History Wrestling / WCWMondayNitro

Eventually, the WWF bought WCW. The last episode of ''Nitro'' aired on March 26, 2001, and the end of that episode served as a lead-in for the Invasion angle.

After ''Nitro'' ended, TNT wouldn't air any form of professional wrestling for over 18 years until Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling announced it would air its weekly prime-time television program on TNT in 2019. The weekly show, airing on Wednesday nights and titled ''[[MtythologyGag Dynamite]]'', premiered on October 2, 2019.

After ''Nitro'' ended, TNT wouldn't air any form of professional wrestling for over 18 years until Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling announced it would air its weekly prime-time television program on TNT in 2019. The weekly show, airing on Wednesday nights and titled ''Dynamite'', premiered on October 2, 2019.

[[caption-width-right:220:Logo used from September 4, 1995 to March 1999.]]

[[caption-width-right:220:Logo used from April 1999 to March 26, 2001.]]

After ''Nitro'' ended, TNT wouldn't air any form of professional wrestling for over 18 years until Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling announced it would air its weekly prime-time television program on TNT in 2019. The weekly show, airing on Wednesday nights and titled ''[[SpiritualSuccessor Dynamite]]'', premiered on October 2, 2019.

* StealthPun: Nitro, which is often an abbreviation of nitroglycerin, aired on a network named TNT. (TNT themselves had [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhO1Mc7btLc used such a pun back in 1990 when their coverage of the NFL began.]])

In 1995, [[Wrestling/{{WCW}} World Championship Wrestling]] was looking for a way to compete with the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} World Wrestling Federation]]. The method they went with was to start a weekly show on Creator/{{TNT}} [[note]]then just a male-skewing entertainment network, as opposed to its' start as a proto-[[Creator/TurnerClassicMovies TCM]], or it's current drama-heavy lineup[[/note]] designed to go head to head with [[Wrestling/WWERaw their rival's flagship program]]. Thus, on September 4, 1995, ''WCW Monday Nitro'' aired its first episode from the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.

''Nitro'' was highly unconventional from Day 1. A majority of episodes opened with a match, making it much different than ''Raw''--but in a good way, since the undercard matches had all the cruiserweights. Each one was on a level of quality that their competitors typically for reserved for pay-per-views. Plot twists were common, and since ''Raw'' was pre-taped at the time and ''Nitro'' was live, commentary on the latter would frequently leak results from the former's matches. Their uniqueness was furthered by the Wrestling/NewWorldOrder angle, as it [[WorkedShoot blurred the line]] between {{kayfabe}} and reality.

All of this made for a winning formula for success. Famously and frequently stated by Eric Bischoff, ''Nitro'' beat ''Raw'' in the ratings for 84 weeks straight, and at one point was the most watched show on cable in the United States.

However, it wouldn't last. The nWo angle ran well beyond its welcome, and the [[FingerpokeOfDoom Fingerpoke of Doom]] removed any sense of prestige from the title belts. Affecting WCW as a whole, the PPV-quality matches were able to draw ratings but left nothing notable to save for PPV. The last few years were a shadow of what the show once was. [[ShockingSwerve Bizarre twists]], [[{{Padding}} time-wasting filler]], and a {{heel face revolving door}} that just wouldn't stop made for an almost [[{{Camp}} Ed Woodian]] show.

After ''Nitro'' ended, TNT wouldn't air any form of professional wrestling for over 18 years until Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling announced it would air its weekly prime-time television program on TNT in 2019. The weekly show, airing on Wednesday nights and titled ''Dynamite'', premiered on October 2, 2019.

After ''Nitro'' ended, TNT wouldn't air any form of professional wrestling for over 18 years until Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling announced it would air its weekly prime-time television program on TNT in 2019. The weekly show, airing on Wednesday nights and titled ''Dynamite'', will premiered on October 2019..

