The Title Change: Bill Goldbergs historic rise from rookie to undefeated WCW World Champion was like nothing the industry has seen before or since that time. Equally as famous was the end of Goldbergs first title reign and winning streak when he succumbed to Kevin Nash following interference by Scott Hall. Amazingly, Goldberg was never given a second chance to carry the company with a subsequent world title reign. Or was there a second WCW World title reign for Goldberg in the years before WCW closed its doors? The answer lies somewhere in the middle. In October 99, Sting was in the midst of a forgettable heel run as WCW World Champion when he defended the title against Hulk Hogan. After a non-match where Hogan simply allowed Sting to pin him (that cheap scenario would happen quite a bit in WCW during those days) the Stinger came out at the end of the night to challenge Goldberg to an impromptu match. The announcers seemed genuinely confused as they sheepishly announced the match would not be for the title during commentary. After a quick Goldberg victory, the referee then handed Goldberg the world title as the puzzled announcers seemed to reverse course and declare him the new champion. The pay-per-view ended with Goldberg beginning his second reign as WCW World Champion. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1zs5ns_wcw-halloween-havoc-1999-bill-goldberg-vs-sting_sport The Aftermath: In typical late 90s WCW fashion, the story gets even more bizarre. The following night on Nitro, WCW clarifies that Goldberg never officially won the championship in the impromptu match (despite being handed the belt by the referee and officially announced as the new champion to end the show) and the title would instead be declared vacant due to Stings attack on the referee post-match. This series of events would lead to a massive tournament for the belt which would eventually be won by Bret Hart. Goldbergs second title victory and short reign was retroactively erased and today WWE does not recognize him as a two-time WCW World Champion. This was certainly a massive waste of a great opportunity.
