The Monday Night Wars. Without Question,The Most Interesting Time in Professional Wrestling. The World Wrestling Federation battled their Heated Rivals of World Championship Wrestling in a Bitter TV Ratings and PPV Buyout War.
From 1995 to 2001, Fan all across the Globe (mainly in North America) tuned in to either WWF RAW or WCW Nitro or Both to see which show would come out on top as the best Monday Night Wrestling show for the Week.
Eventually though, thanks mainly to WCW's own stupidity, the WWF Ultimately triumphed and bought out their failing rivals in March of 2001.
And Now. The Retro Resistance presents: The Monday Night Wars - The Retro Resistance Take.
Chapter 1 - The Genesis of a War
The origins of the Monday Night Wars begins, Not in 1995, but nearly a decade earlier in 1984. It all started when the Brisco Brothers sold their majority stakes in WCW's predecessor, Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) to Vince McMahon in 1984, which resulted in Vince McMahon and the WWF taking over GCW for a time.
This incident was known as Black Saturday.
Many fans and GCW superstars were NOT happy about this. Superstars, like Ole Anderson,who was also a GCW shareholder, banded together to form Championship Wrestling from Georgia, which aired on Saturday Morning.
But they weren't the only bunch upset at Vince's take over, Ted Turner, who owned GCW's TV home, TBS, was also not thrilled with McMahon muscling his way into His Network.
Not too long after the takeover, the ratings for the WWF/GCW hybrid show greatly declined. Vince would sell his share of GCW to Jim Crockett Jr. in 1985. GCW rep was tarnished thanks to these Black Saturday shows and Ted Turner wasn't happy.
In 1988, Ted Turner would purchase Jim Crockett Productions and rename the Wrestling company to WCW (though still under the NWA brand).
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Chapter 2 - Battle of The Pay-Per-Views.
Between 1987 and 1988, a bitter battle broke out between Vince McMahon and Jim Crockett, Jr , the owner of JCP.
Throughout the 1980s, Crockett had steadily acquired other NWA-affiliated promotions in an attempt to grow his organization into a national entity similar to the WWF. As a result, the term "NWA" became virtually synonymous with JCP.
Then, what seemed like an act of War, on Thanksgiving night of 1987, McMahon's WWF aired Survivor Series on PPV against the NWA's Starrcade, which Crockett marketed as the NWA's answer to WrestleMania.
However, many cable companies could only offer one live PPV event at a time. The WWF then threatened that any cable company that chose not to carry Survivor Series would not carry any WWF PPV events for 3 months following the show. Therefore, the WWF PPV was cleared 10–1 over Starrcade, as only three cable companies opted to remain loyal to their contract with Crockett.
After this incident, the PPV industry warned McMahon not to schedule PPV events simultaneously with the NWA again. However, McMahon was still not willing to fully cooperate with Crockett. This was an act of War to Jim Crockett Jr. and the NWA brass.
On January of 1988, another scheduling conflict took place between the WWF and NWA. The NWA presented the Bunkhouse Stampede on PPV, while WWF aired the Royal Rumble for free on the USA Network.
Later that year, Crockett decided to use McMahon's own tactics against him, developing his own PPV-style event and airing it for free on WTBS on the same night as WrestleMania IV. The result was the Clash of the Champions I.
CotC1 made Sting a star after he wrestled NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair to a 45-minute draw. The buy-outs were mostly in WWF's favor, as the main attraction for WrestleMania IV was "Macho Man" Randy Savage, who became the 2nd biggest name in Wrestling after that event..
The NWA challenged the WWF again the following year, with another Clash of the Champions against WWF's WrestleMania V.
Although the main event of the Clash saw NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ricky Steamboat defeat Flair in a best-of-three-falls match that lasted for almost an hour, ratings and attendance for the event fell well below expectations compared to WrestleMania V. Thus, the practice of conflicting major events would cease for six years.
While Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat were decent guys and great wrestlers, there was just no topping the Battle of the Mega Powers. And Hogan and Savage Were the #1 and #2 guys in Wrestling respectively.
By 1988, Crockett Poroductions was having some big financial issues, due to their acquisition spree. So, he was forced to sell his company to Turner, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, which wanted to retain the steady and strong ratings of the JCP wrestling programs.
Turner named the company to World Championship Wrestling (WCW) after the flagship TV show. WCW would remain affiliated with the NWA until 1993.
Now with Billionaire Ted in charge of WCW, The company had the Cash flow to support itself And it's Wrestlers. And in 1994, Turner would prove that his Wallet was both Mega Full and Mega Deep.
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Chapter 3 - Eric Bischoff and The Acquisition Seen and Felt Around The Globe.
In 1991, Due to a huge contract dispute with the NWA/WCW Brass, "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, who was World Heavyweight Champion at the time fled to WCW for the WWF.....With The Big Gold Belt, which Flair claimed that he Owned. Turner threatened to sue Flair and the WWF if they continued to show the belt on TV and demanded it back.
Well, after a small legal battle, Vince and Flair settled with Turner.
In 1993, After the failed booking styles of Cowboy Bill Watts, Ole Anderson, and "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes,Turner was ready for someone fresh They decided to place their bets on former AWA commentator, Eric Bischoff, to turn things around.
Bischoff was made VP of the company and was put in charge of most of the day to day duties. Under Bischoff's direction, WCW was able to pull itself together, and things were gonna get bigger in 1994.
Hulk Hogan was the WWF's Main Man from 1984 to 1990 and was the #1 Wrestler in the World, starting in 1985. But in 1992, the WWF knew that Hogan's time was coming to an end, as the company was experimenting with Younger Talent, as well as Gimmicky Wrestlers.
And in 1993, after a failed 5th Title Run, Hogan left the WWF To fully pursue acting. His Show, Thunder in Paradise began airing at the end of Hogan's WWF run and was doing fine. However, Hogan began missing Wrestling. Then, one late afternoon, while shooting the final batch of episodes of Thunder in Paradise, Hogan took notice of a WCW taping that was happening near by, that made him miss Wrestling even more.
Eric Bischoff found out about the TV tapings of Thunder in Paradise and decided to pay Hogan a visit, interested in hiring him. After a meeting on the beach with both Eric Bischoff and Ric Flair, Hogan agreed to join WCW.
In late June, WCW announced that it acquired the biggest name in Wrestling and showcased him at a signing at Disney/MGM studios, home of WCW.Saturday Night (at that point in time, anyway).
This was the acquisition seen and felt around the Globe. As to most, Hulk Hogan was synonymous with The WWF, But now he's signed on with the WCW. The #1 Man in Wrestling was now working for the competition.
But..that's not all. Later in the Year, thanks to frustration with his position in the WWF, "Macho Man" Randy Savage jumped ship to WCW, making his debut in December on WCW's A-Show "Saturday Night".
Eric Bischoff had pulled off 2 Coups in a single year..and he was only just beginning.
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Chapter 4 - Heyman's Extreme Mutiny!
ECW had its origins in 1991 as the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance, owned by Joel Goodhart. In 1992, Goodhart sold his share of the company to his partner, Tod Gordon, who renamed the promotion Eastern Championship Wrestling.
When Eastern Championship Wrestling was founded, it was a member of the National Wrestling Allience (NWA), and "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert was its head booker. After a falling-out with Gordon, Gilbert was replaced in September 1993 by Paul Heyman (aka Paul E. Dangerously), who had just left WCW, due to creative differences and was looking for a new challenge.
In contrast to professional wrestling of the time, which was marketed more towards a general audience, Eastern Championship Wrestling was geared more toward adults and fans who craved a more athletic and violent wrestling product.
