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00:00Witam na WCW, Monday Nitro!
00:04Live, cutting-edge, controversial.
00:08This is where the big boys play, huh?
00:11The program that fired the first shots of the Monday Night Ratings War.
00:15We've got a new champion!
00:17Monday Nitro was the preeminent showcase for WCW stars.
00:21It played host of many of the most unpredictable, chaotic moments in WCW history.
00:27You want a war?
00:28Today, we look back on some of the wildest hits of WCW Monday Nitro.
00:33This is WWE's Greatest Moments.
00:38Who's your son of a man?
00:40Oh my God, what the hell are you doing?
00:44Absolutely unbelievable!
00:46Welcome, baby, I'm just here.
00:53Welcome, everyone, to WWE's Greatest Moments.
00:56I'm Michael Cole, and on this edition, we're taking a look at the show that began a war.
01:01The Monday Night War, that is.
01:03For two years, WWE dominated Mondays with their barrier-breaking program, Monday Night Raw.
01:09The very first primetime wrestling show ever.
01:13But in the fall of 1995, their unopposed reign atop Monday Nights was threatened.
01:18WCW announced plans for their very own live wrestling show, Monday Nitro.
01:23And why I wanted to go up against the competition, because I like kicking butt.
01:27With such a brass announcement, WCW knew that it had to hit a home run with the debut edition.
01:33And boy, was that an understatement.
01:39Minneapolis, Minnesota, the fall of America, the only building big enough to hold the debut edition of WCW Monday Nitro.
01:50At that time, WWE was live one week, taped the next.
01:55So I thought, somebody needs to do live every week?
01:59That's going to be me.
02:00So much going on here in World Championship Wrestling.
02:03WCW, where the big boys play!
02:06The first time I heard about Nitro going head-to-head with us, I thought they were crazy.
02:09We're going to compete. Let's go.
02:11We're in a fight. Let's go fight.
02:13The one thing that I took away from all the research we did across the country
02:16was that fans like surprises.
02:21What in the hell is he doing here?
02:23I was a surprise guy at the very end walking out.
02:27I just wrestled that weekend with WWE.
02:31really helped set us up for great success, because there was already controversy.
02:37Well, you said things were going to happen every Monday night, Bishop, and it's happening.
02:45In the mid-1990s, Alundra Blaze was the premier female talent in WWE.
02:51What a competitor. What an athlete. And what a fine young lady.
02:54But Alundra would leave WWE to join the rival WCW as her previous alias, Medusa.
03:03While she may have left behind the Alundra Blaze moniker,
03:06Medusa made sure not to leave behind something else.
03:14Alundra Blaze!
03:16The WWE Women's Championship!
03:18Something's happened within the company.
03:20Vince made a decision.
03:22Alundra, we've got to let you go.
03:23She let me know that she was leaving WWE.
03:27And she said, oh, by the way, I still have the WWE Women's Championship.
03:33Hmm.
03:34I said to myself, bring it with.
03:37We'll figure it out.
03:40This is the WWF Women's Championship belt.
03:44Whoa!
03:46Wait a minute, what?
03:47Look.
03:52That's what you need. It is.
03:54Trash can.
03:54When I made the decision to drop the title in the trash can, it was an iconic moment.
04:00It started the Monday Night War.
04:02This is where the big boys play, and now this is where the big girls play.
04:06It was very personal to us, and it was clearly a decision, you know, to try to divide the audience,
04:12and they were successful.
04:13I'll tell you what, I'm in shock.
04:16Oh, I can't believe you dropped the Women's Championship in the garbage.
04:20Sure did.
04:22I wanted to make a statement.
04:23It was a big moment.
04:27Sting was one of the most beloved superstars in WCW history.
04:31With all-American nature, Sting appealed to fans around the globe, cementing himself as WCW's main event hero.
04:39One, two, go!
04:42Oh, he got a new champion!
04:45But in 1996, Sting ditched the bleached blonde hair and signature scream for a more dark, ominous look.
04:54Among sold-out crowds for Nitro each week, Sting would often be seen hanging from the rafters,
05:00quietly observing the actions of his foes, the New World Order.
05:03Somewhere here in the arena, there is Sting!
05:07As week in and week out, they'd threaten the existence of WCW, the company that Sting helped build.
05:14But in January 1997, Sting ditched the rafters for the ring, in a moment that shocked fans around the world.
05:24He's got a chair, and he's daring anybody.
05:27It's going to take either a mass physical effort to get this show going here.
05:33What do we have here?
05:37That's Sting!
05:38From the top of the United Center!
