In a recent episode of his podcast, “My World”, celebrated WWE Hall of Famer Jeff Jarrett gave his personal views about WWE’s ex-Chairman, Vince McMahon’s role in the downfall of WCW.
Here are some key takeaways from the podcast conversation:
Discussing the fall of WCW, Jarrett had this to say, “You can find many theories on why WCW went under. People often refer to the recently deceased Jamie Kellner and others. But from my perspective, the sole individual behind the closure of WCW was Vince McMahon, and he did it intentionally. Sure, it took McMahon some time, and quite a few teething troubles, but he did it with a single-minded focus. There are many differences between WWE and WCW, one of them being individual leadership versus a corporate structure. It is in the ‘buck stops here’ approach of McMahon where I believe WCW couldn’t hold up in the long-run.”
Furthermore, he added, “It seems to me that McMahon systematically planned and executed the killing of his biggest competitor. He brilliantly exuded patience and smartly managed the potential roadblocks like Fusient Media and Bischoff. His decision to even pay a couple million for their library seemed like the last nail in WCW’s coffin. When Nitro started outperforming Raw, I genuinely believe it set off a burning desire in McMahon to go all out and do whatever it took to bring down WCW. And he did exactly that.”
In terms of his inaugural guaranteed contract with WCW, Jeff shared, “In 1996, I got a guaranteed deal from WCW unlike the one at WWE where ten shows were guaranteed per year at a rate of 150 bucks each. The guaranteed deal in WCW was, ‘Whether you work a day or not.’”
You can watch the complete episode of “My World” below: [embedded content]