Starrcade 1997

[K-Fizz]

Do you believe that there will be another main event to a wrestling ppv that had this much anticipation?

Sting vs. Hogan
(WCW) (nWo)

This for me was the peak of WCW. This was the greatest storyline that WCW ever had leading into any pay per view, but screwed the pooch with the finish (even before Russo took over).

That match should have finished clean, but for some awful reason they decided to copycat the WWF's Montreal Screwjob. I don't get why they decided to shift gears from a year of buildup to suddenly deciding run off of the WWF storyline.

This, in my opinion, is where WCW went downhill. I watched this PPV when I was 16 years old and even then I questioned the tactic of not letting that match finish clean for Sting or Hogan. I'm just kind of wanting to see where all of the rest of the folks that saw this PPV see it. Of course I'm loaded right now and just reflecting about the old days of the Monday Night Wars.

 

[blackmetalbuick]

This was pretty much the peak of my experience as a wrestling fan as well. I was only 10 years old. The whole Sting/Hogan/nWo thing had me on the edge of my seat as Nitro went off the air every Monday. You're right, this was like the most extreme case of "build up" ever, it took forever for them to finally square off in the ring. I was probably blown away by the PPV at the time, but not long ago I watched the match on YouTube and wow it was horrendous lol. Modern "sports entertainment" definitely does not use this type of "slow burn" build up anymore, I guess they fear they can't hold fans' attention for that long. But I've always been grateful to be the age that I was during this storyline and the Monday night wars in general, I was a total mark and I loved every minute of it.

 

[Caitiff]

The weird thing about that match is, had they called the correct corrupt ref bullshit, everything would have worked out as intended. The going rumor, for a while, was that, upon hearing the intended finish for the Hogan/Sting match, which is what Bret Hart and the announce team went with, Hogan paid off Nick Patrick backstage to have a normal count.

Granted, that's just a rumor. But, if you watch the match again, Nick Patrick counts at a reasonable cadence during that pin. The kicker, of course, being that... Sting kicked out at two. Nick Patrick continued to count after the kick-out. So, Bret Hart comes out, calls Patrick on the wrong shit, and Hogan now has the "WCW screwed me over" arguement.

Frankly, this is one rumor that I do believe.

 

[Steve001]

As an avid WCW fan during the glory days, I just have to comment!

Firstly, I agree that the extended build-up during the Sting/Hollywood Hogan feud was expertly handled by Bischoff at the time. He deserves major kudos for holding out and in the process, drawing WCW's largest ever PPV buyrate at around 750 000 orders I believe. Which is very impressive considering how many less fans than today, had access to PPV events.

I recall many fans and industry players wondering throughout '97 if the 'Bisch would hold off until Starrcade to deliver the bout everyone wanted to see. His patience clearly paid off. By using every stall tactic possible, fan anticipation for the match was at a fever pitch by the time December rolled around.

As far as the headline bout between Sting & Hogan goes, for what it was, the match surpassed certain expectations but failed in other aspects. Firstly, The sold out crowd at the MCI Center in DC couldn't believe when Sting failed to kick out of an early Hogan pin attempt! Yes, that's right, after 15 months of intense build up, Sting did not kick out! Go back, watch the tape, you'll see.

My second problem with the way all this was handled was as others mentioned, Bret Hart's involvement in the festivities. Why, oh why did the 'Hitman' not wrestle on the show!? What the hell was Bischoff thinking!?...Personally, I've come to think that Hogan and his cronies had something to do with it. Of course Hogan wouldn't want any of his spotlight stolen by anyone else right!? Anyway, that's just my thought.

Also, I found it very frustrating that Hogan even after all the screwiness of the match, still couldn't bring himself to tap to the Deathlock!
Overall, Starrcade '97 will be remembered fondly for the then astronomical PPV buy rate but also will live in infamy due to just how bad the finish of Sting/Hogan truly was.

 

[Foshinzo]

Anybody who reads The Death of WCW could attest to how poorly done this event was. The event as a whole wasn't really good, which was common place in WCW, at the time. But, right, I think every part of that event just served to make Hogan look invincible and Sting, with the rest of WCW, look like cheaters.

With that said, the build up to the match was epically good. The fact that Bischoff delayed the match until Starrcade was absolutely brilliant. For as many people who hate Bischoff and say that he knows nothing about good booking, which in large part is true, the build up to this match should be studied and learned from by pretty much any booker everywhere. However, WCW's downfall was that they didn't know how or when to capitalize on a good thing, and Hogan refused to acknowledge that he was washed up. If they had done just a standard wrestling match with Sting winning clean over Hogan, which just had to happen, then people would have declared it the greatest show of all-time, not the most disappointing. I think the most known problem was that Hogan felt if Sting beat the nWo clean, then the group would be just like everyone else and he'd have no place to go; he would have had to start all over again. Of course, with what that company did to bury Flair and Goldberg, it's all very ironic and it reveals that Hogan was just an egomaniac and a twit. For all the TNA fans who don't get why people are sick of Hogan and want the spotlight off of him, this is one of the reasons.

 

[ShawnBronald]

What could have been one of the absolute best moments in wrestling history ultimately became the beginning of the end of World Championship Wrestling. Sure, a clean finish would have been nice, but I think at this point, Eric and Co. had simply run out of ideas. They hit their high point and could never come close again. Sure, they had Goldberg, but they ruined that with the Georgia Dome debacle (free <<<< paid).

Then again, hindsight is 20/20.

 

[willross]

This is how a company should build up to a huge match. They built this match for over a year, Sting never said a word until he got what he wanted.

On paper the finish was actually a good idea and was a good way to introduce Bret Hart. Next to this angle, the Screwjob was the biggest thing going in the business so capitalizing on it was smart but Nick Patrick fucked it up so it ended up screwing things up.

The Goldberg title win on TV(which if they hyped for atleast a month would of been the most bought PPV in WCW history HANDS DOWN) and Halloween Havoc being taken off the air as the main event started were definately worse for them though.

But it was this kinda stuff that is why WCW was so awful at the end, they didn't think of the bigger picture and were so focused on putting a company out of business that would never go out of business, Vince would of died of hunger before letting WWE go under.