10 WCW Rip-Offs That Helped WWE Win The Monday Night War

Whether it's sport or entertainment, there's nothing quite like the intangible feeling of watching live TV. The "anything can happen" aspect of broadcasting unedited gives programming a level of intrigue that can't be replicated on tape.

As such, WCW's move to air live every Monday was a big deal for Eric Bischoff in his battle against Vince McMahon. When Nitro debuted in September 1995, it did so unopposed as Raw was off that week due to USA Network's coverage of the US Open in tennis. When they returned the next week, Bischoff made the most of his live format to give away the results of the pre-taped Raw during his own broadcast.

While Raw had originally aired live each week back in '93, the financial burden of recording live every Monday proved unsustainable at the time and the decision was made to record several episodes in one go. This practice continued for several years until 1997, when the live Nitro necessitated Raw to do the same.

Raw began airing live every other week in an attempt to keep up with his rivals and eventually went live every week in mid-1999. Similarly, McMahon was also forced to extend his show to two hours in order to counteract WCW's unopposed hour, a practice that continued long after the Monday Night Wars.