{"product_id":"nitro-the-incredible-rise-and-inevitable-collapse-of-ted-turners-wcw","title":"Nitro: The Incredible Rise and Inevitable Collapse of Ted Turner's WCW","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn April 1999, Entertainment Weekly asked its readers what many were surely wondering to themselves: How did wrestling get so big?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs a consequence of the heated ratings competition between World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), the spectacle had taken over Monday nights on prime-time cable television. But in a departure from the family-friendly programming produced by the last industry boom - the 1980s wave, which made household names of Hulk Hogan, \"Rowdy\" Roddy Piper, and Andre the Giant - the new era of wrestling combined stunning athleticism with a raunchy sex appeal, engrossing story lines, and novel production techniques that reflected a changing society and its shifting values.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOnce again, wrestling was a ubiquitous phenomenon - only this time, it seemed as though the fad would never end. With both WCW and WWF expanding into other forms of entertainment - movies, video games, music, and the like - the potential for growth appeared to be limitless.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut with uncertainty surrounding its corporate future, and increasingly uninspired programming eroding its audience, WCW stood on the verge of collapse. Three years into a five-year plan devised by its charismatic leader - a former Blue Ribbon Foods salesman named Eric Bischoff - the company whose unexpected ascension initiated the entire boom was operating on borrowed time.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor by the end of the five-year plan, WCW ceased to exist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut Nitro is a story about much more than WCW and the Monday Night Wars. It is a story of an era, a time in which the media and cultural landscape precipitated - and later supported - pro wrestling's mainstream popularity. It is a story of how a company made in the image of an intuitively brilliant risk-taker betrayed its original promise. It is a story of how a handful of men, each struggling with their own limitations, facilitated a public obsession that changed television forever.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e*Features interviews and comments from 120+ WCW\/TBS employees*\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ANT-BOOK","offers":[{"title":"Ebook","offer_id":54016053444976,"sku":"Kindle:B07FJWS2XF|Audio Download:B0876FRXC4|Hardcover:0578304503|Paperback:0692139176","price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":54016053477744,"sku":"Kindle:B07FJWS2XF|Audio Download:B0876FRXC4|Hardcover:0578304503|Paperback:0692139176","price":34.2,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":54016053510512,"sku":"Kindle:B07FJWS2XF|Audio Download:B0876FRXC4|Hardcover:0578304503|Paperback:0692139176","price":38.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1009\/8543\/8576\/files\/ebook_7426_5c402299ab.jpg?v=1783670403","url":"https:\/\/antbook.store\/products\/nitro-the-incredible-rise-and-inevitable-collapse-of-ted-turners-wcw","provider":"ANTBOOK","version":"1.0","type":"link"}