"It Makes Me CRINGE!" | Eric Bischoff Reveals WHY the WCW Logo Was Changed in 1999
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- Опубліковано 15 жов 2024
- "It Makes Me CRINGE!" | Eric Bischoff Reveals WHY the WCW Logo Was Changed in 1999
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It wasn't just the logo and the set, it was the different theme song to the show. The old Nitro song and intro video were so much better.
That is when one can really tell a company is struggling when a company is doing not so well, they scramble to make changes.
The dialup modem theme.
Yeah they got too cutsey.
@@basedpatriarch so dreadful wtf were they thinking...it was as tho it was a change to head into the new millennium. The star entrance was so future-istic if you know what I mean
@@basedpatriarch That's funny. I never thought of that, but that's exactly how it sounded.
The logo & set change in early 99 is probably a big part of what made me drift away from WCW as a kid. It looked really silly. They were trying to fix something that wasn't broken. That old Nitro set was a classic.
The new logo is incredibly dated to the late 90's. Honestly I think some stuff from the 90's is starting to look as badly dated as anything from the 70's or 80's.
@@ryanjacobson2508 if you're talking bout wrestling and or the sets I'll take the 80s and 90s over today 24/7 365 days a year.
@@ryanjacobson2508 Yeah, I can confirm & I very much agree. My example. I built a gaming PC with parts from 1993 to early 1998 whose motherboard capacitor rotted. I used to have a similar build when I was a kid, which was really cool in the mid 90s playing everything up until the original Xbox era, but today using a mid 90s build for anything modern is like telling me back in the 2000s to run Windows XP and early UA-cam, on one of those late 70s and early 80s green text computers.
That was the last of wcw that logo it was the plug pull litterally!!!!
...
Just a massive failure on top of the list!!°
@@ryanjacobson2508 - Yeah, definitely. In the late-90s, a lot of stuff had that "cyber" and "virtual" gimmick to it. This was most likely due to the rise of the internet as well as the hype surrounding the upcoming millennium. I do get a feeling that WCW was trying to go that route with the look of Nitro; attempting to make it more "hip" and marketable. Prior to 1999, the look and feel to Nitro was very industrial/street/biker, and in my opinion really fit wrestling quite well.
When they changed the logo and set it killed the product. If you were flipping through the channels you wouldn’t have known you were watching WCW. It killed the energy of the show.
Yeh it looked terrible
I agree, the show had a very bland vibe to it after the set/logo change.
It’s like they changed it because it would have made too much sense to not change it. I swear, it’s hard to believe they didn’t want to kill WCW, because I refuse to believe it’s even within the realm of possibility to be so unfathomably stupid as to think that changing things the way they did was a good idea. If that is possible, then whoever did that is so painfully, brutally, ridiculously, incomprehensibly stupid that it boggles the mind.
Yeah, the logo was the reason WCW went out of business. 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
@@YellowDragon813 lol.
The classic WCW logo aged like a fine wine. A shame that some people in the company didn't know better.
This is what you get when you rebrand for a "modern audience". It all turns to shit.
That's the thing... if WWE went back to the old gold WWF logo, with a modernised version of the Arena; it wouldn't work, but WCW? Timeless
least u can read the old logo simple, but to the point WCW any fan of that brand can tell u wat it means. u didn't need a new logo that read World Championship Wrestling completely unnecessary🤦🏼♂️
I thought for the longest time that the 1999-2001 logo reminded me of Bill Goldberg's tattoo.
Maybe that's where the initial idea came from?
@@igorivanov299 Perhaps... 😏
Ok wow I haven't thought about it in decades but I definitely assumed the same thing at the time!
i always thought that was the inspiration
@@Mattnova_116 The tribal tattoos were popular then, so probably going for something similar
After they changed the logo I went to a Nitro show at Cincinnati.
For some reason they got rid of their video screen so the paying audience couldn't see anything that happened backstage or what the card was.
Seemed as tho they were hellbent on killing all interest in WCW.
The execs were.
After listening to a couple of these and seeing how Eric talks about those days, I get the sense that he may be and have been a better business man than people give him credit for. Bad contracts notwithstanding, and assuming what he says is true, it’s pretty remarkable to turn that company into what it was in a few short years. As a wrestling fan at the time, this was such a fun era to watch. So many good matches and wrestlers ended up coming out of that from WCW. Pretty interesting to listen about those days as an adult now and a different viewpoint.
