DISC ONE
Released: 8/12/14

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Let’s get right to the countdown!

50. Junkyard Brawl: The infamous Junkyard Brawl from Bash At The Beach 1999. The winner got out of the junkyard first before it was set on fire. Hugh Morrus and Regal talk about how it was dark and they’d only participate in the brawl when the spotlight and camera were shown on them. Finlay was happy he won. Cody Rhodes says that win put Finlay on the map. Hugh says he hasn’t been to a junkyard since he buys his cars new. WCW spent a lot of money on this match and it resulted in a lot of injuries.

49. Canadian Hacksaw: Duggan’s heel turn joining Team Canada at Fall Brawl 2000. Duggan says he carried the flag for years and you’d think if he betrayed he’d join Iraq? Iran? Nope, Canada: the world’s least unguarded border. Arn Anderson asks who is mad at the Canadians. Terry Taylor says it was done for shock value, and there’s heat that makes fans mad or makes fans disgusted and it was the latter. Duggan said it had no heat and fans didn’t buy into it and he didn’t either. The one highlight for Duggan was finally cutting his hair and shaving his beard after all these years. He said guys he had known for 20 years didn’t know who he was when he debuted the new look.

48. Warrior In WCW: Hogan says he talked with Bischoff to bring Warrior in and recreate the magic but it didn’t work out. Natalya said it wasn’t as good as it was in WWE. Dean Ambrose said it was a good idea on paper. THE GREATEST CAMEO IN THE HISTORY OF OUR SPORT debuts on WWE Home Video as Tony Schiavone says Hogan wanted to avenge his loss to Warrior from WrestleMania VI. He enjoyed the buildup and segments leading up to the match, but not the match itself. Hogan takes full blame for the match not delivering. Warrior says they paid him big money to come in so Hogan could get his win back and didn’t know what to do with him after that as it was undisciplined. Cody Rhodes says he still liked Warrior but it wasn’t the same.

47. 49ers Match: The vacant WCW Championship Match between Booker T and Jeff Jarrett on Nitro in October 2000. Booker says it was a Russo idea. There was 4 boxes on a pole. 3 were weapons and the 4th was the championship. Mean Gene and Tony had no idea what was going on. The other 3 objects in the box was a blowup doll, a coal miners glove, and a full frame picture of Scott Hall. Booker talks about the priceless reaction to the Scott Hall picture as he didn’t expect that to be in there. Booker retrieved the belt in the last box but it was in cheap cardboard and fell out of the ring before he could retrieve it. Booker says no matter the role or booking though, he was proud of putting on a show for the fans.

46. King Of The Road: Dustin Rhodes vs Blacktop Bully (Barry Darsow) in the back of a moving 18 wheeler at Uncensored 1995. Dustin talks about how hard it was doing spots while moving 40 MPH. Regal liked the concept. Cody says he’s as big of a wrestling fan there is and he couldn’t follow it.

45. Russo: The relaunch of Nitro on April 10th 2000. Arn talks about the lack of direction and not knowing who the boss is. Michael Hayes talks about how Russo always wanted change and didn’t respect tradition. Cody thought it was a bad idea as it was an admission the ship was sinking and caused the ship to sink further. Russo stripped all of the championships and he defends it by saying he owed it to the roster to start over. Kidman said he hated it as it was getting too insider and too “anything goes”. Booker says it was a mess.

44. Chucky: WCW had hyped a movie star appearance on Nitro in October 1998. It turned out to be Chucky the doll interrupting a Mean Gene interview with Rick Steiner Cody talks about how cross promotion in wrestling is common but with a live actor. Hugh Morrus says Chucky had more heat than half the roster. Kidman felt bad for Rick Steiner and thought it was rotten. Justin Roberts is still waiting on the Rick Steiner vs Chucky blowoff. Dusty said when WCW died you could look back on it as a “what were they thinking” moment.

