From its inception, WCW was seen as the Pepsi to WWE's Coke. And just like in the Cola Wars, WCW/Pepsi eventually surpassed WWE/Coke for a few years. But when WWE regained control of the Monday Night Wars, WCW started to feel more like RC Cola, or at their worst, even Faygo.

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WCW's desperation to stay relevant led to the poaching of WWE's Head Writer Vince Russo, but that backfired, resulting in a surge of cringey moments. WCW, like any wrestling company, had their hits and misses in every era, but most of the real head-shakers took place when the chips were down.

10 Jim Duggan Returns From Cancer To Be A Janitor

After being diagnosed with kidney cancer, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan took a break from WCW television. Luckily, his treatment was a success, putting a feel good return on a silver-platter for the company. Instead, Duggan lost his first match back to Berlyn, and then became a down-on-his-luck janitor.

This lead to Duggan picking the WCW Television Title out of the trash (Scott Hall put it there), and defending it on C-show WCW Saturday Night. Before long, he would join Team Canada, undermining his whole gimmick of being the guy who chants "USA!".

9 Kiss Demon Debut

WCW spent a large chunk of money on a cross-promotion with the band Kiss, to promote the Demon, portrayed by Dale Torborg. His big debut occurred on a Nitro in 1999, when he appeared on-stage during a live Kiss concert. Unfortunately, the fans in attendance did not seem to care about Kiss or the Demon character.

Neither did the fans at home, as the rating for the segment was alarmingly low. At least long-time Kiss super fan, Tony Schiavone got to introduce the band that night.

8 Kevin Nash Buries WCW On Commentary

It was the Fall of 1999 and Kevin Nash had just been removed as Head Booker of WCW. He took all his frustrations out on an episode of Thunder, where he was set to do commentary that night. "Big Sexy" spent the entire broadcast making sarcastic inside jokes, essentially burying the product on TV.

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Today, Nash's performance is lauded by fans for his irreverent, sharp-tongued wit. But it was emblematic of how little control the company had over its top stars' behavior. It's not a surprise that WCW went out of business a year and a half later.

7 Vince Russo Blasting Foreign Wrestlers

The Cruiserweight Division was a major part of Nitro's success from 1996-98, largely comprised of world-class foreign talent. In a worked-shoot interview with Mike Tenay, Vince Russo claimed that neither he nor the fans cared about Mexican and Japanese wrestlers.

What he didn't realize is that he was diminishing a pivotal part of WCW's identity, one that helped them succeed in the Monday Night Wars. Before long, the Cruiserweight Division was considered a joke, and Nitro's ratings continued to sink.

6 American Males Theme Song

The hunky babyface beefcake routine may have worked in the 80s, but it didn't fly so well during the Monday Night Wars. The American Males' cringey entrance video felt like an early-90s teen TV show intro, and their music was even cheesier.

The song consists of a grand total of two verses, and the rest of the song is one long, tedious chorus of "American Males, American Males" chanted over and over again in a robotic voice. It sounds like it was written and recorded in 10 minutes, and it's amazing that Marcus Bagwell and Scotty Riggs lasted longer than that with this gimmick.

5 Nash & Hall Drunk On Nitro

Kevin Nash has told the story of the Outsiders showing up drunk to the Panama City, Spring Break addition of Nitro, many times. It makes for an amusing podcast anecdote, but in reality it's quite depressing. The fact that two of WCW's biggest stars would feel so nonchalant about showing up inebriated for live TV, was a prophetic sign for the fate of the company.

Hall & Nash weren't scheduled for a match, but they easily could have injured themselves, running from the Giant, and jumping into the pool. This sent a message to the fans, that the top stars weren't taking the show seriously.

4 The Renegade

The Renegade wasn't the first character to borrow a gimmick from another act. There were the Rockers stealing from the Rock n' Roll Express, Demolition from the Road Warriors, and even Hulk Hogan ripping off "Superstar" Billy Graham. But the most flagrant example of gimmick infringement was the Renegade, who was nothing but a cheap knock off of the Ultimate Warrior.

WCW wasn't even trying to hide it: the face paint, the hair, the entrance...the whole presentation screamed "dollar store version".

3 Sid Flubbing His Lines

Kevin Nash was dressed up like Sid, doing a mocking impression of him, basically calling attention to the perception that Sid is a big, dumb oaf. Then it was Sid's turn for a rebuttal, to dispel those rumors.

Unfortunately this is what came out of his mouth, "you know, and I know that you're only half the man that I am, and that I have half the brain that you do." Nash & Scott Hall broke character, laughing at Sid on live TV.

2 Viagra On A Pole Match

It was the year 2000, Viagra was a relatively new phenomenon and a popular, if sometimes hackney, punchline on late night television. Meanwhile, Billy Kidman and Shane Douglas were feuding over the heart of Torrie Wilson. It was the perfect opportunity for Russo to crowbar a topical reference into WCW programming.

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This was the kind of stipulation that made people embarrassed to call themselves wrestling fans. It's clear evidence for some, that the former "Vic Venom" merely struck lightning in a bottle in WWE, and couldn't hack it without Vince McMahon's supervision.

1 Shockmaster Aftermath

The infamous debut of the Shockmaster is well-documented in wrestling blooper lore, but a lot of fans don't realize that the story didn't end there. Fred Ottman had to continue wrestling as the Shockmaster, with WCW spinning the character into a klutz who wore a construction helmet instead of a Stormtrooper mask with purple glitter.

That's like being turned down for a date to the prom because you wet your pants, and then showing up anyway, trying to play it off like you're suddenly the class clown.