"Crow"Sting vs Hollywood Hogan....OKC mentioned this to me in a PM and I was shocked that it had been overlooked.
-The setup was over a year long. The energy, hype and potential was built at a nice even pace. Sting didn't want to sign any other contracts to fight any other NWO wrestlers, he just wanted his shot at Hogan. -Not talking, descending from the rafters...awesome. -The NWO was king but they were still afraid of Sting -All in all, as I remember it, the buildup, foundation etc for this match/feud was executed very well.
Now the actual match and the total, absolute clusterfuck that was to happen on Nitro that following Monday, a Thunder or two etc was a true sight to behold and really the beginning of the sharp decline of WCW.
-Hogan wouldn't be pinned clean. Wasn't going to happen. -At Starrcade and during the biggest match in WCW history (and certainly up there in wrestling history) the end of the match is a convoluted, overbooked trainwreck. Bret Hart is out there, Nick Patrick is knocked out because he did a "Fast Count" for Hogan but he really didn't....the match itself was a bit underwhelming as well and only last 13 minutes or so...it wasn't even a real finish. -Bad for business. You have people buy the PPV, promise them the scintillating culmination of a feud, a match EVERYONE wanted for over a year....and you screw them out of their money, time and satisfaction. This was WCW to a "T" around this time, it would get worse....both for this "feud" and booking in general. Shockingly, this makes consumers feel a bit burned after a short, short while. They are also giving away HUGE matches FOR FREE. Dumb. -They try and give us the real ending during Nitro...the build up is bad, JJ Dillion wanted to be anywhere but there, a dumb mugging Bischoff ,a stupid and silly "challenge" and of course the rematch at the end of Nitro! Which was cut short because of "broadcasting limitations"...when really they wanted to show the "missing footage" on the new Thunder. So now, Nitro begins a week later and no one knows what is going on because they won't show the end of the match from the previous Nitro...nope, gotta wait 'till Thursday! Fucking Dumb. -Dumber Still: After all of this we still don't get a clean finish are a true "end" to it all. We get Dillion coming up and telling Sting to hand over the belt because it was being vacated. Vacated? After all of this? This is the end of the program? And end that isn't an end, just the beginning of the end for the company and the beginning of a horrible muddle through a swamp of shit...a pointless, poorly planned and quickly abandoned 4-Horsemen vs NWO program, Sting joining the Red/Black, Goldberg being mishandled and on and on. -What's Worse: Sting would never defeat Hollywood Hogan in a clean 1-2-3. He did win at SuperBrawl sometime later but only after interference or whatever. Just stupid. Hogan had his hands all over this one, he ruined it, he totally let his ego (again) fuck everything up.
-Sting defeating Hogan at Starrcade should have been the end or close to the end of the NWO program. It was just about out of steam and beginning its decline into nothingness. Sting wins and you have a few Nitro's/Thunders or even a Tuesday Night in Texas type 1 off special PPV or whatever...the NWO should have disbanded around this time. It didn't and would totally sink and bring the company down with it....but that is a story for another time.
|