He’s a good businessman but he was a horrible booker. He let his ego get the better of him. That’s why the nWo ended up going on for far too long and was one of the things that ruined WCW.
I agree as a young teenager during those days and now older it's interesting to see it from a mature viewpoint. I really enjoy the shoots because of that but sometimes you have to watch alot and find the truth somewhere in the middle lol. But I agree people didn't give Eric as much credit.. funny back in the day he seemed like such a good heel character associated with nWo but now I think he was alot more 'corporate' than he seemed to appear. Smart man for sure.
@@dr.floridamanphd . I think the OP has it wrong a bit. One of the biggest complaints about him originally was that he was a business man and not a proper promoter.
Guy said he’s the opposite of a micro manager and knew how to delegate tasks. Then he says in 99 his boss told him he needed to learn how to delegate and that he was right. Mkay
George N all the big contracts were on turners books that’s why when Vince bought wcw we didn’t get hogan goldberg sting or flair or Nash and hall they where being paid to sit at home by turner if they went to wwe they have had to accept a lower buy out
The OG WCW logo was so iconic. The new logo killed the product, that and everything else they were doing past 99
The original WCW logo was the best
The WCW "Invasion" logo actually looked better than the 2nd WCW logo, in my opinion.
@@djm5687 Everything looks better than the second WCW logo. Like, literally everything.
The second logo was too late 90s/early 2000s.
Hell yeah those big bold red letters where awesome
And the original Nitro set. They did everything right for a couple of years.
I'm so glad this was addressed. THAT LOGO WAS TERRIBLE! I don't think I even paid it close attention because I was already off of WCW by 1999 but it was always weird to me. But, especially now that I became a designer as an adult, I am even more certain it was terrible.
They very clearly made the logo look like the seal of Freema$0nry [XX]
Duh-uh
The new logo was absolutely horrendous.
make me respect the 2001 wcw invasion logo a lot more
I hated the ramp cuz the logo was there and the wrestlers had to walk around it lol 🤣
“you wanted me to delegate, and this is the shit that they came up with?” best quote I’ve heard in a while and he is 100% right. To me, that logo change is symbolic of when things started going downhill. I know that’s not the case for real, but it’s symbolism.
He could've told them "this is trash, start over."
In Eric's mind, either nothing is his fault or he can't remember
@@cuckertarlson3037 that's true of most people in the wrestling business.
@@jd9119 Bischoff liked it in 1999 but as always, he changes his oppinion to the most popular one and wants to make the world believe he never was responsible for any bad decision. He is such a liar, that if he had a nose like Pinocchio, it would be reaching Pluto by now.
With Eric at the helm things were going to go downhilll pretty quickly regardless of the usual excuse of the logo change. Do you notice the recurring theme here? Eric never wants to take responsibility for the failure of WCW and will always blame others for his failures.
I love it when Bisch isn't in character or working and instead talks about the actual business. It's really fascinating.
Seriously, I hate his character ( but isn't that the point), but love the guy when he talks shop too
@@darthandeddeu agree. When Eric talks about the nuts and bolts of the business, it's a great perspective that you almost never get from anyone else.
He's always working
Agree but he's always working
I agree when it's a shoot and him really talking bout the business and not as the character he was in the NWO
Could listen to Eric all day, very smart mind and clever guy, he knows the industry inside and out.
omg; i've heard it all. are you kidding me? lol
It made it seem like they were playing catch up to the WWF after they changed to the scratch logo, so they need some kind of edgier logo too.
I agree. Seems like the "sharp" edges of the logo was trying to be edgier but like Eric said you have to squint at it to see the brand
That's exactly correct. WWF went from block letters to scratch letters. WCW was absolutely trying to play catch up, and felt embarrassed they still had block letters.
@@onewhitepony Ya, crazy lol, i didn't kno for a long time that it said WcW
@@Tony-fq5bn i didn't realize that until today!
@@Tony-fq5bn Most of us didn't know and just assumed it was an undistinguishable symbol. The old logo was so much better and those big metal letters seen in the entrance ramp always let the viewer know they were watching WCW.
