Goldberg's Streak, Was Ended At The Right Time

[Pay Per Ghost]

You know how some of us and a few wrestlers as well love to bitch about how Goldberg's streak was snapped by the wrong guy at the wrong time and all; utter bullcrap.


Let me set the premise. After Goldberg became champ, his jets were actually starting to cool. People were getting jaded with the smash-grab wins and you could see the crowd getting less rabid with every eventual big match. They put him in there with faces, to change things up. But still he was getting tiresome to watch. The new cool thing round the block, was the nWo Wolfpac. Go back and watch WCW mid 98 and you will see how the crowd would erupt every time they'd hear the Wolf Howl. The Wolfpac was just, cool. And the audience ate it all up. Here was an out and out FACE nWo, and it was doing really reallywell.



The big kahuna, was Kevin Nash, and he had positioned himself as match maker and booker behind the scenes at WCW. Bear in mind, that that still doesn't take away the fact that he was, probably, the most over face in 98 in WCW. The red and black was going strong; there was tension between them and Goldberg AND nWo Hollywood andall the while, the crowd was getting behind Nash in the summer of 98 as a fresh babyface on the scene.


Now along comes Starrcade 98, WCW's biggest PPV. Now everyone knew that Goldy's streak had to end, and what better place to do it than at your biggest show. Face Vs Face, for the top title, on your prime PPV. All good right? Now the finish:

[YOUTUBE]vs2b9YwPXjA[/YOUTUBE]​

He was sorta electrocuted, before being jackknifed..... And just hear that crowd explode when Nash drops him. There was nothing, NOTHING wrong with how the streak ended. It was a burden, and quite frankly, the events that took place after this PPV, are the factors that make it seem like a bad decision to some.

It really wasn't.



1. Nash was the hot "new" face.

2. Goldberg was not just powerbombed and pinned, he was tazed for fuck's sake! He really didn't come out looking weak or anything, not like anyone cared anyway. They were just happy he finally got pinned.


3. The crowd was sick of the streak.




Go on poke holes in this theory, justify to the world how it was a bad decision.

 

[Nick Black]

Honestly, it needed to be done. Granted, the issue in peoples minds was that it was Nash of all people to do it. The assumption would be that he did it to fuel his own ego and make him "better" than he was. The fact that Goldberg was electrocuted before he was pinned keeps him appearing strong, and almost unbeatable. It was his first loss and it wasn't even a clean loss. The Streak was running for far too long, and it added such a crazy twist that most viewers probably didn't expect. I believe that the only problem was that it was Nash and not anyone else, but at the same time, who else could have or should have taken Nash's spot in the match/finish? It was believable. It was a viable result.

 

[Sandpiper64]

I completely disagree with the notion that it was ended at the right time. Here is why:

I watched the Terry Taylor interview with Highsports and he mentions that Goldberg was still the hottest commodity, even while he had the belt. Terry Taylor wanted to keep him champion at the time but was burnt out from his job in the front office as co-booker. Taylor's idea, before he gave up the booking job to Nash, DDP and Kevin Sullivan, was to have Goldberg only actually wrestle at 4 major ppv's (therefore solving the problem of 'overkill') and building a heel for him for 3 months leading up to each PPV.

According to onlineworldofwrestling.com, in November '98 Nash was still technically feuding with Hall and tagging with Luger or Sting in most Nitro matches. So the build was only for a month (which wouldn't have been long enough). Building Bret Hart as the heel would have perfect, in my opinion, as Goldberg's big adversary.

In my humble opinion, it was not time yet.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

The problem was less about how and when the streak ended. But what happened afterwards. And not just the fingerpoke of doom. But running Ric Flair vs Hogan for the WCW World title on PPV in 1999 was just wrong. WWF was pushing Austin, Rock, Foley and Triple H while WCW ran the same main event for years and years and years.

I can see them using Goldberg as champ for longer but with limited PPV matches. He was already starting to just appear on every other PPV. But I don't doubt that Kevin Nash was over enough to end the streak. Because when I watched the buildup to Starrcade live I legitimately bought him as a threat.

Too much Hogan, Flair and Savage in the main events. The same thing they were running in 1995. The same thing WWF was running in 1991-1992. Why wouldn't everyone turn the channel to watch something new?

 

[Slash-LN]

I remember around this time some people with signs at shows reading "Getting oldberg".
Goldberg might have still been huge at the time but I agree that he was losing steam.
I know a lot of people bitched about the ending and bitched about Nash being the one to go over him but I personally never thought much of it. Maybe because I wasn't a Goldberg fan but it had to come to an end eventually and it was way better than Tatanka's streak ending.

