Stevie Ray Says WCW Failed Because They Put 'Buddies' Ahead Of Business

Towards the final days of WCW, one longtime veteran found himself fed up with the attitude backstage. On the latest episode of "Wrestling Then and Now," former WCW star Stevie Ray opened up about the issues he had with certain wrestlers on the WCW roster making things too personal backstage, rather than working matches that would be best for the promotion as a whole.

"I know how this business works, and I know how WCW worked. None of that stuff surprised me," said Ray, a 10-time WCW World Tag Team Champion with his brother Booker T. "I'm like, I see what's going on here. You know what I'm saying? And that was one of the reasons why the company — that was doing so good — that's one way that's why it started to fail." Ray, who also won the WCW Television Championship during his career, said that "you can do stuff like that on an outlaw show or a regional show, but you can't do stuff like that on a worldwide show." 

"In my humble opinion, it's got to be about business," he said. "It's got to be about the business for the whole company, not you and your buddies. Then this guy's got beef with this guy and this guy don't like this guy, this guy wants to make sure he gets over on this guy. It's just what I call a 'WCW fable.' That's what it was." The promotion ultimately failed, despite a run on television that produced some of the most memorable characters and storylines in wrestling history. The company was purchased by rival WWE owner Vince McMahon in 2001, who then folded some of WCW's wrestlers and titles into his own promotion.