What was your Reaction to WWE purchasing WCW in 2001? Did you watch that Nitro/Raw episode?

[AKM-95]

I had become a mostly WWF fan by the end of 1999/2000, because WCW hadn't really helped itself over the last year thanks to a bad & ridiculous product, bad booking by Russo, and the new owners of the network not wanting wrestling on their channel anymore. However, I still tuned into WCW sometimes and I actually thought they were slowly improving in their final months. I enjoyed a lot of what they were putting on, most notably @Scott_Steiner 's WCW Heavyweight title run and how he, along with the rest of the Magnificent 7, were putting the likes of Goldberg, Sting, Nash, DDP, and Booker T on the shelf. I was wanting to see the how the big payoff would go when the faces eventually came back to put an end to the heel stable's reign.

I was on Spring Break that week and they had just had their final PPV (WCW Greed) with what turned out to be a great sendoff ME between Scott and DDP, and I remember all of us in the AOL WrestleChat were all now wondering what the fate of WCW was going to be because deal or no deal, they were about to be thrown into the bushes by AOL/Time Warner. After the last WCW Thunder aired, we started hearing rumblings of Vince trying to make a deal to purchase WCW and I think at first there was a lot of nonchalant reactions. Then slowly, it started to look like it may become reality and I'll never forget, one chatter chimed into the chat "GO TO WWF.COM RIGHT NOW!" And I remember seeing this giant splash on the WWF homepage.

^^^ That was the actual picture that appeared on the webpage BTW.

It was very surreal, but there was a somber feeling going around. I think some people, mostly the WWF exclusive fans, were happy & elated about their victory and I think the few WCW exclusive fans were sad & frustrated. We had one chatter tune into the Wrestling Observer show and he told us what all was being said by Meltzer about the sale and possible future. Everyone started talking about possible dream matches like Stone Cold vs. Goldberg/Hogan, Rock vs. DDP, The Undertaker vs. Sting and what a great time it was going to be for the business. I also remember one WWF fan foolhardily stating that the ratings for the WWF would improve because the WCW fans would tune into RAW & Smackdown now. Little did us ignorant fans know that this was actually going to be the opposite of what we were all expecting. That Monday, the final Nitro aired and the following Sunday, the end of the Attitude era happened at WrestleMania 17 and wrestling slowly, but surely started to slip down in business after that.

But to end this story on an even sadder note, I remember going to the grocery store with my mom and dad a month after the purchase and I was surprised to see an April 2001 edition of WCW Magazine on the shelf, so I bought it for historical reasons because I thought that would be the final edition to grace the trade shelfs however that turned out to not be true as there was a May edition that was released with DDP on the cover..

It was summertime and school was out so as I was at home flipping through it, I remember seeing the ad for the WCW Big Bang PPV that was never going to happen now.

That was a big gut punch to the stomach and one that to this day twenty years later still has me thinking about the "What if?" scenarios if WCW had somehow survived. I did know one thing though; wrestling would never be the same again and ECW and WCW being gone made things a lot worse and less interesting.

My parents got me a subscription to WCW magazine in 00 for $3. Which In hindsight should of told me something wasn't right.

I remember My pops was excited cause we dropped WWF magazine because it was like $30 for a year. The sad part was they were advertising shows and a PS2 game until the end SMH

 

[HipHopStan]

My parents got me a subscription to WCW magazine in 00 for $3. Which In hindsight should of told me something wasn't right.

I remember My pops was excited cause we dropped WWF magazine because it was like $30 for a year. The sad part was they were advertising shows and a PS2 game until the end SMH

I remember reading that a lot of people who subscribed to WCW magazine toward the end didn't get a refund when the company went out of business, nor did they get a rollover into a WWF magazine subscription. "Sorry to all of our magazine subscribers, but you're not gonna get your money back. Those stay at home contracts for Goldberg, Sting, Hogan, and Nash aren't going to pay themselves. "

 

[FTBS]

I was a smark but still got caught of guard by the news. I was so hype for all the possibilities and I was so when we got WWF (I know) vs WWF in WCW and ECW shirts. Greatest tease, pumpfake etc in wrestling history. They couldve really done some special shyt or maybe even done a legit split but instead we got a SS blowoff with WWF guys beating other WWF guys. Then they even botched the Flair and eventual Bischoff shyt .

 

[El Poyo Loco]

My reaction was




Then my next reaction was

Vince fukking did it not only did he beat an actual billionaire he beat a media conglomerate