What was WCW (trying) to do in early 1999?

[Ubermensch]

I think like most fans, the Finger Poke of Doom in early January of 1999 caused most of us on the fence to switch to the WWF. So for the most part this era was fuzzy to me. At work I started watching a few youtube videos during lunch of old Nitros from March to April and it seems like WCW was unsure of the direction the company was going early on in this era.

Most of us have already chimed in on how to fix WCW and it certainly wouldn't have involved what WCW had going at the time.

What I found the most confusing what the double turn at Uncensored that saw Flair go heel, and Hogan turn face with the month before the very same match occurred with the opposite when David Flair interfered against his dad and joined the NWO. That same night Malenko and Benoit won the tag team championships.

I these couple of months were crucial for WCW. Yes the Finger Poke of Doom was the beginning of the end, but WCW still had a chance, in other words, they did not fall immediately.

I can buy into Flair with complete clout on camera. Flair having the Horsemen, WCW Heavyweight Championship, the Presidency of the company, Anderson as a Manager, Charles Robinson as his referee, JJ Dillon as the commissioner made good TV. Flair thrives as the rich and powerful heel, the only thing he needed was a valet and I think you'd have a powerful combination that rivaled Hogan's title run as a heel.

In the end, from the Finger Poke of Doom to Spring Stampede in April of 1999 just came off as awkward. I believe this killed in semblance of momentum the WCW had a shot at retaining.

Following Hogan's second match with Flair. Hogan turned face but was still leading the NWO which had a B team, and still predominantly heel wrestlers. This lasted about 3 months and didn't make such sense. The Horsemen couldn't really fully get over as heels while the NWO was still around. The NWO didn't interfere on Hogan's behalf really.

The main event dynamic just didn't make sense. Goldberg was a WCW face guy, DDP was a WCW heel, Flair was a Horsemen heel, Nash a was a NWO tweener, Hogan was the face leader of a heel stable.

If this scenario could have been rebooked I would have had the NWO disband after Flair beat Hogan at Uncensored. Flair would have a eventful; but his last, title reign under the aforementioned conditions. Sting, who was dropping from the rafters again, would have been ideal for a feud against Flair and the Horsemen in a similar fashion he had against the NWO. Finally I would have had Benoit emerge and feud with Flair with Flair dropping the belt to Benoit. At this point it would be time for Flair, Hogan, and Savage to take their backseat.

The WCW would have still more than likely folded, but it may have prolonged the process.

 

[Mac]

The plan was for Goldberg to run through the NWO thus putting an end to the angle once and for all. But Goldberg was an idiot and nearly killed himself by attempting to punch through a glass window with his barehand. He was sidelined for months this putting months of story lines in flux. That explained why things were a cluster fuck in early '99.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Goldberg's injury didnt happen till later, he was still on virtually ever Nitro Jan-April.

Hogan was gone after Halloween Havoc in Oct 98 without much explanation except the lame "Running For President" promos he did a few off. Some people speculate he did this for political reasons. Despite Hogan being booked to main event the first two PPV AFTER Goldberg won the title, and Co-Main Eventing the third (Havoc vs Ultimate Warrior), Goldberg was still red hot. If you remember the Havoc PPV (Goldberg's first main event match ending PPV in 4 months as champion) cut off early so WCW used the next nights Nitro to show Goldberg-DDP in it's entirety and it was the most watched TV match in either company all year. Many feel Hogan purposely kept himself off the year ending Starrcade mega event in hopes of hurting the numbers. WCW drew very strong numbers for the show however, close to the much hyped previous year's show that featured Hogan-Sting. Starrcade 98 was built almost exclusively around Nash-Goldberg & Flair's return.

Wether Hogan kept himself off to hurt the product (thus increasing his clout) is conjecture. What isnt conjecture was the lack of main event level in WCW. Bischoff on camera was great but he wasnt a wrestler. The NWO had taken up over a dozen wrestlers, split into two separate competing groups (Black & White vs WolfPac) but the WolfPac was a face Nash with WCW guys like Luger & Sting and the B&W was a heel Hogan with mostly mid carders. The angle was in complete disarray by the end of 98. You had strong and way over Faces with Goldberg, Flair, & DDP but no equal heels to oppose. Thus the Finger Poke of Doom.

