25 Years Ago Today The Monday Night Wars Began

[koyvoo]

In 1999 I went to a live Raw at what was then the Skydome and a live Nitro at what was then the Air Canada Centre within months of each other.

Biggest lasting memory is of Earl Hebner making fun of my quite overweight friend as my buddy was heckling him. We had unbelievable seats for Raw.

 

[Brodeur]

When WCW and WWF battled for Southern California | SoCalUNCENSORED.com

I remember when WWF/WCW ran competing house shows in LA/Anaheim on the same night during the height of the Monday Night Wars. Almost wish I had kept the sports page with the competing advertisements. Several months later, Raw/Nitro would be close together and DX would invade the Norfolk Scope.

WWF at the Arrowhead Pond – June 28, 1997

• Rockabilly defeated Flash Funk
• Nation of Domination (Faarooq and Kama Mustafa) defeated New Blackjacks (Blackjack Windham and Blackjack Bradshaw)
• Ken Shamrock defeated Jim Neidhart
• Owen Hart and Davey Boy Smith defeated Legion of Doom (Hawk and Animal) and The Godwinns (Henry O. Godwinn and Phineas I. Godwinn)
• Vader defeated Goldust
• Mankind defeated Hunter Hearst Helmsley by disqualification
• The Undertaker (c) defeated Bret Hart and Steve Austin to retain the WWF World Championship

WCW at The Great Western Forum – June 28, 1997

• Juventud Guerrera, Súper Caló and Damien defeated Konnan, La Parka and Villano IV
• Último Dragón defeated Psychosis
• Eddie Guerrero defeated Dean Malenko
• Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner) defeated Buff Bagwell and Masa Chono
• Syxx (c) defeated Rey Mysterio Jr. to retain the WCW Cruiserweight Championship
• Chris Jericho defeated Syxx (c) to win the WCW Cruiserweight Championship
• Roddy Piper defeated Ric Flair
• Diamond Dallas Page defeated Randy Savage
• Lex Luger and The Giant defeated The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) (c) by DQ in a WCW Tag Team Championship match

 

[BruinDust]

I had the pleasure of coming across a VHS copy of the first Stone Cold Steve Austin VHS/DVD done by WWF(E) "Cause Stone Cold said So". Basically documents his run from mid-1996 (Austin 3:16) up until mid-1997 (teaming with HBK and busting up Harts knee in a streetfight).

It's narrated by Stone Cold himself, hosted by Stone Cold. Just that raw gritty version of the character from that time period. In hindsight it shows what a groundbreaking character it was for its time. He actually swears on video (which I believe is edited out when they re-released it on DVD). The end credits are just icing on the cake (hint everything was done by Stone Cold kayfabe). Incredible stuff. We'll never see anything like that again.

 

[JackSlater]

I had the pleasure of coming across a VHS copy of the first Stone Cold Steve Austin VHS/DVD done by WWF(E) "Cause Stone Cold said So". Basically documents his run from mid-1996 (Austin 3:16) up until mid-1997 (teaming with HBK and busting up Harts knee in a streetfight).

It's narrated by Stone Cold himself, hosted by Stone Cold. Just that raw gritty version of the character from that time period. In hindsight it shows what a groundbreaking character it was for its time. He actually swears on video (which I believe is edited out when they re-released it on DVD). The end credits are just icing on the cake (hint everything was done by Stone Cold kayfabe). Incredible stuff. We'll never see anything like that again.

96/97 Austin was the best Austin. That's an all time great gimmick pulled off tremendously. Austin was a very good babyface after 97 but he was also somewhat a catchphrase machine and t-shirt salesman. The original psychotic redneck badass was awesome though.

 

[Ozz]

Not sure if anyone mentioned it already, but WWE Network has a great series (could be old y now, I have no idea) about the Monday Night Wars. Looks like 15 1-hr episodes. I'm 2 deep so far and it's pretty awesome.

 

[JackSlater]

Not sure if anyone mentioned it already, but WWE Network has a great series (could be old y now, I have no idea) about the Monday Night Wars. Looks like 15 1-hr episodes. I'm 2 deep so far and it's pretty awesome.

I was curious about that series. Haven't heard much about it good or bad really.

 

[Brodeur]

I enjoyed the Monday Night Wars, but the episodes can jump around in the time line a bit since certain episodes either focused on a certain guy (I seem to remember a Jericho episode) or how WCW utilized the cruiserweights. I seem to remember folks criticizing/nitpicking some of the details being left out, but it was definitely a fun walk through memory lane.

 

[Megahab]

When WCW and WWF battled for Southern California | SoCalUNCENSORED.com

I remember when WWF/WCW ran competing house shows in LA/Anaheim on the same night during the height of the Monday Night Wars. Almost wish I had kept the sports page with the competing advertisements. Several months later, Raw/Nitro would be close together and DX would invade the Norfolk Scope.

There was a Taker-Austin-Bret triple threat for the title? I was watching every week religiously at that time but have no memory of that match ever happening.

 

[Megahab]

There was a Taker-Austin-Bret triple threat for the title? I was watching every week religiously at that time but have no memory of that match ever happening.

Oh I misread. Didn't realize it was a house show.