- 18/05/2025
So, you think WWE and AEW can be wild? Neither has anything on the madness of WCW.
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00:00A common comparison when wrestling fans want to get mad is this promotion has become WCW.
00:06That is because World Championship Wrestling really did fall off a cliff by the end of its run.
00:09But that's why I want to talk about it today.
00:12As you will see, nobody is even close.
00:15Cause hello, I am Simon from WhatCulture.
00:17Please do go and smash that subscribe button.
00:19And yeah, this is 10 times WCW was the craziest promotion ever.
00:25Number 10, Hulk Hogan meets the Dungeon of Doom.
00:27So we go back to 1995 with this one and it just goes to show, WCW was always kinda really wacky.
00:33Here Hulk Hogan was feuding with the Dungeon of Doom, a collection of wrestlers held together,
00:38to make you think the Hulkster would actually lose.
00:40Given who he chose to be in this, it didn't work.
00:43Nobody bought it for a second.
00:45Now I think they were meant to be some sort of cult, and for that reason they had a lair.
00:50Which, yep, one night Hogan felt like he should go and explore.
00:53I mean, you tell me, I've no idea.
00:55His real shock was that there were no Hulkamaniacs here, a line that has remained funny ever since.
01:00And Hogan is just hilarious throughout this.
01:02It is like watching some crazy B-movie set in the basement of death.
01:06You've also got Kevin Sullivan speaking in riddles as the Taskmaster.
01:09And then, there's the music.
01:11My gosh, the music.
01:12If you told me a four-year-old with a Casio keyboard wrote it, I'd believe you.
01:16It just gets weirder and weirder too.
01:18And if you were used to the WWF version of Hulk, you were even more baffled.
01:22Couldn't have been more cartoony if WCW tried.
01:25And that is saying something.
01:26If you do watch it, please remember, no, you haven't done drugs.
01:31Number nine, those mini-movies.
01:32Okay, right.
01:33So what we're about to talk about must have been the inspiration when it came to WCW and making this sort of thing.
01:38Because once again, my gosh.
01:41Because to build up events like Halloween Havoc 1992, Super Brawl 1993, and Bash at the Beach,
01:46The Powers That Be ran what can only be described as mini-movies.
01:50Now, let's remember, being a wrestler does not mean you can act.
01:54And yet, we still saw Sting go to Vader's White Castle of Fear.
01:57And honestly, you've got to see it.
01:59The over-the-top narration is hilarious.
02:01And you're essentially told the Mastodon and Harley Race live in some sort of giant cave.
02:06I would actually take more of these today because they are so crazy.
02:09And remember, WCW was doing this to sell pay-per-views.
02:14That's right.
02:14They thought that if you were on the fence,
02:16seeing the Stinger and the British Bulldog blowing up some boats with some dude called Cheetham
02:20would actually get you to drop some cash.
02:23So yeah, it is totally bonkers.
02:25But please, somebody, anybody, bring these back.
02:28They are so, so crazy.
02:30Number 8. Gene Oakland Shoots
02:32Centered around the one and only mean Gene Oakland who is interviewing the Natural Born Thrillers,
02:36I think Gino decided to have some fun.
02:39Before he was just done with WCW's nonsense.
02:41Because when Mike Sanders does an impression of opponent Conan, Oakland fires back.
02:46Real good impression, you prick.
02:49What?
02:49Sean O'Hare then threatens Gene, but he is totally unfazed.
02:52He tells Sean to blow it out his ass.
02:55This is amazing.
02:56Everybody just has to sell it like Gene is losing his mind and more power to him.
03:00I'm sure he'd been messed around enough, so decided to just enjoy himself.
03:05Even if it was at the expense of the wrestlers.
03:07For the younger viewer too,
03:08this is the equivalent of Megan Morant telling Grayson Waller to jump out of a window.
03:13It just wouldn't happen.
03:14Number 7. Robocop the Wrestler
03:16So this one is pretty damn famous as it would be.
03:19I mean, one day Robocop just turned up at a WCW show.
03:22Why wouldn't he?
03:23Happening at Capital Combat 1990, it's even better than that.
03:27Because he was here to assist Sting.
03:29Yep.
03:29I suppose the robotic cop was hanging out backstage,
03:32and when his good friend was in trouble,
03:33he thought, man, I'd better go and save him.
03:36Given that this attack was from the Four Horsemen,
03:38I'm still a little bit sad we never got Sting and Robocop vs. Ric Flair and Art Anderson.
