Rebooking Starrcade 1997

I wouldn't have ever given Hogan the belt again. I would have had Hogan leave for a long time after Starrcade. I would have kept him gone long enough so that when he returned he would have been red and yellow and have been embraced by the fans. I then would have used him as a special attraction only wrestling once or twice a year much like the Undertaker does currently. His eventually good bye match would have been bigger than Flair's and Michael's combined. Love him or hate him this IS Hulk Hogan. He deserves the biggest send off of all time.
I would definitely have kept the strap on Sting for a year and done the same with Bret Hart's "Real World Champion" gimmick. All the while I would have built up Goldberg. I would have had him work with the best mat workers on the planet at all house shows. I would have made sure that the guy evolved into a wrestling machine. My honest opinion of Goldberg (despite hating him)is that if he had some more time in the mid card working with the likes of Regal, Finley, Benoit, Jericho etcetera that he could have become a good worker. If you watch some of his early matches he did display some decent moves. The problem was that he never evolved beyond those moves. Anyway, I would have fed him more and more people, but one thing that I really would have done differently in his buildup is his feud with Raven. That could have been drawn out for months. Goldberg could have had to have gone through the entire Flock before getting to Raven. The important thing is to have Goldberg never be able to touch Raven. Raven is always at a distance taunting Goldberg. This could have gone on for months. One by one on PPV Goldberg could have gone through the Flock in order to get to Raven. We are talking 6 month build here. Could you imagine the amount of heat this would have generated for Raven! Then at Starrcade 1998 Goldberg finally has dismantled the Flock and Raven stands alone with no one to help him.
That card also has as the main event Sting Vs Bret Hart in a face Vs Face title Unification bout. Now, here is what needs to happen. The match has to be completely even neither one can get the upper hand on the other. Their finishing holds the Sharp Shppter and Scorpion Death Lock will not work on eachother because they have both been using it for so long that they know how to get out of it and that has to happen to each of them during the match. The illusion of these two being completely equal must be kept if the match is to play out how it should. This leads to the inevitable heel turn from Bret. He has to turn heel and take out Sting for a LONG time. The heel turn could happen by a reuniting of the Hart Foundation. I believe that Anvil and Davey Boy were still under contract at the time. If not two or three other guys could be used that were already on the WCW roster. They could have even been Kevin Nash and Scott Hall although by that point I think anew faction with those two would have been redundant. The point is that Hart needed a small faction in order to do his bidding and protect him and sabotage the match with Sting to insure that Hart won. Sting would have to leave for a Long time to ensure that Goldberg was thrust into the main event level against Hart and his cronies this could have led to huge matches between Goldberg and Hart's cronies leading up to a Goldberg Vs Hart World Championship match. This match could have happened at the Great American Bash.
The reason for the Hart Heel turn is simple who would want to miss out on stuff like "Who are you to doubt El Dandy?" and "What about Hypnosis? He's a high flyer of the highest magnitude." I seriously believe that Harts true calling in wrestling was to be an uber heel. By this point Flair wasn't what he was and in my opinion Hart could have taken his place. Now, that is no disrespect to Flair. I am a huge fan of the Flair character. As a matter of fact I am not that much of a Hart fan, but the writing was on the wall for Flair. He is another one who should have been used on special occasions only and should have been turned into the new manager for a younger version of the Four Horsemen (similar to what he did with Fortune in TNA).
What all of this leaves open is a supper main event at Starrcade 1999. Goldberg Vs Hart Vs a returning Sting. What I would do here is protect both Sting and Goldberg. Sting is the returning hero and would definitely be more over than Goldberg. So, he needs to take the title. In order to do this Hart needs to be the one that gets pinned. In order for Sting to pin Hart and get his revenge someone needs to take out Goldberg. My vote would have been Scott Steiner. That could have led to a Steiner Vs Goldberg feud and kept him busy while STing and Hart continued to feud over the title after Starrcade.
Now, with the way that the ending of Starrcage 1998 was set up Goldberg's streak is still intact. Yes, this is wrestling and even though he didn't win the triple threat at Starrcade 1998 he was never pinned. So, technically he is still undefeated. That streak needs to be protected in order for an Ultimate battle of the undefeated monsters match at that I have planned to take place at Starrcade 1999.
Prior to Starrcade 1998 Wrath was getting over as an unbeatable monster. I think he would have been a good choice to face Goldberg at Starrcade 1999. Their similar gimmicks could have led to an eventual match between Goldberg and Wrath over who the true holder of the streak was. I would eventually have had Hart regain the Title from Sting at some point. Of course he would have had to have had help from his cronies who would have taken out Sting in some vile way. Therefore, Sting would be gone for a month or so. In that time Goldberg would get his rematch at that summers Great American Bash PPV. This PPV could have led to the return of Sting who would make sure that none of Hart's cronies could interfere. This way it is just Hart and Goldberg who would have won back his title via a clean pin. What that would do is make Hart go after Sting instead of the title and keep them both busy while WCW builds up to Starrcade 1999 which would be the battle of the Undefeated Monsters. At Starrcade 1999 I would have turned Wrath heel had him go over Goldberg and made him into an undefeated monster heel in the vein of Vader in WCW, and Mike Awesome and Rhino in ECW. And if you don't believe me about Wrath getting over watch some of his singles matches prior to him getting destroyed by Kevin Nash. The guy was getting monster pops. People saw the Meltdown coming and they got out of their seats. The guy was getting over and had a menacing heel look. It could have worked.

