10 Things Everybody Gets Wrong About WCW
9. Nip And Tuck
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.