WCW Monday Nitro

This article is about the TV show. For the 1997 video game based on the show, see WCW Nitro (video game). For the branded monster truck, see WCW Nitro (truck).

WCW Monday Nitro
File:WCWNitrologo1999.png WCW Monday Nitro logo used from April 5, 1999 to March 26, 2001
Created by	Ted Turner Eric Bischoff
Directed by	Craig Leathers (1995–1999, 2001) Rick Fansher (1999–2000) Mike Miller (2000)
Starring	See World Championship Wrestling alumni
Opening theme	"Purity V.3" (September 4, 1995 - March 29, 1999) "Adrenaline V.1" by Purity (April 5, 1999 - March 26, 2001)
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	286
Production
Production location	Various locations in North America
Camera setup	Multicamera setup
Running time	1 hour (September 4, 1995–May 20, 1996, April 28-May 19, 1997, April 27, April 28, May 18, 1998) 2 hours (May 27, 1996–April 21, 1997, May 26-July 28, 1997, August 11, 1997-January 19, 1998, January 3–March 27, 2000, April 10, 2000-March 26, 2001) 3 hours (August 4, September 1, December 22, 1997, January 26–April 20, May 4, May 11, May 25 1998-May 3, 1999, May 17-December 27, 1999)
Original release
Network	TNT
Release	September 4, 1995 – March 26, 2001
Related
WCW Thunder

WCW Monday Nitro was a weekly professional wrestling telecast produced by World Championship Wrestling, created by Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff. The show aired Monday nights on TNT, going head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation's (WWF) Monday Night Raw from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001. Production ceased shortly after WCW was purchased by the WWF.

The debut of Nitro began the Monday Night Wars, a ratings battle between the WWF and WCW that lasted for almost six years and saw each company resort to cutthroat tactics to try to compete with the competition. In mid-1996, Nitro began to draw better ratings than Raw based on the strength of the nWo storyline, an anarchist wrestling stable that wanted to take over WCW. Nitro continued to beat Raw for 84 consecutive weeks, forcing WWE owner Vince McMahon to change the way he did business. As the nWo storyline grew stagnant, fan interest in the storyline waned, and Raw began to edge out Nitro in the ratings.

The turning point for the organizations came during the January 4, 1999 broadcast of Nitro, during which lead commentator Tony Schiavone gave away the results of matches for that night's Raw broadcast. As Raw was taped and Nitro was live, Bischoff believed that knowing the outcome would dissuade viewers from watching the program. But many fans who were excited by the prospect of seeing perennial WWF underdog Mick Foley win the WWF Championship, switched channels from watching Nitro to instead watch Raw, only switching back to Nitro after Foley won the title. From that week forward, Raw beat Nitro in the ratings by a significant amount, and WCW was never able to regain the success it once had.

Besides broadcasting from various arenas and locations across the country (such as the Mall of America in suburban Minneapolis, Minnesota, from which the very first episode of Nitro was broadcast), Nitro also did special broadcasts from the Disney-MGM Studios in Orlando in 1996, and did annual Spring Break-Out episodes from Panama City Beach, Florida starting in March 1997. The rights to WCW Monday Nitro now belong to WWE.

First episode

The first episode of Nitro was broadcast from the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The featured matches on the one-hour broadcast were Brian Pillman versus Jushin Liger, Ric Flair versus WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Sting, and WCW World Heavyweight Champion Hulk Hogan taking on Big Bubba Rogers. The show was also highlighted by the return of Lex Luger to WCW after having spent the previous two years wrestling for the WWF, where he had been one of the promotion's top stars. Luger's appearance was particularly jarring because he had just wrestled a match for the WWF the previous evening; the match was his final contractual obligation with the company, and Luger signed with WCW the morning of his appearance. The event set the tone for Nitro's "anything can happen" atmosphere, and prefigured the similar defections of WWF wrestlers Scott Hall and Kevin Nash the following year.

Monday Night Wars

Main article: Monday Night Wars

The advent of WCW Monday Nitro brought with it an intense rivalry between WCW's Monday Nitro program and the WWF's Monday Night Raw program. This rivalry is known to wrestling fans as the "Monday Night Wars." Throughout the Monday Night Wars between Eric Bischoff and Vince McMahon, Nitro was gaining on its WWF counterpart popularity-wise. Soon Nitro would surpass Raw in the TV ratings. Monday Nitro beat Raw in the ratings for 84 consecutive weeks until Raw finally regained ground in the ratings war. At its peak, the rivalry resulted in performers on either show trading verbal insults and challenges. At one point, Eric Bischoff challenged Vince McMahon to face him in a match to be held at Slamboree 1998. McMahon never formally recognized the challenge and did not appear. Bischoff was declared the winner via countout. Although later Vince said he had already had prior engagements that had to be fulfilled or he would have came and showed Eric what he was made of.

