TBF WWF did the same thing and spent a lot of Smackdown recapping Raw. Smackdown was easier to watch out of the US so they recapped what happened on Raw Similarly, Nitro was much more accessible than Thunder outside the US so it makes sense to recap Thunder. People forget these things when watching back years later. I'm not even sure when/if Thunder was broadcast in the UK but Nitro was Friday nights at 9pm on satellite in the 90s on..... Turner Classic Movies (I think?) - definitely on a free channel though as I watched before we had Sky.
@@arostwocents I remember watching both shows quite vividly. Of course WWF and WCW had their normal recaps of the previous shows, but Nitro was notoriously criticized for regularly not having matches during the first hour of the show, or only having 1-2 three minute matches, or nothing but highlights and two or three long promos. Everyone who worked at WCW stated how the 3rd hour killed their show because they couldn't write 5 hours of TV each week, which is completely understandable. It is quite different for those viewers overseas, especially in the days of pre-Sky, but I'm talking about from the American perspective. But it wasn't just about recapping Thunder on the next Nitro, they would most often recap the previous week's Nitro in its entirety (until Russo was hired back and tried to make Thunder a more important show). That was the biggest issue for viewers, because there were regular complaints that people didn't even have to worry if they missed the previous week's Nitro because the whole show would be recapped in the first hour of the next week's show (leading people to watch Raw instead, and just tune in to the first hour of Nitro to catch up). Eventually, the fans got tired of this and ratings for Nitro from 8 pm - 9 pm began to plummet until the ratings never recovered after 9 o'clock.
Rey was just channeling his inner Bobby Hill, and uttered those famouse words, and if you listen closely you can clearly hear him saying it, "THATS MY PURSE! I DONT KNOW YOU!"
No, this was the perfect time to take Rey's mask off. The West coast vs Southern boys feud was great stuff and it gained a lot of traction in such a short period of time, but WCW just gave up on it and later turned the Filthy Animals into straight up heels, which was the wrong decision. Rey & Konnan (and even Kidman) could have been properly elevated - but in classic WCW fashion they screwed it up so none of them reached a higher level.
It did actually make sense. There were tonnes of masked guys and Rey was HUGELY over without mask, much, MUCH more over than he was with the mask. There were tonnes of masked guys in WCW. It wasn't like they unmasked one of two or three masked little guys. There was so many and none of them were over beyond having good matches. Removing the mask made Rey a star and shot him up the card, differentiating him from the other masked cruiserweights. People who didn't watch WCW always say this was a terrible decision as their only conception of it is WWF Rey when his mask was distinctive and made him unique. That wasn't the case in WCW.
I’m so glad he unearthed that atrocity and ridiculed it to the extent he has. I remember watching it live and thinking it was the worst ever segment in pro wrestling but nobody really cared anymore because Russo had already done countless other stupidest things ever by that point.
Imagine being THE GUY people go to when they accidentally find some terrible retro wrestling (ideally featuring Jarrett and/or Russo). It’s like a life sentence 😂👍
Imagine being a guy who watches videos from a guy who watches the worst retro wrestling and then talks about 😂 I can’t even explain why it’s so interesting but i’ve watched probably a hundred of his videos this month lmao
Imagine having the roster WCW had back in 98/99 and screwing it up. Imagine if workers like DDP, Raven, Rey, Jericho, Benoit, Kidman, Booker T had all got pushed hard during the tail end of 98 and begining of 99.... But everyone basically left during the end of 99 so it was probably too late.
DDP was main eventing PPV's with Hogan and Goldberg. He became World champion a month after this episode. You can't say he wasn't pushed hard. It's the WWF that didn't see him as the star he was. And Raven? Really? He was stuck on ECW mode after he split from that place. And he was at the top of WCW's death pool. He's not the kinda guy you would want to give much of a push in a mainstream promotion.
@@quentinkaasa47 I kinda agree on the Raven part, I was just a Raven mark back then lol And as for DDP, sure he got a push and was facing the likes of Hogan, Hall, Nash, Savage Goldberg, etc.... But therein is the problem. He was facing off against the same top guys. If other younger talent was pushed there could have been much more interesting matches leading to everyone involved getting more over. But by the time they actually tried to do this it was far too late.
It's uncanny how you can turn something so bad into something so good. You've breathed new life into what was dead on arrival time and time again. Incredible work bud.
Back in this era when Nitro was 3 hours, they usually just showed promos/vignettes/video packages/commercials/interviews/etc . for the 1st hour till raw started at 9pm
There was quite an exodus of wrestlers leaving WCW in 1999 and 2000. Somewhat similar to the mass departure of wrestlers from the World Wrestling Federation in 1992 and 1993.
