WCW
- Active Years
- 1988-2001
- Television Shows
- WCW Nitro, WCW Thunder, WCW Saturday Night
- Streaming
- Peacock
- Current Owner
- Array
From September 1995 until March 2001, Monday night was wrestling night on American TV thanks to the “Monday Night Wars.” On one side was WWE Raw on the USA Network and TNN, and on the other side was WCW Monday Nitro on TNT.
RELATED: 10 Wrestlers Who Only Main Evented A WCW PPV Once
For nearly six years, WCW Nitro was a TV show that couldn’t be missed, both for good reasons and for bad. The main event scene was dominated by most of the stars in the nWo, meaning that stars like the ones featured on this list only managed to close out WCW Monday Nitro on a single occasion.
10 The Road Warriors
By the time 1996 came around, The Road Warriors had been around the block a number of times and were in the middle of an entertaining run in New Japan Pro Wrestling. However, thanks to WCW getting on TNT, the former Legion of Doom signed contracts with WCW in late 1995 and seemed like they were a shoe-in to dominate the WCW tag team division.
Unfortunately, Animal and Hawk only lasted in WCW for a few months before butting heads with Eric Bischoff over contracts disputes that boiled down to money and their work in Japan. Before they left, The Road Warriors main evented the February 5th 1996 edition of Nitro against Lex Luger and Sting for the WCW Tag Team Championships.
9 Jerry Lynn
Before he would go on to be a cult figure in ECW as “The New F’N Show,” Jerry Lynn was “Mr. JL” in WCW where he wore a very odd purple mask, and never really got anywhere in his near two-year stint in the company before he got fired in 1997 while he was injured. However, his one Nitro main event has quite a lot of historical significance.
His no contest bout against the nWo version of Sting led to the first official appearance of the real Sting in his black and white crow inspired face paint. It would also be the last time fans would hear Sting speak for a very long time as he left his nWo invitation up in the air. So at least Jerry Lynn got to be a part of history.
8 Chris Jericho
Who would have thought all of these years later that Chris Jericho would be back on TBS and TNT and looking better than ever as a part of the Jericho Appreciation Society? He sure speaks like a dad who’s just discovered social media, but at least he’s having fun, and he’s seeing young stars get the shine that he was never able to get as part of WCW.
RELATED: 10 Things Fans Forget About Chris Jericho's WCW Career
Jericho’s one and only WCW Nitro main event came on the go-home show before that year’s SuperBrawl pay-per-view, where Jericho would unsuccessfully challenge Eddie Guerrero for the United States Championship. He did get some good preparation though, as his singular Nitro main event was a win over Jeff Jarrett.
7 Ultimo Dragon
This is the one of the many occasions in WCW history where a main event ended up being a main event, despite not being the original main event. This was usually down to various nWo shenanigans where a match would be ready to start, then the black and white brigade came down and beat everyone up because who didn’t want to see the nWo at the time?
One of the guys who benefited from this was Ultimo Dragon, who not only got to have the final match on the April 7th 1997 edition of Nitro against Prince Iaukea, but he also won Iaukea’s Television Championship in the process. Dragon would later drop the TV Championship to Lord Steven Regal just 41 days later.
6 Psicosis
After setting the wrestling world on fire in the first half of the 1990s with Rey Misterio Jr. in Mexico, Japan and ECW, Psicosis became one of the first luchadors to make their way to WCW in 1996. His matches in the Cruiserweight division will go down in history as some of the most influential matches of all time, and in 1997 Psicosis technically got to main event Nitro.
Much like Ultimo Dragon’s situation, it wasn’t the closing segment of the show, but it was the last match on the night, so it counts as a main event. It wasn’t much of a match as it only lasted 50 seconds, and was used more as an angle for DDP’s rivalry against Randy Savage, but it still counts!
5 Syxx
You would think as a member of the nWo that Syxx, a.k.a. Sean Waltman, a.k.a. The Kid, a.k.a The 1-2-3 Kid, a.k.a Syxx-Pac, a.k.a X-Pac, would have had more than just one Nitro main event. However, Syxx wasn’t featured in the main event slots as much as his partners Hogan, Hall and Nash, but he did manage one main event in 1997.
The night after headlining Slamboree 1997 as part of the nWo, Syxx faced “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair in the main event of the May 19th 1997 edition of Nitro in a match that could have had a lot of potential. However, this was WCW in the height of nWo mania, so the match lasted just over a minute.
4 Scott Norton
One of the most underrated big men in the business during the 1990s, the former IWGP Heavyweight Champion was one of the longest serving members of the nWo (including serving as a member of nWo Japan in NJPW). With that being said, Norton’s one and only main event on Nitro came on the same night the group split into two.
One the same night that saw the divide between nWo black and white and nWo Wolfpac, Scott Norton was added to the list of victims of Goldberg’s undefeated streak that would end up being broken by the Wolfpac at that year’s Starrcade.
3 The Ultimate Warrior
The Ultimate Warrior and WCW was like heating a whole jar of cinnamon in the middle of the Sahara desert. It was dry, it wasn’t fun and was served to feed the ego of Hulk Hogan at the expense of any logic or reason. It made no sense, and considering what was going on in WWE at the same time, it’s incredible that this idea was even considered.
RELATED: 10 Ridiculous Ultimate Warrior Moments You Forgot About
The October 12th 1998 edition of Nitro where The Warrior teamed with Sting to take on Hulk Hogan and Bret Hart was the only match The Warrior had on Nitro. It was also one of only three matches he had in WCW, and like the other two it was enjoyed by a small minority of people.
2 Terry Funk
It has been said before, but it’s worth saying again; WCW in the year 2000 was a marvel of a TV show. It was such a mess that it was almost impressive to an extent, but it was so enthralling that you couldn’t look away. WWE had run away with the ratings and WCW needed to catch up in some way, so they brought whoever they could to help.
One of those people brought in to boost ratings was former NWA and ECW World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk, who would eventually be shipped off to the WCW hardcore division. However, before that happened he headlined Nitro at the beginning of 2000, teaming with old rival Ric Flair and Sid Vicious to take on The Harris Twins and Jeff Jarrett.
1 Dustin Rhodes
The Rhodes name is synonymous with the history of the NWA and WCW, with Dustin Rhodes starting out his career in WCW. In the early 1990s he was one of the most promising young stars the company had, but by the time 2001 came around he was sick to death of the stupid gimmicks they had him doing.
By the end of WCW, Rhodes and his dad were embroiled in a feud with Jeff Jarrett and Ric Flair. This led to the February 26th 2001 edition of Nitro where Flair would be the special referee for Dustin’s match against Jeff Jarrett. The fact that he began his wrestling career in WCW in 1988 and it took nearly 13 years for Dustin Rhodes to headline a show like Nitro is a travesty.