First, this was a shocker. The idea Nash would willingly put the title on Hogan, who just came back on TV, seemed almost incomprehensible. What this did in one shocking heel turn was reunite the core of the NWO, Hall (himself MIA before Starrcade due to drug issues), Nash, and Hogan. It sent an immediate storyline message to WCW Pres Flair that while he may have the Presidency but the original Invaders, the poison was back, they were united for the 1st time in a long time, and they had the World Title, back on his and WCW's arch nemesis Hollywood Hogan.

Immediately the group started purging the dead wood, jobbers like Virgil & Horace, oft injured and MIA mid carder Curt Henning, mid carder Scott Norton, and kept Scott Steiner who was very over as muscled heel. Buff Bagwell, who audiences responded favorably to in his Buff persona also stayed. The group was viscous in their cuts and beatdowns and the brutal attack on David Flair (with his father handcuffed to the ring forced to watch) all establishing this new, leaner, NWO as dangerous cut throats, better villains than at any time since their 96 inception and heyday. In essence the Finger Poke was a creative way to bring back a legit main event heel group, much needed on the WCW landscape. The fact that ratings stayed high for the next two months, twice topping 5.0 in Feb in the run up to SuperBrawl PPV, Is proof that the audience liked The Finger Poke and the subsequent storyline.

Where was WCW going however is unclear. There were online reports that Nash, who was now lead booker, had asked Hogan to lose the title to Flair at SuperBrawl to capitolize on how popular his return was and because he had been promised a title run as part of the deal to get him back (remember he was out most of 98 after Bischoff attempted to fire him and sue him for breach of contract in a dispute over a request for time off Flair had submitted). According to reports Hogan wanted at least one more win over Flair before losing. Supposedly Nash had met Torrie Wilson and offered her a job in wrestling. Thus we got the ridiculous SuperBrawl screwjob. WCW seemingly didnt have a long range plan but worse Hogan still final say on all his story.

It cant go unnoticed that with Hogan around and Nash booking Goldberg suddenly was languishing in the mid card, far away from main events except for the occassional Nitro. You would think WCW would want to capitolize on the appeal of Goldberg in a full scale war vs Nash after stealing the title off him and re forming the NWO. All we got was one undercard match on an off month PPV. Goldberg vs Hogan II ? Never happened. Numerous reports indicated Hogan wanted to turn face again so we got the Infamous Double Turn Title Switch, the idea being that if anyone could turn Hogan face it would be Flair. The problem was the audience didnt want a heel Flair and WCW had been building him as the hero face of wrestling for several months against the disrespectful invading force of the NWO.

There have been times when promoters changed plans due to audience reaction and times that switching characters didnt work. Boring, southern Ron Garvin couldnt get cheered in metropolitan Chicago against the flamboyant Flair, fans never bought the Steve Austin as a heel turn years later. No one can say if it was a total lack of foresight or real bad politicking by Hogan & Nash but its hard to explain why you put so much time & effort into building Goldberg only to bury him, to bring back Flair as a legendary face of wrestling only to turn him heel, to re form the NWO as a lean, mean bad a*@ heel faction only to break them up (which happened after Hogan's non sensical face turn), we never got Hogan-Goldberg, never really got a Goldberg-Nash feud, but we got another Hogan title run & win vs Flair &
Nash got the belt
back. Sounds like too much unchecked politics.

 

[mlp420]

Nobody cared that much about the Fingerpoke of Doom when it happened. It is only a turning point in folklore. Just look at the ratings afterward. WCW started dying because they went BACK to the NWO that night and Goldberg's streak faded away. Goldberg, without his streak just wasn't that appealing. With it, he along with NWO helped WCW keep up with Austin/Rock in WWF. Once interest in NWO and Goldberg faded, WCW needed to create that next big thing and never did.

WWF, to their credit, has always known when to do just that. They let go of Hogan at the first sign of decline and went ahead with the "New Generation" of Bret Hart, Undertaker, HBK, etc. When business declined with Austin/Rock they brought in Cena/Lesnar/Orton. That's the difference between WWF/WCW. Not the Fingerpoke of Doom. WWF could have done the same thing and they would have been just fine.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

By 99 all WCW could do was try and cage the beast... but it was bigger than the company, bigger than Ted, Bischoff, Russo, Goldberg, Nash, Hogan.... any of them.

They tried to reboot before reboots were cool, or even thought of.... and the damage was already done - the talent they were thinking of moving into the place of the top guys already were on the way to WWE... Jericho, Radicalz... Benoit almost literally pissed on the WCW title... Goldberg was always a misnomer, he was WCW's Hogan, not his own entity and wow if you believe Hulk, it was his idea... sure he knew Bill since a kid cos of his college roomate or whatever but it was living vicariously which is all anyone who chose to stay in WCW past Foley's title win was doing. Sure they all took the money, but they all wanted to be "over there".

