The Death of WCW debate has lasted longer than the company itself.

Episode 3 was the first time I ever heard that David Arquette as champion was Tony Schivione's idea.

Brad Siegel never told Russo that Eric is his boss. Just the lack of communication in that company is just unreal.

Conrad is rocking more than Ricky Morton, Robert Gibson, Shawn Michaels, and Marty Jannetty combined...

Russo was “the man” in the WWF from 1997-1999. In Mick Foley’s first book, he said Vince had backed off of creative, held a meeting with talent, admitted he was out of touch, was open to new ideas & began leaning heavily on Russo. In Rock’s book, he talks about storyline ideas coming directly from Russo’s head during their phone conversations & how they collaborated on Rock’s promos, etc.

I took Russo getting Eric “fired” as Russo’s contributions in WWF getting Eric fired.

Vince (in long form) always says basically the same thing Eric says, he says Hulk and Eric didnt know what Vince was gonna say in the promo, and that he didnt write anything down he just started ranting and got carried away, and then Brad told him not to call hulk the next day because he couldnt afford to pay him for extra dates, but he (Vince) says the plan was for hulk to come back at halloween havoc to do the unification match, but with him not calling combined with the boys, internet and dirt sheets all blowing up how Russo stuck it to Hulk, it gave Hulk in his mind confirmation of the idea that "yea Russo did full on screw me over here"

The funny thing that Eric never talks about with Bash at the Beach 2000 is that Hogan walking out wasn't the main event. If Hogan walking out wasn't going to be the main event, what was scheduled to be the main event? Was it going to be a five minute match between Kevin Nash and Bill Goldberg for Scott Hall's contract? No, he knows that wasn't going to be the main event. Unfortunately, and conveniently, he doesn't remember what was supposed to be the main event for that show. Reality is Eric knows he's lying about Bash at the Beach 2000 and nobody around him will call him out on it. It was all a work, and scripted out beforehand, besides maybe Russo calling Hulk Hogan, a fictional character, bald.

Russo saying he had something to do with Eric being fired was a reference to WWF beating WCW in the ratings and overtaking their audience. It wasn’t a lie.

At 17:00 Eric claims he and Hulk Hogan left Daytona Beach satisfied that everything went as planned, and Hulk was ok with how the Jarrett finish ended, and didn't even know Russo "went in business for himself" and cut that promo until their plane landed in Tampa. But I JUST listened to Hogan do a Bubba The Love Sponge interview (from the next day after Bash at the abeach) where Hogan claims he did NOT know Jarrett was going to lie down, and claimed he WAS in the building when Russo cut the promo, wanted to confront him, but Doug Dillinger begged him to just leave the building and not confront Russo. Which is it Eric? You and Hogan's story from the very next day after BATB are completely different. What a fool.

Bischoff saying he hadnt ever met a delusional liar...he's known Hogan for years.

Russo's comment about getting Eric fired goes back to his KZfaq video recently where he said his creative at WWE is why Eric was sent home from WCW which is true. Eric was creatively bankrupt

you could criticize WWE a LOT for the Invasion angle and how they handled some WCW guys. But what they did to DDP was borderline criminal.

To play devil's advocate....I truly believe that Russo had the best of intentions during his run in both WWE and WCW. How he went about it and how he did it may not have worked but I think he had his heart in the right place. Russo was always about the underneath guy and the pushing younger talent. He clearly saw more stock and longevity in younger talent and I commend him on pushing for Booker T to be World Champion. Russo wasn't a wrestling guy and as he states he saw wrestling and a television show. He wasn't hung up or a mark for the big names like Hogan and Hart and that rubbed the egos of those people the wrong way. Bischoff would never have took a gamble and rolled the dice on Booker T as champion. In WWE Russo ensured that everybody on the roster from top to bottom had a character and a storyline which reduced they amount of filler matches. It must be really difficult to book wrestling in the modern era when everything has been done to death. When Russo got to WCW id imagine he was creatively spent after putting all his efforts in to WWE.

Russo the writer: “they hated me cuz they thought i was that guy on tv. Im not an a**hole, i gave the midcard guys tv time and world title shots!” Also Russo the writer: “Yeah I wrote myself as the wcw world champ on tv, mainly cuz I was better than 80% of wcw’s entire roster.” Thanks for the clarification, Vince.

WCW wouldn't have gone away if it stayed as hot as it was in 96/97/98...I guarantee that

Conrad can't go an episode without mentioning AEW....He really needs to go.

Didn't Eric a week ago say he doesn't have anything personal against Russo?

