STW #19: The Last WCW Monday Nitro

On this episode: What really happened at the last WCW Monday Nitro? What was the process leading up to it? Find out when Bruce and Conrad look at the last WCW Monday Nitro on TNT.
Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard is an audio podcast that discusses topics, events, wrestlers and memorable moments through the lens of former WWE executive Bruce Prichard co-hosted by Conrad Thompson.
The show was launched in August 2016 on MLW Radio. The episodes typically range from 2 hours to 4 hours in length, and include discussions about previous WWE pay-per-views and former WWE wrestlers.
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[@mattl.3861]

1:36:52 "What was it about Stacey Keibler?" "She was beautiful and had legs that wouldn't quit." "Roll tide."

[@patrickbooth5091]

Skip to 17:00 the stuff about the actual final nitro show starts around the 1:07:00

[@shanefrederick7731]

My hero

[@REALboxGhost]

Doing the Lord's work, my friend!

[@bdr113080]

Even 18 years later I still miss WCW. No the last year and a half of WCW wasn’t good but going back to the days of Mid Atlantic Championship Wrestling to the days of WCW Saturday Night to the WCW Monday Nitro Era, there was some great wrestling. Ric Flair, Sting, Dusty Rhodes, Rock & Roll Express, Big Van Vader, Cactus Jack, Arn Anderson, Barry Windham, The 4 Horsemen , Midnight Express, Road Warriors, Dustin Rhodes, Ron Simmons, Harley Race, Bill Goldberg, Steiner Bros., Ron Garvin, The Fabulous Freebirds, Harlem Heat, Terry Funk, Lex Luger, Sid Vicious, The nWo, The Outsiders, Nikita Koloff, Magnum T.A., DDP.....2 decades of some greatness .

[@TrenchHipHop]

Disco Inferno 4 Life

[@generalkayoss7347]

WWE screwed up when they didn't immediately feature some WCW talent on the next RAW. They had the contracts to the invasion guys already, I don't understand waiting 3-4 months to do anything with them. I, like the rest of the WCW audience tuned in to the next couple of RAW's hoping to see the beginning of some sort of WCW-WWE war from our dreams, and all we got was WWE programming as usual with little to no mention of WCW. Many of us would also watch WWE during commercials on WCW, but after this we stopped watching wrestling all together in many cases. And the refusal to buyout the contracts of top guys like Goldberg, Sting, Steiner etc was ridiculous. He could have made all that money back and more within 6 months giving us all the dream match PPV's we had been wanting to see for nearly a decade in some cases. But nooooo, all we got 4 long months later was a WCW mid-card that got absolutely buried in nearly every match. Fuck you for that Vince.

[@StevosNetwork]

What about El Dandy?

[@johnmoraites6020]

Brian Rose Lex Luger sucks

[@FIREBALLER100]

Had the powers-that-be in WCW paid closer attention to what was going on within their own company, and not worry so much what was happening on the other channel, who knows, WCW might still be around today. #IMissWCW

[@ASHUTOSH-im6pp]

Starts @ 17:05

[@jayofthep]

Is that just the pause between the show name and............ Bruce Prichard

[@v1per187]

thank you

[@vinson311]

Papa bless 🙌

[@taekwondotime]

Thank you.

[@knowiknownothing]

Lord’s work, sir.

[@charleskey6340]

This is when wrestling was done. It to me died when wwf bought wcw

[@orangemaniabrother2232]

It was only just beginning to me, I've been watching wrestling since 1990 but to me the best era was mid 2000 ROH and to a slightly lesser extent TNA of the same timeframe

[@jasonsandhu3760]

Was sad it truly ended in 08/09 pg era

[@Thurmanatr16]

Fast forward to 2020 and Raw can’t pull a higher rating than Nitro had on its deathbed.

[@ZChoate]

@@Thurmanatr16 To be fair, no show pulls ratings like shows did 20 years ago. Sitcoms, Tonight Show, South Park, whatever.

[@RedRaptor7]

It died when the name changed from wwf to wwe

[@hitmangfx7162]

1:16:00 Totally disagree. I loved the "beach" settings that WCW used from time to time. It made for a very unique visual. The modern WWE arena setting that has been the same for eons gives me sensory depravation, despite how clean and efficient it is.

