The very first Nitro.

[agent817]

There are some things that I wonder about this. I know that the first Nitro took place at The Mall of America, and I am well aware of how big that place is, but I wonder if to watch Nitro that day, did you have to have admission or was it open to the the public? Yes, there were seats surrounding the ring, but I also noticed in the background shoppers going up and down escalators and some people watching the show from a floor above next to a railing. I am really curious about this. I have never been there, but I have looked at some photos of it and it is one massive place.

[Todd Pettengill]

It was probably free & the people with seats were probably there waiting early & given priority on the ringside seats.
It was a launch show, so having a crowd that's there for free isn't that bad.

[jason1980s]

Bischoff never seemed to care about giving away a free show as evident with the Hog/Road Wild PPVs.

Bash at the Beach was another show, similar to the Nitro, in that people had seats but people in their beach hotels could certainly see the show for free. Not sure if the seated audience had to pay.

[Burst]

Yeah, the vibe I got that there was never much of a worry about free shows and comping tickets as long as the Turner money was flowing.

[thecrusherwi]

I actually think it was a good idea to have all of those free shows at a bunch of crazy places. They were in a full spend-to-gain marketing mode. They had Hulk Hogan, but needed to separate him from the WWF brand and grow him as the centerpiece of the WCW brand. And it largely worked. Now I wouldn't have been giving free tickets away to Nitro or anything by 1997-98, but in 95-96, it was more important for WCW to LOOK like the biggest show in town than it was to actually be that.

[Todd Pettengill]

Dec 8, 2013 10:03:19 GMT -5 thecrusherwi said:

I actually think it was a good idea to have all of those free shows at a bunch of crazy places. They were in a full spend-to-gain marketing mode. They had Hulk Hogan, but needed to separate him from the WWF brand and grow him as the centerpiece of the WCW brand. And it largely worked. Now I wouldn't have been giving free tickets away to Nitro or anything by 1997-98, but in 95-96, it was more important for WCW to LOOK like the biggest show in town than it was to actually be that.

Yeah, and when you compare the Mall of America to some of the places RAW was running at the time. A free crowd at the biggest mall in the country doesn't look too bad at all.

[saintpat]

Dec 8, 2013 9:16:26 GMT -5 Burst said:

Yeah, the vibe I got that there was never much of a worry about free shows and comping tickets as long as the Turner money was flowing.

As for this particular show, to launch they needed to get out of Disney and needed to set a tone and give a vibe of new and exciting.

If they had gone to an arena somewhere and sold tickets they would have ended up having to paper the show to give some appearance of crowd interest. They needed to build an audience and this was a step toward doing that.

[Boo!]

I'd love for WWE to do this. There isn't nearly enough variety in their venues. Especially when today when almost every single baseball/hockey arena in north America virtually looks exactly the same.

[jimmyjames]

Thinking outside the box on things like this and other venues, in addition to the production value, set, and the look of Nitro just to name a few, really set it apart from Raw and is really overlooked when discussing Nitro and WCW at the time. Sure they had a lot of Turner's money, but even if they had that type of fat bankroll (and WWF was in a look better position than they claim) they still probably wouldn't have done what WCW did.

[thecrusherwi]

Dec 10, 2013 4:51:55 GMT -5 jimmyjames said:

Thinking outside the box on things like this and other venues, in addition to the production value, set, and the look of Nitro just to name a few, really set it apart from Raw and is really overlooked when discussing Nitro and WCW at the time. Sure they had a lot of Turner's money, but even if they had that type of fat bankroll (and WWF was in a look better position than they claim) they still probably wouldn't have done what WCW did.

Yeah. They really don't get enough credit for what they accomplished. There's one thing having a lot of money. There's another convincing executives at The Mall of America/Sturgis/Disney/Downtown Charlotte/Huntington Beach to let you set up a ring and have a show.

[Mac]

The idea made sense. They needed it to look big, and look different. Putting a mediocre show togther in Biloxi, MS or Savannah, GA wouldnt really get the point across. And they didnt have enough momentum to fill a major arena.

[El Hijo del Havoc]

Dec 8, 2013 10:03:19 GMT -5 thecrusherwi said:

I actually think it was a good idea to have all of those free shows at a bunch of crazy places. They were in a full spend-to-gain marketing mode. They had Hulk Hogan, but needed to separate him from the WWF brand and grow him as the centerpiece of the WCW brand. And it largely worked. Now I wouldn't have been giving free tickets away to Nitro or anything by 1997-98, but in 95-96, it was more important for WCW to LOOK like the biggest show in town than it was to actually be that.

I'd love for a Raw to take place at one of those pool party venues. Always unique to see Nitro taking place there

[eDemento2099]

Dec 8, 2013 14:32:46 GMT -5 Todd Pettengill said:

Dec 8, 2013 10:03:19 GMT -5 thecrusherwi said:

I actually think it was a good idea to have all of those free shows at a bunch of crazy places. They were in a full spend-to-gain marketing mode. They had Hulk Hogan, but needed to separate him from the WWF brand and grow him as the centerpiece of the WCW brand. And it largely worked. Now I wouldn't have been giving free tickets away to Nitro or anything by 1997-98, but in 95-96, it was more important for WCW to LOOK like the biggest show in town than it was to actually be that.

Yeah, and when you compare the Mall of America to some of the places RAW was running at the time. A free crowd at the biggest mall in the country doesn't look too bad at all.

And it gave Hulk Hogan an easy opportunity to shill Pastamania!