3 overlooked mistakes which led to the demise of WCW
March 26 marks 18 years since WCW closed its doors. The primary Southern wrestling company, WCW used Ted Turner's vast wealth to go global and challenge the WWE during the 90s. For a while, the company became the #1 wrestling promotion in the world, overtaking Vince McMahon and co.
While the history of WCW is littered with a number of highlights including the initial run of the nWo, characters like Goldberg and Crow Sting, the introduction of luchadors and Japanese wrestlers, the company has now become more remembered for costly mistakes it did which eventually led to it closing its doors.
An overreliance on Hulk Hogan, letting future legends like Stone Cold, Triple H, Chris Jericho, and Eddie Guerrero leave, and the literal garbage they produced on TV during the 2000s do not keep them in a good light.
This list looks at three often overlooked mistakes WCW allowed to happen during its existence in the late 90s and early 2000s, which eventually led it to go out of business.
Please note that this list does not include the more diabolical decisions like the finger poke of doom, David Arquette & Vince Russo world title fiasco, etc, which are still fresh in memory.
#1 Goldberg won the world title only once
Former WCW head, Eric Bischoff, often points to Bill Goldberg as the prime example for WCW being able to produce homegrown talent. Goldberg's character coincided with the greatest period in the history of the WCW and the fans could not wait to see him defeat the evil Hollywood Hogan to ascend to the top of the company.
When that moment came, WCW gave the match away for free on a Nitro rather than on a PPV. Worse, it had just 3 days build. While the reaction from the crowd on the night was fantastic, WCW lost a lot of potential money for not saving the match for their premier event - Starrcade.
What is even more baffling is that despite being the top babyface in the company, WCW never booked Goldberg to win the world title again. Hollywood Hogan clearly did not want to play second fiddle to him, and the company's reluctance to get behind the popular Goldberg developed more fan backlash.
In the end, Goldberg is tied with Vince Russo and David Arquette as one time winners of the big gold belt.