On September 4, 1995, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) launched WCW Nitro live from the Mall of America, initiating the legendary Monday Night Wars. This debut marked a pivotal moment in North American professional wrestling history, forever altering the landscape of weekly television production and setting the stage for one of the most intense competitive eras in the sport.
As the dominant force on Monday nights, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) Raw faced a formidable challenger. WCW’s commitment to delivering a live weekly broadcast ultimately allowed Nitro to outperform Raw in the US television ratings for 83 consecutive weeks, spanning from June 1996 to April 1998.
WCW Nitro #1 Star Ratings
Below are the official star ratings from Cagematch and the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) for the historic debut episode of WCW Nitro on September 4, 1995:
Dave Meltzer provided a detailed analysis of the opening match in the September 11, 1995, edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (available in full with a subscription).
“Brian Pillman pinned Jushin Liger in 6:53 when Liger went for a german suplex but Pillman reversed it into a cradle. It appeared the fans didn’t know what to make of this match but enjoyed it. There were some missed spots and bad timing early, but it turned into a very good, albeit rushed match. In a match like this, the announcers being out-of-date with what would be contemporary world wide style (perhaps futuristic U.S. style) showed as the hot moves that were used for near falls were described by such names as an “Oh my gosh,” “a tremendous move,” and “an aerial attack” by Bischoff. At another point, the announcers were making jokes while Pillman had Liger in an abdominal stretch which should have been sold as a potential submission maneuver, although to his credit, when they went to a near fall, Bischoff cut off the joke to call the two count. Liger didn’t look as good as he did pre-injury (the injury was acknowledged by Bischoff at the start of the match) when he was top three or four in the world, but still was good.
“After Liger did a flip bodyblock off the apron and Pillman came back with a plancha off the top to the floor, Liger got a near fall with a superplex while standing on the top rope; Liger came off the top but was hit by a dropkick by Pillman for a near fall. Liger used a power bomb for a near fall (the only move in the finishing sequence called). Liger used a Frankensteiner off the top for a near fall but Pillman came back with a swinging DDT off the middle rope before the finish. ***1/2”
<img src="https://www.f4wonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Google-CTA.jpg" alt="Google Icon" class="google-icon"/>
<img src="https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/16dfad8d10f246b436202dd503ebb972096985dbbcf2aa6c02f76d5589263a4a?s=90&d=identicon&r=g" width="90" height="90" alt="Jake Jeremy"/>
<strong class="gms-profile-head">
Jake Jeremy
</strong>
<p>Jake is the Head of Audience Development at F4WOnline, having previously worked as a Combat Sports, Gaming and Pro Wrestling writer, successful Editor in Chief and Sports Coordinator. He has more than ten years of experience covering mixed martial arts, pro wrestling, football and gaming across a number of publications, starting at SEScoops in 2012.</p>He previously also worked for PROGRESS Wrestling as Head of Media as well as working on the social channels of the company.
previous story