10 Things Everybody Gets Wrong About WCW
6. Booking Bill
The penultimate year of the 1990s saw WWE re-take the lead in the Monday Night ratings battle, as well as just about every other industry metric. The company was enjoying substantially higher merchandise and ticket sales riding the wave of Stone Cold Steve Austin's emphatic ascension. WCW was almost as popular as it had been the prior two years, but a division of nWo labour and the politicking of Goldberg down the card after he won the company's World Title combined to take much of the bloom off the Atlanta rose.
It mustn't be understated how big the paradigm shift was in 1998, and it makes an oft-held criticism of the decision to blow Goldberg's climactic victory over 'Hollywood' Hogan on television largely moot. The same applies to empty critiques of Kevin Nash's ending of said reign and Big Bill's legendary undefeated streak.
The sight of an enraptured Georgia Dome faithful watching their hero topple the megalomaniacal 'Hulkster' remains one of the company's finest moments, far more so than their pay-per-view attempt to deliver the goods several months earlier at Starrcade. 'Big Sexy' pinning Goldberg in December was an earth-shattering way to end the year. The company are at fault for spectacularly botching any potential momentum with the 'Fingerpoke Of Doom', not for the chain of events that led up to it.