I remember watching this match. People were getting sick of goldberg's win streak, the building exploded when Nash got the 3 count on him (with the help of Hall). It was long overdue!!!
Goldberg’s act got old really fast. I couldn’t stand him anymore after 3 months on top. Nash was definitely over at the end of 98 but so was DDP who easily should have beat him as well. Or Sting for that matter.
@@BStudd1182 That's YOUR opinion - to ME Goldberg was the BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO WRESTLING and Nash NEVER would have beaten him STRAIGHT UP if it wasn't already FIXED to end the way it did !
It's true half the crowd hated Goldberg even after Nash and Hall screwed him over. This is a huge reason why The Finger Poke of Doom was such a massive failure..it eliminated all the cool heels and anti hero babyfaces. There was no one left for half the crowd who hated Goldberg to root for..
@@thebambino4728 I disagree I think hogan , warrior, macho man , Andre, razor ,diesel ,bret ,Shawn , triple h , the 4 horsemen , dusty , the rock , stone cold ,undertaker ,kane , ECW , Jericho, Rey Mysterio , Eddie Guerrero, sting , Vader ,Ron Simmons, was THE BEST THING EVER! FOR Wrestling
Problem was, it made sense but A) should’ve been DDP and B) WCW Neeeeeeeveeeeerrrrrr cold move from one hot angle to the next. I popped for Nash though! 😆
Tony Almonte DDP beating Goldberg at Halloween Havoc would’ve been amazing...but Hogan/Warrior ran long and DDP/Goldberg got cut off the PPV broadcast.
I think the reason why the fans chanted Goldberg sucks is because they probably were just tired of him already with the whole not so much wrestling only take down power moves killer unstoppable monster type thing so they wanted something else 🤷🏻♂️
I mean it was a good pop, but was kind of lame considering the circumstances, DDP’s diamond cutter at Halloween Havoc, now THAT was a thunderous pop. Had DDP got the pin, the roof would have exploded.
Maybe even more so than the fingerpoke is the gradual forgetting of Goldberg's beef with Hogan and Nash. He fell out of the world title picture and other than a couple of teases, never got back in.
Amen. It kills me how many fans that weren’t watching wrestling then think that Goldberg was super over at this time. Because of what they’ve been told by dirt sheets and WWE produced documentaries in the last 20 years they’ve got it in their heads that Goldberg was the most over wrestler ever and Kevin Nash is just some POS he was never over that the fans really hated but he just booked himself to win titles everywhere he went. Kevin Nash didn’t start booking really until his main run was over. Kevin Nash was really over and Goldberg was really over at one time but by the time of November 1998 Goldberg still had some fans but they were chanting “Goldberg sucks” by the end of 1998. Kevin Nash and his Wolfpack were the most over thing in WCW at the time. Just because Bill was over six months earlier doesn’t mean that that’s how the story stayed in reality forever. NWO black and white was the most over thing in WCW from 1996 through about the fall of 1997. By the end of 98 nWo black and white was completely dead by this time. You still have an NWO black and white but the fans didn’t give a shit about it by the end of 1998. I think the funniest thing is that it’s not like these are all lost tapes that you can’t ever watch again but new fans want argue with me to the point were there almost wishing that I would die because I’m telling them as a fan of WCW back then, and also someone who doesn’t heat bill Goldberg I appreciate Bill for what you did for WCW, so it’s not like I was trying to say bad things about Goldberg just because I didn’t like him or anything. The point is WWE has all of the nitro episodes and all of the PPV’s on the network . Don’t take my word for it just go watch WCW 1998. Sorry I hate to tell everyone but Kevin Nash was more over than Goldberg at the end of 1998. But when you have WWE documentaries where they have Jim Ross, another person in wrestling that I love and respect but Jim Ross was not in WCW at this time. He had left WCW 4 or five years already by this point, But they had JR get on the documentary and say that Kevin Nash beating Bill Goldberg is what sank the ship and now everyone just takes that is fact even though countless people in the wrestling business have said WWE documentaries change history to fit whatever story WWE was telling at that time. WWE documentaries are as much as of work as their matches are.
Nash and the Wolfpac were one of the hottest things in wrestling. Nash winning at Starrcade was the right decision. The way Goldberg lost was the right decision. The finger poke of doom and the re launch of an elite nwo was the right decision. The issue they had was directly after this, Goldberg injured his knee and was on the shelf almost a month later. Hall had injuries and issues, and was off TV a few months later. Lex got injured the following week. Sting was out until March. DDP was injured until April. The new NWO was created, but didn’t have a face to fight except for Ric Flair, and at that stage no one was screaming for Hogan v Flair
My favorite thing about Nash is he's realistic when he talks about his wrestling skills. "Yeah, that would've been a barnburner." I'm fucking dying 😅😅😅.
@@Y2JLionHeart It's a shame cause they re write history. In a 4 way match with hogan, sting, Flair and ddp for example, they cut out the real "give up" which was said by hogan cause he was hurt. And so many things more. Not only the songs and the posters but also noises, screams and so on. And there dvd not good or fair done. The nwo DVD was a total Desaster...
Goldberg vs Nash is one of my favourite matches. It had a perfect ending and Big sexy was the perfect candidate for ending the Streak. The Fingerpoke of Doom was horrible because they didn't do anything great to follow it up. It could have been a great swerve.
Like Nash said they had a whole 7 month story line planned that the Fingerpoke was supposed to kick start. I'd have loved that especially if the last two for Goldberg would have been Nash and Hogan.
For any serious fans who were plugged in back in those days, Nash was the only credible opponent to possibly end the streak, even with the shenanigans. Even through cheating it would have seemed really stupid if it had been anyone else. Even Sting. Nash had the charisma, he was a giant, he had been WWF champion for a full year, he founded the NWO. He was the guy.
@AEW IS COMPETITION Yep. The momentum of Stone Cold, the Rock and Monday night Raw played the biggest role in the WWF taking back control of the Monday night wars. The FPOD had very little effect on any of that. No matter what WCW did, Raw was becoming the hotter and better product. The NWO angle had played out for 3 full years at this point. I think they could have booked it better and avioded the coming collapse, but the WWF was going to take over no matter what they did. They would have been behind WWF but better booking could have kept their ratings high late into 1999 and early 2000. WCW booking became so sporadic from mid '99 on that its tanked the product.
I remember being a teenage mark at the time. I didn't mind Nash beating Goldberg at all. Goldberg had been on top for such a long time by then, this made me jump out of my seat and it made me go "Holy shit, it's happened!" If people debate Starrcade 1998, I don't get it, you can't have Goldberg undefeated forever and if he loses, it should happen at a major PPV and against an opponent the fans buy. Now Nash wasn't an up-and-coming star that probably could've used beating Goldberg as a major stepping stone towards stardom, but Nash was mega over and he was legit the second biggest babyface in the company and not too far behind Goldberg. The thing that didn't make sense however was the fingerpoke of doom, Hogan getting the title and nWo getting back together. Perhaps even the fingerpoke itself wouldn't be the real problem here, but the fact the title went to Hogan yet again and they wanted to do yet another "nWo is destroying everyone" angle for months...man, that was just yawn as that's what they were doing for the previous almost three years by that point. It was time to move on and this showed WCW really has nothing else to offer creatively besides nWo and Hogan on top. Even if Nash lost the title to Hogan in a proper match, it wouldn't have worked. At a time when WWE had Foley, The Rock, Austin, HHH and whole cast of fresh, mega over talents, WCW decided to just once again do the same old shit. It doesn't matter how they got there, it was never going to work. What WCW should've done was turn Nash heel in the match against Goldberg, have him cheat like a mfer to win and then have heel Nash being the biggest fucking douchebag ever on top. Let Sting, Luger and Konnan leave him, because they can't believe what he's done. Have Scott Hall question his actions too. And have Nash explain that he needed to prove to himself he can still do it and he knew he can't do it otherwise. And off of that, either build to a huge rematch with Goldberg, or build a new star who eventually dethrones Nash. But WCW at that point was too messed up by egos, backstage politics, etc. to be able to have a clear and sensible vision like this for their product.
