10 Most Ridiculous WCW Moments In The Year 2000

WCW, like any other wrestling company, had some lean years. Prior to the mid-1990s, their box office statistics were up and down, to say the least. But their business was stimulated by the advent of Monday Night Nitro and the nWo angle, while profits rose every year through 1998.

RELATED: 10 Things About WCW In 2000 That Make No Sense

The quality of the WCW product took a sharp downturn in 1999, and business reflected that. But that was nothing compared to 2000. That year was a true masterpiece of creative and financial incompetence; an era so dreary that the company never had another calendar year being in business. WCW closed up shop in March 2001.

10 Misfits In Action

Head Writer Vince Russo had some success in WWE with factions, but this felt more like the Job Squad than it did DX. Where the latter elevated its members with the sum being greater than its parts, the former lowered the stock of everyone involved.

M.I.A. felt randomly thrown together just for the purpose of making military puns, like naming Bill DeMott "General E. Rection". Get it? That's a good laugh for a 13-year-old boy, but beyond that, didn't do much for DeMott. And naming Booker T "G.I. Bro" took the momentum away from a character who was already over.

9 Viagra On A Pole Match

In the year 2000, Viagra was a relatively new phenomenon and a popular, if sometimes hackney, punchline on late-night television. Meanwhile, Billy Kidman and Shane Douglas were feuding over the heart of Torrie Wilson. It was the perfect opportunity for Russo to crowbar a topical reference into WCW programming.

RELATED: The Worst WCW Feud Every Year Of The 1990s

This was the kind of stipulation that made people embarrassed to call themselves wrestling fans. It's clear evidence for some, that the former "Vic Venom" merely struck lightning in a bottle in WWE, and couldn't hack it without Vince McMahon's supervision.

8 That 70s Guy

Known for his classic matches with Masato Tanaka, Mike Awesome was a World Champion in both ECW and FMW in Japan. But when Awesome arrived in WCW, they didn't seem to know what they had in him.

He bounced around in different factions like The New Blood and Team Canada, but his most perplexing gimmick was as That 70s Guy, a character that existed solely because the sitcom That 70s Show was popular on TV at the time.

7 The Reboot

In the fall of 1999, Vince Russo was supposed to be the savior of WCW. He was heralded as the man who changed WWE's fortunes and turned the tide of the Monday Night Wars. Things didn't exactly go according to plan, as by early 2000, Russo's writing was received so poorly that he was sent home in favor of a booking committee led by Kevin Sullivan. That approach didn't help restore ratings either.

The company got desperate and formed an unlikely team of Russo and Eric Bischoff in the spring. Their first Nitro as a two-man team was a "reboot" where the show began with the new bosses explaining to viewers that WCW would be starting fresh, complete with all titles being vacated. This felt like a slap in the face to fans who had invested in Nitro's current storylines and championships; when changes could have easily been implemented gradually with new champions being crowned in matches.

6 Hulk Hogan Walks Out Of Bash At The Beach 2000

The working relationship between Russo and Bischoff didn't take long to deteriorate, as by July 2000 all trust was completely severed. Bischoff ally, Hulk Hogan was frustrated with Russo's edict to put over younger stars. The creative team decided to exploit real-life tensions with a work/shoot angle where Jeff Jarrett would lay down for Hogan. The Hulkster would win the match, and then proceed to list his grievances with Russo, before walking out of the arena.

All went according to plan. But then Russo walked to the ring and cut a shoot promo ripping into the Hulkster, which wasn't consented to by Hogan or Bischoff. The whole ordeal destroyed Russo's relationship with the Hogan/Bischoff camp.

5 Jim Duggan Becomes A Janitor & A Canadian Patriot

After being diagnosed with kidney cancer, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan took a break from WCW television. Luckily, his treatment was a success, putting a feel good return on a silver-platter for the company. Instead, Duggan lost his first match back to Berlyn, and then became a down-on-his-luck janitor.

This led to Duggan picking the WCW Television Title out of the trash (Scott Hall put it there), and defending it on C-show WCW Saturday Night. Before long, he would join Team Canada, undermining his whole gimmick of being the guy who chants "USA!".

4 Eric Bischoff Wins Hardcore Title

Terry Funk rejuvenated his legendary career by becoming a "Middle Aged and Crazy" hardcore icon in the 90s. He played an instrumental part in the success of ECW, main eventing their inaugural PPV, Barely Legal, by winning the ECW World Championship, before leaving for WWE and having violent classics with and against Cactus Jack.

So when Funk joined WCW, the company legitimized their own Hardcore Division by putting the Hardcore Title on him, and then promptly had non-wrestler Eric Bischoff pin Funk for the title. Only in 2000 WCW.

3 Vince Russo Wins World Title

If you thought Eric Bischoff winning the Hardcore Title was bad, that's nothing compared to Vince Russo being crowned the WCW World Champion. At least Bischoff had a black belt in martial arts, while Russo was merely a writer without any athletic background.

That didn't stop the former Vic Venom from booking himself to pin Booker T for the Championship. In another preposterous booking decision, Russo also pinned Ric Flair that same year. This was all supposedly done in the name of "heel heat".

2 Vince Russo Insulting Foreign Wrestlers

The Cruiserweight Division was a major part of Nitro's success from 1996-98, largely comprised of world-class foreign talent. In a worked-shoot interview with Mike Tenay, Vince Russo claimed that neither he nor the fans cared about Mexican and Japanese wrestlers.

RELATED: 10 Biggest Plot Holes In WCW Storylines

He didn't realize that he was diminishing a pivotal part of WCW's identity, which helped them succeed in the Monday Night Wars. Before long, the Cruiserweight Division was considered a joke, and Nitro's ratings continued to sink.

1 David Arquette Wins World Title

It's the most infamous moment from the dying days of WCW. In a desperate attempt to boost ratings, the company believed that a celebrity like David Arquette winning their World Title would be all over the news and entertainment shows, banking on the curiosity factor driving casual viewers to watch Nitro and Thunder.

Unfortunately for them, WCW received little mainstream attention and was left with an irreparably devalued World Championship.