It's been a really long time since a series has hooked me like this one.all the questions I wanted to ask my dad and the wcw but neither was there during my teenage years and now as a adult I'm finding closure on KZfaq 😂😂😂

No arguments that Russo was trying to put out the dumpster fire by pouring gas on it, but at the same time Eric continues to come off as Hogan's puppet. Sure Hogan has creative sign-off, that shouldn't mean you let him call the shots. It's supposed to mean you lay it out and persuade him. If you didn't have that ability, you were in the wrong job. If you didn't have the desire, you were in the wrong job.

Funny Bischoff thinks the original plan of Bash at the Beach 2000 was any better.

Ironic from Eric “I can’t really remember” Bischoff 😂

So if Bischoff said he was overseeing creative and russo.. and the creative sucked. Bit hypocritical. Put the belt on hogan, put the belt on hogan.

this is the first time Ive ever heard that Booker wasnt gonna win the "other" world title that night.. which.. I have trouble with and am throwing a flag on the play, because the original belt was there that night.. the hogan and jeff spot happens early on in the show.. and even Eric says, in this very video!, the end game was for hulk to come back and face Booker at Havoc???

Jesus fucking Christ can Conrad Thompson be a bigger Mark!?

I want to see vince and eric have a conversation.

The one thing that is barely mentioned is that while all this is going on The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin are mesmerizing the audience on the other channel.

Nash and hogan played Eric. It’s that simple. Nash wouldn’t have shit to do with Eric except he kept throwing money his way

Conrad: "not qualified to speak....." Lol😂

Eric Bischoff stated that when he and Hogan landed and got off the plane, people were blowing up their phones saying Russo went into business for himself. This is my question, if only Russo, Bischoff, and Hogan knew what was happening that night, how would all these people who called know that Russo went into business for himself? His statements aren't making sense.

Eric I always appreciate your candor and willingness to call things as they were, even if it's not the best look for you. Kudos

When did Eric start doing a podcast with Uncle Elmer Jr.? 😅

Representation does not matter. Being the best matters.

A logical follow up to this in all honesty should be Why the Invasion Angle in WWE failed so miserably. What should've been the biggest angle arguably ever in wrestling history turned out to be one giant failure after another. Were talking about "who killed wcw" then in my mind the most logical follow up should be "who killed the invasion". Especially considering some of the hate WCW gets for certain decisions or angles yet the Invasion redid those same exact mistakes.

I really enjoyed Eric breaking down the budget and proposals of dealing with contracts. Its important to know these things as there are a lot of factors when wanting talent and how a wrestling show can thrive.

Conrad cant even read out a super chat with out getting bitter about what someone says about tony khan. Anyone got any takes on how much he is paying dave and conrad ?? Cause holy fuck cant even respect a fans super chat with out getting triggered

Never trust anyone from NY that calls you bro

I really can't wait to see the final episode of who killed wcw both eric bischoff x booker t perspectives on it got me LOCK IN! like game of thrones 😂

I wonder.. is it both Bruce Prichard and Eric’s disdain for Russo Is what made them become good friends?

27:50 as a black person I’ve never thought there was something I couldn’t do because I was black and the thought that other black people might think that way breaks my heart.

Stop rocking back /forth all the time conrad 😅...

Thanks for the gifted membership!!!!

"Bro your why out of it" Coffee blasts out of my nose........

Eric says there’s no point in having a conversation with Russo because there’s nothing new he could find out then goes on to say he has multiple questions for Russo lol. If you have these questions for Russo then why not have a conversation? If Russo is a liar like you claim then wouldn’t it be apparent in your conversation with him? I’ve listened to Russo for years and he’s legitimately never changed his story on anything and has said these same statements for years and has also put Bischoff over many times. I’m sure some of the stuff on that episode was clipped and didn’t get the full context as well. Have a conversation with him. What’s the harm?

After we figure out who killed WcW can we bring it back? Like go back to 1997-98

Vice TV has revealed Vince Russo said “bro” 353 times during the course of his 4 hour interview session for the miniseries Who killed WCW.

I'm laughing at both of your Russo impersonations😂😂

Russo was talking about Eric getting fired from WCW was a direct result from Russo's writing in the WWF. Eric getting that confused is quite worrying. Eric lying through his teeth about Bash At The Beach is also quite funny considering he's accusing Russo of the same thing. Bash was a work, all in on it, think about the little things like a camera being set up to show Eric & Hulk leaving the building, come on people. The episode missing out the fact Brad told Russo NOT to call Hulk as they couldn't afford to put him on TV when Russo promised to call him after the "shoot", Hulk then becomes paranoid that it was all done to get one over on him. Hulk and Eric then see money signs as they know Turner was like an ATM when it came to lawsuits. Although ,wasn't the case thrown out of court twice as Eric & Hulk couldn't get their lies on the same page? Maybe ask Eric about that one. You can dislike Russo all you want but his story has never changed from day one, Eric's has had about 10 different revisions. Russo has always said he'll debate Eric or even Cornette but they won't do so, why is that? Seems like they have more to hide than Russo does.