Initial success

Initially, Nitro became popular as result of WCW's extensive roster of stars. Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan were some of the major stars signed with WCW and appearing on the Nitro program at this time. WCW's lineup of cruiserweights – smaller wrestlers known for their crowd-pleasing high-flying wrestling maneuvers - provided a strong set of setup matches for their main events. With the introduction of the New World Order, Nitro started its unprecedented run of ratings domination. With former WWF wrestlers Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Hogan (who was now calling himself Hollywood Hogan) as rebellious heels, the company seemed to have a winning story and a great future. Wrestling fans watched the show every week to see what the nWo would do next. Since Nitro was live and Raw was often taped, Nitro was seen as far less predictable and thus more entertaining than its WWF counterpart. Initially only sixty minutes in length (as was WWF Monday Night Raw at the time), Nitro was expanded to two hours following the 1996 NBA Playoffs while Raw waited until nearly a full year later to expand to a second hour. Nitro remained a two-hour program from May 1996 until January 1998, when WCW and TNT agreed to a third hour for the still-#1 wrestling program in the country.

United Kingdom

File:WCWNitrologo.png

WCW Monday Nitro logo used from September 4th, 1995 until March 29th, 1999.

WCW Monday Nitro also pulled in strong ratings in the UK. It was once the third most watched show on satellite and cable TV only beaten by Raw and certain soccer matches, but unlike in the USA, it never beat Monday Night Raw in the then head-to-head "Friday Night Wars" in the UK. This was despite the fact that Raw aired on a subscription channel whereas Nitro aired on TNT, a basic Sky and cable channel. However, Raw being on Sky Sports was much more heavily promoted in the media through advertisements and TV guide listings, whereas Nitro being on TNT did not receive the same amount of promotion. It is likely many people were unaware at Nitro's peak that it was on. (On screen TV guides did not exist back then as they do now on Sky. Similarly the listings for TNT received little media coverage in comparison to Sky Sports.) TNT in Britain (now named TCM) would only start at 9pm after the end of Cartoon Network in the late 1990s. Nitro was its flagship show and was the only actual TV show on the network, as it showed classic movies like TCM in North America rather than standard broadcast TV shows. From 2000 until its end in March 2001, Nitro in Britain moved to Bravo where it moved to 10pm directly head to head with Raw instead of the usual hour head start. Nitro would air in the United Kingdom four days after its live US airing from its first showing in late 1995 until it moved to the Bravo network in 2000. It then was two weeks behind the US airings until it went back to four days again in early 2001. It stayed this way until WCW's demise.

Eric Bischoff's on-camera role

Eric Bischoff soon became the voice of Nitro and began to air Nitro a couple of minutes before Raw so he could give away the results of the WWF program so fans had no point to see the competition. Nitro would be expanded to a three-hour show, starting from the January 26, 1998 edition, unprecedented for a live, weekly wrestling program.

Raw gains ground

While Raw was taking a new approach to programming with its "WWF Attitude," Nitro would start producing lackluster shows with the same storylines. Hogan and the rest of the nWo almost never lost and the once elite group was now bloated in size and recruiting midcard wrestlers. The only newcomers elevated to main event status at this time were Goldberg and Diamond Dallas Page. Goldberg's main event match with Hogan on the July 6, 1998 edition of Nitro from the Georgia Dome in Atlanta won the ratings battle from the WWF for the week, but some observers (including Vince McMahon) felt that WCW could have made millions if they saved the Goldberg/Hogan match for an eventual pay-per-view event. Despite Goldberg's title win and Page's rapid ascent into the main event picture, they still took a backseat to the nWo, which by this point had split into two warring factions and would dominate storylines for most of the summer of 1998.

