The ratings are in for the first Monday Night Wars of the year, and it's yet another victory for Vince McMahon's WWF, 5.7 to 5.0. There is so much to dissect here as it was a taped WWF show, headlined by Mankind finally winning the WWF Title against The Rock, with the result of course spoiled by Tony Schiavone, a move that triggered 600,000 viewers moving to RAW from Nitro. However, that is neither here nor there for this website.
The biggest news, of course, is the main event. WCW pulled a bait and switch, promising Goldberg vs Kevin Nash in a Starrcade rematch, only to use an absurd false stalker charge angle by Miss Elizabeth to have Goldberg arrested, allowing a returning Hollywood Hogan to weasel his way into the main event. With a still huge main event in the works as the two nWo faction leaders set to finally collide one on one, we instead saw yet another Hogan-appeasing swerve, pinning Nash with a mere finger poke, turning Nash heel, with Scott Hall and Lex Luger joining with Hogan, Scott Steiner, and Buff Bagwell in a seemingly Elite version of the nWo, albeit in the Wolfpac colors. Not only did the show serve purpose to publicly embarrass Goldberg, the nWo beat down, tasered, and spray-painted Goldberg to end the show, with all of this happening on the first show of Ric Flair's kayfabe Presidency. What many were hoping to be a changing of the guards for WCW, is now being wholly known for what the company has been for the last two and a half years: the nWo trumping all.
While it all hearsay and rumors at this point, there are many reports coming out that many wrestlers are furious with Nitro's booking. While everyone knew Hollywood Hogan's "retirement" was not real and just an in poor taste shot at Jesse Ventura getting elected as Governor, no one knew that he would return on Nitro, replace Goldberg in the main event, and then essentially make a complete mockery of the company's biggest title. Veterans and purists in the company are naturally furious because of how much the main event is seemed as tainting and devaluing the World Title. The two men rumored to be the most upset? No surprise it's Ric Flair and Goldberg. For the Nature Boy, it's not only just how the title he's at times carried to being the most covered World Championship in the wrestling business over the last twenty years, but how foolish and incompetent his character looks having the nWo reunite and dominate on his first night in charge. Goldberg is rumored to be incredibly furious with how the arrest and charges of stalking could affect the public image of his persona that he wants to be seen as clean cut, but he also is not happy that Kevin Nash's booking has made him look week twice now in just eight days.
It is well known within the online dirt sheets and chatrooms that Nash has been the one in charge of booking WCW the last few months for Eric Bischoff, who has seemingly been more than happy to push off many of his responsibilities onto others. While Nash in charge of creative has led to bigger roles for Konnan, Disco Inferno, and Norman Smiley, it has also led to Nash putting himself over ad nauseum, with the biggest moment of course being the one to end Goldberg's streak at Starrcade in controversial fashion, and in a match that has now seemingly been just to set up yet another Hogan and Outsiders led New World Order.
The biggest rumors coming out of World Championship Wrestling are that to do with Eric Bischoff. With such a heavily promoted Monday Nitro, and taking place in the home base of Atlanta, head man Ted Turner and Turner Sports President Dr. Harvey Schiller, the direct boss of Bischoff, were both present to watch the broadcast and backstage before and after the show. While Turner was seemingly tickled pink with the show, there's been a lot of chatter that Schiller is not satisfied at all with what he saw. From the malcontent of many of the wrestlers at the show, the mass amounts of wrestlers flown into the show who were not used, the poor production errors, and the overall "organized chaos" of the backstage atmosphere. Much about the show felt unorganized backstage and on the fly. This must be the first time the Turner chiefs have decided to come to a WCW show, because much of these snippets have been reported and leaked for much of the last year now.
We do know that Eric Bischoff had a meeting on Tuesday morning with Schiller and probably the Turner board. While we again only know probably half-truths, at best, it does look like changes could be coming to World Championship Wrestling. While Eric Bischoff is by no means out of a job, with it being widely reported from leaks that he was deeply concerned by what he saw both on screen and backstage at Monday Nitro, Schiller will be expecting changes. It would be one thing if WCW was still beating WWF, but WCW now decisively starting to fall behind the red-hot WWF. The nWo Hollywood versus Wolfpac story has not worked to keep hold of being number one; the summer of celebrity matches with Dennis Rodman, Karl Malone, and Jay Leno did not move the needle as hoped; and Hogan versus The Warrior only served to drive even more viewers from Nitro to RAW. While WCW is still drawing good PPV buy rates and drawing great attendance numbers, there is clearly a growing disconnect with a portion of the fan base. The fears of many, and now potentially Schiller, is that if changes do not soon happen, WCW could become a clear number two, drop in the ratings further, and start losing money from attendance and PPV numbers.
Adding to the potential future problems of WCW is the issues with the roster. While even the most ardent WWF fan has to admit that WCW has the stronger and deeper roster, to the point that WCW regularly can't get enough of their talent on TV, there remains multiple issues. The most obvious is the very stagnant main event scene featuring men on the downhill slide of their careers, or are already there. Ric Flair turns 50 next month, although he has hardly wrestled in the past year and could be transitioning to a non-wrestling role depending on the plans of this Presidency gimmick. Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage, Roddy Piper, Lex Luger, Bret Hart, and Diamond Dallas Page are all over 40. Scott Hall just hit that milestone, while Kevin Nash and Sting will join that group this summer. Goldberg is the only true main event talent they have under 40 at this point, as homegrown star The Giant, while a former World Champion, has spent more time in that upper midcard area, fighting over the Tag Titles or being Bret Hart's muscle the last year.
The actual problem with The Giant? His contract. And it expires in early February. The 7-footer is yet to renew his contract and is smart enough to know that someone as young, monstrous, but still capable of hitting a Missile Dropkick could win himself a hefty contract with the WWF. Chris Jericho is another young star with a contract expiring (this summer), and after single handily turning a non-existent feud with Goldberg into one of the hottest programs of the Fall, only to have a real match between the two crushed and buried, has definitely heated up the rumor mill that he's heading towards an exit as well. Eddy Guerrero, while out indefinitely after a New Year's car accident, is another young star who was widely reported to be unhappy with his position in the company last year. There are bound to be others, and while they sit by and watch aging veterans continue to feature in the main events, they've seen the WWF create new stars in the last year in Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Kane, and new WWF Champion Mankind. There is a growing disconnect and schism inside the WCW roster, and if the status quo remains the same, we could soon see their best young talent working for Vince McMahon.