* EpicFail: The January 4th 1999 episode of ''Nitro'' was the one where WCW arguably made ''two'' of their biggest-ever mistakes literally back-to-back. First, Eric Bischoff told Tony Schiavone to spoil the fact that Wrestling/MickFoley was about to win the WWF Championship over on ''Raw'', believing this would discourage viewers from changing the channel, only to ''completely'' misjudge Foley's popularity[[note]]As well as forgetting that it's not exactly an every-week occurrence to crown a new champion.[[/note]] and send over 600,000 viewers across to his rivals instead (it sure [[{{Irony}} "put some butts in seats"]]). Then after that, any viewers who switched back to ''Nitro'' after seeing Foley's win got the "privilege" of seeing... '''The {{Fingerpoke of Doom}}!''' And WCW would never recover.

* {{Fingerpoke of Doom}}: The {{trope namer|s}}. Kevin Nash laid down for Hulk Hogan after receiving a gentle poke in the chest, effectively making Hogan the World Heavyweight Champion again, as well as mocking the audience.

After ''Nitro'' ended, TNT wouldn't air any form of professional wrestling for over 18 years until Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling announced it would air its weekly prime-time television program on TNT in 2019. The weekly show, airing on Wednesday nights and titled ''Dynamite'', will premiere in October 2019..

* TheBadGuyWins: Part of the reason the nWo angle ran out of steam was because the bookers forgot that the {{heel}}s are eventually supposed to lose. The nWo, on the other hand, kept dominating without anyone to stop them. The closest thing to a victory was Sting and Bret pounding the stuffing out of Hogan in 1997, and even then, the nWo kept splintering and re-forming.

** Series/{{Arliss}} was once a guest-commentator, newly-arrived in Orlando to hype the wrestling debut of Dennis Rodman. Note that it was ''not'' Robert Wuhl the actor who representing Rodman. It was Arliss. He spent the show trashing actual wrestlers and hyping Rodman as the [[InformedAbility biggest thing]] in wrestling. (He actually fell asleep on a turnbuckle and later sued the promotion.)
--->'''''Website/{{WrestleCrap}}'':''' I'm more curious if WCW made the check out to "[[IAmNotSpock Arliss.]]" Because I could totally see this company doing that.

* ConspicuousConsumption: Rewatching ''Nitros'' in the present day is a wistful, and slightly surreal, experience. '''So many limousines''' and pyros they could afford on every broadcast. Especially interesting is how WCW went overboard with the pyro for wrestlers' entrances. Pyro was a rare event in the WWF, even during the Monday Night Wars. (Wrestling/{{Kane}}, for example.) But in WCW, even midcarders like Buff Bagwell and the Misfits in Action had pyro. Talk about excess!
** Of course, it helped that Ted Turner (and then Time Warner) was bankrolling the whole thing...
* ContinuityReboot: A rare in-company example of this took place in April 2000. There was a concerted effort to try and shake off the badness that had accumulated in the last few angles. It didn't work.

* HoistByHisOwnPetard: Bischoff's obsession with tearing down the WWF backfired on him with the "That's gonna put some butts in the seats!" spoiler. Much earlier, Bischoff had made Vince shit bricks by spoiling pre-taped WWF matches at his own live events. Where he miscalculated on January 4, 1999 was that [[Wrestling/MickFoley Mankind]] was no Wrestling/ShawnMichaels. To put it another way, Mankind was the underdog garbage wrestler, the long-shot contender. Fans were '''less''' likely to tune into ''Raw'' before Tony's comments. Even Russo, crazy and meta as he is, probably would have warned Bischoff not to do this.

After ''Nitro'' ended, TNT wouldn't air any form of professional wrestling for over 18 years until Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling announced it would air its weekly prime-time television program on TNT in 2019. The weekly show, airing on Wednesday nights and titled ''Wednesday Night [[JustForPun Dynamite]]'', will premiere in October 2019..

* {{Bookends}}: The first and last ''Nitro'' both had Flair vs. Sting.

After ''Nitro'' ended, TNT wouldn't air any form of professional wrestling for over 18 years until Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling announced it would air its weekly prime-time television program on TNT in 2019. The weekly show, rumored to be airing on Tuesdays nights and titled ''Tuesday Night [[JustForPun Dynamite]]'', will premiere at some point in the fall.