43. Bad Goldberg: Goldberg’s heel turn at Great American Bash 2000. Hogan, Tony, Flair, and Regal put over Goldberg and his rise. Terry Taylor discusses Goldberg had defeated all the heels and instead of turning a face heel they went with Goldberg heel. Mean Gene says they were looking to recreate Bash At The Beach 1996 with Hogan. Regal said it was a bad idea as Goldberg is a good guy character wise and in real life.

42. La Parka: Not the first time it was done, but still an amazing moment. Macho Man Randy Savage appears to wrestle a mismatch vs luchadore La Parka but it’s actually heated rival Diamond Dallas Page who uses the Diamond Cutter to defeat him and unmasked. Tony talks about how DDP was against the NWO, but did NWO-like attacks against them. Terry Taylor says as a joke, a wrestler took the real La Parka’s gear backstage and dressed as him to make him mad. He thought it would be great to incorporate into the angle of DDP/NWO and to help La Parka himself get over. Kidman calls it one of the high points of the lengthy WCW/NWO feud. Tony put over the Diamond Cutter and how fans loved the finisher. Cody says it great TV.

41. Caged Horsemen: The infamous moment in the Omni in September 1985 where Ric Flair turned on Dusty Rhodes and broke his leg with the help of the Horsemen. Cody calls it the greatest rivalry ever. Dustin says he remembers that from his dad’s career the most. Dusty and Arn talk about how scary the situation was as fans tried to break in and enter the cage. It was an OMG moment for fans of that era Dusty says. Arn mentions the moment was cool but very scary at the time.

40. Jericho’s Challenge: Jericho wrestled a fake mini Goldberg and won. To imitate Goldberg he had his own security team for an entrance including Ralphus who Hugh Morrus and Rey Mysterio loved. However Goldberg wasn’t pleased and told Jericho he hopes it was worth it. Rey says Goldberg felt it would lower his status. Beth Phoenix says that was the start of Jericho rising to the next level going after the top dog. There was never a match between the 2. It culminated with a Jericho promo where he got speared by Goldberg in November 1998. Jericho said in his book he pushed for a match against Goldberg on Nitro but it was nixed as Bischoff wanted a quick spear Jackhammer squash and Jericho wanted 5 minutes as he felt the angle was over enough to warrant it. He also tried to get a World War III match with him which Bischoff agreed to but Goldberg nixed it as he wanted that PPV off and Jericho instead got put into a feud with Bobby Duncum Jr. over the TV Championship. Jericho called that the moment he decided he was done with WCW.

39. Litigation: At Bash At Beach 2000 Vince Russo wanted Jeff Jarrett to defeat Hulk Hogan to retain the WCW Championship. Hogan had complete creative control and refused to lose and wanted to win the title. After 10 hours of tense discussions Russo told Jarrett just to lay down for Hogan. Russo says Jarrett was TICKED to do it. Hogan said when Jarrett laid down he said, “Brother, don’t do this”. After Hogan won the belt and left, Russo pulled a shoot on Hogan and said you’d never see that piece of crap again. Russo believed he got one over on Hogan. Hogan said the only real thing of the shoot was that Russo didn’t want him. Hogan filed a lawsuit against Russo for defamation of character. Hogan jokes he didn’t have to do the job in the courtroom.

38. Helicopter: Sting’s spectacular entrance from a helicopter on Spring Break Nitro from March 16th 1998. Tony says Sting’s entrances were getting bigger and better and if you’re going to use a major star out of a helicopter, it had to be Sting. WCW Stunt Coordinator Ellis Edwards talks about the idea and practicing it himself to show it was safe.

37. Forklift Match: Cody says Judy Bagwell was like the overbearing wife except she was Buff’s mom. At New Blood Rising 2000 Buff Bagwell faced Kanyon in a “Judy Bagwell on a Forklift” match. Kidman asks, “WHY????” Mean Gene thought it was ridiculous. Cody says it wasn’t Bret Hart vs Shawn Michaels but slightly entertaining. It had shenanigans such as interference from former WCW Champion David Arquette.