 

[UFOcalling]

Aaah, Goldberg. I remember watching Starrcade '98 live on PPV, and near the beginning of the show the announcers made the audience aware that the main event on the card (Nash vs. Goldberg) would be a no disqualification match. I feel that the no DQ stipulation made it painfully obvious that Goldberg would be pinned by Nash that night, and it was really no surprise when he was.

World War III (WCW's three-ringed version of The Royal Rumble) in 1998 was when Nash earned his title shot at Goldberg for Starrcade that year. I was at WWIII that year, it was at The Palace in Auburn Hills, MI (outside of Detroit, where the Pistons play). World War III happened in November 1998, and was live on PPV about one month before Starrcade (for you math majors).

At WWIII '98, Goldberg did not have a match. Therefore, the main event was Bret Hart vs. DDP for the US Title. Goldberg did appear on the show, however. He came out to interfere in a match between Rick and Scott Steiner (this was soon after Scott had become "Big Poppa Pump" and turned heel). Even though Goldberg was not on the card, he still got the biggest pop of the night (yes, even bigger than Nash winning the title shot at Starrcade)...and that was only for spearing the nWo referee (again, if memory serves).

After the show, I overheard nearly everyone talking about how much they would have liked to have seen Goldberg in an actual match. Just watching Goldberg hit a spear live was waaaay more exciting to see in person than watching Goldberg wrestle on TV. Goldberg may have become stale to some of the TV audience, but that guy was pure gold (pardon the pun) in the ring, and that's why the live crowds still went nuts for him in late 1998.

I don't really think that Goldberg's "jets were cooled" (to paraphrase) by November of 1998 (if the live crowd at WWIII is any indication), and it was only two months prior to Starrcade '98 that Goldberg had his title match with DDP at Halloween Havoc. Yes, the PPV ended early and a lot of people who ordered the PPV were pissed...but remember when TNT ran the main event for Halloween Havoc on Nitro the next night? I believe the rebroadcast of that match was the highest rated wrestling segment EVER on broadcast television. Maybe it's since been beaten (Rock & Mankind "this is your life" possibly?), but I seem to remember something about that match doing not only big numbers for TNT, but it also garnered the biggest television audience EVER for a wrestling match (at least up until that point).

A big chunk of the television audience must have known the result of the match (Goldberg pinning DDP), but they still tuned in to watch the actual fight. That doesn't sound like Goldberg's heels had been cooled yet to me, either...I mean, I doubt they were tuning in just to watch DDP lose - it was to watch Goldberg win.

Whether or not Goldberg's streak ended at the "right" time or not, I always wanted to see either Sting or Bret Hart to be the one to beat him (and beat him cleanly). There was a great main event on Nitro one night between Sting (in the red Wolfpac paint) & Goldberg during Goldberg's first title reign in 1998, where the finish of the match saw Goldberg in the Scorpion Death Lock with seemingly no hope for escape. Hogan came out, and managed to kick Sting in the back of the head without being "seen" by the ref (or Sting, or Goldberg). Goldberg hit the Spear & Jackhammer, and the match ended (look it up on youtube, that match was great). I was really upset that the finish of that match never warranted a Sting vs. Goldberg rematch (I know they wrestled much later for the title, with Sting as a heel if memory serves - maybe Halloween Havoc 99?). I still feel Goldberg should have tapped for his first loss (or at least do the "pass out/not be able to raise his hand a third time" thing).

I don't disagree with the fact that they had a face take the title off Goldberg, in fact I think that was a better move than using a heel. Unfortunately, WCW used one of their biggest faces (Kevin Nash) to beat Goldberg using heel tactics. Giving the title back to Hogan was absurd, I thought at the time (and still do). IMHO, the nWo "elite" never should have been formed, but maybe they didn't have a good way to make the two feuding nWo factions dissolve on their own. They could have come up with something better than this.

I think Goldberg's reign could have continued, it would have been better than just handing the title to Hogan (which is what ultimately happened). Handing the title to Hogan didn't help Goldberg regain any steam, and that's what taking the title off of him should have done. The fans wanted a "redemption" story for Goldberg after he lost the title, but they (we) didn't get it. I believe the streak ended too soon, especially looking at the way the story went in early 1999. WCW was soooo good all through 1998, and they basically shit the bed at Starrcade that year. Of course, losing Jericho & The Giant to the WWF in '98 didn't help matters either. Seeing Jericho and Paul Wight on Raw definitely played a big part in my transition to being more of a WWF fan in 1999, but the way WCW handled Goldberg's title loss (and the continuing nWo story after the Wolfpac was gone) didn't help matters either.