The D-X/Norfolk, Virginia incident

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Changes

With Raw starting to beat Nitro in the ratings on a consistent basis, Bischoff and WCW officials attempted to use a series of "quick fixes" to regain ground in the ratings war. All these attempts would win them short-term ratings victories, but the WWF continued its steady climb to ratings dominance. Nitro's inability to create new stars was its ultimate undoing, while the WWF had invested in younger talent like Stone Cold Steve Austin, Mick Foley, The Rock, Triple H, the Hardy Boyz, Edge and Christian and Kurt Angle. WCW continued to rely on established stars like Hulk Hogan, Randy Savage and The Outsiders to support ratings, causing much unease among the younger and less well known members of the roster. This was illustrated most clearly in 1999, when former WCW mid-carder Chris Jericho signed with the WWF and immediately started a feud with The Rock, when months earlier he had been told he was too small to sell tickets in WCW.

January 4, 1999 broadcast

Main article: Fingerpoke of Doom

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Vince Russo and Ed Ferrara

Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup Two Girls One Cup

Notable episodes

Episode Title	Date	Rating	Note
WCW Monday Nitro	September 4, 1995	2.5	First episode of Nitro. See above for more information.
nWo Monday Nitro	December 22, 1997	3.5	The nWo organized a complete takeover of Nitro six days before Starrcade.
The Fingerpoke of Doom	January 4, 1999	5.0	Goldberg was arrested before his title match for the World Heavyweight Title. Later, Tony Schiavone, on orders from Eric Bischoff, gave away Mankind's pre-taped WWF title victory on Raw, which resulted in over 600,000 viewers switching to Raw. See above for more information.
WarGames 2000	September 4, 2000	3.6	On the fifth anniversary of the premiere, a WarGames match took place in a three-tiered cage between two teams for the world championship. Kevin Nash retained the title.
The Night of Champions	March 26, 2001	3.0	Final episode of Nitro. WCW is purchased by the WWF. See below for more information.

The Night of Champions – Final broadcast

In an attempt to save WCW and Nitro, Bischoff attempted to purchase the company with a group of investors. However, although Bischoff's offer had been accepted, recently appointed Turner Broadcasting executive Jamie Kellner announced shortly after his arrival that Nitro and all WCW programming was immediately canceled on both TNT and TBS. Bischoff's group then withdrew their deal, as it was contingent on keeping WCW programming on some outlet, and WCW was bought by Vince McMahon- the owner of the WWF, its long-time competitor.

Around the time of the cancellation, WCW was preparing to make its yearly trip to Panama City, Florida for Spring break. Since the premiere of Nitro WCW had gone to either the Boardwalk Beach Resort or Club La Vela every March to try to gain favor with adolescent and young adult viewers who might not otherwise be tuning into the program. It was announced that the upcoming March 26, 2001 episode of Nitro from Panama City was to be the finale and the show was dubbed "The Night of Champions." The show began with McMahon appearing via satellite from Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, the site of that Monday's RAW is WAR broadcast on TNN. McMahon announced his purchase of WCW to the crowd and appeared in vignettes throughout the show, including one where he terminated WCW's Jeff Jarrett on air due to bad blood the two had in the past.

The show was unique in that all of WCW's major championships were defended that night and in almost all of the matches on the show, the faces won (traditionally WCW was seen as the promotion where heels were often the top stars as opposed to the WWF, where faces were often the top stars). In addition, various WCW wrestlers were interviewed giving their honest, out-of-character responses to the selling of WCW. The co-main event of the evening was WCW World Heavyweight Champion Scott Steiner taking on WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Booker T in a match with both belts on the line; Booker defeated Steiner for his fourth WCW World Championship while retaining the U.S. Championship.

Just as it had been on the initial Nitro, the final match of the final Nitro was between long-time WCW rivals Ric Flair and Sting, a match that was more informal than their usual encounters (Sting and Flair were seen smiling and nodding respectfully towards each other throughout the match). Sting won using his finishing move, the Scorpion Deathlock. After the match, the two competitors stood in the middle of the ring and embraced to show respect for one another.

The show ended with a simulcast on Raw on TNN with an appearance by Vince's son Shane McMahon on Nitro. Shane would interrupt his father's gloating over the WCW purchase to explain that Shane was the one who actually owned WCW (this was just part of the storyline, as the WWF as a whole was the true owner of WCW), as part of the set up of their match at WrestleMania X-Seven and of what would later become WWF's "Invasion" storyline. In addition to the tape library and other intellectual properties, WWF also purchased several contracts of WCW talent, keeping many of the younger stars. Four of WCW's championships found their way into the WWF; in addition to Booker T carrying both the WCW Championship (as it was renamed) and United States Championship with him into the WWF, McMahon also signed then-WCW Cruiserweight Champion Shane Helms and then-WCW Tag Team Champions Chuck Palumbo and Sean O'Haire to contracts. (The WWF scrapped the WCW Hardcore Championship, as it was officially retired immediately following the final Nitro despite no one holding it since Meng departed for the WWF in early 2001, and the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship for undisclosed reasons; although no official reason was given, Billy Kidman and Rey Mysterio, Jr. were the last champions and McMahon was only able to sign Kidman to a contract at the time.)

