debuted on January 8, 1998 and drew a 4.02 Nielsen rating. The first match to take place in Thunder featured Chris Adams against Randy Savage with Miss Elizabeth. Adams pinned Savage after a chairshot from Lex Luger. The match decision was reversed by WCW Commissioner/Chairman of Executive Committee J. J. Dillon. WCW Thunder debuted for viewers in England on October 3, 1998 on broadcast cable network TNT Europe. TV commercials for Thunder featured top ring talents such as Hulk Hogan saying "Observe this, brother!" and The Giant with "This forecast definitely calls for pain!" In 1998, WCW Thunder consistently had one of the highest Nielsen ratings on cable, at one time rivaling the audience size of a Thursday night NFL broadcast on ESPN. The Wrestling Observer reported the December 3, 1998 WCW Thunder show had a 3.7 rating head-to-head against the NFL game, which drew a 4.5 rating. WCW Thunder's success in 1998 included ticket sales, as a number of live events sold out and grossed gates over $100,000. The WCW Thunder at the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota on April 16, 1998 drew 15,362 people and grossed $274,393 in ticket sales, which were both records highs for that market. 2000–2001 WCW Thunder switched from Thursday evenings to Wednesday evenings on January 12, 2000. Since WWF SmackDown! debuted on UPN (a broadcast television network) on August 26, 1999 in the same timeslot as Thunder, WCW has been losing to the WWF in the ratings on Thursdays including on Mondays, as this was the time WCW's ratings began to steadily decline that would eventually lead to the company's demise. On October 9, 2000, WCW moved the Thunder tapings to Monday nights, the same night as Nitro. After the live Nitro broadcast ended, the Thunder taping would commence. This practice continued until March 19, 2001, when Thunder taped its last episode. Bryan Alvarez and R. D. Reynolds wrote in their book, The Death of WCW, the reasoning behind the tapings was attendance at Thunder events had dropped considerably over the previous twenty-one months. Towards the end of the show's run, WCW Thunder was the anchor of a TBS programming block known as "iWatch Wednesdays", which was tied to the website TBS Interactive. After installing a web browser plugin, users had access to forums, games and contests related to the TBS programs, including Thunder. Final broadcast In an attempt to save WCW, Bischoff