16. Raw As We Know It Is A Rip-Off Of WCW Monday Night Nitro
The common perception is that WCW Monday Night Nitro was a rip-off of WWF Monday Night Raw, after all, the WCW show came along two years after Raw's debut. However, Nitro was a very different product to Raw, and it was actually the WWF who ended up copying much of their rival's ideas. Nowadays, if you look at Raw, it is far more of a Nitro inspired product than a derivative of McMahon ideas. WCW and Eric Bischoff were innovative. They were live every week and had a much edgier product. They had a lavish set and quite literally fireworks. They were also a full year ahead of the WWF in expanding from one hour to two hours. You could also say that they were a full decade ahead of WWE in expanding from two hours to three hours. WWE copied many of the WCW initiatives, bringing in several elements of the same presentation and production style. Eventually they adopted the weekly live format, same run time, and storyline imitations like DX being a clear copy of the NWO. Nitro also made the WWF work harder, the competition forcing Raw to improve. You could make a solid argument that Raw owes Nitro more than Nitro ever owed Raw.
