Original subtitles

Welcome to WCW Monday Nitro.

Live, cutting-edge, controversial.

This is where the big boys play, huh?

The program that fired the first shots

of the Monday night ratings war.

We've got a new champion.

Monday Nitro was the preeminent showcase for WCW

stars, who played host to many of the most unpredictable,

chaotic moments in WCW history.

You want a war?

Today, we look back on some of the wildest hits

from WCW Monday Nitro.

This is WWE's Greatest Moments.

If you smell--

Oh, my God, what

the hell are you doing?

Absolutely unbelievable.

Hulkamania is here.

Welcome, everyone, to WWE's Greatest Moments.

I'm Michael Cole, and on this edition,

we're taking a look at the show that began a war.

The Monday night war that is.

For two years, WWE dominated Mondays with their

barrier-breaking program, Monday Night Raw.

The very first primetime wrestling show ever.

But in the fall of 1995, their unopposed reign

atop Monday nights was threatened.

WCW announced plans for their very own live wrestling show,

Monday Nitro.

Now, why I wanted to go up

against the competition?

Because I like kicking butt.

With such a brash announcement,

WCW knew that it had to hit a home run with

the debut edition, and boy, was that an understatement.

Minneapolis, Minnesota,

the Mall of America,

the only building big enough

to hold the debut edition of WCW Monday Nitro.

At that time, WWE was live one week, taped the next.

So, I thought somebody needs to do live every week.

That's going to be me.

So much going on here in World Championship Wrestling,

WCW, where the big boys play.

The first time I heard about Nitro going

head-to-head with us, I thought they were crazy.

"We're going to compete, let's go.

We're going to fight, let's go fight."

The one thing that I took away from all the

research we did across the country

was that fans like surprises.

What in the hell is he doing here?

I was the surprise guy at the very end walking out.

I just wrestled that weekend in WWE.

It really helped set us up for great success because

there was already controversy.

Well, you said things were going to happen

every Monday night, Bischoff, and it's happening.

In the mid-1990s, Alundra Blayze

was the premier female talent in WWE.

What a competitor, what an athlete,

and what a fine young lady.

But Alundra would leave WWE to join the rival,

WCW, as her previous alias, Madusa.

While she may have left behind the Alundra Blayze moniker,

Madusa made sure not to leave behind something else.

Alundra Blayze, the WWF Women's Champion-

Something's happened within the company.

Vince made a decision.

"Alundra, we've got to let you go."

She let me know that she was leaving WWE.

And she said, "Oh, by the way,

I still have the WWE Women's Championship."

"Hmm," I said to myself.

"Bring it with.

We'll figure it out."

He's excited about--

This is the WWF Women's Championship belt.

Whoa.

Whoa.

Wait a minute, what?

Look.

That indeed it is.

Not in the trash can.

When I made the decision to drop the title in

the trash can, it was an iconic moment.

It started the Monday night war.

Because this is where the big boys play,

and now this is where the big girls play.

It was very personal to us, and it was

clearly a decision, you know, to try to divide the audience,

and they were successful.

I tell you what, I'm in shock.

"Oh, I can't bel-- You dropped the Women's Champion

in the garbage?"

I said, "Sure did."

Wanted to make a statement.

It was a big moment.

Sting was one of the most beloved superstars

in WCW history.

With his All-American nature, Sting appealed to fans around

the globe, cementing himself as WCW's main event hero.

One, two, three.

One- Oh, we got a new champion.

But in 1996, Sting ditched the bleached

blonde hair and signature scream for a more dark, ominous look.

Among sold-out crowds for Nitro each week, Sting would often be

seen hanging from the rafters, quietly observing the actions of

his foes, the New World Order-

Somewhere here in the arena--

There is Sting.

as week in and week out, they threatened the

existence of WCW, the company that Sting helped build.

But in January 1997, Sting ditched the rafters for the ring

in a moment that shocked fans around the world.

