Why Raven's Final Year In WCW Was Such A Disaster

In the mid-1990s, Raven was at the height of his popularity while working as one of the top stars in ECW. By 1997, the wrestler leveraged that success into a contract offer from WCW, and Raven made the decision to leave ECW and try his luck on a bigger stage. Things started out okay, but many would agree that Raven's final year in WCW was something of a disaster.

After receiving a push in the initial months of his run, Raven won the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship in June 1998 before quickly losing the title to Goldberg the following night. This sent his onscreen character into a spiral, and it's one that he was never able to overcome in the eyes of fans. Raven took a depressive turn, walking out of matches, and his Flock eventually abandoned him.

Raven still had middling in-ring success around this time, but the crowd wasn't very excited about what he was doing. Eric Bischoff, who was booking WCW at the time, has since blamed himself for Raven not getting over with the promotion's audience. Bischoff believes Raven should've been given a more detailed backstory rather than trying to rely on his reputation and mysterious aura. As a result, his time in WCW wouldn't last.

Following a hiatus in the latter months of 1998, Raven returned to WCW programming in early 1999, but it was clear Bischoff and WCW's other officials weren't sure what to do with him. He and former Flock member Perry Saturn won the company's tag titles in the spring before dropping them a few weeks later in a match that didn't even involve Raven. Once again, the former ECW star found himself without a strong direction.

In August 1999, Raven was put into a bizarre pairing with the Insane Clown Posse and AAA's Vampiro, with the group soon known as The Dead Pool. Raven's tenure in the faction was short-lived, however. That same month, Bischoff called a meeting of the entire WCW roster to let everyone know they could take their release if they were unhappy. Frustrated with his booking, Raven was among the only to accept.

After departing WCW, Raven returned to ECW for the company's final years before it was eventually bought out by WWE. Raven would later have a short WWE run, but he never reached the level of success he'd once dreamed about.