[@kerpal321]

the end of wcw nitro was the end of an era :(

[@jakelang806]

obvi

[@hiphopguru81]

This comment brought to by captain obvious.

[@KamalaToe]

“This is, you know, Jerry Jarrett, well... you know? I’d like to buy some wrasslin’....” 😂.. I’m 💀

[@PaulKillsEmAll]

I'm in Tennessee, huh

[@corwin81]

“Never will work for WWE again”... that didn’t age well, lol

[@misterfaiz9678]

They could make him the fall guy for how things are currently going, if they choose two.

[@corwin81]

@@misterfaiz9678 true. Heyman and Bischoff already had their turns.

[@jtaco4101]

@@misterfaiz9678 that's literally how business works. Bring in a new manager if it works great, if not find someone else.

[@misterfaiz9678]

@@jtaco4101 i know that but im saying that but anytime they make him the fall guy for it.

[@BrandanTheBroker]

Isn't that what they all say, then a few years later... Bret Hart... Jeff Jarrett... I'm waiting for Nails to walk back down the ramp at this point 😂

[@tonygucciano6875]

Those guaranteed contracts ruined any chance of a successful big storyline after purchase. . With all the major stars missing WCW was DOA. Could have been great. Not just invasion, so many storyline options, many could have stayed in WCW and built a storyline about them refusing to go to NY. Cut promos at the other show. Started the wars up again, just on different nights to not mess with ratings for either. Could've been great.

[@joypadlad]

"You can't have two Shanes!" Meanwhile: Chris Jericho and Chris Benoit both exist in the WWF.

[@cheekloins4126]

34:55 I’m crying holy shit

[@DeamionYoutubeArchives]

1:00:51 ohhhhhhhhhhh that makes sense WcW rings are smaller... thats how in Fall Brawl, and World War 3 they can have so many rings now I get it... man image if WWE had World War 3 like Ppv instead of Royal Rumble, 60 man? 3 rings? Thats crazy 🤯🤯 it would suck for the fans since there 3 rings 😆

[@reshanner]

I lost my shit on the investor phone call

[@generalkayoss7347]

WWE screwed up when they didn't immediately feature some WCW talent on the next RAW. They had the contracts to the invasion guys already, I don't understand waiting 3-4 months to do anything with them. I, like the rest of the WCW audience tuned in to the next couple of RAW's hoping to see the beginning of some sort of WCW-WWE war from our dreams, and all we got was WWE programming as usual with little to no mention of WCW. Many of us would also watch WWE during commercials on WCW, but after this we stopped watching wrestling all together in many cases. And the refusal to buyout the contracts of top guys like Goldberg, Sting, Steiner etc was ridiculous. He could have made all that money back and more within 6 months giving us all the dream match PPV's we had been wanting to see for nearly a decade in some cases. But nooooo, all we got 4 long months later was a WCW mid-card that got absolutely buried in nearly every match. Fuck you for that Vince.

[@Thurmanatr16]

Well said!

[@blueblur2329]

Those contracts are what got WCW in trouble in the 1st place. Vince McMahon would have been an idiot to take those on.

[@rogregg29445]

Or we’re gonna have a wcw title match in freaking Tacoma Washington when raw was in Atlanta the next freaking week.

[@thickerconstrictor9037]

Overpaying for part time deals? No. Taking those contracts would been beyond dumb.

[@melbias5046]

the library was important to them.

[@TheSBleeder]

Triple H is gonna come after that World Champion Podcaster belt. Just because it's a title he's never held.

[@jamiephillips3947]

Has there ever been as more over rated wrestler???

[@thickerconstrictor9037]

Guess bruce wasn't blackballed after all haha

[@CBright7831]

I wonder who jumped on them to cause them start out with that disclaimer about the Sunny episode.

[@bdr113080]

I’m wondering the samething, 5 minutes of “I’m sorry” to start the show , clearly more than one person from WWE reached out to them .