He's got a chair, and he's daring anybody.

It's going to take either a massed physical effort

to get this show going here.

What do we have here?

What the heck?

That's Sting from the top

of the United Center.

When Sting dropped down the very first time

on Nitro, it'd never been attempted before.

Now, we had a stunt coordinator that was working with us.

It's like The Venom.

People went crazy because they've been up there

for 15 weeks before that.

I focused on being different than the WWE

in as many ways as possible.

To have him come down, something new in the business.

Just kind of like this lone wolf vigilante guy that

came out, and you never knew what was going to happen.

Boy, talking about a game of chess.

Sting kind of repelling down from out

of nowhere was just really consistent with the way

I saw that character.

That's when WCW stopped thinking wrestling

and started thinking entertainment.

20 stories up.

That was quite a sight.

Dennis Rodman is perhaps the most colorful,

enigmatic star in NBA history.

With his unique look and unbridled charisma,

The Worm was right at home in professional wrestling.

The newest member of the nWo.

Known for marching to the beat of his own drum,

Rodman's off-court activities often took precedence

over basketball.

And in 1998, while firmly entrenched with his Chicago

Bulls in the NBA finals--

Rodman found himself wrestling

with something other than basketball.

The World Champion, "Hollywood" Hogan,

and would you--

Dennis Rodman is here at the Palace of Auburn

Hills tonight for Nitro?

Dennis called me and said,

"Hey, I can be at Nitro, Monday.

Do you want me to come?"

I didn't even think to ask him if he had a game or not.

I'm feeling nothing but love for Hollywood and Rodzilla.

You have no choice but to love me, right?

With Rodzilla in the house,

there won't be no stopping nWo Hollywood-

Dennis Rodman brought so many eyes to WCW.

He was fully invested.

This is 4-life, baby.

You know, I got a bunch of calls

from Phil Jackson.

"Oh, we need him here at practice."

"I can't make him go back.

He doesn't want to go.

He likes hanging out with the wrestlers."

I love this.

This is life, right?

4-life forever, baby.

I knew that the sports media followed his every

move, and I would get advertising, quite frankly,

that I couldn't afford to buy at that time.

Big news has been Dennis Rodman.

On Monday, he didn't show up for work.

Everything's fine.

Did you have a good time, sir?

Absolutely.

I always do.

And we did.

Boy, did we ever.

It worked out perfectly.

There are some things worth missing

practice for, brother.

Oh.

By late 1997, the Monday night war was in full

swing, and both WWE and WCW pulled no punches in trying to

outdo the others for reigning supremacy.

I have built the most successful wrestling

organization on planet Earth.

Case in point, Eric Bischoff, executive

producer of WCW, sought to use the fact that Monday Night Raw

was a taped show to his advantage.

WCW would often announce the results of the taped Raw

episodes in an effort to humiliate WWE.

Later tonight, Mick Foley is going

to win their world title.

Ugh.

That's going to put some butts in the seat.

Yeah.

With similar intent, in November of 1997,

WCW had fans seeing double.

That's Rick Rude.

It's time for the Generation X.

Let's bring out the man.

What's he pointing at here.

Who's this?

I don't know.

I guess--

Oh, holy smokes, Rick--

Rick Rude?

Because Monday Night Raw was taped one week,

live the next week, Rick happened to be on a taped

episode of Raw that went head-to-head with my live show.

The audacity of D-Generation X-

Coming out of the woodwork, Rick Rude.

assaulting the commissioner.

It's funny because it was like, "He's going

to be on both shows because our show is taped, where it is he's

going to show up live on our show tonight."

Oh, what a difference a day makes.

Sometimes in war, you think nothing's

crossing the line, but I thought that was a low one.

And it was obvious to me to abandon the Titanic

and swim to the refuge of the nWo.

It really represented the peak

of competition between WCW and WWE at that time.

It's what you call taking

the bull by the horns.