I agree with Nash with how they beat Goldberg the right way if he was going to/had to get beat. Make him have to take on the world and kick out right AFTER three to show all of that had to happen to beat him. He couldn’t be beat clean
it's insane that Nash did not want to have a huge match with Hogan, which they were building up the entire year, simply because they are not the best workers, if we put it mildly. That's plain BS right there. Nash is all about the money. There was big money in that match. That didn't happen not because of mediocre technical skills, but because of ego and a crazy binding contract.
Was never a Diesel/Nash fan but I kind of like his attitude of not taking everything too seriously and trying to make money with as little effort as possible 😄 He's the polar opposite of the way Brett Hart comes off
Nash don’t understand people were pissed cause it was stupid, not cause it was a genius move to give hogan the belt like that. It made people stop watching and to this day he still defends it like it was a strategic business move.
First, he was being nice and not burying Hogan for it being his idea. Second, he said they had a story that got wrecked because Goldberg got injured. I think the crowd anger could have been ok if they could have done the planned angle.
Kevin Nash was Suuuuppperr over, especially in the Wolfpac. Anyone who say's that he was hated at that time definitely need to re-watch the crowd pop after Nash wins the title,
THIS. Nash was big time over before the fingerpoke. He was the perfect guy to end the streak becuase he was a giant, and they still had to cheat big time. It kept Goldberg strong, way more than if he had lost to a babyface like sting or Paige.
@@ryankeefe6222 after the jackknife, nash falls backward into the turnbuckle ... out comes DDP .. Goldberg gets up .. DIAMOND CUTTER .. DDP grabs Nash and throws him on top of Goldberg ... 1 2 3
Nash was stupid over in 98, he probably was the best bet outside of maybe DDP (him winning with a Diamond Cutter out of nowhere would've blown any roof in America clean off). Frankly the issue was never Nash ending the streak, it was everything after it that caused issues.
@@ryankeefe6222 That would have been stupid and made Goldberg look mortal. Losing to Nash WITH shenanigans galore kept the superman persona alive for Bill.
There probably wasn't one person, it was a discussion that went through multiple people until they reached some kind of consensus where everyone was happy, and WCW was famously a mess where things would only get booked minutes before they went on air so i can't blame him for not remembering who tf it was but he makes a great point that it did not benefit him in any way and he was indeed more over than Goldberg at the time people just need to rewatch the damn match to know that lol
I always liked Kevin Nash. He was a big strong guy who was cool. Goldberg was too UNDISCIPLINED in the ring. Some wrestlers didn't trust working with him.
What a legend to admit Bishof’s point wasn’t unfounded but classily defended himself saying he still worked hard, just not on that top level. It happens to everyone at some point. Honest and good man to have the guts to say it to the camera
Nash trying to defend a massive-hyped match which was really a middle finger to everyone watching. Meanwhile same night WWF had possibly the most memorable title win on Raw
This is how I feel about it too. People weren't pissed because "oh damnit, you got me". They were pissed because it was the lamest possible thing they could have executed for this story. Made no sense at all. It's hard to go back and watch some of these WCW matches around this time, they really couldn't help themselves when it came to misreading the fans and pushing talent (or lack of).
Lmao no he wasn’t. The crowds had very little reaction to Nash. He was just pushed to the moon. When he beat Goldberg that was the biggest pop he ever got in his entire wrestling tenure.
Nash doesnt understand... Or maybe he didnt want to admit it back then... People were pissed off, but not the same type of pissed off to where the heel gets put over and then you want to see them get their ass kicked next week. Fans were pissed off to the point where they didnt want to watch WCW anymore. We were dissapointed It was garbage. But I think they did a good job with ending Goldberg's streak. It was time. Its not that people had enough of Goldberg, fans just wanted to see something different. And it was Nash's moment to be the man and face of the business.
Finger poke of Doom is when I stopped watching WCW. Crazy to hear so many others did they same thing. Nash fails to realize how big tht match was. Leader of the NWO who ran WCW for years faced Nash leader of the Wolfpack. They teased the match for sooo long. It was a build up, and this was the final straw
@@inthahous87 no nash broke away from the nwo and made the Wolfpack. Alot of members of nwo became part of the Wolfpack and had fued for awhile. I know macho man, lex luger was part the pack. There was a story line where Sting had pick between nwo who was black and white colors or Wolfpack who was black and red. Sting ultimately became part Wolfpack and tht why he had red facepaint for awhile.
@@inthahous87 the original formation of nwo was the big 3 Nash, Hall and Hogan. Then it grew way to big to the point half the wwc roster was part nwo. Then nash and hogan started arguing saying there can only be one top dog in the nwo. So originally nash and macho man left nwo and made Wolfpack where eventually Sting, luger and Conan jointed. If you type "WCW Wolfpack formation" in youtube there's videos
Why not Bret Hart? After the Screwjob he was the Hottest person in the business. If WCW had used the Screwjob to there advantage Hart could have been as big as WWF's Steve Austin. Bret could have been brought in as an angry technical wrester looking for revenge on the industry that screwed him tearing though NWO and WCW. Then in September begin the feud with the undefeated vs the best leading to there first match at Halloween Havoc with a DQ finish when NWO gets involved. keep them apart till Starrcade, in the mean time build up there angel with big promos and singles squash matchs proving both are legit touch guys. then at Starrcade they Main Event with Bret beating him with the Sharpshooter. After the match they shake hands and vow to take down NWO together. For the next 3 months they have tag matchs vs NWO . In a match vs Hall and Nash Hart accidently hit Goldberg with an elbow to the face leading to a rematch at Next big Pay-Per-View where Goldberg Beats Hart in an epic match where both walk away looking amazing... after Hart get a title match vs Hogan, which he wins. Goldberg goes on a second winning streak but this time no squash matches... Meanwhile Bret become an amazing champ keeping the belt for over a year....
@@hippiepeter Bret would never have been as big as Steve Austin. Bret's promos are average a best. He can make you look great in the ring, but that is pretty much where it ends.
@@williamblackfyre4866 Many people in the business also thought he have been WCWs answer to Stone Cold instead of pushing a guy who was no better then the Ultimate Warrior...
@The Ninth Heart Then I challenge you to do what Peter Cataldo couldn't, link one, just one truly awesome promo from the Hitman. (It doesn't exist, his best promo is with Piper before their Intercontinental championship match. Brett isn't what I would call 'good', but he is a not as stiff as he usually is and you can see a glimmer of emotion.) Austin was also pretty damn good in the ring until he broke his neck. I don't know if you remember the Hollywood Blondes but him and Pillman were one of the best tag teams going at the time. Brett was better on the mat, without question. But Austin was a better promo by such a wide margin, which is why he was a bigger draw as champion and lasted in the business much longer than Brett even after he broke his neck and had to become a kick/punch wrestler and it cut his career short.
My story was always that the Fingerpoke killed WCW because we wanted Hall and Nash together against Hogan and were denied. That is until I found an old letter in my grandpa's basement that I wrote back in 1998 that I meant to send to a wrestling magazine. In the letter I explained how "I wanted the Wolfpac to ditch Sting and reunite with Hollywood to take out Goldberg" and reading that letter took me back in time and I remembered everybody in my Middle School wanted the exact same thing. Then I remembered us all making fun of Hogans Jncos and that was the last I recall any talking about WCW.
