The Death of WCW
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Narrated by:
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Bryan Alvarez
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Written by:
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R.D. Reynolds
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Bryan Alvarez
About this listen
What went wrong with WCW?
In 1997, World Championship Wrestling was on top. It was the number-one pro wrestling company in the world, and the highest-rated show on cable television. Each week, fans tuned in to Monday Nitro, flocked to sold-out arenas, and carried home truckloads of WCW merchandise. Sting, Bill Goldberg, and the New World Order were household names. Superstars like Dennis Rodman and KISS jumped on the WCW bandwagon. It seemed the company could do no wrong.
But by 2001, however, everything had bottomed out. The company - having lost a whopping 95% of its audience - was sold for next to nothing to Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment. WCW was laid to rest.
How could the company lose its audience so quickly? Who was responsible for shows so horrible that fans fled in horror? What the hell happened to cause the death of one of the largest wrestling companies in the world? The Death of World Championship Wrestling is the first book to take listeners through a detailed dissection of WCW's downfall.
©2014 R.D. Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez (P)2016 Audible, Inc.You may also enjoy...
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For decades, wrestling was shrouded in secrecy. It had larger-than-life personalities, bone-crunching physicality and jaw-dropping theatrics, but backstage, it was an industry devoid of outsiders. Then in 1999, after working together on a special for MTV, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson turned to 26-year-old television writer Brian Gewirtz and asked, “You ever consider writing for WWE?” That question, and its answer, would have a profound effect on both of their lives for years to come. There's Just One Problem is a story about perseverance, tenacity, and steel chairs.
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What listeners say about The Death of WCW
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Performance
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- Amazon Customer
- 2019-01-02
PHENOMENAL
A long and detailed history of wcw and more. Worth the listen. Brian Alvarez does a great job in narrating this story. Simply phenomenal
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- Kindle Customer
- 2017-12-21
Wrestling lovers must Listen
Great story telling and backround happenings too all our favorite WCW blunders. Little confusing at times, but if you watched WCW you know what i mean.
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- Peter
- 2020-08-08
The Story Too Insane to Believe
While Death of WCW may ultimately have a bit of a barrier to entry, the story in general is equal parts fascinating and stunningly entertaining. Bryan Alvarez, a seasoned broadcaster in his own right, does a great job reading his own book with sarcasm, mockery, bemusement, and the occasional grim realization. One can only hope a 20th anniversary edition further explores what has, and hasn't, changed since this book first came out.
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- Brad
- 2021-01-27
Great book
I have listened to this multiple times and while the story of WCW is well known now this is where a lot of that info came from.
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- Geoff
- 2021-04-23
Entertaining History of WCW
This was an enjoyable story to listen to. The reader was entertaining and the recap of how the WCW rose to prominence then horribly failed was excellent. It was a little over the top at times and so the reason I give it 4 stars. Other than that I definitely recommend it especially if you enjoy wrestling and, in my case, were around while this was going on. Four plus stars all the way!
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- Amazon Customer
- 2022-05-14
Nice walk down memory lane.
I had to take a star of performance because of the distracting mispronounced words. There aren't that many, mind you, but they are pretty glaring and funny.
Overall good book and, despite what I just said, the narrator is pretty good.
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- Michael Bolan
- 2019-06-27
loved it
its eerie how similar WWE is now to WCW then. Great BOOK. Hope there's one for TNA in the future.
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- Roger C. Babin
- 2019-06-30
Disappointing given my expectations.
As a fan of Wrestling Observer and having listened to hundreds of podcasts featuring Bryan Alvarez I was naturally VERY excited to some day pick up this audiobook. Unfortunately, the book experience completely failed to live up the experience you get from his podcasts on a regular bases. While comparing different mediums is admittedly not fair, it left me very disappointed with the final product especially given the asking price. The book itself is performed very well by Bryan. The content, however, is rather drab. Its difficult for me to explain why. Bryan would frequently gloss over things which no doubt left an impression on people who saw the moment back in the day or have experienced it through is podcasts...but if you weren't familiar with the source material in question then it came off as either not that bad or hard to appreciate. The book jumps timelines constantly which makes things a little tricky to follow as well. As I said, its difficult for me to explain this stuff...just know that the story is not told in as fun or as interesting a way as you'd expect if you are a fan of his daily work. I wouldn't recommend this book but I do very highly recommend his podcast work.
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- TheEnemy
- 2019-06-21
Jealous ex
Seemed like something a jealous ex lover would write to completely bash the former lover
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- Steve Buckland
- 2020-10-28
Repetitive and nothing revolutionary
Same story any wrestling fan has heard, read, watched 1000 times. Found that the author's seem to repeat it's same points over and over. Not terrible but not good either.
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