 

[MrHashasheen]

The plan was for Goldberg to run through the NWO thus putting an end to the angle once and for all. But Goldberg was an idiot and nearly killed himself by attempting to punch through a glass window with his barehand. He was sidelined for months this putting months of story lines in flux. That explained why things were a cluster fuck in early '99.

Incorrect. The glass-window incident happened in early 2000, which is a year after the Finger-Poke incident.

 

[oldschool26]

What ever wcw creative were smoking they ruined wcw.
All started in 97 when Hogan didn't want rose to sting
Fairly. Nash beating Goldberg etc. So many talent just ruined.
Starcade 98 should have been main event with sting vs Bret hart.
Should have been a better Fued. Sting, hart, Steiner
Should have ended Goldberg's streak. Hogan and savage
Should have had better Fued. My list of wcw champs
From 97 onwards.

Hogan
Sting
Scott hall
Savage
Bret hart
Scott Steiner
DDP
Kevin Nash
Giant
Sid vicious
Raven
Curt hennig
Lance storm
Benoit
Berlin
Booker t
Shawn ohaire

 

[FlairFan2003]

Nobody cared that much about the Fingerpoke of Doom when it happened. It is only a turning point in folklore. Just look at the ratings afterward. WCW started dying because they went BACK to the NWO that night and Goldberg's streak faded away. Goldberg, without his streak just wasn't that appealing. With it, he along with NWO helped WCW keep up with Austin/Rock in WWF. Once interest in NWO and Goldberg faded, WCW needed to create that next big thing and never did.

WWF, to their credit, has always known when to do just that. They let go of Hogan at the first sign of decline and went ahead with the "New Generation" of Bret Hart, Undertaker, HBK, etc. When business declined with Austin/Rock they brought in Cena/Lesnar/Orton. That's the difference between WWF/WCW. Not the Fingerpoke of Doom. WWF could have done the same thing and they would have been just fine.

You do have to wonder about the backstage clout of certain guys when Goldberg wins the World Title in July 99 and doesn't Main Event either the Aug or Sept PPV (Hogan does) and has to share Main Event Status for the Oct PPV (with Hogan). After losing the title Goldberg did Main Event any of the first five PPV events of 1999 despite the built in appeal of him trying to get revenge on Nash or challenging Hogan to get his belt back.

The fact that Goldberg was the hottest star in the company and at this point was bigger than almost anyone in WWE not named Austin and from July 98-May 99 he Main Events just two PPV (Havoc & Starrcade) while Hogan gets five, plus shares billing on one and leads the post match beatdown and major story advancement on another...and anytime Hogan isn't around Nash gets to be champ....Makes you wonder.
And again, The Finger Poke of Doom increased interest and ratings. The first drop in interest came after the ridiculous Torrie Wilson/David Flair screw job in the SuperBrawl Main Event as WCW fans were sick of seeing Flair fed to Hogan and really believed this time he would get the win. The virtual disappearance storyline wise of Goldberg in March and April didn't help.

Of those first 5 PPV events of 1999, Hogan Main Evented 3 and participated in the post match beatdown and brawl that ended another. Mostly he opposed Flair who Main Evented four of them (losing three times). DDP and Sting (who was off injured in late 98-early 99) got thrown in as part of Fatal Four Way and got one Main Event. DDP got one more when he lost the World Title to Nash after Hogan took time off for surgery.

 

[Weems2k]

Never let wrestlers be part of the booking committee. Especially guys like Nash being head booker. Wrestlers wrestle. Bookers book.

I really don't see why the supposed "Finger Poke of Doom" gets so much hate. I thought it was a great surprise, and a good way of rejuvenating the NWO faction after a year of being split, and feuding. Bischoff was gold the whole night sitting quietly next to Schivone, then suddenly coming to life when Hogan won.

Now the followup to this can be debated. They didn't seem to have a main storyline built up for Starcade early on. Hart looked to have been a top heel before Owen's death. Then came back in the fall as a top face. Also don't forget that in October, Russo/Ferrra took control of creative.

 

[jpickens]

Yep the whole year was virtually one clusterfuck after another but on the plus side up until their departures they did make some good use out of Melenko and Benoit.