"They cheered me when I beat Goldberg" like they cheered Maven when he kicked Undertaker out of the Rumble, don't mean squat, it was such a bad move no on got elevated, all for a couple shows worth of elevated ratings.
I think being that the finger poke was never done before, by them doing it thinking it will cause a buzz but instead they got heat for it, thinking it will become something I guess
I remember watching the match and the fact is the arena and people like myself all popped like the marks we are. The majority of the people loved it. The mistake was not Nash winning it was the fact they didn't book the chase to get it back. Hindsight being 20/20 of course, Goldberg could have gone through the nwo one by one until getting to a rematch with Nash. Hogan could have interfered then and cost Bill the match and then, the fingerpoke of doom works fine the next nitro. Goldberg beats Hogan again, regains the strap and then Nash and him go at it and Bill finally gets the win clean. That could have been epic and the proper formula. However, it did not happen that way and I can say this with the benefit of hindsight. The point is beating Goldberg was not the problem, especially when you were making him lose to Nash who actually had far more momentum.
Goldberg's first lost should have been a fatal 4 way,nash,gaint, goldberg of course and a new up coming guy to win,nash and giant wearing goldberg down during the match and the new up coming guy to win,yes nash's finish move,giants finish and the new guys finish
@@mikelandryjr7310 that's fantastic. This way, he still appears as strong and before, and the loss seems believable. Also, you create a new superstar right there. You, my friend, should have been WCW's head booker
Its obvious what happened. Hogan saw how over the Wolfpac was and cried his way into it backstage thus giving us that fingerpoke. Then we had Hogan wearing Jncos talking gangster lol we all left at that point from the cringe. Here is what should've happened the night of the finger poke: Hogan and Nash in the main event the same Nitro but without the fingerpoke, when the bell rings Goldberg interferes and ruins the match and then the 2 NWO factions come out and fight along as well with Nitro going off the air. Then it builds to a war between Wolfpac and Hollywood and Goldberg leading to Nash/Hogan/Goldberg at the next PPV as the blow off. That's how u book immediately after the streak ended.
In other interviews Nash said he booked it and why did he because he could. So even if he did or didn't it was a huge mistake killing the streak with a bad match like this. There was little to no build up to the match and no follow up angel or matches. So that leaves you with no reason for it which I am sure hurt what was left WCW business at that time. Even if half the arena chanted Goldberg sucks he still got a way bigger pop then Nash. Matches like this are a big reason WCW failed.
Huh? Starrcade 98 was WCW's 4th best drawing PPV that they ever did, and Superbrawl 99 was the third best. Nash beating Goldberg didn't kill WCW. The fingerpoke didn't kill WCW. What killed WCW was Bischoff never actually putting an end to the nWo angle and never really pushing anyone that had nothing to do with the nWo, so people got sick of it. And then Russo pushed the corpse off a cliff.
@@Cruising_On_Lake_Havasoma The WCW was already on a sharp decline by the finger poke match, it just put the final nail in the coffin. For a short time Goldberg was the only wrestler fans got behind until they started getting tired of seeing him in the same 3 minute squash matches every week. WCW had tons of talent that was poorly utilized and not given a chance because of selfish guys like Nash and Hogan. I feel like Nash's ego couldn't handle the fact Goldberg was more over then he was and he ended the streak for this own selfishness hurting the one thing that WCW still had going for them.
@@hippiepeter Fair point. That shitshow of a match at Starrcade 97 was what started the downhill slide and if not for Goldberg ratings/buyrates would have tanked even sooner than they did. They even could have salvaged things after the FPOD (which actually has it's own wiki page) had they actually followed up on it, but "That doesn't work for me, brother."
I've watched a few shoot interviews with Kevin Nash saying one of the reasons why the fingerpoke of doom was a failure was the fact that they were going to build up Goldberg for months, defeating many members of the nWo Wolfpac Elite before getting to Hogan, but then Goldberg injured himself on the limo glass "a few weeks later" and that screwed up the whole idea. But I've just looked it up and that Limo incident happened on a December 23rd episode of Thunder. Correct me if I'm wrong but January 4th to December 23rd is quite a bit longer than "a few weeks"
Yeah, plus you'd have to believe that Hogan, having put Goldberg over clean as a whistle in July 1998, would go along with doing another job to Goldberg a year or so later after Goldberg ran through the nWo despite having creative control - even though he main evented several PPVs right after that, brought Warrior to WCW to get his win back from 8 years earlier (and ruined Halloween Havoc by making it go long so it would go off the air before Goldberg-DDP), and had completely kneecapped Luger (winning the title back 6 days after losing it to him) and Sting (by the BS at Starrcade 1997 when the logical ending to the story was Sting finally vanquishing the nWo).
@@MikeG82 Nick Patrick was supposed to do a fast count when Hogan pinned Sting, then Bret Hart would stop him from declaring Hogan the winner, restart the match and then Sting would win. That's what happened - except that Patrick was told by Hogan to NOT do a fast count, so Hogan actually won and it made Sting look bad.
Nash should have lost to goldberg and with that it would make sense for the wolfpack to turn heel, finger poke of doom could have still happened. In the end someone like Booker T in a surprise could have ended the streak and become a bigger star.
@@colinnixon7739 DDP was white hot at the time, and with the suddenness of the Diamond Cutter it would've been a believable finish. Countering the spear or the jackhammer with the diamond cutter would've been an epic way to end the streak.
Ill never forget me and my friends watching the finger poke of Doom. We like WWF more but we would always switch channels between the two shows. We were all about 17-18 years old when we all started hanging out everyday and having Monday night parties and watching wrestling. We watched more WCW than raw at first and that was when sting came back as the crow and the nwo. Then WWF caught steam with the Rock joining the nation, SCSA vs Vince,Sable. We started watching raw more often and each week it seemed we'd watch less and less of WCW. After the fpod we barely tuned into WCW and it was a wrap.
Neither thing was that bad. I see it as revisionist history from the WWF/WWE. Wrestling was dead as disco before Nitro. WCW and Jerry Springer is what helped the WWF. All went south after WCW was gone
I wasn’t against Nash beating Goldberg at all (especially the way it happened). The finger poke of Doom straight afterwards was clearly a terrible idea on so many levels though
The finger poke of doom isn't that different in concept to Hogan's heel turn in with the Outsiders. It was designed to piss people off. The problem was the follow up that never happened. It fizzled because Goldberg hurt himself.
I agree with Nash for the most part. But,correct me if I’m wrong,but didn’t the Goldberg fist through the window incident not occur until the nwo black and silver,that didn’t take place until late 1998 or early 1999? I think his timeline is messed up on that one.
Losing didn't hurt the Undertaker or Kane. In fact, it made their loses more meaningful when they happened. Goldberg took his ball and went home and cried like a little bitch because he lost.
Flashback : Lord Steven/Sir William Regal almost accidentally ended Goldberg's Streak by showing how embarrassingly bad his wrestling skills were. See here. 👇🏼 czcams.com/video/Y4IdelJfk2k/video.html
The fingerpoke killed wcw for me..it was a dumb angle. I was pissed because I wanted the belt on anyone but Hogan. I used to watch either wcw or wwe and flip to the other during commercials. However when the Fingeroke happened I flipped to wwe and never watched another minute of wcw. After seeing highlights of the last cpl years of wcw I made the right choice.
Goldberg needed to lose. I think 1000-0 would have been a bit much. And at the time Nash was white hot with the Wolfpac. Good decision on Nash beating Goldberg
It's not just a one man show. You have to have foresight if you're going to beat your top guy like that. Bottom line is, Nash was a jealous bitch that didn't know shit about booking or running a wrestling company
Goldberg got stale in a year. Kevin Nash was like Undertaker. He stayed relevant, he stayed fresh and he had the crowd in his hand. Same with Sting. Nash, Ric Flair, Macho Man and Sting were the shit in WCW.
