There are moments in the history of professional wrestling which cause the entire landscape to drastically change, such as the infamous “Montreal Screwjob” or The Outsiders’ invasion of WCW leading to Hulk Hogan’s heel-turn and the formation of the new World order. These turning points can inspire fans to wonder, “what if things had been different, and how would the future have changed?” It’s Hogan and the nWo that I’ve been musing on lately, in fact. Specifically, the moment some experts believe to have been the beginning of the end for the once-mighty World Championship Wrestling: Starrcade 1997, and the long-awaited showdown between heel world champion Hollywood Hulk Hogan and the emotionally and physically altered, Crow-inspired version of Sting.
TODAY’S ISSUE: What if the Sting/Hogan match had been booked the “right way”?
Perhaps no single match in the history of the business had ever been built so patiently, dangled so deliciously in front of salivating wrestling fans and allowed to age like fine wine to exquisite perfection, as the uncharacteristically slow-burned Hollywood Hogan title defense against the mysterious, brooding avenger, this new, darker Sting.
Where things went wrong in real history for WCW was when the conniving, super-politician Terry Bollea invoked the dreaded “creative control” contract clause to protect his Hulk Hogan character from ever suffering that devastating defeat at the hands of Sting, a defeat the 18-month storyline absolutely required in order for the storyline arc to make sense. Instead, Bollea muddied the waters, took liberties, and ensured that while Sting emerged with the WCW world title belt at the end of the night, his victory at Starrcade was marred with controversy and eventually erased from relevance altogether through more over-booking, manipulating, and self-preservation by Bollea. The greatest angle produced by the leading wrestling promotion in the world at that time ended up a complete dud, with an unsatisfying splat in place of what should have been a huge fireworks display. But what if things had been different?
Let’s go back to the match at Starrcade 1997, but this time, things will be different.
Hogan utilizes every dirty trick in his arsenal as expected, but in the end, the Stinger simply will not be denied. Sting overcomes Hogan’s illegal tactics, interference by the nWo, and even some questionable officiating by referee Nick Patrick, to dominate Hollywood after two big Stinger Splashes in the corner and a vicious Scorpion Deathdrop. Finally, Sting vanquishes Hogan and the nWo when he forces the former hero to tap out in the Scorpion Deathlock.
Hogan’s hand slapping the mat as he begs for mercy is representative not only of a clean, decisive victory for Sting, but also for the forces of good over evil, and for WCW over the nWo. Bret Hart never gets involved, there is no fast-but-not-fast count, and Terry Bollea does not influence the outcome of the match with his creative control. In every conceivable way, the match is booked exactly as many felt it should have been, and the moment of Sting’s victory is a crowning event and satisfying conclusion well worth the 18-month build up.
When Sting slowly walks away from the ring following his victory, the announcers wonder if he’s just so exhausted from the match and the many months of pursuing Hogan that he has no energy left, and they assume the big celebration will take place the following night on Nitro. Oddly, Sting doesn’t appear on Nitro 24 hours later, although everyone else celebrates throughout the entire broadcast. They show video highlights and stills of Sting pummeling Hogan and stopping his onslaught, but sadly missing is an image of him proudly hoisting the gold title belt aloft in victory. In fact, he leaves the belt behind after the match, presumably so WCW officials can clean the spray-paint stained nWo logo off and shine it back to its rightful appearance as the sought-after prize it has been for so many years.
Meanwhile, with the spirit of the nWo now severely shaken, WCW patriots begin to regain confidence and challenge nWo personnel to matches at every turn. You can feel the nWo in chaos, their leader Hogan not only defeated soundly, but nowhere to be found. The announce crew speaks with a pride and strength not heard since the “hostile takeover” began prior to Bash at the Beach a year and a half earlier.
It’s assumed that Hogan has denied his contracted right to a return match against Sting, and when the nWo try to claim that rematch clause applies to another member of their now-weakening faction, WCW President J.J. Dillon has the guts to stand up to the nWo and guarantee that only Hogan personally is entitled to this rematch, and if anyone else in the nWo wants a world title shot, they had better earn one the old fashioned way.
Reeling from the seeming abandonment by their leader and their inability to regain their foothold in WCW or to find a new leader, the nWo begins to splinter and fall apart. Internal strife reigns supreme throughout the new World order, and members being facing each other in matches, backstage confrontations, and verbal disputes, while jubilant WCW loyalists either sit back and enjoy or outright instigate issues between the civil warriors who once held their home promotion hostage under a black and white banner of fear and dominance.
