History Awesome / WCW

** His electrifying defeat of Hollywood Hogan on ''Nitro'' in July 1998 to win the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-h.html WCW World Heavyweight Championship]] for the first time. Though the match really should have been saved for a pay-per-view in order to create a massive PPV payday, the deafening crowd reaction (thanks to WCW scheduling the victory in Goldberg's hometown of Atlanta, Georgia) and the mere fact that Hogan took a ''clean'' pinfall loss in WCW make it probably the last truly great Crowning Moment of Awesome that WCW can attest to (since it was the last time ''Nitro'' defeated ''Raw'' in the ratings).

* If you're talking about Rey Mysterio, you can't talk about his career without going to the match that practically catapulted him to stardom in the US: at ''Halloween Havoc '97'', [[http://youtu.be/cLAcbAS6AjA he faced nemesis Eddie Guerrero in a Mask vs. Title Match]] for the WCW Cruiserweight Championship; while Rey would win the match, both men came out looking like gold thanks to putting on an amazing display of aerial assaults and technical skill, and Rey arguably became [=WCW's=] top cruiserweight from that point on until the promotion's demise in 2001.

** To drive this point further, for those of you that were not alive at the time, Hulk Hogan turning heel made the news. Not just the local news, the NATIONAL news! That’s right, a wrestler turning bad guy was front page, nationwide news.

* Also at ''Bash at the Beach 1996'': the show was kicked off with a singles match between Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr and his arch-rival Wrestling/{{Psicosis}} [[http://youtu.be/_-VMLNgRc6o the first time they'd fought each other in WCW]][[note]]When they met again in 2005 at [=WWE's=] ''One Night Stand'' PPV commentator Joey Styles mentioned they had wrestled each other ''over 500 times''. Which kind of begged the question of why they booked it again[[/note]]. The match itself was a classic. The finish, when Psicosis tried to do a top rope move (a crucifix into a powerbomb) and Mysterio countered with a Rana ''in mid air'', bringing the entire stadium (which had been lukewarm to the wrestlers in the first 10 minutes) to their feet. So, so many of the cruiserweights these days are following in the footsteps of Mysterio and Psicosis, and it's a Crowning Moment of '''Un'''Awesome that Psicosis never became a star like Mysterio did.

* [=WarGames=] 1992 between the Dangerous Alliance of Rick Rude, Steve Austin, Bobby Eaton, Larry Zbyzko, and Arn Anderson take on Sting's Squadron of Sting, Dustin Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat, Barry Windham, and Nikita Koloff. A classic matchup featuring a Who's Who of talent and probably the greatest [=WarGames=] match ever.

-->'''Schiavone:''' ''For [[Wrestling/BobbyHeenan Bobby "The Brain" Heenan]] and [[Wrestling/DustyRhodes "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes]], I'm Tony Schiavone... You can go straight to hell, Hulk Hogan. Straight to hell.'' ('''THUNK''' as he throws down headset in anger)

** Or how about ''Spring Breakout 1998'', where he rapelled out of a FREAKIN' HELICOPTER.

* He's no JR, but Wrestling/TonySchiavone did call one of the greatest swerves of all time: Lex Luger unexpectedly winning the World Title from Hogan at the Palace of Auburn Hills (in August 1997). Luger's got Hogan in the rack and the crowd is going bananas, then Schiavone comes in screaming "They're standing in Detroit! He's got him in the rack!" The bell rings and the arena comes unglued. Tony's going nuts, and even he sounds like he's in disbelief: "Luger won the title? LUGER WON THE TITLE?! ''LEX LUGER WON THE TITLE!!''"

* ''WCW Thunder'' has a reputation for being bad. But one moment sticks out as being awesome. On the first episode of ''Thunder'', The Giant (you know, Wrestling/TheBigShow) comes down to the ring, which is full of [=nWo=] members, grabs one of the turnbuckle posts ''with one hand '''and rips it out, collapsing the entire ring.'''''

