Shining a Spotlight 4.15.10: WCW Champion David Arquette

So much of wrestling is 20/20 hindsight. So often, bad moves and decisions can only be appreciated by their broader ramifications after time has passed. Today, folks mock the decision to give Kevin “Diesel” Nash the WWF title in 1995 but at the time, the man was massively over with the crowds so making him champion made sense then. Ditto for the Ultimate Warrior in 1990. Letting the New World Order run roughshod over WCW was a bad thing but at the time, it was a great angle that just got out of control. So often, you need the distance of time to properly gauge certain events and see how good or bad they truly were.

This is not one of those times.

No, this is an angle that, when it happened ten years ago, everyone instantly knew was one of the single worst moments in wrestling history. An angle so unbelievably stupid that you wonder how it was even conceived, let alone put out as an actual event. A moment that, in all seriousness, was pretty much the point of no return for the company that spawned it.

WCW World Champion David Arquette.

A decade later, it’s still one of the biggest mistakes ever made, its implications huge to its company. It may be the standard all other idiotic angles are measured against from here on in. It wasn’t just a stupid idea but a horribly conceived one that helped ruin WCW. It’s been in my mind lately, not just from the ten-year anniversary but also by Vince Russo’s recent autobiography that talked about it with Russo actually proud of this “achievement.” So, as painful as it may be, I thought I’d look back at horrible night and how it came about.
　

Russo

When one looks at the history of WCW, the question is not how this company went out of business but how they managed to last as long as they did. The company made some truly horrible missteps throughout their tenure under Turner, mostly due to the fact the people in charge often had no idea how to handle wrestling. The firing of Ric Flair in 1991 led to massive trouble and a downturn in attendance. Bill Watts’ reign did little due to his hard-ass style with workers and throwing back to ‘80’s style presentation and booking. Eric Bischoff did manage to hit gold with the New World Order but the over-reliance on old names over the fresh talent in
WCW would end up hurting the company.

WCW was no stranger to stupid ideas that would make WWF look utterly brilliant. Hell, this was a company that had Buff Bagwell’s mother hold the tag team titles. It got worse in 1998 with Jay Leno headlining a PPV and Goldberg’s win streak ending, followed by Kevin Nash’s disastrous self-centered booking. With things going bad, WCW figured Vince Russo would be a great hire.

He gets a horrific rap today (not wholly undeserved) but let’s not forget Russo’s achievements in WWF. He did play a key role in the “Attitude” era that helped set the company back on track. He opened up the “backstage” stuff that’s now become a regular thing on all wrestling TV. He also gave the mid-card guys more personality and stuff to do that elevated them to the same level as the main event guys.

But to put all that success on Russo is a bit much. First off, he was working with guys like Austin, the Rock and HHH, guys who had charisma blasting out of them and just needed a little help getting that out. Also, by the tail end of his reign, he was doing some pretty stupid stuff, letting his love of T&A get away from him while also hot-shotting the IC belt so many times, the once venerable title lost a lot of its credibility. Also, despite what he claimed about being the only guy in charge of creative, Vince McMahon has always been the one calling the final shots and his work afterward shows that without Vince as editor, Russo just went way overboard.

His WCW tenure has certainly proven that. A lot of it has to do with Russo’s mentality in the wrestling business, as his own recent autobiography shows well. The man still insists that American fans won’t get behind Mexican wrestlers due to masks. Funny, I understand Rey Mysterio is not only pretty popular but his masks for kids are one of WWE’s best cash cows. The man also had a real affinity for swerves and thinks those are necessary, ignoring how if you swerve too many times, you risk wrecking the car.

As for titles, Russo is really in the camp of how “titles are props.” You can argue that point a bit but it shows that to Russo, there’s no damage done to jumping the belts around or putting them on competitors who may not be worthy of them. The man is truly in the “entertainment” side of “sports entertainment” and will do what he thinks best to get publicity and attention. That mentality is a key reason why what happened, happened.
　

Ready to Rumble

2000 was already starting off as a bad year for WCW. Russo had been let go after a clash with WCW bosses and Bill Busch was put in charge. It was in his rule that Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko and Perry Saturn staged their mass defection to WWF, leaving WCW without four major stars. Bret Hart was forced to retire after a bad concussion and Sid ended up with the WCW title. Things were going poorly but were going to get worse.

It was in the middle of all this that Ready to Rumble opened in theaters. When you talk of missed opportunities, this is a big one. You think Vince McMahon wouldn’t jump at the chance to have a major film studio bankroll a movie featuring WWE stars with little cost to himself? Rather than use it to help themselves look good, however, WCW ended up making them, and wrestling in general, look even more like a joke to the general public.

Quick recap: David Arquette and Scott Caan play a couple of idiots who are huge wrestling fans. They adore Jimmy King (Oliver Platt), the arrogant star champion. When the King gets on the bad side of a promoter (Joe Pantoliano), he double-crosses the King in the ring and causes him to lose the belt to Diamond Dallas Page. The two fans decide to help King get back in the ring and win the belt back. This has the dynamic of how the two are so stupid, they actually think wrestling is totally for real, King astonished at that. (“You guys know it’s just a show, right?” “Greatest show on Earth.”) The movie boasts some cameos from various WCW guys and a crazy triple-decker cage match that serves as the climax.

