On this date in WCW history: Scott Hall invades Monday Nitro

The Monday Night Wars may have officially started on Sept. 4, 1995, when World Championship Wrestling (WCW) started airing Nitro on TNT opposite World Wrestling Federation's (WWF) weekly flagship show, Monday Night Raw, on USA, but it kicked into overdrive on this date in history.

Indeed, on the May 27, 1996, episode of WCW Monday Nitro at the Macon Coliseum in Macon, Georgia, Scott Hall made his return to the promotion, interrupting a match between The Mauler and Steve Doll, two men who became unwitting trivia answers as a result.

Hall, who had just left the WWF (though most fans didn't know it and WCW did there best to make it seem as though he was still working with them) where he was working as Razor Ramon, stormed the ring from the stands, grabbed a microphone and cut the following promo:

"You people, you know who I am. But you don't know why I'm here. Where is billionaire Ted? Where is the Nacho Man? That punk can't even get in the building. Me? I go where ever I want, whenever I want. And where oh where is Scheme Gene? Cause I got a scoop for you. When that Ken doll look-a-like, when that weather man wannabe comes out here later tonight, I got a challenge for him, for billionaire Ted, for the Nacho Man and for anybody else in WCW. You want to go to war? You want a war? You're gonna get one."

Hall would later tease that he wasn't the only one who was coming over from the WWF to invade WCW, which led to more intrigue and excitement than had been felt in pro wrestling in some time. And, as promised, two weeks later, Kevin Nash showed up on Nitro and the two came to be known as "The Outsiders."

That episode of Nitro, on June 10, 1996, happened to be the last episode the WWF would win in the ratings before WCW started its unbelievable streak of 84 consecutive weeks winning the ratings war, a lead it wouldn't relinquish until April 6, 1998.

Then, at the Bash at the Beach event, The Outsiders were joined by Hulk Hogan, who cut one of the greatest promos of his career and christened the new group the New World Order of professional wrestling. They shortened it to nWo, slapped it on t-shirts, created new and innovative promos, and took the business by storm.

It was a great time to be a fan.

Watch video of Hall crashing Nitro: