WCW- The Last Nitro

[Shining Wizard]

This was probally the best live air wrestling show that ever aired. It had a PPV feeling to it. The Main event was Sting vs. Ric Flair which was very good. Every title was on the line and all the faces won. I think this show had a special meaning to it that the good guys always beat the bad guys and symbolized WWE as the good guys and WCW the bad guys for shooting and taking on WWF. This was also a night of shoot promos. The wrestlers were out of characters. Who else saw this event and how did you feel after it?

Here are the results:

WCW United States Championship vs. WCW World Heavyweight Championship - Booker T defeated Scott Steiner

Rey Misterio Jr. & Billy Kidman over Kaz Hayashi & Jimmy Yang and Shannon Moore & Evan Karagais

WCW Cruiserweight Championship - Shane Helms defeated Chavo Guerrero Jr.

WCW World Tag Team Championship - Sean O'Haire & Chuck Palumbo over Lance Storm & Mike Awesome

Loser Gets A Tatoo Match - Shawn Stasiak over Bam Bam Bigelow WCW

Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship - Rey Misterio Jr. & Billy Kidman defeated Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo

Sting defeated Ric Flair

 

[Prax]

I agree that that show was awesome, especially the sync they did with RAW, that was just intense. I used to get Nitro two days later here in Canada and I remember watching it and knowing it was special, even though it was on tape.

Just one question... was there actually a loser gets a tattoo match? I seen to have blocked that out of my memory, lol. Did the loser actually get the tattoo right there and then? What the hell kinda tattoo was it?

 

[A.J.]

That was probably one of the best nights in all of wrestling. Well bad too for some especially those die hard WCW fans. Your right that night had such a PPV feel to it that it all clicked on that final Nitro. That was such an insane night for me personally as i was hitting the "go back" button on my remote so much between RAW and Nitro that night. You have to say for the final Nitro what a better way to end WCW was have the two guys that bleed and represented WCW to the bone that being Sting and Flair.

I also want to know is there a clip of it any where the tat thing?

 

[xSubZer0x]

tbh i watched nitro most of the time more then wwe reguardless what they said about nitro loosing viewers i still think they had alot of compatition btw wcw/wwf (wwe)

 

[Kasey]

This was the worst night in my personal history of watching wrestling. I felt like a major part of my fan's heart had been cut away...but with a extra dull butterknife. This is the reason wrestling is in such a dismal state at present with one mediocre fed running the show and pretty much holding a monopoly over the entire business while half-assing their product most times. I remember watching the last Nitro telecast and thinking to myself, very bluntly: "It's over." Yes, it was stunning television to see the shows broadcast simultaneously, but in the end, it meant that there was no alternative and that some of the WCW talent I really enjoyed watching would either not have a job, or be reduced to table scraps whilst being lost in the WWF shuffle. It also meant that the most underhanded son of a bitch in the industry would be running the entire show as far as big league televised wrestling was concerned. I also had no options myself, as a viewer. If the WWF product wasn't to my liking (which is wasn't) then I was sh*t out of luck.

That final Nitro card was a pretty cool one to watch. I really loved that Sting and Flair closed the show because as far as I'm concerned, with those two it really was where WCW began and ended. I also enjoyed the undercard that night, specifically the Cruiserweight Tag Team Championship match.

 

[X]

I have to agree with Kasey. Though it was a very good show, it was just painful to watch knowing it was all over after a good fifteen, twenty years of WCW/NWA. He's right in saying that this marked the incredible decline of wrestling that we've seen since then.

Think about it, where has wrestling gone since 2001? Nowhere but down, down, and down. Sure there is still exciting matches, exciting feuds, exciting television, especially with the introduction of TNA (thank god for them) but it's NOWHERE near the level of awesomeness that was being produced by the wrestling biz from like 95-2000. We had ECW putting on some of the best wrestling the US has ever seen along with satisfying people's blood lust with some of the most hardcore matches the US has ever seen, we had WCW with the best damn cruiserweight division ever, amazing midcard talent(the only bad thing being WCW's main event scene) like Benoit and Jericho, and you had the WWF in their absolute peak years. I mean, remember back in like 98-99 when every single PPV main event was an absolute epic encounter and whenever you bought a PPV you always got more then your money's worth? Jesus I miss those days when you just knew when you tuned in to any program that you were about to see some fantastic wrestling, some awesome stories (Higher Power anybody?) and some of the best feuds between the top stars of all time.

Since then it's all been downhill. Part of that has to do with top guys like Austin and the Rock pretty much retiring from the sport, but most of it has to do with the fact that the WWE no longer had any competition and didn't need to work their asses off to get the edge in ratings. So they got lazy and produced utter shit like Katie Vick, Vickie Guerrero, and the introduction of Goldberg, Batista, and John Cena to the WWE.

It was a good show but it was damn sad. I mourned that day for wrestling, because I knew it was going nowhere but down from there.

