“History is written by the victors.” - Winston Churchill

Eric Bischoff has a problem. He wants to be remembered as a creative genius that produced a great product in the professional wrestling business. The only problem is that Vince McMahon gets to write the afterward in the history of World Championship Wrestling.

Before I start with my review of The Rise and Fall of WCW documentary, let me say that I heard all of the stories behind it. I heard the WWE tried to contact Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff for their participation. Of course, Turner would say no, what good does it do a billionaire with a long history of success to admit failure? Bischoff, on the other hand usually has a good relationship with the company. He’s participated on the Monday Night Wars DVD and the Legends of Wrestling roundtable discussion on WWE Classics On Demand. But I recall him saying that he could not watch the final episode of Nitro, which I feel is justified. WCW was his baby and his creative direction was a huge part of the late 90’s wrestling boom. Although, I’d like to hear his prospective some 8 years after his company closed, I understand why he would decline this project. He mentioned WWE’s sense of revisionist history and why he wanted no part in it. With that said, was the finished product truly fair and unbiased? Well, let’s get into the review…

The first thing I noticed is while, the documentary gets into the history of the Crockett family, when they talk about the NWA, they pretty much move onto Ric Flair. No Harley Race? No Funks? No Briscos (although Gerald has had some health issues as of late)? I own all of the Flair DVDs, so naturally I know about the Ricky Steamboat matches, the Crocketts selling the company to Turner and everyone’s hatred of Jim Herd. Nice to hear Jim Crockett’s side of the story, usually it is just David. Black Saturday is mentioned where Vince got television time on TBS, which the deal was quickly reneged, causing some heat between Vince and Ted Turner (perhaps the earliest seeds of WWF vs. WCW). I could go into further detail talking about every chapter and what I found interesting, but quite frankly I’m too much of a smark and didn’t really learn anything new, so I’m going to do something a little different for the rest of this review. My friends will ask me what I think about the DVD and usually who was in the documentary or how they came off. So I’m going to play some word association with some of the principals involved:

Bill Goldberg: Although he didn’t bash the David Arquette title reign as much as the rest (he pretty much said the title was worthless at that point), he came off really well and surprisingly intelligent. I’ve bashed his talent many times (the DVD paints him very well), but he seems like a pretty genuine guy.

Eric Bischoff: In my opinion, he came off very well. While the revolving door of who’s in charge was filled with strong personalities (often buffoonish), Bischoff came off as the saving grace that had the brains, business savvy and passion for the industry. Not surprisingly, they had to rely heavily on old footage from 2002. I think Bischoff, while going to extreme measures to put the WWE out of business, deserves a lot of positive credit.

Hulk Hogan: Not great. All right, so the man had a creative control clause that he used more times than Triple H matches that put me to sleep (somewhere in the hundreds), but still they recognize that he had put the company over the top when he signed in 1994. His presence was the tipping point as WCW was finally taken seriously after the early 90’s calamities that were upper management. I got a kick when Vince talks about Hall and Nash invading WCW, potentially to the viewer as the WWF invading, McMahon says, “It was probably Hogan’s idea,” in a curmudgeon tone. Once again, old stock footage used of Hogan (from 2002’s Hulk Still Rules DVD no less), I want a more of his prospective today.

Kevin Nash: Terribly remembered. I always thought Vince liked him (maybe still does), but he is painted as very selfish and somewhat insecure. No stock footage of his views and he is made to out to be a big man with a smart wrestling mind, but too greedy for his own good. They make it a point to say that Hall and Nash ran roughshod and always were looking for a bigger payday, while Nash booked himself to the top (although I never minded his win over Goldberg at Starrcade).

Vince Russo: “All I could see is that he brought and extra $750,000 a year in expense.” – Mean Gene Okerland. That pretty much sums Russo up and the fact that folks thought he was a plant sent into purposely destroy WCW says it all.

Jeff Jarrett: Terrible (in a funny way). Mike Graham says, “He broke 6,000 guitars and never drew a dime. He really thought in his little Tennessee brain that he could draw more money than Hulk Hogan.” Fans have always suffered because of Jarrett, some call it great heat, and I’ve always called it just plain boring. If you younger fans got tired of Jarrett flexing that ownership muscle in TNA, just think how we felt when he was shoved down our throats towards the end of WCW…mostly because he was a friend of Russo.

Scott Hall: Same light as Nash, but we do get stock footage from 02 (and yes, he looks slightly buzzed even then). For the record I like Hall and Nash (and Sean Waltman), they did what they had to do to keep their spots, sometimes in nefarious ways, but they did draw money at the end of the day. Kind of like that kid in school you buddy up with even though he is a big jerk and would totally rip you off trading baseball cards or comics, he is still cool and you can put aside the negativity for some good times.

