Shining a Spotlight 3.17.11: The Final Nitro

It’s ironic since my planned look back this week is at one of the biggest events of modern wrestling history, the final battle of the Monday Night Wars. The night that seemed inevitable and yet when it finally happened, it was stunning to everyone watching, something we just couldn’t believe happening. A decade later, it remains the most surreal night in wrestling history, one so bizarre to watch unfold before you as an era truly came to an end.

March 26th, 2001. The Last WCW Nitro.

The Downfall

It’s almost impossible for younger fans to understand how big WCW was. For decades, this company had been the biggest competition for Vince McMahon, the one organization standing while WWF rolled over the other territories. But for all their talent and power, the company always had their problems. When you look over their long history, it’s less a surprise this company went under and more that they lasted as long as they did. The problem from the moment Turner bought it was that WCW was owned by people who had no idea how wrestling worked. Thus you had guys like Jim Herd trying to put together a tag team of hunchbacks among other messes. Ironically, the one time they did hire a real wrestling guy as the main booker, it was Bill Watts, whose backward style (banning top rope moves, slow matches) did such poor business that Turner heads declared that no wrestling guy would be in charge again.

It’s still stunning to look back at how far and fast the company fell. As 1998 began, they dominated the scene so much that most sane people truly believed WWF would be out of business in a matter of months. They had the ratings, the PPV numbers and tons of talent, old and new, to build a foundation to last for years. But the obsession of Eric Bischoff to keep the New World Order going over all common sense undid much of their drive. The misuse of Bret Hart, the self-centered booking of Kevin Nash and backstage turmoil took their toll. Vince Russo just made matters far, far worse thanks to his well-documented issues: hotshotting titles constantly, pushing down the cruiserweights who had made WCW shows so entertaining, angles that had little logic and were dropped fast and, most importantly, his apparent belief that wrestling wasn’t something viewers tuned in for. It was bad but the idea that WCW could actually go out of business was still hard to fathom.

The company had been through hard times before. 1993, in particular, was a horrible creative year and ’95 wasn’t much better. Those years saw WCW losing money too (not as bad as in 2000) but the issue of their survival was never a question because of Ted Turner. Turner was always a mark for wrestling and enjoyed owning the company. It was a shame he couldn’t put more of a focus on it as WCW always needed a Vince McMahon to lay down the law and be the final say on things. That lack of a clear leader was a major issue as time went on, too much talent calling their own shots and no one giving a clear direction for where the company was going. Bischoff was too busy playing celebrity and coming off an obnoxious jerk to be an effective boss and Russo’s lack of focus messed it up even more. But Turner still enjoyed WCW, remembering how their old broadcasts had helped TBS succeed when it started up and whenever the question of selling the company was brought up, he made it clear that as long as he was in charge, WCW would always have a home on his stations.

The key words there are “as long as he was in charge.” Unfortunately for everyone, in early 2000, Turner made what he would later acknowledge as the biggest mistake of his entire life by okaying the AOL-Time Warner merger. Turner was under the impression that as the pioneer of cable TV with CNN and TBS, he’d be seen as a respected partner by the new owners. Too late, he understood that Gerald Levin considered him an over-the-hill dinosaur that didn’t fit into the proud new media vision they were creating. Turner found himself cut off from power, lost about $8 billion on the deal and was forced out of the company he’d helped create. He would have a bit of the last laugh in that these young and visionary owners would go on to blow $200 billion over the next two years but this mean that WCW had lost their biggest backer and, more importantly, were now under the watch of people who honestly cared for the bottom line.

The Road to the End

The theory that Vince Russo was deliberately sent to WCW to destroy it from within has a lot of support among fans. There seems no other rational explanation as to how someone could commit such horrific programming and think it would actually work. His desire to “push the envelope” led to stuff like the KISS demon, blood falling from the ceiling, David Arquette as World champion, Russo himself with the title and constant “this is all a shoot” moments that ruined the illusion for fans. With WWF on a true creative high, this was the worst possible time to do stuff that drove fans away, putting them deeper in the money hole. Attempts to salvage things later in the year faltered as fans were too burned out on the bad stuff to pay attention and so the new bosses were becoming eager to drop WCW.