 

[bioshock]

NWO should of died off in one way or another at Starrcade 98, they had it all set up for a big Hall and Nash feud for the belt, Hogan was already off tv for months and all but retired, NWO was totally falling apart. And Hall and Nash had a feud going on.

Instead Hogan comes back, Hall and Nash rejoin at Starrcade via the tazzer on Goldberg.

The NWO being gone and Horsemen run would of been ok and something different, but still its another faction with control of WCW and its still old faces running the show. Everyone likes factions, but at that point WCW didn't need any factions besides some tag teams. And if you look at WCW they always had large groups even after the NWO was actually done. You had the NWO 2000 group, the Russo group, the Millionairs club, and so on. They really didn't need to go from NWO to Horseman, let alone having Flair headline PPVs.

 

[Ubermensch]

Never let wrestlers be part of the booking committee. Especially guys like Nash being head booker. Wrestlers wrestle. Bookers book.

I really don't see why the supposed "Finger Poke of Doom" gets so much hate. I thought it was a great surprise, and a good way of rejuvenating the NWO faction after a year of being split, and feuding. Bischoff was gold the whole night sitting quietly next to Schivone, then suddenly coming to life when Hogan won.

Now the followup to this can be debated. They didn't seem to have a main storyline built up for Starcade early on. Hart looked to have been a top heel before Owen's death. Then came back in the fall as a top face. Also don't forget that in October, Russo/Ferrra took control of creative.

I agree with your remarks about booting.

However, I think the Finger Poke of Doom had several implications that ultimately led to a downward spiral for WCW.

I will come to it from the young 5th grader MARK's perspective that I had at the time it happened. I liked the Wolfpack, I didn't want it to end. At that point I thought well Hogan and NWO will always have a one up on everyone and they can never be beat. Why would Nash give up the most coveted title in wrestling?

Now looking back I would say it killed the Wolfpack push. It was another way for Hogan to show his ass and clout. Killed Goldberg's push by having Nash win and then hand the belt over to Hogan. Ended the somewhat popular storyline of the NWO Wolfpack vs Black and White. Split the NWO faction into a Wolfpack and B team that did not make sense. Showed that the next year would be more of the same with Hogan and the NWO dominating the storylines. This also meant the younger talented wrestlers like Benoit would not get the shot they needed and the shot WCW needed to give them.

Finally, this began the first time but not the last that WCW completely debased their championship. The Finger Poke of Doom, then David Arquette getting the belt, Russo getting the belt, and Hogan refusing to drop the title to Jarrett all made the belt a sham.

I will slightly retract my statement in light of bioshock's point. Flair having the belt and the whole president angle was good, but it wasn't great. As stated, it was more of the same.

Truthfully, the Horsemen and Flair should have played a more active role against the NWO earlier on. Again I keep going back to Benoit, but the Horsemen were the top heel stable at the time before the NWO came in. This goes back to the dynamics at the time.

When the NWO began their invasion the Horsemen and Dungeon of Doom were having a decent feud fresh off their Alliance to End Hulkamania. You had two heel stables that were into with each other, and into it with the WCW guys, then another heel stable comes along. The NWO should have ended the Dungeon of Doom early in 1996. Horsemen become the dirty defacto face stable, WCW main eventers stay the babyface stars against the NWO, and the NWO becomes the heel stable. During this time Benoit should have rose to prominence against the NWO with Flair. Instead WCW prolonged the Dungeon of Doom almost an entire year after the NWO came and they dwindled into uselessness by that point.

 

[Bobbywoodhogan]

I think its a myth that the finger poke of doom was the beginning of the end for WCW. It certainly didn't taint the title like some made out, swerves etc always happened on wrestling. It was some of what they did after that that started the downward trend. I think turning DDP heel was a bad idea, he was insanely popular and could have and should have been booked in a great story arc that led to the title win. The Hogan-Flair role reversal was great as far as I'm concerned, I think people were ready for the old Hulk Hogan to come back (or at least partly). On the nWo vs nWo Wolfpac thing, I think Kevin Nash hit the nail on the head on the WWE Roundtable (nWo epidode) where he said splitting the nWo was a good idea but they didn't do enough with it, the two factions could have feuded creating fresh stories that could have kept WCW up top for another year or more.

The thing is there was some good stuff in 1999 I think people forget that, it really started to go down when Russo came in as far as I'm concerned. I'd say one of the biggest problems WCW had in 1999 looked over at WWF a little too much creating characters like Aysa for example who was clearly a rip off of Chyna. When Russo came in the show became a bit too much of a clusterf**k and that for me was where 1999 fell apart somewhat.

