Inside Nitro
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In the production office at each Nitro, there is one state-of-the-art Xerox machine. About 15 reams of paper (7500 sheets) are used per Nitro. Yes, thats a lot of trees. The most common copy made:formats for the program, which are about 15 pages each.
WCW also has VIP, CREW, and PHOTO passes. Annually, WCW uses about 40,000 passes. Here's the breakdown: crew(30,000), VIP(7,000, FULL ACCESS(2,000), and PHOTO(1,000). Security staff and police officers are briefed before each show as to what each pass means.
And for you mad scientists, the light-reading in the middle of the ring during Nitro is 115 foot-candles. If you dont understand that, don't worry...you're among majority.
The finished product that you see is the result of a joint effort of many dedicated individuals who work week in and week out to provide a safe and professional set for the wrestlers and announcers to work on.
Dinners are usuallly the same offering: chicken breasts, roast beef, fish, pasta, two vegetables, salad , and atleast threee deserts. If you think that WCW's wrestlers stay away from the swets, think again. For each Nitro, WCW orders about 250 pounds of prime rib and 250 eight-ounce chicken breasts. At some arenas, such as the United Center in Chicago, WCW hires a local caterer to provide the "pre-show meal".
There's a silver bowl in the Nitro Production Office that is more in demand than World title shots. It is infamous "Candy Bowl," filled with everything imaginable for the sweet tooth. $150 worth of bite-size candies. The biggest candylovers are J.J. Dillon ( a dark-cocolate-a-holic), Eric Bishoff (Tootsie Rolls), and security cheif Doug Dellinger ( Mounds candy bars).
For Giant there are deviled eggs. And you can always find a tray of devilled eggs near Crockett's work area in the main production office.
What about the shirts worn by the wrestlers on Nitro? They recieve a new one (free of charge) prior to each telecast, ranging in size from medium to 6x.
How many rental cars are needed for Nitro you ask? The awnser is 2,392 rental cars anually for Nitro. The folks at Delta Airlines have to be the biggest Nitro fans. Or at least they should be. For each nitro, WCW purchases 180 airline tickets (for wrestlers, crew, and other front-office personel), mostley from Delta, for travel to orginating city. Thats about 9,360 tickets. Talk about frequent flyer miles!!! One look backstage and it is clear that production equipment is everywhere, and so are the cabinets that store the goods. In reality they are steel cases on wheels. During Nitro these cabnets that store the goods. In reality, they are steel cases on wheels. During Nitro, these cabnits, which look like coffins and vary in color, seems to be everywhere. In total there are 400 of them.
A "goods arena" is one whose employees are easy to work with, alowwing Nitro to move in and out quickly and painlessly. Here, in no particular order, are Crocketts Top Five areans: MCI Center, United Center, Baltimore Areana, Norfolk Scope, and Fleet Center.
------------------------------------------------------- Kanyon: 1.Gin 2.The Mighty Ducks Raven: 1. Chess and Spades 2. "I hate Disney Movies" Scotty Riggs: 1. Gin 2. Hercules Saturn: 1. Spades 2. The Lion King Lodi: 1. Scrabble 2. The Lion King Kidman: 1. Gin 2. Toy Story Scott Hall: 1. "Naked Twister" 2. Bambi Kevin Nash: 1. Yahtzee 2. The Sword and the Stone Buff Bagwell: 1. Monopoly 2. The Love Bug Horace Hogan: 1. Monopoly 2. Aladdin Giant: 1. Monopoly 2. The Lion King Scott Norton: 1. "Beale Street...All the boys play it" 2. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Vincent: 1. Poker 2. Pinocchio Elizabeth: 1. Chess 2. Lady and the Tramp Chris Benoit: 1. Poker 2. The Lion King Arn Anderson: 1. Yahtzee 2. The Jungle Book Larry Zbyszko: 1. Seven Card Stud 2. The Absent Minded Professer or Flubber Bobby Heenan: 1. Trivial Pursuit 2. "Deep Mouse That was a good one" Bret Hart: 1. Poker 2. Aladdin David Penzer: 1. Candy Land 2. Ol' Yeller "I cryed for days after watching it" Konnan: 1. " Its a tie: Blackjack, Poker, and Monopoly" 2. The Lion King Diamond Dallas Page: 1. Five-Card draw 2. "Stop It!!!" Rick Steiner: 1. Checkers and gin 2. The Lion King Rey Mysterio Jr.: 1. Billiards 2. The Lion King Eddy Guerrero: 1. Gin 2. Toy Story Glacier: 1. Clue 2. The Lion King Kimberly: 1. Scrabble 2. The Lion King Alex Wright: 1. Rummy 2. Mulan Ernest Miller: 1. Poker 2. Peter Pan Silver King: 1. Billiards 2. The Santa Clause Super Calo: 1. Chin Cfeck 2. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Sonny Onoo: 1. Gin 2. Mulan Tygress: 1. An Enchanced Evening 2. Hurcules J.J. Dillon: 1. Black Jack 2. The Lion King A.C. Jazz: 1. Spades 2. Beauty and the Beast Spice: 1. Twister 2. "I have a disney movie collection my favorites are Lady and the Tramp and Aladdin" Links::::
Click Here for WRESTLING INCONS AND ANIMATED CURSERS AND SOME SOUNDS....
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There are an estimated 20 miles of cable needed for each nitro. 
There's nothing more exclusive than the old "Backstage Pass," but in reality, WCW doesn't have such a pass. Oh sure, there are passes that can get visitors, like Charles Barkley or a wrestlers brother, into the backstage area, but they arent offially called "Backstage Passes." Nope, those are the FULL ACCESS passes, which can be tough to get as a championship belt.
Want to see the action each and every Monday? Well you can thank the 750 light bulbs, on 20 different lighting fixtures.
The cast and crew of Nitro are quite familiar with E.T., or at least his most popular saying:"Phone Home." At Nitro, there are 24 phone lines. Cell phones can be spotted everywhere and wreslters and crew members can be seen navigating around the building trying to find a static free spot to make a call. With all the electrical equipment around, that can be a huge task.
Perhaps the most-asked production question is, "How long does it take to set up Nitro?" Well it takes about 34 hours, from start to finish, with 217 people working. The average crew member spends about 10 hours working on the set.
WCW transports its Monday Nitroring and equipment in 14 trucks, which include ten 18-wheelers. According to WCW David Crockett,Vice President of Television Production, "Each truck is filled to capacity." "Capacity" is about 80,000 pounds (truck filled), FYI.
There are nine cameras for each Nitro telecast.
The 250 members of the Nitro cast and crew is fed buffet-style each Monday, starting at about 2 p.m. The equals 13,000 meals annually.
Water is the drink of choice, but theres always an abundance of cola each Monday. 416 cases of cola are consumed annually. "I go through way more water than soda," Crockett said.
Every Monday ther are 15 cases of water (with 24 bottles per case) on hand for the backstage workers and wrestlers.
Also popular: coffee. Staff and crew go through about 25gallons of coffee per Nitro. The top coffee drinkers: Ric Flair, Chris Benoit, Lex Luger and Collin Bowman.
"The number one candy is anything chocolate. There isn't a wrestler or front-office worker who doesn't eat chocolate," Crockett said. "It seems like everyone hates hard candies.".
For the high-protein, low-fat eaters, Nitro always offers egg whites.
You won't find these at the concession stand and you've got to work your butt off to earn one. About 5,200 black Nitro Crew shirts are distributed annually. (Thunder Crew shirts are gray.)
Almost weekly at Nitro, an item --- from films to flowers to a mannequin --- is needed at the arena but isn't there. Thats where the local runners come in handy. Crockett and his staff dispatch locals on needed errands. (The manequins, by the way, can be picked up at a local department store.)
Each show averages 300 fireworks, "which is roughly the same amount used at a KISS concert," Crockett said. That equals 10 pounds of explosives.
The ring weighs about 2 tons and the mat cover is replaced about 60 times a year. Mats cannot be washed so they are thrown away. Nitro mats are dark blue, Thunder's are gray. 