When did WCW first go downhill?

[Guest Crazy Dan]

I don't think you can pinpoint one exact moment, but some moments which led to WCW downfall:

 

Garanteed contracts: With these, many wrestlers would half ass their matches, thus guranteeing a weaker product.

 

Starcade 97: Scott Kieth got it right when Sting should have bitch-slapped Hogan for a few minutes and pinned him cleanly.

 

Bringing Russo in and giving him too much say in the angles. This managed to drive a good chunk of WCW's hardcore fans, who were never into the WWF product.

 

The Finger Poke of Doom.

 

Letting Kevin Nash book and letting him book himslef to end Goldburg's streak. Nash sucks palin and simple. I wish WCW would have learned that Nash nearly drove the WWF into the ground a few years back.

 

The Creative Control clause.

 

Not pushing wrestlers like Benoit and Booker T, until it was too late. And at the same time, pushing the same tired wrestlers like Hogan.

 

Too much NWO. It was a great concept that should have died in early '98 at the latest.

 

David Arquette and Vince Russo, "Former WCW Champions".

 

There are many other reasons for the fall, these are just some that added weight to the sinking ship that was WCW. What is even more depressing is that even though WWE was starting to catch and overtake WCW, I still could always rely on WCW to put out some solid matches. Unlike the Crash Tv era, which usually had about 10 minutes of run-in wrestling. When Vince Russo was hired by WCW, it's attempted to make it into a WWF show. And many people watched WCW to get away from the very product WWF was putting on. And so I started watching WWF more.