WCW started the cost cutting at the end of 1999. In a real shitty move, Russo had a bunch of low level guys compete in a match on Thunder in which the losers would be fired. And most or all of them were.
@@cinema_coyoteRoad Dogg's non-compete was ending just as WCW died. I think he even went to the final Nitro looking for a job and didn't know until he got there. What a kick to the balls that must have been.
Yeah I remember watching that episode of Raw just out of curiosity and saying wtf repeatedly, especially when Rollins was being interviewed back stage, proceeded to walk to the ring, they cut to commercial and when they come back on the air Rollins just stands there for a minute and leaves 😂
I’m pretty sure Kevin Nash booked this show. Hopefully that explains why he’s all over the first hour. Really makes you wonder why Russo gets all the heat, even if he definitely deserves plenty of it. Anyway, I’ve heard that there were some Nitros in the summer of 1999 up to Russo’s arrival that make this episode seem like Masterpiece Theatre. Maybe that piques your interest…?
This commentary has so many hilarious moments 😂. 37 mins of drawn out conversations/promos & highlights on the flagship wrestling show is mind-boggling.
The worst Raw I remember audibly thinking “wow this is bad” was the July 4th 2005 Raw where nothing significant happened aside from HBK turning on Hulk Hogan. Just felt like a nothing show I stayed home to watch rather than seeing fireworks with family.
Came to add Raw after WrestleMania 39. Seth Rollins literally came out to the ring and just stood there, rerun matches. Cody getting manhandled by Brock after losing in his biggest match at that point.
12:53 heh, a few years ago I commented on a Scott Norton post on Twitter (or a post that he was tagged on, can't recall) that this field kick should have made it to the "Ready To Rumble" blooper reel, only for him to like the quip 😂 Also, it's good to see the "Smack Of The Week" bit again
I mean you can blame him for a lot. The fact he came up with the crash TV gimmick in wrestling means you can definitely say he had a hand in this even though he wasn't employed by the company at the time.
This episode looks like it was the result of being produced during... not a writers strike, because there's writing all over the fricking place, but... a referee strike? Sound guy strike?
Well, might as well suggest it, since it's one fever dreamed Nitro episode I kinda remember seeing. Nitro 10.01.2000 It featured three Jeff Jarret matches which he all lost and then had soap shoved down his throat while tied up. Will it be worst Nitro ever? Probably not. But it has a lot of Wild Slapnuts in it.
This storyline killed the nWo for good and set WCW on their final tumble off the cliff when it comes to both ratings and attendance. There's a misconception that business took a nosedive immediately after the Fingerpoke of Doom and that's just not the case. WCW was still putting up huge numbers in the weeks after and breaking their own company records set previously in 97/98 despite trailing behind WWF in the Nielsen ratings. This particular arc we see led to the nonsensical Flair/Hogan double turn at Uncensored and you can almost immediately see the change in the amount of fans in the arena. Then they change the set from the colorful lights to that ugly new logo that's devoid of any sort of color. The ring became grey and dull and on the outside was just black. The lights in the arena are ugly and lifeless now, a smokey grey look over the crowd. The amazing and hard hitting Monday Nitro theme song is gone, replaced by something industrial sounding as were the the trends of 1999 - 2002ish. Nitro was never the same.
That's the story. The first hour was on before RAW started. Nash intentionally booked that hour to have no wrestling as a way of trying to prove that ratings would remain consistent.
What I recall being the worst show of NITRO was where the entire first hour was nothing but video replays of matches (and I think they were played in black & white). I cannot remember the exact date, but I think it was around the same time of this show. After that, I did not watch NITRO again until the last episode.
This was LITERALLY THIS SHOW!!! lol I remember deadlock talking about this and wants to see if it was the same. IT WAS! Though I remember the boys liking the Steiner and Bagwell stuff but that's it I think. Lol might watch their review of it.
@@AL7249 I guess my memory is inaccurate and I remembering this show then. I just remember the match replays for the entire hour; not just for 37 minutes, nor the gun range or any other segment.
Nash was joking that they could put anything on during the first hour and still pop a 5.0 rating. He put it to the test here, and he was right. Problem was, they never did again. This is the month people quit watching.
I don’t remember if it was Russo or Nash booking on the philosophy that because the first hour was unopposed they shouldn’t do anything important on it, and every match and important interview should be on the last two hours….of course what this actually meant is that the first hour was often so bad that nobody bothered watching any of it or had any desire to stop watching Raw and check in on a show where nothing happened for an entire hour
Damn really no wonder the first hour was full of nothing why couldn’t they book actual matches and have the wrestlers go for 10 to 15 mins u know cause it’s a freaking wrestling show have the cruiserweights go for 10 to 15 and have the midcard actually wrestle it’s not that hard to tell hey Benoit or Chris I need u put a ppv quality match and go for 15
@@LeeDickinson-zf1zo cool! Didn’t know the exact date of said policy and didn’t want to dump on him for being the obvious name when late era WCW did something weird
16:26 The nWo D Team attack 😂😂😂 being a bit generous by calling them the D Team! I would’ve called them the J Team as in the Jabroni Team as they’re all a group of jobbers. But D Team could stand for the Don’t want to see them on tv Team
I wonder in the arena, were they sitting there watching the segments on the scoreboard screen or whatever ir were there basically dark matches in the arena?
@@SpawnOfKorn He gave the ratings a bit of a bump, but honestly there was nothing he could do. Nobody but Ted Turner wanted wrestling on TNT or TBS, even when the ratings were high.
WCW was in freefall longer than that. Reliving the War even highlights how by Summer 98 they seem to have lost all momentum and are spinning their wheels.
14:52 On that time Van Hammer use both of Cobra Clutch Slam and Alabama Slam (Called "Flashback") as finisher. But he prefer on Flashback as a true finisher on that time he use hippie gimmick.
I'm pretty sure I watched that episode when it aired back in '99. Given I had just started to watch wrestling less than a year earlier I'm almost shocked I didn't stop or permanently switch to WWF. I remember the half an hour of promos beforehand that was awful.
So odd having all the talking segments in the first half hour and all of the wrestling afterwards. If the show was taped, then they probably meant to splice each talking segment between the matches but forgot to edit it properly before it aired.
The first hour was unopposed. They didn't go head-to-head with RAW until hour two. It was basically an experiment and Nash trying to prove a point to Bischoff.
Everybody should know that Vince Russo was in the WWF while this aired. I never understood how people gave him such s*** when this kind of programming was being written by Eric Bischoff.
Hey Mark, there’s a episode of Nitro that happened on 14/8/2000 (the night after New Blood Rising) - I generally believe it’s the worst episode of wrestling ever, and if I’m wrong you can officially hit me with a brick :/
Sorry to be super random man but what is the background song being used by you when the flair and Anderson talk segment is going on?! I really like it for real 😂
I remember being a kid watching clips of episodes around this time on their Saturday show in Spanish because I didn’t have cable but was so confused 😂 it wasn’t great but glad I got to watch as adult though
Imagine turning on Nitro in 1999 and the nWo has talked for 30 minutes, you've seen no actual matches or segments in the ring, you have no idea if this is a skippable clip show or not, and you have 2 and a half more hours to sit and find out.
The rating for this show was a 4.4. Both AEW and WWE today-with all their flips, suicide dives, and super kicks-struggle to break a 1. This might not be what you’re into, but people back then definitely were into it.
@@ValeriaZaragoza692 There has to be a fine line between the ratings determining which shows are of quality, because I've seen some great episodes of Dynamite with garbage ratings and I've seen some shit Raws with 3's and 4's
@@BBoy4040 What it speaks to is Vince Russo’s ability to get non-wrestling fans into wrestling. This is why the ratings were much higher for shows like this that had less in-ring action. The “marks” who go crazy for all these high-flying moves and technical skills are a much smaller contingent of fans vs. those would tune in for the drama, comedy, and overall entertainment value of the show.
I'd like to see you tackle the WXO which lasted for a hiccup in 2000. Three hour long shows featuring the dregs of WCW and young indy wrestlers. This is the group that had that infamous Johnny Ace promo "If you don't got it, get it. If you don't get it, well figure it out!"
Jan 28, 2015 Raw aka the Snowed In Raw should get a look over. I can’t imagine that show has aged well as it was just interviews and then they Re-showed the Rumble
Modern wwe episodes and aew episodes should be considered for this lol. I mean there's been several AEW Dynamite shows with 100%, I repeat, 100% squash matches, this year alone
It’s funny how half assed all the stars are during this period. Why tf didn’t they all band together and tell Bischoff or Russo or whoever’s in charge at this point how crap everything is?
Well the booker of this episode was actually Nash because he believed the ratings would stay consistent even if there was no wrestling. Russo actually wasn't here yet
"But they aired that interview on Thunder. Why did they have to show the same thing again on Nitro?"
MarkyD, welcome to WCW circa 1998-2001.
TBF WWF did the same thing and spent a lot of Smackdown recapping Raw. Smackdown was easier to watch out of the US so they recapped what happened on Raw
Similarly, Nitro was much more accessible than Thunder outside the US so it makes sense to recap Thunder.
People forget these things when watching back years later. I'm not even sure when/if Thunder was broadcast in the UK but Nitro was Friday nights at 9pm on satellite in the 90s on..... Turner Classic Movies (I think?) - definitely on a free channel though as I watched before we had Sky.
@@arostwocents I remember watching both shows quite vividly. Of course WWF and WCW had their normal recaps of the previous shows, but Nitro was notoriously criticized for regularly not having matches during the first hour of the show, or only having 1-2 three minute matches, or nothing but highlights and two or three long promos. Everyone who worked at WCW stated how the 3rd hour killed their show because they couldn't write 5 hours of TV each week, which is completely understandable.
It is quite different for those viewers overseas, especially in the days of pre-Sky, but I'm talking about from the American perspective. But it wasn't just about recapping Thunder on the next Nitro, they would most often recap the previous week's Nitro in its entirety (until Russo was hired back and tried to make Thunder a more important show). That was the biggest issue for viewers, because there were regular complaints that people didn't even have to worry if they missed the previous week's Nitro because the whole show would be recapped in the first hour of the next week's show (leading people to watch Raw instead, and just tune in to the first hour of Nitro to catch up). Eventually, the fans got tired of this and ratings for Nitro from 8 pm - 9 pm began to plummet until the ratings never recovered after 9 o'clock.
Rey was just channeling his inner Bobby Hill, and uttered those famouse words, and if you listen closely you can clearly hear him saying it, "THATS MY PURSE! I DONT KNOW YOU!"
Taking Rey Mysterio’s mask off was one of the stupidest ideas WCW had.
WWE was wise to have him put the mask back on.
There should be a Was It Any Good? video on that.
No, this was the perfect time to take Rey's mask off. The West coast vs Southern boys feud was great stuff and it gained a lot of traction in such a short period of time, but WCW just gave up on it and later turned the Filthy Animals into straight up heels, which was the wrong decision. Rey & Konnan (and even Kidman) could have been properly elevated - but in classic WCW fashion they screwed it up so none of them reached a higher level.
Yes but rey mysterio in 2000 without a mask makes sense.for the time it was cool and in tht group
You probably also think vince russo winning the title was the right choice @@quentinkaasa47
It did actually make sense. There were tonnes of masked guys and Rey was HUGELY over without mask, much, MUCH more over than he was with the mask.
There were tonnes of masked guys in WCW. It wasn't like they unmasked one of two or three masked little guys. There was so many and none of them were over beyond having good matches. Removing the mask made Rey a star and shot him up the card, differentiating him from the other masked cruiserweights.
People who didn't watch WCW always say this was a terrible decision as their only conception of it is WWF Rey when his mask was distinctive and made him unique. That wasn't the case in WCW.
Scott Norton getting KO'd by a kick to the balls is peak WCW.
I would love to see someone like Braun Strowman sell a low blow like that 😂😂
Should have worn a cup, bro
Gold
The referee counting the three without Nash pinning the other guys really gets to me all the time 🤣
What match was that exactly? Can't find it on here
I’m so glad he unearthed that atrocity and ridiculed it to the extent he has. I remember watching it live and thinking it was the worst ever segment in pro wrestling but nobody really cared anymore because Russo had already done countless other stupidest things ever by that point.
Even before Russo the matches didn't make any sense. Didn't Hogan beat Vader in a strap match by pinning Flair?
1:58 “Spring Break in Rhode Island.”
Obviously the first place that comes to mind when someone mentions the words “spring break.”
Imagine being THE GUY people go to when they accidentally find some terrible retro wrestling (ideally featuring Jarrett and/or Russo). It’s like a life sentence 😂👍
Marky really does suffer for us.
Imagine being a guy who watches videos from a guy who watches the worst retro wrestling and then talks about 😂 I can’t even explain why it’s so interesting but i’ve watched probably a hundred of his videos this month lmao
It's a personal brand of torture like in The Good Place lol
I miss rasslin real rasslin ,,,Dubbea C Dubbea
Marks job or get water boarded?
Imagine having the roster WCW had back in 98/99 and screwing it up. Imagine if workers like DDP, Raven, Rey, Jericho, Benoit, Kidman, Booker T had all got pushed hard during the tail end of 98 and begining of 99.... But everyone basically left during the end of 99 so it was probably too late.
DDP was main eventing PPV's with Hogan and Goldberg. He became World champion a month after this episode. You can't say he wasn't pushed hard. It's the WWF that didn't see him as the star he was.
And Raven? Really? He was stuck on ECW mode after he split from that place. And he was at the top of WCW's death pool. He's not the kinda guy you would want to give much of a push in a mainstream promotion.
