History MediaNotes / MondayNightWars

While Goldberg's victory may have put the lid on WCW's coffin, the first nail came from the [[FingerpokeOfDoom Fingerpoke of Doom]]: the combination of a TwistEnding to a world title match that led to the reformation of the [=nWo=] coupled with the ''over half million viewers Nitro lost'' when announcer Wrestling/TonySchiavone revealed that Wrestling/MickFoley would win his first [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-h.html WWF Championship]] on a pre-taped episode of ''Raw'', with Schiavone quipping "[[SarcasmMode That'll put butts in the seats]]" after the spoiler, all but killed the promotion that night [[note]]although it should be pointed out that the ratings of ''Nitro'' were the same the very next week.[[/note]]

The WWF flourished due to its Attitude Era content and WCW's constant missteps. Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin, [[Wrestling/DwayneJohnson The Rock]], Mick Foley, Wrestling/TripleH, Wrestling/TheUndertaker and Wrestling/{{Kane}} practically became household names during this time, and the WWF's success turned it into the most powerful wrestling promotion in the world. On the flip side, WCW kept pushing the [=nWo=] angle for far longer than it should have, and it failed to build new stars who could ultimately replace the older stars on the roster (thanks to a number of those older stars working on the company's booking team and/or having a "creative control" clause in their contract that gave them veto power over their own booking); these problems caused WCW to start losing viewers at an astonishing rate.

* Crockett responded by putting the first ''Clash of the Champions'' event on TBS as a counter to ''Wrestling/{{WrestleMania}} IV'', March 27, 1988.

On October 2, 2019, ''Wrestling/{{AEW}} Dynamite'' debuted on TNT, airing opposite ''Wrestling/{{WWE NXT}}'', which had debuted on the USA Network two weeks prior, moving from the WWE Network, kicking off what fans dubbed the "Wednesday Night War".[[note]]Despite ''NXT'' being on TV first, this war was initiated by WWE instead of AEW, who preemptively moved ''NXT'' to the USA Network (the same network that airs ''Raw'' on Mondays) to counterbook ''Dynamite'' after AEW announced what time they would be running.[[/note]] The Wednesday Night War lasted less than 1 1/2 years, eventually ending with a whimper rather than a bang when NXT was moved by the USA Network from Wednesdays to Tuesdays starting from April 13, 2021. While AEW had been decisively "winning" the ratings battle almost every week, the move was motivated more by the preferences of the network (who wanted to air the NHL in NXT's Wednesday timeslot) than by any decision from WWE to "back down", and the general consensus was that the end of the conflict would simply be better for everyone.[[note]]It would also have resulted in NXT going head-to-head with ''Wrestling/ImpactWrestling'' (which had been airing on Tuesdays for years by now) instead, but Impact saw the writing on the wall and hurriedly moved their show back to Thursday nights instead starting from April 8, which had the interesting side effect of putting a major wrestling show on TV every day of the week; ''Raw'' on Monday, ''NXT'' on Tuesday, ''Dynamite'' on Wednesday, ''Impact'' on Thursday and ''[=SmackDown=]'' on Friday.[[/note]] However NXT's "failure" to defeat AEW was seen as a humiliating defeat for WWE within the company and led to considerable changes, with NXT eventually being taken out of the hands of Wrestling/TripleH and repackaged into the [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks almost-unrecognizable]] "NXT 2.0".[[note]]Which ironically ended up winning the Gooker Award for 2021.[[/note]]

From 1999 to 2001, WCW tried, and failed, to mirror the WWF's successful changeover to the Attitude Era by doing everything from hiring former WWF writer Wrestling/VinceRusso to instituting a [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-hc.html Hardcore Title]] and even trying to cross-promote the company using music and movie stars, most notably its infamous decision [[Horrible/{{WCW}} to make actor David Arquette WCW World Champion]].[[note]]It should be said that Arquette himself thought this was a terrible idea, and fought hard against it. When Arquette couldn't change the collective minds up the WCW upper brass, he went through with it but donated all the money he earned from wrestling to the families of Wrestling/OwenHart, Wrestling/BrianPillman, and Darren Drozdov. As such, Arquette himself usually gets a pass from wrestling fans over the decision to put the belt on him.[[/note]] After the AOL/Time Warner merger went down, however, the conglomerate put WCW up on the chopping block in an attempt to get rid of what it saw as a money drain (WCW did lose ''$65 million'' in 2000). Since Turner could no longer protect WCW (he had pretty much left Time Warner when its merger with AOL proved to be a '''$99 billion''' mistake following the dot-com bubble bursting), and WCW couldn't turn itself around fast enough, it was eventually sold to Wrestling/VinceMcMahon for a measly $4.2 million. Bischoff tried to purchase the company in the weeks prior to its sale so he could eventually reboot the entire promotion, but without a TV deal to air the shows, those plans eventually fell through.

