Note: I promised that I would have more to say about the Family Guy/Windows 7 “situation,” and I do. It’ll just take a few days to explain everything. So sit back, relax, and enjoy this Quick Lesson in Arrogance.

In the late 90’s, few things were cooler than professional wrestling. From 1996 to early 2002, fans filled arenas, gymnasiums, and bingo halls just to see their favorites do battle. While there are several reasons why wrestling was so big back then, we will only be focusing on the Monday Night War between WWE – known then as the WWF — and WCW. Before we get into the crux of our story, let us take a look at our “players.”

Vince K. McMahon – Third generation wrestling promoter and owner of the World Wrestling Federation. Vince is what is known as the entire package: Intelligent, cut throat, business savvy, and highly controversial. Some consider him to be a genius. Others say that he is the worst thing to ever happen to the wrestling industry. Most people, however, tend to inhabit the “gray area” that tends to exist between the two. At the time of this story, McMahon’s WWF is still the second biggest promotion in the country, but is gaining ground fast. On television, he is known as Mr. McMahon, an evil “corporate suit” that is out to ruin the career of his rival, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.

Ted Turner – Media mogul and owner of the WWF’s main rival, WCW. For reasons that are way too complicated to explain here, McMahon and Turner are not on the best of terms. To put it simply, Ted Turner has one thing in mind: Put the WWF out of business. It has yet to happen, but he has come close on numerous occasions.

Eric Bischoff – An accountant turned announcer turned television producer responsible for booking (writing) all of WCW’s story lines and characters. Under his leadership, WCW went from a small promotion in Atlanta to the single most popular entity on cable television. Bischoff is also known for reading the results of Raw live on the air. He would then remind the audience that “unlike Raw, Nitro was live every single week.”

Vince Russo – A highly abrasive, highly polarizing figure partially responsible for the WWF’s “turn around.” His stories at time were filled to the brim with anti-heroes, sex, innuendo and enough swerves (plot twists) to even make film director/admitted twist ending lover M. Night Shyamalan jealous.

WWF Raw Is War - The WWF’s flagship program, airing every Monday night at nine on the USA Network. At the time of this story, Raw was only shown live twice a month. The “off-week” shows were then taped later in the week.

WCW Monday Nitro – WCW’s flagship program, airing every Monday night at eight on TNT. Unlike Raw, each episode of Nitro aired live.

Mick Foley – A fan favorite known for his wacky characters, engaging interviews, and the innate ability to withstand a ton of punishment.

Bill Goldberg – WCW’s top face (good guy), known primarily for his surprising 173 match winning streak.

…Now that you know all of the players, allow us to begin the story in earnest.

December 27th, 1998 – Goldberg’s streak is ended by fellow face Kevin Nash at WCW’s top pay-per-view of the year, Starrcade. While Nash himself did not cheat, several “illegal” techniques were employed supposedly on his behalf, including a stun gun, a cattle prod, and interference by real life best friend Scott Hall. The big Goldberg/Nash rematch is booked for the January 4th edition of Nitro.

December 28th, 1998 – Nash, who claimed that he had no idea that Hall interfered, granted Goldberg a rematch on January 4th.

December 29th, 1998 – Mick Foley, then wrestling as the masked Mankind, won the WWF World Title at Raw, slated to air January 4th.

January 4th, 1999; 8:00 PM – Goldberg is “arrested” for allegedly stalking legendary manager Miss Elizabeth and is immediately removed from the title match. Because of the Goldberg “situation,” Nash issued an open challenge to anyone “brave enough” to take him on. Said challenge was answered by one man: Wrestling legend and top heel (bad guy) Hulk Hogan. This was the first time that fans had seen Hogan since his “retirement” on The Tonight Show a few months prior.

January 4th, 1999; 10:00 PM – Under orders from Eric Bischoff, lead announcer Tony Schiavone read the following:

“Fans, don’t even think about changing the channel, because we’ve learned that Mick Foley, who used to wrestle here as Cactus Jack, is going to win [the WWF] world title! Heh, talk about putting asses in the seats.”

…And at that very moment, millions changed the channel just so they could bare witness to Mick Foley finally winning a world’s title.

Now as bad as it seems, WCW still had a proverbial “ace of their collective sleeves:” Kevin Nash versus Hulk Hogan. Sure, they might lose the quarter hour, but they were posed to win the night. If only things worked that way…

…And there you have it. Be sure to come back Monday to see the exciting conclusion.