 

[Shocky]

I have this on tape, and will never erase it. Honestly, it was the best Nitro that was broadcast in at least 3 years. I was in college and didn't have the internet at the house, so we missed everything. I turned Nitro on, like we usually did, and their is Vince Fucking McMahon, are you fucking kidding me. Out of the 4 guys living in the house, 2 of us were WCW guys, and 2 of us were WWF guys. It really broke the one WCW guys heart, because he and I had argued nonstop about WCW/WWF for the last 5 years, and finally it was over.

A blind monkey could have seen the end was coming though. Look at the mess WCW was in. So many title vacancies, no long title run. The title race was in complete disarray, and they were lacking a central storyline for at least a year. All good things must come to an end, and with that, the WWE had it's best year in 2002, IMO, and then it was slowly downhill after that.

 

[hardrocker488]

Anyone know where I could find entire video of the last Nitro?

Edit: This should be in ask a question thread. As for the question, not sure, it's the internet, you can probably ask for it on ebay or something.

 

[ExtremeIronChef]

Ah yes, the final Nitro. I remember watching with a heavy heart, because I knew that once that night was over, wrestling would never be the same ever again. All the matches seemed to be perfect. As far as I can remember nothing was botched and everything made perfect sense. The main event of Sting vs Ric Flair was the only match that could have ended WCW. The two men who were WCW through and through, who gave their hearts, their blood, their tears for WCW. It was a night that will never be forgotten. It was sad. It was depressing, but for the first time in a few years, WCW was king. We all knew the end was coming sooner or later, but you can never prepare for it when it finally hit. Looking back I do wish that Eric Bischoff had been able to purchase WCW so it could have lived on, instead of being buried by Vince and turned into just another long forgotten memory (we remember of course.)

For some reason I didn't tape it that night, and I wish now that I did, as I usually would tape WCW during 96-2001, for the memories and in case I wanted to pop in an episode of Nitro. If anyone would be willing to make a copy of this final Nitro and send it to me, I'd be very grateful.

 

[TNA Smark]

WCW, a promotion that has entertained me when I was younger despite the fact that I watch a lot of WWF during the Attitude Era. They brought wrestlers from all around the world to wrestle in the CW division. Guys like La Parka, Blitzkrieg, Ultimo Dragon, Rey Mysterio, Eddie Guerrero and etc. They had one of the best rosters I've seen in a promotion. Things just went down hill when Eric Bischoff kept pushing the same guys over and over when he had a roster full of young bright stars and then these stars tuned into WWF and saw how those talent are getting pushed and that pissed them off more since all Bischoff did was rant down on WWF. Vince Russo comes in and does some bad booking and then we have the classic story of when JJ lies down for Hogan to pin him because of a dispute backstage. That showed how unprofessional Russo and Hogan were backstage. One of them should of done the right thing and do what they had to do for the buisness and not themselves.

Anyway this isn't about the end of WCW but the last show. I felt that this show was good. The shoot promos were good. Flairs opening promo about how Vince said he was going to hold them in the palm of his hand really warmed me up. The match I liked the most was Flair vs. Sting. This was there third encounter I think and for a tv match it came out good. When I kept hearing the announcers repeat that Vince Mcmahon bought them out I kept thinking what going to happen to find out years later the world of proffesional wrestling would go down hill.

 

[emceelokey]

I remember I fell out of the wrestling loop from around 99 - 2000. I remember one of my friends telling me that something was going to happen with McMahon being on WCW and that was the first Niro I watched in over a year at that point. As pretty much an outsider at that point I could understand why WCW went down. Their final broadcast which was supposed to have their best of the best of WCW had a lot of unknowns at that point and a lot of the people that I associated with WCW were already in WWF by that point. Plus it was held at the "La Vela" club or something. That one venue that's outdoors and has swimming pools and the crowd didn't really give a shit about anything that was happening. I'm pretty sure half of the people in attendance didn't even know who Vince McMhaon was. I didn't even know that Steiner was the Champ and didn't know why they would have made him champ in the first place and I remember that Booker T's look somewhat resembled The Rock at the time. I'll always remember the Sting / Flair moment though. IF there were any two people that meant anything to the company it would be those two.

 

[mtg712]

i loved wcw and miss it. the only match i remember was flair vs. sting its the best most emotional match i had ever seen.

 

[hbkizzle]

This night was bittersweet for me. I grew up on WWF, watched it all my life and watch it now but the late 90's were garbage in the WWE writing and "Attitude" era. WCW was not amazing but it was pretty great and a refreshing aspect when WWF would have Mae Young giving birth to hands or Too Cool was getting air time...you all know what else. WCW had such an old school feel to it and had a lot of classic wrestlers and matches during the late 90s. I thought Vince buying WCW was going to be revolutionary. I envisioned WCW continuing with Shane running it and having this unbelievable roster with invasions and cross overs here and there...like Raw and Smackdown are now but with more drama and better story lines. Instead, Vince has this monopoly with nothing to compete against (TNA is no WCW) and really no need to try hard leading to some dull story lines and wrestler pushes and roster spots throughout the 90s.

