10 Most Important Weeks In The Monday Night War

7. March 26th 2001 - The Simulcast

Hulk Hogan Kevin Nash
WWE.com

The last Nitro closing out with a 15-minute Vince McMahon promo and WrestleMania match build was obviously incredibly important, but not for the reasons the company likes to glamourise during those weird Network filler pieces featuring The Miz reminiscing about getting his buddies around to cheer and boo the telly.

It was important because it signified the end of a near-five year competition. Important because it allowed for Vince McMahon to appear on a Turner network for the first time since the last time during 1984's "Black Saturday". Important because it would serve as the first clue of how wrestling might look in this next era.

F*cked, was the answer hidden under the bluster.

Rarely has McMahon been so deserving of one of his on-screen victory laps, but making a new war from his same old one with son Shane was the first of many missteps made with the fallen brand in 2001. Nitro's demise was only ever meant to come at the expense of WCW, not WWE's golden era. Father and Son couldn't have imagined it as they stared across the simulcast, but the view on a Tuesday morning was about to change for the worst and forever.

 
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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation over 8 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 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. Within the podcasting space, he also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House! and Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, 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