Even then, with the rumors of the sale coming, there was still hope the company might go on. Bischoff decided to build a group to purchase the company, hooking up with a venture named Fusient who made a good offer. So good, in fact, that it was reported the deal was done and WCW had new ownership. Bischoff began making plans for a “reboot” of the company in the spring, a new direction that would give younger guys more attention. However, things fell apart fast as one of Fusient’s investors pulled out. Worse, the company got their first real look at WCW’s books and realized the massive cost and debt of the company were far larger than they had expected, making them wary of going through with it. There was still a chance that Bischoff, a master at talk, might have been able to pull it off and get the deal through anyway.

But then Jamie Kellner came along to ruin it all. The new head of programming for Turner, Keller decided that wrestling didn’t fit into the new vision for TNT he wanted to present. And so, with no warning, he informed Bischoff that Nitro was to be canceled. WCW had already seen the unceremonious loss of their Saturday afternoon block, the show that had run for over twenty years yanked with no warning at all for fans. But now, with Nitro (as well as Thunder) gone, Bischoff had nothing to help sell the company with. Without some sort of TV, the company was basically lost and thanks to how WCW had been devalued so badly with the fans, other networks were shying away from giving airtime to a company already going down the drain.

And so with no one else willing to do it, Vince McMahon stepped up to the plate and bought WCW, its trademarks, contracts and library of programming going back 30 years for the pittance of $5 million. The half-joke is that if it was known the company was going for so little, the wrestlers themselves (including some WWF ones) would have gotten together to buy it (not like they could possibly run it any worse). That news was stunning, most refusing to believe it. Indeed, I remember how for hours (even days) afterward, people were going on that “this is just a work, Bischoff’s jacking up the price for his group, he’s tricking the talent” and such. That the great conflict that had dominated wrestling for long could end in such a rush, with almost no build-up, it was a rocking experience for everyone. Naturally, the worries began over how this would end. Would Vince just crush WCW right off or try and keep it going as a separate entity? How would McMahon react to now owning his competition? For once, Tony Schiavone was dead-on calling this the most important night in the history of wrestling.

The Last Show

It seemed wrong somehow for where it was taking place. WCW should have had their grand send-off in Greensboro or Atlanta, one of their long-standing bases. Instead, it was Panama City, Florida, the annual “Spring Breakout” show. Thus, the ring was set up in the middle of a huge pool in front of a few hundred people, not the huge crowd the show deserved, especially as the event was billed as “The Night of Champions.” It kicked off with the moment no one thought they’d ever see: Vince McMahon live on RAW doing a big speech of how he had bought WCW and teasing what he was going to do with it. Tony Schiavone and Scott Hudson were as jarred as everyone by what was happening.

But that was cut off as Ric Flair came to the ring in a suit and cut one of his all-time greatest promos, stating that Vince Sr. had voted for Flair as champ in 1981, that Vince didn’t own guys like Brisco, Steamboat or Funk and that if WCW was going out, it was with a bang. Thus, he decided to challenge his greatest WCW opponent: Sting.

After the first commercial, we saw this was no ordinary show by any means as U.S. Champion Booker T challenged World Champion Scott Steiner in a title vs. title match. Steiner had been running roughshod as the mega-heel for a while and indeed, Bischoff’s plan to revive the company would have had him dominating more but that had to be changed. Booker’s reign as WCW champion had been one of the few bright spots to 2000 and had the crowd on his side. He started off hot, pounding Steiner with the old 10-count in the corner but Scott powerbombed him for two. Booker rolled to the outside, attacked by Steiner’s girlfriend Midajah who distracted the ref while Steiner tried to hit Booker with a lead pipe but missed. He rolled Booker into the ring for two and then did a series of pushups before hitting a belly-to-belly for another two. Booker bounced back with some blows and a dropkick, reversed a whip into the Ghetto Blaster and a spinebuster. The Spinaroonie followed and he went for the Bookend but Steiner reversed it into an overhead suplex for two. Scott then went for a powerbomb but Booker slipped out, hit the Bookend and covered him for the pin. It was great seeing Booker truly emotional, crying as he held both belts, the last true WCW champion.