The last thing I'll say about what I remember from watching Starrcade 98 on PPV was that seeing Goldberg pinned by Nash just didn't look right...I suppose it's mainly because I had seen Goldberg kick out of every pin before that, but it just didn't look right at the time - and I couldn't put my finger on why it looked wrong at the time...even though, like I mentioned earlier, the no DQ stipulation made it obvious he would lose. I still can't put my finger exactly on why it looked "wrong" or "weird", really. I just felt at the time that the streak could have (and should have) continued into early 1999...even though I wasn't one of Goldberg's biggest supporters at that time.

 

[Matty~!]

I think there is a case that by Starrcade Goldberg had been losing steam but regardless of this fact it shouldn't have cost him his first loss and the complete lack of build towards to the losing of the streak and complete bogus finish proves it was the wrong decision.

With the amount of work that went into building the streak with over a year of build they should have positioned someone as strong whether it being a new guy or established star in a match that was 1 on 1 and couldn't have a bogus finish so that Goldberg's first loss meant something for someone. Because what did beating Goldberg do for Kevin Nash in 1999? When people talk about Nash beating Goldberg they see it as one of the biggest farces in the history of WCW let alone the business.

So in the same way they threw away Goldberg and Hogan away for free on Nitro they threw away another mega PPV buyrate by not having Goldberg lose his streak in a Immovable Object vs. Irresistible Force type match up.

If I were to fantasy book the loss personally I thought the build towards Sid and Goldberg in 1999 was a high point of a pretty rubbish year, with Sid coming in as the Millennium Man having the streak of his own and had Goldberg still had his streak it would of been the perfect opportunity for the streak to be broken. Now Sid probably wouldn't have been the best choice to break it because he had been around for ever at that point. However had they gone with a similar angle the amount of under utilized talent had at the end of 1998 and into 1999 with the likes of Scott Steiner, Booker T, Chris Benoit and to an extent even DDP that weren't allowed to break the glass ceiling. Any of these guys booked strong and put in a situation of being a legitimate threat of Goldberg's streak would of made their careers as single stars.

 

[#tamale]

I never had a problem with the streak ending. Goldberg was overexposed at that point. That's my problem.

Once Goldberg beat Hogan, he had about 30 or so matches on free TV. Against the same damn guys he already beat during the streak, with a mix of Sting and Hall. His 1st real feud didn't come until he went against DDP, which wasn't even shown on PPV because of Hogan-Warrior.

Goldberg is the type of character you just have wrestle on PPVs. You have his opponents be guys who can actually bring something to the table. Not freaking Meng. You had Bret, Sting, Hall, DDP, Nash, The Giant, Flair as well as the midcard guys like Booker T, Jericho, Steiner, etc. Pick one of those guys, build a feud, no wrestling on free TV for Goldberg, talk about how the next match X wrestler will try to win the WHC and at the same time break the streak, and have the match at the next PPV. Simple. Any one of those guys could build that feud. Guys like Bret, Sting, Nash, Flair, and Hall lose nothing and help make Goldberg stronger. Guys like Jericho, Booker, T, Benoit, and the like gain more by going up against Goldberg. Look how much that feud with Goldberg helped DDP.

I don't have a problem with Goldberg's streak ending because people were tired of it due the mediocre booking. I have a problem with how WCW botched someone of great potential all due to Bischoff's obsession with ratings.

 

[justtxyank]

I completely agree.

Nash was the right man at the right time to end the streak. As for the poster who said he had been feuding with Hall and teaming with Luger and Sting, that misses the boat. Since the summer there had been subtle teasers for a Nash-Goldberg feud. They'd had face offs, Nash had offered Goldberg the option to join the Wolfpac, Nash had tried to win War Games for the title shot and didn't. He and Goldberg were on a collision course and as an avid fan of WCW in 1998, it was obvious that Nash was going to be the man.

The only problems I had with it were the following:

1) Nash beating Wrath and sucking all the momentum out of a guy that was finally getting over

2) Nash dropping the title back to Hogan and turning heel right after. I have no problem with a Nash heel turn at some point, but the fans were DYING for a face Nash and face Hall. Ever since Hall's betrayal of Nash at Superbrawl 98, the fans had wanted them back together. The Wolfpac was so over it was just the wrong time to break that down.