They went the opposite direction of WWE’s “Then, Now, Forever” nostalgia push.
They deliberately overthrew everything anyone that had grown up with them was nostalgic for, and kept “revolutionizing” themselves in weird ways until nothing was left of what made people watch.
And they did it horribly.
WWE did the WCW rebounding when they did the WWEHD rebranding... it became sterile and dull. Bring back the Backlash entrance etc...
The Monday Night Wars era of WCW was really a short period in the overall history of wrestling, and now over 20 years ago. But it was really the peak of sport entertainment. I tell my kids, but they just can't fathom it because it pre-dates them.
That wasn't the peak. It was a major resurgence but the territories were the peak.
@@InvisibleHotdog I loved the mid to late 1990s WCW and WWF, but I tend to agree that the late 1970s and early 1980s was the peak, especially with the WWF MSG era and the NWA. There was a lot more variety and all of the territories were doing really good ratings, so much so that a lot of middle-aged men where I lived (Wisconson and upstate New York) as kids regularly watched GCW, Mid-South, Portland, WCCW, etc. when those territories weren't even meant for the Midwest or Northeast. A small niche of them I know, including my Uncle, moved on to AJPW (All Japan) tape collecting when they got alienated after the territories collapsed, where they could still see guys like Stan Hansen, Dr. Death, Great Muta, Abdulla the Butcher, Mike Rotunda, etc. wrestle full-time well into the early 2000s even a couple years after WCW died. And by the way, for me AJPW was my #1 favorite in the Monday Night Wars era. 😉
@@InvisibleHotdog I mean sports entertainment
The logo change was so bad it really killed wcw. The 1996- early 98 WCW energy was unmatched
It really was. 96' to early 98' was my favorite time as a wrestling fan. I used to rush home from school or work to watch WCW and sometimes WWF.
Seeing that logo just reminds me of the massive decline of WCW while WWF started breaking records and adding Smackdown, too it truly was the rise of one Empire into a Superpower while the other one started to fade. 2nd Punic Wars = WWF= Rome , WCW = Carthage as Eric Bischoff is Hannibal Barca who knew how to gain victory but not how to use it, which led to him being failed for his Zama was when Vince purchased the company.
Great analysis
A perfect example of fixing something that ain't broken. The WCW in Steel Letters beside the ramp was prime WCW, and it looked amazing along with the Black Ropes in the ring. Once they changed the logo it was terrible along with red ropes🤮 May as well be WWE Raw Lite
esp. when Russo went there, it felt like they tried to make everything like the WWF
@@johnnyskinwalker4095 Oh yeah, I remember they changed it again to like a baby Titantron when he got there. It was just plopped there centered with all this empty space around it. Looked really amateur.
The blue ring mat was dope though.
I kind of wish AEW would do a blue mat. The same old gray / white that everyone uses is boring
The canvas, with overblown logo was a bad look too though in 2000.
@Mattnova_116 I hated that wcw 2000 logo. Ugh, everything associated with wcw when that logo was present was garbage.
That WCW logo reminds me of the dying days of WCW. The beginning of the end
Exactly
Anytime you watch a WCW clip and you see that logo, you know it’s the shittier days of WCW you are watching.
Agreed
Redesigning isn't necessarily a bad thing. But you certainly don't change it (rebrand) into something that's nearly unrecognizable from the previous logo/branding/iteration. You touch it up, add or subtract, make little changes as time goes on so that the audience follows along.
Which is why the WWF scratch logo worked, you still recognized what it meant.
I remember 1999-2001 ALOT of logos went to the tribal style logos. Wcw , 989 sports, x games, oakley sunglasses were alien eyes everything had to be extreme and edgy looking.
NHL, NBA and MLB had a lot cringy logos in late 90’s. They bring them back sometimes and they still look terrible
I HATED the WWF Attitude Era logo...all "extreme" and grungy looking. Then again I also prefer classic WWF, sooo...
Of all the things that needed to change in WCW, the logo was dead last. I'm glad to hear Eric say this and explain why this happened, because I thought everyone in WCW had collectively lost their minds.
To me the most telling thing about the pointy logo was that even the company avoided using it on its own, instead using a much plainer and readable "WCW" lettering on things like the masthead of WCW Magazine and the last NASCAR sponsorship design. They themselves admitted that the pointy logo failed to identify the company clearly. It was just bad design.
