Arena Showcase - WCW Monday Nitro (1995-2001)

WCW Monday Nitro was the weekly show that helped propel World Championship Wrestling into the number one spot on Monday nights. From 1995 to 2001 we saw a few different designs, and some special episodes, and that's what we're going to take a look at today. Join me on this episode of Arena Showcase, as we take a look at WCW Monday Nitro.

[@steezeaustin316]

You know it's gonna be a good day when Nikateen posts a video. Keep up the good work, bro! You're definitely my favorite KZbinr. You deserve more subs!

[@DannyBoy0619]

Ballin' F he really does.

[@michaelburke7978]

I miss WCW, such a sad day when it aired for the last time

[@AshesHereos]

*WCW* Monday Nitro's best era was from September 4th '95, to March 29th '99.

[@merkcityboy834]

98 was the yr I really got into WCW what it was NWO Wolfpack will forever be my favorite faction in wrestling.

[@mtbd215]

agreed!

[@dylanblurton1881]

I liked when they had the Nitro logo in the ring in 1998

[@ganggreen9750]

Dylan Blurton right

[@timbartschwolfman]

Flesh N Bone Nice Bulls Logo 👍

[@timbartschwolfman]

Dylan Blurton Pretty cool huh

[@smoothst9303]

Me too

[@merkcityboy834]

It was towards the end of 98 an early 99 wasn’t it?

[@TheGuyNobodyReallyLikes]

And there I was as a teenager in 2001 collecting breakfast cereal boxes, cutting them out and making a WCW model arena. All in the memory of WCW after it closed down.

[@TheEpicMario]

I never quite understood why the first episode was held in the Mall of America. Imagine having to go shopping that day in that mall, and the moment you step inside you see thousands of fans watching WCW action.

[@ma.dasilva]

they have an amusement park in the Mall of America it’s famous for having this sort of stuff

[@BillyM82094]

the reason why the PlayStation and TNT logos were wrapped around the ring posts in the spring break episode in 1997 was because of the release of the WCW Nitro video game

[@JeremyPeeples]

WWE still has at least one set of the giant WCW lettering - I got to see it in the WWE warehouse and they look fantastic.

[@SteelRhinoXpress]

Yeah, they got a lot of cool stuff in that warehouse.

[@jefferyjones8399]

The arena changes in 2000 really did reflect the state of the company at the time.

[@RepoManFan4Lyfe]

God, I miss WCW. I was 11 when the show debuted and 17 when it ended... my childhood right here, guys.

[@rileykazama3145]

Sorry for what happened wcw>>>>> aew

[@anthonyvasquez6113]

I agree. Even though I was born 3 years after WCW shut down for good, I go back to watch some of Monday Nitro, I think to myself, "Why wasn't I born in the 90's or the Millennial Era?"

[@4packdaddy]

The 1998 Set with the Steel WCW logos and the ring logo was my favorite!

[@Paulshaggy]

1999 Nitro arena was so iconic and amazing! It had something special in it, i was really upset when they changed it in 2000, i was hoping they would change it back but they never did. 2000 arena looked simplier and cheaper which made me think they had some financial problems

[@tomlebomb]

Yeah I imagine it was down to cost at that point. I loved the 99 set as a kid and still do think it's impressive now. Though looking back I do wonder if they would have been better not having such a big overhaul from the original set. It wasn't until years later i realised the new logo actually spelt WCW, much to my shame haha.

[@merkcityboy834]

@@tomlebomb yeah the 99 set was awesome wish the had of kept it longer.

[@demontemorton6381]

it was def a financial thing. all the ppvs had the same set as well.

[@Lycan_Jedi]

1. Original Nitro (not the mall of america version) 2. WCW Nitro 99 3. nWo Nitro 4. Disney Nitro 5. Spring Break out 97-98

[@nigelhighlands3131]

It was all downhill when they changed the WCW logo and the Nitro set. Yikes. The identity crisis was too real.

[@ismailrehman9599]

il be honest with you , the wheels fell off of WCW by 1999. but when the logo and stage changed Nitro was still decent. not must see TV but it was alright. once russo changed it all hit the fall really hard

[@OtherBarry4908]

no. the bad booking was the problem.

[@EgonEagleKritiker]

I remember the old logo. Here in Sweden the show was broascast on TNT at nights and on days it was broadcasting Cartoon Network. WCW Monday Nitro was broadcast on fridays.

[@joshg9538]

That's odd

[@xXDemonHeartZXx]

The inconsistencies with the rope color had to do with the fact that at that point WCW was taping both Nitro and Thunder right after each other.

[@XFlawlessXxx]

WCW MONDAY NITRO is my favorite, always will be. I'm a WCW NITRO FAN 4 LIFE

[@chaseferguson8198]

I'm the same way after WCW died only watched WWF for about 2 years before that me and my family had 3 to 4 tv's in house all on WCW and Halloween havoc best ring and theme and 1 last thing not WCW but NWO WOLF PACK 4-LIFE BEST TEAM OF ALL TIME NASH, HALL, STING, LEX, MACHO, KONAN

[@danielphilpott4308]

BrooksMasters what about wcw 2000?

[@SSJ491]

I watched WCW from 1993 up to 1999 (my childhood years), and I started watched the WWF/E in 1999 up to 2013 (my childhood years all the way to my early adulthood years) for 20 years. Great times watching both WCW and the WWF/E during the Attitude era in the late '90s up to the early 2000s. But I started watching WCW Monday Nitro on TNT in late 1997 up to April 26, 1999 for 3 years on TNT. But since WCW was beginning to fall to the ground with the ratings pummeled. When my young brother started watching the WWF/E in October 1998 with Raw is War, I knew there was another wrestling promotion on television that was challenging against WCW. Months later until August 26, 1999, I started watching the WWF/E during the Attitude era with The Rock's show SmackDown! It was so much better and it feels energetic than WCW (no disrespect to the organization; which it still has the best talent like Goldberg, Sting, Booker T, Diamond Dallas Page, Hulk Hogan, and so on) that a breath of fresh air to see young talent like Stone Cold, The Rock, Triple H, The Undertaker, Mankind, Kane, and so on that would take a spotlight to became legends in the wrestling business.

[@tydyman2003]

Chris Jericho mentioned Nitro on Raw it was awesome

[@matthewmicelli6674]

Weeeeeeeelcome to the greatest night in the history of our sport!

[@jambi5096]

Nothing will beat the presentation and atmosphere of WCW Nitro during that first four year period. I actually preferred how close the stage was to the ring and I love the placement of it when it was diagonal, rather than leading to the center or sides of the ring. I hate how much space there is now between the ring and the fans outside on the mats. The ring should feel like it's being smothered by the fans with very dark lighting in the audience and a spotlight focused on the ring.

[@yourboyken7871]

When I was a kid, I was in tears looking back to 14:20. I didn't know at the time bit had a feeling something bad was happening to WCW.

[@jimbo-fk4dq]

YourBoy Ken A similar feeling for me, but more when I saw Paul Heyman on Raw. At that moment, it officially sunk in that ECW was dead.

[@TherealRNOwwfpooh]

