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THIS DAY IN HISTORY: THE FINAL NITRO

March 26th

On this day in history in .... 

1991 - The Texas Hangmen defeated Jeff Jarrett & Eddie Gilbert (subbing for Jerry Lawler) for the USWA Tag Team Title in Memphis, Tennessee.

1994 - Shane Douglas defeated Terry Funk for the Eastern Championship Wrestling Heavyweight Title in a eight man "Ultimate Jeopardy" cage match in Devon, Pennsylvania, in which Funk's title was on the line if he lost the fall. During this title reign, the title would become the Extreme Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Title. 

2001 - The Final Nitro takes place from Panama City Beach Florida. WCW's production meeting was pushed up from 11am to 2pm, so the WCW creative team could meet with the WWF representatives at noon and plan out the days show. It was decided that Sting (who did not have to appear, but choose to do so) would wrestle Ric Flair in the final match to be seen on a Turner Network. Eric Bischoff, who had promised to be in Panama City, was not at the show. Vince McMahon would appear on-screen at the beginning of Nitro, announcing that he had bought the competition. During the end of Nitro, with a simulcast on Raw, Vince and Shane McMahon played out an angle that would see Shane "steal WCW our from under" his dad. 

The show would see an incredible promo from Ric Flair about how Vince McMahon can't "hold the lives of wrestlers in his hands" as well as interviews with Dallas Page and Booker T about looking forward to the future. In between matches, they would cut to Raw, where Vince McMahon would make comments about some of the talent he wouldn't be taking from WCW. At one point, WCW announcer Tony Schiavone seemed to get annoyed when William Regal, on Raw, talked about WCW being a "dreadful place". Here are the results of the show:

- U.S. Champion Booker T defeated Scott Steiner to win the WCW World Heavyweight Title.

- Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio Jr. defeated The Jung Dragons and Three Count in a three way match.

- Cruiserweight Champion Shane Helms defeated Chavo Guerrero Jr.

- World Tag Team Champions Sean O'Haire & Chuck Palumbo defeated Mike Awesome & Lance Storm.

- Shawn Stasiak defeated Bam Bam Bigelow.

- Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio Jr. defeated Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo to win the Cruiserweight Tag Team Title.

- Sting (who had not wrestled for months, and reportedly returned for this show at the request of Flair) defeated Ric Flair with the Scorpion Deathlock. After the match, the two men embraced. 

Here is Tim Whitehead's recap of the promo that ended WCW: 

So out Vince came for a segment airing on both RAW and Nitro. Paul Heyman compared Vince to Alexander the Great, having no more worlds to conquer. Lilian Garcia apparently introduced Vince too early to be picked up on the Nitro feed, so he got in her face and said her intro wasn't good enough and demanded that she do it over. He then went back up the ramp and started down again as poor Lilian re-did the intro. Vince then got in the ring and made a mistake himself, referring to Turner Network Television as TNN. It was vintage Vince boasting after that. He said he has bought out the competition and claimed Time-Warner begged him to buy WCW since no one other than him would know what to do with it (a shot at Eric Bischoff). He said it's a done deal on the Time-Warner side but that he still hasn't signed the contract, only because he's saving that for WrestleMania, where he wants Ted Turner to show up and beg him to sign. He said he'll then give Ted a ringside seat to watch him beat the hell out of his son Shane. He continued boasting, saying that he accomplished his goal of conquering and acquiring WCW on his own with no help from anyone, and that his style of business is to go for the throat and strangle the life out of the competition, and that just as he choked WCW, he'll do the same to Shane at 'Mania. Continuing on, he said that he could do one of two things with WCW. He could make it a successful sports entertainment franchise, as only he knows how to do. Or he could just put WCW on the shelf and remember the promotion by watching old videotapes of Hulk Hogan doing his ridiculous flexing and posing.

He then asked the crowd for help in making his decision. He mentioned some names and asked the crowd for responses. Hogan's name appeared to get both cheers and boos. Luger seemed to get boos. Bagwell got both. Booker T got mostly cheers while Big Poppa Pump (Scott Steiner) got quite a few cheers. A "Goldberg" chant started. Vince then asked the crowd about Sting (some cheers) and Goldberg (a major pop). Vince said the crowd's attitude was hard to read. He then admitted that he had been gloating, and said he considered flying down to Panama City, which he called the Redneck Riviera, and confronting every WCW wrestler face to face and saying "You're fired!". He said that was in fact his intention, and that he plans to bury WCW now that he owns it, and will fire all the WCW wrestlers, and kill off the promotion just as he buries anyone who tries to stand in his way. An "a******" chant erupted and Vince grew enraged and demanded that the crowd respect him.

Vince was still yelling at the crowd when Shane appeared on the Titantron, live from Panama City. Shane had a surprise for Vince. Namely, the surprise was that Shane had signed the contract and purchased WCW out from under Vince. Shane said that WCW at one time had kicked Vince's ass and that it would do so again. Vince had a look of total disbelief on his face. JR & Heyman put over that Shane had really out-maneuvered his dad, and that Vince's plans to purchase and destroy WCW have been foiled. Heyman said Vince didn't screw Vince, Shane did. Wonder where he paraphrased that from? 

Nitro, WCW, and professional wrestling on the Turner networks then ended with Jim Ross telling fans what would be coming up next on Raw.

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