From 1999 to 2001, WCW tried, and failed, to mirror the WWF's successful changeover to the Attitude Era by doing everything from hiring former WWF writer Wrestling/VinceRusso to instituting a [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-hc.html Hardcore Title]] and even trying to cross-promote the company using music and movie stars, most notably its infamous decision [[Horrible/{{WCW}} to make actor David Arquette WCW Champion]].[[note]]It should be said that Arquette himself thought this was a terrible idea, and donated any money he earned from wrestling to the families of Wrestling/OwenHart, Wrestling/BrianPillman, and Darren Drozdov.[[/note]] After the AOL/Time Warner merger went down, however, the conglomerate put WCW up on the chopping block in an attempt to get rid of what it saw as a money drain (WCW did lose ''$65 million'' in 2000). Since Turner could no longer protect WCW (he had pretty much left Time Warner when its merger with AOL proved to be a '''$99 billion''' mistake following the dot-com bubble bursting), and WCW couldn't turn itself around fast enough, it was eventually sold to Wrestling/VinceMcMahon for a measly $4.2 million. Bischoff tried to purchase the company in the weeks prior to its sale so he could eventually reboot the entire promotion, but without a TV deal to air the shows, those plans eventually fell through.

* Vince [=McMahon=] debuted the first ''Wrestling/RoyalRumble'' event on the Creator/USANetwork on January 24, 1988 as a counter to Crockett's ''Bunkhouse Stampede'' PPV.

From 1999 to 2001, WCW tried, and failed, to mirror the WWF's successful changeover to the Attitude Era by doing everything from hiring former WWF writer Wrestling/VinceRusso to instituting a [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-hc.html Hardcore Title]] and even trying to cross-promote the company using music and movie stars, most notably its infamous decision [[Horrible/{{WCW}} to make actor David Arquette WCW Champion]].[[note]]It should be said that Arquette himself thought this was a terrible idea, and donated any money he earned from wrestling to the families of Wrestling/OwenHart, Wrestling/BrianPillman, and Darren Drozdov.[[/note]] After the AOL/Time Warner merger went down, however, the conglomerate put WCW up on the chopping block in an attempt to get rid of what it saw as a money drain (WCW did lose ''$60 million'' in 2000). Since Turner could no longer protect WCW (he had pretty much left Time Warner when its merger with AOL proved to be a '''$99 billion''' mistake following the dot-com bubble bursting), and WCW couldn't turn itself around fast enough, it was eventually sold to Wrestling/VinceMcMahon for a measly $4.2 million. Bischoff tried to purchase the company in the weeks prior to its sale so he could eventually reboot the entire promotion, but without a TV deal to air the shows, those plans eventually fell through.

The Monday Night Wars ended on March 26, 2001; after WCW held its final edition of ''Monday Nitro'', [[Wrestling/VinceMcMahon Vince [=McMahon=]]] appeared live on both ''Raw'' and ''Nitro'' as part of a special simulcast (with Vince at ''Raw''). As part of the first major storyline to come out of the purchase, [[Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon Shane [=McMahon=]]], Vince's son, appeared at ''Nitro'' to announce that he had bought WCW instead of his father. This led into Wrestling/TheInvasionAngle, which would eventually put the WCW brand to rest for good. WWE later produced a DVD, ''The Monday Night War'', that covered this timeframe in wrestling history; WWE's ''Rise and Fall of WCW'' DVD set covered the Monday Night Wars as part of WCW's overall history.

From 1999 to 2001, WCW tried, and failed, to mirror the WWF's successful changeover to the Attitude Era by doing everything from hiring former WWF writer Wrestling/VinceRusso to instituting a [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-hc.html Hardcore Title]] and even trying to cross-promote the company using music and movie stars, most notably its infamous decision [[Horrible/{{WCW}} to make actor David Arquette WCW Champion]].[[note]]It should be said that Arquette himself thought this was a terrible idea, and donated any money he earned from wrestling to the families of Wrestling/OwenHart, Wrestling/BrianPillman, and Darren Drozdov.[[/note]] After the AOL/Time Warner merger went down, however, the conglomerate put WCW up on the chopping block in an attempt to get rid of what it saw as a money drain (WCW did lose ''$60 million'' in 2000). Since Turner could no longer protect WCW (he had pretty much left Time Warner when its merger with AOL proved to be a huge mistake following the dot-com bubble bursting), and WCW couldn't turn itself around fast enough, it was eventually sold to Wrestling/VinceMcMahon for a measly $4.2 million. Bischoff tried to purchase the company in the weeks prior to its sale so he could eventually reboot the entire promotion, but without a TV deal to air the shows, those plans eventually fell through.