05:41When Sting dropped down the very first time on Nitro, it had never been attempted before.
05:47An arena stunt coordinator that was working with us.
05:49It's like the final!
05:50People went crazy because they'd been up there for 15 weeks before that.
05:53I focused on being different than the WWE in as many ways as possible.
05:58To have him come down, something new in the business.
06:02Just kind of like this lone wolf vigilante guy that came out and you never knew what was going to
06:07happen.
06:07Well, talk about a game of chess!
06:09Sting kind of repelling down from out of nowhere was just really consistent with the way I saw that character.
06:14That's when WCW stopped thinking wrestling, they start thinking entertainment.
06:1920 stories up!
06:20That was quite a shock.
06:23Still to come.
06:24Oh, holy smokes!
06:25There are some things worth missing practice for.
06:29Dennis Rodman is perhaps the most colorful, enigmatic star in NBA history.
06:35With his unique look at unbridled charisma, the worm was right at home in professional wrestling.
06:41The newest member of the NWO.
06:43Known for marching to the beat of his own drum, Rodman's off-court activities often took precedence over basketball.
06:50And in 1998, while firmly entrenched with his Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals,
06:55Rodman found himself wrestling with something other than basketball.
07:02The world champion, Hollywood Hogan!
07:05And would you, Dennis Rodman, is here at the Palace of Auburn Hills tonight for Nitro?
07:10Dennis called me and said, hey, I can be at Nitro Monday, do you want me to come?
07:14I didn't even think to ask him if he had a game or not.
07:17I'm feeling nothing but love for Hollywood and Rodzilla!
07:24I always practice and go to Detroit and go in the ring with Hulk Hogan.
07:28I think a lot of people thought to really dig what I was doing.
07:31You have no choice but to love me, right?
07:34I said, wow, this guy's just not a basketball player.
07:37He's just an all-around entertainer, period.
07:39With Rodzilla in the house, there will be no stopping N.W. Hollywood.
07:46Dennis Rodman brought so many eyes to WCW.
07:49He was fully invested.
07:51This is full life, baby.
07:53You know, I got a bunch of calls from Phil Jackson.
07:55Oh, we need him here at practice.
07:57I can't make him go back.
07:58He doesn't want to go.
07:59He likes hanging out with the wrestlers.
08:00You gotta love this.
08:01This is life, right?
08:02Full life forever, baby.
08:03I knew that the sports media followed his every move.
08:06And I wouldn't get advertising, quite frankly, that I couldn't afford to buy at that time.
08:09Big news has been Dennis Rodman.
08:11On Monday, he didn't show up for work.
08:14Everything's fine.
08:14Did you have a good time this time?
08:15Absolutely.
08:16I always do.
08:17And we did.
08:18Boy, did we ever.
08:19It worked out perfectly.
08:20There are some things worth missing practice for, brother.
08:23Oh!
08:26By late 1997, the Monday Night War was in full swing, and both WWE and WCW pulled no punches
08:33in trying to outdo the others for raiding supremacy.
08:36I have built the most successful wrestling organization on planet Earth.
08:42Case in point, Eric Bischoff, executive producer of WCW, sought to use the fact that Monday Night
08:49Raw was a tape show to his advantage.
08:52WCW would often announce the results of the taped Raw episodes in an effort to humiliate WWE.
08:58Later tonight, Mick Foley is going to win their world title.
09:02Oh, he's going to put some butts in the seat.
09:05Yeah.
09:06With similar intent, in November 1997, WCW had fans seen double.
09:14That's Rick Rude.
09:15It's time for the Generation X.
09:20Let's bring out the man.
09:23Let's see Pony down here.
09:25Who's this?
09:25I don't know either.
09:27Oh, holy smokes!
09:28Rick Rude?
09:30Because Monday Night Raw was taped one week, live the next week, Rick happened to be on
09:36a taped episode of Raw that went head-to-head with my live show.
09:39The opportunity of the generation of Rick Rude assaulting the commissioner.
09:44It's funny because he's like, he's going to be on both shows.
09:47As our show is taped, the word is he's going to show up live on their show.
09:50Oh, what a difference a day makes!
09:54Sometimes in war you think nothing's crossing the line, but I thought that was a low one.
09:59And it was obvious to me to abandon the Titanic and swim to the refuge of the NWO.
10:08It really represented the peak of the competition between WCW and WWE at that time.
10:15It's what you call taking the bull by the horns.
10:20Still to come.
10:21He hit him in the diamond cutter!
10:23Whoa!
10:25I began with WWE in 1997, right in the middle of the famed 83 weeks, where the revolutionary
10:33concepts on Nitro were beating Raw in the ratings on a weekly basis.
