Resurfaced Video Shows WCW Was Forced to Publicly Apologize to WWE to Head Off Lawsuit

The Monday Night Wars produced some of the most cutthroat competition professional wrestling has ever seen, but even in the heat of that rivalry, WCW once found itself in the unusual position of having to publicly apologize to its biggest enemy — WWE — in order to avoid a lawsuit.

A video revisiting the incident has been circulating on social media, shared by Deep Cuts, a channel dedicated to digging up forgotten moments from wrestling’s past. According to the clip, the situation stemmed from WCW accidentally crossing a line that gave WWE legal grounds to pursue action against the competing promotion.

The specifics of what WCW did to trigger the legal threat are part of what makes the clip so compelling for longtime fans. The idea of Ted Turner’s organization — which was actively raiding WWE’s roster and consistently beating it in the ratings during the mid-to-late 1990s — being put in a position where it had to eat crow publicly speaks to just how contentious and legally complicated the two companies’ relationship really was beneath the surface of the on-screen war.

The Monday Night Wars era is often romanticized as pure competitive fire, but moments like this serve as a reminder that the battle between WCW and WWE played out in boardrooms and courtrooms just as much as it did on television. WCW’s willingness to issue a formal apology rather than fight the lawsuit suggests WWE had a strong enough case to make the legal risk not worth taking.

For wrestling historians and fans of that golden era of competition, the resurfaced footage is a genuinely rare look at a side of the rivalry that rarely gets discussed.