From 1999 to 2001, WCW tried, and failed, to mirror the WWF's successful changeover to the Attitude Era by doing everything from hiring Wrestling/VinceRusso to instituting a [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-hc.html Hardcore Title]] and even trying to cross-promote the company using music and movie stars, most notably its infamous decision [[Horrible/{{WCW}} to make actor David Arquette WCW Champion]].[[note]]It should be said that Arquette himself thought this was a terrible idea, and donated any money he earned from wrestling to the families of Wrestling/OwenHart, Wrestling/BrianPillman, and Darren Drozdov.[[/note]] After the AOL/Time Warner merger went down, however, the conglomerate put WCW up on the chopping block in an attempt to get rid of what it saw as a money drain (WCW did lose ''$60 million'' in 2000). Since Turner could no longer protect WCW (he had pretty much left Time Warner when its merger with AOL proved to be a huge mistake following the dot-com bubble bursting), and WCW couldn't turn itself around fast enough, it was eventually sold to Wrestling/VinceMcMahon for a measly $4.2 million. Bischoff tried to purchase the company in the weeks prior to its sale so he could eventually reboot the entire promotion, but without a TV deal to air the shows, those plans eventually fell through.

From 1999 to 2001, WCW tried, and failed, to mirror the WWF's successful changeover to the Attitude Era by doing everything from hiring Wrestling/VinceRusso to instituting a [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-hc.html Hardcore Title]] and even trying to cross-promote the company using music and movie stars, most notably its infamous decision [[Horrible/{{WCW}} to make actor David Arquette WCW Champion]].[[note]]It should be said that Arquette himself thought this was a terrible idea, and donated any money he earned from wrestling to the families of Wrestling/OwenHart, Wrestling/BrianPillman, and Darren Drozdov.[[/note]] After the AOL/Time Warner merger went down, however, the conglomerate put WCW up on the chopping block in an attempt to get rid of what it saw as a money drain (which was accurate as WCW did lose ''$60 million'' in 2000). Since Turner could no longer protect WCW (he had pretty much left Time Warner when the AOL deal proved to be a huge mistake following the dot-com bubble bursting), and WCW couldn't turn itself around fast enough, it was eventually sold to Wrestling/VinceMcMahon for a measly $4.2 million. Bischoff tried to purchase the company in the weeks prior to its sale so he could eventually reboot the entire promotion, but without a TV deal to air the shows, those plans eventually fell through.

From 1999 to 2001, WCW tried, and failed, to mirror the WWF's successful changeover to the Attitude Era by doing everything from hiring Wrestling/VinceRusso to instituting a [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-hc.html Hardcore Title]] and even trying to cross-promote the company using music and movie stars, most notably its infamous decision [[Horrible/{{WCW}} to make David Arquette WCW Champion]].[[note]]It should be said that Arquette himself thought this was a terrible idea, and donated any money he earned from wrestling to the families of Wrestling/OwenHart, Wrestling/BrianPillman, and Darren Drozdov.[[/note]] After the AOL/Time Warner merger went down, however, the conglomerate put WCW up on the chopping block in an attempt to get rid of what it saw as a money drain (which was accurate as WCW did lose ''$60 million'' in 2000). Since Turner could no longer protect WCW (he had pretty much left Time Warner when the AOL deal proved to be a huge mistake following the dot-com bubble bursting), and WCW couldn't turn itself around fast enough, it was eventually sold to Wrestling/VinceMcMahon for a measly $4.2 million. Bischoff tried to purchase the company in the weeks prior to its sale so he could eventually reboot the entire promotion, but without a TV deal to air the shows, those plans eventually fell through.

The book ''Literature/TheDeathOfWCW'', co-authored by Website/{{WrestleCrap}} writer RD Reynolds, examines many of the problems and decisions that led to WCW's ultimate downfall. The book includes numerous historical facts and figures, such as pay-per-view buyrates and earnings, that trace WCW's rise to prominence in 1997 all the way to its eventual demise.