@@quentinkaasa47 I kinda agree on the Raven part, I was just a Raven mark back then lol And as for DDP, sure he got a push and was facing the likes of Hogan, Hall, Nash, Savage Goldberg, etc.... But therein is the problem. He was facing off against the same top guys. If other younger talent was pushed there could have been much more interesting matches leading to everyone involved getting more over. But by the time they actually tried to do this it was far too late.
Nortons selling of that kick was so fucking goofy
It's always gonna be great whenever the hawk posts a new video on the channel.
11:54 "what an annoying collection of people"
- Me when I punch in for work every morning. Doubly so on Monday.
I totally forgot Riki Rachtman was on a WCW Nitro. That is the guy who Markyd said reminded him of Eric Bischoff.
Stevie Richards had a Headbangers Ball t-shirt on for one of the Nitro episodes when he was briefly in WCW
Uhh duhh. He was being sarcastic. Everyone knows who Ricky freaking rachman is. *whiff*
Is that the guy from loveline back in the day?
@@paulgreinke2586 he was on love line a lot, ya
Remember that one time when Rachtman was interviewing Mustaine/Megadeth and Mustaine called Rachtman a 'J*w Boy?' Lol good ole days.
Van hammer Vs Bret Hart 😅
I bet no die hard wrestling fan ever knew that happened until now
thats what i like about old wrestling, i wouldn`t mind seeing Roman Reigns vs Ottis in 2023
It's uncanny how you can turn something so bad into something so good. You've breathed new life into what was dead on arrival time and time again. Incredible work bud.
Especially since the new life was breathed into something that was dead on arrival over 20yrs ago
Back in this era when Nitro was 3 hours, they usually just showed promos/vignettes/video packages/commercials/interviews/etc . for the 1st hour till raw started at 9pm
For a guy that everyone seemed to find terrible, WCW always kept Van Hammer around. He must have had some good blackmail on the company.😂
Imagine how satisfying it was for Norman Smiley to land that trash can blow to bishoff's head
Before i watch the episode, i guess nothing can beat Kevin Nash's pins from the spirutal zones.
RIP Mean Gene
Those 3 hours Nitros were BAD for that pointless first hour.
There was quite an exodus of wrestlers leaving WCW in 1999 and 2000. Somewhat similar to the mass departure of wrestlers from the World Wrestling Federation in 1992 and 1993.
People jumping ship the last couple of years. Can you blame ‘em?
@@dukes1993724 Most of the wrestlers that left didn't even jump over though.
@Jax Pillow Harris Bros, Public Enemy, Goldust, and Stasiak all got let go, wouldn't say they "jumped". Road Dogg didn't go to WCW
WCW started the cost cutting at the end of 1999. In a real shitty move, Russo had a bunch of low level guys compete in a match on Thunder in which the losers would be fired. And most or all of them were.
@@cinema_coyoteRoad Dogg's non-compete was ending just as WCW died. I think he even went to the final Nitro looking for a job and didn't know until he got there. What a kick to the balls that must have been.
I really love these videos. They are so funny & it's great seeing just how bad WCW got. Keep up the great work! ❤
The recent raw after wrestlemania 39 was awful. It had about 35 mins if wrestling
Lol reminds of the Tna after bound for glory 2011
@@pleaseshutup7053 35 minutes of wrestling in a 3 hour show though.
Yeah I remember watching that episode of Raw just out of curiosity and saying wtf repeatedly, especially when Rollins was being interviewed back stage, proceeded to walk to the ring, they cut to commercial and when they come back on the air Rollins just stands there for a minute and leaves 😂
When the old lunatic came back.
Because guys spamming super kicks, suicide dives and chest chops is what I wanna see on my wrestling show. 🙄😄
Giving how universally hated it was, I'm suggesting the April 3, 2023 edition of Monday Night RAW.
Torrie Wilson was (and still is) one of God's finest creations.
Trish, Torrie, and Stacy the hot blonde hat trick.
@@travisboyle285what about major gunns she was hot she was a porn star too and Pamela paulshot
@@travisboyle285
Sable, Tori (DX) and Sunny 😂😂
OH MY GOD THE EPISODE WITHOUT WRESTLING FOR AN HOUR, this is one of the best DEADLOCK episodes
As long as a wild slap nuts appears I'm happy
It'll be fun to see what wrestling bios makes of this when he gets round to it
Unless that opposing episode of Raw ends up here I’m pretty sure I know who is getting the point that week.
@@freeparking301 The Raw episode was probably crap that week as well. McMahon just had that Rock and Austin weapon to deploy.