The reaction to the film was poor to say the least. It was ravaged by critics and while it eked out a mild profit ($32 million) it was nowhere near the success WCW hoped for. Worse, it once more gave the idea to the public that you’d have to be stupid to enjoy wrestling, a mentality fans of the business have been fighting for years. WCW, of course, did their best to co-promote the movie, which included having Arquette, a long-time wrestling fan around.

And that would lead to the disastrous idea.
　

The Title Change

To be fair, it wasn’t Russo’s idea.

During a production meeting, talk turned to how Arquette was being used by the company and how to work him into things. It was here that Tony Schivone, in a moment I’m sure he wishes he could take back, joked that with all the publicity they were getting with Arquette, maybe they should give him the title.

Everyone laughed but Russo actually saw something in the idea. In his book, Russo claims that everyone else supported the decision whole-heartedly and it was only afterward they all backed down. It’s up in the air whether or not that’s true, hard to tell with how WCW was. Regardless, the decision went down to give Arquette the belt. To his credit, the actor himself argued against it, knowing how badly received by the fans it would be. But he was bound by agreements to the company so went along with it. However, he took the money WCW paid him and gave it to the families of Brian Pillman and Owen Hart as well as paralyzed wrestler Darren Droz, which raises my estimation of the man several notches.

It all happened on April 26th on a taping of “Thunder” as Jeff Jarrett accused Arquette of costing him the WCW title against Page two nights earlier. The fact that Arquette wasn’t even in the building for that match doesn’t seem to have mattered in terms of the storyline. This set up a tag match between Jarrett and Bischoff against Page and Arquette with the stipulation that whoever got the pin would win the title. Kimberly, Page’s ex-wife, was named the special referee to cause more problems for the faces. Bischoff and Arquette fought up the aisle, Bischoff coming back to help beat on Page. A bruised Arquette made his way to the ring as Page laid out Kimberly with a kiss (no, really). Arquette hit Bischoff with a spear that Bischoff sold like it was Goldberg while Jarrett nailed Page with the title belt. Arquette covered Bischoff as Jarrett covered Page, another ref racing in, going to Arquette and Bischoff and three seconds later…

The WCW World title, a lineage that included Ric Flair, Sting, Vader and others, was now around the waist of an actor whose biggest claim to fame was being married to Courtney Cox. The shockwaves from it were huge among fans…and not in a good way.

The Aftermath

To say this didn’t go over well with wrestling fans is sort of like saying the Titanic ran into a little ice problem. Yes, it got WCW some publicity but having a B-level actor holding a championship belt over actual wrestlers was a horrible idea and it hardly helped that Arquette treated the belt like a joke, with stuff like Cox rolling her eyes at how “strong” he was now. Not only that, Arquette actually defended it against the likes of Tank Abbott, winning with help from Page.

It built up to Slamboree, a massive cage battle with the WCW World Title hung at the top of a triple-decker cage straight from the movie. Arquette, Page and Jarrett ended up on top where Arquette smashed a guitar over Page’s head, allowing Jarrett to win the belt in one of Russo’s “shocking” swerves.

The night after, they tried to make sense of it all but having Bischoff explain the whole thing was one massive setup against Page with Arquette cutting a bizarre promo.

Arquette would thankfully vanish from WCW broadcasting but the damage was done. WCW was already having a ton of problems keeping hold of fans and establishing themselves against a WWF at the height of creativity and power. Giving your world championship to an actor just to get free publicity was the straw that broke the camel’s back for a lot of fans. Yes, WCW continued for nearly a year longer, with Booker T helping to reestablish the belt a bit but it was far too little, too late. As far as fans were concerned, giving the belt to Arquette completely destroyed any claim for a legitimate title WCW had.

Incredibly, Russo still insists it was a good idea. In his new book, he’s actually proud of it, saying that it’s what people always remember him for. Well, people tend to remember Michael Vick for the dog-fighting thing, pretty sure he’s not proud of that. Once again, Russo’s mentality, that people don’t watch wrestling for the actual, you know, wrestling is something that’s long marred his work and this is the ultimate example of how his “vision” can lead to severe damage for his company, not to mention how love of some free publicity can lead to disaster for even the best promotions.

Summation

To blame WCW’s fall on Russo alone is unfair. The company already had its share of problems, all he did was give it the final push. But you can blame him for this unbelievably stupid idea that hastened the company’s demise a lot further. The absolute worst thing you can do is insult your audience and giving the belt to an actor like this was a clear insult. WWE may do crazy stuff with their celebrity guests but they don’t actually put the titles on them, especially not their biggest. Ten years and the stigma of this still hangs around Russo and WCW, a sad legacy that all fans should remember as a standard for just how bad promotional gimmicks can get.

Next week is another decade retrospective to the best Backlash of all time. For now, the spotlight is off.