Its eventual successor, Extreme Championship Wrestling, aimed its product at males between 18-35, breaking taboos in professional wrestling, such as blading. Heyman saw ECW as the professional wrestling equivalent to the grunge music movement of the early 1990s, and focused on taking the company in a new direction.
In 1994, Jim Crockett Jr.'s non-compete agreement with Turner expired, and he started promoting with the NWA again. Crockett went to Gordon and asked him to hold a tournament for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, in ECW's home city of Philadelphia on August of 1994.
NWA President Dennis Coralluzzo alleged that Crockett and Gordon were attempting to monopolize the title and stated Crockett did not have the NWA board's approval, which resulted in Coralluzzo personally overseeing the tournament.
Gordon took offense at Coralluzzo for his power plays. He contemplated a plan to secede ECW from the NWA in a controversial and public manner that would attract attention to ECW and insult the NWA organization.
Gordon and Heyman planned to have Shane Douglas, who was scheduled to face 2 Cold Scorpio in the tournament finals, throw down the NWA World Heavyweight Championship upon winning it as an act of defiance.
Heyman pitched the plan to Douglas, noting that the only negative aspect would be that NWA traditionalists would view them as traitors to the tradition. Additionally, there was animosity between Douglas and Coralluzzo, who had publicly criticized Douglas and advised NWA affiliates not to schedule him for shows, believing Douglas to be a risk, as he had the tendency to not appear at shows that he was scheduled to wrestle at.
Douglas ultimately decided to go through with Gordon and Heyman's plan, inspired by his father's motto of "doing right by the people that do right by you". He threw down the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, stating that he did not want to be the champion of a "dead promotion." He then raised the Eastern Championship Wrestling title. He declared it to be a World Heavyweight Championship, calling it the only real world title left in professional wrestling.
With this event, Eastern Championship Wrestling seceded from the NWA and became Extreme Championship Wrestling. The revamped promotion's unorthodox style and controversial storylines made it popular among many fans 18-35. It showcased many different styles of professional wrestling, popularizing hardcore wrestling matches as well as Mexican Lucha Libre and Japanese Puroresu.
ECW was promoted as counterculture and a grittier alternative to WWF and WCW. ECW soon became the the #3 Wrestling Promotion in the World.
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Chapter 5 - WWF Goes RAW!!!
RAW's origins date all the way back to 1987 and Prime Time Wrestling, which was the WWF A-Show at the time.Hosted by Gorilla Monsoon and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, PTW, showcased never-before-seen taped matches from Superstars.
Eventually, PTW would change format in 1991 and become a Studio Show, though they still aired unaired taped matches. PTW would change again a year later, in 1992. This time as a Round Table Talk Show, similar to the Political Shows of that era.
Then, in January of 1993, PTW was retired and replaced with Monday Night RAW. The First batch of episodes were aired Live at the Manhattan Center in NYC. The ratings for these live episodes were phenomenal and became the #1 Wrestling Program in the World.
Initially the commentary team was Vince McMahon, "Macho Man" Randy Savage, and Rob Bartlett, a comedian and entertainer who liked wrestling. Very few liked Bartlett and a few months after his debut, he was gone from the company.
Despite the success, recording shows live each weak was becoming an expensive endeavor for the WWF. And so RAW would begin to slowly phase out Live Broadcasts for Pre-Taped ones. This would hurt them a bit later in 1995 when WCW Monday Nitro debuts.
Despite this issue, Monday Night RAW was still one of the most watched Shows on TV. .
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Chapter 6 - The Monday Night War Begins.
While WCW Saturday Night was a fun show, it wasn't the mega hit that WWF Monday Night RAW was. So, Ted Turner gathered the Top Brass at WCW to come up with ways to counter the WWF. Eric Bischoff randomly suggested that they take on RAW with a Monday night show of their own.