A simplified Wolfpac as the cool, babyface but badass stable was the way to go, with Nash facing Hogan for the title legit at Superbrawl that year.

 

[justtxyank]

Whether or not Goldberg's streak ended at the "right" time or not, I always wanted to see either Sting or Bret Hart to be the one to beat him (and beat him cleanly). There was a great main event on Nitro one night between Sting (in the red Wolfpac paint) & Goldberg during Goldberg's first title reign in 1998, where the finish of the match saw Goldberg in the Scorpion Death Lock with seemingly no hope for escape. Hogan came out, and managed to kick Sting in the back of the head without being "seen" by the ref (or Sting, or Goldberg). Goldberg hit the Spear & Jackhammer, and the match ended (look it up on youtube, that match was great). I was really upset that the finish of that match never warranted a Sting vs. Goldberg rematch (I know they wrestled much later for the title, with Sting as a heel if memory serves - maybe Halloween Havoc 99?). I still feel Goldberg should have tapped for his first loss (or at least do the "pass out/not be able to raise his hand a third time" thing).

Big Sting fan here, and that main event you referenced was indeed awesome. For what it's worth, they did rematch at Slamboree or something in 1999 when Ric Flair was president. The match sucked and ended when both Steiners and Bret Hart interfered.

The problem with Sting being the one to end Goldberg's streak was that he was working part time at the point due to injuries and would take a significant amount of time off after Halloween Havoc to have a surgery and save his family. He was off the table.

 

[relentless1]

I have always thought that the streak ended badly due to poor booking of Scott Stiener. Had he been booked in 1998 as the monster heel that he was when he finally did win the WHC then i think he should have been the one to beat Goldberg at Starrcade. Have it go down dirty with a unseen charishot leading to Goldberg passing out in the Recliner, dump Hogan and if you really want to do the Wolfpac elite angle then do it with Steiner as the lead dog instead, have Goldberg run through the nWo minions at each PPV then run through Big Poppa Pump to culminate, you couldve gotten a good 7 months of PPVs out of the world title chase alone.

 

[relentless1]

or better yet, have Scott destroy Goldberg, putting him on the shelf for a few months, then when he returns he gets a huge face pop and destroys Scotty for the belt at say Bash at the Beach or something.

 

[Rvdrvd]

I have no argument that Goldberg's streak ended at the right time, but what was the point of Kevin Nash beating him? Oh yeah, he was the booker man. Goldberg's streak was a prime opportunity to get over NEW talent or elevate a popular mid carder, not stroke Nash's ego. A huge wasted opportunity and the kind of ridiculous decision that helped kill WCW.

 

[Matty~!]

Surely if Kevin Nash wasn't the right guy to end it, it wasn't the right time to end the streak. I'm not a huge fan of Goldberg despite finding a handful of his matches very entertaining. If you don't have a guy in position that will benefit from breaking the streak, then the streak should stay in place.

This has always been the main argument against ending Taker's Mania streak WWE have never had a guy in place especially in the past 7 or 8 years that would benefit from ending Taker's streak. I know this can be counteracted with the point Taker's streak is far more important, but people forget that the streaks prominence has only been a drawing point for the Mania since probably 2007 with the match against Batista. Since then every year the streak has gained even more prominence to the point it is now bigger than any title match on the Mania show.

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

A couple random comments to add to this.

The Wolfpac didn't need to be an n.W.o. stable. They could have just been called the Wolfpac. The real n.W.o. should have dissolved completely after Nash and Savage left the group. Meaning there is NO n.W.o. for most of 1998. Hogan can still be a chickenshit heel in black, with Bischoff as his manager, but he doesn't need to be wearing an n.W.o. shirt. And therefore, the elite faction doesn't need to form in early 1999, where everyone groans and changes the channel.

I have no problem with a cool face Kevin Nash ending the streak. Because he, and the Wolfpac were indeed over enough.

Around 1999/2000, The Rock and Triple H basically reinvented the "near-fall". Kicking out at the last possible moment after someones finisher added a whole new level of drama to professional wrestling, and one that still exists today. Guys like John Cena, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Undertaker... they all incorporate and exaggerate the "near-fall" in any big match because it's exciting and dramatic.

I can only imagine how Goldberg's streak ending would be booked in today's era, or even in the 2000 WWF era, with this added level of emotion. They wouldn't waste it with a stungun and powerbomb. They would tease it over and over and over until you're literally at the edge of your seat unsure who is actually going to win and what's going to happen next. And when it finally happens, you're 1) fulfilled with the ending and 2) exhausted.

