Quoted By:
WWE is based in the New York style which was basically "we have such large population density it is impossible to lose money in our territory" so everything is slow, shitty and gay.
WCW came from Georgia/Carolina wrestling so it had to be more compelling.
By the late 90s WCW had better action on the undercard compared to the WWF, and other than when they let Foley jump off stuff or get brained over and over again with a chair, they were about on par with the WWF when it came to mainevent action (The rock, undertaker and HHH are all very bad wrestlers).
WCW eventually ran away most of their audience by trying to be more like the WWE, but WWE never took on the good traits of WCW so the fans who liked good wrestling had nowhere to go but Japan or eventually the indies, and most people just aren't going to tape trade or buy indie shows off a shady website in 2002.