The PTC and sponsors backing out on the WWF got me to thinking and the thought that kept popping into my head was - 'Eric Bischoff predicted this months ago'. I'll admit it, when Bischoff was calling the shots in WCW I was one of the smart community calling for his head. I figured at the time that no one could do a worse job than what Bischoff was doing. Unfortunately now I am starting to question whether this was true or not. So I decided to break it down and see if WCW has shown any improvement under the direction of Russo and Ferrera.

To compare the two I will use sort of a variation of the Basketball Digest 'Who's Better?' section. Lets call it 'Who's Worse?' - the edge in each category goes to the individual who did the worst in it and whoever gets the highest total 'wins' the dubious honor of doing the most damage to WCW and putting out the worst product. Remember more points = winning the 'Who's Worse?' contest.

Who's Worse?
Eric Bischoff vs. Vince Russo

Willingness to put themselves over

I had to start with this one because this was one of the biggest gripes amongst smart fans of Bischoff's reign - that he was only interested in getting as much of the spotlight for himself as possible. I'm sure most of you don't need to be reminded of some of the atrocities; the disgraceful nWo Nightcap and the Leno invasion, slapping around Sandman for smoking, all that 'power of the pen' crap and of course the topper - a victory over Ric Flair.

But in reality has Russo shown himself to be any different? He attempts to put himself over on two levels. Firstly through lead mouthpiece Tony Shiavone who proclaims them as the saviours of the company and the deliverer of great ratings on a weekly basis. Secondly, the whole of WCW puts the 'Powers that Be' over as all powerful behind-the-scenes forces.

As tedious as nWo Nightcap was and as maddening as Bischoff beating Flair was I would still have to give this category to Russo. My reasoning here is that even Bischoff, at times, put others over and was made to look bad. He jobbed to Flair the next night, he lost to Leno/Page etc. Should he have done this more and used himself to put the talent over? Absolutely. But my point is that, at times he did do it. The 'Powers that be' have yet to do this a single time. A wrestler is yet to get the best of them in any of those backstage meeting skits they have been doing and when one of their plans have been foiled in the ring it has always been the fault of one of the wrestlers who has then been appropriately chewed out and/or punished. The 'Powers that be' despite their claims are not putting anybody over but themselves.

Edge: Russo
Russo 1 - 0 Bischoff

This is the area that Russo has always claimed superiority. No matter how lame or stupid a skit is he is always quick to point out that 'that segment was our highest rated quarter hour of the night'. Their only goal apparently is ratings. WCW has made some sporadic gains but no real trend has emerged. Russo is doing better than the dying days of the Bischoff era but Eric can always respond with five simple words - Eighty-two week winning streak.

Russo probably has not had enough time to justify forming a full conclusion so I will call it even.

Edge: None
Russo 1 - 0 Bischoff

This is where Russo really falls down - the problem is that he does not care in the slightest. If not for the pride in their work that Bret Hart and Chris Benoit have, WCW would have had no quality wrestling matches since the change. Quality undercard wrestlers are not given the time and apparently don't possess the motivation any longer to put on good matches. And why should they when their ability to wrestle has NO effect on whether they are pushed (see Karaigis, Evan). Hell, you can injure three wrestlers in 3 minutes and as long as they aren't anybody really important then no one even bats an eyelid. Another point to note is that Russo gives the longer match times on both PPV and on TV to the main eventers. In WCW this is a problem because the good wrestlers on their roster are not at this level. In the WWF this policy usually meant Steve Austin or Mick Foley were involved and this resulted in intense, enjoyable, if a bit garbagy and brawling based, wrestling. I don't think anyone is interested in 15-20 minute main events involving Sid, Nash, Scott Hall, Goldberg, Lex Luger etc. Outside of Hart and maybe Benoit (if he qualifies as a main eventer) there is no one at the top that could deliver even a decent match.

Bischoff worked the opposite way. He knew his potential for quality wrestling lay with his mid-carders and below and he gave them time to deliver. While he spent zero effort attempting to elevate any of these talented athletes to a higher status, which in itself was a crime, it pales in comparison to barely letting them wrestle at all in two minute specials.

Edge: Russo
Russo 2 - 0 Bischoff

This was a huge problem under Bischoff and one of the main reasons for his demise. The so-called 'on-the-fly' booking strategy caused too many inconsistencies; the multiple re-incarnations of the Hummer driver angle, Bret Hart heel/face/heel/face, DDP's mysterious benefactor. The problems stemmed from a desire to 'work the smarts', angles for shock value only and giving way too much power to the top wrestlers over their storylines.