That's a payoff. That's how I'd like to have seen it go down.. It's too bad as big of a moment as this one didn't have that type of excitement around it.

 

[IT Factor]

Although I do agree that the streak should have ended at some point, I think it was way too soon when it did end and to the wrong guy. Kevin Nash & the NWO Wolfpack were over like crazy and no one who watched would have denied that. But I think they could have done much better storyline-wise to end Goldberg's streak and put someone else over while doing it. Nash was already well established and the NWO Wolfpack ended up merging with NWO Hollywood, which essentially made that loss irrelevant and meaningless.

I liked the idea of Scott Steiner being the guy to end the streak as both were fairly huge at the time and Steiner could have used that big win as an excuse to break away from the NWO and do his own singles career[which he ended up doing at the end anyway]. Another great choice to end the streak was DDP. I liked their feud and thought he was the one WCW guy that had the chance to actually do it. Sting & Booker T both got decent matches with Goldberg too and they made you think they might be the ones to end his winning streak.

If we are going with someone ending the streak to create big new star, Chris Jericho was the obvious choice. He did a lot of great promo work to setup his feud with Goldberg and never got the opportunity to capitalize on the payoff. I know most will agree with me here mostly because Jericho was a mid-card guy who was doing cruiserweight matches. But still, he was getting great fan reaction and his promos were both funny and good setup for their feud that never really happened. WCW was notorious for not making new stars and this would have freshened up the main event picture at the time. I guess all worked out though since Jericho went onto WWF and became the first WWF Undisputed champion. If we are talking about upcoming talents who were over enough with the crowd and deserved the win Jericho was the guy to do it. It would have established and cemented him as a main eventer for years to come and made for interesting television. It never would have happened realistically but it is fun to imagine what would've happened if it did.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

Great turnout here, just a few quips to keep the ball rolling

I don't really think that Goldberg's "jets were cooled" (to paraphrase) by November of 1998 (if the live crowd at WWIII is any indication), and it was only two months prior to Starrcade '98 that Goldberg had his title match with DDP at Halloween Havoc. Yes, the PPV ended early and a lot of people who ordered the PPV were pissed...but remember when TNT ran the main event for Halloween Havoc on Nitro the next night? I believe the rebroadcast of that match was the highest rated wrestling segment EVER on broadcast television. Maybe it's since been beaten (Rock & Mankind "this is your life" possibly?), but I seem to remember something about that match doing not only big numbers for TNT, but it also garnered the biggest television audience EVER for a wrestling match (at least up until that point).

A big chunk of the television audience must have known the result of the match (Goldberg pinning DDP), but they still tuned in to watch the actual fight. That doesn't sound like Goldberg's heels had been cooled yet to me, either...I mean, I doubt they were tuning in just to watch DDP lose - it was to watch Goldberg win.

I think the allure here was that it was Goldberg's first matchup against a big babyface. And by god DDP was getting big with all his exposure with the Mailman Karl Malone and Banana Chin Leno.

Whether or not Goldberg's streak ended at the "right" time or not, I always wanted to see either Sting or Bret Hart to be the one to beat him (and beat him cleanly). There was a great main event on Nitro one night between Sting (in the red Wolfpac paint) & Goldberg during Goldberg's first title reign in 1998, where the finish of the match saw Goldberg in the Scorpion Death Lock with seemingly no hope for escape. Hogan came out, and managed to kick Sting in the back of the head without being "seen" by the ref (or Sting, or Goldberg). Goldberg hit the Spear & Jackhammer, and the match ended (look it up on youtube, that match was great). I was really upset that the finish of that match never warranted a Sting vs. Goldberg rematch (I know they wrestled much later for the title, with Sting as a heel if memory serves - maybe Halloween Havoc 99?). I still feel Goldberg should have tapped for his first loss (or at least do the "pass out/not be able to raise his hand a third time" thing).

While I find the notion of losing to an almost equal babyface tantalizing, it really doesn't work. Because there is no hook unless one of them turns heel. How many 'I respect you' promos will you get by god? With an uber heel, you can work a bigger program and tell a more broader story. Thats why the Fingerpoke happened just a week later of Goldberg's loss.

And while we are on it, I think the Fingerpoke was good. Screwing the fans on Live TV is fine. The bigger picture was, the original nWo was finally back AND with a great addition like Scott Steiner. Now Goldberg has an established heel group to go against and again, as I said in the OP, it was the events that happened AFTER his loss that made it worse. Goldberg decided to 'believe his own hype' and severed the tendons in his right arm during that limo window break spot. He was shelved for like 6 months I think.

