PLAYING YESTERDAY’S HITS

The Monday Night Wars ran from September 1995 to March 2001

Probably the most important period in American professional wrestling

The wars refer to a ratings battle

Between WCWs Monday Nitro and WWFs Monday Night Raw

WCW was the bigger brand


They had the established stars

Hulk Hogan, Rick Flair, Bret Hart

And from June 1996 to April 1998, they won the ratings battle every Monday

Often by a million viewers

But whilst WCW were thinking about the next battle

WWF were thinking about the war


They didn’t have the established stars

So they made new ones


Investing heavily in The Rock, Triple H & Stone Cold Steve Austin

They doubled down on a new style


More violent, sexually provocative, unpredictable

So whilst WCW were playing yesterday’s hits


WWF were creating tomorrows

In April 1998 Monday Nitro pulled in 5.1 million viewers

It was one of the last times they would outperform WWF

By 2000 WWF were routinely getting 3 million more viewers a week


And WCW was on its knees


In March 2001 WWF bought WCW and all its assets for $3 million


Today what WWF became (WWE) is worth just over $4 billion

They brilliantly mastered the long and the short of it

Not just thinking about the next Monday night win

But about long-term growth and success

Wrestling is always a delicate balance of what’s hot now

And what’s going to be hot next

And serves as a great reminder to ask

Are we playing yesterday’s hits

Or creating tomorrows?