The announcers begin to speculate that Sting will soon return to his former happy-go-lucky, neon persona, smiling and speaking again, but it never happens. He faces legitimate challengers to his championship month after month, but with a recognizable lack of passion. He defends his gold with no emotion or intensity. He now seems more a broken man than before he lifted the shroud of the nWo and restored WCW to its former glory. Curiously, the commentators never make mention of his worsening mental state, choosing instead to focus on the glory of the December night in which he ended the nWo’s rule over WCW. But it’s obvious things are not as they should be.
Through the summer months, Sting begins leaving messages in black, shiny envelopes with his white scorpion logo in the middle of the ring addressed to Mike Tenay. The champion instructs the Professor to read his memos to the world on national television much like the Phantom of the Opera might. The notes are cryptic, chaotic, and clearly not from the mind of a sane man. Statements like, “things are getting worse…” and “why won’t it heal?” disturb the audience, and each message ends with the phrase “I must not rest until it’s over”.
Eventually Tony Schiavone begs Tenay to stop reporting Sting’s messages, but what else can WCW do? According to their own mandate, the world champion is entitled to interview time on each episode of television, and if this is how he chooses to utilize that time, they must comply. In addition to these downright creepy missives, Sting continues to act almost zombie-like while successfully defending his title, wrestling in a fashion somewhat reminiscent of early Undertaker’s style. He seemingly feels no pain, but no joy of victory either. He’s workmanlike but unmotivated, and he never carries the big gold belt with him; it somehow just appears at ringside before his world title matches, and disappears when he wins.
He ignores the increasingly fearful looks from the fans and still refuses to speak a word, making Sting the opposite of the hero he was in December. He begins to devolve into a dangerous enigma, a broken shell of a man who should have begun cheering up the night he defeated Hogan and shattered the nWo. But the taint upon his soul caused by a boyhood idol letting him down, and his very own loyalty being questioned for months by his friends and allies seems to have ruined this once proud warrior.
In late summer, Sting increases his presence on television and at pay-per-views. He begins involving himself in title matches, anointing those he feels are worthy of being champions. If he doesn’t approve of a champion or challenger, he simply knocks them out with his trademark baseball bat behind the referee’s back, and leaves them lying in the middle of the ring so his chosen wrestler can capture the contested title. The Tag Team, United States, Television and Cruiserweight champions are all manipulated by Sting, and when a new man has a chance to become the #1 contender, for instance in a battle royal, Sting simply eliminates the men he doesn’t wish to win and ensures victory for those he wants to succeed. Nobody can even figure a pattern to the men he chooses to silently endorse. Some are heels, some faces, some have been lifetime WCW supporters and some were former nWo members who have since rejoined the fold.
Stepping up the dangerous, unpredictable side of his ever-darkening activities, Sting abducts people at random, whether they be wrestlers, commentators, referees, front office personnel, and in once rare case, a “fan from the audience”. Many of them never return, or worse, when they do show up again months later, they are shells of their former selves, trancelike and disinterested in the world around them. What Sting could possibly be doing to his victims is unknown, and while many speculate, Tenay is the only man who has the courage and insight to state, “perhaps we don’t WANT to know what he does with them.”
Sadly, Sting is ordered by WCW management to be banned from buildings unless he has a scheduled title defense, but of course, J.J. Dillon and his bumbling security team have absolutely no chance of stopping the rafter-hiding, zip line-descending enigma from making his way into arenas and interfering anytime he chooses to. It appears that Sting, in his warped, delusional frame of mind, believes that the only way he can safeguard WCW is to control it completely, much as a totalitarian state would control its own people.
Ironically, the fearful commentators begin to lament the end of the nWo, frequently stating that at least you always knew where you stood with them. Conversely, Sting’s motives are unclear, his actions are erratic, he’s impossible to predict, and unlikely to be stopped by anyone or anything they have at their disposal. WCW is actually worse now, under the oppressive thumb of the insane dark avenger, than when the renegade nWo were in control. With each monthly defense of his crown, the announcers pray that the challenger will take the title from Sting and rid WCW of his chilling dominion, but nobody is able to come close. Sting dominates the world title, and the entire company, with little effort. He shows no remorse, no pity, and no hesitation. He simply controls from the darkness.