Sting: He is always recognized as a great talent and his rivalry with Flair cannot be ignored, but he works for TNA, so we never hear too much.

Bill Watts: Tougher than Bill Parcells and Vince Lombardi on their worst days. He didn’t take any crap from anyone and it showed. People complained that he slowed down the pace of wrestling by trying to “bring it back to the roots.” I get it, but it’s not what the fans wanted. His WCW stay in management didn’t last, but he did get to defend himself.

Ole Anderson: Created the Black Scorpion gimmick for Flair and voice-overed the Shockmaster a couple years later. Yeah, he didn’t last either.

Where is Mick Foley on this whole documentary?? He doesn’t work for the company anymore and is on bad terms with Vince, so you don’t see him at all. But how in the world can you talk about the “finger poke of death” without mentioning Tony Schiavone giving away Mick Foley’s title reign on live television. Sure they graze over it, but never specifically mention Foley (it was a major turning point). Maybe you were right about that revisionist history, Eric. Speaking of Tony Schiavone, we couldn’t get him? He’s been out of the scene since the XWF failed in 2001. He was the voice of NWA/WCW (minus his brief stint in the WWE around 89-90). He held stake in the company and in fact suggested that David Arquette win the world title. Other than that, anyone else I might have left out, we only get bits and pieces from and it’s nothing worthwhile (although Dean Malenko reminds that the KISS concert drew the lowest rating in the history of Nitro).

Biased? Yes. Fair? To a degree. I suspect if the DVD had a kinder title (like the Spectacular Legacy of The AWA), we would have gotten more participation from the principal individuals involved and gotten a better product in the end. As it stands, this DVD really feels like its missing aspects covered in other DVDs. I know as much as I do (and I’m sure I’m leaving out a lot here too) because I am a completist when it comes to wrestling history and I’ve lived the entire Monday Night Wars from start to finish. Do not get me wrong, I remember as an 11 year old, being mad at Hulk Hogan for jumping ship to WCW in 1994. I knew he needed Vince (I wasn’t entirely right) and I knew WWF just had a classier production (regardless of Turner’s money). I always wanted the then-WWF to win that war, as I live in Connecticut. When would I make it to the Omni or Georgia Dome? I saw events at the Hartford Civic Center, New Haven Coliseum, even Shelton High School, I only saw one WCW event (the Nitro the Ultimate Warrior debuted). Too bad there had to be a loser in the war.

With that said, I really do miss WCW. From the time I was just trying to get my wrestling fix, to growing up and getting ready to go out as a young teenager, WCW Saturday Night was there at 6:05 for two solid hours for many years. A free TV pay-per-view a few times a year in The Clash of the Champions, the invention of War Games and a place for unemployed talents to make a living, this is what I remember most about WCW. Watch both products head-to-head on the Monday Night Wars on Classics on Demand (calling it 24/7 was easier) or read WrestleCrap’s The Death of WCW. Since my order was slightly under $40, I was eligible for a free Kane DVD (which I’ll never watch), so to get that I got Eric Bischoff’s Controversy Creates Cash book (for $6). Maybe his side will be fair and can form a complete synopsis of this all (oh wait it was published under WWE Books, forget it).

So maybe this review was a bit all over the place, but one thing is for sure, WCW tried to put Vince out of business…and nearly did (WWE television 96-early 98 was rough). Naturally, it had to be somewhat biased, McMahon won the war. I got what I expected and unfortunately not surprised at all (no Easter eggs even). For all the detail The Rise and Fall of ECW went into, the Rise and Fall of WCW falls short. The DVD was the usual A+ WWE production value with C content. You might not always like us smarks, but know that we buy these DVDs and don’t stock footage us to death.

Overall 6.5 out of 10 (recommended if you know very little of the Monday Night Wars or WCW).

With that said, thanks to our continual columnists for holding down the fort around here, it’s been too long since I’ve posted. I still watch the current product, but show breakdowns were never my thing, just a lack creativity I suppose. I’ll always have a place in my heart for the business and still aspire to one-day work for the company (although this review is not helping) on the creative side, even for a brief period. I know the business has cooled since the fall of WCW, but if there is something you liked or hated in the TWNP columns let us know. Props to Trev Winters for his consistency in posts and Graboidz for his latest column, it was a great blast from the past. Until then,

Learn to love it, learn to live with it...

-Luscious Jonny F