So in my last thread I discussed Starrcade 1997 and how it was the first in a long line of major blows to WCW's demise. So I figured, what the hell! Why not make a thread series discussing, IMO, the major events that would ultimately lead to WCW's closure? So, and again these are my opinions, the next major blow to WCW after the disaster that was Starrcade 97 was, coincidentally, Starrcade 98.
So, what happened after Starrcade 97? Surprisingly enough, after that horrible event, WCW was still well in the lead of the WWF. Did they truly have the better programming during the months that followed Starrcade 97? IMO, no they did not. They ruined the huge payoff that should've been Hogan vs Sting and somehow, the nWo was still dominating the main event scene. Oh sure, Sting was in the main event scene in the months that followed Starrcade, but his mystique and popularity that had been built up over the prior 18 months so masterfully was quickly beginning to fade. So WCW went back to the nWo well and kept Hogan, Hall, and Nash on top. So if WCW's programming wasn't better than WWF's at the time, why were they still winning the war? I believe it was out of habit of the fans watching WCW. Sure their programming was beginning to grow stale, tired, and boring and WWF was doing some great new and exciting things, but it was going to take a little while for the fans and the numbers to reflect that. Sure enough, in April of 98, that's what would happen. WWF would finally get a win in the ratings war between Nitro and Raw to end Nitro's well documented 84 week winning streak over Raw.
Why did that happen? Again, it was because WWF was doing new and exciting things at the time. They were pushing the bar and pushing new and young stars. Of all the major stars for the WWF during the Attitude Era, none were former stars of the 80's. Turn to WCW and what did you see around this time? Hogan, Macho Man, Flair, Piper, and some other 'veteran stars'. Hall and Nash were by no means in that category. They were newer stars, only having recently made it big in the mid 90s, however, at this point they had already been on top of WCW for 2 years and again, they were continuing to do the same old same old with them. So what WCW needed was a fresh new face to go up against the old tired monster that was the nWo and they got it in the form of Goldberg.
Goldberg had only just debuted for the WCW in September of 97. He didn't speak, do long interviews, or even do long matches. He would come out, hit somebody a few times, spear them, and then Jackhammer them and that was that. You'd think that it would take more than that to get someone over, but by the summer of 98, Goldberg was arguably the hottest commodity in all of wrestling. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that everybody can do what Goldberg did. I mean he had a look like no other and the intensity that he brought to the ring was matched by nobody. He looked and acted like he could legit beat anyone's ass in the arena on any given night and that was something that was uncoachable. Also, what helped, is that he didn't start off beating the top guys that WCW had to offer. He started beating people like Hugh Morris and others. People that the fans would believe that he could straight up beat. So Goldberg, doing his routine, started to get a lot of traction and the next thing that you know, he has a streak going of consecutive wins.
In a moment of either genius or stupidity (that's a discussion for another day) Hogan has this huge idea to drop the title to Goldberg on an episode of Nitro. On the episode of Thunder the preceded this historic Nirto, the announcement was made that Goldberg would face Hollywood Hulk Hogan for the WCW Championship on the next Nitro. Cut to that Nitro and they had a live audience of what some say was over 40 thousand people and needless to say, they won the ratings war that night. So now you have this hot young star as your new mega face and behind him WCW was definitely keeping pace with the WWF in the ratings war. They were no longer dominating like they had before, but they weren't really losing either. They were trading wins from the summer of 98 all the way through the end of the year, but this is WCW we're talking about so they had to ruin it.
So here we are, at the biggest WCW event of the year and yet again, they have another huge main event for Starrcade. It wasn't as big as the previous Starrcade, but it was big in its own right. The undefeated WCW Champion Goldberg vs Kevin Nash. Goldberg is on fire at this point. He's every bit as hot as Austin or the Rock or anyone. Behind his success, the WCW is still managing to not only compete with the WWF but a lot of the time beat the WWF. Nash was yesterday's news in the WCW. He had already been on top for so long. Surely Goldberg was going to beat him, keep his streak and title, and go on to feud with some more younger stars before WCW realized that his mystique and aura were fading and it was time for him to lose and then they'd use Goldberg to make another young guy a made man; right? I mean, it's obvious right? Once again, obviously not because I'm writing this thread. No, what does WCW do? They have Scott Hall come out, taze Goldberg with a cattle prod, and then have him lose to Nash at Starrcade 98.