With WCW wrestlers and leadership alike feeling terrorized, Dillon knows that something must be done. Trembling in fear one Monday night in October, he takes a microphone into the ring, awash in the bright glow of one solitary spotlight. Looking over his shoulder, almost afraid to speak, the WCW President announces that at Starrcade 1998 things will be different. He has contracted a challenger for the world champion; the one and only man who Dillon believes can put a stop to Sting’s rampage. While Schiavone and Dusty Rhodes excitedly speculate over the identity of this challenger, Mike Tenay is surprisingly quiet. He doesn’t enter the debate as Nitro goes off the air.
Sting disappears for a few weeks, then breaks his own silence without appearing on television, as WCW personnel begin finding his now signature shiny, black envelopes in odd places, one per week. These envelopes appear in lockers, vehicles, at the announce position, or hanging from Sting’s zip line, and each asks a simple question, “Is it Lex Luger?” “Is it Randy Savage?” “Is it Kevin Nash?” “Is it the Giant?” Obviously interested in who his mystery opponent will be at Starrcade, the champion shows his first sign of weakness since his overthrow of the nWo almost one year earlier. What a difference a year makes.
Leading into Starrcade, Sting becomes frantic. He succumbs to violent temper tantrums whenever the commentary team discloses the single piece of information about his challenger that they know. When Sting asks about potential adversaries for Starrcade in his weekly notes, Dillon responds directly, stating it won’t be Luger, or Savage, or Nash, or the Giant challenging for the world title, but that’s the only information he offers. Sting seems intent on tearing WCW apart unless somebody reveals his opponent’s name. He threatens employees, destroys locker rooms, and attacks innocent competitors in the middle of their matches. But in a rare moment of courage under fire, Dillon refuses anything more than to give Sting a single hint, and promises to do so two weeks before Starrcade.
When that night comes, 13 days before the anniversary of Sting’s world title victory (and the night his descent into madness became worse when it should have gotten better), the arena is eerily quiet. Nitro begins with another single spotlight in the ring, but this one doesn’t frame a person. It illuminates a shiny, red envelope with yellow lettering, spelling out the word “Sting”. The maniacal champion rappels from the rafters, landing mid-ring, and opens the envelope. The eyes of millions are on Sting as his facial expression becomes distorted and twisted with rage. Fans the world over buzz with anticipation and insiders like Meltzer and Alvarez speculate as to who Sting’s opponent will be. What name did Sting see inside the envelope?
The main event of Starrcade 1998 finally arrives and Sting’s haunting entrance music hits, but rather than a ghost-like, creepy stroll to the ring or an impressive zip line from the rafters, the world champ hurriedly marches down the ramp, enters the ring, grabs the microphone from Michael Buffer and demands his opponent reveal himself right this second. Sting is completely flustered and out of control since he’s no longer manipulating the situation around himself and pulling the strings, and he clearly doesn’t like it. After too long of a wait, the opening chords of “American Made” rip through the PA system and the crowd goes ballistic. After a one-year absence, Hulk Hogan has returned to claim his contractually obligated return match against Sting.
But this is the Hogan of old. Gone are the black and white of the nWo, replaced once again by the red and yellow. Gone is the weight belt with the name “Hollywood” around his waist, and the black stubble. The legendary multi-time champion is back to rescue WCW from Sting’s reign of terror and lunacy. Sting is livid, and tries to attack Hogan in the aisle before he enters the ring but the Hulkster fights him off with big punches and tosses him into the squared circle.
The bell rings and the match begins properly, with their roles from 12 months prior ironically reversed. Sting is now the desperate champion, willing to do anything and everything to retain against the babyface challenger, who wants to set things right. It’s a bruising battle, and Sting throws everything but the kitchen sink at the former leader of the nWo, cheating quite liberally. After absorbing everything Sting has to offer, Hogan “Hulks-up” and goes into his signature finishing sequence, dropping the big leg and defeating Sting, thus reclaiming the world title.
The locker room empties as WCW wrestlers congratulate the victor, helping Hogan celebrate as the commentators rejoice. A stoic Mike Tenay’s final comment, and the last spoken words on the broadcast are, “I hope Sting takes some time away to get his mind straight. Even in the shadow of this great victory, we must acknowledge that in the past year, WCW has lost a cherished, principal part of our family. Good luck, Sting. We hope you come back soon, and better than ever.”