 

[Cub McCallister]

It's an absaloute shame about wcw, they were beau ally screwed by the start of 1999 with the finger poke of doom. If I was to rebook wcw I would have to go back to 97 where sting wins the world title and holds onto it for a good six or seven months and then loses it back to hogan where hogan will them drop the title to goldberg at starrcade 98. After that you have hogan disappear for a while and you don't have another screw up at starrcade like it originally happened, the finger pole of doom never happens either and goldberg has the title for a good year or so.

Into 99 you don't let your best talents go over to the wwf you keep jeicho and push him into a main event slot and slowly do the same with Benoit whilst you make Eddie, Dean & Perry look like serious contenders and give them good slots. I did enjoy the revolution angle they did in the later years of 99 if they would of gone through with that you could have the revolution come out on top and then have them split to where they've become major stars and the old guys have gone but sting and nash and ddp are still there but by the end of 99 hogan is part time so is Lugar and flair and none of them still monopolise those top spots.

End of 99 you've now established new stars, you've put more effort into your own tv show rather then try and copy the wwf, you also make the titles more meaningful and bring up new wrestlers.

That's how they should of done it they could of been the top dogs of the wrestling world or serious contenders to the wwf but not they obviously though what they did would put buts in seats.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Fans forget that after the Fingerpoke of Doom Nitro was still doing big ratings, even topping the 5.0 mark despite running directly opposite RAW. The big drop didn't happen till the summer months though there was a slow decline in the Spring.

If you follow the FingerPoke/Re formed, aggressive, NWO mega heels angle with all out wars Pitting Goldberg vs Nash and eventually Hogan then it all makes sense. Goldberg-Nash II should have been huge, instead it was an undercard match on an off month PPV - That's like having Rock-Cena II as the mid card filler on a Sept PPV. Hogan was clearly established as a mega heel, and much needed, Goldberg should have been made to run through the whole NWO before finally getting his hands on Hogan. If they wanted to milk some money out of a face Flair vs Hollywood Hogan that's fine (and the buyrates for SuperBrawl 99 were really big when they main evented) but that shouldn't have derailed Goldberg vs NWO as the biggest long term feud. Leave Flair a fan fave as President so the NWO don't have all the power but leave the World Title in their hands so they have some power, and remain a threat. If they wanted to get Flair a reign in between that's fine, give him a win over Hogan, a few high profile wins over NWO guys, then have him injured or some other screw job thing and Hogan gets the belt back. Goldberg was big money and was the future.

Likewise there was so much intrigue that could have been added when the All Stars of Injured Reserve started trickling in, remember at the end of 1998 Sting, Lex Luger, & Brett Hart were all out injured. Imagine the potential fireworks when they started returning and wanting in on the action, trying to get a piece of the World Title, with the NWO, surging Goldberg, and maybe even a tweener Flair who still wants that title back and has The Presidency in his back pocket. Lots of potential, DDP was really big at this time too.

Ive always said The Finger Poke of Doom was a brilliant move, totally shocked fans, great swerve by Nash, immediately established the NWO as one unit, one mega heel unit, and made the prospects of Goldberg-Nash II and Goldberg-Hogan II plus the spectre of Flair as President much more intriguing, even without Sting, Luger, & Hart. What they did going forward, starting with demoting Goldberg, the SuperBrawl screw job, and Flair's heel turn, was disastrous. The F-Poke itself was brilliant.

 

[FlairFan2003]

I think its a myth that the finger poke of doom was the beginning of the end for WCW. It certainly didn't taint the title like some made out, swerves etc always happened on wrestling. It was some of what they did after that that started the downward trend. I think turning DDP heel was a bad idea, he was insanely popular and could have and should have been booked in a great story arc that led to the title win. The Hogan-Flair role reversal was great as far as I'm concerned, I think people were ready for the old Hulk Hogan to come back (or at least partly). On the nWo vs nWo Wolfpac thing, I think Kevin Nash hit the nail on the head on the WWE Roundtable (nWo epidode) where he said splitting the nWo was a good idea but they didn't do enough with it, the two factions could have feuded creating fresh stories that could have kept WCW up top for another year or more.