When Wrestling/HulkHogan and Eric Bischoff arrived in [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] in 2010, that company soon moved its weekly show (''Impact'') to Monday nights in what looked like an attempt to reignite the Monday Night Wars. ''Impact'' ended up getting only a third of the ratings of ''Raw'' (at best), and it eventually moved back to Thursday after a mere four months.[[note]]TNA's "Monday Night Skirmish" received the 2010 Gooker Award from [=WrestleCrap=].[[/note]]

On October 2, 2019, ''Wrestling/{{AEW}} Dynamite'' debuted on TNT, airing opposite ''Wrestling/{{WWE NXT}}'', which had debuted on the USA Network two weeks prior, moving from the WWE Network, kicking off what fans dubbed the "Wednesday Night War".[[note]]Despite ''NXT'' being on TV first, this war was initiated by WWE instead of AEW, who preemptively moved ''NXT'' to the USA Network to counterbook ''Dynamite'' after AEW announced what time they would be running.[[/note]] The Wednesday Night War lasted less than 1 1/2 years, eventually ending with a whimper rather than a bang when NXT was moved by the USA Network from Wednesdays to Tuesdays starting from April 13, 2021. While AEW had been decisively "winning" the ratings battle almost every week, the move was motivated more by the preferences of the network (who wanted to air the NHL in NXT's timeslot) than by any decision from WWE to "back down", and the general consensus was that the end of the conflict would simply be better for everyone.[[note]]It would also have resulted in NXT going head-to-head with ''Wrestling/ImpactWrestling'' (which had been airing on Tuesdays for years by now) instead, but Impact saw the writing on the wall and hurriedly moved their show back to Thursday nights instead starting from April 8, which had the interesting side effect of putting a major wrestling show on TV every day of the week; ''Raw'' on Monday, ''NXT'' on Tuesday, ''Dynamite'' on Wednesday, ''Impact'' on Thursday and ''[=SmackDown=]'' on Friday.[[/note]] However NXT's failure to defeat AEW was seen as a humiliating defeat for WWE within the company and led to considerable changes, with NXT eventually being taken out of the hands of Wrestling/TripleH and repackaged into the [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks almost-unrecognizable]] "NXT 2.0".[[note]]Which ironically ended up winning the Gooker Award for 2021.[[/note]]

On October 2, 2019, ''Wrestling/{{AEW}} Dynamite'' debuted on TNT, airing opposite ''Wrestling/{{WWE NXT}}'', which had debuted on the USA Network two weeks prior, moving from the WWE Network, kicking off what fans dubbed the "Wednesday Night War".[[note]]Despite ''NXT'' being on TV first, this war was initiated by WWE instead of AEW, who preemptively moved ''NXT'' to the USA Network to counterbook ''Dynamite'' after AEW announced what time they would be running.[[/note]] The Wednesday Night War lasted less than 1 1/2 years, eventually ending with a whimper rather than a bang when NXT was moved by the USA Network from Wednesdays to Tuesdays starting from April 13, 2021. While AEW had been decisively "winning" the ratings battle almost every week, the move was motivated more by the preferences of the network (who wanted to air the NHL in NXT's timeslot) than by any decision from WWE to "back down", and the general consensus was that the end of the conflict would simply be better for everyone.[[note]]It would also have resulted in NXT going head-to-head with ''Wrestling/ImpactWrestling'' (which had been airing on Tuesdays for years by now) instead, but Impact saw the writing on the wall and hurriedly moved their show back to Thursday nights instead starting from April 8, which had the interesting side effect of putting a major wrestling show on TV every day of the week; ''Raw'' on Monday, ''NXT'' on Tuesday, ''Dynamite'' on Wednesday, ''Impact'' on Thursday and ''[=SmackDown=]'' on Friday.[[/note]] However NXT's failure to defeat AEW was seen as a humiliating defeat for WWE within the company and led to considerable changes, with NXT eventually being taken out of the hands of Wrestling/TripleH and repackaged into the almost-unrecognisable "NXT 2.0".[[note]]Which ironically ended up winning the Gooker Award for 2021.[[/note]]

From 1999 to 2001, WCW tried, and failed, to mirror the WWF's successful changeover to the Attitude Era by doing everything from hiring Wrestling/VinceRusso to instituting a [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-hc.html Hardcore Title]] and even trying to cross-promote the company using music and movie stars, most notably its infamous decision [[Horrible/{{WCW}} to make David Arquette WCW Champion]].[[note]]It should be said that Arquette himself thought this was a terrible idea, and donated any money he earned from wrestling to the families of Wrestling/OwenHart, Wrestling/BrianPillman, and Darren Drozdov.[[/note]] After the AOL/Time Warner merger went down, however, the conglomerate put WCW up on the chopping block in an attempt to get rid of what it saw as a money drain. Since Turner could no longer protect WCW (he had pretty much left Time Warner when the AOL deal proved to be a huge mistake following the dot-com bubble bursting), and WCW couldn't turn itself around fast enough, it was eventually sold to Wrestling/VinceMcMahon for a measly $4.2 million. Bischoff tried to purchase the company in the weeks prior to its sale so he could eventually reboot the entire promotion, but without a TV deal to air the shows, those plans eventually fell through.

