The Night That WCW REALLY Died

[OYDK]

Disclaimer: I didn't intend to rant so hard so if you don't want to read the book I just wrote, skip to the bottom.

Of course, I'm talking about the shitshow that was Starrcade 1997. I haven't seen a thread about this piece of hot garbage in a long time, and since I just, for some odd reason, decided to recently waste 3 hours of my life reliving literally one of the worst events in wrestling history, I thought I'd let everybody share their memories of the glorious night that WCW decided to commit ratings suicide. I'm sure everybody knows the backstory of the main event going into the show but for the sake of anybody who's been living under a rock for the past 20 years, I'll go over it briefly.

Although the WCW main event scene at this time consisted of guys 10-15 years past their primes and although the NWO storyline had already grown stale within 6 months, WCW managed to take a stranglehold of the Monday night wrestling ratings throughout most of 1996 and all of 1997, largely due in part to the transformation of Sting. Feeling betrayed by his friends and "WCW", Surfer Sting became Crow Sting and one of the greatest storylines in all of wrestling history was born. The build towards a Hollywood Hogan and Sting match was on and 18 months later, after some of the coolest shit that had been done in (I sound like a broken record but...) wrestling history, it all culminated in one match, the ultimate hero vs the ultimate villain: Hulk Hogan vs Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on their biggest stage, Starrcade.

On paper Starrcade 97 looked like a pretty good card. Hogan/Sting, Giant/Nash, Hennig/Flair in a steel cage, Luger/Bagwell, etc. However, Flair got hurt and was replaced by DDP on very short notice and Nash actually no-showed the event because of an apparent heart issue which resulted in the co-main event NEVER TAKING PLACE. Luger/Bagwell was difficult to sit through because, well because it sucked, and Zbyszko/Bischoff... I won't even comment on that one.

But that all pales in comparison to what took place in the main event.

Any wrestling fan with half a brain could tell you how the match should have gone. Sting should have relatively dominated Hogan with the match ending in typical babyface comeback fashion. Stinger Splash, Scorpion Death Drop, Scorpion Death Lock, tapout, new champion. Instead we got the complete opposite. Hogan dominated Sting, the guy who single-handedly had been kicking the NWO's ass for over a year, dropped the leg and pinned Sting clean in the middle. The ending called for a fast-count with Bret Hart coming out at the end to reverse the decision because HE AIN'T STANDING FOR NO SCREWJOBS. Problem was, referee Nick Patrick counted a fair and normal 1-2-3 (no fast-count) and Hogan clearly and cleanly beat Sting in the ring after dominating him all match. The decision was still reversed even though it really shouldn't have been and Sting went on to beat Hogan after a lame-ass finish. The allure of Sting was gone, Hart looked like a complete idiot, and the biggest match and event in WCW's history turned out to be a gigantic dud.

Unsurprisingly, many WCW fans would change their channels for good shortly after, and Raw would go on to beat Nitro 4 months later for the first time in 86 weeks. The rest is history. Now there are a lot of rumors as to why this match turned out the way it did. Bischoff has admitted to changing the ending of the match because Sting "wasn't in shape" or "wasn't taking it seriously" or some bullshit like that and there are rumors that Hogan told Nick Patrick to count a normal pinfall instead of the fast-count in order to keep himself as strong as possible. I wouldn't be surprised. You'd have to be dense to be surprised. Like I said, shit-show.

Anyway, what I'm basically trying to ask here is, what are your memories of Starrcade 1997 and how much did it affect WCW in the long-run? Or you can just rant as I have, that would be cool too.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Starrcade screwed them over huge when it should've been the night they either built on their lead or made it permanent. Half the reason WCW fans started turning back to Raw and see what was going on there was because of this match and the 2 months of waiting before the controversy was over. One of the big issues that came was the Starrcade match (which was a botched layup if there ever was one), the title rematch on Nitro the next night (the ending in which you didn't see and were told it was also controversial), Sting having to relinquish the title in early January and the holding up of the title until Superbrawl VIII all worked together to start turning fans back to WWE. Not only was the Starrcade match indecisive in the finish it caused a chain reaction where the next few months of WCW television was more or less a giant waste of time. During that time Hart just debuted (who they really weren't doing anything with), Jericho turning heel (which took up maybe 10 minutes a week), Scott Steiner slowly turning heel (which took up maybe another 5 minutes a week), and Giant vs. Nash (an angle which the fans got screwed with at Starrcade), everything else was surrounding the Sting vs. Hogan rematch and who would be the real champ when all people wanted was to see a dead nWo and a hero champ in Sting. In WWE on the other side they were building Austin as the next big thing in wrestling, they had Tyson, they had Undertaker vs. Kane, they had the rise of Sable (which at the time was a big thing), and they also had other things like the Outlaws vs. Terry/Cactus, all of those things made for some pretty interesting television while WCW was essentially sitting with a thumb up their ass until Superbrawl.