The thing is there was some good stuff in 1999 I think people forget that, it really started to go down when Russo came in as far as I'm concerned. I'd say one of the biggest problems WCW had in 1999 looked over at WWF a little too much creating characters like Aysa for example who was clearly a rip off of Chyna. When Russo came in the show became a bit too much of a clusterf**k and that for me was where 1999 fell apart somewhat.

Watch the Hogan-Flair reversal at the March PPV, the crowd HATES IT, that's the most dead, disappointed crowd you'll ever see at a wrestling PPV. Someone on one of these boards once called it "How To Kill A Live Crowd 101", all they wanted was for "face" Flair to FINALLY topple "heel" Hogan, no one bought Hogan's out of nowhere new, brave, strong character and they absolutely hated seeing Flair wrestle like a cowardly heel. The only time the crowd pops at all (they are in stunned silence, seemingly really upset the whole match) is when Flair gets the pin and is declared champ, which isn't really what WCW was working for in that match. The turn was all Hogan's idea, so he wouldn't have to lose clean to Flair or down the road put over Goldberg or Brett Hart (who he refused to wrestle in any meaningful matches in WCW), turning him face saved him from doing what top heels always inevitably do, put over the good guy to the delight of the crowd.

 

[FlairFan2003]

NWO should of died off in one way or another at Starrcade 98, they had it all set up for a big Hall and Nash feud for the belt, Hogan was already off tv for months and all but retired, NWO was totally falling apart. And Hall and Nash had a feud going on.

Instead Hogan comes back, Hall and Nash rejoin at Starrcade via the tazzer on Goldberg.

The NWO being gone and Horsemen run would of been ok and something different, but still its another faction with control of WCW and its still old faces running the show. Everyone likes factions, but at that point WCW didn't need any factions besides some tag teams. And if you look at WCW they always had large groups even after the NWO was actually done. You had the NWO 2000 group, the Russo group, the Millionairs club, and so on. They really didn't need to go from NWO to Horseman, let alone having Flair headline PPVs.

Don't forget Flair was about as over as Goldberg in early 99, the last time a head to head Nitro beat RAW straight out in the ratings....Flair's return in Sept 98. Remember the organized sponsor protests and letter writing campaign fans did to get Flair back on TV in 98 ? How WCW had to steal signs at live shows from fans with sayings like "We Want Flair" and worse for WCW "Free Flair" ...lets not forget WWE was this close to putting Flair live on RAW in the middle of this but dropped the angle at the last second due to possible legal action from WCW (it was unclear if Flair had a valid contract or just a letter of intent that WCW had violated, rendering it non binding, and if he had in fact officially been fired). A lot of those "We Want Flair" and "Free Flair" signs showed up at WWE events too and were shown on screen on RAW even if the commentators didn't make remarks (couldn't get sued for that)

 

[relentless1]

the finger poke could have worked, had WCW remained on target and Goldberg ran through the nWo to get to Hogan. Hall in Jan, Luger in Feb, Nash in March, Hogan in April, id have Sting come back and stun the world by joining the Wolfpac and helping Hollywood retain, then you have a group of old guys (nWo) vs the fresh faces like Goldberg, Booker, Guerrero, Rey Jnr and Benoit led by veteran Flair. that way you have the youg guns vs the old lions like they tried a year later only this way it'd be much more organic.

 

[Bobbywoodhogan]

Watch the Hogan-Flair reversal at the March PPV, the crowd HATES IT, that's the most dead, disappointed crowd you'll ever see at a wrestling PPV. Someone on one of these boards once called it "How To Kill A Live Crowd 101", all they wanted was for "face" Flair to FINALLY topple "heel" Hogan, no one bought Hogan's out of nowhere new, brave, strong character and they absolutely hated seeing Flair wrestle like a cowardly heel. The only time the crowd pops at all (they are in stunned silence, seemingly really upset the whole match) is when Flair gets the pin and is declared champ, which isn't really what WCW was working for in that match. The turn was all Hogan's idea, so he wouldn't have to lose clean to Flair or down the road put over Goldberg or Brett Hart (who he refused to wrestle in any meaningful matches in WCW), turning him face saved him from doing what top heels always inevitably do, put over the good guy to the delight of the crowd.

I had that event and I'm not gonna argue over whether the crowd was fist or not as I can't remember but I don't remember it that way. Also the role reversal was actually Flair's idea, he practically begged a Hogan to turn face because he wanted to work as a heel. I actually remember the next night on Nitro the crowd were really into face Hogan and in the coming months so I'd say that aspect worked.

