10 Most Important Weeks In The Monday Night War
3. September 4th 1995 - The Debut Of Nitro
The first week of the Monday Night War - as mirrored by a slightly panicked NXT in 2019's Wednesday Night battle with AEW - wasn't even technically a war.
Nitro smartly attempted to get the jump on Raw by launching during a week the WWE's flagship had been pre-empted. Reasoning that plenty of wrestling fans might have found their habitual fill on another channel, the debut edition of the show offered plenty of what the Federation fan would expect with just enough of what WCW had different on offer.
Brian Pillman Vs Jushin Lyger opening the show was heavy evidence of the latter, while Hulk Hogan f*cking around at his new pasta restaurant before defeating Big Bubba in the main event wasn't enough of the former to alienate new viewers.
Meanwhile, Ric Flair Vs Sting was as WCW a match as the company had to offer while the shock appearance of WWE megastar Lex Luger was enough to highlight how serious they were ready to take this new wrestling war - not least when Luger/Hogan for Hulk's title was promoted for the very next week.