This debate is more devisive then the JFK assassination. Lol

Bischoff looks amazing for 69 years old

When someone gives membership like they did last week with five and at the end someone gifted 20. How do you get In the running for one of those? Thank you

Just add to the fact that one of the first interviews on bash as the beach in 2015 I think Bischoff was dealing with the death of his father and the funeral was the actual day of the pay per view Him getting to Daytona late because of that

The amount of hate Hulk Hogan gets is unwarranted. WCW wouldn’t have been anywhere near what it was without him. I actually watched the Starcade match and it is nowhere near as bad as some people make out. The count was fast, but not “too fast” so you have ambiguity there. It is almost like people have talked themselves into to a corner with this thing. If Sting just went out and crushed him it would have been an anticlimax. The finish, while not ideal, kept the NWO and Hogan viable. Hogan lost plenty of times, including to Roddy Piper in a big PPV, so I don’t think it’s as simple as saying Hogan wouldn’t put people over. Bischoff’s explanation sounds the most rational. Hogan was wrong to call for a slow count, but the referee did his best to split the difference from what I saw. Everybody could argue their corner on it. The fingerpoke thing was way more problematic. They devalued the title too much.

Harlem Heat debuting it chains in WCW wasn't because WCW/Watts was racist, it was making a social political statement. It was an attempt at an edgy gimmick/story line.

Even when WCW was #1, Turner executives still didn’t want wrestling on the network that explains the whole story. Russo was a gift to the network. They couldnt wait to get rid of it. Still remember the good ol days. WCW at its best was amazing television.

no, no... We love when we ask you "what time it is?"... and you tell us how to make a watch!!!! #DEAD #LMFAO

Would have been good if they could have gotten Ed Ferrara in the show as well

They kept cutting out the bash at the beach dialogue in episode 3. Anyone else notice that? It would show a second of them talking then cut away. Is this because of legal reasons???

I think something that really gets lost here is what Hogan was doing before Bash at the Beach,which was feuding and multiple times losing,to Billy Kidman in a feud that did nothing for either man. That was a Russo idea,not a Bischoff and definitely not a Hogan one. He had creative control,and decided to go with the story (whatever it was). So now you want Hogan to go into another match only to lose to Jarrett too,and there’s nothing he can sink his teeth into from a story perspective? Yeah I can’t blame him for making noise. Hogan will do the job,but it has to make sense and there had to be a plan for him going forward. I feel any top star would want to know what the plan for them going forward is. Imo WCW from the beginning should’ve been clear what the main event was going to be. If they wanted it to be Booker T vs Jarret for the belt then they should’ve advertised it. Forget the swerve bs,especially when it wasn’t working anyway.

I loved Goldberg's defense...nope im just incompetent. If i wanted to hurt him he'd be dead. Somewhere Bret Hart was just shaking his head😂

While Russo is a piece of work, he comes off like just about everyone else I know from the Long Island area. Him and Kingston both have a part of it in their persona that can't be removed from their "gimmick" no matter how hard they try. Yes he exaggerates and you need to learn to take everything with a grain (or handful) of salt. He also has an ultra "alpha male" personality that can be broken down, he doesn't expect anyone to buy 100% of what he says. I feel like Eric feels betrayed because he took everything at face value and didn't understand the person or where it was coming from. The situation their worlds came together is also kinda borked. Its like having two awesome Uncles that hate each other when they are both great in their own way but are too stubborn to ever bury the hatchet.

It seems Eric's "truth" changes based on his feelings towards someone. The truth should be consistent, regardless of personal feelings. Calling Russo the most delusional person he's ever met comes off as deliberately misleading. Russo gave Eric props even tho they're not cool. Eric can't or won't do the same, which is fine. But he just loses credibility by doing so. Russo might by kinda wacky, but he comes across as an honest wacko, even if it makes him unpopular. In contrast, Eric comes off as a bitter politician, while Russo seems like the straightforward plumber who tells you the truth, even if he doesn't know any better.