You do know WWF and ECW (with ECW "invading" RAW IS WAR in 1997, courtesy of Vince backfunding Paul's finanically struggling bingo hall promotion in secret [that is, the working relationship between the 2 companies was not known by or told to ECW bookers & talent - with a few doubling as both, like Dreamer, Taz & the Dudleyz - sans Paul as creative visionary/founder, who acted as a mediator between his renegade hardcore underdog & Vince's New Yorker alpha in the business], which gave Vince the impetus to rip-off the "edge" from ECW to create The Attitude Era in response to the 90's generalized "Us Vs Them" anti-authority youth movement as well as its cultural shift to either "darker" or more sensual innuendo-heavy [or even sometimes both] programing) more or less collaborated to help put WCW out of the pathetic misery the company had created for itself already due to inconsistent booking (not unlike WWE's own decisions for the past several years, from 2005 onward) on top of flagrant racism towards black wrestlers, ethnic stereotyping of minorities along with similarly treating them unfairly in terms of pay when compared to their traditionally white Southern counterparts due to WCW's Atlanta, GA. home base location & devaluing of smaller workhorse wrestlers by coining the tactless "Vanilla Midgits" label (one that ignorantly biased fans who've stopped watching or those fringe people who weren't true fans to begin with, but were instead simply bandwagon-hopping "filthy casuals" who merely tune in when the industry's popular or makes newsworthy source material have unjustly used to demean the current talent when the real culprits in the downfall of "sports-entertainment" would be that, with kayfabe dead, the "sport" aspect has been supplanted with meta recognition of pro wrestling as violent performance art [thanks in part to the Internet/social media] & a lack of believability on top of shitty booking to create disconnecting dissonance between the crowd, the talent & the brain dead "Creative" team has made it so the present product is failing its other goal of being "entertainment" by not being...well...entertaining, save a handful of exceptions), with things just going downhill fast, particularly the instant the nWo began hogging the spotlight, with everything just getting worse each year as a result of the faction burying smaller, younger, more agile, or else, far more credible (wrestling-wise) technical wrestlers in favor of the ex-WWF 80's old guard & The Outsiders, right? One-trick hoss Goldberg, who couldn't wrestle his way out of a paper bag (he was shit then in his prime, booked even worse during his 2003 WWE stint & should've had his back snapped ala Batman with Lesnar as his Bane to send him into permanent retirement quickly during his 2017 final comeback, because having a freak of nature all-American state collegiate amateur wrestler who became UFC Champion [initially done without PEDs, before getting busted following his UFC 200 one-off appearance] actually lose to a broken down, untalented 50-year-old with only 2 big moves was a crappy piece of nostalgic shit on a stick which destroyed Lesnar's "Conqueror" image & simultaneously further marred Undertaker's legacy to boot on account of "The Phenom" giving up his 20 & 0 Wrestlemania Streak [the only worthy wrestling streak that actually mattered, because sans WM9 & WM11, Taker fought bonafide Hall of Fame caliber talent to maintain it, for unlike Goldberg's massaged, fictional 173 to 0 nonsense - that's not believable in hindsight when you know Goldberg knew next to nothing about how to wrestle, but yet, he was handily defeating local scrubs & jobbers before demolishing midcarders who could've, or genuinely have in Regal's case, pinpointed his shortcomings as a greenhorn to prove he was simply a lucky former football chump who got the proper push at the right time when WCW needed a homegrown success story, only for WCW to shoot itself in the perverbial foot by botching Goldberg's first real title defense after Hollywood Hogan allowed Goldberg to be put over - the one, true Streak's recorded tally is real, even if the industry it was performed within happens to be staged] upon losing to Lesnar at Wrestlemania 30), which was why Goldberg was hot-shot booked as an unbeatable powerhouse typically wrestling squashes that lasted less time than his entrance did at under 2 minutes tops (until the nWo put pay to that BS inferior streak bolstered via inflated numbers pulled out of the collective asses of "Creative" with the stupidly insepid taser finish, which lead to the infamous Finger Poke of Doom & Goldberg's almost equally dumb heel turn to put WCW into its grave), being practically the lone exception, because unless you were part of the nWo itself or were otherwise close friends with the founders like DDP was with Hall & Nash, you were essentially an afterthought to be buried by the faction's overbearing dominance.

[@sleepwalkusa135]

@@TherealRNOwwfpooh what copypasta is this

[@SteelRhinoXpress]

The 2nd to last nitro when eric announced to the audience that wcw was going to be more, was a heartbreaking moment. I remember where i was at when that happened.

[@EmmettXIV]

I liked many of the set designs. From the classic design with the two diamond plate wcw logos. That was the golden age of Nitro. The set was simple but effective. The rebrand in April 1999 is a love hate feeling. I actually do like the set and the starry background. The logo is when the product went downhill however and looks like bird shit lol. I like the final stage design as well with the huge screen that sits on the stage surrounded by the steel structures. It's a very clean and simple look and probably my favorite. As for the ring, I liked the light blue canvas with the logo. That was different but looked good. I also like how Nitro had many different venues and something not done enough to switch things up.

[@mustafathirdi]

Finally! Someone talks about stages!!

[@danielphilpott4308]

the April 10 2000 - March 26 2001 intro was HORRIBLE

[@johndonisi8526]

Daniel Philpott and so was the stage.

[@danielphilpott4308]

John Donisi and everything else

[@johndonisi8526]

Daniel Philpott WCW in 2000-2001 shouldn't exist in my opinion.

[@sandwichlovemachine2546]

Well everything in WCW went downhill when Vince Russo came, No wander WWE bought WCW. All because of Vince Russo.

[@danielphilpott4308]

Duncan Burden agreed

[@jjthecat9692]

I absolutely LOVED the look of the Disney World arenas they did in the summer of 1996. Good times!

[@Eric-wu7bp]

For one night only on September 28th 1998, Nitro used yellow turnbuckle pads for their ring

[@jcarmedia8114]

Really interesting watch! No lapse in the quality of these videos.

[@BWASRawk]

The first Nitro was actually in Bloomington MN. The mall was built on the site of the Vikings old stadium

[@TheDreMacShow]

I miss WCW I'm not gonna lie

[@chetthedebt2169]

They never should've gotten rid of the diamond plate. Even as a kid, I knew it was only downhill from there.

[@BillyM82094]

the September 28th episode of Nitro was in Rochester, NY and the turnbuckle pads at the ring area were yellow instead of the usual red

[@gamerdude612]

I Love the original Nitro set and the 1999 stage they should have kept it around longer but by that point WCW was trying so hard to compete against WWF Raw that's what there 2000 set looked like.I miss those days switching between Raw & Nitro WCW was great in it's own right I think I'm gonna watch my Nitro dvds and watch Sting vs DDP or Eddie Guerrero vs Ric Flair Chris Benoit vs Booker T classic stuff man.great job is Thunder or SmackDown! next lol.

[@zlinedavid]

Agree. The first redesign in 1999 was really good. The stage being shaped as the logo was unique and actually worked.

[@zlinedavid]

Piece of unsolicited advice: if you want subs, trolling the comments section of other channels is probably the worst thing you could do.

[@vinnycarrocia7511]

You two are the first people I have ever seen or heard that like the 99 logo and set. I thought it was awful.

[@jonrichardson7848]

I to was a big fan of wcw Monday nitro my buddy would flip in between and call me and say flip over to wwf a min and every time I'd tell him no even 24 years later that original theme still gives me chills and memories of being glued to that big screen the old style ones from 8 to 11 wwe will never have the excitement wcw had and I'll always say when wcw died wrestling died brother

[@anthonyvasquez6113]

5:38 Now I know what helped spawn the stage and ring construction & the overall theme and name for Southpaw Summer Breakout '87 in WWE 2K20's Southpaw Regional Wrestling DLC

[@Buff88]

Nitro was so awesome! When WCW ended, is when wrestling started to go down hill. No competition. WWF got lazy.

[@BillyM82094]

the video screen that we 1st saw on April 10, 2000 reminds me of the TitanTron on Monday Night Raw

[@thebipolarbear1]

Great video! Nice stroll down memory lane

[@virgildawkins703]

Its drepessing AF to see how much money they lost over time and how it affected even the little things like the stage

[@PaulRizzo]

I'm a MASSIVE die hard WCW fan but DAMN it sucked in the last 2 years.

[@MrBlockice22]

My teenage years up to when WCW ended, was so great. The best time to be a wrestling fan. Its ok now but, NOPE you couldn't mess with that era. The mistakes that was made in the WCW circle towards the end, was a headache. Wish WWE have some competition right now, so they can take risk and bring in ideas, so I watch those shows watch every week. Those Monday nights at that time was woooo the best, knowing damn well I had to get up and go to school the next morning, LOL!! Great Vid, thanks for the memories!!

[@DannyBoy0619]

Summerslam and No Mercy is my request. Keep up the fantastic work. Very professional.

[@eddiealivera7423]

Their best rings had advertisements. Like snickers and slim Jim, to supplement the income stream...

[@slavenpetanic]

Thanks NikateeN for old WCW NWO and Thunder stories!! More of that please 😃!!

[@mrfactoryfold]

If you're still making these videos a cool idea would be to make one showing a timeline of both Raw and Nitros set changes. Alot of design changes were made to either catch up with or one up the competition. The biggest changes were made as Raw introduced the titantron & that imo was a game changer in the world of stage design. Great job on the videos you've made. I can tell you put alot of work into em, good job.

[@MyNational88]

Could you do one for Smackdown and for Impact/TNA please?

[@kerpal321]

i miss nitro so much :(

[@Makminah_]

My god man. You really did your homework

[@Gwolf888]

All the nitro sets were cool

[@UmairKhan-it1op]

My eyes full of tears at 14:05

[@zunfren]

Who remembers the original stage entrance from Thursday night thunder?

[@joshg9538]

Me

[@Sonnenscheisse1510]

very cool video! wcw 4 life!

[@Seirzaku]

Hope WCW Thunder and WWF/E SmackDown are next up for the arena showcase!

[@PhazonGamer90]

97 nitro da bomb. love your vids nikateen

[@joselathario]

man i miss wcw....sure it wasnt up to par with the wwf, but it was a fun promotion. sure they had some bad ideas, especially bringing in vince russo, but i enjoyed their product. this was a good video. informative and nostalgia packed. keep em coming BROTHER!!!!

[@WeizHerGigBuddy]

Never knew that type of steel was called diamond plate....