The following night on Nitro, Hogan explains that while he stayed away for an entire year and watched WCW decay and crumble in Sting’s grasp, he realized just how bad things were when he held the company in a similar hostage-like situation with the nWo, and this introspection helped him to rediscover his roots. He only invoked his rematch clause to try to reach Sting, who Hogan feels responsible for turning into the changed man he is today, he says. He endorses Sting, claiming it was his own fault that a good man like Sting wound up traveling a bad path, and he hopes Sting will take a much-needed vacation and find himself again. In this promo, Hogan effectively clears the way for Sting to return to his former look, character and state of mind someday.
And that’s exactly what happens to bring this fantasy to a conclusion. Sting returns during a Hogan promo in late spring with spiked, bleached-blond hair, neon pink tights and day-glow green boots. The former world champion shakes Hogan’s hand and hugs him, thereby reclaiming his spot at the top of the babyface heap in WCW. After the incredible journey both men have taken, Sting and Hogan are the top two babyfaces in WCW once again.
In my fantasy version of how things could have been, Sting returns to his former persona after nearly three years of incredible changes, but with his adversaries (and allies) now harboring a new, deeper respect for what he did for WCW, the madness he endured, and the fact that he was able to return from it a stronger man. He seems a more three-dimensional character now, not just a poster boy for babyfaces wrestlers the world over. He’ll always need to be careful not to let himself slide down that slippery slope again someday, and it’s a weakness heels are able to exploit in promos and attacks on the Stinger. Weakness in the hero always allows for more sophisticated storylines to be written.
Hulk Hogan is back to his “say your prayers and eat your vitamins” routine, but now the fans love him again, and his gimmick seems fresh once more. It’s amazing what affect his heel-turn and subsequent absence had toward making Hogan beloved and appreciated when he had worn out his welcome in WCW years prior, and now he’s regained his place as the #1 face in professional wrestling. At least for the moment…
We now return you to your regularly scheduled reality.
p.s. – “[Optimism] is a mania for saying things are well when one is in hell.” – Voltaire
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This is like really bad fan fiction. However, it’s no worse than what they actually ran with in that “year from hell”, so who knows.
Owwww. Damn Ken, I don’t think it was all that bad, man…
I certainly like the idea of Sting being infected by the darkness of the nWo and Hollywood Hogan…and often I’ve thought of how Starrcade 1997 could’ve gone differently, if maybe we would still HAVE our deeply missed WCW if things had indeed gone differently…
One thing we definitely have in common: Hulk Hogan has to disappear after Starrcade. The nWo running around in disarray like a headless chicken is too good, and would have been a perfect vehicle for a Scott Steiner heel turn. Meanwhile, the midcard is kept afire as Chris Jericho/Eddie Guerrero and Dean Malenko/Chris Benoit trade the tag team championship, US Champion Diamond Dallas Page fends off Macho Man Randy Savage, Curt Hennig, Scott Hall and a host of others, and Mortis’ reign of terror as TV Champion seems without end. Meanwhile, new arrival Bret “Hitman” Hart makes it clear that he intends on proving that he still has a place in professional wrestling by capturing the World Heavyweight Championship, with all of WCW still remembering the last time someone from “up North” got a free ride to the title, and says, not so fast.
However, I would’ve had Sting return from the darkness on his own, myself. And his first challenger on a major PPV would’ve been Raven.
I chose Raven because there was a Clash of the Champions, or a PPV or a Nitro – I can no longer remember which – where Raven was seated at ringside, and when Sting made an appearance, Raven leapt over the barricade as though he were about to confront the nWo. I remember the commentators speculating wildly as to what Raven was doing there at the time, and they never addressed it afterward.
On the Nitro following Starrcade ‘97, I would’ve brought out Sting for a victory interview, and perhaps before he could say anything, Raven would come out and demand “payment” for Sting’s win. “Who helped you to unlock your hidden power, Sting? Who helped you harness your inner darkness – your inner hatred??” Raven would cry. And so Raven would continuously harangue the Stinger, as each upper tier member of the nWo tries to capture the gold from him…until it’s Sting vs. Raven at the Great American Bash. Evenflow DDT vs. Scorpion Death Drop.