36. The Debut: This should be WAYYYYYY higher on the list IMO. Lex Luger’s surprising debut on the first Nitro. Ambrose talked about the uniqueness of Nitro at the Mall Of America. CM Punk says before you know it there’s Lex Luger and his frosted mullet. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Miz said. Bill Apter even said his mouth dropped open. Luger talks about the shock of the fans and how no one expected it. He wrestled a tag match the night before in Canada with Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels. Regal said throwing surprises like that worked and got people talking. Ryback said he never would have watched Nitro until he flipped through the channels and seen Luger who was in the WWF on there.

35. Demolition: Seth Rollins says Sid gave him nightmares that he was going to powerbomb him and rule the world. Teddy Long says Sid is just dumb. We get a look at Sid blunders during promos. Michael Hayes brings up how Sid ALWAYS messed up his promos. Jericho says the more he talked, the more he laughed. Mean Gene says people are unfair to Sid because it’s not like he’s Dr. Sid or Nobel Prize winning Sid. On the September 27th 1999 edition of Nitro, Goldberg demolished Sid’s car and Sid had a PRICELESS reaction to it. Tony says Goldberg vs Sid should have been in the ring and not in segments. Tony also wondered at the rate at which WCW was spending cash if they could afford to even pay wrestlers anymore.

34. The Electric Chair: The infamous Chamber Of Horrors match from Halloween Havoc 91. JR says he’s suppressed the memory of that match from his mind. Cody didn’t believe anyone would get electrocuted. Regal called it a great visual and entertaining. Abdullah The Butcher was the one who suffered the fate. He says that people were screaming for him. JR says it was terrible and watch the match at your own risk.

33. Movie Magic: Cody says Dusty wanted to treat pro wrestling like entertainment hence the movies. Dusty wrote produced and directed many skits that he enjoyed. We see clips of Spin The Wheel Make The Deal mini movie between Jake Roberts vs Sting. We then get a look at the White Castle Of Fear mini movie. Vader enjoyed doing that movie. Tony and Regal describe it was different. Larry Zbyszko mentions he’s old school and that they should have just set money on fire instead of making the Sting and Davey Boy movie. Dusty says at the time he thought it was the next Gone With The Wind, but today doesn’t feel that way.

32. Robocop: As a result of cross promotion, WCW brought in Robocop at Capital Combat 90. Arn hated it as it wasn’t even the real Robocop. JR says he can act, because that night he acted like he cared about Robocop. Tony mentions how awful it was to have Ole Anderson – one of the toughest men in the business – run away and act like he was afraid of him. It was Tony’s first night back in WCW after leaving the WWF, and he said he wanted to call Vince and ask if he could return. He says he’s glad JR got to call that one and not him.

31. Who Better Than Kanyon? At Slamboree 2000, Mike Awesome tossed Kanyon off the top of the triple cage during the triple threat World Title main event. Justin Roberts loved WCW’s triple cage. Tony feels the stunt was one of the most dangerous WCW has ever done but that Kanyon didn’t mind taking big bumps. Mean Gene said Kanyon was going for a moment ala Foley at KOTR 98. Regal said anything post Foley bump felt second rate.

30. Human Torch: The Human Torch match between Sting and Vampiro at Great American Bash 2000. We get the video package hyping the match to begin. Cody is speechless. Mean Gene called it ridiculous. Tony said he reacted to Sting getting caught on fire like he would if someone actually got caught on fire. Mean Gene called it a worthless angle for shock value purposes.

29. Ambush: 4 Horsemen attack Dusty Rhodes in the parking lot on World Championship Wrestling in October 1986. Arn said they were the first and they were the worst. Regal praised it as innovative and the Horsemen as an evil faction. Cody says the way it was done the intent was worse. Arn admits the Horsemen should have been arrested. Dusty says at the time it was an OMG moment for sure.

28. Russo Wins WCW Title: As if the WCW title wasn’t devalued enough, Russo actually became WCW Champion on the September 25 2000 version of Nitro in his home area of Long Island. Vince Russo wins what? Asks Finlay. Tony says Russo did put a lot of effort into his ideas to see what would stick. Russo says he was aiming for different because not everyone would watch if it was the same stuff every week. He won the belt in a fluke in a VERRRYYYY overbooked steel cage match vs Booker T. He vacated the belt on the next Thunder, and was champion for only 3 days. Cody said it wasn’t the end of the world. Finlay said NO ONE wanted to see Russo as Champion. DDP claims it was shock value, but it had a short shelf life.