03:42And as I'm sure you've figured out,
03:44this was essentially a sponsorship deal.
03:47So I guess at least WCW made some cash.
03:49It is so funny to watch because Mr. Cop also saves Sting from being imprisoned
03:53because he rips a caged door off.
03:56Surely, if you'd never watched wrestling before,
03:58you were baffled.
03:59Let's just say what we're all thinking though.
04:02Somebody needs to put Robo in the Hall of Fame immediately.
04:04Number 6, Scott Steiner's Tyranny.
04:07You can tell WCW had lost its way in 2000,
04:10because Scott Steiner just decided to go nuts,
04:13and nobody stopped him.
04:14It's wild.
04:15Big Bubba Pump would even cut promos saying how much World Championship Wrestling sucked these days,
04:19and that people should tune into Raw instead.
04:23Plus one time on Nitro from nowhere,
04:25he just said that Ric Flair was a jealous old bastard.
04:28Once again, if you need context,
04:29this would be like Cody Rhodes walking out on the NXT he did,
04:32and encouraging all of us to go and watch AEW instead.
04:36It just ain't happening.
04:37If you weren't in management, it was a heat to watch, however,
04:40because you couldn't believe it.
04:41And look, it made Steiner feel totally legit and dangerous,
04:44because he was just saying whatever the flub he wanted to say.
04:47Plus, we soon then found out the company had suspended him,
04:50because he had kicked the crap out of DDP for no reason.
04:53Although no, there was a reason.
04:55Diamond Dallas Page had asked Scott
04:57to stop saying offensive things about his wife.
05:00My word.
05:01Somehow all of this worked,
05:02as Steiner had quite the run two decades ago.
05:05Only in WCW.
05:07Number five, Terry Funk fights a horse.
05:10I mean, who else but Terry Funk?
05:12If you do just want to smile all day long,
05:13you do have to go and find the 31st of May 2000 Thunder, though,
05:17which was always an insane program,
05:19and watch Funk versus Chris Candido,
05:21who were fighting for the hardcore title.
05:23Due to this championship,
05:24the fight was happening in the outside world and not in the ring,
05:27when the pair somehow ended up in a stable.
05:31Once again, you tell me.
05:32Now, the horse residing there didn't know what was going on,
05:35or that this was sports entertainment,
05:37freaked out,
05:38and booted Terry right in the head.
05:41Seriously.
05:41At first, it's terrifying,
05:43because that can kill a man.
05:45Google it.
05:45If this were you and I,
05:46we would have totally gone,
05:47screw this and legged it,
05:48but not Funk.
05:49He turned to the animal,
05:51told it off,
05:52and challenged it to a fight.
05:54Don't tell me he's not the best ever.
05:56Amazingly, the horse even backs away a little bit,
05:58so we must have known.
06:00And while we are here,
06:01just go and watch any of the hardcore stuff in WCW from 2000.
06:06They don't think they had a clue what they were doing.
06:09Number four, WCW gives away WWF results.
06:12This sounds quite tame today,
06:13given what the internet has become,
06:15but you do have to put yourself in a late 90s mindset.
06:18It wasn't like spoilers didn't exist,
06:20because online content was already flying.
06:22But it wasn't super popular or accessible.
06:24So when Eric Bischoff started walking out on Nitro
06:26and just told people what was happening on Raw that night,
06:30well, we were all stunned.
06:31This was made possible due to the fact WCW was going live every week,
06:35whereas the WWF would hop between that and tape shows.
06:38So we'll do it again.
06:40You're watching SmackDown,
06:41Rampage has already been recorded,
06:43and Michael Cole just tells you,
06:44Daniel Garcia is losing to Miro,
06:47so you don't need to go and see that.
06:49It's bonkers.
06:50If we're honest too,
06:51it was higher stakes than this,
06:52as Raw and Nitro were in a proper intense ratings battle,
06:55and each wanted supremacy.
06:57Bischoff would even talk about wanting to kill the WWF for good.
07:00There's more too,
07:01as Eric could also stroll to the ring,
07:02holding signs that read WWE Fears ratings on it,
07:06and he challenged Vince McMahon to a fight on pay-per-view.
07:10And we'll talk about that later.
07:12The whole thing was out of control.
07:13Number three,
07:14Hollywood Hogan's own head.
07:16Yep,
07:16please bear with me.
07:17If you are a Harden fan,
07:19you know the 1990 Starrcade main event between Hollywood Hogan and Sting was rubbish.