Hearing all the “Thunders”, “Nitros”, “Russo this”, “Bischoff that” stuff makes me wonder about WCW’s sinking show WCW Saturday Night. This fledgling program cost money too, but it was getting worse and worse. Sometimes I remember turning it off after 15 minutes because I was bored. Maybe cutting Saturday Night earlier than spring of 2000 (??), probing into Thunder; seeing how it works; what are we doing right etc., and bringing back the old exciting Clash of The Champions program for free on TBS might have changed things.

I always wanted to believe that it was Vince/Eric that ruined WCW because I never believed that corporate politics could be that self destructive. Now that I’m older, I’ve seen it for myself and honestly, Turner may have been one of the better run offices in the corporate world.

I never pegged Booker T as one of those guys who thought Hogan held them back. Booker did eventually get to main event and he wasn't 1/10th as successful as Hogan. So to still believe they should have ran with him instead of Hogan is just blatantly ridiculous.

Wish they had some announcers on the show. Would be nice to hear Schiavones perspective

Interested to see next week if it's true that hulk Hogan had the opportunity buy it for what Vince bought it for or less and turned it down and then claimed. He didn't know it came with all the library and the licensing. I really find it hard to believe that he didn't know that or wouldn't have found that out.

The underlying reason why WCW went under is that Ted Turner lost power in the middle of 1998, and was slowly phased out of the conglomerate he was once in charge of due to two mergers. The first one was the Turner-Time Warner merger where Turner was made Executive Vice Chairman for about 2 years. He lost both his position and his share of voting power in 1998. And, things got even more worse post AOL- Time Warner as Turner was relegated to a mere spot on the BoD before quietly retiring in 2003. No question, it was Ted Turner's money that kept WCW from going under in the middle of 1991 when there was pressure to fold, and it was Ted's influence that gave WCW one more chance at the beginning of 1993 when he gave Bischoff the shot to save the business.

Eric doesn't have the balls to bring Russo on. Why wouldn't Eric wanna expose Russo then

A question that I’ve never seen asked... If the IP was for sale by wwe ,would/could Eric/Ted/Hulk be interested in owning and restarting it (wcw)

Why does no one ever have the balls to ask Eric why exactly Hulk Hogan needed to be World Champion at Bash at the Beach 2000 and what the main event was supposed to be. He's always lied about that whole incident. Hogan even said in an interview one time that he heard the idea and he was like "yeah brother then Booker can have a title and I come back at Halloween Havoc and say I have the real WCW belt". Eric seems very bitter that Booker T got his break

The question I had then and still ask is why didn't WCW just put the belt back on Goldberg in 99/00? Looking at all the chaos in the clips in ep. 3, I'm reminded of how I just wanted the program to go back to centered around Goldberg.

I do disagree that Russo came in and made it worse. To me he made it exciting, albeit bad direction and storylines, but at least exciting and unpredictable. 1999 was so fn boring and unwatchable imo

Eric Bischoff and Jim Cornette vs. Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara with Jim Herd as Russo's manager and Dave Meltzer as the special guest referee lol. Get your tickets now😅🤣😂

Russo always blames Hogan. The issue of Russo saying that Hogan did not want to lose to Jeff Jarrett, as if Jeff Jarrett was bringing money and ratings to WCW, as if Jeff Jarrett was the answer to Austin and Rock at the time! I don't blame Hogan if he wants to win. Jeff was at the Main Event the entire time of Russo and all of his ideas did not work, so why does he put the blame on Hogan? I wonder why Booker T puts the blame on Hogan and they talk as if everything was fine until Hogan decided to win against Jeff. Hogan was losing to everyone like Kidman, Vampiro, The Wall, and others. He agreed with all the losing decisions. And yet they say that he only thinks about himself??? He lost to everyone and Russo's plans did not succeed, so why are they surprised that he wants to win over Jeff ? The decision for Hogan to win over Jeff Jarrett was before the decision for Booker to win over Jeff. But Booker T speaks as if the decision from the beginning was for him to wrestle Jeff, as if the original main event for Bash at the Beach was a Jeff vs. Booker T match, as if Hogan tried to get Booker out of the match, and this of course is all untrue. The original decision a month or so ago was for Hogan to win over Jeff. When Hogan challenged Kidman at the Great American Bash, he told him that if I beat you, Kidman, I would wrestle the champion at Bash at the Beach. This was all the original decision from the beginning. Therefore, Booker T has no right to speak as if Hulk tried to steal his moment by winning the title, the decision of which came late behind Hogan’s back.

How would Eric book a Hogan vs Booker T program if bash at the beach 2000 didn’t go down?

