WWE: The night professional wrestling died

For the very first time, WWF was being challenged. WCW, with exceptional storylines and great booking started trading blows with the WWF. Before you knew it, WCW beat WWF in ratings.

For the next 84 straight weeks, WCW was the supreme leader in cable ratings. With Stinger, Bret Hart, Randy Savage, Flair and Hogan on board, it looked as if WCW would run WWF out of business. For the very first time in his life, Vince McMahon was pushed into the corner.

Eric Bischoff and WCW were dreaming of dethroning Vince McMahon completely, and make WCW the biggest global organization in the world. The fans, now dubbing this war as the Monday Night Wars, witnessed something that was never seen before, and will never likely be seen again in the industry, as WCW and WWF went all at it.

Fast forward to 2000, WCW was fast crumbling down. The powers ruined the company from inside, with the likes of Hogan, Nash and Russo completely destroying the organization for their own greed and money. The fans couldn’t believe their eyes, and the company they fell in love with declared that they were looking for potential buyers.

WCW, from the highest of highs, fell to the ground and was being consumed completely by the fire that was started by these money hungry leeches. With the fans giving up on the product, what was once the answer to professional wrestling was quickly meeting its demise.

In 2001, WCW met its inevitable end; professional wrestling industry witnessed something that can only be described as the demise of the business. Vince McMahon bought WCW, and made their stars into jobbers before releasing them. The fans, who grew up watching WCW and its product, for one last time saw the Stinger and Ric Flair wrestle on the last episode of Nitro.

I can still remember the emotional embrace between the two icons of the business. Two performers who personified WCW were shedding tears in the middle of a WCW ring for one last time. An organization which exemplified professional wrestling was no more, and once again, WWF was the sole survivor.

Many fans since then have clamored for another organization to do what WCW achieved for over a decade, but no other organization, present or future can replicate what WCW achieved. In 2001, professional wrestling died along with WCW, and the era of ‘Entertainment’ began. The new millennium wasn’t a happy one for everyone, as it was the beginning of the end of professional wrestling.