Top 10 WCW Monday Night Nitro Moments
25 Years ago today WCW debuted WCW Monday Nitro at a primetime slot on the TNT network. In celebration here are the top ten moments I think defined the era of Monday Nitro and the Monday Night Wars.
1. Scott Hall Declares A War
The Monday Night War was still artificial in most fans’ minds during the early days of Nitro. That all changed and folks’ antennas raised when Scott Hall appeared out of the crowd on the May 26th, 1996 first two-hour edition of Nitro. He mocked WCW and spoke of a war coming and got fans talking. For the first time Nitro had a real buzz brewing, the Monday Night Wars seemed real and that is the seeds of the NWO were being planted, which led to WCW eventually topping WWF in the Monday night ratings for 83 weeks. Making it the top moment in Nitro’s history.
2. Sting Becomes a Free Agent
In the fall of 1996 the Nwo was gaining ground in their takeover of WCW, adding new members and winning the WCW World Heavyweight championship. One of their new members from afar was WCW franchise player "Sting" who attacked his best friend Lex Luger. That turned out to be a bogus Sting, but it led the real Sting to take a step back and recognize he's given his all to WCW and still has doubters about his loyalty. He stepped away considering himself a "free agent" which led to The Crow inspired Sting and the year long storyline of his quest to take down the NWO and more speifically Hollywood Hogan.
3. Madusa drops women’s title in trash
WCW was still finding their footing with Nitro and trying to further ignite the war. On the December 18th 1995 edition of Nitro, Madusa formerly known as Alundra Blaze in WWF and still in possession of the WWF womens championship. Went on a slight rant and then dropped the WWF womens title in the trash can, throwing another shot at the WWF.
4. The Nwo attacks in full force
July 7, 1996 the wrestling world was turned upside down when Hulk Hogan joined forces with the outsiders Scott Hall and Kevin Nash to form the NWO. These three displayed a gang like bad boy attitude as they planned to take over WCW. On the July 29th, 1996 edition they showed they meant business when cameras caught several members in the back laid out. More importantly showed Rey Mysterio Jr. jumping off a guard rail only to be caught mid-air by Kevin Nash and “lawn darted” into a trailer. This mayhem showed the viciousness of the NWO.
5.Lex Luger appears at the end of Nitro
On the debut episode of Monday Night Nitro live from the Mall Of America in Minneapolis, Minnesota. WCW threw the first shot in the Monday Night War by having Lex Luger appear during the main event between Sting and Ric Flair. Luger was just at a WWF house show the night before, and this was during the early days of this new technology called the internet so no knew he would be showing up. It’s a deliberate move by WCW to show the world they were serious.
6. Chris Jericho 1,004 Holds
1998 was the year Chris Jericho showed he had the charisma and microphone skills to go along with his wrestling ability. During a feud with Dean Malenko who was known as the man of 1,000 holds, Chris Jericho proclaimed himself “The Man of 1,004 Holds”. He stood in the middle of the center pulled a computerized print out damn near as tall as him of all the moves he had in the arsenal. Famously repeating arm bar every 3-4 times.
7. Four Horsemen are back together
The Four Horsemen are one of the most legendary factions in wrestling and after the ferocious attack by new member Curt Henning on Ric Flair when he joined the NOW, and Arn Anderson being forced to retire the group was deemed dead. Over the late summer of 1998 WCW began to plant seeds for a reformation, and it came to fruition September 14th, 1998 in GreenVille, South Carolina which was always Horsemen country. Steve Mongo Mcmichael, Chris Benoit, Arn Anderson, and new member Dean Malenko dressed to the nine’s, as a returning Ric Flair let off a emotional charge based on real disagreements against Eric Bischoff.
8. Army of Stings
In 1997 Sting was a one-man wrecking crew against the antics of the NWO, usually coming to save the day as he continued his mission of getting his hands-on Hollywood Hogan. The ending of the October 13, 1997 edition of Nitro saw the NWO attacking DDP and Roddy Piper. Sting appeared from the crowd headed to the ring to save the day, followed by another sting, and another one. Until the right Sting appeared to save the day, classic case of decoys covering the real hero. It didn’t have a payoff but led to the unpredictable nature of Monday Night Nitro.
9. Rodman shows up
The incident gained renewed fame this past summer due to the Michael Jordan last dance documentary. Dennis Rodman the bad boy of the NBA at that time, also known as Rodzilla infamously skipped practice during the NBA finals to show up on the June 8th 1998 edition of Monday Night Nitro. He made appearances in WCW before, but the importance of the NBA finals in addition to the shock value when he showed up made for must see TV. That moment went down in history, and WCW received major mainstream buzz for it leading into their Bash At the Beach pay-per-view.
10. Eric Bischoff & Vince Russo Reboot
WCW knew they were in a downward spiral in the early 2000s in an attempt to fix that, they bought back Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff to right the ship. Their reboot of WCW started on the April 10th, 2000 episode and they started off on the right foot. Putting talented younger wrestlers in high profile angles and matches, trying new ideas and looking to really make a difference. Unfortunately, they got in each other’s way and along with some bad choices as far as angles and character presentations they imploded. Personally, from that episode of Nitro until maybe mid-August I was hooked on Nitro and really was pushing for them.
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