February 26, 2001 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WCW Superbrawl review, WCW not shutting down, more
WCW may change its plans once again this week, this time with Eric Bischoff perhaps deciding against a shutdown in April.
Bischoff’s thoughts were based on the idea that he didn’t want to present a stale product and allow the fans to get more apathetic by basically struggling along with no storylines and no stars until the planned re-launch in May. Most likely the ratings from the past week may have played a part in the decision, because if the ratings would have held steady at the 2.5 level to build for a re-launch, it would have been acceptable, but when 2/12 came in tying the record low for a Nitro live show in the regular time slot (2.08), that was no longer an acceptable level to stay at, or even probably drop from since the storyline they were building toward, for better or worse, required keeping some of the biggest stars on the sidelines for nearly two more months.
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Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.