Nitro's 20th episode, taking place in Miami, is the first serious sign of how shallow the roster's rotation was before the Outsiders and the New World Order shook things up momentarily.

A top-heavy match listing sees Randy Savage and Lex Luger randomly resume their old hostilities while Sting challenges Ric Flair for the World title in their third singles outing on the TNT show alone so far. But, of course, Hulk Hogan's predictable clash with Meng main events anyway.

Come join us for all of that plus the Public Enemy's big debut, as well as the intriguing storyline development that led to it. 

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We're not quite sure how, but we've made it to 50 episodes of Because WCW! And to mark the occasion, we've arrived at perhaps the best episode of Monday Nitro yet as the January 8, 1996 edition provides four very entertaining and very different bouts.

And in even more good news, the Sting/Lex Luger storyline has magically recommenced after being virtually ignored last week. Not only that, but Hulk Hogan is only mildly overbearing by his usual standards - though that doesn't stop him from having his way with the Horsemen in Horsemen country.

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If our Starrcade '95 episode just before Christmas didn't satisfy your craving for times WCW turned their biggest PPV of the year into a baffling concept pilot, you're in for a treat! Our first special guest podcast of 2020 relives Starrcade 1991, a showpiece overrun by the debut of Lethal Lottery and Battlebowl.

Dean, Liam and British wrestling veteran Sam 'Berry' Gardiner - known between the ropes as Voodoo, eXodus, Mr. Puppet, Blok Busta and more - break down exactly what WCW did right and wrong in their attempt to make Battlebowl their answer to the Royal Rumble. And yes, it was 95% wrong.

In hindsight, they should have just plagiarised the Rumble outright. After all, if they're brazen enough to rip off Marvel's Spiderman with Brad Armstrong clad in purple and yellow, there's little point stopping there. 

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Our first episode of the new decade brings the Watchalong series into 1996, where the Nitro immediately following Starrcade proceeds to reset most of the intrigue offered in the Sting/Lex Luger storyline and have Hulk Hogan single-handedly make the Four Horsemen cower at his feet.

Nonetheless, Randy Savage leaves the Macho Man Formula(tm) at home in order to settle the score with Arn Anderson while Chris Benoit and Lord Steven Regal beat the tar out of each other in a pair of matches that salvage another pass for this New Year's Day special. Join Dean and Liam for a strangely bright orange hour of action (and apologies in advance for the audio falling away a bit in the final moments).

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Merry Christmas, fellow WCW masochists!

As a special festive treat, Dean and Liam have followed through on their love of special content being pre-recorded for the holidays and put together a Q&A episode using questions about WCW posed via social media by you, our faithful listeners.

So, what are our all-time favourite matches and shows? How should the New World Order have ended? And just why was the syndicated WCW Worldwide show so coveted over here in the UK? All this and more are our Christmas present to you guys. See you in the new year!

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For the very first time, Dean and Liam look back at a PPV in line with their chronological Nitro Watchalong series, as a pivotal 1995 for WCW is wrapped up with their annual showpiece event - or, in this case, another Starrcade wasted on experimental formats.

Hooked On Wrestling's Paul Benson takes home the match ball in his third special guest appearance on the podcast, and it's well-earned as WCW manage to find ways to turn an intriguing interpromotional best-of-seven series and one of the first ever three-man matches on PPV into confusing groan-fests. Turns out not all of Eric Bischoff's cutting-edge concepts were as successful or well-executed as the New World Order.

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Dean and Liam wrap up the 1995 Monday Nitros with this festive Starrcade go-home, making them long for wrestling companies of today to make pre-taping shows to first-air on Christmas Day a regular thing, if only so they don't have to watch Gavin and Stacey after their turkey dinners.

Will the PPV's cutting edge but confusing concepts, such as the World Cup of Wrestling and the Triangle match for a WCW World title bout, be made any easier to figure out? Well, no.Randy Savage defends the big gold belt against Ric Flair, days before Flair needs to earn a title match. But Sting and Lex Luger are in action! And check out Mean Gene's hat!

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The penultimate Nitro of 1995 brings us the infamous visual of Madusa returning to the company to dump the WWF Women's title into a handily-located bin, immediately infuriating Vince McMahon and others at the Federation who were aghast that someone would treat the title in such a horrific fashion. Y'know, besides the rest of the championship's entire existence.

This seminal angle does however overshadow another very easy to watch hour of television, capped by WCW Champion Randy Savage and The Giant's off-Broadway interpretation of 'David vs Goliath on several lines of cocaine' in the main event. And if you think that match was supercharged, check out Hulk Hogan's antics in a surreal overrun!

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Dean and Liam pull back onto the road to Starrcade 1995 with their 15th Nitro Watchalong, and what feels like the 15th straight episode of Hulk Hogan, Sting and Randy Savage proclaiming that they cannot trust one another.

Nonetheless, the main eventers deliver a delightful old-school main event for the most part on an enjoyable episode also featuring decent action elsewhere and a bittersweet angle involving "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff. He coulda been a Horseman, didn't you know...

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At the height of WCW's fame, the promotion cultivated a reputation for providing fantastic, exciting, fresh wrestling on its undercard before the main event crew arrived to stink up the joint. Those main eventers put WCW at the top, but as we learned, they couldn't keep them there forever without some fresh ideas.

Slamboree could well be the perfect example of that template. It comes weeks after WWE ended the 83-week winning streak of Nitro over Raw. It comes shortly after DX made fun of WCW at the Scope. And rather than shake up the formula in response, Bischoff instead opted to challenge Vince McMahon to a fight that was never going to happen.

Dean, Liam and Bryan Barrera, owner of top fan site WCWworldwide.com, look back at what could well be when the wheels came off as the Jerichos and Benoits deliver while the latest reshuffling of the same old guys on top proves even more confusing than the last.

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