By Octavio Fierros

In March, we celebrated the fifth year anniversary of the end of the WWE-WCW war. Five years ago, Vince McMahon and company decided to purchase their own competition, which was WCW. This week, you will go back in time and witness all the events that made this the greatest wrestling war of all-time. From the signing of Hulk Hogan to WCW to the Monday Night Wars, when Eric Bischoff decided to go head-to-head with Monday Night Raw. It’s all here in this very special edition of RETRO SPECIALIST.

Bill Goldberg
On September 22, 1997 live from Salt Lake City, Utah, a man by the name of Bill Goldberg made his WCW debut on Monday Nitro. He wrestled WCW mid-carder Hugh Morrus and basically squashed him. Every week, Goldberg would come out and squash his opponents. Fans started cheering for Goldberg every time on Nitro. As Goldberg was getting popular, everyone was putting him over. Announcers started keeping track of his win-loss record and eventually built an awesome undefeated streak. Despite his limited in-ring skills, Goldberg dominated in the ring with his powerful moves. His presence was just phenomenal and quickly established as one of the top stars in WCW. Eric Bischoff was proud of finally making a star in Goldberg. He would always get criticized for not making stars like Hogan and Savage, but this time he made Bill Goldberg. In 1998, the WWE and WCW traded victories in their famous ratings battle. There were times when the WWE had the upper hand. Other times, WCW would just win the battle by a huge margin. On July 6, 1998, Bischoff wanted to destroy the WWE by putting Goldberg in the main event. Not only that, it would be Goldberg’s first WCW Title shot in his career. To make things even better for WCW, Goldberg was going to face Hulk Hogan. Fans tuned in to see if Hogan was going to be the first wrestler to end Goldberg’s winning streak or if Goldberg was going to pin Hogan on live television. Keep in mind that this was a PPV caliber match at the time. Goldberg defeated Hogan to capture the WCW Title. Give credit to both men here. Hogan put Goldberg over in front of his hometown crowd at the Georgia Dome and at the time, many people thought it was a passing of the torch. Give credit to Goldberg too for being on top of his game. Goldberg’s streak continued while he was WCW Champion. His streak ended at 183 when Kevin Nash pinned him to win the title. After his streak ended, Goldberg was not the same anymore. They forced him to talk and was awful on the mic. Goldberg’s success led to several problems behind the scenes. Goldberg thought wrestling was real and since he was unstoppable, he thought he deserved more than a title. The problem was that Goldberg was not a great wrestler. He had some good powerful moves, but that’s all. Goldberg’s careless move in the ring was the talk of wrestling in the late-90s. For instance, he injured Bret Hart with a kick on the head. That move put Bret Hart out of wrestling forever. Not only was his careless moves a big factor, but he was starting to get booed. Fans were getting tired of Goldberg. WCW was getting a much smarter crowd every week and knew Goldberg’s antics behind the scenes. WCW decided to turn him heel, but fans didn’t care. He was getting too desperate and at times would hold out for money. Goldberg didn’t have his heart for the business, only for the almighty dollar. He showed his true colors when WWE purchased WCW. He was still getting paid from WCW while WWE was doing the invasion angle in 2001. Goldberg would always be remembered as one of the top guys in WCW history during the Monday Night War era. That’s all.

Bret Hart Signs With WCW
One of the top stories during the WWE Attitude era was the Montreal Screwjob. That story definitely overshadowed Bret Hart’s WCW debut, even though it happened about a month after the Survivor Series incident. Bret made his WCW debut on December 15, 1997 and was added as a special guest referee at Starrcade. Believe it or not, Bret still had some great matches left in him. Bret was going to wrestle Flair and Savage again, like his WWE days. He was going to wrestle WCW stars such as Sting, DDP, Goldberg, and others. Heck, we were also going to see the dream match between Bret and Hogan. All those possibilities of a dream match did take place, but WCW officials didn’t know how to book them. Bret Hart was underutilized during his WCW stint. Some people would say that Bret didn’t have it anymore. Others would say that guys like Bischoff and Hogan sabotaged his career. It doesn’t matter what it was, but Bret will always be remembered from his WWE days. Bret retired from wrestling three years later after he made his WCW debut.