27. Chest Protector: From Nitro March 1999 in the last Nitro featuring the original WCW logo and Nitro set. One of the few highlights of Bret’s WCW run. Hugh Morrus says when you think Goldberg, you think the spear. Tony talks about how if anyone could withstand Goldberg’s spear. Natalya says Nitro was in Toronto and of course would go crazy for Bret who talked smack about Goldberg. Bret was wearing a Maple Leafs jersey to a big pop. Out comes Goldberg who spears Bret but is knocked unconscious. Bret reveals he was wearing a steel plate. Mean Gene says, “Talk about turning the tables.” Canada didn’t take too well to Goldberg constantly booing him during his wrestling run. Ironically Goldberg married a Canadian.

26. Powerbomb: From Great American Bash 1996 the Outsiders powerbombing Eric Bischoff off the stage. Cody puts over how well done the early stuff the Outsiders did. Cody said like Vince, most knew that Bischoff was not only the announcer, but the boss. Kidman said it showed they’d be fair game on everybody if they attacked Bischoff. Big E said it’s something you remember. Cody says it propelled WCW taking off. Regal called it the true launch of the NWO. Bischoff said in his book that the stunt wasn’t rehearsed and that Nash nearly missed the launch spot due to a glare in his eyes, but caught it as the last split second.

25. Finger Poke Of Doom: This should be higher as well IMO. From the infamous January 4th 1999 Nitro at the Georgia Dome. In front of a monster house, WCW hyped a Hulk Hogan vs Kevin Nash WCW Championship match, but instead Hogan poked Nash to regain the belt in a setup and reunite the NWO. Hogan calls the Finger Poke the most controversial move in all of wrestling. Arn says the fans come first and pay the bills and they wanted to see that match and got a popcorn fart. Jericho demands for Nash to be interviewed on it because he believes it was just for a joke and a laugh. Nash defends it to rebuild Goldberg to smash each NWO member with the end result of besting Hogan again. Jimmy Hart says the original plan was for a 20 minute match and then to reunite against Goldberg the next week, but it was decided against as they’d be fighting each other one week then friends the next. Hogan said the timing seemed perfect for it but it was off base. Nash takes credit for the idea, and says he got a phone call from Vince that night saying ”nicely booked” Many call this the beginning of the end for WCW, as the NWO concept likely should have ended by then instead of screwing the fans out of a HUGE main event opportunity.

24. Cruiserweight Showcase: The Rey/Eddie classic from Halloween Havoc. Many called it 1997’s match of the year in a year that had a LOT of great matches. Daniel Bryan puts over Rey’s phantom costume. Punk said the match was on his birthday and said it blew away everyone. Arn said athletic wise, the most unbelievable display he’d ever seen. Bryan said his jaw dropped at Rey’s top rope flipping DDT. Justin Roberts said they had great matches but that one was the standout. Kidman calls the match awesome.

23. N W… No!: DDP swerves the NWO on Nitro in January 1997. DDP said it was the start of his run. Many believed DDP would join the NWO as he was good friends with Hall and Nash. He squashed Mark Starr quickly and Hall and Nash came out to welcome DDP to the NWO. DDP said the air of the building went out when he put on the shirt. He said it was like NOOOOO who is going to fight these guys now. He talks about the ovation he got when he gave the Diamond Cutter to Hall. He said he took off after that and it was the best thing that ever happened to him.

22. Lost In Cleveland: From WCW April 1993. Vader powerbombs Cactus Jack on the cement and gets stretchered out. The infamous amnesia angle. Foley said it was an episodic TV approach. Dusty talks about the idea of it. Foley said he thought it was lame, until he was told he would be taken off the road four months with pay and then thought it was genius. They thought his wife Colette was too attractive so they hired someone to play his wife. Foley said the approach was right but the way they went about it was terrible. Tony says you don’t see people getting amnesia often from big bumps. Foley says it was horrible.

