20 Most Horrifically Stupid Things That Ever Happened In WCW

14. Goldberg Turns Heel

When Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff took joint control of WCW in April of 2000 (both on-screen and in reality), they immediately vacated all of the championships and began a company-wide angle in which all of the younger talent turned heel, forming a faction called the New Blood. The established (read: old) stars were, by and large, the only babyfaces in the company.

A war between the two factions ensued, riddled with chaotic angles and constant world title changes. Still, neither side gained a distinct advantage. This stood to change at the Great American Bash pay-per-view in June. Prior to the event, Bischoff - on behalf of the New Blood - promised a surprise of epic proportions, punctuating it with the soon-to-be-infamous line "and there's not a damn thing Vince McMahon can do about it!"

Speculation ran rampant - what did Bischoff have planned? A major star from WWE jumping ship to help the New Blood? Something that benefitted all of WCW, like a new television time slot? A friend of mine, in high school gym class, had told me he heard a rumour that Shane McMahon was joining WCW (ah, if only we knew...) - could that be the surprise?

In the end, the major shocker was Goldberg turning heel and joining the New Blood, helping Jeff Jarrett retain the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Kevin Nash. Vince McMahon, I'm sure, was devastated. To be fair, according to Bryan Alvarez and R.D. Reynolds in The Death of WCW, the shocker was originally supposed to be the news that WCW was being purchased (and for half a billion dollars, no less) - something that would have had a bit more impact on the wrestling world than a heel turn.

Unfortunately, Bischoff let his mouth write a check that his ass couldn't cash, and WCW was once again left with egg on its face. Goldberg would turn babyface again in two months, but not before a ridiculous angle on Nitro where he brutally pummelled the lower back of kidney cancer survivor 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan.

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Scott Fried is a Slammy Award-winning* writer living and working in New York City. He has been following/writing about professional wrestling for many years and is a graduate of Lance Storm's Storm Wrestling Academy. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/scottfried. *Best Crowd of the Year, 2013