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On This Day in 2001, WCW Nitro Aired Its Iconic Final Episode That Changed Wrestling Forever

25 years after its final episode, WCW Nitro still stands as one of wrestling’s most important shows ever created.

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Everybody loves a good rivalry. The Red Sox versus the Yankees. The Lakers versus the Celtics. WCW versus WWE (formerly WWF). Okay, so maybe that last one isn’t quite as iconic as the two biggest rivalries in the history of sports. But for those of us who were there the night WCW aired its final episode of Nitro, you can’t tell us that it wasn’t a night filled with very real emotions… even if the matches were scripted.

When Nitro first began airing in September of 1995, it instantly gave the American pro wrestling scene a much-needed shot in the arm. Nitro aired head-to-head with the WWE’s Raw, a programming choice that changed the wrestling business for the better almost immediately. By 1996, WCW already had the number one wrestling show on cable, and the WWE was scrambling to catch up. And while they would finally catch up to and surpass WCW in the ratings war in 1998, it’s safe to assume that the WWE’s iconic “Attitude Era” would have never happened if not for WCW’s Nitro.

Nitro really took off in the........

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