21. Stir Crazy: From Nitro in April 1999, we get highlights of Flair’s crazy run as WCW President. Tony says Flair made it fun. Flair got removed as WCW president and goes into a mental hospital. Larry Zbyszko says even if he did see it he doesn’t want to remember it. Arn says there’s likely people at the mental hospital locked in there for life not as crazy as Flair. Tony calls him the most outrageous person he’s ever met in his life.

20. Piñata: The piñata on a pole match on Nitro in November 1999. Kidman called it terrible and horrible. Hugh doesn’t remember the piñata match and asked did we do that? Tony says his subconscious has blocked it out. Curt Hawkins called it his favorite stupid gimmick match and how the announcers ignored the luchadores in it. It’s also the infamous match where Ed Ferrera made fun of JR as Oklahoma which legit upset JR. Tony says he felt uncomfortable with it and they should have NEVER made fun of JR having Bell’s Palsy. Joey Styles said WCW had too much talent to do stupid stuff like that. Mean Gene once again says it was ridiculous.

19. Masked Luchadore: Malenko talks about the eight month run he had with Jericho. After losing to him at Uncensored and getting scolded by Mean Gene, Malenko declared he was going home. They were figuring out a way for him to return to get his revenge and devised the Cruiserweight Battle Royal at Slamboree 98. Malenko disguised himself as the masked Ciclope who won the battle royal in a upset when Juvi purposely eliminated himself. Cody said it’s one of the loudest reactions you’ll ever hear, which even Jericho said his book. Kidman put over the feud as giving the Cruiserweight division a storyline instead of just action.

18. Parking Lot Mess: The NWO’s parking lot attack on WCW on Nitro in July 1996. This shocked me when it happened live. Scott Hall talks about how the NWO was given free rein on what to do. Tony talks about the realism of it and how many thought it was a shoot. Cody said he called his dad to check in on the wrestlers. They really made it look like an attack had occurred.

17. Garbage: We get footage of Madusa Alundra Blayze. Michael Hayes talks about how Vince loves variety and how Madusa was the perfect girl to revitalize the women’s division. On Nitro in December 1995 Madusa as WWF Women’s Champion shows up on Nitro and trashes the Women’s championship. Bischoff says it was his idea. Beth was hurt by it and Michael Hayes bashes her for it. AJ Lee says it was for the $$$$. Vince said it was a kick in the groin by WCW. Heyman talks about how Madusa tarnished the belt so much that Vince didn’t bring the division and title back for 3 years. You’d believe this would blackball Madusa from WWE forever, but it seems time has healed most of the wounds though as Madusa has done an interview with the WWE for Network projects.

16. To Streak Or Not To Streak?: Orton calls Goldberg a gold mine. Miz says the streak should have kept going and going and it was something special. Regal talks about WCW’s HUGE talent pool and had plenty of guys to keep feeding Goldberg in the streak. Punk thinks the opposite and wanted David to beat Goliath and see what happened next. Terry Taylor says he considers Nash a friend but he wanted the streak to continue. Nash convinced Bischoff and the booking committee it was time to end the streak and for him to do it. Taylor said he knew ending the streak would hurt their business. Heyman called it a rip-off and makes a GREAT pun by saying they pulled the curtains to REALLY show you who Oz is. Heyman said only WCW would have something that alive and then kill it. Cesaro said people bought Starrcade to see Goldberg vs Nash, but not to see Goldberg lose. Ted DiBiase says the booker should NEVER be a wrestler.

15. Trailblazer: Ron Simmons becoming the first African-American World Champion in August 1992. Booker T calls him one of the greatest ever. Arn says he was a different breed, a powerful man, and puts over his powerslam. Terry puts over his athleticism and that he’s a quality guy. JR says no one saw the title change coming. Vader jokes who did Simmons win the title from? He said it was an important, historical night. JR talks about how the crowd erupted and fans were crying. Ron Simmons said he can’t put into words becoming champion. He said he just wanted to be a national name in the business not thinking of the first black world champion. Terry says he carried the banner of the company well. Ron said it was an inspiration to work hard for dreams to come true not only for blacks, but white as well.