Results

#	Matches	Stipulations	Times
1	Booker T (WCW United States Heavyweight Champion) defeated Scott Steiner (WCW World Heavyweight Champion) (with Midajah)	Title vs. Title match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship	5:08
2	Filthy Animals (Rey Mysterio, Jr. and Billy Kidman) defeated 3 Count (Shannon Moore and Evan Karagias) and Jung Dragons (Kaz Hayashi and Yun Yang)	Three-Way Dance No.1 Contenders Tag team match for the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship	3:37
3	Shane Helms (c) defeated Chavo Guerrero, Jr.	Singles Match for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship	4:38
4	Sean O'Haire and Chuck Palumbo (c) defeated Team Canada (Mike Awesome and Lance Storm)	Tag team match for the WCW World Tag Team Championship	3:20
5	Shawn Stasiak (with Ms. Hancock) defeated Bam Bam Bigelow	Loser Gets A Tattoo match	1:24
6	Filthy Animals (Rey Mysterio, Jr. and Billy Kidman) defeated Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo (c)	Tag team match for the WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship	4:43
7	Sting defeated Ric Flair	Singles match	7:19
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match

Other notable moments

When then-WWF Women's Champion Alundra Blayze signed with WCW in 1995 (going back to her old name of "Madusa"), she brought the WWF Women's title belt with her and threw it in a trash can on the December 18, 1995 edition of Nitro (the third week that Nitro started before the top of the hour), and the title itself would become inactive for the next three years. Many cite this incident as one of the causes of the infamous Montreal Screwjob. This infamous event would be parodied by WCW on a 2000 edition of Nitro, when Scott Hall threw the WCW World Television Championship in the trash and weeks later on an edition of WCW Saturday Night, "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan found it and claimed it.

The only wrestler to appear on both Nitro and Raw on the same night was Rick Rude. Rude was able to appear on both shows because he was not under contract with the WWF at the time, appearing on a handshake deal with McMahon on Raw – which was still pre-recorded at the time while Nitro was broadcast live.

The January 13, 1997 episode of Nitro ended with the first two minutes of the Hollywood Hogan vs. The Giant main event. Before the show went off the air, commentator Tony Schiavone announced the match was to continue during the commercial breaks of The New Adventures of Robin Hood, which premiered that night after Nitro. This resulted in the premiere episode of Robin Hood receiving high ratings due to WCW fans being lured in to watch the show for the Hogan/Giant match.

The rock band KISS appeared in August 1999, and debuted a Wrestler named The Demon while performing "God of Thunder", According to Dean Malenko, It was the lowest rated Nitro ever.

WWE home media and streaming

Since buying the WCW video library, WWE Home Video has included many Nitro matches and segments on some of their Superstar biography DVD sets. Episodes are also streamed on WWE Classics on Demand, as part of The Monday Night Wars feature.

While the service does show episodes of Nitro, they are often edited. Some WCW entrance theme music tracks are replaced with stock WWE music. Beginning in July 2007, WWE Classics on Demand began deleting content from episodes of Nitro, as matches and some references to Chris Benoit are removed. Benoit is sometimes shown in segments where he is not the main issue of the segment. This was in light of the controversy surrounding the deaths of Benoit and his family on June 24 of that year.

In April 2009, WWE Classics went back to the first episodes that aired in September 1995. These shows alternate with the current Nitro airings (Dec. 1997 and onwards).

A 3-disc DVD entitled "The Very Best of WCW Monday Nitro" was produced and released by WWE on June 7, 2011. The set is narrated by former three time WCW champion Diamond Dallas Page and highlights some of the biggest matches and moments in the history of WCW Monday Nitro.

A Volume 2 edition of "The Best of WCW Monday Nitro" was released on February 12, 2013.

Nitro episodes became available on the WWE Network on February 24, 2014.

