Rewatching The Last Wrestling Show To Beat WWE Raw In The Ratings

2. The Cracks Were Starting To Show

Hollywood Hogan Horace Hogan
WWE.com

As a whole, this episode of WCW Nitro was a good one, but you could likewise see the cracks starting to show for what would be the company's eventual demise.

Two years after its creation, the nWo concept was starting to wear a smidge thin by October 1998. This was the time that the bloom had begun to fall off the rose, with the vast majority of the roster being in some variation of the New World Order. In fact, this episode even sees Horace Hogan inducted as the latest member of nWo Hollywood.

Away from the nWo, there was the curious case of Kenny Kaos. Having been with the company since 1996 as one half of the High Voltage jobber tag team, Kaos found himself being given a Tag Team Championship on this Nitro. The previous night saw Rick Steiner defeat the Giant and Scott Steiner in a handicap match to become the new Tag Team Champions, and he decided here to make Kaos his new partner. Most bizarrely, this came after Kaos had been decimated by Stevie Ray in barely two minutes.

Added to this, this Nitro was one full of run-ins and bullsh*t finishes - which we all know that WCW would become famous for overdoing such things during the company's final years.

For a WWE that's just seen Raw hit its lowest ever ratings, you'd think they should heed the warning signs offered up by a rewatch of an old Nitro. In doing so, you can see how small issues become big issues, and eventually you find yourself just throwing any old sh*t at the wall to see what sticks.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer and Presenter, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.