The finger poke of doom did not work in my opinion.. I feel like that was the start of the demise of WCW.. and if it wasn’t the start, it sure did help
after the goldberg streak ended goldberg aura of invincibility should of ended too i feel like him winning too much hurt his career for example if goldberg face sting it would been good if sting won 1 goldberg won 1 and who ever won the 3rd
I wish Nash would realize the huge reason why The Finger Poke of Doom was such a massive failure wasn't because people were upset over being swerved by Heels.. It was that it eliminated all the cool heels and anti hero babyfaces completely from the landscape. Half the crowd hated Goldberg even after the Wolfpac screwed him over. There was no one left for half the crowd who hated Goldberg to root for. It felt like all the evolving WCW did from 96-99 to move past the old predictable played out "Babyfaces vs Heels" days with no nuance in between was back in full effect.
Funny Nash lost the title in the infamous Finger Poke match with Hogan... and when he was in the WWF (WWE), Bob Backlund had a great match with Bret Hart and defeated Bret to win the championship title. The next night, Bob Backlund faces Diesel (Kevin Nash) and as soon as the bell rings to start the match, Diesel kicks Bob and powerbombs him, pins him and beats him in 5 seconds to win the title czcams.com/video/6AFvk3StVWQ/video.html - Diesel Wins Title from Bob Backlund
I thought the Finger Poke of Doom was a great angle in retrospect. As Kevin says, it got them where they needed to be while at the same time generating massive heat on them and totally fit their characters at that time. I don't see the big problem there. Sure people were disappointed they didn't get the match, but it was a swerve, people! That's what a swerve does. It takes a hard left turn from everyone's expectations of what the result should be. Nothing could have done that better than the finger poke angle.
I don’t believe that Goldberg sucks nonsense. Goldberg was WCW in 1998. I was at a house show in October 1998 and everyone was on their feet chanting Goldberg and cheering when he beat the Giant.
Honestly they should’ve ended the streak at halloween havoc 98 when ddp reverses the jackknife into the diamond cutter. Since they didnt do that this was probably their next best bet. But the fingerpoke should not have happened period
I was a big Nash fan and when Hall helped him win I was like alright the real Wolfpac coming now. Then Hogan had to be part of it and I was like awe boo. Lol! Nash was leader of wolfpac if anything he should of been the leader it should of been Goldberg wanted his rematch that night and Hogan comes down and gets Nash DQ’d. So Hogan and others joining his stable. Hogan didn’t always need to be the leader.
As a kid I thought the poke was hilarious. I also loved Goldberg regardless of what people thought about him or the run. As a child I was thrilled. I was ok with him losing it to Nash as well, loved them both.
Nash did book that match and he dropped it the next day. Not only did they end the streak too early (as the ratings started a steady decline from that moment), the Nash-Goldberg match and angle were nonsensical and poorly executed. Giving the belt to Hogan the next night was probably more because of Hogan's PPV main event stipulation in his contract. WCW had the WWF hurting, but mismanagement and the constant pushing of old, tired wrestlers did WCW in. The younger, better wrestlers (Jericho, Benoit, Eddie, etc.) got few pushes until they jumped to the WWF/WWE. Every time that WCW tried to out-Vince-McMahon Vince McMahon (early 1990s and the latter part of the Monday Night Wars), they lost.
Nash is right when he says he looked like a douche with the whole finger point of doom.
It hurt his rep way more than Goldberg.
I remember watching this match. People were getting sick of goldberg's win streak, the building exploded when Nash got the 3 count on him (with the help of Hall). It was long overdue!!!
Ddp should have beaten him clean, it was time for both of them
Goldberg’s act got old really fast. I couldn’t stand him anymore after 3 months on top. Nash was definitely over at the end of 98 but so was DDP who easily should have beat him as well. Or Sting for that matter.
@@BStudd1182 That's YOUR opinion - to ME Goldberg was the BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO WRESTLING and Nash NEVER would have beaten him STRAIGHT UP if it wasn't already FIXED to end the way it did !
It's true half the crowd hated Goldberg even after Nash and Hall screwed him over. This is a huge reason why The Finger Poke of Doom was such a massive failure..it eliminated all the cool heels and anti hero babyfaces. There was no one left for half the crowd who hated Goldberg to root for..
@@thebambino4728 I disagree I think hogan , warrior, macho man , Andre, razor ,diesel ,bret ,Shawn , triple h , the 4 horsemen , dusty , the rock , stone cold ,undertaker ,kane , ECW , Jericho, Rey Mysterio , Eddie Guerrero, sting , Vader ,Ron Simmons, was THE BEST THING EVER! FOR Wrestling
I was there (in Xpac voice). We were all chanting "Goldberg Sucks!"
Underrated comment.
@@craighoskins5311 I was 13. We went crazy when Scott Hall ran out.
@@manfredaxcore What was the percentage of fans cheering Nash and Goldberg?
@@MohamedAli-xu3uw where i was sitting, probably 75% for Nash, 25% Goldberg.
@@manfredaxcore I heard there was a lot of booing after the whole wolfpac came out when the show went off the air. Is that also true?
The roof blew off the Building when Nash beat Goldberg...
Problem was, it made sense but A) should’ve been DDP and B) WCW Neeeeeeeveeeeerrrrrr cold move from one hot angle to the next. I popped for Nash though! 😆
Tony Almonte DDP beating Goldberg at Halloween Havoc would’ve been amazing...but Hogan/Warrior ran long and DDP/Goldberg got cut off the PPV broadcast.
Thats not true the whole match happened
I think the reason why the fans chanted Goldberg sucks is because they probably were just tired of him already with the whole not so much wrestling only take down power moves killer unstoppable monster type thing so they wanted something else 🤷🏻♂️
I mean it was a good pop, but was kind of lame considering the circumstances, DDP’s diamond cutter at Halloween Havoc, now THAT was a thunderous pop. Had DDP got the pin, the roof would have exploded.
Nash beating him was fine because he was mega over the fingerpoke was the slippery slope that unraveled everything.
Facts
Maybe even more so than the fingerpoke is the gradual forgetting of Goldberg's beef with Hogan and Nash. He fell out of the world title picture and other than a couple of teases, never got back in.
Amen. It kills me how many fans that weren’t watching wrestling then think that Goldberg was super over at this time. Because of what they’ve been told by dirt sheets and WWE produced documentaries in the last 20 years they’ve got it in their heads that Goldberg was the most over wrestler ever and Kevin Nash is just some POS he was never over that the fans really hated but he just booked himself to win titles everywhere he went. Kevin Nash didn’t start booking really until his main run was over. Kevin Nash was really over and Goldberg was really over at one time but by the time of November 1998 Goldberg still had some fans but they were chanting “Goldberg sucks” by the end of 1998. Kevin Nash and his Wolfpack were the most over thing in WCW at the time. Just because Bill was over six months earlier doesn’t mean that that’s how the story stayed in reality forever. NWO black and white was the most over thing in WCW from 1996 through about the fall of 1997. By the end of 98 nWo black and white was completely dead by this time. You still have an NWO black and white but the fans didn’t give a shit about it by the end of 1998. I think the funniest thing is that it’s not like these are all lost tapes that you can’t ever watch again but new fans want argue with me to the point were there almost wishing that I would die because I’m telling them as a fan of WCW back then, and also someone who doesn’t heat bill Goldberg I appreciate Bill for what you did for WCW, so it’s not like I was trying to say bad things about Goldberg just because I didn’t like him or anything. The point is WWE has all of the nitro episodes and all of the PPV’s on the network . Don’t take my word for it just go watch WCW 1998. Sorry I hate to tell everyone but Kevin Nash was more over than Goldberg at the end of 1998. But when you have WWE documentaries where they have Jim Ross, another person in wrestling that I love and respect but Jim Ross was not in WCW at this time. He had left WCW 4 or five years already by this point, But they had JR get on the documentary and say that Kevin Nash beating Bill Goldberg is what sank the ship and now everyone just takes that is fact even though countless people in the wrestling business have said WWE documentaries change history to fit whatever story WWE was telling at that time. WWE documentaries are as much as of work as their matches are.
