Vince Russo WCW Ratings "boost" debunked. [thread]

Russo's first Nitro was October 18, 1999. It drew a 3.3 rating. In September, the month before Russo took over, Nitro's ratings were 3.3, 3.1, and 3.0 -- excluding the 4.1 it got on September 6 when it wasn't running against Raw

Under Russo, ratings largely remained in the 2.8-3.3 range.

Where the mythology or exaggerations start is that the Nitro that was aired the week before Russo took over control -- on October 11 (Columbus Day holiday) -- was the lowest rated Nitro in years with a 2.6.

In January 2000, Nitro dropped its low rated third hour, and this caused a phantom ratings "increase" even though the hourly numbers stayed about the same. Russo's last show was either January 10 or 17. Nitro had a 3.4 on the 10th and a 3.0 on the 17th.

So Russo's version of history was that he took Nitro from a 2.6 to a 3.4, which isn't an outright lie, but is highly misleading.

Essentially, there was no change in the ratings over the three months Russo was in charge.

In 1999 WCW used a market research company to poll their fans in order to find out what they wanted out of the promotion. The results showed that WCW fans tended to be older, traditional wrestling fans and more concentrated in rural areas than the WWF's younger, more urban fans.

The study also showed that WCW fans wanted a more traditional product with an emphasis on wrestling and they wanted clean finishes as opposed to screw jobs.

This fanbase was not interested in long skits or the risque innuendo that permeated WWF programming of the time. The study showed that there was not as much crossover between WWF and WCW fans as had been thought. They were two distinctive groups with two distinctive tastes.

This study had been commissioned by the Bischoff regime, but results were not ready until after Russo was in power with Bill Busch as an easily manipulated figurehead.

Russo essentially tossed the results of this study in the trash can and then proceeded to give WCW fans the exact opposite of what they wanted.

The product became overwhelmed with screw job finishes, 2 minute matches, poor skits, and risque material. The traditional WCW fanbase was repulsed and abandoned the product. Meanwhile the WWF fanbase generally regarded WCW as a joke and never migrated to that promotion.

WCW was left with an even more diminished fanbase than it began with and was on an unstoppable appointment with oblivion.