14. The Decision: No this isn’t LeBron, but is Sting WCW or NWO? When the NWO happened WCW’s franchise player Sting went into crow mode. At Uncensored 1997 Sting finally showed his allegiance to WCW. Kofi said no words were spoken and it was unbelievable. Kidman said it was one for the good guys. Zbyszko said someone had to do it and it was Sting. Cesaro said Sting gave WCW and its fans hope and it was a great story.

13. Piledriver: Terry Funk’s surprise sneak attack on and piledriver on Ric Flair after finishing the Steamboat trilogy at Wrestle War 89. Terry Taylor says he’s a huge Terry Funk fan and it was one of those special moments. Regal called it magic and how Flair was booed that night but was now the good guy afterwards. Arn said it probably hurt Funk as much as Flair as he sacrifices himself. Flair mentions how it was hardcore before it was common. Funk said it had never been done before. Regal called Funk an all pro and it was the right people at the right time. Flair said he nearly broke his neck. Funk calls it the beginning of hardcore.

12. The Worm: Dennis Rodman in the NWO. Hogan says he met Rodman through mutual friends. DENNIS RODMAN HIMSELF appears and talks about how Hogan asked him one day to appear with him in Detroit. He calls it a perfect fit. Hogan admits Rodman was a wildcard. Hornswoggle agrees and talks about the buzz it got. Rodman says it was fun as it was during wrestling’s peak in the 90s. Hogan said when Rodman was on, he was gold. I don’t think younger fans know how HUGE of a deal this was back in the day and Rodman garnered headlines in the 90s like a Kardashian today and mingled with many A-listers and beauties.

11. Parody: Arn talks about his retirement speech and how he spoke from the heart. It was one of the few things that was real. He said it was a hard 10 minute segment. He said it felt great for one week until they dumped on it. The NWO parodied the 4 Horsemen the next week making fun of Arn being a drunk. Zbyszko LOVED it. Tony mentions how there was backstage heat over it. Finlay thought it was disrespectful. Kidman says you can question if they crossed the line or went too far with it. Regal said it was offensive but that’s what the skit intended to do. It was entertaining, got heat, and served the purpose and it’s still talked about today. Arn said the NWO had enough heat and they wanted to give them more. There was legitimate heat with it as guys from Flair and Sting were upset over it. I think what hurt it is the Horsemen didn’t do a run in.

10. Shockmaster!: ”Oh dear me, I was there” Regal on remembering the Shockmaster.
Dusty wanted a big guy for 1 match only for this war games. At the Clash Of The Champions in August 1993 during a Flair For The Gold segment, Sting revealed their mystery partner, who was going to SHOCK the world the SHOCKMASTER. Explosion, wall explodes and a big guy in stormtrooper helmet falls over and loses the helmet. Flair says he felt bad for him because Fred Ottman is a good guy. Dusty says the helmet itself cost a lot of money. Regal says Ole Anderson was doing the voiceover but didn’t know of the fall and here was poor Fred down putting on the helmet. Ambrose says you couldn’t write that to be that funny. Dusty said it was hilarious and Fred thought he F’ed up bad. Regal gives credit to Sid and Harlem Heat for acting like nothing had happened. Dusty laughed over how Davey Boy yelled out ”He fell flat on his a$$” Seth Rollins called it a DUD.

9. World Champion Actor: Rey says he’s a David Arquette fan. Ziggler mentions how he was on top of the world and married to Courtney Cox who was the star of one of the biggest TV shows of that era in Friends. John Lauranitis talks about how Arquette was a huge fan and WCW was on the decline learned on the fly and didn’t have proper training. DDP talks about the huge uproar it got when he became the champion, but didn’t believe it would be that negative. Ron Simmons was offended saying they put the belt on a little punk actor. John Cena hated it. Cody says Arquette and Russo as champions and the finger poke of doom devalued the big gold belt. Russo has no issues as they got the publicity and people talking and they still talk about it today. Arquette says he cherishes the moment and will never forget it. One of the class act things Arquette did was donate all the $$$ he made during his WCW run to families of deceased wrestlers.

