Gimmick Some Lovin': No Disqualification Match

Before the dawn of the WWE Network, this was how fans maximized their exposure to as much wrestling as possible.

Meanwhile, on the other channel

For anyone born or taking up wrestling fandom after 2001, there's a fact of life for grappling fans in the mid-to-late 1990s that's crucial to this story: very few fans actually turned on either the USA Network for Raw or TNT for Nitro and left their television on that network for the entire show. Commercial breaks, boring promo segments, and Buff Bagwell matches were all subject to the previous channel (or whatever your particular remote had to instantly switch between two networks) button to see what was happening on the competitor's show.

WCW knew this would be the case before premiering Nitro in the fall of 1995, and actually relied on a wrestling audience already seeing Monday as the day for spandex and singlets. Their main strategy to disable the PREVIOUS CHANNEL button, and to keep the Nielsen Ratings for themselves, was to rely on Vince McMahon's money-saving tactic of recording multiple episodes of Raw at the same taping and airing the episodes at a later date.

If Eric Bischoff could get someone in the WWF's arena to make note of what happened on those pre-taped shows, he would have the commentary team (or, often, Bischoff himself) casually announce the results of "the other show" to prevent anyone from clicking over out of curiosity.

In the case of the above Intercontinental Championship contest, for instance, Bischoff remarked from the Nitro commentary desk, “Hey and by the way, in case you’re tempted to grab the remote control and check out the competition, don’t bother, it’s 2 or 3 weeks old. Shawn Michaels beats the big guy with a superkick you couldn’t earn a green belt with at a local YMCA. Stay right here, it’s live it’s where the action is.”