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

[Cub McCallister]

I would change a few things around with this ppv tbh and have:

Goldberg Vs Sting
This match should of happened with Goldberg getting the win.

2) Raven & Perry Saturn (C) Vs Bam Bam Bigelow & Kanyon
Tag Team Title Match. Have raven and Saturn keep hold on the gold and lose them here at this event to BBB & Kanyon and send Raven out on a stretcher.

3) Ddp (C) Vs Kevin Nash
World Title Match. Keep the title Page for a month and have him lose it here to Nash and have Nash go on to defend it against Hart.

 

[FlairFan2003]

I would change a few things around with this ppv tbh and have:

Goldberg Vs Sting
This match should of happened with Goldberg getting the win.

2) Raven & Perry Saturn (C) Vs Bam Bam Bigelow & Kanyon
Tag Team Title Match. Have raven and Saturn keep hold on the gold and lose them here at this event to BBB & Kanyon and send Raven out on a stretcher.

3) Ddp (C) Vs Kevin Nash
World Title Match. Keep the title Page for a month and have him lose it here to Nash and have Nash go on to defend it against Hart.

Goldberg had already beaten Sting by this point in 1998

 

[Vader]

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.

Luger's fall from grace was astronomical. Did anyone ever think they'd see Luger feuding with Konan in 97? Absolutely not. Luger sort of fell through the cracks in 98. I don't think he had the contract or backstage clout that Hogan, Savage, Nash, and Flair did so WCW used him however they wanted.

 

[Wald]

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.

A few others have pointed out that you got your timeline wrong but I also know where you get that idea from. Nash has said in many interviews since, even in a WWE wrestling roundtable on the nWo, that the biggest problem the fingerpoke encountered was Goldberg doing that to himself. WWE ran with it like it was the truth and I don't know why because it isn't.

I think the fingerpoke was just part of the problem at the time. It started with Sting's non-win at Starrcade 97, continued with the horrible booking of Bret Hart and was most highlighted by how they treated Flair when he returned. That awesome segment of Flair and the Horsemen telling Bischoff to go to hell was followed by a few weeks of the Horsemen getting their asses kicked before they were just shunted down the card again. It was a slap in the face to fans, the same way Sting's non-win was, the same way Bret's booking was and the same way Nash booking himself to beat Goldberg and lay down for Hogan was.

WCW and Bischoff only cared about the heels and Hogan. They never gave us fans the pay off we wanted in any of these feuds and fans started getting pissed and leaving (hello Vince McMahon in 2015!). Everyone loved the nWo at the start and they really ushered in that era of cool heels, but as much as we might cheer the heels there is always going to be a part of us that wants the heroes like Sting, Flair, Goldberg and Bret to eventually take them on and win. WCW never gave us those victories and that's what led to the decline of the ratings in mid-1999.

Luger's fall from grace was astronomical. Did anyone ever think they'd see Luger feuding with Konan in 97? Absolutely not. Luger sort of fell through the cracks in 98. I don't think he had the contract or backstage clout that Hogan, Savage, Nash, and Flair did so WCW used him however they wanted.

For whatever criticisms people have of Luger I think one thing that has to be said is that he was an old school guy who valued the company just as much as himself, possibly even more. Probably his relationship with Sting and the influence of Flair but he was never in the same league of a me-me-me attitude as a Hogan, Nash or Hall

 

[Vader]

comrade, I watched Super Brawl 98 last night (just posted in the review thread). When Luger came out there were fans chanting Luger sucks once he got in the ring and I swear he spit on a fan walking back to the dressing room. I think Luger will always have a reputation for a stale move set despite all the athletic ability in the world, but always for hurting many guys he would wrestle. His win over Hogan in 97 was huge, but short lived. By virtue of his physique alone he was easily an upper mid card guy, but something never clicked with him in the ring and out .

 

[CrucifiedRaven]

A few others have pointed out that you got your timeline wrong but I also know where you get that idea from. Nash has said in many interviews since, even in a WWE wrestling roundtable on the nWo, that the biggest problem the fingerpoke encountered was Goldberg doing that to himself. WWE ran with it like it was the truth and I don't know why because it isn't.

This is true, even I've been mislead by it. Nash's timeline in his shoots is all messed up. Maybe because he was always drunk in them, or because it was the same angle for 3 years. Fingerpoke of Doom and n.W.o. Elite happened in January 1999. Goldberg sliced his forearm in December 1999, almost a full year later. He was chasing down n.W.o. 2000, not n.W.o. Elite.

Who knows what the original plan for n.W.o. Elite was. I am pretty sure they didn't even have a plan. All they had was n.W.o. vs Four Horsemen, the exact same thing as fall 1997.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

I agree it wasn't The Finger Poke of Doom that messed up WCW in 1999. And like many I think there were other factors that lead to WCW's demise in 1999.

- Goldberg not getting revenge against the nWo

- Turning Flair heel and making him look like a psychopath

- Turning DDP heel who was probably 2nd to Goldberg it terms of popularity as a face. I wasn't a WCW guy but I could see WCW really making money out of a DDP main event face push.

- Superstars coming and going leading to a product lacking in continuity (Hogan, Savage, Flair, Bret Hart, Sid) they would return leave then return again so there was never consistency. Though to be fair some of that wasn't WCW fault.

 

[FlairFan2003]

Luger's fall from grace was astronomical. Did anyone ever think they'd see Luger feuding with Konan in 97? Absolutely not. Luger sort of fell through the cracks in 98. I don't think he had the contract or backstage clout that Hogan, Savage, Nash, and Flair did so WCW used him however they wanted.

Considering the fact WCW claimed they fired Flair then refused to let him sign with WWE claiming he was still under contract leading to a messy multi million dollar law suit I fail to see what "clout" Flair had during 1998....the only clout he had came from wrestling fans who organized letter writing campaigns to Turner Broadcasting to get him reinstated, sent protest letters threatening product boycotts to WCW advertising sponsors, and of course the constant site of "We Want Flair" signs in WCW arenas during this time, often confiscated by security.

In fairness to Luger, although 1998 wasn't a great year for him, he wasn't used any worse than Savage was, or Brett Hart for that matter.