In a departure from the usual format, Dean and Liam venture into the world of live watchalong podcasting. And they begin with the start of Monday Nitro, the show that changed the face of wrestling television for better and for worse.

Feel free to watch the first ever Nitro on the WWE Network while you listen, or just tune into the podcast on its own as usual. Either way, join us as we renact the wild five-plus-year-ride that was WCW on Monday nights in an unprecedented, unedited, unscripted, unfiltered and unsomethingelse style of episode. So apologies in advance for the rough-and-ready audio...

Thankfully, the show began with a simple one-hour format and WCW pulled out all the stops. Brian Pillman vs Jushin Liger, Sting vs Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan vs Big Bubba Rogers combine with a memorable location and an infamous surprise return. Plus, a suitable show-closing entrance theme to mark the first podcast coverage of the company's Monday "Primetime" debut.

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Very few wrestling 'dream matches' involved Hulk Hogan back in the day, but Superbrawl V was certainly main evented by one of them.

Hogan vs Vader carried so much intrigue that WCW drew over 10,000 paid to an event for the first time since 1989, back when they were still the NWA. And those impressive ticket sales apparently had the company so scared that they were doing something right for once, they slapped a terrible non-finish on the big PPV clash after forcing the audience to endure one of the worst undercards in recorded history.

Nonetheless, Dean and Liam resisted the urge to 'do a Paul Roma' on this podcast. Along with special guest, veteran former British wrestler and trainer Justin Richards, they tackle everything from Dusty Finishes to Jim Duggan snorefests to Dave effing Sullivan with the utmost professionalism to celebrate the podcast surviving its rookie year.

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Remember WCW's Beach Blast '92 show? Remember how critically acclaimed it was? Remember how awesome it was in just about every single way?

Yeah, it turns out our minds have been lying to us for 26 years. The show isn't actually all that good after all. Either that, or it's aged rather horrifically. Probably the latter. 

But what better way to say farewell to this unfathomably hot summer than to look at WCW's very first foray into the beach-themed PPV concept? Joining us for this episode is British wrestling guru, author of two brilliant books, promoter, manager, commentator and key figure at WrestleTalk.com, Mr. Greg Lambert. It's worth tuning in for his reaction to the infamous Bikini Contest or his shocking critique of the Iron Man Challenge alone.

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"Nobody gives a **** about the undercard," a famous boxing promoter once declared in front of the gathered press. It's an arguable point, especially in the non-scripted realms of combat sports. But when it comes to wrestling, it's rarely that simple.

Welcome to GAB 90, a show bang in the middle of the NWA's transition into WCW and the event at which the company expected to kick start their own version of Hulkamania. Before that epic main event match, they had the small matter of two and a half hours to kill.

Dean and Liam turn the clock back 28 years to analyse the various ways a wrestling promotion can ensure every contest not involving the Midnight Express on a show does not upstage the World title match. Oh, and Iron Sheik and El Gigante make their Because WCW debuts!

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Jaws hit the floor all across the global wrestling community earlier this year when Jeff Jarrett was announced as an inductee into the WWE Hall of Fame. And Jarrett's years-long standoff with the dominant force of the industry isn't the only time 'Double J' has courted controversy.

And ahead of Jarrett's no-holds-barred spoken word tour of the UK, Because WCW had the chance to speak to 'The Chosen One' about some of those moments, from his ill-fated stints with the Four Horsemen and the New World Order, the Bash at the Beach 2000 incident and his penchant for smashing guitars over the heads of the vertically challenged.

In addition to this exclusive interview with the first former WCW star to join us on the podcast, Dean and Liam look back at Jarrett's two stints with the company, his entrance themes, his legacy as a professional wrestler and more.

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Sometimes wrestling shows are good. Sometimes wrestling shows are bad. And then there's Halloween Havoc 1992, which starts off harmlessly enough before falling off a cliff and landing rectum-first on a spiked fence with its infamous 'triple main event'.

And if you think Dean and Liam had it rough rewatching and reliving this Bill Watts catastrophe of a PPV, spare a thought for their special guest, veteran MMA journalist Dave Doyle. Dave travelled from Boston to Philadelphia to attend Havoc 92 live, in what was his very first wrestling road trip.

You'd think such a trip would put him off wrestling for life, but a typewritten letter of apology from Watts himself turned a horrendous show into a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

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The global wrestling community was deeply saddened by the news this week that Leon 'Big Van Vader' White had passed away on Monday at the age of 63. It's no exaggeration that if it wasn't for Vader, there probably wouldn't be a Because WCW podcast.

In this special episode, Dean and Liam recall their favourite memories of Big Van Vader's WCW career which spanned from 1990 until 1995, including Dean's first-hand accounts of Vader matches across several UK tours.

Arguably the greatest big man in wrestling history and without doubt one of the reasons World Championship Wrestling retained as many fans as it did regardless of the company's overall decision-making, Leon will be missed.

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Is it possible for a wrestling pay-per-view to be quite good and quite shit at the same time? Spring Stampede 1998 may well be the best example of this, if so.

Dean and Liam welcome back friend of the show and Hooked On Wrestling head honcho Paul Benson to look back at a host of matches that polarise, have aged badly after a good first impression or sometimes just plain depend on your mood when you watch them. All at a time when the product was both at a commercial peak and about to fall apart in breathtaking fashion.

One thing remains a constant, however: most people who ordered the show at the time were wondering why they bothered to spend their hard-earned on it. No wonder buyrates fell off a cliff a year later.

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There was a time when WCW was not only successful, but cool and fun to watch. A good example of that time is the Slim Jim-sponsored event, Slim Jim presents Halloween Havoc 1996 in association with Slim Jim.

Join Dean, Liam and special guest Mike Quackenbush as they look back at when the New World Order was the absolute best thing going in professional wrestling, flanked by a brilliant roster of big names, exciting performers and masterful workhorses.

Then, re-live the turgid main event of Hollywood Hogan vs Randy Savage plus its rambling aftermath which all served as a stark reminder that pretty much everything great about WCW happened almost by accident. It's as sobering as when you realise that Slim Jims are actually a poor man's Pepperami.

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Since it's April, Dean and Liam decided to treat themselves to one of the best PPVs WCW ever put out as they're joined by Darren Goss of Discovery Wrestling for one of the last major events pre-Hogan arrival.

But hang on just a second: don't let a Flair-Steamboat main event, a retrospective dream match between Steve Austin and Great Muta and a trailblazing tag team war fool you: there's plenty of typical WCW numbskullery to be found amidst the greatness.

Who wins the war between all-time great workers and baffling booking? Or will it end in a confusing and inconclusive draw? And exactly what does the American Males theme say when played backwards?

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