The Death of WCW is not just some "fakey wrestling book" this book covers the shakey beginings of a small wrestling companies start, a stable medium period to when Ted Turner purchased the company, a time when business is booming under a man named Eric Bischoff where sell out crowds saw shows and the WWE(F) nearly went out of business and then the unthinkable, almost a year later, more then 90% of their audience deserted them and a loss in revenue of more then 60 million dollars to it's burial and purhcase by Vince McMahon for chump change. What went wrong?

Death of WCW points out every folly and every bad business decision that WCW made as well as point out the few times when things were going right. It is easily one of the most engaging books I've read in a while as it takes you seamlessly through the years of the company and before the book is over the true culprit is revealed as to who killed the company. Is it Hulk Hogan the man who brought great ratings as well as great ego and big time backstage politics to the promotion and made the locker room morale drop to an all time low? How about Kevin Nash and Scott Hall who as part of the invasion to help get WCW off the ground and into the ratings stratusphere, used that clout to help dominate the show and stay on top even though one was a horrible worker (and another great politician behind the scenes) and the other was fighting a drinking problem and instead of getting him help, the promotion just uses his problem as an angle on TV? Was it Eric Bischoff who's cutthroat tactics to get ratings and to overspend on contracts and gimmicks make the pot boil over? Was it Vince Russo a fresh face in the company who got mired in politics of the older stars and whose wacky ideas did nothing to help the show during a bleak period? Who was it? Doofus announcer Tony Schivone? Shoot fighter Tank Abbot? The exodus of midcarders away from the show because they got sick of not getting a chance in the spotlight? Who was it?

I'm not spoiling the ending or the culprit here but what I will say is that it is an interesting read and still mind staggering how in what seemed like overnight a company doing major business loses almost everything in a span of a little over a year. The final sentace in the book however, regarding Vince McMahons purchase of the company sums up the state of WCWs history and the wrestling scene today and it's such a head on statement that i's easily the funniest line of the book.

Even if your not a fan of wrestling, it is certainly worth reading from a historical standpoint and as an analysis of how a big business can come and go so badly. Worth reading