You do a much better job of outlining how you’d have put together 1998 for WCW, but I just had to throw in my own idea for what would’ve happened for Sting and WCW following that fateful Starrcade. For me, I’ve only got the end goal in sight, which is Starrcade ‘98, Montreal Quebec Canada – Sting vs. Bret Hart. A hard fought but successful title defense on the Stinger’s part, that serves to prove that (A) Bret still had something to offer in the changing climate of professional wrestling, and that neither (B)losing in Canada nor (C)doing what’s right for business were ever Bret’s problem.
How I miss WCW…
Greg,
I think I like your way better than mine! Thanks for the input…
Okay, okay…it’s not that it’s bad, it’s just completely unsuited for a wrestlings show. We essentially have a yearlong “V for Vendetta” totalitarian storyline where what was our protector becomes our oppressor.
You’re asking for patience that the audience didn’t have in this weekly, extremely drawn out, way too subtle for wrestling broadcast television sort of way. The fans would have turned on the “letter reading” segments fairly quickly. They came to see the champ wrestle, not write them Lanny Poffo missives in what would become a programming dead zone.
The original Sting storyline was awesome, but it was also simple. Sting was loyal; a fake Sting had everyone assuming he’d turn at the drop of a hat; disillusioned with what he saw, he stayed in the rafters until he could watch no more. That was the entirety of the storyline, kept going beautifully for a year’s time.
You start adding all these layers, fans would have gotten bored. Then lost. Then they would have turned on the whole thing altogether, and WCW would have had to hotshot the belt back to Hogan in haphazard fashion just to stave off the resurging WWF. Face it, if you had the choice between watching Tenay read letters from Sting live on the air, or watch Austin steamroll some fools, what would YOU have chosen?
I call it “fan fiction” because almost all fan fantasy booking–my own included–is almost *always* too complicated for its own good. The medium just wouldn’t support the delivery of most of our ‘better’ ideas. We’re writing novels in our head and assuming that the audience would have played along at every turn.
But like I said, what we got was a craptacular ending to the Starcade ‘97 event, a meaningless and abortive Sting title run when it should have been the title run that catapulted them to untouchable status, and a full year after of ego stroking, backstage politics, Hogan always getting his way and nosing back into the spotlight, the NWO burying EVERYBODY, and capping all of *that* off with…Starcade ‘98. That’s why I called it the “year from hell”, and quite frankly they would have been better off trying almost ANYTHING else than what they went with (Hogan and buddies running the entire damn show at every point.)
And I apologize for my harsh tone, Vinny. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that we’re talking to real people online. Your stuff is well-written, I just thought it wouldn’t work on TV at all.
Ken,
Thanks for taking the time to read it and comment anyway.
It’s very well-written, Vinny. But one man’s emergence was not mentioned: Goldberg. Would he completely stricken from the record in your alternate reality or kept at an upper-mid level?
Of course, I meant, would he be completely stricken…oops.
It’s a much more intriguing take than what we actually got.
And nobody was cattle prodded! …That we know of.
Good article Vinny, and as others have already pointed out – leaps and bounds better than the crap they served up in 1998.
The devil’s advocate in me, however, says that in the good old days of 97-98-99 we were at the height of the “anti-hero” phase of wrestling: Austin, NWO, DX, The Rock, etc. If Sting had been booked as an ass-kicking machine, winning all his matches in dominating fashion, taking out everyone & their brother with his baseball bat and generally terrorizing the WCW, I think the fans might have stayed behind him. They may have turned on the letter reading segments themselves, as Ken mentioned, but unless Sting was booked to look weak in the ring, the fans likely would have cheered louder with every swing of the bat.
Also, I don’t think 1998 was the right time for the fans to embrace Hogan’s return to the red & yellow look. Ten years, and ten thousand beers, may have clouded my memory, but I’m having a hard time thinking of any classic-type babyface in WCW or WWE during that time who was really over with the fans. Too Cool? Rey? Rey? I’m probably missing someone obvious but you get my point. The badass or wise-cracking tweener/heel was in, prayers & vitamins were out, brother.
I really like Greg’s idea about getting Raven involved, as he was still on top of his game at the time. I forgot about the incident he mentioned – just another case of the random booking of the time, I suppose. Ah well, hind sight.
Of course, if it hadn’t gone down the way it did, we as wresting fans would have no idea what a “finger poke of doom” is.
So… I’d have loved this, the majority of wrestling fans, not so much. They don’t like subtle and lack patience.
