In my last thread I covered Starrcade 98 and briefly discussed the Finger Poke of Doom. That's an event that one just can't gloss over, though. It's one of the most infamous events in the history of all of professional wrestling. It's right up there with the Montreal Screwjob as one of the dark stains of professional wrestling. So, in this thread, we're going to discuss the Finger Poke of Doom.
1998 saw the World Wrestling Federation's very first ratings victory in the Monday Night War against WCW Nitro following an 84 week drought. During these 84 weeks, the World Wrestling Federation ran storylines such as Pillman's got a gun, The Formation of DX, and the debut of Kane. Easily the product was better, but wrestling fans were too used to watching Hogan make 5 title defences of his championship a year and Sting flying around the arena. By the time Austin faced McMahon for the first time, it only took the WCW 6 months before its final recorded ratings victory. Frankly, the reason it lasted that long is because the World Heavyweight Champion at the time was Goldberg.
So what did WCW do? They decided to take the title off of Goldberg and end his undefeated streak, which was the only thing that was keeping them afloat. So, has we discussed in the last thread, Kevin Nash, who had the book at this point, decided that he should end Goldberg's streak. They had Hall run down to the ring during the match with a cattle prod and shock Goldberg to give Nash the victory. We've already talked about how dumb this was, so we'll leave it at that.
So here we are, January 4th, 1999, one of the most important days in wrestling history. WCW's show boasted a championship rematch between Kevin Nash and Goldberg in the sold out Georgia Dome, in Goldberg's home town of Atlanta and the return of Hulk Hogan. Those two points alone was enough for ratings to swing the way of WCW. Monday Night Raw had been having a decent show, and only halfway through the program, a WWF Championship match between Mankind and The Rock was announced. WCW was still winning that night, then night then turned ugly for WCW. Throughout the show, storyline had been developed to have Goldberg be arrested by Atlanta police for alleged abuse of Elizabeth and Hulk Hogan had taken the title shot instead. So we weren't getting Goldberg wrestle for the championship that he lost in such a screwy fashion in his home town and he was getting arrested for something he didn't do. This followed by Tony Schiavone announcing that Mankind was defeating the Rock for his championship that night caused ratings to plummet for Nitro as angry viewers who weren't going to see Goldberg get revenge, decided to watch Mick Foley win his first and very much deserved World Championship.
The only hope WCW had left this night was the main event of Kevin Nash v Hulk Hogan, who had come out of retirement that night, for the WCW Championship. Hogan had been greeted to a tremendous response and faced Kevin Nash in the worst match in history in my opinion. 40,000 people screaming for the confrontation as the crowd went ballistic. Nash and Hogan sized each other up, and after a little bit of backwards and forward taunts, Hogan simply poked Nash in the chest, Nash took a bump and Hogan covered him for the one-two-three, reuniting the nWo as a whole. This became known as 'The Fingerpoke of Doom'.
This match is seen as the reason for WCW's downfall firstly because it screamed the fact that wrestling is fake. Kevin Nash, the world champion, just lets Hogan take it from him? If you're in wrestling, you're in it to be world's champion and he just gives it to Hogan so that their two stables can reform.
Goldberg's streak was something so monumental that whomever snapped the streak would live as the man who did it and would be seen as unstoppable. Kevin Nash, 8 days after beating one of the most impressive winning streaks in history, lost in 30 seconds to Hulk Hogan who didn't do one move. This makes me wonder; What was the point of ending the streak and winning the World's Championship at your version of WrestleMania, if you didn't even want it? Why would you ruin the streak then and not wait for another person more deserving of a lengthy title reign to do it?
What do you guys think? Let me know your opinions.
1998 saw the World Wrestling Federation's very first ratings victory in the Monday Night War against WCW Nitro following an 84 week drought. During these 84 weeks, the World Wrestling Federation ran storylines such as Pillman's got a gun, The Formation of DX, and the debut of Kane. Easily the product was better, but wrestling fans were too used to watching Hogan make 5 title defences of his championship a year and Sting flying around the arena. By the time Austin faced McMahon for the first time, it only took the WCW 6 months before its final recorded ratings victory. Frankly, the reason it lasted that long is because the World Heavyweight Champion at the time was Goldberg.
So what did WCW do? They decided to take the title off of Goldberg and end his undefeated streak, which was the only thing that was keeping them afloat. So, has we discussed in the last thread, Kevin Nash, who had the book at this point, decided that he should end Goldberg's streak. They had Hall run down to the ring during the match with a cattle prod and shock Goldberg to give Nash the victory. We've already talked about how dumb this was, so we'll leave it at that.
So here we are, January 4th, 1999, one of the most important days in wrestling history. WCW's show boasted a championship rematch between Kevin Nash and Goldberg in the sold out Georgia Dome, in Goldberg's home town of Atlanta and the return of Hulk Hogan. Those two points alone was enough for ratings to swing the way of WCW. Monday Night Raw had been having a decent show, and only halfway through the program, a WWF Championship match between Mankind and The Rock was announced. WCW was still winning that night, then night then turned ugly for WCW. Throughout the show, storyline had been developed to have Goldberg be arrested by Atlanta police for alleged abuse of Elizabeth and Hulk Hogan had taken the title shot instead. So we weren't getting Goldberg wrestle for the championship that he lost in such a screwy fashion in his home town and he was getting arrested for something he didn't do. This followed by Tony Schiavone announcing that Mankind was defeating the Rock for his championship that night caused ratings to plummet for Nitro as angry viewers who weren't going to see Goldberg get revenge, decided to watch Mick Foley win his first and very much deserved World Championship.
The only hope WCW had left this night was the main event of Kevin Nash v Hulk Hogan, who had come out of retirement that night, for the WCW Championship. Hogan had been greeted to a tremendous response and faced Kevin Nash in the worst match in history in my opinion. 40,000 people screaming for the confrontation as the crowd went ballistic. Nash and Hogan sized each other up, and after a little bit of backwards and forward taunts, Hogan simply poked Nash in the chest, Nash took a bump and Hogan covered him for the one-two-three, reuniting the nWo as a whole. This became known as 'The Fingerpoke of Doom'.
This match is seen as the reason for WCW's downfall firstly because it screamed the fact that wrestling is fake. Kevin Nash, the world champion, just lets Hogan take it from him? If you're in wrestling, you're in it to be world's champion and he just gives it to Hogan so that their two stables can reform.
Goldberg's streak was something so monumental that whomever snapped the streak would live as the man who did it and would be seen as unstoppable. Kevin Nash, 8 days after beating one of the most impressive winning streaks in history, lost in 30 seconds to Hulk Hogan who didn't do one move. This makes me wonder; What was the point of ending the streak and winning the World's Championship at your version of WrestleMania, if you didn't even want it? Why would you ruin the streak then and not wait for another person more deserving of a lengthy title reign to do it?
What do you guys think? Let me know your opinions.
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