10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE Raw From 2002
4. Raw Became WCW Nitro Circa 2000
Throughout '02, it's pretty obvious that Vince McMahon didn't really know what his core audience wanted to see anymore. He definitely didn't have a clue what would work as a tool to grow that viewership. Man, everyone slates WCW for how bad Nitro was, but Raw was arguably worse considering the talent those writers had to work with.
No, seriously.
Go back and check out the formatting for some of those latter-day Nitros (particularly from 2000). Then, sling on an episode of Raw from 2002 post-Draft. The parallels are there for all to see; many of the characters, including Ric Flair, the nWo and Scott Steiner, are even the same!
There's this mindf*ck of a moment mid-way through binge watching the year when one realises that it's Monday Nitro under another name. It's damning to say that McMahon let his biggest weekly show become every bit as woeful as the competition he'd crushed because that was so poor, but it's true.