It's been said a million times before, when the nWo started the whole show revolved around them and by '98 all of their top guys were just waiting around. Hogan is waiting for his rematch all the while doing nothing, Macho's angle with DDP is done so he's doing nothing, Nash screwed the fans at Starrcade (or at least in their eyes) and Hall was too busy hanging with Dusty Rhodes and looking like he just had 15 shots of tequila every week. They built everything around the nWo and when their top heels aren't doing anything and their top faces for WCW aren't doing anything then what's the point of watching? Sure they could've spent more time with Bret and pushed him hard (which made nothing but sense), given Jericho more time being a cocky, whiny, heel (also, made a lot of sense) but instead they pushed those guys to the background and focused on storylines that were past their due date (Giant vs. Nash, Hall/Bischoff vs. Zybysko, Hogan vs. Sting). From those things it caused a chain reaction where slowly fans started turning to WWE again (just because there was nothing going on in WCW) and when you see that they have all this exciting stuff going on, all the while WCW is doing nothing it became a situation where there is no good reason to even turn to WCW again, there's no reason to flip back, WWE's got you covered. At that point it's just a question of how much can WCW fans sit through until they say "fuck it, let's see what's happening on Raw this week", as soon as that happens and Raw is kicking ass then the conversion from 1 product to the other is complete.

 

[FromGlasgow]

After the huge main event build up, It could have potentially been the biggest ever PPV in WCW, Could have been the equivalent to Starcade of what Wrestlemania 3 is to Wrestlemania an event that fans talked about for years but the outcome of the main event was such a letdown I rarely hear anyone mention it. Also WCW did seem to peak around that time but I feel 98 was still a good year for them so who knows if Starcade 97 started the whole downturn for them but this event certainly didn't help them.

 

[rmp0012002]

They kept going back to the same guys over and over with the same storylines. People tired of that. When they then tried to move in younger or newer faces the fan base exodus had already started. Storylines that started one week and mysteriously went away the next had you scratching your head. The promotion came across as no one at the wheel and put that together with guys that didn't care about showing up because they had big guaranteed contracts they were headed to crash.

 

[dsotm5150]

Starrcade '97 should have gone down as the PPV that set the standard for how a PPV was done, just like Wrestlemania 3 had done back in the 80s. All that it did show was how little control Bischoff had over WCW. Kevin Nash no showed because he was suffering from indigestion, oh and probably because he didn't want to put over the Giant. DDP vs Hennig had literally no build up because of an injury, would have made more sense to have another Horsemen step in for Flair, even though they had all but disbanded at that point whos to say Benoit couldn't have come to defend Flair's honor. DDP worked because Page was starting to pick up momentum as a fan favorite and it was the show stealer if I remember right. Bischoff vs Zybysko was literally a mess, nothing less nothing more.

The main event....Eric Bischoff and Hulk Hogan both should of been fired and run out of the industry for that bullshit. The reasoning behind it "Sting looked like crap, he wasnt tan, his physique had changed blah blah blah" I for one thought Sting looked great, to hear Bischoff and Hogan tell the story they make him out to look like an out of shape sloth that was out of breath walking to the ring. It made zero sense for Hogan to dominate when Sting had been kicking his ass for almost a year. The only way that Bischoff should have accepted a finish that didn't have Sting winning cleanly would be to have nWo and WCW storm the ring causing a DQ, end the show with the two sides beating the crap out of each other.

To blame it on the referee is complete bullshit, it's been almost 20 years, call a spade a spade, Hogan didn't want to admit nWo wasn't working anymore, Hogan didnt want to lose. Nick Patrick may have screwed up the count but there's a reason why there was supposed to be a fast count in the first place, and it wasn't so Bret Hart could stop another screw job from happening.

