8. Monday Night Raw defeats Monday Nitro April 13th, 1998
For 84 weeks, Eric Bischoff had found a way to beat Vince McMahon at his own game. When the WWF launched Monday Night Raw in 1993, Ted Turner wanted to know how his WCW could compete. In 1995, when an ambitious Eric Bischoff proposed they go live and head-to-head with their own show, the Monday Night Wars were born. If you were a wrestling fan in the late 90s, you bore witness to some of the most competitive, over-the-top programming the business had ever seen. Wrestlers jumped between the rival promotions, the New World Order was born, Degeneration X took the WWF by storm, Goldberg ran through opponents, and the Attitude Era was in full swing. It was a special time. For a good chunk of that time, however, Monday Nitro had Raw on its heels. From the minute Kevin Nash and Scott Hall stepped foot into WCW, the ratings shifted in their favor and stayed that way for over a year and a half. It ultimately took the rivalry of Stone Cold Steve Austin and Mr. McMahon to bring the WWF back to life in the ratings war. For the first time ever, Austin would wrestle McMahon live on Raw. While the match didnt necessarily play out as promised, it was just the counterpunch the WWF needed, as they won the ratings game 4.6 to 4.2.
Eric Delgado has been writing about professional wrestling for five years and has been involved in the professional wrestling business as a performer for ten. He is also the former host of Steel Cage Radio and has an irrational love for The Ryback.
