WWE: 10 Famous Wrestling Streaks That Had A Botched Ending

5. WCW's 84-Week Ratings Victory Over WWF Broken By A Main Event That Never Happened

With a multitude of big-name stars, fast-paced and exciting action of the Cruiserweight division, and the ongoing n.W.o. angle, WCW Nitro build a ratings streak that drove and inspired Vince McMahon and the World Wrestling Federation to compete any way they could during the Monday Night Wars. WWF Raw would often have (arguably) the better show, but the fans would not want to turn away from WCW, in case another big-name star defected, or another superstar joined or left the n.W.o., or any number of reasons. That was, until April 13th, 1998, when WWF World Champion "Stone Cold" Steve Austin challenged WWF Owner Vince McMahon to a match on Raw is War. That was enough for the fans to stick with Raw. Unfortunately, the match never took place. The build-up to the match was an example of great story telling, with Pat Patterson and Gerald Brisco- The Stooges- giving McMahon pointers for what would be his debut match. Vince demanding that Austin wrestle the match "with one-arm tied behind" his back added a little drama. The anticipation was built to such a degree that it would have been almost impossible to live up to. So, instead, they had Dude Love (the former Cactus Jack, who "quit" WWF the previous week) come out to play the peacemaker, only to turn on Austin instead. It served its purpose; to piss off a lot of fans enough to pay to see Steve Austin whoop Dude Love's ass later on pay-per-view; but for all the great Raws before and after, it was the wrong night for Nitro's 84-week ratings streak to be broken.