WCW was once the most-watched wrestling program on the planet. Stars like Sting, Goldberg, and the nWo all launched their superstardom at WCW's most successful television program: Monday Nitro.
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Although many books and documentaries have been produced about WCW and the Monday Night Wars, which was the infamous rating battle between Monday Night Raw and Monday Nitro, many aspects of Nitro history are often forgotten or glazed over with time. This list examines some things even the most hardcore WCW Nitro fan might not remember about the television program that had the entire WWE on the ropes for 83 weeks.
10 Sharmell Was A Nitro Girl
The Nitro Girls were first introduced on a July 1997 episode of Nitro. Although they were sometimes involved in the storylines, for the most part, they were an aspect of the show clearly aimed at the hormonal teenage fans that watched week to week. When people think back to the Nitro Girls, they often forget WWE Hall Of Famer Sharmell was a member of the crew for over a year before joining WCW as a valet for The Artist. She would eventually go on to become the infamous partner to her real-life husband Booker T through his time in WWE and TNA.
9 Nitro Doubled Raw In The Ratings For A Few Weeks
Although Nitro did beat Monday Night Raw in the ratings for 83 weeks, they rarely blew the program out of the water in terms of ratings. On only two occasions through the entire Monday Night Wars did Nitro more than double Raw in the ratings and it occurred in back-to-back weeks.
The first night was December 23, 1996, when Nitro scored a 3.1 in the rating vs Raw's 1.5, and the next week Nitro scored a 3.6 to Raw's 1.6. Nitro would dominate Raw for the next 60-plus weeks, but the program would never double Raw in the ratings outside of these two weeks in December.
8 Randy Savage Is The First Person To Win The WCW World Heavyweight Championship On Nitro
Most remember Savage won his first WCW World Heavyweight Title after winning a 60-man three-ring battle royal during the 1995 World War 3 PPV. Savage's second title win, against Ric Flair, was the first time the title changed hands on an episode of Nitro.
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This title run was mostly forgettable since he lost the title only a month later. The title would change hands 20 more times on Nitro with Booker T being the last person to win the Big Gold Belt on Nitro.
7 Tuesday Nitro
Many fans remember WCW airing on Tuesday nights sometimes due to sports, but some forget there were four episodes of Nitro called "Tuesday Nitro" that aired on TNT. The first was in 1997 where The Outsiders were victorious in defending their WCW World Tag Team Titles. The last three Tuesday Nitro's aired in the 2000s, long after WCW had lost its hold over wrestling audiences.
6 Booker T Had More Nitro Matches Than Any Other Wrestler (157)
Of all the stars to explode thanks to the success of WCW, few carried the success into the WWE better than Booker T., He left WCW as the World Heavyweight Champion, where he was holding onto his fifth reign as champion. It makes sense when you look at his career that he competed in more Nitro matches than any other wrestling star. Behind Booker is Lex Lugar with 150 matches. Booker was also the last WCW Triple Crown champion.
5 The Most Watched Nitro Match Wasn't A Nitro Match
Although it has been speculated that this was done as a rating ploy by WCW, the most-watched match on Nitro was a rerun of a pay-per-view match between Goldberg and DDP. The main event of Halloween Havoc 1998 was cut off early and many fans were unable to see the outcome of the bout. The almost 11-minute match was aired for free on Monday Nitro and drew a huge crowd of an estimated 7,782,000 viewers (10.2 ratings). It was the most viewed Nitro match of all time and that evening was the last time WCW ever beat WWE in the ratings.
4 Nitro Released A Fragrance Gift Set
Wrestling is notorious for merchandising whatever items it can. Often forgotten from the WCW cash grab were the Nitro fragrances for men. WCW Nitro fragrance gift set included aftershave, cologne, and a deodorant stick. The product was released in 1999 and if collectors want an unopened spray bottle in 2022 it'll cost them close to $300.
3 WCW's Most Attended Show Was An Episode Of Nitro
Unlike WWE's WrestleMania, WCW Starrcade was never set up as a huge stadium event sell-out. The biggest audience attendance for WCW was almost always Nitro. The most attended episode of Nitro happened on July 6, 1998, in Atlanta, Georgia. The main event was the first and only "Goldberg vs. Hogan" match. 41,412 people watched Goldberg defeat Hogan and win his first and only WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
2 Charlotte Flair Appeared On Two Episodes Of Nitro
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Although she is one of the top stars in the WWE today, Charlotte Flair technically made her wrestling television debut on Nitro. She only appeared for a few moments and was called "Ashley," her real name
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Although they were nothing major, it's funny for hardcore Nitro fans to look back now and not realize AJ Styles wasn't the only random face that would appear on WCW and eventually be the face of WWE.
1 Hogan & Roddy Piper Fought Their Last Title Match On Nitro
The "Hulk Hogan vs Roddy Piper" rivalry is often considered one of the best feuds of all wrestling. Hogan was the "say your prayers hero" while Piper was the heel of the '80s. Two stars that were created in the WWE had the last title match of their illustrious rivalry on an episode of Monday Nitro in 1999. The match ended in a DQ win for Hogan who retained the WCW World Heavyweight Title, but many consider this the last true "Piper vs Hogan" match since the next (and last) time they met was in a gimmick riddled feud where Hogan was "Mr. America."