@@jasonmccrank4981 At that point we were getting pretty close to that weak “Higher Power” reveal weren’t we?
I’m pretty sure Kevin Nash booked this show. Hopefully that explains why he’s all over the first hour. Really makes you wonder why Russo gets all the heat, even if he definitely deserves plenty of it. Anyway, I’ve heard that there were some Nitros in the summer of 1999 up to Russo’s arrival that make this episode seem like Masterpiece Theatre. Maybe that piques your interest…?
Because marks can't stop talking about russo
Is that fxckn Theo Von at the nitro party tug of war??😂😂
1:59
The Walls of Jericho was called The Lion tamer in WCW
Those are different people
@@EssexAggiegrad2011 whos different people,?
@@EssexAggiegrad2011there were separate actors
@@seankately4411ya
@@seankately4411 I meant moves
Proof that WCW was dying, before Russo took over.
This commentary has so many hilarious moments 😂. 37 mins of drawn out conversations/promos & highlights on the flagship wrestling show is mind-boggling.
The worst Raw I remember audibly thinking “wow this is bad” was the July 4th 2005 Raw where nothing significant happened aside from HBK turning on Hulk Hogan. Just felt like a nothing show I stayed home to watch rather than seeing fireworks with family.
Thats every raw from then until now
At least you had HBK turning on Hogan. There's a bunch of 3 hr Raws that were horrible before Triple H took over creative.
Came to add Raw after WrestleMania 39. Seth Rollins literally came out to the ring and just stood there, rerun matches. Cody getting manhandled by Brock after losing in his biggest match at that point.
12:53 heh, a few years ago I commented on a Scott Norton post on Twitter (or a post that he was tagged on, can't recall) that this field kick should have made it to the "Ready To Rumble" blooper reel, only for him to like the quip 😂
Also, it's good to see the "Smack Of The Week" bit again
It’s almost like they didn’t want to have a show at all.
That’s a really bold move.
And you can't blame Russo for this one as he's still with WWF until autumn.
I mean you can blame him for a lot. The fact he came up with the crash TV gimmick in wrestling means you can definitely say he had a hand in this even though he wasn't employed by the company at the time.
This episode looks like it was the result of being produced during... not a writers strike, because there's writing all over the fricking place, but... a referee strike? Sound guy strike?
0:25 subliminal image of the Shockmaster
Well, might as well suggest it, since it's one fever dreamed Nitro episode I kinda remember seeing.
Nitro 10.01.2000
It featured three Jeff Jarret matches which he all lost and then had soap shoved down his throat while tied up.
Will it be worst Nitro ever? Probably not. But it has a lot of Wild Slapnuts in it.
Judging by that description it would probably be the Hawk's favorite episode of Nitro ever
Oh my god having Deadlock AND MarkyD roast this episode to hell is such a blessing 😭😂
Raw is definitely winning this week on Reliving the War
WCW creative began to tank with the FPOD in January of 99.
This storyline killed the nWo for good and set WCW on their final tumble off the cliff when it comes to both ratings and attendance. There's a misconception that business took a nosedive immediately after the Fingerpoke of Doom and that's just not the case. WCW was still putting up huge numbers in the weeks after and breaking their own company records set previously in 97/98 despite trailing behind WWF in the Nielsen ratings. This particular arc we see led to the nonsensical Flair/Hogan double turn at Uncensored and you can almost immediately see the change in the amount of fans in the arena. Then they change the set from the colorful lights to that ugly new logo that's devoid of any sort of color. The ring became grey and dull and on the outside was just black. The lights in the arena are ugly and lifeless now, a smokey grey look over the crowd. The amazing and hard hitting Monday Nitro theme song is gone, replaced by something industrial sounding as were the the trends of 1999 - 2002ish. Nitro was never the same.
I sooo cant wait until Wrestling Bios cover this on RtW
Can't wait for this episode to come up on reliving the war 😁
Much respect as ever for enduring this never ephemeral era of failure aka WCW from 99-01
The return of the Smack of the Week sponsored by Blonde Just for Men got a pop out of me 😂 Thanks for bringing it back.
As I recall, Kevin Nash booked the episode this way to prove that people would watch Nitro even if there wasn't any wrestling.
That's the story. The first hour was on before RAW started. Nash intentionally booked that hour to have no wrestling as a way of trying to prove that ratings would remain consistent.
What I recall being the worst show of NITRO was where the entire first hour was nothing but video replays of matches (and I think they were played in black & white). I cannot remember the exact date, but I think it was around the same time of this show. After that, I did not watch NITRO again until the last episode.