Vince was shown in his office getting some cheap heat on how the final WCW broadcast was coming from “a drunken, redneck area in the panhandle of Florida.” Then there was a three-way match for the #1 contenders for the WCW Cruiserweight tag team titles. The Filthy Animals (Rey Mysterio and Billy Kidman), 3 Count (Shannon Moore and Evan Karagias) and the Jung Dragons (Kaz Hayashi and Yang) went at it in a short but pitched match. They did a series of dives, each guy landing on a bigger pile of opponents to get the crowd going. Rey (and wow is it bizarre seeming him unmasked) hit a hurricanrana on Yang and tried for a bronco buster but Yang caught him and slammed his head into the turnbuckle. Yang went to the top for a corkscrew dive but Kidman broke up the pin attempt. Moore hit Kidman with his version of a fame-asser but Kaz broke it up. The Dragons teamed up for a combo suplex/powerbomb on Moore but Evan stopped it at two. Evan got a 450-splash on Yang but Kidman stopped the pin. Kidman and Evan went over the top while Rey tried a bronco buster on Moore only to be met with a sick kick to the crotch. However, he managed to bounce back as Moore got caught in the ropes, hitting a legdrop for the three count. Short but a fun throwback to the cruiserweights that made WCW so watchable.

Vince was shown celebrating with Trish back on RAW as “Sugar” Shane Helms defended the Cruiserweight title against Chavo Guerrero Jr. Helms started off with a splash off the top for two and Chavo reversed a move into a T-Bone suplex for two of his own. Chavo went for the brainbuster but Helms blocked it, setting off a series of reversals ending with a fisherman suplex for two. Helms got a roll-up off the ropes for two and a twisting backbreaker but missed a kick. Chavo tried to slam his face into the man but Helms sent him into the turnbuckle for his Sugar Smash kick. He went for his Vertebreaker and despite Chavo’s attempt to reverse it, hit it to retain the title.

Booker did an emotional backstage speech on how it felt to go out as champion (and using that lame “don’t hate the playa, hate the game” line). After more Vince stuff with threatening Michael Cole’s job, Lance Storm was in the ring as Team Canada (Storm and Awesome) were set to defend the Tag Team titles against Chuck Palumbo and Sean O’Haire. Storm was in fine form demanding the Canadian national anthem be played and how they would win the belts. He started off with O’Haire before Palumbo tagged in, hitting a cross-body but ending up getting rolled up. Awesome tagged in with a slingshot splash for two, whipped into the ropes but hit a great flying elbow before tagging Storm back in. Palumbo managed to catapult Storm into the turnbuckle and after being knocked down himself, tagged in O’Haire, who quickly named Awesome with a sideways slam for two. All four were in the ring brawling it out, Awesome nailing O’Haire with a wicked lariat, then hoisted Palumbo up for an Awesome Bomb but Palumbo snuck free and nailed Awesome with a kick. A Sean-Ton bomb finished it off to let the champs retain.

Next we got an example of how WCW fell apart as Shawn Stasiak faced Bam Bam Bigelow in a “loser gets tattooed” match. Given that Bam Bam had more ink than Kat Von D, it wasn’t exactly the most interesting stipulation. Bam Bam came to the ring with a box the announcers identified as “a tattoo kit” but given that a tattoo normally takes a few hours, it seemed doubtful the actual tattooing would be happening. Bigelow pretty much dominated the match with Stacy Keibler distracting the ref, Bigelow hoisting Stasiak up but Stacy grabbed his feet, allowing Shawn to hit a neckbreaker for the pin. And no, there was no actual tattoo for the loser after all.

More with Vince, this time William Regal seeing him with his WrestleMania t-shirt and proceeding to run down WCW as a horrible purchase. Yeah, no better way to sell the upcoming Invasion than making your new competition look like losers to the fans. Diamond Dallas Page was then shown doing a nice interview “what a long strange trip it’s been” and he wouldn’t change a thing, thanking the fans for all their support and promising to “take things to another level.” We were then treated to an absolutely glorious video package of WCW champions and stars that reminded you why this company had so much love from fans despite the hard times.