[@CBright7831]

@@bdr113080 - Notice after that podcast, Bruce picked his words more carefully, especially on the episode where he talked abut getting fired. It's quite obvious he thought at some point that he'd get his old job back...which he did.

[@apr8189]

My money would be on Shawn Michaels or Triple H

[@eddead4235]

Best part

[@markmenning1804]

They could have made WCW a developmental show like NXT is now.

[@TheEvilHumanist]

Conrad, you say EVERYTHING sh**ty. 31:12

[@jayb-clay2724]

I flipped back and forth but mainly watched WCW until the beginning of 1998 because the Sting storyline was masterfully told but after Tyson was at the rumble it went to more WWF over WCW but still changed back and forth. But what absolutely made me change to just WWF until the end was the finger poke of doom episode with WCW trying to bury Mankind's title win. After that I never watched WCW because it was unwatchable until the very last episode. I do miss the wars and the good days of wrestling it was such a great and fun time to be a fan.

[@JoeyMartz]

Well said!

[@HereIsWisdom1318]

This is exactly the way I went!

[@sllimthg]

Oh my fuck...the Jerry Jarrett shit is classic😂😂😂😂

[@Swoll826]

any rumor or innuendo on who contacted Conrad about the Sunny episode? Has he ever revealed it during one of the live shows?

[@DylanFoster87]

33:05 😂😂😂

[@NYGiants5680]

1:29:22 PRONOUNS PAL!!!

[@MrJms6464]

shano mac - security? for what?!! the hell we need security for?...lol brother love: they want jobs....Conrad :and the way to get job isn't to beat up brother love! lmfao

[@BadNewsYouNeedToKnow]

So PROUD of all those ads on the shows. Ask fans how they feel about being constantly crushed by ads. We fcking hate them. Why do you think so many viewers have gone to Netflix and other streaming platforms. To get away from all the FCKING ADS!!!!

[@gavinlarkin7795]

The comic timing on that double j bit oh lord amazing!! 😂😂😂

[@wrestlemaniamaniac3338]

Roman reigns doesn't get over because he has that same cookie-cutter move set that John Cena does!

[@misterfaiz9678]

The only reason why wcw ended like it did was mainly because it was owned by Time Warner they didn't want it Ted Turner wanted it once he lost control they were getting rid of it no matter how it was doing, they probably would have keep it on tv if it was doing well for TNT but sell it to another company.

[@munk237]

I'll never forget March 26th 2001. It was my 19th birthday and I had a head full of acid and was tripping balls watching the final nitro freaking out. I hadnt watched in awhile and the whole night just blew my mind.

[@stoneosborne9247]

Haha I had just turned 16 and was not tripping balls, still a surreal moment.

[@Shizzy88]

3/26 is my birthday too.. crazy.. i was 32 at the time

[@Super122291]

jeff hightshoe u old as shit Jeff

[@halfwaydowntheroad]

munk237 good stuff. WrestleMania X-7 - the greatest PPV ever - was on my 17th birthday.

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

@@Super122291 A grizzled veteran.

[@Raynzia]

Anyone else realise that if you take away that it was WWE, that WCW lost countless millions and died a fiery death to a competitor that gave birth to a hand. Anyone else find that absolutely fucking hilarious?

[@nick56677]

1:08:06 every airport is tiny to Conrad, meltzers soap boy. Now that's hilarious

[@melbias5046]

i bet jerry has more than bruce has. bruce was scared he was going to be fired.that is why he hates jerry if jerry took over he was gone. he was in tna but what did he do? blame the chick i bet.

[@sllimthg]

Bruce is a legend who did it for years. During wwf/wwe heyday lol

[@philaman1972]

This was a brilliant podcast that took me back to March, 2001 when the talk on the Internet was about the state of WCW and who would buy it: Eric Bischoff or Vince McMahon. To this day, it is so surprising how WWE purchased WCW for such a discount price.

[@clickclick0832]

Shitty part is how they managed it I get a lot of talent we’re still under contract but still almost all wcw guys were buried

[@maxwelljacobfreedom]

It was in their agreement from the NWO lawsuit that they would get first crack at cheaper price. Vince is a smart man

[@creoleDJ]

Episode starts at 16:55....