I don't disagree with the fact that they had a face take the title off Goldberg, in fact I think that was a better move than using a heel. Unfortunately, WCW used one of their biggest faces (Kevin Nash) to beat Goldberg using heel tactics. Giving the title back to Hogan was absurd, I thought at the time (and still do). IMHO, the nWo "elite" never should have been formed, but maybe they didn't have a good way to make the two feuding nWo factions dissolve on their own. They could have come up with something better than this.

I think Goldberg's reign could have continued, it would have been better than just handing the title to Hogan (which is what ultimately happened). Handing the title to Hogan didn't help Goldberg regain any steam, and that's what taking the title off of him should have done. The fans wanted a "redemption" story for Goldberg after he lost the title, but they (we) didn't get it. I believe the streak ended too soon, especially looking at the way the story went in early 1999. WCW was soooo good all through 1998, and they basically shit the bed at Starrcade that year. Of course, losing Jericho & The Giant to the WWF in '98 didn't help matters either. Seeing Jericho and Paul Wight on Raw definitely played a big part in my transition to being more of a WWF fan in 1999, but the way WCW handled Goldberg's title loss (and the continuing nWo story after the Wolfpac was gone) didn't help matters either.

Again, the nWo elite was needed because quite frankly, there was no good heel on WCW TV back then. Goldberg would have his redemption story had he not suffered that injury. Nash actually gives some real good insight on this on the Legends of Roundtable: nWo episode. All the pieces were setting up Goldberg going up against the nWo.

The problem was less about how and when the streak ended. But what happened afterwards. And not just the fingerpoke of doom. But running Ric Flair vs Hogan for the WCW World title on PPV in 1999 was just wrong. WWF was pushing Austin, Rock, Foley and Triple H while WCW ran the same main event for years and years and years.

I can see them using Goldberg as champ for longer but with limited PPV matches. He was already starting to just appear on every other PPV. But I don't doubt that Kevin Nash was over enough to end the streak. Because when I watched the buildup to Starrcade live I legitimately bought him as a threat.

Too much Hogan, Flair and Savage in the main events. The same thing they were running in 1995. The same thing WWF was running in 1991-1992. Why wouldn't everyone turn the channel to watch something new?

Politics they said, politics.


The problem with Goldberg appearing for just a few PPVs is that he doesn't quite come across as a fighting champion then. See Cena has been a juggernaut and he proves that by going out there and ending almost every Raw for the past 7 years or so. Dominance is key.


The old guard were there because, guys like Hogan and Nash didn't wanna lose to the new guys. And their list of new guys had Kidman, Vampiro and shit. Although Sting did job to Vampiro, Russo's shennanigans was shitcanning any new bloods from rising. Oh, except for Jeff Jarrett.

I liked the idea of Scott Steiner being the guy to end the streak as both were fairly huge at the time and Steiner could have used that big win as an excuse to break away from the NWO and do his own singles career[which he ended up doing at the end anyway]. Another great choice to end the streak was DDP. I liked their feud and thought he was the one WCW guy that had the chance to actually do it. Sting & Booker T both got decent matches with Goldberg too and they made you think they might be the ones to end his winning streak.

A lot of love for Steiner here, and I actually liked him a lot back then too. He just had something about him. Too bad he was roided out of his mind and people didn't like getting in the ring with him. But see, Steiner would have been cheered like heck had he pinned Goldberg, people were that sick of it. In fact, that was the best booking ever. The other biggest face in Nash pins Goldberg finally and the crowd goes nuts. Then Nash and co screw the fans and Hogan wins the championship. Now, Goldberg has a big machine to go up against and the No 2 face in Nash and Wolfpac are dead.

If we are going with someone ending the streak to create big new star, Chris Jericho was the obvious choice. He did a lot of great promo work to setup his feud with Goldberg and never got the opportunity to capitalize on the payoff. I know most will agree with me here mostly because Jericho was a mid-card guy who was doing cruiserweight matches. But still, he was getting great fan reaction and his promos were both funny and good setup for their feud that never really happened. WCW was notorious for not making new stars and this would have freshened up the main event picture at the time. I guess all worked out though since Jericho went onto WWF and became the first WWF Undisputed champion. If we are talking about upcoming talents who were over enough with the crowd and deserved the win Jericho was the guy to do it. It would have established and cemented him as a main eventer for years to come and made for interesting television. It never would have happened realistically but it is fun to imagine what would've happened if it did.