This was LITERALLY THIS SHOW!!! lol I remember deadlock talking about this and wants to see if it was the same. IT WAS! Though I remember the boys liking the Steiner and Bagwell stuff but that's it I think. Lol might watch their review of it.
@@AL7249 I guess my memory is inaccurate and I remembering this show then. I just remember the match replays for the entire hour; not just for 37 minutes, nor the gun range or any other segment.
@@AL7249 do you know which episode of Deadlock that is? I need to listen to it ASAP
@@StraightCashHomie23 here you go!
th-cam.com/video/Ju42L4RDLCY/w-d-xo.html
Nash was joking that they could put anything on during the first hour and still pop a 5.0 rating. He put it to the test here, and he was right.
Problem was, they never did again. This is the month people quit watching.
I don’t remember if it was Russo or Nash booking on the philosophy that because the first hour was unopposed they shouldn’t do anything important on it, and every match and important interview should be on the last two hours….of course what this actually meant is that the first hour was often so bad that nobody bothered watching any of it or had any desire to stop watching Raw and check in on a show where nothing happened for an entire hour
This was a Nash effort.
Damn really no wonder the first hour was full of nothing why couldn’t they book actual matches and have the wrestlers go for 10 to 15 mins u know cause it’s a freaking wrestling show have the cruiserweights go for 10 to 15 and have the midcard actually wrestle it’s not that hard to tell hey Benoit or Chris I need u put a ppv quality match and go for 15
Russo wasn’t there until august
@@LeeDickinson-zf1zo cool! Didn’t know the exact date of said policy and didn’t want to dump on him for being the obvious name when late era WCW did something weird
16:26 The nWo D Team attack 😂😂😂 being a bit generous by calling them the D Team! I would’ve called them the J Team as in the Jabroni Team as they’re all a group of jobbers. But D Team could stand for the Don’t want to see them on tv Team
I wonder in the arena, were they sitting there watching the segments on the scoreboard screen or whatever ir were there basically dark matches in the arena?
So unless im wrong (which I could be) the Announcer for the Spring Break thing was Rikki Rachtman, former host of MTV's Headbangers Ball.
And Russo wasn't even there yet. That's amazing
He wasn't, oh jesus christ that means he did improve WCW 😂
@@SpawnOfKorn he didn't sign until October
@@SpawnOfKorn He gave the ratings a bit of a bump, but honestly there was nothing he could do. Nobody but Ted Turner wanted wrestling on TNT or TBS, even when the ratings were high.
. This proves Bischoff & Russo are very much alike in the way they see wrestling
WCW fell the moment 1999 arrived.
Close. The first monday.
WCW was in freefall longer than that. Reliving the War even highlights how by Summer 98 they seem to have lost all momentum and are spinning their wheels.
No it was falling before that even
(Deadlock voice) "Da hottest chick in the da worlddddddddddd......."
Oh man I remember reading about this episode on Wrestlecrap, the hawk suffers for our entertainment
This was the show that was part of Kevin Nash's plan to make wrestling more like The Larry Sanders Show I believe?
I guess lol
I watched this Nitro recently and laughed my ass off! They MUST have had technical difficulties at the arena or something.
14:52 On that time Van Hammer use both of Cobra Clutch Slam and Alabama Slam (Called "Flashback") as finisher. But he prefer on Flashback as a true finisher on that time he use hippie gimmick.
This time period in wcw remind me of the period raw had the special guest and unknown GM's. I didnt know what was going on
I would hate to be Wrestling Bios when they do this episode with the competing RAW episode on his Reliving the War series.
The most entertaining part of this WCW Nitro episode: The Hawk. Yes I mean our hawk, not hogan. Someone give me a brick to throw at the Hulkster!
What a serious mark
@@baronvonsvengoonie853 Yeah I’m a mark and I’ll admit it lol
@@kendalljenkins8005you’re pathetic lol. Seriously
You think it was bad watching it on TV? Imagine driving 3 hours each way to see it in person like I did.
I'm pretty sure I watched that episode when it aired back in '99. Given I had just started to watch wrestling less than a year earlier I'm almost shocked I didn't stop or permanently switch to WWF. I remember the half an hour of promos beforehand that was awful.
37 minutes of interviews 😂 god speed
So odd having all the talking segments in the first half hour and all of the wrestling afterwards. If the show was taped, then they probably meant to splice each talking segment between the matches but forgot to edit it properly before it aired.
The first hour was unopposed. They didn't go head-to-head with RAW until hour two.
It was basically an experiment and Nash trying to prove a point to Bischoff.
99-2000 WCW is so bad its good. Its like a car crash that keeps adding a new crash every week
The star power is insane watching these
@@pleaseshutup7053yeah wcws roster around this time was elite from the top down
Everybody should know that Vince Russo was in the WWF while this aired. I never understood how people gave him such s*** when this kind of programming was being written by Eric Bischoff.
