10 Defences Of Horrible Wrestling Moments
4. The Starrcade 1998 Finish
Along similar lines...
What was the alternative to the Starrcade 1998 finish? Have Goldberg go undefeated for years and years, and simply retire?
The ironic, nihilistic side of the fandom would probably agree, and you know what? Goldberg's act was so irresistible that it never really got old. It didn't get old, but realistically, earnestly, he had to lose at some point, if for no other reason to give the character a new, vengeful edge and let him rip through some transgressive, cheating scumbags to reclaim what was rightfully his.
Goldberg did have to lose, and while WCW generally being WCW had much to do with his decline subsequent to that, he was one-dimensional. That one dimension was as exhilarating and credible as wrestling gets, but still: he was always destined to be better in year one than at any other time. What else was he going to do: reinvent himself as some timeless craftsman who mastered the space between moves?
WCW also picked the best or at least most over man for the job; because he checked out 24 hours later and was rightly demonised as a jaded political shark who trivialised everything around him, it's easy to forget that Kevin Nash was incredibly over.
The Wolfpac was the last cool thing WCW ever did, the show was a legit sell-out, the heat was incandescent: it was the match WCW fans wanted to see. And, if the "Should have pushed the cruiserweights!" camp still exists, WCW even actively tried to get Kidman over huge on the undercard.
There was a semblance of a bold plan at play that night, one overshadowed by Eric Bischoff going over Ric Flair and the least interesting booking decision ever unfolding just eight days later.