Horrendous choice in Jericho. Absolutely not. Jericho was irritating in his promos in 1999. He was a comedy heel of sorts in WCW. While I do think WCW needed another star, I'd go with Benoit. If they would've built Benoit as a submission king for a good year, have him make guys like Giant, Nash, Hall tap out and all, a confrontation with Goldberg would have been epic.

 

[IT Factor]

I like the Benoit idea, but it was obvious WCW didn't have faith in him as a top guy. Jericho actually had the storyline all set up and ready if only WCW had the foresight to use it to their advantage. Jericho was always booked as a comedy heel and that cannot really be used as an excuse to justify not using him. Jericho was almost as big physically as Chris Benoit and had better mic skills and equally impressive ring work. This was the point in which WCW had the chance to change all of the comedy crap with Jericho and reinvent him as a new character altogether. The feud and subsequent win over Goldberg would have been unexpected and would have made for compelling television storyline. No one was more legit than Jericho and the only hang up for him was WCW perception. We clearly see that once he got that one opportunity in WWE, he caught on and never looked back. If that had happened in WCW I have no doubt that Jericho would have been a top guy a lot sooner and WCW would have profited hugely.

 

[dWs]

I'll agree that the NWO Wolfpac was massively over in 1998. I felt they kept the "NWO" branding just for merchandising purposes. WCW had begun adding "WCW/NWO" as the label for their PPVs sometime in 1998, so they wanted to keep the NWO brand name hot.

NWO Hollywood, at the time, was supposed to have been led by Scott Steiner, as Hogan was off "running for politics". Who knows if that was legit, as he could've just taken some time off for another movie or whatever.

I like the concept of Goldberg getting screwed over, then eventually leading to a Bret Hart/Goldberg program for the championship. How you get the belt on to Bret is a whole 'nother scenario, though. Didn't Bret have some injury issues in late 98/early 99?

Three more factors to toss in. DDP, the Horsemen and Macho Man.
-The new Four Horsemen were still pretty hot in late 1998. But they were more centered around "Flair vs. Bischoff" and the NWO by osmosis. I could see them dismantling the "NWO Hollywood", with the Giant, Norton, Stevie Ray, etc. Only guy who gives himself a good showing is Scott Steiner.

-DDP is your transitional champ, sometime in early 1999. WCW had been pushing the guy, so it wouldn't be entirely crazy if he beat Nash for the belt at, say, Souled Out (Jan) or SuperBrawl (Feb). You have Scott Hall trying to duplicate his efforts at Starrcade, trying to help Nash, but he screws it backfires and Nash gets taser'd. DDP isn't aware of what happened, so he covers Nash for the win and the belt.

-Macho Man made his (babyface) return in January 1999, but didn't return to the ring until the spring. Not exactly sure what you do with him, but he is a factor.

Along comes Bret Hart in the spring of 1999 (assuming Bret is/was healthy). He beats DDP for the belt, as he finally joins up with the NWO as the "NWO Elite". You can fold whoever you want to into this version. If Bret isn't healthy, then we go with Scott Steiner. Nash re-joins NWO because... he's Nash.

Then you've got Goldberg, DDP and whoever else you want (Sting and Flair, two constant NWO adversaries) against the NWO Elite. Blow it all off at the Great American Bash with a "one night only" Four Horsemen-- Goldberg, DDP, Sting & Flair vs. Bret, Steiner, Nash, Hogan in... WarGames (why the hell not?). With the stipulation that if the NWO loses, they're done. For good.

You can even add in Macho Man as the "wildcard advantage". WarGames is officially billed as 4-on-4, with Macho Man slated to be the fifth member to give one side the advantage. For weeks leading up to the event, you don't know who Macho will side with. You'd think he'd go NWO, but having him enter as a WCW guy to finally end the NWO would be some cool symmetry.

This is crazy fantasy booking and it assumes Hogan takes somewhat of a backseat or reduced role, which is a HUGE assumption. I like the idea of WarGames ending the NWO, as that was a WCW staple and would call back to the whole "tradition" thing they pushed in 96/97. This would end the NWO concept and feud... you can splinter off of that with however you want to book the World Championship and US Championship.

 

[lowandmighty]

I agree with how popular the wolf pack had become but I think there was only that big a pop at the prospect that hall and nash were friends again as well as the fact crowds were sick of Goldberg.