Exactly I thought Nash winning looked legit because if not Nash then who?
Nash and the Wolfpac were one of the hottest things in wrestling. Nash winning at Starrcade was the right decision. The way Goldberg lost was the right decision. The finger poke of doom and the re launch of an elite nwo was the right decision. The issue they had was directly after this, Goldberg injured his knee and was on the shelf almost a month later. Hall had injuries and issues, and was off TV a few months later. Lex got injured the following week. Sting was out until March. DDP was injured until April. The new NWO was created, but didn’t have a face to fight except for Ric Flair, and at that stage no one was screaming for Hogan v Flair
“One finger finish” sounds sexual but that’s a given coming from Rob Feinstein.
It’s the “Finger Poke of Doom”
Nah it's been coined by me personally as the fingering of doom.
It’s fitting when talking to Big Sexy!
My favorite thing about Nash is he's realistic when he talks about his wrestling skills. "Yeah, that would've been a barnburner." I'm fucking dying 😅😅😅.
Grimebot 3000 just shut up goldberg is best u faking smark
well, he definately has a different way of looking at the business
Rewatch the Match. The entire crowd was chanting Goldberg sucks and when Nash got the pin the crowd went nuts. My personally I was pissed lol
There was a mixed reaction when his music came on but at least people where reacting to Goldberg at all. The crowd seemed dead when Nash came out
I cant hear something like that but maybe because WWE change the Sound like they do it often for the DVD
@@pandoblier This is accurate. The audio is a bit...off when you watch Goldberg Vs. The Rock, too.
@@Y2JLionHeart
It's a shame cause they re write history. In a 4 way match with hogan, sting, Flair and ddp for example, they cut out the real "give up" which was said by hogan cause he was hurt. And so many things more. Not only the songs and the posters but also noises, screams and so on. And there dvd not good or fair done. The nwo DVD was a total Desaster...
They were chanting Goldberg sucks! You can hear the crowd!
Goldberg vs Nash is one of my favourite matches.
It had a perfect ending and Big sexy was the perfect candidate for ending the Streak.
The Fingerpoke of Doom was horrible because they didn't do anything great to follow it up.
It could have been a great swerve.
Like Nash said they had a whole 7 month story line planned that the Fingerpoke was supposed to kick start. I'd have loved that especially if the last two for Goldberg would have been Nash and Hogan.
For any serious fans who were plugged in back in those days, Nash was the only credible opponent to possibly end the streak, even with the shenanigans. Even through cheating it would have seemed really stupid if it had been anyone else. Even Sting. Nash had the charisma, he was a giant, he had been WWF champion for a full year, he founded the NWO. He was the guy.
@AEW IS COMPETITION Yep. The momentum of Stone Cold, the Rock and Monday night Raw played the biggest role in the WWF taking back control of the Monday night wars. The FPOD had very little effect on any of that. No matter what WCW did, Raw was becoming the hotter and better product. The NWO angle had played out for 3 full years at this point. I think they could have booked it better and avioded the coming collapse, but the WWF was going to take over no matter what they did. They would have been behind WWF but better booking could have kept their ratings high late into 1999 and early 2000. WCW booking became so sporadic from mid '99 on that its tanked the product.
I watched WCW back then and Goldberg was getting booed before losing the title. Kevin was getting cheered when he beat Goldberg
I remember being a teenage mark at the time. I didn't mind Nash beating Goldberg at all. Goldberg had been on top for such a long time by then, this made me jump out of my seat and it made me go "Holy shit, it's happened!"
If people debate Starrcade 1998, I don't get it, you can't have Goldberg undefeated forever and if he loses, it should happen at a major PPV and against an opponent the fans buy. Now Nash wasn't an up-and-coming star that probably could've used beating Goldberg as a major stepping stone towards stardom, but Nash was mega over and he was legit the second biggest babyface in the company and not too far behind Goldberg.
The thing that didn't make sense however was the fingerpoke of doom, Hogan getting the title and nWo getting back together. Perhaps even the fingerpoke itself wouldn't be the real problem here, but the fact the title went to Hogan yet again and they wanted to do yet another "nWo is destroying everyone" angle for months...man, that was just yawn as that's what they were doing for the previous almost three years by that point. It was time to move on and this showed WCW really has nothing else to offer creatively besides nWo and Hogan on top. Even if Nash lost the title to Hogan in a proper match, it wouldn't have worked. At a time when WWE had Foley, The Rock, Austin, HHH and whole cast of fresh, mega over talents, WCW decided to just once again do the same old shit. It doesn't matter how they got there, it was never going to work.
What WCW should've done was turn Nash heel in the match against Goldberg, have him cheat like a mfer to win and then have heel Nash being the biggest fucking douchebag ever on top. Let Sting, Luger and Konnan leave him, because they can't believe what he's done. Have Scott Hall question his actions too. And have Nash explain that he needed to prove to himself he can still do it and he knew he can't do it otherwise. And off of that, either build to a huge rematch with Goldberg, or build a new star who eventually dethrones Nash. But WCW at that point was too messed up by egos, backstage politics, etc. to be able to have a clear and sensible vision like this for their product.
75k to 3 mil. If that's bad advice give me some. Lmao classic Nash
The money and the miles
@@wce05308 the only things that are real
I really did want to see a Nash Hogan match
Those were some tough questions first time I’ve seen Nash lost for words
You kind of look at it and they protected Goldberg. Losing to Nash looks so much better than Hogan at that point in time
I agree with Nash with how they beat Goldberg the right way if he was going to/had to get beat. Make him have to take on the world and kick out right AFTER three to show all of that had to happen to beat him. He couldn’t be beat clean
exactly! And Nash was the guy to do it
Everyone did want to see Nash/Hogan at that time.
it's insane that Nash did not want to have a huge match with Hogan, which they were building up the entire year, simply because they are not the best workers, if we put it mildly. That's plain BS right there. Nash is all about the money. There was big money in that match. That didn't happen not because of mediocre technical skills, but because of ego and a crazy binding contract.
@@ROCKNINJA777Hogan didn't want it so he wouldn't look less cool than Nash and Hall.
Was never a Diesel/Nash fan but I kind of like his attitude of not taking everything too seriously and trying to make money with as little effort as possible 😄 He's the polar opposite of the way Brett Hart comes off
Nash don’t understand people were pissed cause it was stupid, not cause it was a genius move to give hogan the belt like that. It made people stop watching and to this day he still defends it like it was a strategic business move.
Exactly.
First, he was being nice and not burying Hogan for it being his idea. Second, he said they had a story that got wrecked because Goldberg got injured. I think the crowd anger could have been ok if they could have done the planned angle.
This ended Wcw for a lot of fans
Kevin Nash was Suuuuppperr over, especially in the Wolfpac. Anyone who say's that he was hated at that time definitely need to re-watch the crowd pop after Nash wins the title,
THIS. Nash was big time over before the fingerpoke. He was the perfect guy to end the streak becuase he was a giant, and they still had to cheat big time. It kept Goldberg strong, way more than if he had lost to a babyface like sting or Paige.
Nash gives the best shoot interviews.
Nash was easily the most over babyface in WCW in '98.
Right guy to end the streak.
