The Monday Night War: Mistakes on the Battlefield Review
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The well received Monday Night War documentary on the WWE Network released another episode this week. The episode, entitled Mistakes on the Battlefield, profiled the mastermind behind WCW and Nitro’s success and failure, Eric Bischoff.
Being born in 1994 means I was rather young when the Monday Night War was taking place. The only knowledge I had of the war was from stories or articles that talked about the time. The Monday Night War series has affected me personally as it has grown my wrestling knowledge.
This week’s episode was very WCW oriented, discussing its rise to the top and the battle it had with WWE.
Eric Bischoff’s climb to the top of the wrestling world is an interesting story. From auditioning for an announcing gig for Vince McMahon to becoming the executive producer of WCW and its flagship show Monday Nitro, Bischoff changed the wrestling world.
The Nature Boy Ric Flair was also a center focus of the episode, as his appearance in WCW was key to its success. Flair and Bischoff butted heads a number of time. Both of their egos got in the way of taking WCW to heights higher than they reached.
Bischoff’s ego in particular, an ego that contributed to WCW’s success and failure. His ego was what made WCW bold, different and an alternative to the lackluster WWE programing in the late 1990s.
An obsession with acquiring WWE talent and making them the featured attraction on Nitro led to an NWO faction that was controlling on and off the screen. It also made WCW superstars like Chris Jericho, Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio Jr not get the screen time they deserved.
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This episode also highlighted what is considered the biggest mistake in Nitro’s history. The infamous Mick Foley incident. RAW taped episodes from time to time to air the week later. Bischoff got wind of Mick Foley winning the WWE Title on a taping that was going to air during a live edition of Nitro.
In an attempt to keep viewers on Nitro, Bischoff told his commentary team to spoil that title win by Foley and to make it sound horrible. What it did was make millions change the channel and changed the future of the Monday Night War.
The rise and fall of WCW started and ended with a man named Eric Bischoff. Those of you, like me, who only saw his WWE days as the RAW GM should sit down and watch this episode. It gives great insight into the mastermind that made WCW was it was, what it came to be and what caused the Monday Night War.