Instead of getting as much traction as they could out of Goldberg, which IMO, he had a lot of traction left. Instead of letting this huge mega star fade naturally, they seemingly killed his career right then and there. Oh, but wait, there's more. A mere 8 days after killing all the momentum that they had garnered as a result of Goldberg, they have a title match on Nitro between the new Champ Nash and the old guy Hogan. We all know what happened there. Finger Poke of Doom and boom, Hogan's the champ, the nWo is reformed and back at it, and they had just dealt a mortal wound to WCW. Even if they somehow managed to do everything right after this atrocity, I don't think they could've stopped the bleeding. We know from history, though, they didn't do everything right after this. More on those situations later.
So WCW allowed their old guys that had been on top since day one to halt the momentum of this young, exciting, fresh, intense guy who was the reason why they were still able to compete with the WWF at that point in time. Trust me people, if there had of been no Goldberg, WCW would've folded about 2 years before it did. Vice versa, if they hadn't of seemingly killed off Goldberg, then who knows what would've happened after that. Of course, Nash will tell you that it was in an effort to create a long list of heels for Goldberg to run through in his chase of the Championship. That's all well and good when you're chasing the title, however, Goldberg had already beaten the top heel in the company and was on fire. Why not let him ride that wave of momentum for as long as possible, then create some new bad ass heel to come in and take out Goldberg, essentially creating some new stars in the process. Instead, they had the same old same old on top and the same old same old screwy, dumb ass decisions that made Starrcade 97 what it was. Nash and Hogan weren't in it for the success of WCW. They were in it for the success of Nash and Hogan and WCW officials just allowed them to do whatever the hell they wanted. Then they wondered why people were tuning in to watch Raw over Nitro. SMH........
So, what happened after Starrcade 97? Surprisingly enough, after that horrible event, WCW was still well in the lead of the WWF. Did they truly have the better programming during the months that followed Starrcade 97? IMO, no they did not. They ruined the huge payoff that should've been Hogan vs Sting and somehow, the nWo was still dominating the main event scene. Oh sure, Sting was in the main event scene in the months that followed Starrcade, but his mystique and popularity that had been built up over the prior 18 months so masterfully was quickly beginning to fade. So WCW went back to the nWo well and kept Hogan, Hall, and Nash on top. So if WCW's programming wasn't better than WWF's at the time, why were they still winning the war? I believe it was out of habit of the fans watching WCW. Sure their programming was beginning to grow stale, tired, and boring and WWF was doing some great new and exciting things, but it was going to take a little while for the fans and the numbers to reflect that. Sure enough, in April of 98, that's what would happen. WWF would finally get a win in the ratings war between Nitro and Raw to end Nitro's well documented 84 week winning streak over Raw.
Why did that happen? Again, it was because WWF was doing new and exciting things at the time. They were pushing the bar and pushing new and young stars. Of all the major stars for the WWF during the Attitude Era, none were former stars of the 80's. Turn to WCW and what did you see around this time? Hogan, Macho Man, Flair, Piper, and some other 'veteran stars'. Hall and Nash were by no means in that category. They were newer stars, only having recently made it big in the mid 90s, however, at this point they had already been on top of WCW for 2 years and again, they were continuing to do the same old same old with them. So what WCW needed was a fresh new face to go up against the old tired monster that was the nWo and they got it in the form of Goldberg.
