WCW Worldwide on channel 5.

[undertakermark345]

Hello, I'm new.

Anyway, I was just watching Backlash 2000 on video, which I taped off the TV when it was on, and when it was finished I (without thinking) just left the video playing and went in the garden to have a cigarette. When I came back in there was a tag team match from Nitro on, Jeff Jarrett and Scott Steiner versus Buff Bagwell and Curt Hennig.

So I thought "cool, I didn't know I had any old Nitro's on video" and sat down to watch it. After about a minute I noticed the old channel 5 logo in the corner of the screen and a second later Jarrett hit Henning with his guitar and a great big yellow flash covered it up with "TWAAAAANG!!!" written in the middle.

After thinking for a split-second that I'd lost my mind and was seeing things, I realised I was watching an episode of WCW Worldwide which was on channel 5 here in the UK around 2000, I think - which I used to watch now and then when I was younger and, to be honest, I had totally forgot about. I seem to remember it being on at 7 o'clock on Friday nights, but I could be wrong.

Basically I was wondering if anybody remembers this show?

If you do, what with all the ridiculous Batman-style censorship, the announcers trying to pretend it was a "live" one-hour show, even though the ring sets change from Nitro-to-Thunder-to-WCW Saturday Night-to-Thunder almost after every match - should it be classed as wrestlecrap and be "inducted" or whatever it is, hey I'm new. Maybe it already has.

Talking of the Batman-style censorship, I found a clip on YouTube showing it, for those who haven't seen it.

Here's the link: youtube.com/watch?v=2ox9HBbNBlw

So, over to you guys...

[CM Crünk is teh 'CRAP!]

That is wrestlecrap material!!!

[rogerworkman]

yeah I remember that, because it was sometimes on against Robot wars (so about 6/7ish on a Friday). I remember they only started to do the twang things towards the end, and it really, REALLY got annoying.

Glad someone else remembered that!

[bigdaddyfive]

Yeah, it was on at seven on Fridays then it got moved around like a bitch...

Was pretty shoddy if you ask me, I'm sure they aired a match involving Meng at the same time he was in WWF as Haku,,,

[Chainsaw]

Wow...that is amazingly insane, and makes the Canadian censorship look normal by comparison.

[Madman Szalinski]

Jul 7, 2008 22:13:50 GMT -5 @bigdaddyfive said:

Yeah, it was on at seven on Fridays then it got moved around like a bitch...

Was pretty shoddy if you ask me, I'm sure they aired a match involving Meng at the same time he was in WWF as Haku,,,

Like Rude being on both shows at the same time was any better.

But yeah, I was fed this crap as a nine-year-old in 1994 and I guess cheap broadcast wrestling just won't die. Gotta have something for those folks who still live twenty miles from civilization.

[Agent P]

I don't remember that match. Was it any good?

[Red 'n' Black Reggie]

oh my god i remember the batman censors! and i loved how they didn't care about the context. there could be a really serious, dramatic moment, "oh my god tony he's not gonna use that chair! this isn't right!" and then a massive "THWAK" would appear on the screen and ruin it.

[wrestlingfan1023™]

thats crazy

[Cactus Jack]

I uploaded that clip, and as people who've seen my early posts on here know, I am a very keen advocate of WCW Worldwide on Channel 5, and also HeAT on Channel 4.

[Slim Loves Lily]

Wasn't Worldwide the show with the rotating ring?

I always wanted a match with the ring rotating.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

Well back in the end of WCw they used the same set for all the shows. Just changed the ring apron and the rope color. But it was the Pro that had the moving ring.

[Hiroshi Hase]

Worldwide had the spinning ring (usually for main events) as well as I have the entire year of 93 when they debut in the Disney MGM Studios and several episodes from 95 and 96.

[Parrish]

I remember that the ring on WCW Worldwide used to rotate when their wasn't a match going on

[Hiroshi Hase]

Jul 8, 2008 15:18:54 GMT -5 Parrish said:

I remember that the ring on WCW Worldwide used to rotate when their wasn't a match going on

It did, whenever Schiavone and Heenan were talking about the matches that were upcoming,it would do that.

[undertakermark345]

I just watched the end of the video with the last couple of matches on.

I loved how when the camera caught the Nitro/Thunder announce team, the Worldwide announcers (Scott Hudson and Larry Zbysko) covered it up by calling them the "Internet announce team". ;D

In the main event, which was Hulk Hogan versus The Wall, Hogan hit Wall with a chair which got the big "OOOOOOOOFFFF!!!" green splash censor. But Vampiro ran in at the end and helped Hogan put the Wall through a table but they didn't censor it.

By the way, does anyone know if it was WCW or channel 5 who did the crazy "THWAAAAAAAAACK!!!" censorship?

But yeah, I was fed this crap as a nine-year-old in 1994 and I guess cheap broadcast wrestling just won't die. Gotta have something for those folks who still live twenty miles from civilization.

1994? Worldwide on channel 5 was on around 2000. I think you're getting it mixed up WCW Worldwide on ITV, which started being shown in the early hours of the morning but got decent ratings and was moved to Sunday afternoons, as far as I remember. And I'm sure it didn't have the "CRUUUUUUUUUUNCH!!" graphics. ;D

Jul 8, 2008 7:14:20 GMT -5 Slim Loves Lily said:

Wasn't Worldwide the show with the rotating ring?

It might have been but must have been the American version, or something. The show in the UK on channel 5 was just matches from Nitro, Thunder and WCW Saturday Night edited together and with new announcers - to make it look like an "original" show.

[maxx420]

I absolutely adored the Batman-style captions. I actually got a chuckle out of them & it was much better than the Sky Sports/WWF editing of the time (ie. cut away to a shot of the ugliest people in the crowd for what seems like an eternity).

I believe it was Channel Five who added the censorship after old ladies complained about people fake being hit by chairs being broadcast at that hour of the evening.

My personal favourite moment was when some blood "red liquid" fell on someone from the ceiling accompanied by a big "KER-SPLOOSH!!!"... Classic!

[Hiroshi Hase]

Jul 8, 2008 16:42:00 GMT -5 @undertakermark345 said:

I just watched the end of the video with the last couple of matches on.

I loved how when the camera caught the Nitro/Thunder announce team, the Worldwide announcers (Scott Hudson and Larry Zbysko) covered it up by calling them the "Internet announce team". ;D

In the main event, which was Hulk Hogan versus The Wall, Hogan hit Wall with a chair which got the big "OOOOOOOOFFFF!!!" green splash censor. But Vampiro ran in at the end and helped Hogan put the Wall through a table but they didn't censor it.

By the way, does anyone know if it was WCW or channel 5 who did the crazy "THWAAAAAAAAACK!!!" censorship?


I'd assume the censorship was done for those viewers in the UK by the network.

[funland]

I used to watch this show all the time as a kid! ;D

I know Hudson and Zbysko usually did commentary, but now and then the likes of Tenay and Bobby Heenan stepped in, but what was the name of the Latino announcer?

I'd never heard him on Nitro or Thunder but he did a few Worldwide's with Hudson when Zbysko wasn't there. Like I say, he was a Latino, or at least doing a Latino gimmick and he was just the most generic heel announcer I've ever heard.

I seem to remember him going on about the NWO all the time, when they reformed with Nash, Hall, Bret Hart and Jarrett.

What was his name? Does anyone know who I'm talking about?...

[Bones58]

I prefered the Batman censorship rather than cutting away from the action altogether with a random shot at the crowd.