When the WWE Network announced the coming of the documentary The Monday Night War, many people probably assumed that they were probably just streaming the original documentary released on DVD in 2004, perhaps with minor updates. What fans got instead was a 20-part series analyzing the history of two great companies battling over ratings during the mid-to-late 90's. Part 1 of the series does cover much of the same ground as the original doc, but leaves room at the end for further, more detailed exploration. Narrator Keith David lays the groundwork in Chapter 1, which provides the backstory for the war.
Part 2 of my recap can be found below.
While WCW acquired many main event talent from WWF, while the WWF concentrated on up and comers like Razor Ramon, Shawn Michaels and Diesel. The first big blow in the "war" was acquiring Hogan. The second was the creation of a show in direct competition with Raw, Monday Nitro. On the debut show, Bischoff took advantage of rising star Lex Luger's expired contract and essentially asked Luger to defect. Luger showed up unannounced to the debut episode of Nitro after having worked a WWF house show the night before.
Vince now likes to cry foul about some of the dirty tactics WCW used, such as announced taped WWF results and women's wrestler Madusa showing up on Nitro with the WWF Women's belt and throwing it in the trash. But the truth is, Vince has always played dirty, too. As evidenced by the "Huckster" and the "Nacho Man" skits, Vince was not above cheap shots.
The initial episode wraps up with a tease of the future of the series. Narrator Keith David promised the viewers a glimpse into the myriad highs and lows of the two juggernauts' battle for ratings supremacy. As Ted and Vince battled for the very souls of wrestling fans, for a time, everyone won.
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