Starrcade '97 may not have been the cause of death for WCW, but it certainly showed the cracks in a dam that wasn't going go to hold the waves back much longer. After that it was just one bad booking decision after another, and it usually involved Hogan or someone connected to him in some capacity or another.

1998 wasn't a disaster but it most certainly was a mess, you had rival factions of the nWo that rarely fought each other, you had a world champion who could barely wrestle a match longer than 2 minutes and instead of guys like Hogan, Savage, Piper and Flair who'd been in the main event for decades stepping out of the way for the likes of Benoit, Guerrero and Jericho, they just dug in further because howd we start '99 out? With Hogan as world champion and Ric Flair imitating Vince McMahon.

The most astonishing thing about Starrcade '97? The fact Sting's career didn't completely go down the shitter, had it been someone like a Page or Luger in that position, you'd never of seen them anywhere near the main event ever again.

 

[JJohns]

Right PPV, wrong year. WCW was still going strong throughout 1998 thanks to the rise of Bill Goldberg. That was a storyline that drove a ton of interest, and had a potential Wrestlemania caliber PPV Main Event in the making. Of course, WCW screwed that up by putting it on Basic Cable, on a week's notice, and only half filling the Georgia Dome. Hogan vs Goldberg could have been the largest crowd for a domestic WCW Pay Per View ever.

But I digress.

WCW kept a good amount of momentum, and was having a pretty good 1998. Yes, the schism within the nWo was just a way to keep that group going, but you had the Benoit vs Booker Best of Seven series, the Saturn vs Raven Feud, the Eddie vs Chavo Feud.

What really killed WCW was the Goldberg/Kevin Nash match for the WCW World Title. Not only did you get what had to be the worst finish in a World Title match, but the "rematch" became the Fingerpoke of Doom.

 

[dsotm5150]

Right PPV, wrong year. WCW was still going strong throughout 1998 thanks to the rise of Bill Goldberg. That was a storyline that drove a ton of interest, and had a potential Wrestlemania caliber PPV Main Event in the making. Of course, WCW screwed that up by putting it on Basic Cable, on a week's notice, and only half filling the Georgia Dome. Hogan vs Goldberg could have been the largest crowd for a domestic WCW Pay Per View ever.

But I digress.

WCW kept a good amount of momentum, and was having a pretty good 1998. Yes, the schism within the nWo was just a way to keep that group going, but you had the Benoit vs Booker Best of Seven series, the Saturn vs Raven Feud, the Eddie vs Chavo Feud.

What really killed WCW was the Goldberg/Kevin Nash match for the WCW World Title. Not only did you get what had to be the worst finish in a World Title match, but the "rematch" became the Fingerpoke of Doom.

I definitely agree that 1998 for the most part was still a strong year for WCW, in fact i enjoyed a lot of what was going on in 1998, but for some reason everytime they had something that worked they pulled the rug out from under it. Wolfpäc vs Hollywood should have been more than just Sting vs. Giant at Great American Bash and the occasional faceoff between the factions. In fact 98 should of consisted mostly of nWo stars vs nWo stars, leaving guys like Booker, Benoit, Guerrero and Jericho to name a few to rise up. As far as Nash taking the title off of Goldberg? I didn't have so much of a problem with Nash ending the streak as much as I did the reason behind it. Nash vs Goldberg for the title could have easily main evented the next couple of PPVs in '99 instead they tried to play the swerve card and stuck Hogan front and center again. After that, it was literally like they were just throwing jello at the wall hoping it would stick. Starrcade '97 put the cracks in the dam, Starrcade '98 was the final blow that broke it.

 

[Makaveli31]

That PPV pretty much summed up WCW in a nutshell from 1997-2001. HUGE stars and EGO's (we're talking Hogan, Nash, Bret, Bischoff, Flair etc....) and MASS confusion.

The first disappointment was Kevin Nash. You're seriously going to have (the highest paid start on your roster with the exception of Hogan) no-show the biggest event of the year because of a supposed "heart attack?" C'mon!! That's like having Peyton Manning or Von Miller no-show the Super Bowl. *BTW* Nash has said on subsequent shoots that this was a result of eating pot brownies. I don't know if he was being serious or not but the fact that he would joke about no-showing a PAID event that fans paid for shows you the kind "businessman" he was. I believe the "feud" with Nash is one of the reasons Paul Wight bolted to WWE in 1998. Another nail in the coffin.