8. Cobo Chaos: Hulk Hogan and The Giant had a monster truck match and a regular match on Halloween Havoc 95. Tony enjoyed the buildup to the event. Hogan mentions how The Giant went over the roof. Hogan rolls his eyes thinking how believable it would be for him to show up a few minutes later without a scratch. Dusty mentions he fell in the water and didn’t get wet. Regal says PLEASE put this moment high on the list. Then Ron Reis a very tall guy at the end of the match debuts as the YETAYYYYYYY (Tony voice). Regal said it was worse than the Shockmaster especially them double teaming Hogan in a bearhug that looks like a dry humping with Hogan selling. Tony thought it was nuts but had seen crazier things but did go wow. Hogan said he can’t believe he went through with this and should have thought things over. Tony ”The Braves won the World Series that night, so we didn’t give a damn.”

7. Double Feature: Rick Rude appeared on both Nitro and RAW the same night on the night of November 17th, 1997. Tony called it a big deal. Natalya mentions how Nitro was live every week, but Raw was live every other week. HBK had heard the rumors Rude was going to show up on Nitro. Summer Rae said WWE should have kept Rude, especially because of the female audience. Natalya in a great point mentions that night he was DX and NWO. Dustin wonders how they kept it a secret. JBL calls it shocking. Cody said it was unique and a huge feather in the cap of WCW and a way to show that RAW was taped. Tony says anything can happen on live TV.

6. Scaffold: Jim Cornette’s fall from the scaffold at Starrcade 86. JR talks about the rules of the scaffold match. Cody mentions how territories did them but never on a large scale as Starrcade. We see the Road Warriors promo where they smashed pumpkins off the scaffold. Terry Taylor praised the teams as fearless. There were no ladder matches back then or ECW hardcore. Arn says the Midnight Express did not want to be up there that night, and that the scaffold was higher than usual and it was unsafe. JR says Cornette went up after the match. Cornette talks about how he blew out his knee. Cody and Arn talks about how Bubba Rogers was supposed to catch Cornette but was nowhere near. Cornette made $10k for Starrcade, missed $7k of shows, and had to pay $1.5k for insurance. He jokes he’s one of the first to main event a major show and almost didn’t make anything for it.

5. Goldberg Dome: The peak of WCW: Goldberg’s title win over Hogan in the Georgia Dome on Nitro July 6th 1998. Daniel Bryan was dying to see the match. Apter says people tuned in every week to see if the streak would end, and then this night he was going for the championship against the immortal Hulk Hogan. Jericho compares it to 2 trains crashing full speed ahead. Heyman talks about the 40,000 people and the crowd going nuts and was amazed by the passion of the audience. Even HE wanted to be there. Hogan mentions how the crowd was going crazy for Goldberg and how he came up with the idea for Goldberg to defeat him for the belt in his hometown of Atlanta. Jericho says the people went insane. Stu Saks praised the move being on TV. Luger says it was the final touch of the buildup of Goldberg. Heyman says it was WCW’s best TV moment ever and the apex of the company. Of course the debate today is while it was an amazing moment, in retrospect WCW lost out on MILLIONS to have Goldberg be the champion on PPV just to pop a ratings win for Nitro.

4. I Quit: The I Quit Bloodbath between Magnum TA and Tully Blanchard at Starrcade 85. Regal called Magnum a star in the making and Tully a guy everyone hated and wanted to see lose. Taylor LOVED the buildup to the match. Magnum talks about how they wanted this match to be the definitive end of their feud and it was nothing but amazing. He talks about the chair spike spot and how he turned it around on him with blood flying everywhere. Arn calls it the most violent match he ever seen. Dustin calls it one of his all-time favorite matches. Dusty says it was the most brutal moment in a brutal age. Regal says it was EVERYTHING the business should ever be about. Magnum says it was the most intense feud he was ever a part of.

