| WCW Thunder | |
|---|---|
_Logo.svg){kind=logo} The officialThunder logo | |
| Created by | Ted Turner Eric Bischoff |
| Directed by | Craig Leathers |
| Starring | World Championship Wrestling roster |
| Opening theme |
|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 156 |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera setup |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Original release | |
| Network | TBS |
| Release | January 8, 1998 (1998-01-08) – March 21, 2001 (2001-03-21) |
| Related | |
| WCW Monday Nitro WCW Saturday Night WCW WorldWide WCW Clash of the Champions WCW Pro | |
WCW Thunder, or simplyThunder, is an Americanprofessional wrestlingshow produced byWorld Championship Wrestling (WCW) which aired onTBS from January 8, 1998 to March 21, 2001.
The popularity of WCW in 1996 and 1997 allowed for the creation of a new show, which becameWCW Thunder.Thunder was taped on Tuesday nights and then aired on Thursday, a change for WCW as producerEric Bischoff was very keen on its primary showWCW Monday Nitro being aired live every week.
The rights toWCW Thunder now belong toWWE, who purchased WCW properties in 2001. Thetrademark for "WCW Thunder" was renewed by WWE in 2018.[2] As of June 30, 2023, all 156 episodes ofThunder are available to stream on theWWE Network andPeacock.[3] In 2025, WWE started uploading episodes to a WCWYouTube Channel.[4]
The popularity of World Championship Wrestling (WCW)'s primary show,WCW Monday Nitro onTNT, ledTed Turner to create a new show, which would eventually be namedThunder, that would air Thursdays onTBS.[5] According to theWrestling Observer, WCW originally named the programThursday Thunder, but dropped "Thursday" from the title to distinguish it from asimilarly named program onESPN and to provide TBS more programming flexibility if they were to move the broadcast to a different day of the week.[6][7][8]
WCW executive vice-presidentEric Bischoff was originally reluctant to produce another two-hour weekly television show for a variety of reasons. First,Time Warner Entertainment (WCW's parent company) was under a hiring freeze which prevented Bischoff from bringing in additional production people to run the show.[9] Second, he felt WCW did not have enough talent to produce another show, and risked overexposing them and making storylines less significant. Third, according to Bischoff, TBS refused to pay the cost of producingThunder which was between$12 million and $15 million per year.[10]
Bischoff eventually decided that he could make the new show work and help pay for it by expanding revenue from increasedhouse show business.[11] Bischoff was also given permission to signBret Hart, specifically as a high-profile talent to perform onThunder.[12]WCW Thunder originally debuted as a live weekly show, but the schedule was changed by Bischoff in August 1998 due to complaints by wrestlers over travel demands. Tapings were expanded to four hours, with the first two hours being broadcast live, and the last two hours taped to air the following week.[13]
WCW Thunder debuted on January 8, 1998 and drew a 4.02Nielsen rating.[14] The first match to take place inThunder featuredChris Adams againstRandy Savage withMiss Elizabeth. Adams pinned Savage after a chairshot fromLex Luger. The match decision was reversed by WCW Commissioner/Chairman of Executive CommitteeJ. J. Dillon.
WCW Thunder debuted for viewers in England on October 3, 1998 on broadcast cable networkTNT Europe.[15]
In 1998,WCW Thunder consistently had one of the highest Nielsen ratings on cable, at one time rivaling the audience size of a Thursday nightNFL broadcast on ESPN.[16][17][18][19] TheWrestling Observer reported the December 3, 1998WCW Thunder show had a 3.7 rating head-to-head against the NFL game, which drew a 4.5 rating.[20]WCW Thunder's success in 1998 included ticket sales, as a number of live events sold out and grossed gates over $100,000.[21][22][23][24][25][26] TheWCW Thunder at theFargodome inFargo, North Dakota on April 16, 1998 drew 15,362 people and grossed $274,393 in ticket sales, which were both records highs for that market.[27]
WCW Thunder switched from Thursday evenings to Wednesday evenings on January 12, 2000. SinceWWF SmackDown! debuted onUPN (a broadcast television network) on August 26, 1999 in the same time slot asThunder, WCW had been losing to the WWF in theratings on Thursdays.
On October 9, 2000, WCW moved theThunder tapings to Monday nights, the same night asNitro. After the liveNitro broadcast ended, theThunder taping would commence. This practice continued until March 19, 2001, whenThunder taped its last episode.Bryan Alvarez and R. D. Reynolds wrote in their book,The Death of WCW, the reasoning behind the tapings was attendance atThunder events had dropped considerably over the previous twenty-one months.[28]
Towards the end of the show's run,WCW Thunder was the anchor of a TBS programming block known asiWatch Wednesdays (later renamedEnhanced TBS), which was tied to the website TBS Interactive. After installing aweb browser plugin, users had access to forums, games and contests related to the TBS programs, includingThunder.[29]
In an attempt to save WCW, Bischoff attempted to purchase WCW with Fusient Media Ventures. However, although Bischoff's offer had been accepted, recently appointed Turner Broadcasting executiveJamie Kellner announced shortly after his arrival thatThunder and all WCW programming was immediately canceled on TBS and TNT. Bischoff's group then withdrew their offer, as it was contingent on keeping WCW programming on some outlet. WCW's trademarks and certain assets (such as its video library and the contracts of 24 wrestlers), though not WCW itself (which continued to exist as a Time Warner-owned subsidiary under the name Universal Wrestling Corporation), were bought by the WWF, its long-time competitor.[30][31][32]
Thunder was the third-from-last WCW broadcast before the final episode ofWCW WorldWide on March 31, 2001.WCW Thunder was the final wrestling broadcast to air on TBS untilAEW Dynamite moved to TBS on January 5, 2022.
Veteran industry journalistWade Keller said that the introduction ofThunder could be called "the beginning of the end" for the now-defunct WCW, adding that the program's debut "is probably as good of a turning point as you could pick out".[33]
Wrestling Observer subscribers votedWCW Thunder the worst weekly television show in 1999 and 2000.[34][35]