I think it should’ve been DDP with a surprise diamond cutter
@@ryankeefe6222 after the jackknife, nash falls backward into the turnbuckle ... out comes DDP .. Goldberg gets up .. DIAMOND CUTTER .. DDP grabs Nash and throws him on top of Goldberg ... 1 2 3
shithawk89 no Goldberg vs DDP Goldberg has him up for the jackhammer DDP slips out BAM diamond cutter hooks the leg 1..2...3
Nash was stupid over in 98, he probably was the best bet outside of maybe DDP (him winning with a Diamond Cutter out of nowhere would've blown any roof in America clean off).
Frankly the issue was never Nash ending the streak, it was everything after it that caused issues.
@@ryankeefe6222 That would have been stupid and made Goldberg look mortal. Losing to Nash WITH shenanigans galore kept the superman persona alive for Bill.
You can tell by his body language that he's not telling us everything regarding who came up with the "finger poke of doom".
That is a good friend. When this was recorded, the people most likely invovled were out shopping for jobs in creative still.
Oh u can? Is that why youre commenting on youtube instead solving crime
There probably wasn't one person, it was a discussion that went through multiple people until they reached some kind of consensus where everyone was happy, and WCW was famously a mess where things would only get booked minutes before they went on air so i can't blame him for not remembering who tf it was but he makes a great point that it did not benefit him in any way and he was indeed more over than Goldberg at the time people just need to rewatch the damn match to know that lol
@@cfynest1 yes because the only way to know something is if it's your profession. smartass.
@@FatherAxeKeeper He doesn’t understand some people can read people wit the skills they were born with.
I always liked Kevin Nash. He was a big strong guy who was cool. Goldberg was too UNDISCIPLINED in the ring. Some wrestlers didn't trust working with him.
Still defending this. Guys the biggest mark for himself out there.
What a legend to admit Bishof’s point wasn’t unfounded but classily defended himself saying he still worked hard, just not on that top level. It happens to everyone at some point. Honest and good man to have the guts to say it to the camera
a good man he is not lol
Nash trying to defend a massive-hyped match which was really a middle finger to everyone watching. Meanwhile same night WWF had possibly the most memorable title win on Raw
This is how I feel about it too. People weren't pissed because "oh damnit, you got me". They were pissed because it was the lamest possible thing they could have executed for this story. Made no sense at all. It's hard to go back and watch some of these WCW matches around this time, they really couldn't help themselves when it came to misreading the fans and pushing talent (or lack of).
Beating him was the right thing to do it was just executed horribly, much like the aftermath.. typical WCW really.
Nash as the leader of the Wolfpac in the fall of 98 was just as over as Goldberg.
Lmao no he wasn’t. The crowds had very little reaction to Nash. He was just pushed to the moon. When he beat Goldberg that was the biggest pop he ever got in his entire wrestling tenure.
Nash doesnt understand... Or maybe he didnt want to admit it back then... People were pissed off, but not the same type of pissed off to where the heel gets put over and then you want to see them get their ass kicked next week. Fans were pissed off to the point where they didnt want to watch WCW anymore. We were dissapointed It was garbage. But I think they did a good job with ending Goldberg's streak. It was time. Its not that people had enough of Goldberg, fans just wanted to see something different. And it was Nash's moment to be the man and face of the business.
Nash is confusing nWo 2000, when Goldberg put his hand through a window, with whatever happened in early 99.
The Oswald line fkn got me 🤣🤣🤣
Nash should have been champ a lot longer but Hogan had complete control and gabe himself the belt, back.
Nash is a cool dude
Hes a prick.
You know him personally?
@@johnm3907 You know him or what
@@phillipconner1213 wow youre so smart asking that. You must ve very proud
He's from Michigan what u expect
Nash can't admit that he was wrong .
Fingerpoke was one of the best pops!
Finger poke of Doom is when I stopped watching WCW. Crazy to hear so many others did they same thing. Nash fails to realize how big tht match was. Leader of the NWO who ran WCW for years faced Nash leader of the Wolfpack. They teased the match for sooo long. It was a build up, and this was the final straw
I thought it was the same wolf pack and nwo
@@inthahous87 no nash broke away from the nwo and made the Wolfpack. Alot of members of nwo became part of the Wolfpack and had fued for awhile. I know macho man, lex luger was part the pack. There was a story line where Sting had pick between nwo who was black and white colors or Wolfpack who was black and red. Sting ultimately became part Wolfpack and tht why he had red facepaint for awhile.
@@danielwindle7441 ahhh ok but what was the feud about between them I thought Hogan, Nash and xpac and Hall were the foundation of nwo
@@inthahous87 the original formation of nwo was the big 3 Nash, Hall and Hogan. Then it grew way to big to the point half the wwc roster was part nwo. Then nash and hogan started arguing saying there can only be one top dog in the nwo. So originally nash and macho man left nwo and made Wolfpack where eventually Sting, luger and Conan jointed. If you type "WCW Wolfpack formation" in youtube there's videos
Was glad when he beat Goldberg
Yeesh, thank you for the input there "Khabib"
@@DaileyShorts What does this comment mean, exactly?
So was I
Same, but I've always been a Nash mark.
Nash is right, still I think Scott Steiner would have been the better guy to end the streak
Why not Bret Hart? After the Screwjob he was the Hottest person in the business. If WCW had used the Screwjob to there advantage Hart could have been as big as WWF's Steve Austin. Bret could have been brought in as an angry technical wrester looking for revenge on the industry that screwed him tearing though NWO and WCW. Then in September begin the feud with the undefeated vs the best leading to there first match at Halloween Havoc with a DQ finish when NWO gets involved. keep them apart till Starrcade, in the mean time build up there angel with big promos and singles squash matchs proving both are legit touch guys. then at Starrcade they Main Event with Bret beating him with the Sharpshooter. After the match they shake hands and vow to take down NWO together. For the next 3 months they have tag matchs vs NWO . In a match vs Hall and Nash Hart accidently hit Goldberg with an elbow to the face leading to a rematch at Next big Pay-Per-View where Goldberg Beats Hart in an epic match where both walk away looking amazing... after Hart get a title match vs Hogan, which he wins. Goldberg goes on a second winning streak but this time no squash matches... Meanwhile Bret become an amazing champ keeping the belt for over a year....
@@hippiepeter Bret would never have been as big as Steve Austin. Bret's promos are average a best. He can make you look great in the ring, but that is pretty much where it ends.
@@williamblackfyre4866 Many people in the business also thought he have been WCWs answer to Stone Cold instead of pushing a guy who was no better then the Ultimate Warrior...
@@hippiepeter Link me a clip to one great Brett Hart promo and I will rethink my position.
@The Ninth Heart Then I challenge you to do what Peter Cataldo couldn't, link one, just one truly awesome promo from the Hitman.
(It doesn't exist, his best promo is with Piper before their Intercontinental championship match. Brett isn't what I would call 'good', but he is a not as stiff as he usually is and you can see a glimmer of emotion.)
Austin was also pretty damn good in the ring until he broke his neck. I don't know if you remember the Hollywood Blondes but him and Pillman were one of the best tag teams going at the time.
Brett was better on the mat, without question. But Austin was a better promo by such a wide margin, which is why he was a bigger draw as champion and lasted in the business much longer than Brett even after he broke his neck and had to become a kick/punch wrestler and it cut his career short.
My story was always that the Fingerpoke killed WCW because we wanted Hall and Nash together against Hogan and were denied. That is until I found an old letter in my grandpa's basement that I wrote back in 1998 that I meant to send to a wrestling magazine. In the letter I explained how "I wanted the Wolfpac to ditch Sting and reunite with Hollywood to take out Goldberg" and reading that letter took me back in time and I remembered everybody in my Middle School wanted the exact same thing. Then I remembered us all making fun of Hogans Jncos and that was the last I recall any talking about WCW.