* Also at ''Bash at the Beach 1996'': the show was kicked off with a singles match between Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr and his arch-rival Wrestling/{{Psicosis}} [[http://youtu.be/_-VMLNgRc6o the first time they'd fought each other in WCW]]. The match itself was a classic. The finish, when Psicosis tried to do a top rope move (a crucifix into a powerbomb) and Mysterio countered with a Rana ''in mid air'', bringing the entire stadium (which had been lukewarm to the wrestlers in the first 10 minutes) to their feet. So, so many of the cruiserweights these days are following in the footsteps of Mysterio and Psicosis, and it's a Crowning Moment of '''Un'''Awesome that Psicosis never became a star like Mysterio did.

-->'''Schiavone:''' ''For [[Wrestling/BobbyHeenan Bobby "The Brain" Heenan]] and Larry Zbyszko, I'm Tony Schiavone... You can go straight to hell, Hulk Hogan. Straight to hell.'' ('''THUNK''' as he throws down headset in anger)

-->'''Schiavone:''' ''For [[Wrestling/BobbyHeenan Bobby "The Brain" Heenan]] and Larry Zbyszko, I'm Tony Schiavone... You can go straight to hell, Hulk Hogan. Straight to hell.'' ('''THUNK''' as he throws down headset)

** Tony Schiavone's close of the show is also pretty awesome.

--> ''"As far as I'm concerned, all this crap in the ring represents these fans out here. For two years, brother, for two years, I held my head high, I did everything for the charities, I did everything for the kids, and the reception I got when I came out here, you fans can stick it, brother. Because, if it wasn't for Hulk Hogan, you people wouldn't be here. If it wasn't for Hulk Hogan, Eric Bischoff would be still selling meat from a truck in Minneapolis, and if it wasn't for Hulk Hogan, all these Johnny-Come-Latelys that you see out here wrestling wouldn't be here. I was selling out the world, brother, while they were bumming gas to put in their car to get to high school. So the way it is now, brother, with Hulk Hogan and the New World Organization of Wrestling, brother, me and the new blood by my side, whatcha gonna do when the new world order of professional wrestling runs wild on you? Whatcha gonna do?!"''

** At ''Road Wild 1998'', Goldberg defended his newly won title in a battle royal where it was him going up against an entire nWo contingent. Not only did he avoid defeat against both the Hollywood and Wolfpac factions of the nWo, he capped off his victory by [[CrazyAwesome Jackhammering The Giant]]. He would later repeat this spot on ''Nitro'', and hold him up in the Jackhammer for several seconds!

* When WCW was in its disastrous downward spiral in 1999, Eric Bischoff at one point snapped and blew up on "the boys in the back" one night. Among other things, he told the locker room that if anyone wasn't satisfied with the way things were going or how they was being booked, they could just leave. He called out several of the younger guys, like Raven and Konnan, in particular. This created two [=CMOAs=]: First, upon hearing that, [[Wrestling/{{Raven}} Scott "Raven" Levy]] quite literally [[TakeThisJobAndShoveIt got up and walked out]], asking for his release. Bischoff gave it to him, and he went right back to Wrestling/{{ECW}}. Secondly, hen Bischoff gave Konnan the same offer, Konnan wanted to take it on one condition: Rey Mysterio gets his release too. Bischoff refused and told Konnan that he could either leave by himself or stay and Bischoff would make his life hell. Konnan, whose feud with the WWF meant he wouldn't be able to work there chose to stay. Still, despite knowing he'd been blacklisted from the WWF, Konnan was willing to face that if it meant he could get Mysterio out of WCW and their incompetent booking.

* Some argue in favor of a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Wrestling/HulkHogan that arguably trumps slamming Wrestling/AndreTheGiant -- his infamous FaceHeelTurn [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hILCw66sLU and joining of the newly-formed]] Wrestling/NewWorldOrder at ''Bash at the Beach 1996'', kicking off one of the biggest angles in the history of the industry and reinventing himself in the process. The video of that event on [=YouTube=] had a great quote: "I was a little kid when I watched this. I started crying."