Eric Bischoff on why WWE doesn't highlight WCW's legacy
NXT is bringing back Halloween Havoc this year. Halloween Havoc was originally a WCW PPV concept and former WCW vice-president Eric Bischoff disucussed NXT's use of it on a recent episode of his podcast, 83 Weeks. Bischoff said that he was a big fan of NXT bringing back Halloween Havoc and added that he hoped the tradition would continue.
Bischoff also went on to talk about why WWE sometimes doesn't want to embrace the legacy left behind by WCW:
Historically, at least based on what we hear second and third hand and to a little bit of a degree my own experience from the brief period of time I was in WWE, there was a tendency to not want to really acknowledge the history of other brands. ECW was a bit of an exception, but I think people forget Vince McMahon had a financial investment in ECW early on in ECW’s existence. WCW was a little bit different – we were real competitors and there was real animosity a real feeling of us versus them with regard to WCW and WWE. I think the tendency to want to embrace some of WCW’s legacy is just not something that happens very naturally or comfortably within WWE, and that’s just another reason why I think it’s great that it’s happening. H/T: 411Mania
The end of the Monday Night War between WWE and WCW
WCW and WWE battled it out for ratings during the Monday Night Wars. Nitro and RAW went head to head most Monday nights from Nitro's inception to WCW's demise in 2001. WCW famously beat RAW in the ratings for 83 straight weeks. However, a new group of stars like Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H and Mick Foley being featured during the Attitude Era helped WWE win the Monday Night War.
In the end, it was a mix of bad booking decisions and backstage politics that led to WCW's demise. The death knell for WCW was Time Warner's merger with AOL. Vince McMahon ended up buying the competition in 2001. WWE considered bringing back WCW under their own banner but plans were scrapped after a match between Booker T and Buff Bagwell on RAW turned out to be a disaster. Instead, WWE did the Invasion angle which also involved ECW.