Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash (Nov 1998 – Jan 1999)

Background

Goldberg had been WCW World Heavyweight Champion since beating Hollywood Hogan at the Georgia Dome on July 6, 1998.[10] By the fall he was defending on pay-per-view against the top of the card; at Halloween Havoc in October he beat Diamond Dallas Page with the Jackhammer in 10:28.[20] His undefeated streak, by WCW's count, was still going.[7] The night after Havoc, Bret Hart attacked Page on Nitro, went after his leg with a chair, and locked on the Sharpshooter, and Goldberg ran out to the ring as the show went off the air.[4]

Kevin Nash had spent 1998 on the other side of the nWo split. He led the nWo Wolfpac, one of the rival groups the nWo had splintered into alongside Hogan's nWo Hollywood.[8][9] His longtime partner Scott Hall was on the other side; on the November 9 Nitro, Nash teamed with Lex Luger against Hall and the Giant.[4]

Nash had also been one of the men lined up for a big pay-per-view match with Hogan that summer. When Goldberg took the title from Hogan in July, a newspaper column that week counted Nash and Bret Hart "among the losers," since matches with a title-less Hogan meant much less.[30]

WCW's position had changed underneath both of them. The company had started 1998 as the top promotion in the country, and by the end of the year the WWF had overtaken it in the Monday night ratings.[9] Raw's new groups, DX and the Corporation, were seen as hipper than a WCW roster that had splintered into nWo Hollywood, the Wolfpac, the LWO, Raven's Flock, and the One Warrior Nation.[9] Hogan had announced his retirement in December, which Mike Mooneyham reported at the time appeared to be a worked scenario between Hogan and Eric Bischoff.[9]

By late 1998, the people making the decisions wanted the streak to end. "We had been talking about it, from what I can recall, for a couple of months," Bischoff has said. "We were running out of guys for Goldberg to go through."[14]

Build-up

The route to the title ran through World War 3 on November 22, 1998, at The Palace of Auburn Hills. The show drew 17,670 and $455,510.[2] Its signature match was a 60-man battle royal spread across three rings, with a world title shot at Starrcade for the winner.[1] The field included Hall, Luger, the Giant, Scott Steiner, Chris Jericho, and most of the undercard.[2][3]

Nash won it in 22:33, eliminating Luger and Hall at the end.[3][2][1] On the same card, Goldberg ran in to save Rick Steiner from Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell, and U.S. Champion Diamond Dallas Page pinned Bret Hart in the main event.[2][3]

The next night's Nitro in Grand Rapids put Goldberg and Nash in the same ring for the first time. Goldberg beat the Giant in 1:35, kicking out of a chokeslam along the way. Right after the pin, Bam Bam Bigelow ran out and attacked him, and security filled the ring to separate them. Then Nash climbed in and went after Goldberg, and security had to pull those two apart as well.[4]

Bigelow stayed in the picture all the way to Starrcade. On the December 7 Nitro at the Houston Astrodome, Goldberg was booked to face him in a non-title match. Nash met Goldberg and the championship committee on their way in and told them Goldberg wasn't supposed to fight before Starrcade. Goldberg told Nash he dreamed of beating him.[28]

Nash then made it a three-way with himself, Goldberg, and Bigelow for later that night. Nash jumped Bigelow before Goldberg even got to the ring, all three brawled, and security had to separate them while fans threw garbage into the ring. There was no winner.[28]

A week later in Tampa, Bigelow attacked Hall backstage after Hall laughed at him, Nash stepped in, and Goldberg arrived to make it three.

Referee Terry Taylor made it an official three-way for the main event.[29] Goldberg ran over Bigelow and dropped both men with a double clothesline. Nash got a two count off a side slam, and Bigelow got one off a headbutt.