Apparently this was Nash's idea since wwf had been doing backstage skits he had the book right about now and he was trying to ape the wwf style
No he was trying to mimic Larry Sanders
It’s so funny how the WCW Refs always saw the low blow but never called for the bell 😂🤦🏻♂️
The Smack of the Week just reminds me it's been months since we've seen a NWA TNA episode
What's the music you use over the footage? It's so chill and I'd love to have it playing
For the most part it was still more entertaining then today's raw, smackdown or nxt
haha yeah the episode that goes like an hour without any wrestling, this episode has always been such a mystery
Hey Mark, there’s a episode of Nitro that happened on 14/8/2000 (the night after New Blood Rising) - I generally believe it’s the worst episode of wrestling ever, and if I’m wrong you can officially hit me with a brick :/
99! Wow. Thats unusual 😮 it hadnt yet reached the nadir yet then but maybe it was foreshadowing 2000 😂
Reminder.... that was long before Russo showed up in WCW
WCW started going downhill in 1998 and fell off a cliff in 1999.
More entertaining than anything we see on WWE and AEW
Whats the song playing for the first 5 minutes of this in background? Really enjoy it
This reminds me of that episode of Impact, that only had one match on it, it was all a talking show, about Immortal vs Dixie storyline.
And it was the second highest rated TNA show in history doing 2 million viewers
I hope the crowd got a match during the time the crowd at home saw all those vignettes. Also why is Bagwell wearing a fez?
Sorry to be super random man but what is the background song being used by you when the flair and Anderson talk segment is going on?! I really like it for real 😂
Bret actually got a pretty good match out of Van Hammer at a Spring Break Nitro in '99
I know an episode you can watch for how bad can it be. The episode of Raw with the Katie Vick angle.
You speaking facts that raw was horrible I remember a terrible Jeff hardy match that episode also
Can’t wait for this episode on “Reliving the war”.
Do this year's Raw after WrestleMania. First hour was commercial free and nothing, but promos.
She looked like she had a hard life 😅
What’s the 80s style instrumental in the beginning?
Suggesting you take a look at Ring of Glory if you haven't before. Always love some good WCW content though!
I remember being a kid watching clips of episodes around this time on their Saturday show in Spanish because I didn’t have cable but was so confused 😂 it wasn’t great but glad I got to watch as adult though
Imagine turning on Nitro in 1999 and the nWo has talked for 30 minutes, you've seen no actual matches or segments in the ring, you have no idea if this is a skippable clip show or not, and you have 2 and a half more hours to sit and find out.
The rating for this show was a 4.4.
Both AEW and WWE today-with all their flips, suicide dives, and super kicks-struggle to break a 1.
This might not be what you’re into, but people back then definitely were into it.
@@ValeriaZaragoza692 There has to be a fine line between the ratings determining which shows are of quality, because I've seen some great episodes of Dynamite with garbage ratings and I've seen some shit Raws with 3's and 4's
@@BBoy4040 What it speaks to is Vince Russo’s ability to get non-wrestling fans into wrestling. This is why the ratings were much higher for shows like this that had less in-ring action.
The “marks” who go crazy for all these high-flying moves and technical skills are a much smaller contingent of fans vs. those would tune in for the drama, comedy, and overall entertainment value of the show.
Dang I was practicing brick punching yesterday ....hawk you keep screeching by......brick goes back in the bin.
I'd like to see you tackle the WXO which lasted for a hiccup in 2000. Three hour long shows featuring the dregs of WCW and young indy wrestlers. This is the group that had that infamous Johnny Ace promo "If you don't got it, get it. If you don't get it, well figure it out!"
Jan 28, 2015 Raw aka the Snowed In Raw should get a look over. I can’t imagine that show has aged well as it was just interviews and then they Re-showed the Rumble
Modern wwe episodes and aew episodes should be considered for this lol. I mean there's been several AEW Dynamite shows with 100%, I repeat, 100% squash matches, this year alone
It’s funny how half assed all the stars are during this period. Why tf didn’t they all band together and tell Bischoff or Russo or whoever’s in charge at this point how crap everything is?
Well the booker of this episode was actually Nash because he believed the ratings would stay consistent even if there was no wrestling. Russo actually wasn't here yet
Dammit Vince Russo!
Wait Russo wasn't there yet......Wow.
Hey bro! Can you make a video ranking list for Rey Mysterio’s wrestling matches?
I'm only 2:27 into the video and can't believe this was a real episode of WCW lmao wtf.