WCW Monday Nitro
|
|
Wcwnitrologo.gif
WCW Monday Nitro was the weekly Monday night television program on TNT, put on by the now defunct Atlanta-based World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Nitro's production started on September 2, 1995 and continued till March 2001, until WWF (now WWE) bought the WCW. It ran head to head with the WWF show Monday Night Raw. The creation was a brainchild of then WCW owner Ted Turner and WCW's Vice President, Eric Bischoff.
Though ratings were poor early on, WCW Nitro improved in mid-1996 and went on to draw better ratings than the WWF for 84 continuous weeks, lasting until April 13, 1998, when a heated confrontation between the villainous WWF Chairman Vince McMahon and fan favorite Stone Cold Steve Austin shifted momentum in the WWF's favor.
Besides broadcasting from various arenas across the country (such as the Mall of America, where the very first episode of Nitro was broadcasted) Nitro also did special broadcasts from Disney/MGM Studios in Orlando.
On the very first edition of Nitro Lex Luger, whose contract (unbeknowst to most of the general public) with the WWF had just expired, made a surprise appearance during the very first match between Ric Flair and Sting.
| Contents |
Monday Night Wars
The advent of WCW Monday Nitro brought with it an intense rivalry between WCW's Monday night 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 Bishoff and Vince McMahon, Nitro was gaining on its WWF counterpart popularity-wise. Soon Nitro would surpass RAW in the television ratings. Monday Nitro beat RAW in the ratings for approximately 80 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, Bischoff himself challenged McMahon to a fight on Nitro.
Initial success
Initially, Nitro became extremely popular with WCW's extensive roster of stars. Randy Savage, Hulk Hogan, and Sting were some of the few 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 nWo, Nitro started its unprecedented run of ratings domination. With former WWF wrestlers Scott Hall, Kevin Nash and Hulk 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 entertaining than its WWF counterpart. Eric Bischoff soon became the voice of Nitro (in perhaps, a subtle knock on Vince McMahon, who often appeared on camera as a commentator) 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, unprecedented for live, weekly wrestling program.
Eventually RAW began using a new generation of rebellious wrestlers and adult material to challenge Nitro in the ratings. RAW was building for a future with a young Triple H and D-Generation X along with former WCW wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin, who was becoming increasingly popular as a rule-breaking, unpredictable character.
RAW gains ground
While RAW was taking a new approach to programming, Nitro would start producing lackluster shows with the same storylines. Older stars such as Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash frequented the main events, while younger talent such as Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit and Eddie Guerrero were not given opportunities to advance in the company. Hogan and nWo almost never lost and the once elite group was now bloated in size and recruiting mid-card wrestlers. Few new stars were made during the run of Hogan and the nWo storyline. The only newcomer elevated to main event status at this time was Bill Goldberg. His main event match with Hogan on an edition of Nitro won the ratings battle from the WWF for the week, but Goldberg's victory was anti-climactic and little was done on Nitro to build on Goldberg's victory and reign as World Champion. Plus, some observers felt that WCW should've saved the Goldberg/Hogan match for an eventual pay-per-view event.
Meanwhile, on RAW, fans were immersed in the feud between WWF owner Vince McMahon and Stone Cold Steve Austin. New talent such as Triple H and his D-Generation X faction, Mankind and The Rock were elevated to main event status on the WWF's program.
Changes
With the WWF 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. Signings of wrestlers such as Warrior and several top ECW stars did nothing to stop their ratings slide.
Eric Bischoff's "tried & true" tatic of giving away the taped results from Raw would unfortunately, and ultimately backfire one night in January 1999. Mick Foley, who had wrestled for WCW during the early 1990s, won the WWF Title on Raw. Nitro announcer Tony Schiavone sarcastically mentioned that Foley as champion "wouldn't put butts in the seats." Apparently, the moment that Schiavone insulted Mick Foley, nearly 500,000 viewers changed channels to watch RAW. Next week on RAW, several fans in the audience brought signs which read, "Foley put my ass in the seat."
Former WWF writers Vince Russo and Ed Ferrera were also hired to fix the company but may have increased the gap between the two Monday night programs. They attempted to make Nitro more like RAW with edgier storylines, more lengthy non-wrestling segments and a increased amount of sexuality on the show. Through this, Nitro would become a two-hour program, with the second hour competing with RAW. Fans had a negative reaction to the direction Russo was bringing the show in and it was reflected in the low ratings for the program. Bischoff would be brought back to WCW and attempted to team with Russo to fix the ills of Nitro and WCW - taking Nitro off the air for one week to reorganize the program, but all this was to avail. The once highly rated Nitro was depleted with its most talented young wrestlers signing with the WWF and its current roster of talent being constantly misused. WCW's sharp decline in revenue and ratings would lead to Time Warner's sale of the company to the rival WWF.
The final Nitro
The final edition of WCW Monday Nitro aired on March 26, 2001 from Panama City Beach, Florida. The show began with Vince McMahon making a short statement about his recent purchase of WCW. 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. In addition, various WCW wrestlers were interviewed giving their honest, out-of-character responses to the selling of WCW. The final Nitro match was between long-time WCW rivals Ric Flair and Sting, a match that Sting won using his finishing move, the Scorpion Deathlock. After the match, the two competitors stood in the middle of the ring and shook hands. The show ended with an appearance by Vince McMahon'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, setting up what would now become the WWF's infamous "Invasion" storyline.