When Goldberg set up the Jackhammer on Bigelow, Nash broke it up, and Goldberg speared him. Then Hall ran in for the disqualification, and Nash and Goldberg brawled as the show ended.[29]

Nash has given his own reason why WCW chose that moment. "Like if we'd go to the northeast they were booing Bill," he said on his Kliq This podcast. In his telling, Goldberg had "started to be the Yankees," and crowds didn't want to see him keep winning.[16]

Goldberg has admitted something similar. "I think the streak was losing some momentum, and who am I as a professional wrestler to give my opinion? I'm not a booker," he has said. "I'm just the guy who takes the story and tries to act it out in front of the crowd."[14]

Bischoff has said Nash wasn't always the plan. "In terms of, 'Was it always going to be Nash?' No. We were exploring a lot of different opportunities," he said. "But because of what was going on and the sheer size of Kevin Nash, he was the most believable and credible to tell that story."[14]

The Matches

Starrcade took place on December 27, 1998, Goldberg's 32nd birthday, at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C.[5][19] It drew 16,066 and a gate of $584,236, a bigger gate than the year before, with a 1.15 buyrate.[6] The Four Horsemen had been banned from the building for the night as part of Ric Flair's grudge match with Bischoff, which Bischoff won.[8][6]

Earlier in the night, Scott Hall walked out with no music, in an Outsiders T-shirt, and cut an in-ring promo. He said 1998 had been a bad year for him, in and out of the ring, with nobody to blame but himself, and that he would prove his loyalty to Nash.[5][32]

He talked about riding up and down the road with Nash, wondering what it would be like to be the main man in wrestling. "So I can't wait to kiss 1998 goodbye because I guarantee you, 1999 is my year."[32] A vignette promoting Nash against Goldberg aired before the main event.[5] On the undercard, Diamond Dallas Page pinned the Giant, and Bischoff beat Flair.[6]

The broadcast opened on the streak, 173 wins by WCW's numbers, with Bobby Heenan's case for Nash: he was bigger, and he had "been here before." Before the bell, Tony Schiavone said the match had all the atmosphere of a Super Bowl.[32]

The title match had been made No Disqualification earlier in the night.[32] Nash worked over Goldberg with clubbing strikes and armbars, and Goldberg answered with leg locks, suplexes, and spears.[8][32] Goldberg hit a spear off the ropes and called for the Jackhammer, but Nash hit him low as he tried to lift him, which the No DQ rules allowed.[32]

Then the outside help started. Disco Inferno ran in, and Goldberg speared him out of the ring. Bam Bam Bigelow came out of nowhere and sideswiped the champion.[8] Goldberg fought him off too.[5]

The last run-in was Scott Hall, dressed as event security in a yellow T-shirt. He shocked Goldberg in the chest and shoulders with a stun gun, and Goldberg fell to the mat twitching.[8][5] Nash picked him up and hit the Jackknife Powerbomb for the pin at 11:20.[7][6] Afterward Nash acted as if he didn't know what had happened with the stun gun.[32]

The streak ended at 173 wins by WCW's count, and Goldberg's reign ended at 174 days.[7][14] The Wrestling Observer rated the match two and three-quarter stars.[7]

Nash has said the crowd gave the finish a massive pop.[15] One week later, a newspaper columnist called the show "a terrible pay-per-view" and credited Ric Flair with salvaging it.[9]

Aftermath

WCW announced a rematch for the January 4, 1999 Nitro at the Georgia Dome, where Goldberg had won the title six months earlier. It was expected to draw the biggest crowd in company history.[9] The show drew 38,809, with 34,788 paid.[10]

Goldberg never got his rematch. Police came to the building with a warrant for his arrest on a charge of aggravated stalking of Miss Elizabeth. He was handcuffed and taken to a police station said to be across the street from the arena.[24][12]

Later in the show Elizabeth's story fell apart when the police told her that filing a false report was a felony, and she recanted.[24] With Goldberg gone, Hogan came back from his announced retirement and took the title shot instead.[9][13]

The match lasted 1:41. Hogan pushed Nash in the chest with one finger, Nash fell, and Hogan pinned him for the championship.[10]

