The WCW Nitro Grill: WCW's Forgotten Restaurant, Explained
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- The Grill Contained Many WCW Artifacts, PPV Themed Bars, & The Servers Wore Championship Belt Aprons
The mid-to-late 1990s was a boom period for professional wrestling in America that has since been termed "The Attitude Era." The era was defined by the "Monday Night Wars" , the battle of ratings supremacy between WCW's Monday Nitro and WWE's Monday Night Raw. Despite defeating WWE in the ratings for 83 consecutive weeks between 1996-98, by the time 1999 came around, WCW had lost a ton of momentum and taken a firm back seat to WWE. So, what better time for WCW to create an entirely new restaurant concept -- The WCW Nitro Grill: Where The Big Boys Eat! -- playing off of WCW's hilarious slogan at the time, "Where the big boys play!"
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After Some Delays, The WCW Nitro Grill Opened In May 1999 In Las Vegas
In WCW's defense, plans for the Nitro Grill had been in place long before the ship started sinking. The restaurant would be housed inside the Excalibur Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, NV, and WCW held a groundbreaking ceremony as part of a press conference on the premises in January 1999. Funny enough, it would take place just one week after the infamous "Fingerpoke of Doom" angle, which many felt was the beginning of the end for WCW. The cost of the Nitro Grill was approximately $2 million, not much less than what Vince McMahon would purchase WCW for just over two years later.
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The event featured WCW stars like Sting, Kevin Nash, and Diamond Dallas Page swinging sledgehammers and demolishing the walls where the Grill would eventually be situated. Nash seemed thrilled about the whole ordeal, claiming, "I look forward to coming here and drinking for free." Despite a very quick promised turnaround for a March opening, the WCW Nitro Grill formally opened on May 24, 1999. A grand opening was held with the likes of Nash, Sting, Roddy Piper, some Nitro Girls, and a handful of other WCW talent. Various meet-and-greet events were scheduled from time-to-time as a promotional tactic to bring more fans in. The hope was that the concept would catch fire, and WCW would open multiple Grills in other markets throughout the country.
The WCW Nitro Grill Menu Was Filled With Wrestling Puns & The Food Was Good
The menu at the WCW Nitro Grill was certainly a sight to behold. While it was chock-full of forced wrestling puns like "Headlock Hot Wings," "Chokeslam Cheese Fries" and the "Starrcade Caesar Salad," there was plenty of gold, such as the "Booker T-Bone," "Big Sexy Porter House," "Goldberger," "Broken Finger Sandwich," and "Crippler Crossface Cheesesteak." On top of it, reports at the time were that the food was actually pretty solid, as opposed to the much-maligned menu and food at WWF New York, a similarly-themed restaurant that opened in December 1999.
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The Grill Contained Many WCW Artifacts, PPV Themed Bars, & The Servers Wore Championship Belt Aprons
Honestly, the WCW Nitro Grill looked like a very cool place for wrestling fans to go at the time. It functioned almost like a museum of sorts, featuring items like DDP's ring jacket and Sting's baseball bat in frames. Additionally, there were bars themed after WCW PPV events, including Bash at the Beach and Road Wild. There was also a gift shop where patrons could purchase a variety of WCW items, and specific Nitro Grill themed merchandise, including t-shirts, mugs, and shot glasses.
The Grill boasted five big screens of "heart-pounding WCW action," and there were weekly Nitro watch parties every Monday. Another cool feature was that the servers aprons were made to look exactly like the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, and included a pin of a wrestler on it. It seemed like WCW nailed the decor and accouterments throughout the Grill, so it's a shame the entire company was crumbling simultaneously.
The WCW Nitro Grill Closed Just One Year Later
Despite WCW seemingly having something cool and unique with the Nitro Grill, unfortunately it closed on September 30, 2000, less than 16 months after opening. Hindsight obviously being 20/20, who knows how successful the Nitro Grill could have been if it opened, say, two years prior? Now it is merely a largely forgotten piece of wrestling nostalgia, but it definitely would have been a treat to go as a 12-year-old in 1999.
In a funny bit of irony, the former WCW Nitro Grill location is now home to a Dick's Last Resort, a restaurant chain where staff mistreat their customers -- which is, frankly, what WCW was doing to its fanbase in 2000.