Believe it or not, WCW had a Cruiserweight Tag Team Title at the time and the other half of Team Canada (Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo) were to defend against the Filthy Animals. Elix and Kidman kicked it off, Kidman hitting a hurricanrana and then a backbreaker that allowed Rey to nail a dropkick off the top. Elix bounced back with a belly to belly and tagged in Romeo with a Shooting Star press for 2. Kidman kicked at him but Romeo managed hit a nice face plant powerbomb. He tagged in Skipper only for Kidman to hit a cross body out of nowhere. Elix took him back down with a spinning heel kick and tagged in Romeo who went for a leap off the top. But Kidman came back again with a dropkick and tagged in Mysterio who did a sensational press on Skipper and a broncobuster, followed by a tornado DDT. Another fantastic move had Skipper backdropping Rey, who managed to do a hurricanrana on Romeo over the top rope. The face double-teamed Skipper, Rey leaping off his partner’s back with a flying forearm that sent Skipper sprawling in the corner. Kidman did a sliding kick to his crotch and Rey hit a Broncobuster before he got pushed to the floor. Romeo got back in to hit a face buster on Kidman, Rey just making the save. Mysterio bombed Romeo and followed it with a springboard headbutt to the chest. Skipper managed to get a bridging suplex for two and another brawl broke out. Skipper tried for his Play of the Day but Kidman reversed it into the Kid Krusher to win him and Rey the titles. The belts, of course, would soon be forgotten but still a great match with Rey showing his stuff well.

Sting did a unique promo in a room filled with baseball bats, happy to be a part of this. After a brief shot of Vince doing his power walk, it was time for the final match of WCW. Flair came out clad in a WCW t-shirt as Hudson and Schiavone did some talk on how their legacy had helped forge WCW and Flair’s loyalty to the company. The two did one last great blow-off, trading “Whoos” and screams while circling each other and Flair waving the ref over only to shove him back. The crowd as into it with chants for Sting as they started it out, Flair going full heel with an eye-poke and huge chops in the corner. Sting reversed it with punches and kicks and a shame there was no roof to blow off the arena (for that matter, no arena). Sting got a hip toss and a standing dropkick, Flair going to the outside. Back in, Flair did some begging but was unable not to hide the grin on his face as they went at it. He did his strutting as Sting just looked on before hitting Sting below the belt, whipping him to the ropes but Sting reversed for a gorilla press. We got the classic “ten punch in the corner” and the Flair Flop. They exchanged chops before Flair got a low blow and more nasty chops in the corner. Flair then made the classic mistake of going to the top rope and, of course, got slammed off it. Sting got a pair of nasty clotheslines but when he missed a dropkick, Flair slapped on the figure four. They worked it well, Flair using the ropes for leverage before Sting reversed it. They both sold the injuries before Flair got off even more chops, which Sting no-sold, whipping him into the corner for the classic “Flair flips over top” moment. Sting superplexed him off the top and then put on the Scorpion Deathlock. Flair held on but eventually gave up. The two then embraced to loud cheers as the announcers put both over great.

It was now time for the real main event. Both shows tuned on to Vince strutting to the ring, obviously relishing this moment. He proceeded to do a promo he’d no doubt been planning in his mind for years: “How do you beat a billionaire? Become one yourself.” He did botch calling TNT “TNN” but still went over the top with his gloating. He stated he had agreed to buy WCW only on the condition that Ted Turner himself come out at WrestleMania to sign the contract over. He then asked the fans who they thought should be hired on, doing “thumbs up/thumbs down” for the likes of Hogan (mixed), Luger (boos), Marcus Bagwell (cheers, believe it or not), Booker T (cheers), Steiner (huge pop), Sting (cheers), and Goldberg (huge pop). He then made the sadly prophetic statement on how WCW was buried.

Suddenly Shane’s music hit and in Panama City, he was shown coming to the ring, everyone going nuts as to how this was happening. In the ring, Shane told Vince that he took advantage of his father’s ego, that the contract on the sale did indeed say “McMahon” but it was Shane who had bought the company. Vince did a great job looking stunned by all this as Shane declared that WCW was going to kick Vince’s ass again and he would do the job personally at WrestleMania. Hudson and Schiavone both expressed shock at how Shane owned WCW as the final WCW broadcast ended with a promo for WrestleMania.

Summation

The end wasn’t pretty, ends rarely are. Even for those of us who had run down WCW for all its horrible stuff in its last few years, it was truly painful to see this great company end. It did go out well with some great matches that reminded you of the good times that made it so fun in its heyday. But we also saw the ultimate cracks of the Invasion as Vince made them look like a joke and ending with a Shane-Vince confrontation instead of a great history of WCW seemed so wrong. But, sadly, real life is not like wrestling in that there are no tidy endings. Instead, we got a night that paid tribute to the past in the wake of an uncertain future, a wrestling landscape forever changed, a moment that resonates more a decade later. It may not be pretty but it was still a night that every wrestling fan deserves to remember.