I thought it was around 96.
Not that I know any better than anyone else.
No, you're right about the date. Technically, the "wars" ran from about 1995
(Nitro's debut) - WCW's sale, and Shawn got the belt in '96.
But, the hot angles you mentioned, like the nWo, etc. didn't happen until Shawn's second title run with D-X. To be fair, I don't know that the numbers under Bret and Taker were all that better leading up to Shawn's disappointing run. Business drastically improved for both companies with the Attitude boom.