 

[thebarber]

The plan was for Goldberg to run through the NWO thus putting an end to the angle once and for all. But Goldberg was an idiot and nearly killed himself by attempting to punch through a glass window with his barehand. He was sidelined for months this putting months of story lines in flux. That explained why things were a cluster fuck in early '99.

yeah your about 12 months out. Goldberg did this at on the Nitro after Starcade 1999, which happened at the end of 1999. Wjen Bret Hart formed a new nWo with Nash, Steiner, Jarrett and Hall.

From memory, the idea was for a blended nWo with Hogan, Hall, Nash, Luger, Bagwell and Steiner. But Hall went down injured whilst holding the US Title, then Luger went down injured with a torn bicep. The concept screached to a halt before it got going, thus Hogan was left to fend for himself with the belt, Bagwell and Steiner split to heavily push Steiner into a solo career and Nash just continued being Nash.

 

[elsayedhussin]

I think its a myth that the finger poke of doom was the beginning of the end for WCW. It certainly didn't taint the title like some made out, swerves etc always happened on wrestling. It was some of what they did after that that started the downward trend. I think turning DDP heel was a bad idea, he was insanely popular and could have and should have been booked in a great story arc that led to the title win. The Hogan-Flair role reversal was great as far as I'm concerned, I think people were ready for the old Hulk Hogan to come back (or at least partly). On the nWo vs nWo Wolfpac thing, I think Kevin Nash hit the nail on the head on the WWE Roundtable (nWo epidode) where he said splitting the nWo was a good idea but they didn't do enough with it, the two factions could have feuded creating fresh stories that could have kept WCW up top for another year or more.

 

[FlairFan2003]

yeah your about 12 months out. Goldberg did this at on the Nitro after Starcade 1999, which happened at the end of 1999. Wjen Bret Hart formed a new nWo with Nash, Steiner, Jarrett and Hall.

From memory, the idea was for a blended nWo with Hogan, Hall, Nash, Luger, Bagwell and Steiner. But Hall went down injured whilst holding the US Title, then Luger went down injured with a torn bicep. The concept screached to a halt before it got going, thus Hogan was left to fend for himself with the belt, Bagwell and Steiner split to heavily push Steiner into a solo career and Nash just continued being Nash.

The reformed leaner NWO circa Jan 99 was Hogan-Nash-Hall (kind of the NWO jobber at this point due to his drug issues) with Steiner & Bagwell. They purged all the WCW guys that had at different points been in the fan fave Nash lead Wolf Pac and purged all the Black & White guys (mostly jobbers like Horace, Virgil, and Henning who had potential but was limited due to health and drugs).

At the end of 1998 WCW didn't have Sting, Hart, or Luger (all out with injuries) and they weren't a part of any storylines in early 99.

Till the day I die I will swear that the Finger Poke and subsequent reformed NWO was brilliant, immediately establishing them as a manageable size wise and main event level talent wise mega heel group, only now they were the hunters again, really for the 1st time since the 96 Invasion, because Flair was President so they couldn't hide behind Bischoff's screw job finishes and booking to save them. Flair was way over, Goldberg was huge, and their was major money on the table with would should have been a huge fued between GB & Nash (since Nash ended The Streak, stole the title, and gave it back to Hogan) which should have lead into GB-Hogan II. Instead even with really good ratings and fan interest they screwed it up because Hogan didn't want to be a heel anymore so we never got GB-Hogan, GB-Nash was pushed into a mid spring low level PPV as a mid card match, they had Flair job to Hogan again (WCW fans HATED THAT) and then turned Flair, their 2nd biggest face behind GB heel even though there wasn't anyone healthy on the roster to fill that spot save for DDP (who was way over but also inexplicably turned heel soon afterwards).

Don't even get started on how Sting & Hart were wasted in their returns it was horrible.

There was a lot of money on the table in WCW in early 99 if they stuck with Hogan/NWO vs Goldberg with Flair ( and when they returned) Sting & Hart on the edges alongside DDP. Totally wasted.

 

[Bobbywoodhogan]

The reformed leaner NWO circa Jan 99 was Hogan-Nash-Hall (kind of the NWO jobber at this point due to his drug issues) with Steiner & Bagwell. They purged all the WCW guys that had at different points been in the fan fave Nash lead Wolf Pac and purged all the Black & White guys (mostly jobbers like Horace, Virgil, and Henning who had potential but was limited due to health and drugs).

At the end of 1998 WCW didn't have Sting, Hart, or Luger (all out with injuries) and they weren't a part of any storylines in early 99.

