There were a number of poor decisions made by those in power at World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the late 1990s that led to the company losing millions of dollars and, ultimately, going out of business in 2001. Of them, perhaps none is more reviled than having David Arquette, a "B" movie actor, win the promotion's heavyweight championship title.
Fans bombed the company, and rightfully so. It was a stupid thing to do at a time when monumental mistakes like that would only put WCW further down a hole it would never crawl back out of.
But fans also bombed Arquette himself for going through with it, and even all these years later some folks have a problem with that. Diamond Dallas Page (DDP) recently did an interview with WGD Weekly and had the following to say in regards to those who went after Arquette:
"...David Arquette is his own animal. As much heat as he ever took, for him, ...all the money he made for that pay per view when he busted me over the head with the guitar and Jarrett took the World Title, the money he made, he gave to Melanie Pillman...When he pinned Bischoff, not me, and I will go on record as saying that was the biggest cluster fu*k ever and it never should've happened, but it did. That being said, that was the booking committee, it was not David Arquette, and every fan that has ever roasted him should dip their own ass in boiling oil, because everyone of you that has buried David Arquette if put in the same position, you would've jumped through a hoop of burning oil to do the same sh*t. That's why when everybody busts balls on that, I just want to smack someone. I'm like really, you, 'marko mark?' You would've died for that..."
Admittedly enough, he's got a point. Arquette was a huge fan who was given an opportunity to live out a dream by an inept booking committee led by Vince Russo, who thought it would be a grand idea that would turn business around.
If Arquette were a wrestler who knew better, perhaps he would deserve the flak he's received. But because he was simply a fan, despite his celebrity status, he probably shouldn't be getting heat from anyone.
Really, it just goes to show how much fans hated the decision making in WCW at that time.