10 Things Everybody Gets Wrong About WCW

9. Nip And Tuck

Stacy Keibler
WWE.com

Monday Nitro's emergence as the dominant wrestling programme in North America is overstated both by the parties that promoted it at the time and those that wish to over-egg its eventual collapse. The 84-week streak of ratings victories over Raw between 1996 and 1998 is incredibly well documented, but the reality of the early days of the head-to-head war doesn't overtly portray the WCW production as the runaway success it was often thought to be.

Ahead of Eric Bischoff finally pulling away in May, the companies were almost equal in weekly number scuffles. WWE even took full control of the battle during Shawn Michaels' maiden WWE Title feuds with Diesel and Davey Boy Smith before 'Big Daddy Cool' and Kliq mate Razor Ramon travelled south.

WCW would score a victory on their final one-hour edition of the show and do the same again a week later on a double length edition that saw the landscape-shifting debut of Scott Hall. WWE would only notch another successful week between then and 1998, but had little reason to fear their rival's complete dominance up to that point.

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 7 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 30 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz", Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 50,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett