The Story of WCW Thunder - The Unwanted Wrestling Show

[@drewfava6455]

Wwe did smackdown rite you diddent need cable to watch it upn network television all you needed was a antenna. For a poor kid that liked wrestling it was great.

[@thekidfromiowa]

I never got UPN in my neck of the woods :( However my WB affiliate would carry Smackdown on Saturday afternoons by 2001.

[@guevara7E]

As a poor kid growing up it was awesome to finally watchWWF on regular TV. Up until then friends would tell me what happened on RAW. There was a spanish channel segment of WWF on regular tv but it was a lot of unknown wrestlers and no audience lol.

[@jeremyhassell7911]

No doubt, still to this day!

[@ShadowCloutJutsu]

Yeah in the beginning later when the brands split in like 04 it was so hard to watch smackdown had to buy a package with certain channels luckily I learned to find em online but in the beginning 00-01 it was great Mondays RAW/Nitro, Thursday Thunder,& Fridays Smackdown

[@shaeserfoss7350]

I agree honestly as a poor kid growing up we didn’t have cable just an antenna and maybe a handful of channels

[@pataker7875]

As a 14/15 year old; anything they would produce I’d watch,

[@Tweet_Wrestling]

Me too.

[@Tweet_Wrestling]

@BxxDxx Hoodoo Born 1985. Love my teenage wrestling years.

[@JGD185]

@@Tweet_Wrestling it was so good switching back and forth to nitro and raw

[@Tweet_Wrestling]

@@JGD185 Friday Nights for us in the UK. 9pm Nitro... 10pm Raw. My bro, and 2 close friends would watch every week. Sadly one of y good friends is no longer with us. I miss them days so much.

[@Smokey1419]

I was 11 and i wanted all the WCW i could get at that time. The first time i ever heard Sting speak was on Thunder.

[@actionjackson4982]

"Goldberg doesn't get paid by the hour." I can't stop laughing 🤣🤣

[@HBKHTBY]

😂🤣

[@StunnersSquadEnt]

😃😀😃😀

[@Dr._P._Enis]

That's unfair! 🤣🤣🤣

[@thepistolguy859]

That's good that he didn't get paid an by the hour

[@rayvenkman2087]

The fact they at one point considered making Thunder the WCW show while Nitro is the NWO show just says a lot about how much NWO had overtook WCW in the worst way possible.

[@Loewenzahnfanclub]

Die NWO hatte das Problem das sie sich nie weiter entwickelten. Betrügereien und schlechte Matches gingen über Jahre. NWO Nitro hätten funktionieren können wenn sie ,die NWO, wirklich alles geändert hätten ohne diese typischen Heel Manches mit endlosen eingriffen.Hogan als "Boss " von Nitro mit Hall und Nash als 2&3 die in harten Fällen eingreifen, einen neuen Team bei den Kommentatoren und ab und an Übergriffen von den WC Thunder Leuten.Aber ansonsten cooles Wrestling.Das wurde halt nie zuende gebookt.

[@Tony-fq5bn]

Absolutely, I see it that and I just smh

[@justafanofnerdculture7602]

Agreed

[@kingisking3445]

@@Loewenzahnfanclub Die Tatsache, dass sich immer Leute von der nWo einmischten und die Matches dadurch größtenteils in einer Disqualifikation endeten war für mich einer der Gründe warum WCW unterging. Einmischungen in Matches passierten viel zu oft. Alles war vorhersehbar und man wusste als Fan schon, dass sich das Ende eines Matches in dieser Richtung (Disqualifikation) entwickeln würde. Fand das wirklich schade. Ich mochte WCW eigentlich sehr. Schade, dass es so kommen musste.

[@riding4beers889]

@@Loewenzahnfanclub no one here understands what you just wrote.

[@mrowley7300]

Wait people don't like Tenay? I've always enjoyed him on commentary because he's knowledgeable

[@SartorialisticSavage65]

Yeah he's cool. Surprising...

[@thetruej7872]

Ikr? That's really surprising

[@Stumpers24]

Me too. I thought he was great in TNA

[@Thor-Orion]

He’s one of the best.

[@sega32xxx14]

I’ve seen countless...absolutely count. less. people refer to him as complete and utter feces, however I’ve always enjoyed his commentary for the most part. For example, he FAR outpaces M. COLE as a “play by play” wrestling commentator, and that’s by a lot.

