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20 years ago today: the last WCW Nitro


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1 hour ago, uklaw said:

Remember it clearly and hoping WWF would do well by the brand, but knowing deep down it wasn’t going to end well.

Yup. In hindsight it would have been a million times better had Bischoff's Fusient media proposals been realised, but I'd be lying if the possibilities of WWF ownership weren't exciting at the time, before reality hit and it was all spunked against the wall.

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Was a sad day. Even as a lifelong “WWE guy” , I knew this would be really bad for wrestling with Vince finally getting his monopoly. The Monday Night Wars were a special time for the fans but of course, with every war, one side eventually won. It hasn’t been the same since.

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2 hours ago, garynysmon said:

Yup. In hindsight it would have been a million times better had Bischoff's Fusient media proposals been realised, but I'd be lying if the possibilities of WWF ownership weren't exciting at the time, before reality hit and it was all spunked against the wall.

I don't know if it would have really. As much of a let down the Invasion was, it still produced some great moments. I imagine Bischoffs led federation would have been 3 count, Yung Dragons etc.... with no massive starpower. TNA would never have started either. 

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The weird thing is that I have a much easier time believing WCW closed 20 years ago than I do believing it’s spiritual successor TNA hit its peak about 15 years ago.

I barely reacted to WCW actually dying, it had been “dead to me” for ages. The wrestlers they had who I still wanted to watch had become so lost in unwatchable TV so long ago, I’d given up on watching them and just started hoping they’d end up in the WWF so I could watch them again. Which was upsetting, because they’d been my preferred show for most of 97-98, but a combination of the “workers” of Jericho, Benoit, Eddy and Malenko fucking off and the “stars” losing their appeal with constant turns and nonsensical stories, meant I had to walk away. It was easier to just accept my beloved WCW was terminal and move on with my life than sit there and watch until the bitter end.

I held zero hope that they would book the promotion itself as any kind of worthwhile venture when Rajah and PS revealed that the contracts they’d bought out were basically just Booker T and the midcard, but I hoped some of the guys like Booker, Lance Storm and Kidman who I knew had a good match in them, would get to have some decent matches with new opponents. But about all that really came out of it worth remembering was waiting four years for Booker to have about a dozen matches with Benoit who he’d already had about a dozen matches with when they were younger and better. And of course, a storyline where the biggest star created was ECWs Rob Van Dam, where the title matches were The Hardys vs The Dudleys and Edge vs Test, and where the “WWF vs WCW” feud was finally decided, essentially, by Rock & Chris Jericho vs Steve Austin & Kurt Angle. And Ric Flair turning up a whole day after it was finished.

Edited by air_raid
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Just watched the latest WWE Playlist on YouTube which was about that very night and it hit me with a mad Mandela effect. I'd been convinced for 20 years that the simulcast segment with Vince and Shane was the last segment on BOTH shows when in actuality the main event of Raw that night was Austin and Rock vs Taker and Kane with a run in by Triple H and the simulcast was effectively the last ever segment on Nitro

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Brilliant miscellany from this night on Ian's Twitter, if people haven't seen it.

Rewatched the show tonight. It's very watchable still. Sad though.

That montage of former world champions had slipped my mind. 

Interesting to think about so many viewers just walking away from wrestling after this night.

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I watched the OSW of the simulcast recently and the amount of backstage vignettes of Vince and Trish shite talking WCW that aired on Nitro didn't bode well for the Invasion angle straight out the gate. Crazy times. I don't think Bischoff would have made great shakes of things if his attempt at buying WCW had have been successful, but it certainly would have been better than the undignified death WCW suffered under WWF control. Even poxy ECW managed tribute PPV's  & an attempted revival under WWF control and they were a very niche brand compared to what WCW were.

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2 hours ago, air_raid said:

And Ric Flair turning up a whole day after it was finished.

This! Yeah, we all wanted to see Goldberg and Steiner and the like, but Flair WAS WCW, I mean even his whole 1992 WWF run was based on the fact he was the main over there. And bringing him over the night after it finished was just weird. Especially when they must have known when he would re-debut and just kept the angle on going.

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12 hours ago, RIDDUM_N_STYLE said:

Just watched the latest WWE Playlist on YouTube which was about that very night and it hit me with a mad Mandela effect. I'd been convinced for 20 years that the simulcast segment with Vince and Shane was the last segment on BOTH shows when in actuality the main event of Raw that night was Austin and Rock vs Taker and Kane with a run in by Triple H and the simulcast was effectively the last ever segment on Nitro

Similarly I had in my head that Flair vs Sting (complete with Big Tone breaking down) was the last thing that aired on Nitro. Which it should have been. And I’d probably have been happy if neither of them had ever wrestled again.

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