WCW gets “Dog-ed” in Monday Night Ratings Battle as Chaos Continues

World Championship Wrestling had Valentine’s Day 2000 circled on their calendars ever since Vince Russo assumed his short stint as head writer. It was meant to be a night for the struggling company to deliver a pay-per-view caliber show, as “Nitro” ran unopposed to the WWF’s “Raw.”

The ratings arrived the following afternoon, revealing a 3.64 over all rating for WCW, a number expected to be the norm rather than the exception since the switch back to a two-hour format. Instead, “Nitro” lost to the program that delayed the start of “Raw,” the annual Westminster Dog Show on the USA Network.

Reports indicate that despite what on paper is a disastrous number for an unopposed show, Executive Vice President Bill Busch and WCW officials celebrated with high fives - feeling the rating represented an immediate turnaround for the company.

“Raw,” which hit the air waves twelve minutes after the conclusion of “Nitro,” scored an impressive 4.32 over all rating, with an extraordinary 12.3 share in the later time slot; numbers that had WWF officials jumping for joy.

It was obvious that WCW clearly had no idea how to book a compelling show, turning the first hour on “Nitro” into a T&A ‘fest;’ featuring a revealing dance by Ms. Hancock, the return of the Nitro Girls, a cat fight between Torrie Wilson and Paisley, and a women’s match (Rhonda Singh vs. Mona) with the buxom Madusa serving as the special guest referee. Pure hypocrisy on the behalf of WCW, which in the past had ripped the competition for doing the same.

The best WCW could contrive was yet another predictable Hulk Hogan vs. Ric Flair match, renewing a rivalry dating all the way back to 1991.

To add to their woes, WCW officials received word Monday afternoon that the always unreliable Scott Hall, who was to have played a major role on “Nitro,” was refused to be allowed to board a flight back from Germany were WCW had been the previous three nights on tour.

Upon his return the next night in Philadelphia for the “Thunder” taping, Hall openly bragged backstage about spending an extra night in a five-star European motel at the company’s expense. Hall also boasted that despite his track record with WCW, the company would not fire him with pending litigation between the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling. Insiders believe Hall could be a key witness for WCW.

In addition, Chris Kanyon approached Bill Busch Monday afternoon about granting him his full release from the company. Kanyon was irate about shoot style comments recently made by Hulk Hogan, who remarked that the talented Billy Kidman (his close friend) could not headline a flea market show. He also expressed frustration about the lack of direction for his character.

Bill Busch’s five-month tenure as the headman of World Championship Wrestling has been marred with complete and utter chaos. Thus far, Busch has proved the saying “nice guys finish last” true.

[The perception I receive in talking to wrestlers from WCW is that unless you came from somewhere (WWF, and to a lesser degree ECW), you are not considered a star by management. Under utilized talent such as Kidman, Booker T, the Disco Inferno, Hugh Morrus, etc. are not viewed as raising stars that they are. Case in point, the Harris brothers, who were catapulted into the NWO despite being perennial jobbers in the WWF.]

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