When Goldberg made it back to the arena and went after Hogan, Hogan, Nash, Scott Steiner, and Buff Bagwell beat him down, and Lex Luger came out and joined them.[10] They put him in Luger's Torture Rack, handcuffed him to the ropes, hit him with a stun gun over and over, and spray-painted "nWo 4 life" on his back.[24] Hogan, Nash, Steiner, and Hall ended the night together; the two nWo factions were one again.[13]

The WWF had its own title change on television that night. Raw had been taped on December 29 in Worcester, Massachusetts, and on it Mankind beat The Rock for the WWF Championship. Nitro was

live.[11]

Earlier in the night Tony Schiavone had told the Nitro audience: "If you're even thinking about changing the channel to our competition, fans, do not. Because we understand that Mick Foley, who wrestled here one time as-as 'Cactus Jack', is going to win their World title."[24] He added, "That'll put a lot of butts in the seats." About 600,000 viewers switched over to see it.[11] Nitro still did a 5.0 rating, about 4.9 million homes.[24]

Goldberg got his revenge on Hall first. At Souled Out on January 17 in Charleston, West Virginia, they fought for the stun gun itself, hung above the ring so they had to climb a ladder to reach it. Goldberg won in 17:36, using the stun gun on Hall after the spear and the Jackhammer.

Bigelow attacked Goldberg after the bell, and Hall got the stun gun back and used it on both of them as the show went off the air.[25] At SuperBrawl IX in February, Goldberg beat Bigelow with two spears and the Jackhammer.[26]

At the end of 1999, Goldberg was in a program with Bret Hart. At Starrcade 1999, Hart, now the champion, beat him by submission in a finish built to echo Montreal.[6] During that match, a kick from Goldberg gave Hart a concussion, and the injury ended Hart's in-ring career.[18]

Behind the Scenes

The fight over the Starrcade finish is about who wrote it. In his 2000 book, I'm Next, Goldberg said Nash booked the match. On Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions in 2021, Austin asked Nash whether he did, and Nash said no.[15]

Nash's argument was about what came next. If he had been booking and heard the crowd react like that, he said, he would never have gone through with the Fingerpoke of Doom. "I would have beat him again and again," he said, and made as much money off it as he could.[15]

The record on Nash's role doesn't line up neatly. One retrospective dates his start as WCW's head booker to February 1999, after both shows, and still credits him with booking the finger poke.[23] Bischoff's version is that the Starrcade finish came out of a months-long discussion about how to end the streak.[14]

Goldberg's own view has moved over the years. "Honestly, at that point in my life, I just looked at it as a loss," he told Austin in 2019.

He said he didn't know enough about the business then to see the politics around it, and he now calls it "the ultimate rib."[17]

On another occasion he was harder on himself. "I look back on it, and I've been [upset] at my answers a number of times. That's childish. The fact is that Kevin Nash was the perfect guy to do it at the time. It was the perfect time to do it."[14]

Hall's own year had been rough. He had spent much of that autumn playing a drunk on WCW television, and at Starrcade he came out sober in an Outsiders shirt to say 1998 had been a bad year and 1999 would be better.[31][5] Within weeks he was the one holding the stun gun, and then fighting Goldberg over it at Souled Out.[5][25]

The streak itself, he has said, was never planned from the start. "One of the beauties of the streak was that it was organic. I didn't know what was going on, and every time I went to the building, I thought I was going to lose."[14]

The Fingerpoke had a companion mistake. Mick Foley was upset about Schiavone's "butts in the seats" line and called him about it, and learned that Bischoff had told Schiavone to say it.[13] "I honestly don't know why you guys would do that to somebody who worked so hard," Foley told him. "It turned out the joke was on them."[11]

Nash has never accepted that the finger poke was the turning point everyone says it was. "The 'Fingerpoke of Doom' was nothing," he has said, pointing instead to Mike Tyson's role at WrestleMania XIV earlier in 1998 as the moment the war turned.[11]

Legacy

WCW ended Goldberg's streak and title reign at Starrcade, then gave the title to Hogan eight days later.[5][10] The Georgia Dome show had been advertised around the Starrcade rematch, and the fans who came for it got a different match; the night reunited the nWo instead.[13][9]

The ratings cost came the same night, when about 600,000 viewers switched to Raw for Foley's win.[11]

The pay-per-view numbers tell the rest. Starrcade 1997, headlined by Sting and Hogan, drew a 1.9 buyrate.[5][6] Starrcade 1998, with the streak on the line, did a 1.15.