[@bullhorn14]

Without the creation of Thunder, there will not be SmackDown. Just like the WCW Power Plant was the precursor to the WWE Performance Center.

[@darrylstanley2183]

Hey how you doing

[@nialllappin4159]

And?

[@Machete87]

straight facts. no thunder no smackdown!

[@CrZY_DnKS]

Nah Vince created everything.

[@theexplainer2235]

@@CrZY_DnKS shut up

[@youngimperialistmkii]

The moral of the story is "Don't get greedy".

[@juniorsanchez7441]

The fact that anybody could boo an Ultimo Dragon match, especially back then is baffling to me

[@BreadHart]

Because most of the audience was compose of idiot jocks that like to fu*** their own american football helmet, because the cheerleader broke up with them.

[@VintageWrestlingFan]

@@BreadHart as opposed to basement dwelling losers who don't work and don't have a GF?

[@YENKOGT]

I think rick flair was born looking at his mid 40s... That guy always looked old.

[@Thor-Orion]

Not true. But he looked 45 from 1990-1999

[@CoinSlotKitty]

My dad who is nearly 65 now, always said Flair looked old when he first saw him in at shows in the south... NWA I assume

[@Thor-Orion]

@@CoinSlotKitty definitely NWA in either Crockett, Georgia or Florida.

[@raphaelmorrata8905]

Same for hogan

[@Primal-Weed]

Lol

[@_Bruzzi]

Listening to Bischoff talk about Thunder on 83 Weeks is great. Thunder was such a waste of time/money and really was the beginning of the end for WCW.

[@_Bruzzi]

@@richardnash6111 Disagree, Sting, DDP and Booker T all thrived during Bischoffs time.

[@SteRDLK]

@@_Bruzzi Sting thrived when he was doing absolutely nothing other than standing in the rafters for eight months. When they had to actually book him, it went so badly.

[@BloodBoughtMinistries1]

Listening to bischoff is great? 5 different wrestling promotions went bankrupt listening to bischoff

[@_Bruzzi]

@@BloodBoughtMinistries1 what promotions would those 5 be?

[@mrwhopee]

@@BloodBoughtMinistries1 name the 5 mark

[@mr83]

HEY YO! its survey time... How many of you are here to see WCW? How many of you are here for Wresting-Bios? ...survey says... one more for the good guys!!

[@Thor-Orion]

Thunder was the Scott Hall show.

[@michaelhoule2134]

Yeah the wrong good guys...

[@wulver810]

@@michaelhoule2134 ok Larry

[@Eric-wu7bp]

Thunder was the Smackdown Before Smackdown 🟦

[@RhinoXpress]

wwe copied thunder. Like wcw copied raw.

[@GreatMewtwo]

@@jasperbudiono295 Meanwhile, WWF claps back with the "house show" PPV series, "In Your House".

[@AntonioJCRM]

Eric and the higher ups were all complaining about WCW being over exposed because of Thunder but that's just lame excuses. They had an enormous roster and still kept pushing NWO down our throats. Their was no ambition to even produce the show as a flag ship. How did Smackdown survived then. At one time SD was better than RAW on a weekly basis. Before the brand split u actually couldn't wait to watch SD that Thursday to follow up.

[@attiepollard7847]

The reason smackdown was good because it finally came back to regular TV. if you look at on regular TV there was nothing that we had other than WWE Superstars / shotgun Saturday night slash Jack or metal whatever the hell they had.

[@javontemorant4701]

@@attiepollard7847 Smackdown still produced good quality. We can have a promo on Raw and the 2 stars who did the promo would have a great match on SD. Or if a multiman match was taking place on PPV we'll see a few stars colliede on SD while the others might have appeared on Raw.

[@MN_-]

In 1998 thunder was pretty good they had the big stars on it storylines progressing and great matches but by the beginning of 1999 it was an obvious filler show. I always thought the night time city set design and lighting was awesome

[@King_Kunta]

I went to a thunder in 98 in philly as a kid. Great show that night

[@unclebizz9522]

accurate!

[@blackguy322]

Yeah, I thought Thunder was initially awesome. Granted I think I switched over to Wwf around the time Sting joined red and black nwo

[@Mjwara]

The strange thing is SmackDown came after Thunder and it became more successful than Thunder.

[@Yehoshua.Robles]

The main event was lit. Rock vs hhh with Shawn as ref.

[@freddiejohnson6137]

It helps when Smackdown started that it was used to more people an opportunity and to actually continue many feuds to expand on them. The majority of Thunder was full of meaningless matches that were just put there to fill time.

[@Tony-fq5bn]

@@freddiejohnson6137 Ya, Eric was just stretched to thin mentally. He had all the talent in the world to work with lol, WcW had soooooo many wrestlers, and personalities, had Vince McMahon been in that position Thunder probably woulda been amazing.

[@thomascolella8341]

Yea but the wrestlers was only doing 180 shows per year including house shows. Wwf at the time expected you to do 300 dates pee year

[@Thor-Orion]

Nothing strange about a show with fresh action and all the stars outperforms a clear B-Show that does tons of recaps and that most of the stars try to avoid even attending.

[@jmckdekalb316]

This was beginning of WWE’s Smackdown show.

[@juliusharrell8166]

WWF smackdown at the time

[@heelspawn8023]

I wonder if The Rock gets a check every week, for WWE turning his catchphrase into a TV show..

[@jrmop0965]

They did have Sunday Night Heat also

[@benchwarmerss9165]

@@jrmop0965 shotgun Saturday too

[@ninja_tony]

@@heelspawn8023 it wasn't even his catchphrase. He just popularized it in pop culture, but it existed long before he ever set foot in the ring.

[@wHw_Syxx]

I don't know how people can't like Mike Tenay. Growing up I learned so much professional wrestling history and what moves were called by him. Mad respect for Tenay.

[@oldironsides4107]

There were so many greats before him. So he was the worst if you watched before tenay

[@disciple2742]

I liked Tenay I liked him more than someone like Michael Cole

[@Facade953]

He and Jim Ross are the G.O.A.T.S.

[@lawrencemcstephens308]

Right!? I never heard anyone say they didn't like "The Professor" Iron Mike Tenay! I always loved his commentary because he was just such a wrestling nerd encyclopedia! I enjoyed hearing all the names of the more exotic maneuvers, the wrestlers from Japan and abroad's bios and information, and Mike was always a highlight in the announce booth on Thunder or Nitro, or even Worldwide or Saturday Night! I also really enjoyed seeing him in TNA/Impact Wrestling later on, too, when I'd watch it on occasion!

[@kamenanew9867]

Mike was the best, I love that guy

[@olbloodngut4039]

I might be in the minority, but I liked Thunder.

[@sleepalaska]

same

[@thomashagen2480]

Thunder was awesome

[@anthonyhardy2946]

I loved this show

[@actionjackson4982]

I enjoyed it, too.

[@yankee4424]

I was in high school at the time and really enjoyed anything they put out. Looking back on it, it probably wasn’t good for WCW’s longevity. Two major shows was too much for them to handle.

[@colechung7806]

WCW and ECW had basically the best cruiserweight matches and division and it's what made me love cruiserweight division

[@declangaming24]

WCW has the money could do anything sign who they feel like Have WCW without the stupid contracts and Poor creative it could of beat WWE and ECW. ECW was good with there working agreement With WWE getting Tazz, Al snow ect it was Hardcore but didn't have the big budget you could co promote Pay per views with WWE or WCW to make money

[@colechung7806]

​@@declangaming24true sadly

[@SRC267]

I just started watching wcw. So this was a good video. Will begin watching Nitro on Monday and Thunder on Thursdays!

[@eucalipto9724]

hey thats a fun idea!

[@SRC267]

@@eucalipto9724 I'll wait until I reach 1998 on Nitro, because that's when Thunder started.

[@dandastardly2792]

I was a child when WCW was on. 2001 I turned 12. I wonder what I would remember. As a kid La Parka was one of my favorites.

[@jimlthor]

@@SRC267 best bet. you had to watch thunder to keep up with nitro at some point

[@joesquadcoptervideos2067]

Where can Thunder be watched these days? I know peacock has the WWE channel which I've seen nitro on, but it's thunder in there too?

[@Stumpers24]

Ultimo dragon was my favorite cruiserweight back then. Would you ever consider doing an ultimo dragon video?

[@acidkyledaLSDj]

Man I'm waiting for wrestling bios to start doing some japanese wrestlers . Muta , chono , tanahashi, onita , baba, inoki, etc etc etc the list is endless for international talents that have graced the squared circle ⭕ 🤠

[@Thor-Orion]

@@acidkyledaLSDj he’ll have to have Dave from Dave Knows Wrestling back on, Ryan says himself that he’s not super knowledgeable on Japanese wrestling.

[@blesstv8994]

I love Ultimo Dragon

[@Jiren261]

He done Muta in the U.S, but I'd like to see ones about Ultimo Dragon, Eddie Guerrero, Liger in the U.S

[@kelvin19888]

WCW Thunder was heavily slept on I actually liked it

[@dco2006]

I slept *during* Thunder. You always knew the predictable outcomes, too. Some heel from nWo would finally lose their belt on the just occurred Nitro, and then 3 seconds after, you'd say to your friend or brother "yeah, he's dropping that to the guy he just won the belt from in the main event on Thunder."

[@tegofido]

Yes

[@danielr4640]

I did too

[@HTAD111111]

Especially when Kev got on commentary

[@CardPlayingStrategies]

3 hour Nitros was the straw that broke the camel's back

[@philmcrackinnow]

I had to put ice cubes down my shirt just so I could stay awake to watch the main event.

[@bennylegend7556]

Raw hasn't learned the lesson.

[@thekidfromiowa]

2 hour Raws are part of what made the Attitude Era great. Nitro was 7-10 while Raw was 8-10 and so you could watch Nitro while waiting for Raw to start.

[@VintageWrestlingFan]

3 hours killed Nitro and its been killing Raw since 2012... ratings for Raw are in the toilet

[@rayvenkman2087]

I think Thunder would have been easier for WCW to produce if Thunder consisted of Monday Night Nitro highlights and matches that couldn’t make it onto the Nitro program that week due to the runtime.

[@richardstephens5570]

They also could have featured the U.S. and cruiserweight titles on Thunder, leaving the world and tag titles on Nitro.

[@danielrierson6683]

I agree the roster was too big. They should have split it up like raw and smackdown

[@arciks11]

Eric may have a point about about Thunder being the real beginning of the end. But with way Nitro was booked (NWO Nitro being given a test run after NWO Souled Out bombed) dilution and stagnation was already starting to set in without Thunder.

[@burntvirtue]

Regardless of what Bischoff says, the way he allowed the finish to Starrcade 97 to happen was the REAL beginning of the end. WCW's real run in terms of legit value was July 96 - Dec 97. That's it.

[@PlatinumRoseLady]

First match of Thunder - Chris Adams vs. Randy Savage w/Elizabeth My brain: Everybody involved in this match is dead. I really REALLY hate my brain sometimes.

[@Azriel1932]

I have the same thought when I watch old Raw shows with the Hart Foundation and the original DX 🙁.

[@PlatinumRoseLady]

@@Azriel1932I feel ya.

[@Emporkommling]

I was watching a Radicalz match the other day and realized they're three dead guys and Dean Malenko. Much like how the Hart Foundation is four dead guys and Bret Hart.

[@PlatinumRoseLady]

@@Emporkommling Well now I'm depressed.

[@PlatinumRoseLady]

@@Emporkommling Um, Perry Saturn isn't dead, dude.

[@dz7172]

If WcW Thunder could talk: “I’m fooked”

[@zackschilling4376]

But Bret couldnt make it into anything good this time.

[@debo1937]

You're bizarre.

[@zackschilling4376]

How about "Thunder fell flat on its ass!"?

[@dukewilliams7622]

No lie "Iron Mike" was very informative way ahead of his time honestly especially when it came to Lucha Libre matches move names back stories etc.

[@j.rivera6402]

There wasn’t one commentator that I didn’t like in WCW. They all had their own flavor and added value to the show.

[@manuelchavarria]

You'd think Bret could've pointed out that he beat Ric Flair for that first WWF title

[@martifrey3357]

you can't say that because many people didn't know that and it ruins the "they never met before" feeling. When Hogan faced Andre at WM 3 they made it look like as if they had never met before but they had had countless matches before

[@j.rivera6402]

He did on the following Nitro.

[@pathkeepers]

I remember being so excited for the Thunder PS1 game. It was a different time.

[@yankee4424]

Thunder was the beginning of over saturating the wrestling market.

[@yankee4424]

@Jonathan McCully Yes. The quality of Nitro went way down once they started 3 hour shows. So much of it was just filler. You certainly can have too much of a good thing sometimes. Then, obviously WWE didn’t learn from WCW’s mistake when they went 3 hours with Raw.

[@BawesomeBurf]

I have a hard time taking anything Bischoff says seriously, seen him contradict himself too many times.