After ''Nitro'' ended, TNT wouldn't air any form of professional wrestling for over 18 years until Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling announced it would air its weekly television program on TNT's Tuesday night prime-time slot in 2019. The weekly show, rumored to be titled ''Tuesday Night [[JustForPun Dynamite]]'', will premiere at some point in the fall.

* StealthPun: Nitro, which is often an abbreviation of nitroglycerin, aired on a network named TNT.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first episode lacked the familiar red and black color-scheme, pyro and large diamond-plated WCW letters. Though the show was held at the Mall of America.

** There was also a period of time which Turner handed down a mandate that [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad banned the word "foreign"]] from being used on his network in favor of the word "international." As such, [[ScunthorpeProblem foreign objects became "international objects" on WCW television]].

In 1995, [[Wrestling/{{WCW}} World Championship Wrestling]] was looking for a way to compete with the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} World Wrestling Federation]]. The method they went with was to start a weekly show on Creator/{{TNT}} [[note]]then just a male-skewing entertainment network, as opposed to its' start as a proto-[[Creator/TurnerClassicMovies TCM]], or it's current drama-heavy lineup[[/note]] designed to go head to head with [[Wrestling/WWERaw their rival's flagship program]]. Thus, on September 4, ''Monday Nitro'' aired its first episode from the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.

''Nitro'' was highly unconventional from Day 1. A majority of episodes opened with a match, making it much different than ''Raw''--but in a good way, since the undercard matches had all the cruiserweights. Each one was on a level of quality that their competitors typically for reserved for pay-per-views. Plot twists were common and, since ''Raw'' was pre-taped at the time, the announcers would sometimes leak results from ''Raw''[='s=] matches. Their uniqueness was furthered by the Wrestling/NewWorldOrder angle, as it [[WorkedShoot blurred the line]] between {{kayfabe}} and reality.

All of this made for a winning formula for success. ''Nitro'' outdid ''Raw'' in the ratings for 84 weeks straight, and at one time was the most watched show on cable.

* CrushingHandshake: Played with at WCW Bash at the Beach 1998. Stevie Ray faced Wrestling/ChavoGuerreroJr, with the stipulation that if Chavo didn't win the match, he had to face Eddie Guerrero in a "loser gets their head shaved" match immediately following. Chavo, wanting to be fresh for the next match (and ''really'' wanting to get to Eddie after weeks of abuse at his hands) offers Stevie a pre-match handshake and immediately taps out once a shocked-looking Stevie takes his hand. [[EpicFail Chavo would proceed to lose to Eddie and shave his own head,]] [[AxCrazy then try to shave Eddie's head while shrieking, "WE CAN BE TWINS, EDDIE!"]]

* EpicFail: The January 4th 1999 episode of ''Nitro'' was the one where WCW arguably made ''two'' of their biggest-ever mistakes literally back-to-back. First, Eric Bischoff told Tony Schiavone to spoil the fact that Wrestling/MickFoley was about to win the WWF Championship over on ''Raw'', believing this would discourage viewers from changing the channel, only to ''completely'' misjudge Foley's popularity and send over 600,000 viewers across to his rivals instead (it sure [[{{Irony}} "put some butts in seats"]]). Then after that, any viewers who switched back to ''Nitro'' after seeing Foley's win got the "privilege" of seeing... '''The {{Fingerpoke of Doom}}!''' And WCW would never recover.

In 1995, [[Wrestling/{{WCW}} World Championship Wrestling]] was looking for a way to compete with the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} World Wrestling Federation]]. The method they went with was to start a weekly show on TNT designed to go head to head with [[Wrestling/WWERaw their rival's flagship program]]. Thus, on September 4, ''Monday Nitro'' aired its first episode from the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota on Creator/{{TNT}} (then just a male-skewing entertainment network, as opposed to its' start as a proto-[[Creator/TurnerClassicMovies TCM]], or it's current drama-heavy lineup).

In 1995, [[Wrestling/{{WCW}} World Championship Wrestling]] was looking for a way to compete with the [[Wrestling/{{WWE}} World Wrestling Federation]]. The method they went with was to start a weekly show on TNT designed to go head to head with [[Wrestling/WWERaw their rival's flagship program]]. Thus, on September 4, ''Monday Nitro'' aired its first episode from the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.