10 Things We Learned From A Genuine 1998 WCW Nitro Script

3. The Overrun

WCW Nitro Script
wcwnitrobook.com

The opening page of the script states that the 5 October 1998 Nitro will end at 10:59:50pm. That'd give WCW a 10-second window to work with before TNT's 11pm cut off. Of course, that didn't take into account any overrun, one the promotion knew was going to happen ahead of time.

On the final page, it says that WCW will run Nitro's copyright chyron at 11:09:52pm. That's 10 minutes over the initial finish time, which wasn't unusual; TNT, owned by Ted Turner, also owned WCW. He had the power to gift Bischoff more air-time on Monday nights when needed. This is a prime example of that.

It'd come back to bite WCW on pay-per-view.

Their Halloween Havoc '98 show infamously went dark because the company forgot to tell distributors that they planned to overrun. It was fine to do this on TV, but not on pay-per-view without forewarning. Again, how could they be so organised and dis-organised all at once?

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Lifelong wrestling, video game, music and sports obsessive who has been writing about his passions since childhood. Jamie started writing for WhatCulture in 2013, and has contributed thousands of articles and YouTube videos since then. He cut his teeth penning published pieces for top UK and European wrestling read Fighting Spirit Magazine (FSM), and also has extensive experience working within the wrestling biz as a manager and commentator for promotions like ICW on WWE Network and WCPW/Defiant since 2010. Further, Jamie also hosted the old Ministry Of Slam podcast, and has interviewed everyone from Steve Austin and Shawn Michaels to Bret Hart and Trish Stratus.