3. Outside Invasion: Scott Halls surprise debut on Nitro in May 27th 1996. Michael Hayes says it created a buzz because it was not the norm. Booker calls it the start of the topsy turvy part of the business and it was interesting. Hall says instead of attacking the match in the ring he wanted to be real and just grabbed the mic. Mean Gene said the debut was kept under the wraps even among the boys. DDP admits even HE didn’t know Hall was going to be there that night. He hit hard at WCW says Mean Gene, but it had to hit harder in WWE. Michael Hayes says fans wanted to see WWE vs WCW and it got the fans talking because ”Razor Ramon” showed up on Nitro. Hall mentions how WCW would show like Sting vignettes of ”Where the big boys play” of him defeating guys that defected to the WWF like Foley and Vader and how it ticked him off. Jericho says that started the war and how Hall was acting like his Razor Ramon character. Hall says Vince sued WCW. Hogan praises Hall as a master chess player. Bischoff says that was the catalyst for the NWO storyline. Nash said the stars aligned that night and it was epic and will go down in history.

2. Suprise Purchase: The end of the Monday Night War when WWE shockingly purchased WCW. Booker said Vince on Nitro was really really odd. Finlay called it a new day for everyone in WCW. Luger said no one ever thought the war would end that soon let alone be a merger and went WHOA when he seen WWE trucks in the parking lot that night. Bittersweet night according to Booker. Cody calls it a very sad moment even during the Sting/Flair match. Tony said there was a lot of crying in the back among the employees. Kidman says he was a part of history that night and it was awesome. Arn believed WCW would be better off with Vince. Flair was glad to see it close and said you couldn’t beat Vince. Tony admits he wasn’t upset it closed. He was more relieved than anything. He said there was a lot of great moments but near the end it was terrible, and he was ready to go home. No regrets about it.

and the #1 all-time OMG moment in WCW is………………………

1. Who Is The Third Man: At Bash At The Beach 1996. Hogan and Hall said they kept it secret. Nash says only a dozen guys knew in total. Hall says at the 11th hour they still didn’t know if Hogan would do it due to his creative control contract. Bischoff told him not to worry if Hogan doesn’t do it because the 3rd man would be Sting. Hall says no disrespect to Sting but it had to be a former WWE guy. Hogan flew out from a movie on set to Daytona Beach. Hogan says everyone assumed he was there to save the day, but he does the unthinkable and turns heel by leg dropping the Macho Man. Nash calls it the genesis of the NWO. Dusty said America’s most beloved hero told everyone to stick it up their a$$. Hogan said the moment the trash was pelted, he knew it was going to be hot. Hall said he told Nash whatever happens its one for the scrapbook as they’re with Hogan. Nash called it a home run. Dusty said it really knocked the wind out of WWE and it took them a while to come back. Hogan said he knew it was the right move.

Here are some OMG moments good and bad that should have made the list or that I’d consider Honorable Mentions:

Barry Windham Joining The 4 Horsemen

Flair/Steamboat Trilogy

The Black Scorpion

Hulk Hogan signs with WCW

Giving Away RAW Results On Nitro

Glacier

Eric Bischoff Joins The NWO

Hogan/Sting Starrcade 97 Fast Count

Jay Leno Wrestling

4 Horsemen Reformation/Ric Flair returning to WCW

ECW Champion Mike Awesome jumps to WCW on first night of Russo/Bischoff relaunch

Sid breaking his leg at Sin 2001

Final Thoughts: The Countdown was really good. With the exception of a few, all the personalities interviewed were ALL NEW interviews which made it great especially with all the guys that lived through WCW. While you could debate the rankings or if other moments should have been on there, overall it was a really good list. With all the memorable and shocking moments though, the extras are rather commonplace and readily available on other DVD sets or can view on the WWE Network. I’d rent or download this to watch the main feature. Thumbs in the middle for OMG: The 50 Shocking Moments in WCW History.