 

[Deus1138]

I've always preferred WWE to WCW. WCW always had such a redneck feel to it. I totally marked out when Shane O Mac was in the WCW ring on the Titan Tron talking to Vince in the WWE ring.

 

[y2jake'swhore]

i feel that bishoff and WCW had somthing going at one point they were doing better than the WWF until they started to stick with the same wrestlers each and every night so i changed the channel to see somthing new and i did so i stuck with that show

 

[The Kid From 13th Street]

WCW even in its dying days was so much better than WWE is right now, and that is really sad. It is true that 2001 really marked the beginning of the decline of professional wrestling.

 

[Rabbid Wolverine]

yes it was sad to see wcw die, but good on the other hand. they were in need of serious help. but eric bischoff let too many ppl call there own shots. and when it came down to the last show he had his 2 REAL stars left (sting & flair). on the monday night wars dvd, bischoff said wcw didnt have a station to air its product on, i think wcw could have gotten a tv deal... hell ecw got one on tnn.

but the best part of the show was the main event sting vs ric flair.... the only thing they should have done differently was have sting come out in one of his old ring attires, not the crow one.

 

[Afro-Ameri-Spawn]

Ah yes, I remember this very well. It was bitter sweet end to an era. And era that changed the face of wrestling for all time. There were no longer good guys and bad guys in the wrestling scope. There were tweeters and lone wolves. Cruiserweights were no longer look at as jobbers and tag team specialists. The only thing that would have made this nite more special would have been if all of the big names had answered Eric Bischoff's call from the week before and had come out to show their last respects. But it only goes to show you that guys like Goldberg, Nash, Hogan, and a host of others who were still packing their pockets with WCW money long after Nitro ended that night truly had no respect for the business or the company that made them into millionares. What a sad sad end to a legacy that should still be around today.

 

[traunero78]

It was bitter sweet to see WCW die. I was actually at the RAW the night Shane-O-Mac first stood in a WCW ring. It was electrifying at Raw when that was on the Titan-Tron. In the long run though I miss WCW. They pushed wrestling matches, and you got alot more clean finishes than the current WWE product. If they were in WCW, and WCW remained true to their roots (not the last couple years) alot of young talented wrestlers would receive a good push. I am tired of the WWE substance free matches, imagine that watching a wrestling show for the matches (someone give the memo to Vince). Not to mention the WCW cruiserweight division was dynamite. The big problem WCW had was letting the NWO die. I just wish Vince would realize to let ECW or WCW live as a different type product some day. They do not need to be like Raw or Smackdown, give them there own people a better feel. Put together rosters of more in ring talent, and lets see some good matches. Some clean matches, no run ins no outside interference just real wrestling.

 

[Wrestlefan73]

I was there live and I thought it was boring! We all knew it was the end, and to me, most of the wrestlers knew it was the end and didn't even attempt to put on a good show. Other wrestlers were putting on on hell of an act, probably to try and get in Vince's good graces in hope of getting a job. Seeing Shane O Mac in a WcW ring and Vince on the Turnertron totally ruining any chances of the super matches we all dreamt about. Just imagine how awesome ALL wrestling would be right now if WcW was still around(with or without Vince owning it).
It wasn't one of my favorite Nitros at all.

 

[Moon Knight]

WCW even in its dying days was so much better than WWE is right now, and that is really sad. It is true that 2001 really marked the beginning of the decline of professional wrestling.

Not true, WCW's birth was the beginning of the decline of wrestling. Mainly because WCW killed the NWA by taking some of it's big shows and TV spots and the NWA never recovered from it. It was the birth of WCW that lead to the death of all those 80's promotions that people like Flair made their legacy on. Do you know how many WCW programs were NWA first? The beginning of wrestlings decline was when Jim Crockett sold out, the NWA never recovered and WCW came in and ruined the industry. The WCW was poorly run for the most of it history, and even at the end it stunk. Did you miss Nash as commish? He thought he was batman at one point, and the revolving door champions and the canning of all the big names? Lets not forget David Arquette as WCW champion. WCW was a sinking ship thanks to the likes of Hogan and Nash who used their contracts and names as leverage to hog all the main events and hold the youth back, and by the time they tried to fix it, it was all too late and WCW was dead. I am happy WCW is gone to a degree, mainly due to it's terrible rehashed storylines, old wrestlers and multimillionaire wrestlers. If WCW was still around Hogan and Nash would still be main eventing PPV's....It had a chance to do some great things and blew it. Good riddence to bad rubish!

 

[Monkey_Mania]

I loved the last Nitro because it was great ending to a great company. I will admit that i was a mark for WCW because it was WRESTLING.... well at least until the dying days. I wish i wouldve taped it because iwould love to watch it again. All the matches were great. The main event with Sting and Flair was also a great way to end the promotion because it was those two guys who carried the promotion on their backs. Because without Sting and Flair there wouldve been no WCW it would've folded from day one