Goldberg had only just debuted for the WCW in September of 97. He didn't speak, do long interviews, or even do long matches. He would come out, hit somebody a few times, spear them, and then Jackhammer them and that was that. You'd think that it would take more than that to get someone over, but by the summer of 98, Goldberg was arguably the hottest commodity in all of wrestling. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that everybody can do what Goldberg did. I mean he had a look like no other and the intensity that he brought to the ring was matched by nobody. He looked and acted like he could legit beat anyone's ass in the arena on any given night and that was something that was uncoachable. Also, what helped, is that he didn't start off beating the top guys that WCW had to offer. He started beating people like Hugh Morris and others. People that the fans would believe that he could straight up beat. So Goldberg, doing his routine, started to get a lot of traction and the next thing that you know, he has a streak going of consecutive wins.
In a moment of either genius or stupidity (that's a discussion for another day) Hogan has this huge idea to drop the title to Goldberg on an episode of Nitro. On the episode of Thunder the preceded this historic Nirto, the announcement was made that Goldberg would face Hollywood Hulk Hogan for the WCW Championship on the next Nitro. Cut to that Nitro and they had a live audience of what some say was over 40 thousand people and needless to say, they won the ratings war that night. So now you have this hot young star as your new mega face and behind him WCW was definitely keeping pace with the WWF in the ratings war. They were no longer dominating like they had before, but they weren't really losing either. They were trading wins from the summer of 98 all the way through the end of the year, but this is WCW we're talking about so they had to ruin it.
So here we are, at the biggest WCW event of the year and yet again, they have another huge main event for Starrcade. It wasn't as big as the previous Starrcade, but it was big in its own right. The undefeated WCW Champion Goldberg vs Kevin Nash. Goldberg is on fire at this point. He's every bit as hot as Austin or the Rock or anyone. Behind his success, the WCW is still managing to not only compete with the WWF but a lot of the time beat the WWF. Nash was yesterday's news in the WCW. He had already been on top for so long. Surely Goldberg was going to beat him, keep his streak and title, and go on to feud with some more younger stars before WCW realized that his mystique and aura were fading and it was time for him to lose and then they'd use Goldberg to make another young guy a made man; right? I mean, it's obvious right? Once again, obviously not because I'm writing this thread. No, what does WCW do? They have Scott Hall come out, taze Goldberg with a cattle prod, and then have him lose to Nash at Starrcade 98.
Instead of getting as much traction as they could out of Goldberg, which IMO, he had a lot of traction left. Instead of letting this huge mega star fade naturally, they seemingly killed his career right then and there. Oh, but wait, there's more. A mere 8 days after killing all the momentum that they had garnered as a result of Goldberg, they have a title match on Nitro between the new Champ Nash and the old guy Hogan. We all know what happened there. Finger Poke of Doom and boom, Hogan's the champ, the nWo is reformed and back at it, and they had just dealt a mortal wound to WCW. Even if they somehow managed to do everything right after this atrocity, I don't think they could've stopped the bleeding. We know from history, though, they didn't do everything right after this. More on those situations later.
So WCW allowed their old guys that had been on top since day one to halt the momentum of this young, exciting, fresh, intense guy who was the reason why they were still able to compete with the WWF at that point in time. Trust me people, if there had of been no Goldberg, WCW would've folded about 2 years before it did. Vice versa, if they hadn't of seemingly killed off Goldberg, then who knows what would've happened after that. Of course, Nash will tell you that it was in an effort to create a long list of heels for Goldberg to run through in his chase of the Championship. That's all well and good when you're chasing the title, however, Goldberg had already beaten the top heel in the company and was on fire. Why not let him ride that wave of momentum for as long as possible, then create some new bad ass heel to come in and take out Goldberg, essentially creating some new stars in the process. Instead, they had the same old same old on top and the same old same old screwy, dumb ass decisions that made Starrcade 97 what it was. Nash and Hogan weren't in it for the success of WCW. They were in it for the success of Nash and Hogan and WCW officials just allowed them to do whatever the hell they wanted. Then they wondered why people were tuning in to watch Raw over Nitro. SMH........