A year later, with Hart and Goldberg in the main event, Starrcade drew 8,582 fans and a 0.32.[6] A few days before the show, a contemporary column had noted that WCW had a "golden opportunity" in Atlanta and warned that Hogan's return threatened whatever momentum the company had.[9]

Goldberg was still in world title matches a year later.[6] That program ended with Hart's concussion at Starrcade 1999.

Goldberg has insisted it was an accident: "I kicked him in the head. It was very stiff, and it was an accident. I never maliciously would try to hurt anyone." He has also said, "I can only say I'm sorry so many times."[18]

The streak count has stayed at WCW's official number. When WWE inducted Goldberg into its Hall of Fame in 2018, it cited a "173-match undefeated streak."[21] Nash had already been inducted in 2015, and he went in again in 2020 as part of the nWo, alongside Hogan, Hall, and Sean Waltman.[22]

Scott Hall died in March 2022, at 63, after complications from hip replacement surgery. It was Nash who announced that his friend's life support would be turned off.[27]

See Also

Sources & Further Listening

1. WCW World War 3 results (1998) — The History of WWE. https://thehistoryofwwe.com/wcw-world-war-3-results/
2. World War 3 1998 results, attendance and gate — Pro Wrestling History. http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wcw/ww3.html
3. WCW/nWo World War 3 1998 — Cagematch. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=1684
4. WCW Monday Nitro, 1998 results — The History of WWE. https://thehistoryofwwe.com/wcw-monday-nitro-1998/
5. WCW Starrcade results (1998) — The History of WWE. https://thehistoryofwwe.com/wcw-starrcade-results/
6. Starrcade 1998 and 1999 results, attendance, gate and buyrate — Pro Wrestling History. http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/usa/wcw/starrcad.html
7. WCW Starrcade 1998 (card, Wrestling Observer rating, streak note) — Cagematch. https://www.cagematch.net/?id=1&nr=1691
8. John Powell, "Nash wins title, ends Goldberg's streak" (Starrcade report, Dec 28, 1998) — Slam! Wrestling. https://slamwrestling.net/report/nash-wins-title-ends-goldbergs-streak-2/
9. Mike Mooneyham, "Flair Puts WCW Back In Race" (Charleston Post and Courier newspaper column, Jan 3, 1999; archived copy). https://web.archive.org/web/2024/https://mikemooneyham.com/1999/01/03/flair-puts-wcw-back-in-race/
10. Georgia Dome results (Nitro, Jan 4, 1999) — The History of WWE. https://thehistoryofwwe.com/georgia-dome-results/
11. "Mick Foley and Kevin Nash on Jan. 4, 1999: The night that changed wrestling" — WWE.com. https://www.wwe.com/classics/foley-nash-jan-4-1999
12. "Monday Nitro – January 4, 1999 – The Night WCW Lost the War" — KB's Wrestling Reviews. https://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/04/20/monday-nitro-january-4-1999-the-night-wcw-lost-the-war/
13. "This Day in Wrestling History (Jan. 4): Fingerpoke of Doom" — Cageside Seats. https://www.cagesideseats.com/2017/1/4/14139642/today-pro-wrestling-history-jan-4-fingerpoke-of-doom
14. "Why Goldberg's Streak Ended: The Secret Reason Revealed" (quoting Goldberg on WWE's The Bump and Bischoff's 83 Weeks podcast) — Pro Wrestling Stories. https://prowrestlingstories.com/pro-wrestling-stories/goldbergs-streak-wcw/
15. "411's WWE Broken Skull Sessions Report: Kevin Nash" (Steve Austin interview, aired Jul 18, 2021) — 411Mania. https://411mania.com/wrestling/411s-wwe-broken-skull-sessions-report-kevin-nash/
16. "Kevin Nash Claims WCW Ended Goldberg's Streak Because Fans Began To Turn On Him" (Kliq This podcast) — Cultaholic. https://cultaholic.com/posts/kevin-nash-claims-wcw-ended-goldberg-s-streak-because-fans-began-to-turn-on-him