On-air personalities

Commentary teams

Commentators	Dates
Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan and Steve McMichael	September 4, 1995 - May 13, 1996 (1st hour)
Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan and Tony Schiavone	August 25, 1997 (2nd hour)
Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko*	May 27, 1996 – July 29, 1996 (1st hour) August 5, 1996 – April 21, 1997 (1st hour)
Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Larry Zbyszko	April 28, 1997 - May 19, 1997 (1st hour)
Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan*	May 20, 1996  – June 10, 1996 (1st hour/2nd hour) July 1, 1996 - July 22, 1996 (2nd hour) August 5, 1996 – August 26, 1996 (2nd hour)
Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyszko and Eric Bischoff	July 29, 1996 (2nd hour)
Eric Bischoff, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay*	September 2, 1996 – October 28, 1996 (2nd hour) November 11, 1996 - November 18, 1996 (2nd hour)
Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Larry Zbyszko*	May 26, 1997 – July 28, 1997 (1st hour) August 11, 1997 - March 29, 1999 (1st hour/1st-2nd hour)
Tony Schiavone, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay**	November 4, 1996 (2nd hour) November 25, 1996 – March 29, 1999 (2nd hour/3rd hour) August 4, 1997 (2nd hour-3rd hour) December 20, 1999 – January 24, 2000 (1st/2nd hour-3rd hour)
Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan	June 17, 1996 – June 24, 1996 (2nd hour) April 5, 1999 – July 12, 1999 (1st-3rd hour) August 9, 1999 – December 13, 1999 (1st-3rd hour)
Scott Hudson and Bobby Heenan	July 19, 1999 – August 2, 1999 (1st-3rd hour)
Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Mark Madden	January 31, 2000 (1st-2nd hour)
Tony Schiavone and Mark Madden	February 7, 2000 – March 27, 2000 (1st-2nd hour) August 28, 2000 (1st-2nd hour)
Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson and Mark Madden	April 10, 2000 – July 10, 2000 (1st-2nd hour) July 24, 2000 – August 21, 2000 (1st-2nd hour) September 18, 2000 – October 2, 2000 (1st-2nd hour) October 30, 2000 – November 6, 2000 (1st-2nd hour) November 20, 2000 - December 4, 2000 (1st-2nd hour) December 18, 2000 (1st-2nd hour)
Tony Schiavone, Mark Madden and Stevie Ray	July 18, 2000 (1st-2nd hour) October 9, 2000 – October 23, 2000 (1st-2nd hour)
Tony Schiavone, Mark Madden and Jeremy Borash	September 4, 2000 - September 11, 2000 (1st-2nd hour)
Tony Schiavone, Mike Tenay and Stevie Ray	November 13, 2000 (1st-2nd hour)
Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson and Stevie Ray	December 12, 2000 (1st-2nd hour)
Tony Schiavone, Scott Hudson and Disco Inferno	January 8, 2001 (1st-2nd hour)
Tony Schiavone and Scott Hudson	January 15, 2001 – March 26, 2001 (1st-2nd hour)

(*) – Starting with the May 27, 1996 edition of Nitro, which came after a week off due to the NBA Playoffs on TNT, Nitro started using two broadcast teams for the show. Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko would call the first hour of Nitro from ringside, and Eric Bischoff and Bobby Heenan would take over from their booth near the set at the top of the second hour. Starting in September 1996, Mike Tenay became a color commentator for both hours of Nitro, calling the first hour with Schiavone and Zbyszko and the second hour with Bischoff and Heenan. Usually Tenay would call the first hour from the broadcast booth separate from Schiavone and Zbyzsko's table at ringside, while he called the second hour with Bischoff and Heenan in the booth.

(**) - After Eric Bischoff joined the nWo and took on a more prominent on-screen authority figure role, Schiavone replaced Bischoff in the second hour of Nitro, thus making him the lone play-by-play commentator for the show. Unlike Tenay, Schiavone called the first hour from ringside and would call the second hour in the booth alongside Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay. Schiavone did that until the broadcast table at ringside was done away with on the December 9, 1996 edition of Nitro. (WCW, though, would eventually move the announcers back to ringside when the new Nitro set was debuted on April 5, 1999)

Ring announcers

• David Penzer (September 4, 1995–March 26, 2001)
• Michael Buffer (Select main events only, May 12, 1997–March 26, 2001)

See also

• 1996 in television
• Nitro Girls
• World Championship Wrestling
• WCW Thunder

External links

• WCW Monday Nitro at IMDb
• Template:Tv.com show
• WCW Monday Nitro 1995 Intro on YouTube