theafricandream
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Jan 15, 2014 15:56:38 GMT -5
Posts: 265 
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Post by theafricandream on Jan 17, 2019 23:27:19 GMT -5
I’ll preface the thread by stating that I was born in 1993. So, while I did live through the Monday night wars and have many great memories of watching wrestling in the late 90’s and early 00’s, I was too young to really appreciate what I was watching. That said WCW did have a big impact on me at the time. My very first wrestling memory is walking in the room while my uncle watched Nitro and seeing the Giant on TV. To say I was hooked would be an understatement. I was Hollywood Hogan for Halloween that year and Goldberg the next. My parents took me to a Thunder taping at the Seagate Center in Toledo, Ohio. I rented anything and everything that my local video connection had to offer (I vividly remember Uncensored ‘98 and Best of Halloween Havoc being my go-to’s). I have no recollection of watching the last Nitro live however and to be honest probably wouldn’t have realized it’s significance at the time if I had. By then, I was just as, if not more so hooked on the WWF. All that said, I’d love to hear you guys recollections of that night. Especially those of you who were adults or in your late teens at the time and had grown with the company.
Was it sad to see the WCW go or did it feel like a natural running of the course?
Was it widely known at the time that this was coming?
Did any of you think it was a work or some type of invasion angle?
Would you have continued watching had they not closed up shop?
All your contributions appreciated in advance.
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Post by hbkbigdaddycool on Jan 18, 2019 2:45:59 GMT -5
The only thing I really remember is that it felt NOTHING like what WCW Nitro was in the beginning and into the NWO era.
WCW in 2000 and into 2001 felt like a different WCW from the 95 - 99 era. So to me, Nitro hadn't felt like Nitro in quite some time.
Everyone who was a hardcore fan, and who had the internet, new that it was the end of WCW. I remember weeks before that, Bischoff was on Nitro on a phone call I wanna say, saying how he was gonna take WCW into a new direction once the new 'season' begins. But that never happened, and WWE bought WCW.
I actually thought that WWE would work hard on finding a home for WCW, so maybe we would get Tuesday night Nitro or something, but nothing happened in regards, so everything after that night just felt kind of flat.
I would have continued watching WCW programming though. I did then, so I don't see why I would have stopped any time after??
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Post by warriorlynx on Jan 18, 2019 8:07:48 GMT -5
I was surprised with the buy out and the last nitro I didn't bother watching just watched RAW that night.
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Deleted
Joined on: Dec 1, 2024 14:07:13 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2019 8:36:28 GMT -5
I was excited because I thought after wwe bought wcw we would finally see the Super Bowl of wrestling. I thought a wwe owned wcw would be better than what turner owned wcw was doing in its last two years of existence. I thought my love of wrestling would go up! Of course we know what really happened. Wrestling hasn't been the same since and neither has my love for it. Had I known what wwe was going to do(or not do), I would have cried during the final episode of Nitro!
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Post by K5 on Jan 18, 2019 12:29:09 GMT -5
at that point, i’d switched to RAW 100%. I didn’t actually see the episode until years later.
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Post by The Brain on Jan 18, 2019 13:36:28 GMT -5
I watched Nitro that night and I remember thinking how surreal it was that the episode was the end of WCW. WCW during the end had many more lows than highs but I always had hope somehow they would turn it around and give WWF a run for it's money again. Definitely an end of an era and to me wrestling has never been the same since.
I also gotta mention Flair/Sting in the main event. No better way for em to go out IMO.
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Post by dylan on Jan 18, 2019 14:14:24 GMT -5
I was 4, and I remember it clear as day because I thought I just wasn't gonna be able to watch wrestling anymore because my mom didn't want me watching WWF. I think that lasted until Flair showed up on RAW since my mom loves Flair
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Nev Jones
Mid-Carder
“Three letters say it all...WCW!”
Joined on: Jul 1, 2018 7:47:01 GMT -5
Posts: 262
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Post by Nev Jones on Jan 18, 2019 14:45:20 GMT -5
Truth be told, as much as I love WCW, I was only watching WWF at that time. I did watch the last Nitro on Bravo (what a channel that was!) just because it was such a special night in wrestling. When Shane turned up, that really hit it home for me.
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Deleted
Joined on: Dec 1, 2024 14:07:13 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2019 17:00:03 GMT -5
I had really wandered away from Nitro at that point. I happened to turn it on that night nor having a clue that WCW had been sold,so I was shocked. I thought, well at least we're about to get the big dream clash at last....
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Post by The Brain on Jan 18, 2019 17:43:32 GMT -5
One thing I wish they did was just end it with Flair/Sting with pyro going off with Schiavone giving us the final farewell. I HATED how the last WCW show ended with it being all about the McMahons.
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Deleted
Joined on: Dec 1, 2024 14:07:13 GMT -5
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Jan 18, 2019 18:28:28 GMT -5
It was like watching someone pull the plug on your delusional grandfather... that you couldn’t wait to see die.
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Post by vampiroporvida on Jan 19, 2019 22:22:53 GMT -5
I just remember flipping between the 2 broadcasts repeatedly, depending on what was going on.
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TheEvilDoink1987
Main Eventer
Joined on: Feb 22, 2010 21:37:52 GMT -5
Posts: 2,823
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Post by TheEvilDoink1987 on Jan 19, 2019 23:58:04 GMT -5
WCW had dissolved into such an absolutely horrid product by that final Nitro. Even as a big fan, you almost felt more happy that it was ending than you did sad that it was all over. That's how bad things got in those final years.