I think the letters would’ve worked if they don’t take up a whole lot of time…for instance is Mike Tenay reads them right before a commercial break from the announce booth, as opposed to ringside. After all, the champion is but one component, and Nitro (and later Thunder) should be where the midcard REALLY carries the weekly product.
And while the WWF was pulling in dollars hand over fist during this time with their collection of anti-heroes and all-around jerkholes, the key to holding your own in any business is to put forth what YOU do best, and WCW was always at their best when they sold the product as though it was a real sport and went light on dumb costumes and whatnot. Mortis/Wrath/Vampiro? Good. Glacier/KISS Demon? Nnnnnno.
But yeah, by the end of the Great American Bash ‘98, I would have had Sting’s new look, which would have reintroduced SOME color to his general appearance and facepaint, but he’d still run with a darker palatte and brown hair, to symbolize the journey that he’d taken, that left a remnant in his being. Like Dave said, the 100% squeaky clean face couldn’t play in this era, so bleach blond hair and hot pink tights are OUT. But once again, like Dave said the Stinger has to be invincible for at least a year for his victory over Hogan to develop real meaning.
Meanwhile, Raven would’ve gone on to take the US title from DDP as he was destined to do, defend it through the fall into the winter, only to get obliterated by Goldberg at Starrcade ‘98…and after his program with Chris Jericho, I think Goldberg’s reign as US Champion would have eventually led to a title shot at Starrcade ‘99, but I dunno if I’d have kept the belt on Sting, or maybe have him drop it to Scott Steiner at GAB ‘99, whose heel turn would’ve led to him leading a five-man version of the nWo (having shaved off all the excess in brutal Steiner fashion.) Then you do Starrcade 2000 in Calgary, and that’s when Bret gets his moment to shine!
…man, this is fun!
Greg,
Yes, the “envelope” segments would have been very brief, leading into commercials. And I can see how a “darker” Sting but closer to his original character than the Crow would have worked nicely.
If only, huh?
Seriously, dude…just feels like there’s a void out there, with WCW no longer around. I feel like I’ve been cheated out of at least a few more months of Elix Skipper and Kid Romeo as a tag team. I liked them! Plus Jeff Jarrett and Shane Douglas had some kick-ass entrance music. I noticed little things like that, you know? If only there were some way for some entrepeneur to buy it back from Vince. But we know that’s not gonna happen…
…but yeah, as compelling the storyline would be, the thing about Sting being “saved” by Hulk Hogan, is that in the long run it diminishes Sting as THE hero of WCW, if in turn after beating “Hollywood” Hogan, leader of the nWo – which, don’t forget, was supposed to be the WWF without being the WWF, then Hogan’s the one who saves Sting.
In the scenario you propose, if Hogan is the one who beats a “possessed” Sting, then Hogan is the one who rescues WCW, which isn’t quite the way to go. I don’t doubt for a second that Hogan would’ve eaten that up, but he’s not the homegrown hero. Sting is. The ultimate savior in this saga has to be Sting, and nobody else.
Ha! Dude, this IS fun. OK, here’s my first (and possibly only) foray into fantasy booking. Please be kind if you all think it sucks. And I will admit from the get go, I’m using ideas from everyone already on this thread. And I’m a bit drunk. With that out of the way….
Starrcade ’97 goes down like it should have – Sting absolutely destroys Hogan, and Hogan goes away for a long, long while. Soon after, the NWO starts to fragment, with infighting and such, and over the next few months the Stinger goes through them methodically and dominantly. Throughout all this, Sting maintains the Crow persona; giving infrequent and somewhat cryptic promos and not aligning himself with any face or heel faction. He is booked as a dominant badass, needing no help or outside interference to win decisively.
Meanwhile, some guy named Goldberg continues his undefeated streak by destroying everyone in his path and building his own aura of invincibility.
Early spring or thereabouts, Raven enters the mix. At first we only see him commiserating with Sting in backstage vignettes; nothing is revealed, and we aren’t sure if they are friends or foes. After a few weeks, Raven (and the Flock, numbering around 4 or 5) then begins appearing at ringside during Sting matches, showing support but staying uninvolved from physical contact. Sting treats them passively, neither embracing them nor admonishing their involvement. Eventually, they interfere in a match that Sting is on the verge of losing, leading of course to a win. The next week on Nitro, it is finally revealed that Raven was, in fact, the catalyst for Sting’s transformation to the Crow persona. Raven was the one who convinced Sting that the WCW was against him, and Raven has been advising (manipulating?) him behind the scenes ever since.