And why didn't Scott Hall wrestle at the event? Another high paid wrestler 'sitting out". He takes the chokeslam to appease the Giant but why give Hall the night off? Why not have him wrestle Luger instead of Buff? Buff and Luger and no heat up until that point while Luger and been feuding with Hall in singles and tag matches. That made no sense.

Instead we get a six-man between Norton, Savage and Vincent vs the Steiners/Traylor?!? Where is the heat in that match. The Steiners had been feuding with the Outsiders. Maybe have Hall/Savage vs. the Steiners?

Then Raven sits out and is replaced by Saturn?!? What was going on there?

In Flair's book he had kind of contract dispute with Bischoff in Nov. of '97 so that led to him being taken off Starrcade. So that lead us to DDP vs Hennig which again has NO HEAT. The heat was between Flair/Hennig. What does DDP have to do with it?!?

It was just a very cold feeling PPV. Almost all the matches had no heat, no angle to go with it, no storyline. It seemed like a bunch of "names" thrown together in a bunch of matches with no rhyme or reason. Maybe they thought Hogan/Sting would carry the PPV which it did financially.

 

[Noshowers]

While I did suffer a long time as a WCW fan, I can honestly tell you (and is a familiar story I think) that the last Nitro I watched was the Fingerpoke of Doom in 99.

While Starrcade ended up being very disappointing in 97 and also I was very disappointed by the one in 98 where Nash beat Goldberg, I was really hoping when Nash vs Hogan was announced it would be kind of like Hogan passing the torch. What we really wanted was Goldberg that Nitro but he was arrested or something if I remember correctly, so Hogan was brought in for the title shot from retirement and basically just reformed the old NWO again.

Insult to injury, Goldberg eventually did show up just to take the typical NWO beating.

Couple all this with the fact that the announce team had already spoiled that in the main event of Raw Mankind was going to beat the Rock...and that was it for me. Never tuned back in again until the final episode to see Flair wrestle Sting one last time.

 

[Makaveli31]

I would agree that the "Finger-poke of Doom" was the REAL "Night was WCW died" or at least suffered cardiac arrest. As much of a debacle as the main event of Starrcade 1997 was, WCW and the NWO was still red hot in '98. Not as hot as WWE and Austin/DX was but they were still drawing record crowds and hitting record ratings. Plus the Wolfpac/Goldberg were hotter than Sting ever was in '97.

But we ALL wanted to see Hogan vs. Nash arguably even MORE than we wanted to see Hogan/Sting in '97. Nash was unquestionably the most popular member of the NWO. People never cheered Hogan but they would cheer the Outsiders. When the split occurred the people popped big time when Nash powerbombed Hogan. The build-up through all of 1998 was Wolfpac (Nash) vs Hollywood (Hogan) just go on YouTube and search the LEGIT heat between the Hogan and Nash (stemming from then Bischoff fired Syxx and suspended Hall) it was very interesting to read and hear about the powerplay between Nash and Hogan at the time.

So Hogan, being the "business man he is", sees this and inexplicably DROPS the belt to Goldberg!! Elevating Goldberg PAST NASH as the top babyface. This does two things. It stunts Nash's growth and elevates Hogan PAST the inevitable showdown with Nash at Starrcade. It is now Goldberg vs Nash in a babyface vs babyface showdown (sound similar to WM 6 anyone???) So Nash beats Goldberg ending the streak. Fans are livid at Nash for ending the streak through underhanded tactics i.e. Scott Hall and Nash's heel turn is cemented the next night on Nitro. So Nash is heel and Goldberg is diminished. Hogan is back on top the next night in the SAME EXACT position he was 1997. Brilliant move. Except Hogan gets injured, Nash is given the book and books himself on top buried Golderg ala Dusty and it all goes to hell shortly afterward when they bring in Russo.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

From where I am from I was fortunate enough to be able to watch both RAW and Nitro each week without having to choose. Since I would get RAW on Thursdays and Nitro on Saturdays despite that I stopped watching Nitro around mid 1999 and the reason why is the show kept rebooting itself every month so there was no reason to invest in the product.

The multiple title switches, wrestlers coming and going, story lines being dropped on a monthly basis, the show was a mess and I just stopped watching.