[@blazerocker1734]

If you don't like someone, such as Roman Reigns, don't boo. Just don't do anything. *The worst reaction is no reaction.* If you like him they'll push him. If you don't like him but he's got talent, they'll still push him. Just cheer the other guy and quiet down for who you don't like.

[@brianpowers3742]

Conrad is such a mark throughout this. His questions are like Super Mark .. he beats shit to death..

[@adam-thesportsguy6147]

The last Nitro wasn’t at Club La Vela but all of the others were held there. The final Nitro was held at a resort

[@MondoMiami]

It was in a beer hall.

[@jasonsandhu3760]

When sting won at the end of the night I was pretty sad ...sting was the man the icon the flag barrier for WCW should have came to WWE instead of TNA even if it was 03/04/05 whenever work it into the contract you won't be buried 😏

[@DeamionYoutubeArchives]

I've always wanted Sting vs the Undertaker at WrestleMania, what we got was Undertaker vs Bray (I think) and Sting vs Triple H

[@Mr501B]

Idc what Conrad says. Nitro at Club La Vela was awesome and unique

[@joshuabowman2970]

Look roman reigns can be a great guy and hard worker but that doesnt mean people have to explain why they dont like him as a wredtler. Some people have that it factor some dont and just because vince or bruce see something doesnt mean the masses are gonna.

[@Torchmanz]

1:07:15 talk about the episode itself starts

[@BTeamEntertainment]

#NeverSayNever

[@andrewbowyer5043]

Conrad "what did Pat Patterson think" Thompson

[@franchaysi3844]

it was a sad time but the show must go on bruhh.. i actually enjoyed the tag match wiv rey mysterio jr n kidman its good they teamed up one last time fr the company. #ripwcw

[@chriszaa2309]

ya bruhhhhhhh

[@bushysowavvey]

Binging WCW 20th anniversary death content !

[@KingOfTechDeals]

16:58 is where the episode actually starts. You're welcome.

[@andrewrogers5303]

U guys need 2 start time stamping cause yall bs way 2 much well u know 😂

[@jamiephillips3947]

Seriously chumlee? Ric flair the greatest worker???? Lmao.

[@copaceticas3522]

Chops, figure four leg lock, back body drop and wooo. Overrated

[@great456789]

I liked WCW better than WWE for most of the 90’s.

[@MRDOZEDOFF420]

1:20:40 this is what Vince does fuck you I won

[@josephboza7448]

This was a topic that needed to be confirmed for sure. It was nuts for sure cause a lot happened. That had to have been crazy. Here is Bruce trying to plan Wrestlemania and that final week of TV and Vince says Boom I bought WCW. I bet Bruce was glad when Wrestlemania finished cause that was nuts. They had to rewrite 3 shows basically plus they were in charged of that final WCW. To be honest I was surprised it lasted until 2001. I admit I was flipping back and forth during the Monday Night War to keep up with both. The day Vince Russo came to WCW was the day it died. He wrote stupid shit in the WWF. In my opinion, he was trying to kill that company. Here is trying to do the same thing to WCW. The storylines he came up was so stupid. He insisted on Jeff Jarrett being World Heavyweight Champion cause he lost to Chyna. I think that WCW didnt succeed in WWF cause they were wanting names like Flair, Sting, Hogan and Nash but they sat out the remainder of their WCW contract. Without those names, the potential WCW re-launced would have happened.

[@brianpowers3742]

“Death by 1000 cuts”. So sad.

[@abdulrahmanx2900]

When are they going to talk about sting and Ric flair?

[@thickerconstrictor9037]

Never

[@NeoNero83]

"zero point zero"...Conrad paying tribute to the late Eric the Midget, lol

[@savagetilley2782]

R I P

[@ChuckImania]

omg I just laughed remembering zero point zero haha thanks for bringing me back.