07:23The whole build had been incredible,
07:25and then we got this bizarre screwy finish,
07:27which still doesn't make sense today.
07:29Was it a fast count?
07:30Wasn't it a fast count?
07:32Just have Sting win the title and call it a day.
07:34Nothing is perfect mind,
07:35and that was true for this feud too,
07:37because some weeks WCW just went,
07:40well,
07:40WCW,
07:41for example.
07:42Before the pay-per-view,
07:43Eric Bischoff decided to host Hollywood Hogan Appreciation Night,
07:47where he gave Hulk loads of gifts.
07:49As is the way in wrestling,
07:50the last one was from the Stinger,
07:52and he was quite a strange man.
07:54This was a mannequin version of Hogan's head.
07:56I suppose this is quite threatening,
07:58but honestly,
07:58the way Hulk sells this is painfully funny,
08:01as he acted as if this was his own skull,
08:04even though he was using his own eyes to see it.
08:07I mean,
08:07you'd be freaked out,
08:08sure,
08:08but this was next level.
08:09It also meant Nitro went off air with Hogan staring at himself and screaming,
08:13but go look in the background.
08:15Bischoff isn't scared at all,
08:17he's just kind of rolling his eyes like,
08:18man,
08:19that's Sting,
08:20what an idiot.
08:20So you have to presume that nobody had chatted about how they were meant to react to this,
08:24especially as the announcers were not that bothered either.
08:26This is when I remember I really missed WCW,
08:29because it was the best,
08:31and the worst,
08:32but that's why it was the best.
08:33Number two,
08:34a match ends with an electrocution.
08:36I mean,
08:36what were they thinking?
08:37WCW actually killed a man on TV,
08:40and then they just returned to the show.
08:42What?
08:43We do have to go all the way back to Halloween Havoc 1991,
08:46and yes,
08:46of course,
08:47it's the Chamber of Horrors match.
08:49If you need this summed up too,
08:50well,
08:51it's the definition of feeling like you have to do something new for the sake of doing something new.
08:55It would involve two teams with four members who of course had instruments of torture,
08:59with the ultimate goal to strap somebody to an electric chair.
09:03I am not making any of this up.
09:04Abdullah the Butcher pulled the short straw so it was attached to this device,
09:08when somebody pulled the lever,
09:10and we saw some sparklers go off.
09:12I mean,
09:12it's quite funny anyway,
09:14but the fans are totally baffled by it all.
09:16What was the response meant to be?
09:18Unsurprisingly,
09:19Abdullah didn't really sell this,
09:20because what was he going to do?
09:22But then he just gets up,
09:23and walks to the back.
09:25Again,
09:25I'm not kidding.
09:27You think at worst,
09:27somebody could have stretched him out of there.
09:29It also meant the whole match was utterly pointless,
09:31and once again is a nice reminder that in 1991,
09:35sometimes WCW was not all that good.
09:37Number one,
09:38Bischoff challenges McMahon.
09:40As promised,
09:40here we are.
09:41Let's get into it,
09:42because it was ridiculous.
09:43I'm just going to continue in the same vein as I feel it sells it better,
09:47but you're watching Dynamite.
09:48Tony Khan walks out,
09:49and he tells Triple H,
09:51AEW revolution is around the corner,
09:53so why don't they fight?
09:56I mean,
09:56Twitter would absolutely savage him.
09:58If we go back to 1998 though,
09:59this is exactly what happened before WCW's Slamboree show.
10:03It wasn't just like Eric called him out either.
10:05World Championship Wrestling dedicated all these videos of Bischoff telling Vince he better be there,
10:10or the world is going to think he's a massive coward.
10:13WCW even went as far as to have Michael Buffer announce him as the winner,
10:17when McMahon decided against it.
10:19Obviously.
10:20It stank of desperation because all fans knew this wasn't possible.
10:23If Vinnie Mac had done it,
10:25millions would have bought this pay-per-view,
10:26which is the last thing the boss of the WWF wanted.
10:30Amazingly,
10:30even Bischoff's nearest and dearest warned him against this,
10:33as Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash told Eric,
10:35if McMahon does take the bait,
10:37he is going to kick your ass.
10:39So once again,
10:40you really couldn't make this up.
10:42Ultimately though,
10:42I hope you have learned something today.
10:44Sometimes wrestling can be goofy and it rocks.
10:47Sometimes wrestling can be goofy,
10:48and it kills an entire company.
10:51You take care.
10:52Goodbye.
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