A little melodramatic, maybe and were not talking about the day that the WWF (as was) purchased the ailing promotion. No, were talking about the main event of Starrcade 1997, Hollywood Hogan versus Sting, a match with eighteen months of expectation and speculation behind it. A match so simple that it barely required booking at all but this is WCW, and overbooking is what WCW did. Since the formation of the NWO, Sting had remained aloof from all of the antics in the ring. Literally, in this case hed begun wearing the now iconic Crow-style clothing and make-up, and lurking in the rafters of Nitro. The fans excitement at seeing him up near the ceiling, staring down, gradually built and built. Hed rappel down from the rafters every week or so like the freakin Batman, never saying a word. What was he going to do? Its difficult to overestimate how over Sting was at this point. With this astonishingly longsighted vision for the character and the patience of saints, Sting and WCW had successfully created one of the biggest babyfaces of the Monday Night Wars and he was a homegrown hero, too. Sting hadnt materialised in WCW after making his name with the east coast competition. He was NWA through and through, WCWs version of the Undertaker, a faithful company man but imagine the Undertaker with the crowd support of Stone Cold Steve Austin, and youve got the idea. Hogans NWO was a truly hated heel stable: in the year and a half since it had arrived, the companys overbooking of the faction had removed most of what was once cool and edgy about it. By the time Sting made his move against the NWO, fans were salivating to see him tear Hogan to shreds. Finally the match was made, at WCWs equivalent of Wrestlemania: Starrcade, 28th December 1997. All that was needed was for Sting to let loose, take it to Hogan, and annihilate the NWO. It was a no-brainer everything the fans had been waiting a year and a half to see. Thats not the match that they put on: the match was typically overbooked and poorly thought through, but the booking of the match isnt the botch were here to talk about. No, that comes with the restart gimmick. Hogan dominated the action for the first few minutes until hitting a leg drop and going for the pin. Heel referee Nick Patrick was supposed to fast count Hogans initial pinning attempt on Sting, leading to a screwjob finish: and then Bret The Hitman Hart, freshly arrived in WCW after his betrayal in a similar fashion at the WWF, and fresh from refereeing duties lower down the card, would explode, march down to the ring and restart the match, refusing to see another Screwjob on his watch. Sting would win the rematch. Except Patricks count wasnt fast. Not even slightly it was a normal three count. When Hart appeared, shouting about restarting the match, the crowd was confused. Theyd just seen the most underwhelming main event match in history, and their hero lose dismally, clean, 1-2-3 in the middle of the ring. Now the new guy wanted it restarted? Why? There was no cheating going on here. No ones entirely sure what happened. Perhaps Patrick was nervous or confused? Perhaps Hogan got to him, telling him to count normally in order to mess with rival Sting and shore up his own position on the card. Whatever the case, Sting may have won overall, but his momentum was wrecked, the fanbase utterly demoralised. Weeks later, WCWs 82-week winning streak in the ratings war with the WWF was over. Coincidence? Unlikely. What's the best/worst botch you've ever seen on a WCW show? Tell us all about it in the comments...
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