[@CaptainColdyron222]

Ack-Ack

[@hiphopguru81]

Hahahaha!!! No one, I repeat, NO ONE showed up to Eric's autograph signing- Steve Langford

[@joeygilliland6794]

Rumours and innuendo drinking game

[@sophiaellis1793]

love this show

[@stevenkunzer9027]

WCW’s biggest draw in WM17 luxury box was Hugh Morris lol

[@jasonsandhu3760]

Booker T sucka

[@Ziki-P]

Wasn’t booker hired by then? Can’t really remember

[@youdontknowjack6682]

Why does this have a boxing ring?

[@BIGGIEDEVIL]

1:02:20 i disagree here with bruce the wcw us title was one of the best titles ive seen in a long time since the gold eagle title the wwe used in the 90's

[@MondoMiami]

I miss Alex Wright.

[@vacuumboots69]

End of wcw was also the death of pro wrestling in general. The two coincide. Yes, it carried on as entertainment but most core wrestling fans switched off. They completely dropped the ball with it. Should have kept wcw ringfenced and a seperate product altogether bit like NXT is now in some ways. Think they learnt their lesson but it killed the business along with social media. Bully for me momma I did an essay

[@jmreeves89]

Starts at 16:56

[@kennedyclarkjrpg]

Thank you so much.

[@HereIsWisdom1318]

1:35:41-YEA THEY DO!!!! HIS HORRID MIC SKILLS!!!! And because he’s not organic. WWE is pushing him down our throats!! We HATED Rocky Miavia too!

[@pryncjericho]

We don't like Roman because he is pushed to the stars for no reason plan and simple. The crowd is rejecting him yet he remains in the main event because vince wants u to want him a la cena 2.0

[@AxeDharme]

Lmao WTF Bruce. You change Shane Helms' name because you can't have 2 Shanes but the whole of the previous summer and that very Royal Rumble you literally had Chris Jericho vs Chris Benoit 🙄

[@desmondcarter7462]

Well u knowww 😂😂😂😂😂

[@BckDrBOYES]

I think overall it was a well booked show. They were pushing some of the younger talent going forward as well as having some nostalgia. I just wish they would have cut down on the Vince segments.

[@jiggiesosa6832]

Did Conrad really compare the vertebreaker to the styles clash? Vertebreaker is more dangerous

[@WildBillCox13]

"Generating heat on a wrestling podcast? Oh noes! That won't do! We don't want more views! We don't want controversy!" You fibbers. Generating heat is what this whole presentation is for. Fess up, Bruce! You'll feel better afterward. ;-)

[@hotmanga1]

Roman R. its not him people really hated but his booking. The was pushing him to hard while others the fans got behind was being buried alive because higher ups like Burger King has to have it their way. Fans just sick of them taking the guys that they got behind because they got over on their own They grabbed that brass ring of Vinces he always say reach for without his permission with the from Zack Ryder to at that time D.Bryan & was just sick of it so the harder they push Roman the more he was hated so it was Vinces & who ever else fault for fans hating him for the longest

[@chadjustice8560]

Haven't watched in years but from what I have seen is Roman is easy to hate because he is terrible. Can't talk one of the worst finishers ever created. Pushed for no reason at all

[@andrewthorne3570]

Jerry Jarrett probably wanted to buy it to put the belt on Jeff like in TNA

[@JoeyMartz]

Jeff Jarrett = overrated

[@holmesmoss540]

16:55 CHEESUS H CRUSTY

[@natecondon6913]

Hard to watch with ads every 3 min

[@ericlambert261]

Gotta get premium only way I can survive now

[@EmoEmu]

"Bill Ding" was a Disco Inferno pitch.

[@HereIsWisdom1318]

The Emo Emu lol

[@Brando-Lee3725]

the helms vs. chavo match was super solid ! i just watched it back with new eyes . and dude.... its lit ! it beats any match ive seen on AEW or NXT lately !!!! and im a fan of both companies . i guess they was hyped knowing it was the last show or was gonna be the best/only chance for vince to see them lol

[@joshuabowman2970]

Everyone saying wrestling dies when wcw was bought nah. Indirectly yes. The reason the situation killed wrestling is because it gave vince mcmahon all the power in the business. Never before did vince continue trying to push someone that the fans clearly didnt want to watch i.e. roman reigns. Wrestling worked better when the promoters listened to the fans and pushed who the fans loved and love to hate not actually hated 😆.

[@shawnbaker3245]

"The good name of Shawn Michaels" lol good name my ass.

[@ASHUTOSH-im6pp]

Shawn Baker Not one wrestler outside his group of Kliq has anything nice to say about Shawn. Even after his born again thing. Says a lot about him.

[@apr8189]

@@ASHUTOSH-im6pp and that's a fact

[@marcroyer5507]

hey lets do a podcast where money is a very important part of the story and then not talk about money and not give a good reason why

[@edgarchipperson6117]

ROMAN IS A NICE GUY, The guy can not wrestle, he has 2 moves boring azz spear and lazy superman punch... its awful.

[@gridiron8870]

Goldberg only had 4 Moves

[@crushthecrushermachinewwel6500]

I like to see ric flair wrestler sting in wwe

[@HereIsWisdom1318]

I think Sean O’Hare had IT!

[@thickerconstrictor9037]

His devils advocate gimmick was money. He was a huge missed opportunity for sure

[@GlennTwiddle1]

Longest gap between STWW and............. BP

[@abdulrahmanx2900]

After 10+ minutes

[@young17ish]

Sounds like Bruce Prichard used to get bent over by Shawn Michaels.

[@philjoyce1548]

Yep it really does seem that way....guy sticks up for him no matter what...so much so Conrad shits on him lol... Seems like HBK nutted in prichards mouth thousands of times in 97'.....

[@jodavey]

I tbought it was Disco Inferno who Pitched "Bill Ding"

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

Ah, the Evil Architect. So damn good.

[@animayjr1731]

To Bruce and conrad I don’t understand how y’all are black balled from wwe if this podcast in on the wwe app??

[@aleksamuel5780]

They aren't blackballed anymore Bruce even works for wwe again

[@markmenning1804]

Raw only gets under 2 million people now.

[@gregcaytonjr7167]

Why does the beginning talk about Zeus winning poll then goes into last nitro

[@andrewr1773]

Now you guys got to do a kid romeo episode

[@thunercattt6018]

I agree, once wwe bought out everyone, wrestling started to suck. I haven't really watched since, I've tried but it's garbage

[@maruku4445]

Nice.

[@i_GiveFRUITS]

28:57

[@coreypride4736]

Roman Reigns first received heat from fans after he won the Royal Rumble when everybody wanted Daniel Bryan to win. Roman has not been cheered since that day.

[@jayofthep]

But you look the year before and they cheered Roman because they didn't want Batista to win... same way they didn't want Batista to win in 05 so they cheered Cena... then they pushed Cena and people realised that was the plan all along

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

The dude has all the talent and aesthetics in the world but they've flopped in handling him creatively - they did such a bad job that he had to get leukemia in order to get over. Ridiculous. The man should've been The Man for years already.

[@giangarcia3364]

@@fuzzydunlop7928 nOoOoOoO, mY bElOvEd WwE wOuLd NeVeR kNoCk On DiSeAsEs!!! but war is an exception.

[@fuzzydunlop7928]

@@giangarcia3364 War profiteering is basically an American past-time so it's hard to call em out on that. Except when a journalist gets cut up.

[@jamesc9897]

War dam eagle!

[@nishitgautam5524]

19:37 "something else will pop up, but nothing ever did" Man who thought that two years later will actually pop up and give a new life to this sport

[@monstermatt3453]

‘New life to this sport.’ 😂😂😂

[@thickerconstrictor9037]

Ha and now 3 years later aew is trash and WWE is worth 4.89 billion.

[@RichL57]

Is Comrad , JR 's son?

[@giangarcia3364]

It's rumor and innuendo.

[@copaceticas3522]

No, he is Akeem the Africàn Dream's. Love that entrance music

[@wrayday7149]

I'm glad I got to watch Booker T and Stevie Ray as Harlem Heat before the end of WCW, because what WWE did to Booker T was a crying shame.

[@toptenguy1]

Made him a world champion and a hall of famer still loved to this day? HOW DARE THEY??!??

[@LeemWills]

they made booker a star and wwe champ so what was bad about it