The angle could have worked if they took out Goldberg and then wolfpac took out Hogan.
Nash's face in thumbnail lol
I was 14 years old back in 1998 that was a crazy time.
Um Goldberg busted his hand end of 1999 he's got a bad memory!
Well this match was Dec 27 98, so it wasn't long after
@@mattharper1242 No, the limo thing was in December of 99.
It was December 99. when he returned in June 2000 he turned belly for no good reason lol
@@DannNotDaniel yeah decemeber usually means end of the year
Finger Poke of Doom - My father driving a point home in the center of my chest when I done screwed up.
Next time he does it sell it Nash did, then get up and hug him.
Nash is a good looking guy, gotta admit.
"They cheered me when I beat Goldberg" like they cheered Maven when he kicked Undertaker out of the Rumble, don't mean squat, it was such a bad move no on got elevated, all for a couple shows worth of elevated ratings.
0:46 pause video. I Clicked for the thumbnail. I might end up in a bodybag
Bill did not hurt his hand in the limo to almost a year later his timeframe is way off
The idea is correct though. They did not follow through on a meaningful story to justify the fingerpoke.
I think being that the finger poke was never done before, by them doing it thinking it will cause a buzz but instead they got heat for it, thinking it will become something I guess
Everyone knew at the time when he beat Goldberg he booked it.
He didn't book it!!!!
It's fake who cares
I remember watching the match and the fact is the arena and people like myself all popped like the marks we are. The majority of the people loved it. The mistake was not Nash winning it was the fact they didn't book the chase to get it back. Hindsight being 20/20 of course, Goldberg could have gone through the nwo one by one until getting to a rematch with Nash. Hogan could have interfered then and cost Bill the match and then, the fingerpoke of doom works fine the next nitro. Goldberg beats Hogan again, regains the strap and then Nash and him go at it and Bill finally gets the win clean. That could have been epic and the proper formula. However, it did not happen that way and I can say this with the benefit of hindsight. The point is beating Goldberg was not the problem, especially when you were making him lose to Nash who actually had far more momentum.
Goldberg's first lost should have been a fatal 4 way,nash,gaint, goldberg of course and a new up coming guy to win,nash and giant wearing goldberg down during the match and the new up coming guy to win,yes nash's finish move,giants finish and the new guys finish
@@mikelandryjr7310
Hell naw.
@@mikelandryjr7310 that's fantastic. This way, he still appears as strong and before, and the loss seems believable. Also, you create a new superstar right there. You, my friend, should have been WCW's head booker
@@C-Lyfe85 why not
@@mikelandryjr7310
You're 8 months too late to be asking that question.
Yes the fans did chant “Austin sucks” after the god awful Austin -HHH alignment
Well Austin was a heel at the time
Nash sold the finger poke perfect and clean
The way Nash power bombed Rey Mysterious , I honestly thought Rey was finished after that
Nash has to be Jerry Jarrett’s favorite wrestler. You know
Its obvious what happened. Hogan saw how over the Wolfpac was and cried his way into it backstage thus giving us that fingerpoke. Then we had Hogan wearing Jncos talking gangster lol we all left at that point from the cringe. Here is what should've happened the night of the finger poke: Hogan and Nash in the main event the same Nitro but without the fingerpoke, when the bell rings Goldberg interferes and ruins the match and then the 2 NWO factions come out and fight along as well with Nitro going off the air. Then it builds to a war between Wolfpac and Hollywood and Goldberg leading to Nash/Hogan/Goldberg at the next PPV as the blow off. That's how u book immediately after the streak ended.
That would be amazing and exciting to look into the next weeks show to see what will happen.
I love your idea 🙂
I was so happy when Kevin Nash won the WCW World. I would have kept the belt on him for a year, But Hogan had to wreck everything.
that's exactly what I felt back then
Goldberg was the Brock Lesnar of the 90s
In other interviews Nash said he booked it and why did he because he could. So even if he did or didn't it was a huge mistake killing the streak with a bad match like this. There was little to no build up to the match and no follow up angel or matches. So that leaves you with no reason for it which I am sure hurt what was left WCW business at that time. Even if half the arena chanted Goldberg sucks he still got a way bigger pop then Nash. Matches like this are a big reason WCW failed.
Huh? Starrcade 98 was WCW's 4th best drawing PPV that they ever did, and Superbrawl 99 was the third best. Nash beating Goldberg didn't kill WCW. The fingerpoke didn't kill WCW. What killed WCW was Bischoff never actually putting an end to the nWo angle and never really pushing anyone that had nothing to do with the nWo, so people got sick of it. And then Russo pushed the corpse off a cliff.
@@Cruising_On_Lake_Havasoma The WCW was already on a sharp decline by the finger poke match, it just put the final nail in the coffin. For a short time Goldberg was the only wrestler fans got behind until they started getting tired of seeing him in the same 3 minute squash matches every week. WCW had tons of talent that was poorly utilized and not given a chance because of selfish guys like Nash and Hogan. I feel like Nash's ego couldn't handle the fact Goldberg was more over then he was and he ended the streak for this own selfishness hurting the one thing that WCW still had going for them.
@@hippiepeter Fair point. That shitshow of a match at Starrcade 97 was what started the downhill slide and if not for Goldberg ratings/buyrates would have tanked even sooner than they did. They even could have salvaged things after the FPOD (which actually has it's own wiki page) had they actually followed up on it, but "That doesn't work for me, brother."
I've watched a few shoot interviews with Kevin Nash saying one of the reasons why the fingerpoke of doom was a failure was the fact that they were going to build up Goldberg for months, defeating many members of the nWo Wolfpac Elite before getting to Hogan, but then Goldberg injured himself on the limo glass "a few weeks later" and that screwed up the whole idea.
But I've just looked it up and that Limo incident happened on a December 23rd episode of Thunder.
Correct me if I'm wrong but January 4th to December 23rd is quite a bit longer than "a few weeks"
Yeah, plus you'd have to believe that Hogan, having put Goldberg over clean as a whistle in July 1998, would go along with doing another job to Goldberg a year or so later after Goldberg ran through the nWo despite having creative control - even though he main evented several PPVs right after that, brought Warrior to WCW to get his win back from 8 years earlier (and ruined Halloween Havoc by making it go long so it would go off the air before Goldberg-DDP), and had completely kneecapped Luger (winning the title back 6 days after losing it to him) and Sting (by the BS at Starrcade 1997 when the logical ending to the story was Sting finally vanquishing the nWo).
@@michaelwhipple7605 why were people upset about Starrcade 97? didn't Sting make Hogan tap out?
@@MikeG82 Nick Patrick was supposed to do a fast count when Hogan pinned Sting, then Bret Hart would stop him from declaring Hogan the winner, restart the match and then Sting would win. That's what happened - except that Patrick was told by Hogan to NOT do a fast count, so Hogan actually won and it made Sting look bad.
kevin nash and bret hart had a small angle together because of the nwo hollywood vs nwo wolfpack
Nash should have lost to goldberg and with that it would make sense for the wolfpack to turn heel, finger poke of doom could have still happened. In the end someone like Booker T in a surprise could have ended the streak and become a bigger star.
Nash is a pretty cool guy
I still think DDP should've beat Goldberg clean in their Halloween Havoc match.
Yup. Wcw just wanted to milk Goldberg until it was too late 😂
@@colinnixon7739 DDP was white hot at the time, and with the suddenness of the Diamond Cutter it would've been a believable finish. Countering the spear or the jackhammer with the diamond cutter would've been an epic way to end the streak.
