WCW Thunder

WCW Thunder was a professional wrestling show produced by World Championship Wrestling which aired on TBS from January 8, 1998 until March 21, 2001. The huge popularity of WCW in 1996 and 1997 allowed for the creation of a new show, which became WCW Thunder. Thunder was taped on Tuesday nights and then aired on Thursday, a change for WCW as then-WCW President Eric Bischoff was very keen on its primary show WCW Monday Nitro being aired live every week (as opposed to rival WWF Raw is War, which, at the time, was live every other week).

With a rapidly growing roster, including the recent acquiring of Bret Hart, TNT and The Turner Executives found the need to create a new show at its highest. WCW was reluctant and thought that it would hurt their popularity, but were forced to give in. TV commercials for Thunder featured top ring talents such as Hulk Hogan saying "I'll show you some thunder, brother!" and The Giant with "This forecast definitely calls for pain!" However, neither Hogan nor Giant would frequently appear on what was considered by fans to be a second rate show. Goldberg was originally brought in to be the top wrestler on Thunder. Furthermore, unlike TNT's Monday Nitro, TBS often featured commercials briefing the events of the latest edition of Thunder during its other programs.

Thunder switched from Thursday evenings to Wednesday evenings on January 12, 2000 when WWF SmackDown! debuted on UPN. By that time the tables had turned and WCW was trailing behind the WWF in the ratings. WCW began taping both Nitro & Thunder (a live Nitro and after tape Thunder on the same event) on Mondays from October 9, 2000 until March 19, 2001.

Thunder utilized a primarily blue color scheme for its production graphics and ring designs, a design which was later emulated by SmackDown!, as compared to the primarily red designs of the Monday night shows, Raw and Nitro. Thunder remained on Wednesday nights until the purchase of WCW by the WWF on March 23, 2001. In fact, the deal was announced two days after what would be the last Thunder broadcast.