Till the day I die I will swear that the Finger Poke and subsequent reformed NWO was brilliant, immediately establishing them as a manageable size wise and main event level talent wise mega heel group, only now they were the hunters again, really for the 1st time since the 96 Invasion, because Flair was President so they couldn't hide behind Bischoff's screw job finishes and booking to save them. Flair was way over, Goldberg was huge, and their was major money on the table with would should have been a huge fued between GB & Nash (since Nash ended The Streak, stole the title, and gave it back to Hogan) which should have lead into GB-Hogan II. Instead even with really good ratings and fan interest they screwed it up because Hogan didn't want to be a heel anymore so we never got GB-Hogan, GB-Nash was pushed into a mid spring low level PPV as a mid card match, they had Flair job to Hogan again (WCW fans HATED THAT) and then turned Flair, their 2nd biggest face behind GB heel even though there wasn't anyone healthy on the roster to fill that spot save for DDP (who was way over but also inexplicably turned heel soon afterwards).

Don't even get started on how Sting & Hart were wasted in their returns it was horrible.

There was a lot of money on the table in WCW in early 99 if they stuck with Hogan/NWO vs Goldberg with Flair ( and when they returned) Sting & Hart on the edges alongside DDP. Totally wasted.

Actually Flair was the one who begged Hogan to turn face again as he wanted to be a heel again. At least that's what I remember reading about it. Plus the audiences were ready for a Hogan to be a face again at that time.

 

[justtxyank]

The reformed leaner NWO circa Jan 99 was Hogan-Nash-Hall (kind of the NWO jobber at this point due to his drug issues) with Steiner & Bagwell. They purged all the WCW guys that had at different points been in the fan fave Nash lead Wolf Pac and purged all the Black & White guys (mostly jobbers like Horace, Virgil, and Henning who had potential but was limited due to health and drugs).

At the end of 1998 WCW didn't have Sting, Hart, or Luger (all out with injuries) and they weren't a part of any storylines in early 99.

Till the day I die I will swear that the Finger Poke and subsequent reformed NWO was brilliant, immediately establishing them as a manageable size wise and main event level talent wise mega heel group, only now they were the hunters again, really for the 1st time since the 96 Invasion, because Flair was President so they couldn't hide behind Bischoff's screw job finishes and booking to save them. Flair was way over, Goldberg was huge, and their was major money on the table with would should have been a huge fued between GB & Nash (since Nash ended The Streak, stole the title, and gave it back to Hogan) which should have lead into GB-Hogan II. Instead even with really good ratings and fan interest they screwed it up because Hogan didn't want to be a heel anymore so we never got GB-Hogan, GB-Nash was pushed into a mid spring low level PPV as a mid card match, they had Flair job to Hogan again (WCW fans HATED THAT) and then turned Flair, their 2nd biggest face behind GB heel even though there wasn't anyone healthy on the roster to fill that spot save for DDP (who was way over but also inexplicably turned heel soon afterwards).

Don't even get started on how Sting & Hart were wasted in their returns it was horrible.

There was a lot of money on the table in WCW in early 99 if they stuck with Hogan/NWO vs Goldberg with Flair ( and when they returned) Sting & Hart on the edges alongside DDP. Totally wasted.

Small correction: Luger was in the reformed nWo in early 1999.

Pic from the night they reformed: (notice Luger, top left)

He was supposed to be a pretty big part of the reformed nWo. He was the one that feuded with Konnan early on and was supposed to tag with Nash when they took Rey Mysterio Jr's mask. He tore his bicep though and was out for awhile and by the time he came back the nWo "elite" angle was over.

 

[Cub McCallister]

If I could I would like to rebook the wcw ppv for Slamboree I feel that this ppv could of been decent had it been done right starting off with.

1) Chris Benoit & Dean Malenko (C) Vs Raven & Perry Saturn Vs The Filthy Animals
Wcw Tag Team Title Triple Threat Match. I would keep the belts on Malenko and Benoit going in and have Raven and Saturn win the gold here and have a decent reign.

2) Randy Savage Vs Ric Flair
Winner Becomes President of Wcw. Make this a match instead and have Savage win the match.

3) Goldberg (C) Vs Kevin Nash Vs DDP Vs Sting
Wcw Title Fatal 4 Way Match. Keep the gold on Goldberg and have DDP win the match and the gold.

I feel that those were the important matches going into Slamboree the rest of the card can stay the same tbh.