10:38Due in no small part to when Eric Bischoff created the NWO, an outlaw group that was attempting
10:45to take over WCW.
10:46But one man refused the NWO's advances at every turn.
10:50The master of the diamond cutter, Diamond Dallas Page.
10:55NWO member Macho Man Randy Savage took DDP's refusal personally, sought to make his life
11:01a living hell.
11:03Spray painting NWO on the back of Diamond Dallas Page.
11:08On July 7th, 1997, the Macho Man took on the luchador, La Parca.
11:15And what was supposed to be a tune-up match, but became anything but.
11:23La Parca, he must face a member of the NWO in the Macho Man Randy Savage.
11:30We're all just under the impression that this is La Parca doing his thing, wrestling the
11:33whole match.
11:35One, two, how about that roll up by La Parca?
11:38They take me and La Parca.
11:39I start talking, like, teach me how you do your gimmick.
11:44It's so much fun just going back and forth with him, and no one knew about this.
11:49Did you see that?
11:50That's not in La Parca's arsenal.
11:52That's not something he does.
11:55Incredible!
11:56He hit him with a diamond cutter!
11:57Did you see that?
11:58That's not La Parca!
11:59That's not La Parca!
12:02He did such a good job when the audience assumed it was La Parca.
12:06I just know I loved it, and it paid off so well.
12:09That is incredible!
12:11He pinned a diamond Dallas!
12:16Throughout 1998, Goldberg was an unstoppable force in WCW.
12:21That's a double knock, it is Bill Goldberg!
12:24He piled up wins with relative ease by utilizing the most vicious move in his arsenal.
12:30And there's a spear!
12:32But new on the WCW scene was former five-time WWE champion.
12:37Brent the Hitman Hart has arrived to Nitro!
12:41The Hitman no doubt did his homework on the medicine Goldberg.
12:44I could beat Goldberg in five minutes.
12:46He was physically outmatched, sure.
12:50But mentally?
12:54I came to the WCW to prove that I can execute any wrestler I want, any time I want.
13:02During that time period, when I went to WCW, it was a goal, an opportunity for me.
13:08William Goldberg, you big chicken, come out here and fight me!
13:14And there's Goldberg, right?
13:16How you can take out a guy like that?
13:17He was a beast.
13:20Whoa!
13:21Oh!
13:21He nailed him!
13:23Wait a minute.
13:24Brent Hart is down and out.
13:25So is Goldberg.
13:26Goldberg is not moving either!
13:28But it doesn't do the damage that it should do.
13:30What's happening here?
13:32Brent Hart is the only one moving here.
13:34Goldberg was such a monster.
13:36If he hit you with that spear, you would stand.
13:38We don't see Goldberg in that position too often.
13:41He's got to try to pin one, two, three.
13:46Oh!
13:47That's probably the best defense for the spear that we've ever seen.
13:52That's when I realized that it was really like the Wild Wild West.
13:56Go ahead and respect that!
14:00When Lex Luger ignited the Monday Night War on the debut edition of Nitro in 1995,
14:05he was looking for opportunity.
14:08Unfortunately, several months later at Bash at the Beach,
14:11the New World Order was formed.
14:13And from that point on, the NWO ran the industry,
14:16with Hollywood Hogan having to stranglehold on the WCW World Championship.
14:21Who is the most powerful man in professional wrestling?
14:25I'm going to slap you up in the rack and become the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion!
14:31The total package vowed to help put an end to Hogan's tyrannical reign
14:35as champion.
14:39We are awaiting one of the biggest, if not the biggest,
14:43snatch-up ever on Nitro!
14:45Hogan was the champ, but by the time we got to Auburn Hills,
14:48Lex, he's red hot.
14:49He will go after the man who has set the standard for world titles in our sport,
14:54Hulk Hogan!
14:55Here we go.
14:56On a 100 program of Nitro.
14:59What impact, the running clothesline in the corner!
15:01NWO just ran roughshod over everybody that no one thought they were ever going to be stopped.
15:06Think of the attributes it takes to become a champion.
15:08Both of them have it right there.
15:11People come to you all the time.
15:12I was there that night, man.
15:13It was unbelievable.
15:15Hogan on the attack.
15:16Oh!
15:17There's his leg drop.
15:18That's it!
15:19That's it!
15:19Cover one, two, and he kicked out!
15:23The audience liked the idea of surprises.
15:28Got him down!
15:29They're standing in Detroit!
15:30Yes!
15:32He's got him in the rack!
15:34He's got him in the rack!