I still laugh at an ad being taken out in USA Today teasing the new logo for WCW and Nitro with "Looks like something a bird left on the hood of my car"
That logo was the kiss of death to wcw. Just like how I'm bent aside that Brawl for all music was the kiss of death for any project they tried like XFL
My takeaway from this video: Eric Bischoff really, REALLY wants to be a cowboy.
Not enough wood in his house
Yeah he’s kind of always been that way
You didn't guess that after Hog/Road Wild?
@@InvisibleHotdog No, I got he wanted to pretend to be a biker from those.
@@slicksterofstyle9161 the country biker thing is basically the Hog Wild thing. Sturgess was the embodiment of that
Sweet lord. It's been almost a quarter of a century, and this is the first time I ever realized that the letters "WCW" even existed inside that logo. I always thought it was just some odd, abstract, futuristic-looking thing.
I still hate it though.
It's very nice hearing Eric talk without Conrads grating voice and bullshit killing the momentum of the conversations
I can’t stand Conrad’s voice.
I hate that guy
He's annoying
The WCW set in 1999 was just too Y2K...Millennium-ish. Everything about it was just bad, the logo itself, the huge silver logo as the entrance that was way too big for stage, the projector screens that were too small to see, and personally what I found worst of all, the sparkly black curtain that ran along the entire stage. If you looked at it, it was just too dark, too big.
I was in Toronto for the first Canadian Nitro. It was the last time the old set was used. The following week WCW went deep into space. I mean real deep. All the way to Uranus! 🤣
The logo change in 1999 was the start of the decline and death of WCW. I miss the previous WCW logo and the stage set, probably the best ever along side the WWF Raw is War Set
Biscoff won’t get his flowers til he’s gone unfortunately . I really respect him and what he achieved in what is an extremely difficult niche business!
Ironic they bring this up. People always ask me: “When did you quit watching WCW or why?”
I always say when they changed the Nitro set and David Flair got involved - I stopped watching for good.
“Marketing reported to Legal”
Yeah, bad idea there. Legal’s job is to protect the organization from legal risks, not drum up interest for future sales
I never realized that the 99 logo said WCW till a few years ago. It was an awful change, the inconic WCW logo was no more ☹️
As a designer I will never know how it was signed off.
You can’t read what it says, it means nothing. It must have been a nightmare to use for merchandise.
As dumb as it got towards the end I miss WCW. I don't watch a lot of wrestling nowadays, but I keep meaning to check out more AEW. I hear Tony Khan is a bit of a WCW mark so that's cool. I used to watch wrestling with my grandpa when I was a kid and he liked NWA/WCW.
WCW 97-99 will always have a big place in my childhood. I miss it too
A few companies have tried to replicate the feel of Nitro but AEW is the closest I've seen to being a spiritual successor to WCW/Nitro from 1995-1999. The crowds are lively and the wrestling is good. Highly recommend. I don't always watch every week currently but it's nice to be able to have a new wrestling show to tune into that feels like the wrestling show I most loved as a kid.
@@TheRoyalFino IMHO, mid to late 80s Jim Crockett Promotions, the WWE's version of the Golden Age when Hulkamania was fresh and popular and WCW Nitro from 1996-1998 was the pinnacle of professional wrestling.
Oh boy, lemme tell you about the guy that kicks people in slow motion and puts his hands in his pockets
Shut up, boomer
The original Nitro set was an absolute classic and they probably could have just touched that up a bit with a big screen above the intro build and removing the naff flames on the matts around the ring etc.
That being said, the new logo was incorporated very nicely with some of the ppv logos etc, and while the tune isn't a patch on the original, I actually came to like it.
Yeah Classicly horrible just like the whole RAW letters crap both were horrible til both were rebranded in Feb 1997 for the Feds n WCW in 1998 as I liked the new sets n not the lame 1s before that looked like Backyard Rasslin styles.
Don't talk shit about the mat with flames on it. That thing was awesome
Glad to see someone liked it and appreciated the new design. Everyones really hating on it because we are all looking through nostalgia lenses and hindsight. Right or wrong I don't blame them for changing, was kinda fun at the time but they did pigeonhole themselves with a logo specific to that era only.