This was one of the main things Russo was supposed to fix, but in reality has he? A lot of stuff is still very confusing and inconsistencies exist. Why did Sid and Goldberg team up after Sid focused the majority of his time in WCW trying to destroy him? Who is the forgotten 'future superstar' that Savage promised to reveal? The 'Powers that be' angle has never been adequately explained, especially to those who don't follow inside happenings on the net.

I will give Russo the benefit of the doubt and assume that these issues will become clearer and considering that Bischoff produced illogical and inconsistent storylines for years on end he earns the point here.

Edge: Bischoff
Russo 2 - 1 Bischoff

Russo has to be given credit for doing something that the smarts said Bischoff should have done long ago and that is trim the payroll. While I may not have agreed with all of his choices (Van Hammer and Knobbs are still employed while Super Calo and Lizmark were fired) most would agree that the housecleaning needed to be done. Not paying money for music acts that the fans don't care about or for ludicrous beatdown scenes shot from a helicopter or for unbelievably expensive hardcore matches that suck are also steps in the right direction.

Bottom line is that WCW would have to be in better shape financially than under Bischoff.

Edge: Bischoff
Russo 2 - 2 Bischoff

These are not new to wrestling by any stretch of the imagination and both Bischoff and Russo have used a variety of tactics. Bischoff's main weapon of choice was to reveal the results of taped Raws in Nitro's first hour. This degenerated further into using perennial lackey, Tony Shiavone, as a mouthpiece to criticise the WWF. The sarcastic 'yeah that will put butts on seats' line will live forever in wrestling infamy but it was far from the only instance.

Russo prefers to parody the competition to get his shots in. Although he is not above slipping in derogatory comments via his wrestlers (Austin has been targeted a couple of times) it is definitely the spoofing of the WWF's and ECW's talent (if Chavo trying to sell various crap during interviews isn't intended to be a rip on Joey Styles and the constant pushing of ECW tapes and merchandise on their TV shows I would be very surprised) that is more his style.

The problem is neither have been particularly effective or entertaining.

Edge: None
Russo 2 - 2 Bischoff

This is a tough one because it becomes hard to be objective. Whether it was a worse idea to push Jeff Jarrett or Ed Leslie to main event status is very much a matter of opinion. At least in Russo's WCW there does seem to be some upward mobility if you do get over. In Bischoff's WCW political power appeared to be the key aspect. If you were the karate teacher of the bosses son, or you were his next door neighbour or you had kissed the butt of one of the top stars for several years then you had it made. If you lacked this sort of pull then too bad, you better get used to not winning many matches.

But again the question is whether or not Russo is any better? There seems to be definite favoritism towards guys he has worked with before but merit (i.e. overness) is much more of a part of the criteria, that is unless of course you happen to be Mexican or Japanese. However more important seems to be your ability to act out lame skits. Russo has gone on record stating that to succeed in his company you need to be a great actor.

The saddest thing of all of course is that in neither case was wrestling ability much of a factor.

Both systems are as depressing as hell for fans of actual wrestling so much so that I can't even be bothered calling a winner.

Edge: None
Russo 2 - 2 Bischoff

Well a 2-2 tie. It seems based on my semi-objective criteria that while a lot of things about WCW have changed, I don't think the overall quality of the promotion has gone anywhere. What confuses me is that the Russ o regime has received quite a bit of support on the net. Using the Scoops weekly poll as a barometer of the opinion of the internet masses, it is clear that most feel that WCW has improved. The only people really actively criticising WCW now are the so-called 'workrate freaks'. A look at the reality of the situation really does not support this swing in favor of WCW on the net..

Since it seems there is no clear cut winner in the battle to see who could do a worse job in control of WCW, I will throw my personal viewpoint out there. Under Bischoff I used to watch every Nitro and get most PPV's because I wanted to see some combination of Jericho, Benoit, Kidman, Eddie, Rey, Booker T, Juvi, Raven, Flair, Sting or Psicosis wrestle each other in a compelling match. Most times I was rewarded, even if I had to sit through all types of crap in the rest of the show (liberal use of the fast forward button was often required). Now I feel that the reward for wading through the crap on Nitro is scarcely worth it anymore. As it stands right now I am essentially watching the show just to see Bret Hart and that is really about it. All the other wrestlers that I used to follow have been transformed into ridiculous or stereotypical caricatures (see Juvi for best example) or just buried completely (see Psic or Vampiro). So all objectivity aside in my 'Who's Worse?' investigation I would have to give the nod to Russo. Congratulations Vince you are now doing a worse job than Eric Bischoff ever did - an achievement considered impossible a couple of months ago.