From 1999 to 2001, WCW tried, and failed, to mirror the WWF's successful changeover to the Attitude Era by doing everything from hiring Wrestling/VinceRusso to instituting a [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-hc.html Hardcore Title]] and even trying to cross-promote the company using music and movie stars, most notably its infamous decision [[Horrible/{{WCW}} to make David Arquette WCW Champion]].[[note]]It should be said that Arquette himself thought this was a terrible idea, and donated any money he earned from wrestling to the families of Wrestling/OwenHart, Wrestling/BrianPillman, and Darren Drozdov.[[/note]] After the AOL/Time Warner merger went down, however, the conglomerate put WCW up on the chopping block in an attempt to get rid of what it saw as a money drain. Since Turner could no longer protect WCW (he had pretty much left Time Warner when the AOL deal proved to be a huge mistake following the dot-com bubble bursting), and WCW couldn't turn itself around fast enough, it was eventually sold to Wrestling/VinceMcMahon for $4.2 million. Bischoff tried to purchase the company in the weeks prior to its sale so he could eventually reboot the entire promotion, but those plans eventually fell through.

While Goldberg's victory may have put the lid on WCW's coffin, the first nail came from the [[FingerpokeOfDoom Fingerpoke of Doom]]: the combination of a TwistEnding to a world title match that led to the reformation of the [=nWo=] coupled with the ''over half million viewers Nitro lost'' when announcer Wrestling/TonySchiavone revealed that Wrestling/MickFoley would win his first [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-h.html WWF Championship]] on a pre-taped episode of ''Raw'', with Schiavone quipping "[[TemptingFate That'll put butts in seats]]" after the spoiler, all but killed the promotion that night [[note]]although it should be pointed out that the ratings of ''Nitro'' were the same the very next week.[[/note]]

While Goldberg's victory may have put the lid on WCW's coffin, the first nail came from the [[FingerpokeOfDoom Fingerpoke of Doom]]: the combination of a ShockingSwerve ending to a world title match that led to the reformation of the [=nWo=] coupled with the ''over half million viewers Nitro lost'' when announcer Wrestling/TonySchiavone revealed that Wrestling/MickFoley would win his first [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wwe/wwe-h.html WWF Championship]] on a pre-taped episode of ''Raw'', with Schiavone quipping "[[TemptingFate That'll put butts in seats]]" after the spoiler, all but killed the promotion that night [[note]]although it should be pointed out that the ratings of ''Nitro'' were the same the very next week.[[/note]]

On October 2, 2019, ''Wrestling/{{AEW}} Dynamite'' debuted on TNT, airing opposite ''Wrestling/{{WWE NXT}}'', which had debuted on the USA Network two weeks prior, moving from the WWE Network, kicking off what fans dubbed the "Wednesday Night War".[[note]]Despite ''NXT'' being on TV first, this war was initiated by WWE instead of AEW, who preemptively moved ''NXT'' to the USA Network to counterbook ''Dynamite'' after AEW announced what time they would be running.[[/note]] The Wednesday Night War lasted less than 1 1/2 years, eventually ending with a whimper rather than a bang when NXT was moved by the USA Network from Wednesdays to Tuesdays starting from April 13, 2021. While AEW had been decisively "winning" the ratings battle almost every week, the move was motivated more by the preferences of the network (who wanted to air the NHL in NXT's timeslot) than by any decision from WWE to "back down", and the general consensus was that the end of the conflict would simply be better for everyone.[[note]]It would also have resulted in NXT going head-to-head with ''Wrestling/ImpactWrestling'' (which had been airing on Tuesdays for years by now) instead, but Impact saw the writing on the wall and hurriedly moved their show back to Thursday nights instead starting from April 8, which had the interesting side effect of putting a major wrestling show on TV every day of the week; ''Raw'' on Monday, ''NXT'' on Tuesday, ''Dynamite'' on Wednesday, ''Impact'' on Thursday and ''[=SmackDown=]'' on Friday.[[/note]]