The actual "goldberg, goldberg" chant was mainly a recording being played over the P.A system for a couple of months while they worked out what to do with him.

The solution was make Goldberg champion to revitalize his popularity. It didn't really work.

So what I disagree with is that they ended the streak at the right time, no. It was the wrong time.

They made a crucial mistake with this. You see wcw at that time had the most hated heel in wrestling; Hollywood Hogan, and thats where the streak should have ended.

Instead of having Goldberg defeat Hogan for the title on nitro with the help of DDP, they should have had Hogan screw Goldberg out of the match and defeat him in the most unfair way imaginable with the help of nWo Hollywood.

Referee distracted by nWo, chair shot to Goldberg by another nWo member as he goes for the spear with referee distracted, obviously Goldberg gets back to keep in with his invincible gimmick but then out of Hogans boot, knuckle dusters to the head of Goldberg then Leg drop 1,2,3 streak ended.

Fans betrayed by Hogan again, hate him even more and most of all Goldberg now has a score to settle.
Hogan Vs Goldberg next ppv huge buy rate, massive anticipation, Goldberg wins clean, becomes genuine champion, crowd loves him.

Next ppv Nash beats Hogan in a retirement match for number 1 contender-ship, nWo Hollywood wiped out, Nash even huger face, massive hype for Nash v Goldberg next PPV, wcw saved, Hogans knees and back preserved everyone wins.

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

So what I disagree with is that they ended the streak at the right time, no. It was the wrong time.

They made a crucial mistake with this. You see wcw at that time had the most hated heel in wrestling; Hollywood Hogan, and thats where the streak should have ended.

Instead of having Goldberg defeat Hogan for the title on nitro with the help of DDP, they should have had Hogan screw Goldberg out of the match and defeat him in the most unfair way imaginable with the help of nWo Hollywood.

Referee distracted by nWo, chair shot to Goldberg by another nWo member as he goes for the spear with referee distracted, obviously Goldberg gets back to keep in with his invincible gimmick but then out of Hogans boot, knuckle dusters to the head of Goldberg then Leg drop 1,2,3 streak ended.

Fans betrayed by Hogan again, hate him even more and most of all Goldberg now has a score to settle.
Hogan Vs Goldberg next ppv huge buy rate, massive anticipation, Goldberg wins clean, becomes genuine champion, crowd loves him.

Next ppv Nash beats Hogan in a retirement match for number 1 contender-ship, nWo Hollywood wiped out, Nash even huger face, massive hype for Nash v Goldberg next PPV, wcw saved, Hogans knees and back preserved everyone wins.

Are you fucking kidding me?

This juggernaut of a momentum is wasted away with Goldberg not winning the one? Are you high?

Imagine if Andre had gone over Hogan at Mania3, imagine that. Hulkamania would never be as big. The corral was set for Goldberg be proclaimed as the NEXT guy and rightfully so. The crowds were brilliant for the guy in his first 8 months.

 

[lowandmighty]

Are you fucking kidding me?

This juggernaut of a momentum is wasted away with Goldberg not winning the one? Are you high?

Imagine if Andre had gone over Hogan at Mania3, imagine that. Hulkamania would never be as big. The corral was set for Goldberg be proclaimed as the NEXT guy and rightfully so. The crowds were brilliant for the guy in his first 8 months.

It's different from if Hogan lost to Andre at WM3 though because it was on nitro and not on ppv. The weekly shows traditionally build toward the ppv which is what my idea for what should have happened is designed to do.
Besides Hogan was already the champion when he wrestled Andre. The two scenarios aren't comparable.

By being defeated unfairly by Hollywood Hogan it would raise the heat and start an actual feud which could culminate in a huge match on ppv instead of Goldberg just winning on Nitro and it going nowhere like it did.

The fact is that the same amount of people would have watched nitro if Hogan won that night cause they were already watching and once they found out the rematch was on ppv the interest would have been huge.

Everyone loves it when a hero has to come back against the odds. Its part of the plot of almost every action movie ever made.

Look at it this way then. The one thing the main guy in the movie wants is taken away. Usually a girlfriend or family member. In some cases just his freedom or even some kind of sentimental object. The hero must fight to get either that thing or some kind of revenge for a moral victory.

In the Goldberg case it was his winning streak. If Hogan took that away by unfair means then its game on. Thats where the hero finds himself at a cross roads and the revenge music and crazy montage starts. Goldberg must now take the belt from Hogan. you get me?

And yes I'm high, always get the best ideas when you're high.