Former WCW announcer Tony Schiavone, recently joined Raj Giri on the WrestlingINC podcast. During the podcast, Schiavone went over what killed WCW, why did Vince Russo get blamed for it, will there be any more competition for the WWE & more.
Here are the highlights:
What Killed WCW:
“It was a combination; a lot of things killed WCW. I am honored to believe people feel that my comments on Mick Foley winning the WWF title killed it. Wow, thank you very much, I didn’t know I had that much power.” (When Schiavone spoke of Foley winning the WWF Title, 600,000 viewers switched over to Monday Night RAW)
“Certainly that was part of it, but I really think that what ended up killing WCW, more than anything else was that it was run by Turner Broadcasting and Turner didn’t really give a blip about Pro Wrestling compared to Vince McMahon. When you look at it, the buck stopped with Vince McMahon; it was his company, it still is, and he called the shots. Every effort that he had with his company went into Professional Wrestling, but that was not the case with Turner Broadcasting. I really feel that is what eventually killed it, that is what eventually killed the company, by them owning it, they wanted to die and it did.”
Vince Russo Being Blamed For The Fall Of WCW:
“People say it was Vince Russo’s booking, but I also think that there was a time back then where we were too much like the WWE. We were seen as a bastardized version of it; we couldn’t do the WWE as well as they did, but back when we were hot and the era where people want to talk to me about, we were different than the WWE back then. As we went through time, we became more and more like them.”
Will Anyone Ever Be Able To Compete With The WWE Again:
“No, I don’t, only because he [Vince McMahon] is in the New York market. He has always been in the New York market. Number two because; he has so much money in the bank. You have to go and see his production facility and see his offices. I don’t know how many of you guys have been there to see what he has behind him, to see why he is so successful. There’s more than what you just see on television; there’s production value; there’s people that know what they are doing in marketing and has a great crossover in this country when you think about it.”
“Even back then, we tried in vain for years and years, which finally happened with Eric Bischoff. We tried for years to be that one Wrestling company to be seemingly mainstream. We kind of became mainstream. He [Vince] has always been like that, so I don’t see anybody competing with him on that level. Listen, I didn’t think we were able to do it and was surprised at the run we had in the 90’s, but I don’t think anybody can do it. No.”
