“Why did WCW collapse? A couple reasons stand out. For starters, the company focused too tightly on the personality of one man: Hulk Hogan. After Hogan’s gimmick became stale in the WWE (then WWF) in 1993, he signed with Turner’s WCW in early 1994. For the next several years, WCW programming revolved around Hogan’s NWO. The company put other top-tier talent around him—Randy Savage, Kevin Nash, and Scott Hall—but all of these characters were still yoked to a single, central storyline. This one error compounded several others” writes Matt Stokes in The Bulwark.

“Because the company willingly tied its fate to the career of one man and his running buddies, it was unable to innovate when needed. The fixation on Hogan’s character limited the number of stories that could be told, even as fans grew cold to Hogan’s act. It also stymied the elevation of other talented performers. Many of these wrestlers—guys such as Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, among others—went on to great success in the WWE. The present state of the Republican party bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the late stages of WCW. Like Hogan in the WCW, the GOP revolves entirely around the personality of Trump to such an extent that it is nearly impossible to support one without supporting the other. As viewers tired of Hulk Hogan, they slowly abandoned WCW. The danger for the GOP is that as voters grow weary of Trump, they will grow out of the party, as well. The centrality of Trump has a similar effect on the GOP’s talent pool. Just as WCW failed to grow and develop talented stars to take the place of Hogan and other aging wrestlers, the GOP has squandered four years of talent development at the congressional level. Bright young Republicans have spent enormous energy on tasks that revolve around Donald Trump; trying to pass legislation without incident, avoiding a primary for a more Trumpist challenger, or carrying water for the president in an attempt to curry his favor. Not only has the party failed to grow serious talent during the last four years, it has failed to produce policies that are responsive to the moment in which we live. Just as fans eventually turned away from WCW, the national GOP is giving voters fewer and fewer reasons to turn out for elections.”