I disagree that Starrcade 1997 and The Finger Poke of Doom killed WCW since the promotion could have still recovered after both incidents if WCW played their cards right.

I don't think there was one moment that killed WCW I think WCW death was a slow painful death like a disease creeping up (basically 1999) week by week until it was eventually bought by Vince McMahon.

 

[Logisticalbooker86]

Starrcade 1997 was the night WCW contracted cancer. The WolfPac and Goldberg made the cancer go into remission in 1998 before the finger poke of doom was a LETHAL DOSE OF POISON (channeling my inner Vince McMahon for that one).

Starrcade 1997 was a grave disappointment. I was such a mark for Sting that I didn't care what happened at that PPV as long as I got to see Sting emerge as the conquering hero. The match was slow, Hogan made Sting look like just another guy, and the finish should have been a given, OH BROTHER.

I was in the crowd for the fingerpoke of doom. Even at 13 years old I knew when Kevin Nash came out at 9:00 to defend the belt against Hogan something awful was about to happen.

Makaveli above me got it right. According to Kevin Nash, the fingerpoke of doom was supposed to set Goldberg up to run through the reformed NWO to get to another championship match with Hogan. That never happened. Even if it had, people were so sick of a heel NWO running the entire show by then I doubt it would've mattered.

 

[Jonyboyuk2]

I have to agree as a fan in them days - the Finger Poke of Doom was the beginning of the end. I think things became dangerous after that moment. Worst still- they tried to sabotage Mankinds WWF title win on Raw and it backfired tremendously.

I also think if this was the beginning of the end then having Vince Russo, Jeff Jarrett and David Arquette win the WCW world title at various times over the following 24 months destroyed WCW.

 

[d_henderson1810]

Disclaimer: I didn't intend to rant so hard so if you don't want to read the book I just wrote, skip to the bottom.

Of course, I'm talking about the shitshow that was Starrcade 1997. I haven't seen a thread about this piece of hot garbage in a long time, and since I just, for some odd reason, decided to recently waste 3 hours of my life reliving literally one of the worst events in wrestling history, I thought I'd let everybody share their memories of the glorious night that WCW decided to commit ratings suicide. I'm sure everybody knows the backstory of the main event going into the show but for the sake of anybody who's been living under a rock for the past 20 years, I'll go over it briefly.

Although the WCW main event scene at this time consisted of guys 10-15 years past their primes and although the NWO storyline had already grown stale within 6 months, WCW managed to take a stranglehold of the Monday night wrestling ratings throughout most of 1996 and all of 1997, largely due in part to the transformation of Sting. Feeling betrayed by his friends and "WCW", Surfer Sting became Crow Sting and one of the greatest storylines in all of wrestling history was born. The build towards a Hollywood Hogan and Sting match was on and 18 months later, after some of the coolest shit that had been done in (I sound like a broken record but...) wrestling history, it all culminated in one match, the ultimate hero vs the ultimate villain: Hulk Hogan vs Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on their biggest stage, Starrcade.

On paper Starrcade 97 looked like a pretty good card. Hogan/Sting, Giant/Nash, Hennig/Flair in a steel cage, Luger/Bagwell, etc. However, Flair got hurt and was replaced by DDP on very short notice and Nash actually no-showed the event because of an apparent heart issue which resulted in the co-main event NEVER TAKING PLACE. Luger/Bagwell was difficult to sit through because, well because it sucked, and Zbyszko/Bischoff... I won't even comment on that one.

But that all pales in comparison to what took place in the main event.

Any wrestling fan with half a brain could tell you how the match should have gone. Sting should have relatively dominated Hogan with the match ending in typical babyface comeback fashion. Stinger Splash, Scorpion Death Drop, Scorpion Death Lock, tapout, new champion. Instead we got the complete opposite. Hogan dominated Sting, the guy who single-handedly had been kicking the NWO's ass for over a year, dropped the leg and pinned Sting clean in the middle. The ending called for a fast-count with Bret Hart coming out at the end to reverse the decision because HE AIN'T STANDING FOR NO SCREWJOBS. Problem was, referee Nick Patrick counted a fair and normal 1-2-3 (no fast-count) and Hogan clearly and cleanly beat Sting in the ring after dominating him all match. The decision was still reversed even though it really shouldn't have been and Sting went on to beat Hogan after a lame-ass finish. The allure of Sting was gone, Hart looked like a complete idiot, and the biggest match and event in WCW's history turned out to be a gigantic dud.