Still, I'll always consider it a dark day in pro wrestling history. WCW did some really great things in their heyday and nobody can ever deny that they were the #1 pro wrestling organization in the world for a while. It just makes me think back to being a 10 year-old kid who was lucky enough to experience one of the greatest eras in professional wrestling at an impressionable age. Every week being able to watch both the WWF and WCW. It was such a fun time to be a fan!
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nibs92
Main Eventer
Joined on: May 29, 2008 5:47:21 GMT -5
Posts: 2,357
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Post by nibs92 on Jan 20, 2019 3:55:47 GMT -5
I remember feeling quite weird about the whole thing.
To begin with, with Shane heading to the ring, it felt like just another WWF angle, not the end of an era.
Tony Schiavone saying that it was the season finale was pretty anti climatic. Almost like it will be back in the fall.
On reflection, it’s probably the one thing that led to me stopping watching wrestling. Nitro was really poor by this point, but it was still a wrestling show that had a presence on national television and in theory was backed by a billionaire. It was the show that gave WWF a run for its money and left it as the poor relative at one point. Nitro was the show that changed the face of wrestling forever.
Without competition, the WWF could put out whatever storylines they like without the fear or a rival doing something edgier or more appealing, and the results were a mixed bag at best. The need for an alternative, post takeover, is probably best highlighted with the attempts of the raw and smack down drafts.
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Post by RuthlessFigs on Jan 20, 2019 4:25:32 GMT -5
I remember being 2 years and 11 months old, not knowing what wrestling was and had never seen it in my little life.
I was probably bashing my Dragon Ball Z figures around since that's all i liked for the first 8 years of my life.
The good old days.
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Post by LA Times on Jan 20, 2019 9:44:38 GMT -5
People shouldve known then that the WWF sealed their fate. Most of the problems with todays product can be traced to not having any competition.
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Post by stc13 on Jan 20, 2019 11:21:36 GMT -5
My family had gotten the internet at home a few months earlier, so I was reading all of the news sites and knew it was coming. We also had a weekly wrestling show on the local public access station that basically just parroted whatever news was in the Observer with some commentary. So it wasn't shocking news. But it still hit pretty hard day of.
It was really somber. I remember the tone in Schiavone's voice, and even as a pre-teen I realized this probably meant a lot of talent, backstage folks, office people, etc were going to be out of a job.
I had actually been enjoying WCW for the few months prior. It wasn't excellent tv, but they had turned a corner from the Russo fiasco. I was loving Steiner and Booker T at the top of the card, the Natural Born Thrillers had a world of potential in my eyes, and Lance Storm was probably my favorite act in all of wrestling at that point. I honestly believe they could have put together some interesting tv if Bischoff's group got the company and they got strong head booker.
The Sting/Flair match left me crying. Even though I was a bigger WWF fan, Sting had been my favorite wrestler since I started watching. Seeing both guys looking pretty flabby and not having had a good match in ages made me sad. At that age it felt like a lifetime ago, but realistically it had been 4-5 years since both guys were near the top of their game. But the match delivered and felt like some final closure.
I enjoyed the Invasion angle and everything that came after, but for me WCW and most of the its stars ended with the final Nitro for me. As other mentioned, WWE started feeling stale. And things started to feel jumbled, with too much talent and not enough time to showcase everyone. Within a couple of years I had tuned out of wrestling completely and stayed away for nearly 15 years.
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Post by BSR on Jan 20, 2019 15:38:14 GMT -5
It sucked.
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Post by Artie Kendall on Jan 20, 2019 15:55:52 GMT -5
I had stopped watching WWF in 98 and stopped watching WCW after Chris Jericho left. I jumped back to WWF to see how Jericho would go but quickly stopped watching because it felt like aside from the countdown and the debut, he wasn't booked very well the first few months.
With that being said I still kept up with wrestling news on the internet and knew that the end was coming for WCW. I wasn't sad about it because frankly I had stopped caring about it. Same with WWF. If WWF went under in 1998, it wouldn't have bothered me. While I read the dirt sheets and friends of mine kept me up to date or recommend a match to watch, I really wasn't watching the product. The only thing that surprised me is that no company came along to fill the void nationally.
A lot of folks forget that WCW wasn't around that long. It was only around from 1988-2001. And while WCW in the early years showcased the southern style of wrestling that I enjoyed the most, by the end it was just awful and had no semblance of what made it different from WWF. It was watered down WWF by the end.
And I didn't watch the last episode of Nitro. I still haven't watched it.
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crookedterror
Mid-Carder
Joined on: Dec 26, 2014 23:23:48 GMT -5
Posts: 121
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Post by crookedterror on Jan 20, 2019 17:28:17 GMT -5
I watched the last Nitro live and knew from the Internet that it was the end, but Vince appearing early (was it on Nitro, Raw, or both?) and announcing it straight away was surreal. Hearing him actually speak the names Jarret, Buff, etc. was even more mind blowing. Those moments amplified my anticipation of what could be in the newly unified WWF/WCW world. Then it happened... Shane McMahon appears and announces that he is the new owner of WCW, not Vince. My heart sunk - what a rip-off and stupid angle. The McMahon nepotism now knew no boundaries and the die was cast - instead of dream matches, angles, and possibilities coming to fruition, the McMahon egoism would clearly be the focus. We all know the rest.
That night still hurts to this day.
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