17. "Goldberg Looked At Starrcade 98 Loss As 'Just A Loss' At The Time, Now Calls It 'The Ultimate Rib'" (Broken Skull Sessions interview, 2019) — Fightful. https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/goldberg-looked-starrcade-98-loss-just-loss-time-now-calls-it-ultimate-rib/
18. "Goldberg: I've Heard Bret Hart Bitching And Moaning For Years, I Can Only Say I'm Sorry So Many Times" (Nothing Left Unsaid podcast interview) — Fightful. https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/goldberg-i-ve-heard-bret-hart-bitching-and-moaning-years-i-can-only-say-i-m-sorry-so-many-times/
19. Bill Goldberg — Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Goldberg
20. WCW Halloween Havoc results (1998) — The History of WWE. https://thehistoryofwwe.com/wcw-halloween-havoc-results/
21. "Goldberg to be inducted into WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2018" — WWE.com. https://www.wwe.com/shows/wwe-hall-of-fame/wwe-hall-of-fame-2018/article/goldberg-wwe-hall-of-fame-inductee-2018
22. "The nWo to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2020" — WWE.com. https://www.wwe.com/shows/wwe-hall-of-fame/wwe-hall-of-fame-2020/article/nwo-wwe-hall-of-fame-2020-inductees
23. "Looking Back At Kevin Nash's Time As Booker of WCW" — TheSportster. https://www.thesportster.com/wcw-looking-back-at-kevin-nash-time-as-booker/
24. "Throwback Thursday: WCW Monday NITRO #173 (Jan. 4, 1999)" — Wrestling DVD Network. https://www.wrestlingdvdnetwork.com/throwback-thursday-wcw-monday-nitro-173-on-wwe-network/149138/
25. WCW Souled Out results (1999) — The History of WWE. https://thehistoryofwwe.com/wcw-souled-out-results/
26. WCW SuperBrawl results (SuperBrawl IX, Feb 21, 1999) — The History of WWE. https://thehistoryofwwe.com/wcw-superbrawl-results/
27. "Tributes Pour in for Scott Hall Following WWE Hall of Famer's Death" — Sports Illustrated. https://www.si.com/wrestling/2022/03/15/scott-hall-tributes-pour-in-late-wwe-hall-of-famer
28. "Monday Nitro – December 7, 1998" (review) — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2014/05/01/monday-nitro-december-7-1998/
29. "Monday Nitro – December 14, 1998" (review) — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://blogofdoom.com/index.php/2014/05/08/monday-nitro-december-14-1998
30. Mike Mooneyham, "Phenom Goldberg Tops Hogan" (Charleston Post and Courier newspaper column, Jul 12, 1998; archived copy). https://web.archive.org/web/20240714201221/https://mikemooneyham.com/1998/07/12/phenom-goldberg-tops-hogan/
31. "Mike Reviews WCW Starrcade 1998" — Scott's Blog of Doom. https://www.blogofdoom.com/2023/12/23/mike-reviews-wcw-starrcade-1998/
32. Geno Mrosko, "WCW Starrcade 1998 results, retro live blog: Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash" — Cageside Seats. https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2015/11/28/9808056/wcw-starrcade-1998-results-retro-live-blog-goldberg-vs-kevin-nash

Further Listening

• Kliq This — Kevin Nash on why WCW ended Goldberg's streak when it did
• Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions with Kevin Nash (2021) — Nash's response to Goldberg's booking claim
• Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions with Goldberg (2019) — Goldberg on the Starrcade loss
• Bill Goldberg, I'm Next: The Strange Journey of America's Most Unlikely Superhero (2000) — Goldberg's account of the Starrcade finish
• 83 Weeks with Eric Bischoff — the creative reasoning behind ending the streak