15:34Hogan says yes!
15:35Hogan says yes!
15:36Look at him tamp out!
15:38Luger won the title!
15:39Luger won the title!
15:41That move came off that place because they never expected to see Hogan,
15:45who's in a title match on live TV.
15:47And it's celebration time in the Motor City!
15:50The guys were really, truly excited because we got left laying for over a year,
15:54so finally had a night to celebrate.
15:58It was all based on keeping the audience off balance
16:00and surprising them as often as we could.
16:04WCW is at its strongest point.
16:08Up next is our final two moments on the countdown.
16:11What will take the number one spot?
16:13I now own WCW!
16:17During the new generation era of WWE,
16:20one of the most popular superstars was the bad guy, Razor Ramon.
16:25Say hello to Razor Ramon.
16:29Oozing machismo, Razor was a major WWE superstar in the mid-90s,
16:34capturing the Intercontinental Championship, a then record four times.
16:39Nobody beats the bad guy.
16:42But in May 1996, Ramon suddenly disappeared from WWE TV.
16:47What happened next sent shockwaves throughout the professional wrestling business.
16:55Welcome back live to the first hour of this edition of WCW Monday Nitro on TNT.
17:01Wait a minute, what the hell is going on?
17:03What the hell is going on for this?
17:04Scott Hall became available.
17:06Now the idea is starting to frame in my head.
17:08It comes down through the crowd.
17:11Hmm.
17:12Audiences are used to seeing that.
17:13When you present them with things that they haven't seen before,
17:19they automatically assume it must be real.
17:22I'm a little skeptical.
17:24I mean, I've just left the WWE.
17:26You people, you know who I am.
17:32But you don't know why I'm here.
17:36Scott was a real linchpin to take him that moment I had with Nitro to a whole new level.
17:42If you want a war, you're going to get one.
17:47People thought Vince sent me there.
17:49That's the only reason it worked.
17:52Everybody was in shock and awe.
17:54Things had just got bigger.
17:59It's now time for our number one moment.
18:02From the moment that Goldberg burst onto the scene in WCW,
18:05he displayed a hard-hitting style that immediately grabbed your attention.
18:11Who's next?
18:12As months wore on, it became apparent that Goldberg was destined to be on a collision course
18:17with the leader of the NWO and WCW world champion Hollywood Hulk Hogan.
18:23Goldberg ain't nobody.
18:25He's not in the same league as Hollywood.
18:28On the July 6, 1998 edition of Nitro, in front of a sold-out Georgia Dome,
18:33Goldberg finally got his crack at Hogan and the championship.
18:40Nitro, it's on the air!
18:50What I remember most is how big and how pivotal of a moment that was for WCW.
18:57There was a little bit of discussion whether or not we wanted to do it on a pay-per-view,
19:00but we're in the television business.
19:02We're not in the pay-per-view business, so it was just a perfect set-up.
19:06And it could be the night where Goldberg walks away with the goal from arguably the greatest champion
19:12our sport has ever had in Hollywood Hulk Hogan.
19:14If I'm going to be the bad guy, we need another Hulk Hogan.
19:22It's about being in the right place at the right time.
19:24He's got it on!
19:26He's got it on!
19:28Oh, thank you!
19:30One, two, three!
19:34Thank you, thank you!
19:36He's got it on the right champion in the world!
19:38Hulk passing the torch was huge.
19:40Hogan put me over in front of 45,000 people.
19:44Man, what a cool deal that was.
19:46That match helped reestablish us.
19:49It was magic.
19:51It's been a night that we will never forget.
19:54That win was a true passing of the torch moment
19:57and signaled to the professional wrestling world
19:59that Goldberg was an unstoppable force
20:01and ready to be its number one entity.
20:04In 2001, the final Nitro aired as WCW closed its doors for good.
20:09But in six short years, Nitro packed a lifetime of memorable moments
20:13that will never be forgotten.
20:16Revolutionary.
20:18Transformative.
20:19Nitro tore down the status quo
20:21and dared to challenge the mighty WWE
20:24and did just that.
20:26Well, that'll do it for this edition of WWE's Greatest Moments.
20:29I hope you've enjoyed this look back
20:31at the very best of WCW Monday Nitro.
20:35I hope you've enjoyed this look back at the very best of WCW.
20:35I hope you've enjoyed this look back at the very best of WCW.
20:35I hope you've enjoyed this look back at the very best of WCW.
20:36I hope you've enjoyed this look back at the very best of WCW.
20:36I hope you've enjoyed this look back at the very best of WCW.
20:36I hope you've enjoyed this look back at the very best of WCW.
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