The story of one of wrestling’s most notorious rises and falls will premiere this June.
The Big Picture
- Dwayne Johnson is bringing a docuseries about the rise and fall of WCW to Vice this June.
- WCW’s aggressive ratings war with WWE led to financial downfall due to high-cost talent acquisitions and production expenses.
- Johnson reflects on WCW’s impact on his career, leading to his rise in wrestling and becoming the “Final Boss” in WWE.
Fresh off his triumphant return to the world of professional wrestling, Dwayne Johnson and partner Dany Garcia are set to executive produce a docuseries titled Who Killed WCW? According to Deadline, the series will dive deep into the storied history of World Championship Wrestling (WCW), exploring its meteoric rise and eventual downfall. Founded in 1988 by media mogul Ted Turner, WCW emerged from the acquisition of Jim Crockett Productions, a key player in the National Wrestling Alliance territory. It quickly became a formidable rival to the then-titled WWF (now WWE), especially during the infamous Monday Night Wars, where WCW’s Monday Nitro frequently outrated WWE’s Monday Night Raw.
The Rise and Fall of WCW
One of the central themes of Who Killed WCW? is how WCW’s aggressive tactics to outpace WWE in the ratings led to its financial and operational overextension. In a bid to dominate Monday nights, WCW invested heavily in high-profile talent, tempting them to leave WWE and come to “where the big boys play”, alongside extravagant production costs. This strategy initially paid dividends in viewership but eventually led to significant financial losses.
The promotion’s challenges were compounded by the merger between Turner Broadcasting System’s parent company, Time Warner, and AOL. This merger shifted the corporate landscape, and the new conglomerate was less interested in sustaining a wrestling company hemorrhaging money. By 2001, amid dwindling ratings and mounting losses, WCW was effectively shut down. In announcing the series, Johnson reflected on the profound impact WCW had on his own wrestling career:
“The iconic rise and fall of WCW is one of professional wrestling’s most captivating stories – full of big dreams, massive successes, painful failures, and the harsh realities of the pro wrestling business. With wrestling viewership and fan engagement at an ultimate high, there has never been a more perfect time to tell top-quality wrestling stories, and there’s no better one to start with than a one-of-a-kind, behind-the-scenes look at this epic saga, known as The Rise and Fall of WCW and personally, the rise of WCW, not the fall, inspired me greatly early in my career where I would eventually become, the Final Boss.”
Johnson just wrapped up a run in WWE as the aforementioned “Final Boss” of the company. Having joined the board of TKO, the parent company that owns both WWE and UFC, Johnson will be a recurring figure on WWE television going forward, and has intimated plans to wrestle sporadically over the next few years.
Who Killed WCW? will premiere on June 4.
This article was originally published on collider.com