I began with WWE in 1997, right in the middle

of the famed 83 weeks, where the revolutionary concepts

on Nitro were beating Raw in the ratings on a weekly basis due

in no small part to when Eric Bischoff created the nWo,

an outlaw group that was attempting to take over WCW.

But one man refused the nWo's advances at every turn,

the master of the Diamond Cutter, Diamond Dallas Page.

nWo member "Macho Man" Randy Savage took DDPs refusal

personally and sought to make his life a living hell.

Spray painting nWo on the back

of Diamond Dallas Page.

On July 7th, 1997, the Macho Man took on the

luchador, La Parka-

From south of the border in Mexico in La Parka.

in what was supposed to be a tuneup match

but became anything but.

La Parka, he must face a member of the nWo in

"The Macho Man" Randy Savage.

We're all just under the impression

that this is La Parka doing his thing.

Wrestling the whole match.

One, two--

How about that roll up by La Parka?

They take me and La Parka.

I start talking like, "Teach me how you do your gimmick."

It was so much fun just going back and forth with him

and no one knew about this.

Did you see that?

That's not in La Parka's arsenal.

That's not something he does.

Incredible maneuver.

He hit him with the Diamond Cutter.

Did you see that?

That's not La Parka.

That's not La Parka.

DDP.

He did such a good job, and the audience

assumed it was La Parka.

I just know I loved it and it paid off so well.

That is incredible.

He pinned him, Diamond Dallas.

Throughout 1998, Goldberg

was an unstoppable force in WCW.

The phenomenon that is Bill Goldberg.

He piled up wins with relative ease by utilizing

the most vicious move in his arsenal.

There's the Spear.

But new on the WCW scene was former

five-time WWE Champion.

Bret "The Hitman" Hart

has arrived to Nitro.

The Hitman no doubt did his homework on the

menacing Goldberg.

I could beat Goldberg in five minutes.

He was physically outmatched, sure, but mentally?

I came to the WCW to prove

that I can execute any

wrestler I want, anytime I want.

During that time period when I went to WCW,

it was a golden opportunity for me.

William Goldberg, you big chicken,

come out here and fight me.

And here's Goldberg, right?

I can take on a guy like that.

He was a beast.

Whoa.

Oh.

He nailed him.

Wait a minute.

Bret Hart us down and out.

So is Goldberg.

Goldberg is not moving either.

But it doesn't do the damage that it should do.

What-what-- What's happening here?

Bret Hart is the only one moving here.

Goldberg was such a monster.

He hit you with that Spear, you was stunned.

You don't see Goldberg in that position too often.

He's going to try to pin.

One, two, three.

Oh.

Oh.

Ho, ho.

That's probably the best defense for the Spear

that we've ever seen.

That's when I realized that it was really

like the Wild Wild West.

Okay, go ahead and respect that.

When Lex Luger ignited the Money Night War on

the debut edition of Nitro in 1995,

he was looking for opportunity.

Unfortunately, several months later, at Bash in the Beach, the

New World Order was formed, and from that point on,

the nWo ran the industry, with "Hollywood" Hogan

having a stranglehold on the WCW World Championship.

Who is the most powerful man

in professional wrestling?

I'm going to slap you up in the rack and become

the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

The Total Package vowed to help put an end

to Hogan's tyrannical reign as champion.

We are waiting one of the biggest,

if not the biggest matchup ever on Nitro.

Hogan was the champ, but by the time we got to

to Auburn Hills, Lex, he's red hot.

He will go after the man who has set

the standard for world titles in our sport, Hulk Hogan.

Here we go.

On the 100th program of Nitro.

What impact, the running clothesline

in the corner.

nWo just ran roughshod over everybody.

And no one thought they were ever going to be stopped.

Think of the attributes it takes

to become a champion.

Both of them have it right there.

People come to me all the time.

I was there that night, man.

It was unbelievable.

Hogan on the attack.

Oh.

Oh, there's his Leg Drop.

