• by March 19, 2001

World Championship Wrestling's (WCW) Nitro and Thunder programs have been given at least a temporary three count by new chairman and CEO of Turner Broadcasting Jamie Kellner.

WCW, whose ratings have been lagging far behind those of their rival faction, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), for well over a year, released a statement saying they would be going on "hiatus" effective March 27th, making the March 26th Monday Nitro the last WCW broadcast.

More will be revealed about this hiatus during a meeting on March 28th.

Advertisers, who up until now had a choice of which broadcast to sponsor, now have one less place to advertise if their target audience is wrestling aficionados.

But, after the 26th, a good number of viewers may be switching to TNN on Monday nights and UPN on Thursday nights to watch WWF programming, giving those two a potential ratings boost. Already one of the top draws on cable television, the WWF could see a rating jump into the high 6's for their Monday night "Raw is War," program if it scoops up even half of WCW's viewers.

- Adam Bernard may be reached at AdamBernard@mediapost.com