I never watched much WCW back in the day, but I've read that this is the moment WCW signed its death warrant, and allowed WWF/E to commence tromping it in the ratings war. I also read that that night on WWF Raw is War was the night Mankind captured the WWF title from The Rock for the first time. That being the case, and Raw being pre-taped, they announced the results and new WWF title winner on Nitro, causing a ton of fans to switch their channels from TNT to USA.
They shot themselves in the foot a bunch of times. Like giving away Goldberg vs. Hulk Hogan away on FREE tv instead of charging $40 on pay-per-view. The amount of money they could've made on that one show alone would've been enough to help them sustain at least another year. Another thing was the night they mentioned Mankind winning the title. After WWF Raw is War ended, viewers did switch back to WCW Nitro. The main event- Kevin Nash vs. Hogan for the title. What ensued was the "Fingerpoke of Doom", where they looked at each other, and Hogan proceeded to POKE Nash lightly in the chest, and Nash was pinned in a matter of SECONDS. Viewers were turned off after that.