April 5th 1999 Las Vegas. I showed up seen the Star Logo and realized. WCW was done.
In the UK WCW Thunder became free to watch on Channel 5, before then we had WCW Worldwide, which was the blue and yellow era WCW. I remember spending my adolescence watching Thunder, buying the action figures, not having a clue what that grey "cat's ass" logo was meant to be. I'm embarrassed to admit I only recently realised it said WCW. I guess it's like modern art: it looks terrible until you look at it long enough to get it.
You let a lawyer run marketing?😂
It was awful. Im a graphic designer and the rebrand had corporate design by committee written all over it.
20+ years later and I'm still trying to make sense of that logo. Apparently it spells 'WCW'... 🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️🤷🏽♂️
I'm so glad he thinks that logo they made in the early 2000s was awful because I absolutely hated that logo. Whenever I see that logo I always affiliate it with the dark days of WCW and the end of the company because when that logo was introduced that's when everything turned to crap
When they first went with that logo, I did not see the WCW in it. One day I was drawing it and was like.... Hold up, it actually says W C W.
That set and logo change were likely responsible for the drastic fall in rating's from early to mid 1999 5.0's to nearly 2.5
Took me a long time to realize it said "WCW'.
im 30 and i didnt know it said WCW until about 4 years ago. I also didnt know the D in Disney was a D cuz my dyslexic ass kept seeing a G
As a 9 year old, I recognized the "C" but no idea where the "W"s were. The "W"s I thought were like eyes in the style of a Fuji Fujiko cartoon, but more menacing looking.
@@SammyNail Ever since I was a kid (I'm 33) I always thought the "D" in the logo looked just like the NVidia logo but upside down, and my oldest Uncle always thought the "y" in Disney looked like the letter "p", like it said "Disnep". We even jokingly call the company that to this day, lol.
I clearly remember not liking this change and the new opening theme right then and there. The old Rock theme with the flames was so iconic and invigorating!
As far as marketing went wcw missed a lot of opportunities i remember wanting and nwo t shirt searched stores for over a year before i found one
I wanted cheap child size replica belts (not those crummy things you had to buy at a show that didnt even look like the real thing)
They didnt exist untill wwf bought wcw then we got the wwf/e version wcw was my monday and thursday nights for at least 3 years
But i couldnt easily buy wcw products that to me seems like a massive fail on wcw's marketing dept. I still want a a child size plastic replica of the cruiserweight world television world heavyweight and us heavyweight belts
I remember my friends and I walking into the MGM Grand Garden Arena that night the new logo debuted on Nitro and asking ourselves "What the fuck is this?" 😂
Alexander the Great conquered the known world by age 33. At age 40, Caesar (with two other men) took over Rome; his nephew Augustus started the Roman Empire at 45. Isaac Newton invented calculus and discovered the laws of motion, gravity and optics at age 25. George Washington was named Commanding General of the Continental Army age 45. Napoleon took over France at age 30 having been a hugely successful general and politician for years; and conquered Europe by age 42. Thomas Edison invented the phonograph at age 30 and the light bulb at 32. Albert Einstein did special relativity and E-mc2 at age 26. Mussolini took over Italy age 29. Stalin took power at 44. Adolf Hitler took over the Nazi Party at age 31 and Germany at age 42. In World War 2, Curtis LeMay was, starting at age 35, the commanding general of America's bombing of Germany and then the atomic bombing of Japan. Teddy Roosevelt, as Assistant Navy Secretary, planned the successful naval war against Spain at 39, was governor at 40, vice president and president at 42. Queen Elizabeth II took the throne at age 25. John F. Kennedy was elected Senator at 35 (the minimum age), then president at 42. Bill Clinton was governor at 33 and President at 46.
This was a case of we're trying so hard to be cool, when what was being replaced was already cool. Lots of companies, teams, brands, etc... go through that.
back then as a kid i knew that logo was shit and now that i'm actually in marketing, i still go "wtf was that shit?"
I am shocked he didn't blame Russo
Bro.
Fact: The logo was changed before Russo even began working for WCW. But don't let facts get in the way of the narrative, right marks?
Or he couldn't remember who did approve the logo.
@Brian Babin lmao you got his style down perfectly!
I was expecting "Ultimate Warrior sued us" being when I saw a clip of Halloween Havoc 99, and the logo was identical to Warrior's face paint.... Although it also resembles the Batman logo a tad bit, so not sure that Warrior had an air tight trademark on it.... Just made me curious if HH's logo was similar to Warriors face paint BEFORE he came to WCW.
I was today years old when I realized that the new WCW logo in 1998 had WCW in the logo.
I'm 35 & just realize that logo says WCW 😆...I was a WWF fan tho back in the late 90's early 2000's
Lmao 2 years younger and founded out a year ago playing when I played 2k 14 lol I always thought it was goldburg tattoo
I thought it was supposed to be a face for the longest time
Seeing the logo appear with that sound as it twists onto the screen will always remind me of my childhood staying up late to watch wcw, nothing beats the town/explosion intro though but i can see now why eric didnt like it but end of the day u cant keep the same logo forever look at raw/smackdown but recent years they suck
I remember the first time I saw that logo, it took me a long time to realized that it says WCW. I think it was in 2004 or 2005 when I used to rant VHS wrestling tapes. 😂
If you've seen the other ones they came up with, the one they kept was the best one of the bunch let that sink in lol and Eric has a flawed understanding of delegation, it doesn't mean that you go full hands-off, Vince delegated a lot of work but still signed off on everything, that's how delegation works, doesn't mean you just give someone else full creative control, think of it like Auto-pilot, you still need to keep your hands on the steering wheel
This seems like marketing people falling for a phase at the time. A lot of companies try to change logos and it ends up falling flat and they just end up backtracking to the old logo. Tons of established global brands tried it and ended up jumping back in a panic. WCW should have but the company was such a mess that they never recovered enough to set things right.
Until just now, I never realized that ugly logo was suppose to be the letters WCW just distorted. What a terrible design.
as a kid, when the wcw and entrance changed, i thought “wow, they’re trying to be wwf”.
I agree that logo sucks. I just assumed Russo came up with the idea to make it look "cooler" like the Scratch WWF attitude logo. But I cant tell you how much I hated that version of the WCW logo. I hated the WCW logo stage too.
The WCW logo that we knew was awesome. It was simple and just right. The new logo was a disaster.
I absolutely hated the new Logo. Changing the logo is like changing the ring. WCW rings had an epic sound when someone performed a power move. Similar to the ring the log did not need to be changed.
From revenue of 24 million dollars in 1994 to 350 million in 1998...damn thats a really fast growth to a fast fall..i guess WCW is an example of the importance of not rushing a business too big too quick.
Two underdiscussed things that hurt WCW's brand value significantly in 1999: the logo change and losing THQ as the video game developer (& moving over to the far inferior (for wrestling) EA Sports).
AKI and Yuke’s were the reason why wrestling games were awesome, it wasn’t THQ.
Hear me out. The logo looks like a ninja with novelty sunglasses on.
Eric bischoff is a very intelligent man
This was when its became officially over.. That damn Logo change
That horrendous logo that debuted on April 5th, '99. If it wasn't Time Warner being the parent company in '96, the debacle at Starrcade '97, the "Finger poke of Doom" or the AOL/Warner merger, this logo was certainly the beginning of the end for _Dubya-C-Dubya_
During WCWs actual time I never realized that logo was w c w... I only realized it a few years ago. I just thought it was a symbol for the company and not the actual 3 letters
Me too. It took me like 20 fucking years to even notice the WCW in it. I thought it was just a random symbol kind of like the Nike check
Bischoff is looking great glad he’s focusing on health as he gets up there he’s a brilliant mind
It took me a while to realize it spelt out W.C.W. I hated that logo! It's as if they were admitting defeat!
Where can I listen to this whole thing?
Listening to Eric here it makes sense on the growing pains. I always considered WCW a second rate company. Things always appeared rough to me, as if it was thrown together last second whenever I watched it. Now I really understand why.
It's why I always preferred WWF, honestly
I've been an illustrator and designer for 20 years, so I can immediately recognize what exactly is wrong with that version of the WCW logo, but even as a teenager in high school I saw that logo and knew it was horrible.
But I always had a hunch that whoever selected that logo wasn't a designer or a creative professional, and Eric's anecdote in this video confirmed what I felt all along.