[@momckm]

Imagine If Nitro Was Still On The Air Wen Sonic X Was Airing And Someone Went On Nitro As All The Sonic X Characters (Including Cosmo)! that would be so cool!...

[@alentalic4190]

I have the 2000 blue canvas at home, bought it couple years ago

[@NikateeN]

Whoa, that’s awesome!

[@charly6066]

Oh hell yeah, he's back!

[@kokotheclown2588]

I actually really like the WCW spring break 99 look the titantron look it’s big and didn’t look generic imo at least it’s better than the 99 look with the WCW letters being the stage now who came up with that atrocity

[@kterb4371]

cool showcase

[@requiemmariano]

these videos are super useful to the creators comunity of wwe 2k! so we can recreate older arenas that are not in the games. Thanks you

[@NikateeN]

Glad to hear it

[@requiemmariano]

@@NikateeN greetings from Argentina!

[@ANTICHRISTJC]

Thank you very much. You got a new subscriber. #WCW4LIFE

[@SJB2000]

I really liked the version with the blue canvas

[@cassandraross2415]

When are u coming back bro miss u man

[@joshmccollen700]

Even as a kid I remember thinking that WCW's production quality seemed to diminish in mid '99 or so.

[@parkertoys4993]

I love the Old MONDAY Nitro arena before The dark times jeje back un 96 to 99. After that it all came down

[@_The_Worst_]

The original main set was the best...💯✔️ 🔥WCW🔥 NWO 4 Life 🤘🏼

[@woodser]

What a journey.

[@gabrielshupe8927]

3rd WCW Nitro was in Johnson City TN at Freedom Hall!!! 9-18-1995

[@blankspace_kxng]

The classic wcw nitro theme is a bop ngl

[@talkingben5190]

My favourite will always be the aug98/Apr99 but I've always had a soft spot for the late 2000/2001. It just looked really smart unlike the cheap raw is War Rip off they had earlier

[@BillyM82094]

the Disney/MGM Studios (Disney’s Hollywood Studios) is 1 of theme parks in Orlando located at Walt Disney World

[@NikateeN]

Correct.

[@smoothst9303]

Were The Big Boyz Play!

[@jimbo-fk4dq]

I always liked the early stage could be angled to fit the locker rooms better, and not just straight on like the WWE ramp for Raw and Smackdown is.

[@rileykazama3145]

#ripwcw

[@vhshd3431]

The original Nitro set was the best. The RnB-Reboot in Spring 2000 (Big Screen + the two Side Banners) second best. The big monstrous WCW-Logo entrance would be third choice.

[@user-ep2tq1gx8q]

Vince McMahon does not own WCW anymore. His son Shane McMahon is the owner of WCW. As I remember it.

[@NikateeN]

That was a storyline for television.

[@elijahvelez1488]

I like the 1999 stage because it’s the new logo

[@moncefsaadi8259]

Nice video bro

[@gabrielshupe8927]

3rd nitro was in Johnson City, Tn

[@TheDimeDrawer]

Please do a video on Royal Rumble or Great American Bash next...

[@joshg9538]

Obviously the classic 97-98 stage but I did like the spring breakout ones.

[@robjackson4050]

saturday night? i always remember it's arena looking different than the others

[@sideeffectgaming7348]

Miss wcw

[@Voltron5051]

1999-2001 Monday nitro theme song purity adrenalin

[@weworldwide1348]

black ropes and red turnbuckles were the best look

[@thetruecish]

WCW sure loved fire, eh?

[@joshuahumes5548]

I loved nitro

[@ArtseyHayton06]

What are those silver litterings in the 1999 logo? Feels unrecognisable when I look at it.

[@chriscj71]

Inconsistent is an understatement

[@johncraw8572]

Could you do all elite wrestling stages please thanks

[@jayb-clay2724]

loved the Disney nitro because that's when NWO started to pick up steam and then probably original set not mall of America... I hated everything from the logo change till they closed the doors

[@X2Magneto]

I'm one of few that likes the 99 arena.

[@djanthony9759]

WCW was the best

[@ProWrestlingFan1995]

SD next please?

[@razormc954]

Any chance for a Smackdown Arena showcase?

[@Mandude4200]

So The very first nitro was free. My entire family including me is very Minnnnneeeesotaaann yaaah And my father told me that his biggest regret ever in his entire life was not going to the first nitro

[@ViperStrike]

Over the pool,serioslly... Oh man. GOOD FCK DAYS

[@mat2000100]

Wcw had the Titantron before WWE did?

[@Math_Yeww]

What music you using in the background here?