That's it.

That's it.

Cover.

One, two and-- He kicked out.

The audience liked the idea of surprises.

Got him now.

They're standing in Detroit.

Yes.

He's got him in the Rack.

He's got him in the Rack.

Hogan says--

Hogan says yes.

Look at him tap out.

Luger won the title.

Luger won the title.

The roof came off that place 'cause they never

expected to see Hogan who's in a title match on live TV.

It is celebration time in the Motor City.

The guys were really truly excited.

We got left laying for over a year or so finally

had a night to celebrate.

It was all based on keeping the audience

off balance and-and surprising them as often as we could.

WCW is at its strongest point.

During the New Generation Era of WWE, one of

the most popular superstars was "The Bad Guy" Razor Ramon.

Say hello to Razor Ramon.

Oozing machismo, Razor was a major WWE Superstar

in the mid-90s, capturing the Intercontinental Championship

a then record four times.

Nobody beats The Bad Guy.

But in May 1996, Ramon suddenly disappeared

from WWE TV.

What happened next sent shockwaves throughout the

professional wrestling business.

Welcome back live to the first hour of this

edition of WCW Monday Night Nitro on TNT.

Wait a minute.

What-what--

What the hell is going on here?

What, what?

Scott Hall became available.

Now the idea is starting to frame in my head.

He comes down through the crowd.

Hmm?

Audiences aren't used to seeing that.

When you present them with things that they haven't seen

before, they automatically assume it must be real.

I'm a little skeptical.

I mean, I just left 'WWE.

You people, you know who I am-

but you don't know why I'm here.

Scott was a real lynchpin to taking that moment I

had with Nitro to a whole new level.

You want a war, you're going to get one.

People thought Vince sent me there.

That's the only reason it worked.

Everybody's in shock and, um,

things had just gotten bigger.

I can't believe I'm seeing this.

It's now time for our number one moment.

From the moment that Goldberg burst onto the scene in WCW,

he displayed a hard-hitting style that immediately

grabbed your attention.

Who's next?

As months wore on, it became apparent

that Goldberg was destined to be on a collision

course with the leader of the nWo and WCW World Champion,

"Hollywood" Hulk Hogan.

Goldberg ain't nobody.

He's not in the same league as Hollywood.

On the July 6th, 1998, edition of Nitro, in front

of a sold-out Georgia Dome, Goldberg finally got his crack

at Hogan and the championship.

Nitro is on the air

where over 40,000 fans are jammed

in the Georgia Dome in what will go down as the

biggest night in the history of this grand sport.

What I remember most is how big

and how pivotal of a moment that was for WCW.

There was a little bit of discussion whether

or not we wanted to do it on a pay-per-view, but we're in the

television business, we're not in the pay-per-view business,

so it was just a perfect seller.

And it could be the night where Goldberg

walks away with the gold from arguably the greatest champion

our sport has ever had in "Hollywood" Hogan.

If I'm going to be the bad guy,

we need another Hulk Hogan.

The-the spear here.

Now, finish him off.

Finish him off.

It's about being in the right place

at the right time.

Oh, hell, yeah.

One--

One, two, three.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you.

We've got a new heavyweight champion of the world.

Hulk passing the torch was huge.

Hogan put me over in front of 45,000 people

and what a cool deal that was.

That match helped re-establish us.

It was magic.

It's been a night that we will never forget.

That win was a true passing-of-the-torch moment

and signaled to the professional wrestling world that Goldberg

was an unstoppable force and ready

to be its number one entity.

In 2001, the final Nitro aired as WCW closed

its doors for good.

But in six short years, Nitro packed a lifetime of memorable

moments that will never be forgotten.

Revolutionary, transformative.

Nitro tore down the status quo and dared to challenge the

mighty WWE and did just that.

That'll do it for this edition of WWE's Greatest Moments.

I hope you've enjoyed this look back at the very best

of WCW Monday Nitro.