The Last Time Nitro Won a Ratings Battle
October 25, 1998 – The last time WCW Monday Nitro won a ratings battle against WWE. This is a very important date in the history of the WWE-WCW war. On Raw, Shane McMahon was involved in his first ever storyline, rehiring Steve Austin against his father’s wishes. On Nitro, the main event was DDP vs. Goldberg for the WCW Title. What was the reason for Nitro’s victory over Raw that night? Bischoff used one of his well known tricks for having viewers tune in. Even though he cheated fans out the night before at Halloween Havoc by not showing the entire main event, WCW decided to show the match in its entirety on Nitro. Fans who were interested in watching the end result tuned in and stayed with WCW for the entire night. Nitro won the ratings by a huge margin. But that would be the last time WCW Nitro won the Monday night ratings battle against WWE. The WWE won every battle beginning with the November 2nd edition of Raw that year.

January 4, 1999: WCW Lose In Their Own Game
After several counterattacks and tricks from WCW to pull a fast one at WWE, finally they lost in their own game on January 4, 1999. WCW was looking to win a ratings battle against WWE for the first time in two months that night. They loaded the show with Kevin Nash defending the WCW Title against Goldberg. Also, Hulk Hogan was going to appear on the show after announcing his retirement and claiming that he was going to run for office. It was going to be another three-hour episode of Nitro. Again, WCW had the advantage here because they were live as usual, compared to WWE Raw, which was taped that night. On Raw, Mick Foley was going to win the WWE Title against The Rock. WCW knew Raw results so they used their old strategy again. Tony Schiavone, who was on commentary, revealed to Nitro viewers that Foley won the WWE Title. “That would put asses on seats” – he said. WCW officials thought viewers would keep tuned in to Nitro because they knew the result. This time, the tables turned. Those who heard the announcement from Schiavone tuned in to Raw out of curiosity just to see if he was right. Those viewers stayed with Raw until the end of the show and that enabled WWE to win yet another ratings battle. That was not the only reason why WCW lost the battle. The advertised main event didn’t take place. Hogan pulled a “WrestleMania IX” moment by taking on Nash and winning the WCW Title from him. The way Hogan won the belt was very unpopular. Hogan and Nash reunited that night. Where was Goldberg? He was busy getting arrested for getting accused of aggravated stalking Miss Elizabeth. We all thought Goldberg was for real, but fans realized he wasn’t. We all thought Hogan was retired, but he was simply “tired”.

Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara Jump Ship To WCW
By late-1999, WCW was almost done, but not out. WCW had lost Chris Jericho during the year. WCW needed a boost in ratings, merchandise sales, and pay-per-view buyrates. They needed a new look for Monday Nitro. One of the biggest stories for WCW at the time was the acquisition of Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara. Those two men were instrumental in the success of the WWE, mainly during the Attitude era. Russo was actually McMahon’s second hand person when it came to finalizing storylines in the WWE. Russo was also responsible for the raunchy content of the WWE during the Attitude era. So, here’s hoping that Russo provides the same formula that he once had in the WWE. Russo and Ferrara were working without a contract with the WWE during their last months there. Russo and Ferrara gave their notice and decided to sign with WCW. They had the knowledge behind the scenes from WWE and wanted to do the same for WCW. Right away, Russo and Ferrara got power backstage to make great angles on Nitro and Thunder. On April 10, 2000, Russo and Ferrara revamped Nitro with a whole new look and fresh characters. Amazingly, Russo had to convince Hogan to work a program with another person other than the likes of Flair, Nash, Hall, or Sting. Hogan started a feud with Billy Kidman. Fresh feuds and great angles followed and WCW got a strong rating that week, but not enough to beat Raw. It was too late for WCW to win a ratings battle. The WWE was just too strong. At the time, the Internet was really growing and more fans were well knowledgeable of happenings behind the scenes. Russo started promoting WCW for Internet fans, other than casual fans. Those casual fans that didn’t know about behind the scenes in WCW (i.e. didn’t have Internet access) were completely lost when watching Nitro. Those viewers quickly lost interest because they were used to the old WCW. Soon after Russo and Ferrara were taking over behind the scenes, they started to become on-air characters. The mentality of the fans was that non-wrestlers do not belong in the ring. Russo won the WCW Title at one point, and even had “Ready to Rumble” star David Arquette win the belt as well. Russo wanted to put Nitro as a raunchy and more of an adult content like the WWE. Standards & Practices interfered in their proposal and Russo never had control for WCW. One of the problems that Russo had in WCW was his relationship with Hogan. Hogan used to have control over his own matches, storylines, feuds, etc. Russo wanted Hogan to start putting younger wrestlers over. That would lead to Hogan’s departure from WCW, which is talked about in the next paragraph.

