"The nWo dominates the show and even without great wrestling is a awesome show to set the dominance of the stable over WCW."

[1.0] "One of the worst wrestling shows I have ever watched. Yes, I get the point of it - NWO taking over WCW. But they completely destroyed any good wrestling - most matches were just a couple of minutes long with the exception of Chris Jericho vs Mike Enos, and Public Enemy vs Harlem Heat (which had a crap finish and left the commentators confused). The Outsiders' match which did last a while was just them dominating. NWO on commentary was just awful."

[7.0] "The match quality isn't very good on this Nitro, but part of the draw with it was the stars all going to Japan besides Randy Savage so you knew there had to be some big nWo shenanigans happening and it definitely doesn't disappoint with that. Randy Savage ends up on the receiving end of another nWo beat down after his match on the second hour of the show and they hold the show hostage throughout the entire second hour where they take over commentary, the nWo guys get a bunch of squash wins and The Giant takes over as the ring announcer. It's pure bedlam and very entertaining to watch play out. Public Enemy winning the tag team titles in the first hour gets a thumbs down though."

[7.0] "7 rating for the overall storyline product, not so much for the matches themselves. Not sure any match is worth viewing on their own, as it is mostly nWo Jobber squashes, however nWo taking over the commentary is great stuff. Will continue to watch to see what unravels next"

[7.0] "This started out as a routine wrestling show and ended as an angle with the New World Order taking over the broadcast with Sting, Luger, and the big names except for Randy Savage in Japan. Public Enemy won the tag titles and Vincent (aka Virgil) debuted with the nWo. Wrestling sucked, but the takeover angle was gold."

[4.0] "An almost entirely angle/storyline-focussed episode of Nitro, meaning it was fine as pure entertainment but poor as a wrestling show. The opener was alright for a 2-min squash, with some decent lucha work from Juventud and Konnan. TS;NR (too short, no rating). The Dungeon "initiating" Konnan was weird, and I didn't like Konnan, with his new 'cool gangster' character, joining the dorky Dungeon guys. The 'protesting nWo fans' bit continued to be really lame for how nonsensical and obviously fake it was, plus it was damn distracting. Jericho vs Enos was fine for a short match with zero build/story. Enos' work was mostly generic but he had a few nice powerhouse/bruiser attacks. Jericho bumped and sold well, and he also delivered his offence with smooth technique. Jericho getting a relatively lucky win definitely wasn't the best possible look for him, given what we know his potential to be, but WCW was sadly 100% on the nWo at this point. **1/4. Tanaka vs Glacier was another brief squash. We sadly got more goofball 'honourable, mystical karate master' nonsense from Glacier, with Tanaka indulging as well. Glacier's finishing kick looked great, at least. TS;NR. Harlem Heat vs Public Enemy was typically very low-effort and far too focussed around lame brawling. At least there was a bit of energy and crowd-enthusiasm. Booker was the only decent highlight due to his athleticism. The confusing and possibly screwed finish was lame. *3/4. Savage vs Valentine was pointless, featuring a bunch of generic brawling until Savage quickly went mad, attacked with a chair for the DQ, and then got beaten down from an nWo run-in. TS;NR. This was actually when the show finally became somewhat interesting, with the nWo's immensely arrogant, jock-like showboating making for another entertaining segment as they beat Savage down and harassed Bischoff. Hogan was especially great (the dude was natural-born heel). Vincent (Virgil) being revealed as the newest nWo member was incredibly underwhelming. Whose bright idea was that? At least he didn't take up much screen time. The nWo continued to entertain as they overtook commentary and also inserted themselves into various matches that they would then easily and quickly win due to either their interference shenanigans or their outright unfair physical advantages. Those matches themselves were worthless then, but at least the nWo's takeover of the show remained somewhat entertaining the whole time. Hall & Nash vs Kaos & Rage was much longer than the previous 4 matches but it was still a squash, just this time an extended squash, so still pretty pointless. Hall and Nash at least looked decent with all their impactful big-man attacks, but there was no interest to the match otherwise because Kaos and Rage got literally 0 offence in response and only got to sell and bump. *3/4. We got more nWo takeover shenanigans to end the show, which was fine but it definitely felt very samey and redundant by that point."

[2.0] "I like the story aspect of all the major WCW players are in Japan leaving The NWO to run wild on the mid carder. Saddly the show is mostly jobber matches but The Public Enemy are the new tag team Champs and that stopped the boredom foe awhile. Also Syxx vs Duggan was a horrible idea."

[9.0] "This definitely goes beyond mere great matches into an awesome realm of storytelling. The whole nWo takeover of the show is pure compelling storytelling."

[8.0] "It's a different episode than usual, the nWo takes over in the second half of the show and it's surprising and unpredictable. The takeover works fine. There aren't quality matches in the whole episode, but it's great to watch. Also, there is a huge surprise with the tag team titles switch. This is why Nitro at its peak."

[8.0] "This was the episode where the NWO took over Nitro and where the late-90s "coolness" of the NWO really clicked for me. This was the first episode of Nitro where I could imagine kid-me's brain lighting up and needing to watch where this would take WCW. Almost a non-entity when it comes to ring work, this episode is all about the story it tells."