After some thought, Turner approved of the idea and Monday Nitro was conceived And On September of 1995, The First Episode of Monday Nitro debut Live at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota (the Only time that a wrestling event would be held there). And was hosted by the commentary team of Eric Bischoff, Steve "Mongo" McMichael, and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan. This Trio would be the official color commentary team for Nitro going forward (until nitro becomes a 2-hour show in may of 1996).
The biggest shock of the episode was the return of Lex Luger, who 75% of fans thought was sent as a spy for the WWF, having Zero clue about his departure from the federation a week earlier.
Luger's apprentice and challenge to Hogan gave off a vibe that had an "Anything Can and Might Happen" feel to Nitro. Plus...RAW was pre-empted that night, so Nitro had no competition until the next week.
Nitro officially became WCW's new A-Show, while Saturday Night, which Was the A-Show, became the B-Show.
One of the Hugest advantages of owning Both a Show And a Network, is that you can air it whenever you want. This was WCW's advantage over WWF, which was bound by the programming of the USA Network...a network that Vince McMahon himself didn't own.
The next week, the Monday Night Wars would officially begin. Another advantage that WCW Nitro had over WWF RAW was that almost every Nitro was Live, while almost every RAW was Pre-Taped.
This allowed RAW to be aired early in some markets, something that WCW's commentator team would take full advantage of by spoiling the results of RAW on Nitro.
For the rest of 1995, RAW and Nitro would trade wins and even reached a ratings stalemate a few times. WCW also introduced a Cruiserweight Division, which Properly introduced Americans to Mexico's Lucha Libre and Japan's Puroresu.
One of the most shocking things on Nitro was the surprise return of Madusa Miceli, who wrestled as Alundra Blayze in the WWF.
She arrived on Nitro with the WWF Women's Championship Belt and proceeded to badmouth the WWF. She then dumped the WWF Women's Title in a Garbage Can. This segment was a testament to WCW Nitro's "Anything Can and Might Happen" feel.
Needless to say, Vince McMahon was pissed and threaten to sue WCW if the Belt wasn't brought back to the WWF immediately. The belt was brought back and later in life, Madusa showed remorse fot the segment and mentioned that it was Bischoff's idea.
Anyway, moving along. Not only did WWF and WCW engage in a Monday Night TV War, but also warred in the Pay-Per-View market too. In fact, WWF's In Your House series of PPVs were a direct response to WCW's own Monthly shows.. They would trade wins, though WWF's PPVs usually came out on top.
But everything changed in 1996 and the Monday Night wars were about to heat up. First, as a big "FU" to Vince McMahon, Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff extended Nitro to 2 Hours in May.
Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko hosted the first hour, while Bischoff, Bobby Heenan, Steve McMichael hosted the second. The commentary booth would often be joined by other hosts, if Mongo and Bischoff were unavailable. These commentators were Mike Tenay and "Stagger" Lee Martial.
Scott Hudson and Mark Madden would be added to the team much later.
And Second...they set up one of the most Legendary Angles in Wrestling - The Outsider Invasion.
I almost forgot This Legendary Gem. In January of 1996, the WWF would start to air "The Billionaire Ted" Series.
These were a series of sketches parodying Ted Turner, who was referred to as "Billionaire Ted" and portrayed as a bumbling, out-of-touch hillbilly initially trying to improve his WCW product against the "superior" WWF by buying Wrestling Stars. See, the Gag was that Ted didn't know how to make Stars,so he had to Buy them. .
Anyway, parodied alongside Billionaire Ted were former 1980s WWF talents who had defected to WCW. We have The Huckster (parody of Hulk Hogan), The Nacho Man (a parody of "Macho Man" Randy Savage), and Scheme Gene (parody of WCW interviewer "Mean" Gene Okerlund).
Hogan and Savage were portrayed as elderly and incapable wrestlers, while Okerlund was depicted as a con man who wanted to scam money from fans via premium phone lines.
These skits led to the Nacho Man v. The Hukster match at WrestleMania XII. Where it was known as the Geriatric Match.
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To Be Continued!!!
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