Reliving the Monday night war part 1

[mace87]

I didn't start watching WWE until 2000 so pretty much missed the Monday night war so decided I would relive it on the WWE Network starting from 11 September 1995 as this is the first time both shows appear to have gone head to head. So as I revisit the war I thought I'd give a brief summery of my thoughts on the battle between Raw and Nitro...

11 September 1995 Raw
Heading into the first official head to head week of the Monday night wars Raw kicks off with a clash between Razor Ramon and the British Bulldog which offers up a good evenly matched bout with a nice bit of outside interference leading to Bulldog winning via DQ. Tag team action follows as the Smoking Gunns face the Brooklyn Brawler and Rad Radford. The Smoking Gunns grab a relatively routine win in an average match as the solid start to the show continues.
The bizarre Goldust shoots a promo next showcasing his character nicely before we see Isaac Yankem DDS in a dominate display however his gimmick certainly leaves a lot to be desired. We then get to the main event which sees Shawn Michaels defend his newly won IC Title against Psycho Sid. Michaels retains in an impressive showing as the nights action draws to a close giving Raw an overall solid first show in the Monday night war!
7/10 (Stand out performance Shawn Michaels)

11 September 1995 Nitro
WCW look to hit the ground running by having a WCW Title match as the main event as Hogan defends against Luger but before that the action starts with Sabu taking on Alex Wright. A high energy match sees Sabu pick up the win in his debut before Sabu shows his hardcore tendencies resulting in a reversal of the decision making Wright the winner. Next up we see Ric Flair interviewed in the ring and as always the Nature Boy shoots a golden promo before Luger joins him in the ring briefly. The US Title is on the line next as V.K. Wallstreet challenges the champion Sting! As Sting makes his way to the ring Bischoff fires a shot at Raw by giving away the result of the main event of Raw. Stings retains showing a glimpse of his brilliance in a decent bout. The third match of the night sees Scott Norton clash with the Macho Man Randy Savage and Norton wastes no time in bringing the fight to Savage. Norton dominates with a powerful display before an interference by the Dungeon of Doom inadvertently leads to Savage getting the win.
Main event time and Luger and Hogan clash with the WCW title on the line! They battle out in a back and forth stale mate which shows the best of both men before a mass run leads to a no contest. After the match when things settle down Luger joins Hogan, Sting and Macho Man for the upcoming War Games event ending the show in a big way.
7.5/10 (Stand out performance Sting)

I'm giving Nitro a narrow win here due to having an extra match and having two Title matches on the card.

 

[WWEWrestleFest]

If you have the time, go for it. But I need to warn you, WCW is pretty mediocre until the nWo starts up in mid-1996. And WWF is kind of boring during this time as well, and gets to be pretty terrible before they start moving towards the Attitude era in late-1997. I'd recommend skipping to January 1997 if you're going to watch both shows.

 

[FlairFan2003]

If you have the time, go for it. But I need to warn you, WCW is pretty mediocre until the nWo starts up in mid-1996. And WWF is kind of boring during this time as well, and gets to be pretty terrible before they start moving towards the Attitude era in late-1997. I'd recommend skipping to January 1997 if you're going to watch both shows.

Actuallty, RAW was probably worse during the 95-96 range, Nitro had an excellent undercard back then, particularly The Cruiserweights, and although Hogan worked a lot (by his standards) the main events were usually dominated not by him but by Sting, Randy Savage, & Ric Flair (the main eventers who could still work good matches).

Almost immediately the ratings were dead even, early on RAW would draw higher numbers in the early broadcast but would shed viewers (as Nitro gained) in the main events (as WCW was stacked with main event talent, much more than WWE). By early 96 Nitro was winning out frequently, sometimes by wide margins, a dynamic that stayed in place until the NwO storyline took hold and Nitro won all the time (83 straight weeks).

 

[therockiswwf]

Here's what you're in for:

2000 AE is FAR different from 98-99 AE. Russo ran wild on 98-99 WWE and it was horrible. Undercard was near pointless. Incredibly top heavy. Even the top guys could not save a lot of the stuff they did. 97 was top heavy but the top was pretty awesome. 95-96 was bad.

WCW was pretty bad. Nitro, especially once you get to the three hours, were mostly bad. Most of the Nitros consisted of random matches for pretty much no reason. Sprinkle in some top stars with DQ finishes, random Gene Okerlund promos, 10 hour NWO entrances and you got Nitro.