Unsurprisingly, many WCW fans would change their channels for good shortly after, and Raw would go on to beat Nitro 4 months later for the first time in 86 weeks. The rest is history. Now there are a lot of rumors as to why this match turned out the way it did. Bischoff has admitted to changing the ending of the match because Sting "wasn't in shape" or "wasn't taking it seriously" or some bullshit like that and there are rumors that Hogan told Nick Patrick to count a normal pinfall instead of the fast-count in order to keep himself as strong as possible. I wouldn't be surprised. You'd have to be dense to be surprised. Like I said, shit-show.

Anyway, what I'm basically trying to ask here is, what are your memories of Starrcade 1997 and how much did it affect WCW in the long-run? Or you can just rant as I have, that would be cool too.

I agree with you, except for one thing.

I never like to see matches where one person dominates the entire match (which is why I don't enjoy Brock Lesnar matches). So, while I agree that Sting should have come out the winner, I don't agree with him dominating the entire match.

I think it makes both men in the match look better if both have a period in the match where they dominate, only for the other to reverse it.

Maybe have Hogan come out of the blocks and dominate the match, but then Sting outsmarts Hogan and betters him later in the match. Make it go back and forth, so that we are kept on our toes, not knowing who will win.

I like matches where, you think that someone should win, but there are times where it looks real close to the other winning. You think that an upset is on the cards. As long as Sting comes out looking better in the end, that's all that counts.

 

[relentless1]

Starrcade 97 wasn't the death knell for WCW...the main event went down in a very stupid way; Sting should have won decisively and solidly held the belt til summer at least...FPOD wasn't a death knell either, had they done what they said they were going to do and had Goldberg run through the nWo Elite then it would have looked like a million dollar idea

 

[TDFG]

Starrcade 97 did have a disaster of a main-event but I think the Finger Poke of Doom together with the whole jib at Mankind turned the tide.

But don't forget Halloween Havoc 1998, Hogan v Warrior in one of the worst matches ever & lot of people missed the ending of the main event.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

The night WCW died was the night Hall and Nash had Safe Harbour clauses in their deal... once they knew no one could earn more than them, and they told others... everyone had the clause... money became a tidal wave leaving the company and the product couldn't replace it.

Starrcade 97 wasn't close to the nadir of WCW booking... but it showed they were deeply flawed in their approach to a) booking and b) talent management. The NWO was legit running the show in many ways and this was becoming too apparent, even to a casual fan. Bischoff was starting to believe HE was the cause of the success when he wasn't and he had a mediocre booking team at best... Guys like Kevin Sullivan were behind the Dungeon Of Doom for FFS... how could they be trusted with the biggest show in their history.

 

[relentless1]

The night WCW died was the night Hall and Nash had Safe Harbour clauses in their deal... once they knew no one could earn more than them, and they told others... everyone had the clause... money became a tidal wave leaving the company and the product couldn't replace it.

Starrcade 97 wasn't close to the nadir of WCW booking... but it showed they were deeply flawed in their approach to a) booking and b) talent management. The NWO was legit running the show in many ways and this was becoming too apparent, even to a casual fan. Bischoff was starting to believe HE was the cause of the success when he wasn't and he had a mediocre booking team at best... Guys like Kevin Sullivan were behind the Dungeon Of Doom for FFS... how could they be trusted with the biggest show in their history.

lol sullivan was a great heel booker...he was behind the entire rise and dominance of the nWo...WWE could take notes from Sullivan on how to properly book a heel cuz they clearly don't know how to do it anymore

 

[SharpShootingCrossface]

Goldberg winning the title in Georgia on free tv was a bigger fuck up, and the fingerpoke. + more (Mr Arqutte/Russo)... Loved wcw but they totally shot themselves in the foot chasing bullshit ratings.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

To add onto why I think the OP is correct on this isn't the fact that Starrcade '97 was the worst booking WCW did and it wasn't their worst decision either, I think people making a case for the Fingerpoke of Doom makes a ton of sense but the reason why I would say it's Starrcade '97 is because it put WWE back in the fight in a lot of ways, they nail Starrcade '97 then no one has a reason to even bother looking at Raw and WCW is in a position where they can pretty much do no wrong (much like how WWE is now). Starrcade '97 was the catalyst for WWE getting back into the fight and was the catalyst for Raw finally getting some wins over Nitro after almost 2 years.