[@Kaneseb]

I read his book and man, I don't know how many times he couldn't remember who said what or what exactly took place. It's like "Dude...dude.....duuuuuude....IT'S YOUR F'N BOOK! Did you NOT do any research???" Seriously, it came off as stupid that you would write a book about your life and not think to simply look up the name of whoever or go back and research the event you are speaking of. He does this in interviews as well and it makes him look shady.

[@crimsonking8746]

Thunder was taped on Tuesday nights at the next town WCW had a show. For instance; after Monday Nitro broadcast live from Atlanta, the next stop was usually Macon, GA. or Greenville, SC. and sometimes Chattanooga, Tennessee. Those shows would be taped and edited to air on Thursdays. That format solved the travel problems for the talent, since most of them would be at the next town anyway, contracted or not...😉👍

[@declangaming24]

Yeah a lot of talent had contracts with limited dates or notices if they made thunder like a show like main event where young or veteran talent get used and work they back to nitro it would be cool

[@MrTwille]

Looking Back Wcw Thunder is More like a Velocity or Sunday Night Heat than a Smackdown

[@ronaldfarrington7146]

Least Heat back than was good show for a Sunday

[@TRJ2241987]

HeAT in late 98/1999 was an EXCELLENT show. Better than Thunder. They didn't water down HeAT until after Y2K. In late '99 WWF was putting on 3 really good shows each week

[@MrTwille]

@@TRJ2241987 agreed. I actually forgot how much I like Heat. Heat actually made me like minor shows .

[@davisdomain2071]

Shootgun Saturday Night

[@socallawrence]

@@davisdomain2071 Haha I remember shotgun Sat night

[@ryanrusso2954]

Glad this channel is blowing up.Your content is of a certain quality

[@undertakerzfanz1948]

The torture rack was the least looking painful submission I've seen in wrestling history

[@Josh-qr9fo]

I always thought if I could get him to do both sides it would be probably a nice re-alignment

[@CoinSlotKitty]

Cmon the torture rack was just Lex's excuse to fondle his opponents balls

[@mrg8581]

@@CoinSlotKitty 😀😀😀😀

[@jackspence6061]

Awesome Kong made it look good!

[@benchwarmerss9165]

Idk man ... I got put in that thing when I was smaller 🤣🤣

[@jonmichael3280]

I just wanna say something. As a kid I was big on no interference and the actual clean finishers to end the match! So while Thunder lost touch near the end it was still pretty straight forward. Same goes for Sunday night heat, and Shotgun Saturday Night! I really liked the bottom tier shows cuz I guess I loved the traditional approach rather than the constant interference and what not you'd sometimes get on the main shows

[@notanundercovercop8851]

Yeah, like 90% of the matches on Nitro would end in DQ. It's like, you had to order a PPV if you actually wanted to see legit finishes.

[@violagreene4643]

I always saw the breakdown of roles at the commentary booth as follows: Schiavone: corporate pitch man and straight man Tenay: covered the physical aspects and techniques Heenan/Zbyszko: covered the psychology The physical aspects can seem a bit dry to some viewers, so I can believe that some people didn't like Tenay, but it seems that that portion of the audience is larger than I would have thought.

[@ReaverPrime]

I never understood the distaste for Mike Tenay. I've always loved the Professor. His knowledge of the game and quick on the trigger calls always made him one of the best at the desk. Especially his calls on cruiserweight matches. My guess on the hate is that he's always been at "the competition" and never in WWE, so folk probably hate on him for that.

[@ReaverPrime]

@BxxDxx Hoodoo He wasn't color. He was the prototypical play-by-play guy. Knowledge was his draw. His personality didn't need to matter. That's what the color guy is there for.

[@ReaverPrime]

@BxxDxx Hoodoo Proving my point.

[@AmateurBarbarian]

I’ve just never seen why Tenay is a professor of anything except third-rate wrestling.

[@mrwhopee]

Tenay was awesome

[@primusvsunicron1]

Would love the story of WCW Saturday Night

[@thekidfromiowa]

From being A show to an afterthought :(

[@maodijong3661]

Man 1997 was such a huge year for WCW on TV, Luger headlining the main event to win the world title...just a couple weeks later they pulled a 5, unprecedented at the time. Do you know how WCW decided to treat the fans? To a no contest finish between Luger and Savage LOL That is why they failed.

