11 Off-Air WCW Moments You Weren't Supposed To See

11. Nitro Pre Show Feed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIUlaoyMXtI#t=12m30s This is a video of the live pre-show satellite feed as Nitro is setting up in Evansville, Indiana in 1998. And even though there are moments where it appears as if nothing is happening, the tedium is punctuated by some really interesting moments and insights €“ particularly in regards to the announce team. Mike Tenay for example has always come across as pretty serious and dry during his career. His nickname is the Professor after all and his demeanour appears to suit that name. Here though, he is really lively €“ in fact he is almost uncomfortably lively as he hams it up for the sound check and describes the crowd€™s reaction to the Nitro Girls. What€™s also quite funny is that while Tenay seems to be having a great time, Tony Schiavone starts to get increasingly irritated as nobody answers his questions, and he is left talking to himself, not aware of what is going on. The feed is also interesting because it just gives us a peek behind the curtain of the TV production from a variety of perspectives. If you ever wondered what happened while things were being set up you can see it here €“ there is a crowd warm up act called Wildcat Willie (who has entrance music that sounds an awful lot like Sable€™s) and the bored crowd watch a lot of the Nitro Girls dancing to some of the most 90s EDM you could imagine. Finally though, if you wondered how important camera angles and forced perspective are to making a crowd look far bigger and far more packed in that it actually is, you€™ll learn a few things from seeing how WCW set up their audiences for the TV product, and how what looks sparse from one angle, looks like it is bursting at the seams from another.