Radicalz Jump To WWE
It was long overdue, but finally Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, and Perry Saturn had enough of WCW and signed a deal with WWE. In early 2000, WCW had a meeting with their wrestlers. Officials told wrestlers that if they were not happy with the company, they were free of their contracts. Those four men jumped the opportunity and left WCW and started for WWE right away. Benoit and Guerrero received a great push for WWE while Saturn and Malenko were just low-carder wrestlers. Malenko was going to retire and Saturn was released a few months later after he jumped. Shane Douglas and Billy Kidman were also disappointed with their characters at the time. Kidman signed with WWE after WCW bought them. Douglas was not well liked by WWE officials the last time he wrestled for them, so he never went back.

Hulk Hogan’s Departure From WCW
Hulk Hogan’s departure from WCW was quite memorable. Hogan and Russo always butted heads behind the scenes. Hogan thought he owned the wrestling business while Russo was trying to make things better for the business. After all, Russo was the only hope for WCW at the time. Wrestlers were quitting WCW and those who were with the company were unhappy with the direction they were heading. Low morale was everywhere. Hogan was probably the reason why WCW wrestlers were not getting their rightful push. They thought that by bringing Russo in, things were going to change. Russo’s main guy Jeff Jarrett was scheduled to wrestle Hogan at Bash at the Beach 2000. According to Russo, he and Hogan were talking all day about the finish of the match. Hogan wanted to win and Russo wanted Jarrett to win. Russo’s point was that Hogan’s time in wrestling was over and was time for him to put the younger stars over. Hogan didn’t want that and still felt that he was the number one man in the business. Russo cut a semi-shoot promo during the PPV that night and told Hogan to take his WCW World Title belt home because he doesn’t want to see him again. Hogan’s last appearance in WCW was that night. After that, WCW was dying and things were getting worse every week.

WWE Purchases WCW; The End of the War
By 2001, there were rumors about the end of WCW. WCW had a chance to survive by probably going to another network or taking some time off to revamp (again). Fusient Media was interested in purchasing WCW, but the deal fell through. Even Eric Bischoff was one of the leading candidates to buy WCW. Bischoff didn’t want to buy WCW if he wasn’t going to have a network to have his shows in. Vince McMahon, who was having a mediocre year in business (XFL), stepped in and became another candidate. The WWE finally made a deal with AOL-Time Warner and bought WCW for $2.5 million. The end of the war was officially on Monday, March 26, 2001 when Raw and Nitro took place on TNN. McMahon boasted about ending the competition and finally destroying WCW.

Conclusion
They say competition brings out the best in everyone. On the Monday Night War DVD, the narrator said it best when he said, “The fans were the true winners”. The experience that we had as fans during this important war was memorable. From the crowd reactions in WCW when they mention WWE and vice versa to wrestlers jumping to the opposite organizations, this war made both organizations stronger. Even though WWE came out as winner, give credit for WCW and especially Eric Bischoff. Bischoff had some great ideas for WCW, but money, greed, and politics got the best of him. Hulk Hogan came in during the right time, but he also was responsible for the demise of WCW. Hogan’s ego got a lot of people upset and disappointed with their jobs in WCW. Believe it or not, the WWE was down and almost out, just like Vince said in the Monday Night War DVD. This was a very close battle for three years (1996-1999) and at one point, WCW did have the greater advantage. As for the WWE, it took some calculated risks. They took a risk of putting women half naked and wrestlers with foul mouths on their network in order to get the upper hand against WCW. It worked. If you look at it this way, wrestlers who were in WCW before were the ones who destroyed their own company too. The leader of the pack: “Stone Cold” Steve Austin. Enough said. (To be continued…?)

And as always, your feedback would be greatly appreciated. I should go back to normal next time with a 1996-in-Review (2nd quarter evaluation), SummerSlam Anthology Edition, and more. My e-mail is: octaviofierros@yahoo.com - See you soon! Check out the archives below.

***

We suggest these recent related articles...

10/5 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Natalya vs. Paige, Owens vs. Cara, Stephanie McMahon, Sasha Banks, Xavier Woods

COLLECTIBLES COLUMN: The History of Foam Hands in Pro Wrestling

9/28 WWE Raw Hits & Misses: Kane's Split Personality, Divas Revolution, Heyman & Big Show, Reigns vs. Wyatt