Meanwhile, that Goldberg guy keeps winning and gaining fan support by being a total badass.
As the summer rolls along Sting seems to embrace his role as WCW dictator, with a devious genius right had man and a gang of flunkies to ensure no one F**ks with him. He begins to buy his own hype as the savior of WCW and destroyer of the NWO; an untouchable entity in a sea of peasants. The rest of the WCW has returned to somewhat normal form, with the usual face/heel dynamics and no one dominant faction other than Sting/Raven and their minions (again, not 25 people in the same t-shirt, just 4 or 5 guys who are believable as a badass group).
Goldberg? Yup, you guessed it. We can keep him occupied with the US title, or settling scores with former NWO members, just as long as the domination & undefeated streak continue (played up more & more by the announcers each week).
In the late summer or very early fall, finally Sting does something so heinous (beating up a fan, kicking Flair in the nuts, biting the head off a puppy), that even the 18-34 year old male demographic FINALLY think “hey, that WAS kinda effed up, what a pussy!” Very soon thereafter, we get a backstage confrontation between Sting & Goldberg. No punches are thrown, but Goldberg makes it obvious that, as a badass face who needs no backup, he has an issue with Sting’s behavior. Sting dismisses him, with no inkling of a physical confrontation, but his flunkies suddenly appear and destroy Goldberg (with the use of many an international object).
The next few months can consist of Goldberg gunning for Sting in every way possible, taking on the Flock in various factions, throttling Raven backstage, anything really other than getting his hands on Sting one-on-one. The important thing here is that Sting also appears in the ring during this time, destroying anyone he faces, while taking shortcuts to win even thought he obviously could win on his own merits. Goldberg also is booked to look like an ass-kicking machine, shrugging off things like chair shots in his all-consuming effort to take out a Sting who has obviously gone over the edge. Goldberg at no point goes soft or panders to the fans, he just preaches a mantra of “right vs. wrong” or something to that effect.
The important thing here is that no wrestler is being pushed as a classic babyface, just as tough guy or conniving heel.
Starrcade 98 is finally upon us with a main even of Sting vs. Goldberg. They wrestle to cap off the night in a surprising good 15 minute match, with Goldberg dominating but Sting holding his own, and no interference to speak of. However, at around the 17 minute mark, Goldberg gains the advantage and is about to hit the spear/jackhammer, when there is a (GROAN) ref bump. The Flock interferes, Goldberg is taken out by 5 guys and 20 shots with a baseball bat, and 1-2-3, Sting retains. The crowd is livid. PISSED, if you will. Not only did the nefarious Sting end Goldberg’s unprecedented undefeated streak, he did so in an underhanded manner.
The next night, as Sting & his crew are gloating about a fairly won match, a battered, bruised and (more importantly) ENRAGED beyond belief Goldberg would appear, take out everyone (including a cameraman, for dramatic effect), and end the night holding the belt high over an unconscious Sting.
The next year could be spent pushing a coward/arrogant heel Sting, while also pushing a pissed off, unstoppable Goldberg – and once again creating a Goldberg undefeated streak until Starrcade 1999. Sting should be kept a strong champion, while Goldberg can go over everyone in his path in a quest to avenge not only his only loss but a loss to a person he feels represents taking shortcuts and is undeserving.
This would all lead, of course, to Bill Goldberg finally defeating Sting at Starrcade 1999, in perhaps a cage match (WCW version of Hell in a Cell?). No outside interference, no bullshit, just Goldberg avenging his one loss and becoming the face of WCW (and possibly wrestling in general).
As the year 2000 rolls in, you could have Hogan come back (2 years is good for nostalgia) and maybe reform the NWO as a foil for Goldberg. Smaller this time, 4 or 5 guys. Sting could have the expected fallout with Raven & the Flock, leading to months of good promos/matches and the eventual return (duh!) of babyface Sting. Um, maybe not in pink, but babyface nonetheless. There would be countless other events going on through all this; Flair, Horsemen, Guerrero, Jericho, Malenko, Rey Rey,, Nash/Hall and the rest of the former NWO in various matches/promos – and everyone else involved. This was clearly just about a few select individuals.
Hope you enjoyed reading…..