You do realize you are talking about 1997, not 2007...Hulk Hogan was THE BIGGEST DRAW IN ALL OF WRESTLING at this time, the idea of having him drop the title and completely disappear, only to re appear for special occasions and retire is ludicrous.

Also, Flair was huge then too, and way over. Fans protested at live events and started letter writing campaigns to Turner Network sponsors when he was off TV in 1998, not too mention fans showing up at WWE events with "We Want Flair" signs...it's ludicrous to say he shouldn't have been used during this time either.

Plus, how much money do you think either Sting or Brett Hart would have drawn wrestling Benoit & Regal & Jericho ???? WCW would have gone out of business in a year.
 
This could of been a great pay per view had the main event not been a total cluster fuck they could of out the wwf in the grave, this was stings time to shine and my card would be a little different such as:

1) Eddie Guerrero (C) Vs Dean Malenko
Same as before these matches were always 5 star classics.

2) Goldberg Vs Saturn
I didn't care for McMichael tbh and I would of had him pay Saturn to go after Goldberg with Goldberg going over in the process.

3) Booker T (C) Vs Randy Savage
WcW Tv Title Match. I understand booker won the title after the event well I would have him win it before hand and Savage comes out and challenges him for the gold only to lose and then after show booker respect.

4) Lex Lugar Vs Buff Bagwell

5) Chris Benoit Vs Raven
Ravens Rules Match. Raven goes over wth outside help.

6) Scott Hall & Syxx (C) Vs The Steiner Brothers
Wcw Tag Titles Match. Have the Steiners go over and end the nwo dominance.

7) Eric Bischoff Vs Larry Zbyszko
Same as before

8) Curt Hennig (C) Vs DDP
Same as before

9) Hollywood Hogan (C) Vs Sting
Same as before but this time sting goes over cleanly and have bret hart as te special guest referee from the beginning with no screw job and have confetti and fireworks for stings celebration.
 
Yeah I agree with a few things here Sting definitely should have worked to get in better shape, he looked far too skinny and out of shape. He looked exhausted for most of the match.

I also agree that had Sting won the nWo should have disbanded. You could have had the Nash & co turn on Hogan the next night with Sting saving him. This would then have turned Hogan face and he could have worked a fresh feud with Kevin Nash (when people truly wanted to see it). Nash & co still could have formed the Wolfpac, no need for the nWo name and they could have been a heel stable for a while.

But I guess this is all easy in hindsight and getting rid of the nWo brand could have been a killer as far as merchandise was concerned.
 

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