The WCW was sitting pretty atop the Neilsen ratings' mountain; but reaching a summit after a difficult climb means there's only one place to go... down. Bill Goldberg’s undefeated streak had run its course after Eric Bischoff took a step back from the WCW writing table, leading Kevin Nash to step in. WCW faithful groaned through another bad finish as Bischoff was butting heads behind the curtain with Turner Broadcasting executives, ultimately leading to his firing.
Episode 2 of VICE TV's pro wrestling docuseries, “Who Killed WCW?”, ended on a cliffhanger, despite painting Bischoff in a far more redeeming light than most WWE-produced documentaries have before. Instead of VICE showrunners placing all of the blame squarely on Bischoff's shoulders, the slow tease of another more dastardly villain was soon unveiled. His name? Vince Russo, head writer of the WWE during the Attitude Era and direct competitor of WCW.
The Thanos of bad creative decisions could fill a volume with his disaster-level timeline interference and should rightly take up the entirety of Episode 3. He is inevitable, bro!
Episode 3. “New Blood” Recap
After Bischoff’s sudden departure, WCW executive and interim decision-maker Bill Busch would unknowingly change the landscape of professional wrestling forever, hurtling Russo into the void without realizing he was a black hole himself.
Wrestling fans young and old are most familiar with Russo’s flawed tenure as WCW head writer and eventual on-screen character. Often overlooked is his contribution as WWE’s head writer during the Attitude Era—greenlighting and penning championing storylines between superstars such as Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, and the company’s then-chair and CEO Vince McMahon.
After Russo jumped ship, what was missing was an uninhibited creative freedom not normally associated with a McMahon-led promotion.
Russo was heavily inspired by tabloid talk show Jerry Springer, and it showed in his three months of total creative control at WCW.
Sex and debauchery led the way with very little actual wrestling involved in those Russo-penned eps of Monday Nitro and Thunder. Wrestlers and executives alike grew sour of Russo's tactless recipes and craved a swift change.
Back and better than ever(?) is Bischoff ; a bridge between Russo and the fed-up talent, a faction headlined by Hulk Hogan.
With Bischoff turning to the mid-card talent to take things in a new creative direction, four of the company’s best in-ring workers headed for greener pastures. Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malinko and Perry Saturn (aka The Radicals) left WCW simultaneously to join the WWE.
While the NWO they weren't, The Radicals were up-and-coming stars with their best years ahead of them.
The powers that be at WCW forged on, finally pitted their top guys against a young crop of talent. This was a novel concept considering how many gimmick matches were still happening at the time— The cutaway to Buff Bagwell’s "Mom-on-a-pole" match… yikes.
Another cringeworthy moment came in 2000 when Warner Bros. Pictures released the pro wrestling comedy Ready to Rumble, starring David Arquette and Oliver Platt.
Specifically targeted to the 13-25-year-old wrestling fan, the film heavily featured WCW wrestlers and events. In promoting the film, Arquette’s press tour included actual appearances on WCW television.
The WCW creative team booked Arquette to win the prestigious WCW championship and to the surprise of no one not named Russo or Bischoff, there was an uproar of disdain and hate from both fans and wrestlers who actually fought for years for such a prestigious honor.
Diamond Dallas Page’s evident heartbreak is hardly the only tearjerker in this episode.
In an exclusive interview for the series, Arquette explains his understandable excitement after winning the championship when he'd share the moment in the locker room with longtime fan-favorite Booker T.
“Booker, how many times have you won the belt?” Arquette asks genuinely.
“I haven’t,” says Booker T.
A hush falls. Arquette immediately regrets everything.
The episode then quickly pivots to shining a light on the talent and dues paid by Booker T.
A charismatic performer in and out of the ring, Booker T. deserved to be a top guy. But he didn't believe he would ever become champion because of the color of his skin.
His concerns were appropriate.
The WCW hadn’t had a Black world champion since Ron Simmons in 1992 (DAMN!). And with top guys like Hogan not ready to lose their position on the card, Booker T. didn’t see a path to the championship title.
I can’t dig that, sucka.
In the wake of the Arquette championship “run,” WCW set course for its infamous Bash at the Beach pay-per-view in 2000.
Who Killed WCW? only touches on Russo's shoot on Hogan after the latter exercised his creative control card to win the WCW Championship from Jeff Jarrett, only to have Russo bring back Jarrett and the belt to defend against Booker T the same night. Just writing that sentence makes my head hurt.
Bad-finish-disease strikes again.
Booker T. won the WCW championship for the first time, however, and the Hulkster is never seen again on WCW television… things could be worse!
It actually does get worse though, unfortunately. With Bischoff and Hogan officially gone after the Bash on the Beach debacle, Russo clumsily decides to write himself in as a more prominent on-screen character.
He boasts, “I was a better character than 80% of the roster, bro!” and to be fair, it was fun watching him get speared through a steel cage, until his omnipotent pen decided to then write himself becoming WCW champion.
Deep sigh.
Episode 3. “New Blood” Review
What sets aside Who Killed WCW? from other WCW documentaries is an unbiased narrative that isn’t afraid to call out the company and its decision-makers for unjustly keeping down incredible talent like Booker T. and Eddie Guerrero, but also paying respect to the oft-maligned players like Russo and Bischoff.
For better or worse, the creative team at WCW was doing what they thought was best to manage powerful talent and keep their audience engaged while competing against a company that would eventually overthrow them.
Honestly, I didn’t get as much vitriol from Episode 3 as I had anticipated. Assuming with a title like “Who Killed WCW?” there would be more clear-cut heels to point the finger at. Again, the showrunners treat all parties involved with an admirable sense of respect.
Selfishly, though, I wanted more biting commentary from Bret Hart and Bill Goldberg cutting promos on how much they hated each other, but that's what the dirt sheets are for.
Episode 4’s teaser includes Russo’s last gasp in wrestling, Hogan’s legal battles, and the events that led to the selling of WCW to the WWE.
Until next time, when we see the final nail in the coffin and bury World Championship Wrestling once and for all… or remember it fondly for the iconic moments we’ll never forget.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
VICE has unleashed its new pro wrestling docuseries, “Who Killed WCW?” by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions and the creative team behind the acclaimed Dark Side of the Ring. This gritty, no-holds-barred account of the once-famed wrestling promotion has opened wounds for wrestlers Bill Goldberg, Bret Hart, Kevin Nash, and executive Eric Bischoff, giving color to World Championship Wrestling’s impressive run in the ‘90s.
Episode 3 is out now with the final episode set for release Tuesday, June 25.