WWE programming was much better than Nitro programming for at least the last 6 months of 1997 but the masses didn't know or care because they were invested in WCW, they had no reason to change the channel even if there was something better on and because they still had plenty of reason to watch WCW Nitro and they had no desire to see what WWE was doing. As soon as Starrcade '97 happened (which in turn put WCW programming in limbo for at least 2-3 months) they gave fans that reason to see what else was going on. If Sting wins decisively, takes care of the nWo and is champ fans have a reason to stick around to see what WCW becomes after the nWo is destroyed, they get to see how the members of the nWo have to cope knowing they lost. In essence, there is a direction to go in, stalling for 3 months when WWE is nailing their programming on the other side is in my eyes what really got people to start watching again, it started getting people flipping the channels for 2 hours every Monday and at that point it becomes a battle of which show is better, if Starrcade '97 goes how every fan watching it wanted it to go then none of that happens.

 

[justtxyank]

Do facts matter or do we want to continue with the anecdotal falsehoods?

1) Fans didn't turn the channel for good following Starrcade 97. WCW continued to win the ratings after that and then traded with WWF throughout 98.

2) The Fingerpoke of Doom didn't kill WCW either. Ratings actually spiked following the Fingerpoke of Doom and they even beat the WWF in ratings. Bad memories and false history from WWF leads you to believe this was a killer when it wasn't.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

Do facts matter or do we want to continue with the anecdotal falsehoods?

1) Fans didn't turn the channel for good following Starrcade 97. WCW continued to win the ratings after that and then traded with WWF throughout 98.

2) The Fingerpoke of Doom didn't kill WCW either. Ratings actually spiked following the Fingerpoke of Doom and they even beat the WWF in ratings. Bad memories and false history from WWF leads you to believe this was a killer when it wasn't.

You're assuming a bad decision will show up immediately when in actuality that's very rarely the case. Those incident's represent a trend where WCW programming went downhill, it doesn't happen all at once, it very rarely does but those 2 things are 2 big catalysts for why WCW when down. Starrcade '97 botched the thing fans were waiting 18 months to see while also causing a situation where their programming was essentially at a standstill, Starrcade goes better that situation probably doesn't happen. Fingerpoke of Doom was even worse as people were expecting to see Goldberg kill the nWo for pulling that elaborate plan in place, when that doesn't happen people start watching something else which is probably what explains the spike after that episode of Nitro, they were expecting Goldberg (their guy) to get revenge and nothing of the sort happened, all due to bad booking (not because he put his arm through a limo, that happened a year later).

It's almost impossible for 1 or 2 booking fuck ups to kill a company by itself alone unless it's unbelievably colossal (like if Goldberg went on a 20 minute racist rant while burning the American Flag bad) but these incident's most definitely mattered in the long run because they in essence were the start of people starting to turn away for good. I stopped watching WCW for good about a month after the Fingerpoke of Doom (I think Superbrawl 9 was the last event I really remember watching) and it was because I didn't want to see the same ol' nWo shit anymore but most of all, I didn't want to see Goldberg doing anything except going for the title and ridding the nWo for good. Going back to Starrcade '97 I can definitely say for myself that although I didn't stop watching WCW at that point the only reason I stuck around was because in Canada I didn't have to make a choice, it was Raw on Mondays and Nitro on Tuesdays but I can definitely say my excitement for Nitro went WAY downhill outside of the odd episode (like Goldberg winning the title, Ric Flair returning, ect.).

 

[Ubermensch]

My folks wouldn't ever divvy up the cash for a PPV so I remember "watching" it on the scrambled PPV channel that you would have ordered it on, if your parents knew how much of a big deal this was. I couldn't see that the count was too fast at the time and was also a mark since I was like 11.

Sting should have gotten so more workouts in, he did look physically much worse, but I also believe he quit taking Steroids around this time. Regardless, Hogan isn't the kind of talent that can carry you in the ring, and Sting needed to do better.

The match should have ended with Sting fending off the NWO onslaught as he always did, with the WCW guys keeping them out of the ring for Sting to get the win.