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Eric Bischoff Explains Why He Changed the Sting vs. Hogan Finish at Starrcade 1997

18K views 92 replies 55 participants last post by  CptHowdy187 
#1 ·
During an appearance on Ric Flair’s WOOOOOO! Nation podcast, Eric Bischoff talked about the long build for Sting vs. Hulk Hogan at Starrcade 1997, and explained the reason why he had to change the planned finish of the match.

“What had happened over the course of a year is he hadn’t been working out. He wasn’t engaged. He’d show up, he’d do his thing, he would do it very well, it was great, he’d get on a plane the next morning, he’d disappear, and we wouldn’t see him for a week.” Bischoff continued, “but at the end of our first meeting talking about where things were going, when it was over, Hulk and I both looked at each other and go, ‘man, we can’t go there. He didn’t get ready for this.’ It didn’t feel to us that this was a priority.”

The original plan was for Sting to go over Hogan clean, but Bischoff made the decision to change course.

“Hulk Hogan takes the heat for this, ‘you changed the finish – you didn’t want to do it’, B.S. That was my call. Right or wrong, it was my call.”
Not having Sting beat Hogan cleanly at Starrcade is one of the worst decisions in the Monday Night Wars.

I also still don't understand why they booked Luger to win the WCW title / end Hogan's 300+ days reign only to lose it 5 days later.
 
#10 ·
Well it was the starting point of what was to come. They began to lose momentum in the second half of 98. Fans realized back then that WCW was incapable of making stars and even the ones who broke the ceiling like Goldberg, DDP, and Sting, lacked proper long term direction.
 
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#12 ·
I've never understood why Sting waited so long to kick out ... it's supposed to be a fast count. If that's what he's expecting, he should have been trying to raise his shoulder at one because it would be like 123, not 1-2-3.

I wish Sting would do a shoot where someone would ask him this.
 
#11 ·
Hogan received $1.5m for his match with Sting - the biggest one match pay off in wrestling history until Mayweather went over Big Show.

And you think he didn't want to do business with Sting? GTFO. :x

I accept Bischoff's account - and I'm pleased the record has finally been set straight.
 
#8 ·
That's what happens when you let a wrestler not wrestle for a year. Laughable.
 
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#14 ·
Bischoff is a ride of die bitch when it comes to Hogan lol. And of course this was Hogan's call, Bischoff just said he was influenced by Hogan and when you add in that Hogan had creative control in the first place, it just makes sense.

I can *sort of* see the whole "Sting was out of shape" thing, but let's get real here, Hogan wasn't putting on good matches either. It's not an easy call though as WCW was still doing insane business and it would've been a bad time to kill the NWO..... I really do think Goldberg taking down the NWO at the end of the day was more fun then the possibility of Sting doing it. That being said, that was still Sting's night.
 
#15 ·
"We can't go there ..."

No, of course not. You had a Roddy Piper in bad shape go over Hogan clean a year earlier, and a near- disabled Piper become US champ a few months later.

And Hogan of course was the perfect example of a guy who could go top pace for 30 minutes.

Sting was in good shape, and all they did was getting cold feet to have nWo, and Hogan especially, get their comeuppance, the whole PPV reeks of fear. They fucked up. Plain and simple.
 
#20 ·
This is such old school thinking, considering what they had with Sting at that time.

Legitimately, Sting could have been 300lbs and if he was as over as he was and built as he was up to that night it would have made greater sense for him to go over.

It's not like it was a surprise and he just turned up and wanted the belt. Sting had months and months, if not years considering his history, of build up to that point yet they made this exact decision late on? Bizarre.
 
#28 ·
explanation makes no sense. why would sting not working out result in you booking the match the way you did. hogan won that match clean in the first few minutes only for bret hart to over-turn the decision..



exactly, starrcade 97 should have been the crowning glory of wcw, the event to finally showcase that wcw were the number one pro-wrestling company on earth and nothing stood in their way in terms of future domination.

it was the biggest ppv in wrestling since wrestlemania 5 and had one of if not the best builds in history for a mainevent match...i can go back now and watch those 97 nitros and the stings/nwo segments are still fucking gold
 
#23 ·
This was the single dumbest booking move in wrestling history. As pointed out, it's not even just Starrcade that ruined things, it's the fact that Sting never really got that win over Hogan. All of their matches ended in bullshit. Practically ever not-Goldberg match with Hogan ended in bullshit. If you're going to play the top heel, be prepared to do a few fucking jobs you piece of shit.
 
#24 ·
This isn't news, Bischoff covered this same stuff in his book. And regardless of whether it's true or not (I don't recall Sting looking out of shape, but it's been years since I watched that match), it's still bullshit that Sting didn't pick up the clean victory that night. You built him up as your conquering hero for over a year, putting him over clean was the only right. And the reason Hogan catches heat for it is because everyone knows he had 100% creative control in his contract, and even if he hadn't, it's still public knowledge that he supported the idea nonetheless. There's also speculation/rumors that Hogan bribed Nick Patrick to purposefully count a normal count so that it would look like Hogan won for real.
 
#25 ·
This isn't news, Bischoff covered this same stuff in his book. And regardless of whether it's true or not (I don't recall Sting looking out of shape, but it's been years since I watched that match), it's still bullshit that Sting didn't pick up the clean victory that night. You built him up as your conquering hero for over a year, putting him over clean was the only right. And the reason Hogan catches heat for it is because everyone knows he had 100% creative control in his contract, and even if he hadn't, it's still public knowledge that he supported the idea nonetheless. There's also speculation/rumors that Hogan bribed Nick Patrick to purposefully count a normal count so that it would look like Hogan won for real.
That was the breaking point for me about that match.
 
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#39 ·
They kept Sting out of the ring for too long. He should've feasted on some of the fodder nWo guys before facing Hogan atleast, to keep him in shape.

Ultimately it's Bischoff's fault for building up a guy that hadn't wrestled in over a year.

Either way it wasn't the death blow for WCW or anything. Goldberg replaced Sting as the nWo conqueror, but they eventually screwed that up too.
 
#41 ·
So, if Bischoff believes what he's saying, he's plainly saying that he'd rather jeopardize the well-being of his company by fucking up the longest build to a match since the biblical prediction of judgment day, than having Hogan beaten in a bad match, which he put on week after week at that point.
 
#43 ·
Definitely poor move on Bischoff's part. If he's out of shape, work around it. This isn't some Jeff Hardy deal where he's trashed out of his mind and can't convincingly work a match. You've built this fucking thing up to record numbers. They are paying to watch Sting defeat Hogan. Half-assing the finish is dumb. If Sting ain't going to work in the long run, do damage control, and put it back on Hogan in a rematch.
 
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