 

[relentless1]

Nah, Nitro was better in 96, 97 and most of 98

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Here's what you're in for:

2000 AE is FAR different from 98-99 AE. Russo ran wild on 98-99 WWE and it was horrible. Undercard was near pointless. Incredibly top heavy. Even the top guys could not save a lot of the stuff they did. 97 was top heavy but the top was pretty awesome. 95-96 was bad.

WCW was pretty bad. Nitro, especially once you get to the three hours, were mostly bad. Most of the Nitros consisted of random matches for pretty much no reason. Sprinkle in some top stars with DQ finishes, random Gene Okerlund promos, 10 hour NWO entrances and you got Nitro.

Not quite as I remember it... the 95-96 era was the first time WWE tried to "Oil change" their talent and have it not work cos they mainly went cheaper and took lower tier WCW guys like Tracey Smothers/Freddie Joe Floyd, Bill Irwin/Goon, Johnny Gunn/Salvatore Sincere, Triple H (back then, it's what he was) and guys from Smokey Mountain like Tony Anthony/TL Hopper...even Glen Jacobs had the awful Isaac Yankem gimmick.

They DID sign strong talents but were saddling them with awful gimmicks... Al Snow as Avatar/Shinobi... Skip/Chris Candido and Rad Radford/Louie Spicolli.

Cos none of that talent was getting over, they had a really "weak" all round product that showed on RAW... When Yoko, who had gone into Mania 10 as World Champ and wins the Tags from the Smoking Gunns at 11 and Bret is wrestling Jean Pierre Lafiite over a stolen jacket... you know it's bad.

It gets better when they bring in Foley, Simmons, Austin, Mero and Dustin... but only really Goldust and Mankind worked from the get go... Those guys were more like the other "oil changes" in 87 for example, where they brought real strong names like DiBiase, Duggan, Rude etc in...

WCW was pretty awful then too, still doing the Hogan/Dungeon of Doom shite... but at least there were bright spots... the cruisers were starting to happen, Lex showing up on that first Nitro was big and The Giant showed a lot of potential.

Thing is, it made you appreciate the AE more having watched this crap the first time... when the NWO and Austin were the coolest things on the planet, it validated your interest when it was shite... I'd say going back and watching it now wouldn't give that same sense if we hadn't had Roman shoved down our throats for the past 3 years...

 

[HBKperfect23]

I was always a WWF guy and a casual WCW fan. I'd put on nitro when raw would be canceled due to the dog show on USA or a few tennis matches each year. I went back and watched some 95/96 Nitro episoides and they were pretty good shows. Looking back, they were the better show at the time. As mentioned above, sting, savage, and the horsemen were usually the guys in the main event. I definitely enjoyed watching/re watching these. Raw was boring until (IMO) the summer of 96. By 97, I'd say they were the better show.

 

[MWRedskins]

well.....if you watch the entire monday night wars, enjoy. here's a summary of what you'll be in for.

WCW: early on they'll be a very decent show where you enjoy it, but it's not great....but youll get lots of surprises and of course Bischoff spoils RAW results. then the nWo comes in and you get what looks like gang warfare and while all that's happening, you'll enjoy great midcard matches and great Crusierweight matches.....however towards the end of WCW's run, you'll get tired of seeing the nWo...you'll question why Bret Hart is not main eventing (until it's WAY too late) and eventually you'll wonder why Russo is on the show and you'll see so much guitar shots that you'll think you're watching a rock and roll star destroy his guitar 1000 times and when you dont see guitar shots, you'll see someone mocking JR and see some of the stupidest run ins that you'll ever see.

WWE: early on you'll see odd storylines that you just dont get and a decent midcard and a main event scene that will start cooking with Hart vs. Michaels....then the midcard scene will start to be about 4 guys and the main event scene will be fine, then Hart will turn heel and you'll get entertained by him, then Stone Cold and The Rock come into their own and the show starts gaining steam...the Attitude Era will start up and kick into full gear mainly after the Bret Hart screw job...then after that buckle up because it's a fun ride seeing Stone Cold vs. McMahon and the Corporation. the fans clearly will be into this and at the end, the midcard will improve and the storylines will be entertaining.

 

[relentless1]

Nitro was the show to watch in 95, 96, 97 and most of 98

Raw was also great in 97 and really hit their stride in 98 and 99 saw them just take off although the episodes weren't all that good in retrospect; they were just better than the Nitro shows