Stevie Nicks in 1970’s, yes please.

Does anyone else get nauseous watching Conrad rock back and forth all the time?

Booker didn't think he'd win the world title because he was black??? That makes no sense in WCW though. For one, WCW had already had a black World Champion and for two, Booker and his brother were the only black guys on the roster other than Vincent. So he thought that WCW should put the World Heavyweight Championship on him or his brother just because they were black??? That is exactly why you don't listen to the talent. Inclusiveness doesn't equal good business. Booker has always been extremely talented and certainly deserved his main event run, but to believe WCW was racist makes ZERO sense considering their title history across the board.. Also signing with WWE was an interesting move for a guy who thought WCW was racist. 😂

After 3 episodes, I'm convinced that what killed WCW was a short-sided approach to running a wrestling promotion from top to bottom. First, every wrestling show gets stale if there's a ceiling between the mid card and the top card. Creative should always be focused on all of their talent. Second, honesty has to be the most important value. As a teenager I loved Goldberg. As an adult that understands more about the business I have to imagine that giving a guy with less experience that most of your mid-card an elevator to your exclusive club had to be rough on the mid-card. WCW had Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerero, Rey Mysterio, Booker T, Chavo Guerero, and so many more talented wrestlers, and couldn't write a storyline that involved any of them winning the belt? The only way that's possible is that no one was being honest with themselves. Talent wasn't being evaluated correctly, and the good ole boy club had way too much say. Instead of sitting down and coming up with creative ways to use the entire roster to generate interest WCW seemed more interested in being the last hurrah for a collection of 80s wrestlers and cast offs from the WWF. I switched from watching WCW to watching WWF because teenage me got tired of the same old NWO storyline week to week. I went from being excited about Sting to a fan of Harlem Heat, Rey, and Eddie, and then eventually to watching RAW because the roster was more interesting.

Brett Hart May have gotten 3 million per year for 3 years but his legacy ended with brain damage which later led to a stroke, you haters out there are insensitive and don't understand that he has a right to tell the truth and does not mean he's being negative

Great episode AGAIN.. I have new found respect for Eric. Always like him, but now, I appreciate him alot more than I have.

A great story is Konnan burying Vampiro over 2 decades.

Wait..this isn't the drive thru 😂😂

"when Hogan takes his rightful place on that throne" Guy was 47 at the time. If that's your champ...your promotion hasnt got long to live... Hogan should know, he left AWA because aging Vern Gagne kept putting the belt on himself and other aging wrestlers

Goldberg ended 2 wrestling careers months apart

Russo was a rotten nail in the coffin of WCW but Eric’s “loyalty” to Hogan has to share some of the blame. He was given creative control in 1994,no reason by 2000 he should still have it if he isnt putting new stars over.

I have said it before and I will say it again the Time Warner merger is what killed WCW

Good stuff.. thank you to who gifted me a membership. Very awesome.

As a real fan of WWF and the WCW, i always felt the end was in sight when everyone and their momma was in the NWO. I know it was the best thing to happen to professional wrestling, but we grew tired of the 100 member NWO. I say this yet i never ever liked what the WWE was doing. DX was a simple rip off. Don't care for the Rock or Stone Cold, but i respect what they did. I just got nothing but love for Mr. Bishoff. A legend and hero to the cause! I'd love to hear his thoughts on the new stuff going on. I look for any alternative to the McMahon empire.

30:44 they do all the time in NXT. GAB, Havoc, etc

Corporate structure like Eric described with the budgets is what Eric is talking about when he talks about wrestlers not being the worst pathological liars he worked with.

I think they really missed a beat with David Arquette. It would have made way more sense to have him win the TV Title Belt and then you can either write that off and no longer use that belt or make it like the 24/7 belt with just celebrities and just show an occasional "Behind the scenes" bit when you want to advertise some movie or show and have that person win the belt.

Ercik is has a wonderful mind he is very intelligent

2:28 Ok, good, I'm not the only one who noticed the bit about Russo "walking away" to be bogus. Russo is an active part of the IWC and stayed in the business for a LONG time after WCW folded.

I think Goldberg became Jim Cornette's favorite wrestler when he referred to Vince Russo as a stain

"try to bro your way out of this bullshit" 😂😂

Russo 4 AEW 💥✨️🎉🎉❇️#EOMREACTS☪️🎉🎉✨️💥

He actually said he was better as an on air character than 80% of the roster, no Russo you weren’t

Not disputing who agreed to what for bash at the beach finish. But to think Vince, Eric and Hulk thought that lame finish was acceptable is nuts.