People put way too much in to the set and logo. The reason why WCW was bad at this time, was because the booking was shit, the NWO was done to death and while Hogan and his court were hogging the main event, they weren't creating top new stars. You had a bunch of good preliminary talent, but nobody that you could sell a PPV with. And after Bret Hart left WWE, aside from the day he showed up, nobody cared about him again. He was a crybaby.
Would be nice if you actually SHOWED the logo in question - I know its in the thumbnail but still . . .
absolutely hated the logo. despised it. it signaled the beginning of the end for my WCW enjoyment watching the Monday Night Wars in real time.
These guys need to realize that a long story is what we want. We dont want the one sentence answers. This isn't the tonight show. We're here to learn the hostory.
New logo was terrible. I agree with Bischoff which is rare.
I'm surprised he didn't blame it on Greg Gagne.
That's usually the other way around.
The change was unnecessary. WCW from 1995-1998 was iconic and changing the logo to that abomination is like painting a moustache on the Mona Lisa.
@Kennedy Williams well pal that's just your opinion. I loved that early WCW Nitro logo and set. That new logo looked like an exploding vagina
@Kennedy Williams People were sick of the old logo? That's the first I'm hearing of this in many, many years of navigating the wrestling community, lol.
@@theazureknight9399 WWF fans hated the old logo. It was more iconic that the WWF logo
"That's what happens when a company grows too fast" AEW look out.
Where is the growth?
They haven't gained viewers or actual momentum.
Just like any art form. Look at bands that seem to blow up over night and then crash and burn. A slow and steady growth the way to go I think
I think they're safe.
As a 13 year old fan back in 99 when WCW changed the logo that's when the company died to me it just wasn't the same anymore
Im so glad that Bischoff also thought the logo looked like shit. I hated the new logo. And the product seemed to jump the shark when they changed the logo and set.
A good logo conveys what you're being presented with at a glance, that thing made me lean in closer to the TV, tilt my head, and squint in confusion. I thought it was a ninja star or some kind of stylized cluster of bladed edges or... something. I didn't get it until I saw the set was nothing but that giant logo and the 2 W's split apart for the wrestlers to walk out between them.
The set design/logo and the finger poke of doom drove me to be a bigger WWF fan sadly. The logo was ugly and the set made the production look smaller. Where the old set design was more open and made WCW look grand like the WWF.
Another big problem with the set was the steepness of the ramp and the C from logo was incorporated into the ramp. Except the C was smooth metal so you constantly saw the wrestlers stepping around it so they wouldn't slip. Also what was the point of all the tiny TV screens? They weren't big enough for anyone to see properly. The next set design after this they just got lazy and had a big titan tron and stopped even bothering to have custom sets for PPVs.
It was also when they tried changing GOLDBERG’s theme to that stupid Megadeth song. It made no sense.
Vince Russo and David arquette winning the world title is when wcw died for me.
Looking at the thumbnail I finally notice the "wCw" of the logo after 20+ years.
Its funny how so many people can swallow this horseshit that Eric was a good businessman. He was put in charge as a fluke, it grew as a fluke, and it died due to shitty management and creative. But wrestling fans will believe anything
You literally can flip through old nitros and if you see the original set you know the show will be good and the crowd will be hot, and if you see this one you can immediately turn it off because you know it’s going to be shit
They should have used something similar to the red WCW logo WWE briefly used in the invasion angle.
No that was even worse. I think the tried to blend the "Blades new WCW logo?" and the WCW magazine logo at that time.
I couldn’t agree with Eric more. As weird as it sounds, that logo was a big reason why I started watching wcw less in mid 99. Could be a coincidence as the quality of the show was declining at the same time, but the last wcw ppv I ever bought was the first one that used that logo. What an absolute eyesore
This was a really weak excuse. While Bischoff didn't have to create the logo, just approving anything that they gave him, is either laziness, incompetence, or indifference. Delegate means let them do the work, but then when they come back to you with crap, you tell them to do it differently. This wasn't, let's have chicken for the preshow production meal instead of beef. This was the company logo. The guy that was incharge needs to approve of it.
The logo does look stupid now that I think about it. I cringe now too knowing that Eric used the cat’s butt analogy to refer the logo.