10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WCW Nitro
4. Some Episodes Were As Good As Pay-Per-View
It's not uncommon for episodes of Raw, SmackDown, NXT or AEW Dynamite to feature matches of pay-per-view quality these days. In fact, due to sagging ratings, WWE are throwing everything they can at some weeklies to try and coax fans back in. WCW did this when they arguably didn't need to.
Weirdly, during an era that focused on traditional buyrates, the company churned out some pay-per-view quality episodes of Nitro. By 1999, some Nitro broadcasts were actually better than most of the monthly specials, if only because they were offered for free on TNT and didn't cost a small fortune.
The quest for ratings supremacy increasingly trumped pay-per-view dollars from 1997 onwards.
That's why mega-matches like Hollywood Hogan vs. Lex Luger and Hogan vs. Goldberg were thrown out there on Nitro to provide a quick viewership boost. WCW's desperation becomes obvious when one creeps towards 2000; by then, there was little difference in quality between supershow and flagship.