[@oldironsides4107]

That happened all the time in wrestling. Not uncommon at all

[@c-note979]

I've been waiting on this one and I was wondering after reliving the war can you do A WCW Thunder vs WWF SmackDown Series? But in a reliving the war type of way

[@adamclark9004]

Smackdown came more than a year after thunder was created and by then wwf was destroying wcw so it wouldn't be too interesting

[@c-note979]

@@adamclark9004 true. At least the reliving the war series with nitro and raw is still here. I just mentioned it because I haven't seen to much WCW Thunder.

[@c-note979]

I think it can still be done

[@javontemorant4701]

@@adamclark9004 It still would be fun. Just like Raw vs. IMPACT being one-sided, it still was great to relive.

[@ajconnor1983]

The amount of talent in wrestling at that time will never happen again. Once in a lifetime. Dozens of main event top tier talent! Insane.

[@eldiablo3794]

During this era I was straight WWF all day. I would literally get in arguments with my WCW friends on the bus to elementary school every morning about how WWF is way better and all the wash ups go to WCW.. but I will be honest I did watch Thursday night thunder just to get my wrestling fix until the next Monday night raw episode aired lol.

[@landeny65]

But man, this was that sweet spot where I loved both companies. Being a teenager in the late 90’s was just awesome.

[@T-Bag13]

When Tenay was interviewing Luger, he looked like he was dead, (Tenay).

[@DJDoubleCee]

I wonder if WWE came up with SmackDown in response to Thunder. SmackDown kinda reminds me of Thunder.

[@Mjwara]

It did.

[@kamaljoseph7001]

The biggest mistake with WCW Thunder was it basically killed WCW Saturday Night.

[@the-NightStar]

I liked Thunder for one reason. It was basically the "Cruiserweights and Chris Jericho show". I remember putting Thunder on, and not caring about anything much, but would look up occasionally at the screen while I was working on things, just to get a glimpse of a good cruiseweight match, or to pay attention whenever Chris Jericho was doing something. The rest of the time, Thunder was just background noise.

[@LyonzDen]

Will there be a Thursday version of Reliving the war? Thunder vs Smackdown?

[@TheFriendlyWeirdo]

Eric Bischoff may be someone who has mixed results when it comes to his creative direction, but the work he puts in when he’s involved in wrestling, especially WCW, cannot be denied.

[@marlowstanfield6815]

Love the Q Tip intro..

[@Hammerhead1986]

The amount of effort you put in to your videos is incredible 👏

[@tx_outlaw7951]

I actually liked thunder it was more Wrestling what more could I ask for as a kid/pre teen

[@kevinpayton2664]

You said it. I liked Thunder too and more wrestling the better, especially in that era.

[@donkeysaurusrex7881]

I even watched that one hour show of house chow slips or whatever it was they aired late night/early morning on Saturday or Sunday

[@Kaneseb]

The talent roster was thin???? Really???? They had a lot of talent that they just didn't know what to do with. When you have a ton of talent being consumed by being a part of the nWo, that doesn't leave you with a lot to work with as far as storylines go. WCW Saturday Night should've been used as a developmental show, much like NXT. Thunder could be a stepping stone from Saturday Night to Nitro. Limit the Saturday Night and Thunder rosters and there you go.

[@DiamondDust132]

Just a great video. I didn't have cable at this time. We were way too poor, so I could only hear about WCW from friends at school. Thank God Smackdown was on free TV at the time. Also, Bret getting startled by the pyro at 21:20 honestly cracked me up lol

[@amaan.a]

My favourite KZbin channel meets my favourite musician! WRESTLING BIOS X Q-TIP

[@JOBdOut]

I enjoyed thunder. Raw aired too late on Monday nights on TSN. We didn't have UPN or TNT, but TBS was accessible (eventually) so I could watch thunder on Wednesdays while playing tanarus or doing homework

[@th1545]

Sat in the row behind raven's flock that first Thunder in Daytona, had a BLAST! "How many people came to see dubya C dubya?" Loved Hall and Nash LOL

[@florian_geier]

Thunder was a great show and had some very memorable moments!

[@edge7799]

Nice n64 sountrack during most of your descriptions.

[@benchwarmerss9165]

I thought that’s what I was hearing in the headphones lol

[@QuentinDude]

One of the problems was that they filmed 2 episodes of Thunder at each taping. Which meant the following Nitro (which was live every week) had to work around what they had done for the taped Thunder that would be airing that Thursday.

[@mikeya3143]

I'm still dreaming of watching a documentary of ecw

[@panchopolarbear]

The nWo/WCW revenge menu music in the background 🔥

[@panchopolarbear]

@XxMoney3DxX the nostalgia is real man. Still my favorite wrestling game

[@SpeedWayDre]

Q-Tip?! Ahhhh man!!! Get in there!!! 🙌🏾

[@valeriazaragoza375]

I loved Thunder! We didn’t have cable so I could only watch Saturday Night to catch up on Nitro, so when they came out with Thunder I was very happy!

[@dhappz9337]

I would love to see you cover ECW on TNN. Keep up the great work 👍

[@6oclocknewsat8]

And Sunday Night Heat and WCW Saturday Night

[@cjaquilino]

I was a part of the people watching that gave Thunder a 4.whatever rating. Honestly, it seems to get far more hate in retrospect than it did at the time. It barely got *any* hate then.

[@shellbacksclub]

the work ethic on this guy tho!👌

[@jaylew8408]

Forget commercial advertisers needs, I bet Ted just had a 2 hour stretch of nothing to do on Thursday evenings and decided he wanted to fill that time slot with watching some wrestlin.. a can see him donning a trademarked wcw t-shirt with a pair of $400 silk pajama pants and matching $1,000 cashmere robe and slippers, munching on some cracker jacks and drinking some Dom

[@matthewbonney7438]

Great video. I was a WCW fan back in the day. I still think WCW had some good things going for them. I agree with Bischoff that Thunder was the beginning of the end. But I also think the NWO helped WCW and also hurt WCW. The NWO was overexposed, I remember watching Dean Malenko and Rey Mysterio, having a match, great match in my opinion, and the commentators were talking about the NWO more than the match. But whatever just my own opinion. Keep up with the Bios, I really enjoy them.

[@tommydeamon7657]

Love him or hate him wrong or right I dug thunder I dug the whole competition, I hope A.e.W. step it up to make Vince worry it will produce a knew golden F that platinum age of wrestling ,it will keep the wrighters staff and user bookers / management too better things +1 to fans&talent it will give talent another posiable serious destination if money creativity or competition goes stale so+2 four talent but +2 ×2 four fans cause when the talent is happy from the opening guy,s to the last than they do there jobs with more....everything hart enthusiasm and creativity so when they shine we all shine dig and than if they god forbid lol never in hell heaven or beyond will Vince work with a.e.w but (and this sucks cause he is the odin of wrestling promoters pure god) but maybe when he becomes to waco to work or croaks who ever ends up in charge will bridge all gaps so all around the world the teratories/ country,s work together to make a true fan&talent and upper brass utopia cause if the product is elevated we the fans buy way more all of it shirts figures pay-per-view books magazines even drumm roll tickets cause we know even the undercard is gonna smoke any way peace you all just dreaming socially how wrestling could/should be

[@roccotheman4154]

These videos are beautiful Man

[@MattWiding92191]

You do such amazing work wrestling bios thank you for your content

[@bobray8637]

You spelled Budgets wrong in Eric Bischoff's quote lol. Great video as always sir.

[@robertjamesfulner4477]

When WCW was around I didn't have cable, so the only TV Wrestling I could watch was WCW Worldwide on Saturday mornings (an later the addition of WWF Smackdown! on UPN). I looked forward to college so much primarily because the dorms had Cable, and I figured I could watch wrestling 7 days a week, with Thurnder being on Wednesdays at the time. Sundaynight Heat, Mondaynight Nitro (tape Raw and watch it on Tuesday), Thunder Wednesday, Smackdown Thursday, ECW on TNN Friday, and WCW Saturday Night. Alas I graduated HS in 2001 just when ECW and WCW had died. :-( Thankfully I still met my wife in the dorms because we both watched Raw.

[@josephbrowne3533]

Only having TNT on sky, and no way to watch ppvs, I loved Thunder, I loved the recaps. No it wasn't as good as Nitro, but rural Ireland with not even the other throwaway shows from wwf or wcw, it was great.

[@brandonpage7087]

Yeah, WCW beat the WWF to thursday nights, a whole year before the debut of Smackdown. However, I'm with Bischoff on this one. Thunder should've never happened. It was the beginning of the end. Though, all those other events that Bischoff listed, played their part in the downfall & destruction of WCW, as well.

[@fitness65]

I remember thunder and how wcw was testing the waters with it in January of 1998 to have almost a weekend show. And then went through with it in February. The craziest thing is the wwf did this with smackdown in 1999 in may with the pilot. Wwf wasn't sure if they wanted to do it consistently but they did in I believe September of 1999 or august and the rest was history

[@knowur10sand18s]

Hey great idea! Eric Bischoff has gone over at length with this but there's still the glaring fact that if Bret was supposed to be the star to build Thunder around why was he there so little? Feels like it became an afterthought within the first few shows.

[@michaelkeller5927]

Everything Eric says is a lie. He has such a revisionist memory and spins everything with the power of hindsight

[@Thor-Orion]

@@michaelkeller5927 completely agreed. If anything Thunder was the Scott Hall show.

[@themarvelousjoe1501]

So Thunder was WCW SmackDown before SmackDown was a thing and somehow SmackDown managed to be more successful after it came a year later after Thunder released.

[@axebomber2108]

I think even Smackdown went through a time when it felt like nothing notable was happening. The brand split helped it a lot so it wasn't just a supplemental show.

[@Dr._P._Enis]

Onced it was KZbin, now it's f**kin commercialTube 🤢🤮 More commercial breaks than in free tv

[@leonarddillon256]

So there’s really no reason to do a Thursday Night Wars video series between WWF Smackdown & WCW Thunder. It’s obvious that every Smackdown episode is going to beat Thunder because everyone, but Ted Turner, didn’t want to do more than Monday Nights and Monthly Pay-Per-Views.

[@Jerry-zc5qt]

The overexposure for wcw due to thunder played a role in the company going under. But as it has been said several times it was several small things that kept piling up and eventually it became too much for the company to handle

[@JukeHighwalker]

"You wanted garbage. Well you got it." 🎤Forget the....🎶

[@srka42]

Maybe if Eric ever bothered to build a proper protagonist to go against the nWo, instead of hamstringing (Piper Lex Sting) or never properly pairing them against the nWo (Benoit Guerrero Maleko) till it was too late or never at all.

[@imogenaris1697]

Wow. I don't have an MBA or anything like that, but to not invest in something as significant as another 2 hour live broadcast, whether you're in a ratings war or not with another company defies common sense. Eric deserves credit for surviving that pressure & stress load. It's weird to look back on RAW'S dated logo & stage presentation

[@matthewurban7031]

I wonder if thunder would have been a little more successful if they had done a brand split style concept

[@TheyCallMeSledge]

I just wanna know who is making the intro themes for your videos because they're straight BANGERS!

[@biff1667]

Great content. Still choose Thunder over any modern day Raw/Smackdown

[@gregbischoff4116]

I used to look forward to Thursdays..there was never a thought in my mind at the time that Thunder sucked..I enjoyed it

[@juniorsanchez7441]

True. As a kid it was all amazing to me i never noticed any of the issues others did lol. Hell id watch the weeknd recap shows on network TV and just enjoy the f outta them too

[@jeremydover8694]

Thunder hurt nothing for me I was a die hard wcw nwo Wolfpack fan where ever sting was I couldn't get enough in my late elementary and middle school days o how I wish I could go back great time to be alive and be a fan

[@superrobz]

I always liked WCW Thunder, plus the Videogame adaptation was the first WCW game I owned (and still have)

[@florian_geier]

Great game!

[@mrassassinscreedfan1]

Same. I still have the disk somewhere for that game too

[@OldSchoolDudeGaming]

It reminds me of Sunday Night Heat. Just all filler, no substance.

[@EyesofOd]

I remember enjoying thunder. I feel like I remember seeing guys that weren't nwo as much which was fun. For some reason I associate malenko and some other talent with it, which was great. It might be that I'm completely wrong but that's just my fuzzy memory from that time

[@smac919]

Same. I remember seeing Booker T and Billy Kidman a lot on thunder as well.

[@mj-7444]

There’s no avoiding it, WCW had spawned an uproar with The Nwo. It was huge. The WWF was in trouble. The real truth is they got stale doing the same thing over and over until it became like a prison yard, Not one match had a clean ending for ages and that really kills it, you gotta have that rythm, it’s the natural order of the heart of the sport, And when it becomes too predictable it’s hard too enjoy it.

[@bDaZ1988]

That breathe and stop remix at the beginning was hard af

[@kennywright1021]

I always thought WCW Thunder was Glacier's show as child growing up in the 90s???

[@shawnmcconnell3851]

I love how you seem to have relaxed and input your true personality into your videos. You are actually very easy to listen to. Thank you.

[@lyghtspete]

Didn’t Thunder move to Wednesdays eventually?

[@cyanidegaming9617]

After reliving the war could we do the brand wars