2 last night, and new episodes set for release every Tuesday evening, let’s dive into The Sporting News’ weekly series where each episode is reviewed and rated.
Ep. 2. “The Streak is Over”
In 1997, the WCW was on fire thanks in no small part to the NWO faction. But after fumbling the previously mentioned Sting title run, the WCW needed a fresh new babyface. Enter wrestler Bill Goldberg, the first big thing. Goldberg quickly got over with the crowd by being an absolute maniac in the ring.
Nearly 200 matches with the same inevitable finish: Spear. Jackhammer. 1-2-3.
Even Hogan, known to veto losses, dropped the WCW Championship to Goldberg on an episode on Monday Nitro, a free televised event. It was no doubt an iconic moment in the WCW era.
Goldberg’s undefeated streak was met with a lot of contempt with some of the boys in the back. Namely wrestler Kevin Nash, who when taking over booking responsibilities from an overworked Bischoff, coincidently ended the streak with a WCW Championship win at Starrcade 1998.
Nash’s reasoning for the booking decision is that the streak had run its course and that Goldberg was still too green to be the top guy - undefeated and unqualified. Yet, without accepting any blame whatsoever, Nash also tries to convince us that the “finger poke of death” moment that saw him drop the WCW title to Hogan the night after was solid booking at the time.
Bischoff shouldered some responsibility here when stating, “WCW had chronic bad-finish disease.”
To be fair to Nash, WWE legend and wrestling technician Bret Hart also takes aim at Goldberg’s in-ring abilities — referring to a career-ending injury suffered during their only match together.
Hart is introduced to the WCW faithful as the company’s leading talent for the newly launched program Thunder on TBS. But it was not a hit, man. Audiences grew tired of Hart’s gimmick - that of being an incredible wrestler - while the show itself felt like an afterthought to Monday Nitro.
Let’s not get it twisted though, no one blames Hart or Goldberg for killing WCW. Underneath the surface, Biscoff battled the powers that be at Turner Broadcasting - without the support of network chairman Ted Turner - who very much wanted to get pro wrestling off of their networks for various financial reasons despite its many successes.
In a stunning turn of events, Bischoff is ousted by the network. While many of WCW’s problems stemmed from Bischoff, you cannot deny his role in making the promotion what it was. Monday Nitro squashed WWE’s Monday Night Raw for 83 consecutive weeks. In many ways, Bischoff is let off the hook for the end of WCW, but not entirely unscathed.
Meanwhile, the WWE were watching their competition closely and had begun to embrace a new Attitude.
*glass shatters*
Episode 2 gets into the nitty gritty of it all and doesn’t shy away from revealing the ulterior motives of wrestlers like Nash and Goldberg, even if they aren’t aware of how transparent they are.
The production team kills it with the presentation in this episode. CRT televisions, VHS scan lines, even the nostalgia trip of including the Bashin’ Brawlers toys for those lucky enough to have had at home. This is a departure from the look of the Dark Side of the Ring docuseries that still manages a dynamic aesthetic.
The sneak peek of episode 3 welcomes the infamous former WWE head writer and possible sleeper agent Vincent Russo. Now this I gotta see!
Rodriguez’ Rating: 4 out of 5 stars