Ill never forget me and my friends watching the finger poke of Doom. We like WWF more but we would always switch channels between the two shows. We were all about 17-18 years old when we all started hanging out everyday and having Monday night parties and watching wrestling. We watched more WCW than raw at first and that was when sting came back as the crow and the nwo. Then WWF caught steam with the Rock joining the nation, SCSA vs Vince,Sable. We started watching raw more often and each week it seemed we'd watch less and less of WCW. After the fpod we barely tuned into WCW and it was a wrap.
Neither thing was that bad. I see it as revisionist history from the WWF/WWE. Wrestling was dead as disco before Nitro. WCW and Jerry Springer is what helped the WWF. All went south after WCW was gone
I wasn’t against Nash beating Goldberg at all (especially the way it happened).
The finger poke of Doom straight afterwards was clearly a terrible idea on so many levels though
The finger poke of doom isn't that different in concept to Hogan's heel turn in with the Outsiders. It was designed to piss people off. The problem was the follow up that never happened. It fizzled because Goldberg hurt himself.
@@RonixEnclaveBad idea lol Everyone wanted to see NWO red vs NWO white.
I agree with Nash for the most part. But,correct me if I’m wrong,but didn’t the Goldberg fist through the window incident not occur until the nwo black and silver,that didn’t take place until late 1998 or early 1999? I think his timeline is messed up on that one.
Losing didn't hurt the Undertaker or Kane. In fact, it made their loses more meaningful when they happened. Goldberg took his ball and went home and cried like a little bitch because he lost.
Flashback : Lord Steven/Sir William Regal almost accidentally ended Goldberg's Streak by showing how embarrassingly bad his wrestling skills were.
See here. 👇🏼
czcams.com/video/Y4IdelJfk2k/video.html
The fingerpoke killed wcw for me..it was a dumb angle. I was pissed because I wanted the belt on anyone but Hogan. I used to watch either wcw or wwe and flip to the other during commercials. However when the Fingeroke happened I flipped to wwe and never watched another minute of wcw. After seeing highlights of the last cpl years of wcw I made the right choice.
I couldn't agree more. WCW was always full of run ins and bs finishes. It seemed no one past the mid card could ever win without help.
Goldberg needed to lose. I think 1000-0 would have been a bit much. And at the time Nash was white hot with the Wolfpac. Good decision on Nash beating Goldberg
Facts, even after the fingerpoke they could've rebuilt Goldberg going through the elite all summer long until he beats hogan.
Only to completely invalidate it with hogan. Nice job 😂
@colinnixon7739 yea that was stupid Hogan backstage stuff. Nash should have kept it until Hart beat him
Nash is the smartest man in wrestling. He treated it like a business to make money. And that's why most ppl hate him.
It's not just a one man show. You have to have foresight if you're going to beat your top guy like that. Bottom line is, Nash was a jealous bitch that didn't know shit about booking or running a wrestling company
Favored Nation clause 🎯
Goldberg got stale in a year. Kevin Nash was like Undertaker. He stayed relevant, he stayed fresh and he had the crowd in his hand. Same with Sting. Nash, Ric Flair, Macho Man and Sting were the shit in WCW.
Nash was hot only because he opposed hogan who was a huge heel. That pop was only gonna last if he continued to oppose hogan.
The finger poke of doom did not work in my opinion.. I feel like that was the start of the demise of WCW.. and if it wasn’t the start, it sure did help
after the goldberg streak ended goldberg aura of invincibility should of ended too i feel like him winning too much hurt his career for example if goldberg face sting it would been good if sting won 1 goldberg won 1 and who ever won the 3rd
Beat Goldberg with a tasser so funny lol
back then, interviewers had balls.
I wish Nash would realize the huge reason why The Finger Poke of Doom was such a massive failure wasn't because people were upset over being swerved by Heels.. It was that it eliminated all the cool heels and anti hero babyfaces completely from the landscape. Half the crowd hated Goldberg even after the Wolfpac screwed him over. There was no one left for half the crowd who hated Goldberg to root for. It felt like all the evolving WCW did from 96-99 to move past the old predictable played out "Babyfaces vs Heels" days with no nuance in between was back in full effect.
Funny Nash lost the title in the infamous Finger Poke match with Hogan... and when he was in the WWF (WWE), Bob Backlund had a great match with Bret Hart and defeated Bret to win the championship title.
The next night, Bob Backlund faces Diesel (Kevin Nash) and as soon as the bell rings to start the match, Diesel kicks Bob and powerbombs him, pins him and beats him in 5 seconds to win the title
czcams.com/video/6AFvk3StVWQ/video.html - Diesel Wins Title from Bob Backlund
The finger poke made me stop watching WCW... period. That's not the kind of heat you want. That's "go away" heat.
Ha? Nash has got his timeline mixed up. Fingerpoke of Doom was January 99. Goldberg punching a limo window was February 00 if I remember?
Talk about rose tinted glasses
I thought the Finger Poke of Doom was a great angle in retrospect. As Kevin says, it got them where they needed to be while at the same time generating massive heat on them and totally fit their characters at that time. I don't see the big problem there. Sure people were disappointed they didn't get the match, but it was a swerve, people! That's what a swerve does. It takes a hard left turn from everyone's expectations of what the result should be. Nothing could have done that better than the finger poke angle.
No it was fucking awful. The ratings show how well it was received
I don’t believe that Goldberg sucks nonsense. Goldberg was WCW in 1998. I was at a house show in October 1998 and everyone was on their feet chanting Goldberg and cheering when he beat the Giant.
Who else was over that night?
If your gimmick is you can’t lose then you’re not really over
says who?
Honestly they should’ve ended the streak at halloween havoc 98 when ddp reverses the jackknife into the diamond cutter. Since they didnt do that this was probably their next best bet. But the fingerpoke should not have happened period
that would've been a disaster considering the match wasn't shown live on PPV
Can someone show me when poeple chanting Goldberg sucks? I dont hear it in the Match.
I was a big Nash fan and when Hall helped him win I was like alright the real Wolfpac coming now. Then Hogan had to be part of it and I was like awe boo. Lol! Nash was leader of wolfpac if anything he should of been the leader it should of been Goldberg wanted his rematch that night and Hogan comes down and gets Nash DQ’d. So Hogan and others joining his stable. Hogan didn’t always need to be the leader.
Over twenty years later and people are still talking about a fake wrestling angle……. Nash did something right
Killing wcw was right? 😂
The real question is how did the conversation start. Like how did it go from let's do this and this to fuck it let's do a poke and go home
Nash and hogan always had plans to reunite. They unfortunately buried their top star and their credibility to do it 😂
I doubt nash would admit any of the bad shit you’re asking
Hogan put the WWE on the map in the 80s, then he ruined WCW in the late 90s.
Suffered more than bill? Nash was the highest paid wrestler in wcw I’m sure he was ok dropping the belt to hogan
As a kid I thought the poke was hilarious. I also loved Goldberg regardless of what people thought about him or the run. As a child I was thrilled. I was ok with him losing it to Nash as well, loved them both.
You were a dumb kid. Enjoying the destruction of wcw. 😂😂😂😂
nash beating goldberg was fine, good even. taking the belt off nash in such a stupid way was bad
I love Kevin Nash man. Oh to party with those guys one time. Lol
Nash did book that match and he dropped it the next day. Not only did they end the streak too early (as the ratings started a steady decline from that moment), the Nash-Goldberg match and angle were nonsensical and poorly executed. Giving the belt to Hogan the next night was probably more because of Hogan's PPV main event stipulation in his contract. WCW had the WWF hurting, but mismanagement and the constant pushing of old, tired wrestlers did WCW in. The younger, better wrestlers (Jericho, Benoit, Eddie, etc.) got few pushes until they jumped to the WWF/WWE.
Every time that WCW tried to out-Vince-McMahon Vince McMahon (early 1990s and the latter part of the Monday Night Wars), they lost.