Perfect timing to put the belt on a guy

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

The original plan was to do Sting/Hogan in the spring (Slamboree maybe?). Once they realized that Sting was getting more over by not doing anything but sit in the rafters, they decided to push the match back to Starrcade.

 

At what point during the buildup did they decide to do the bullshit fast count finish?

Probably after Montreal, as the whole finish of the fast count and Bret Hart running in to set things right was meant to play off of that.

[Richard 0]

If Nick Patrick fucked up the fast count, why didn't WCW punish him somehow?

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

If Nick Patrick fucked up the fast count, why didn't WCW punish him somehow?

Because the general consensus is that he deliberately messed up the fast count on orders from Hogan.

[Diamonddust 0]

I wonder if Windham didn't get the belt in 1987 because Flair mostly wanted to lose simply to regain at Starrcade, but Windham was too over for a lame duck role such as that. Flair's career is full of this sort of thing, guys who probably should have beaten him for the belt. David Von Erich in 1984, Magnum in 1986, maybe Windham in 1987, Luger in 88, and so on.

 

Flair would have lost the belt to Magnum in '86 if the crash didn't happen.

[cabbageboy 0]

Given the NWA's booking of the day I wouldn't 100% say that was a done deal. It's probable, but what if Magnum ended up the victim of another bullshit Dusty Finish?

[Brett Favre 0]

I wonder if Windham didn't get the belt in 1987 because Flair mostly wanted to lose simply to regain at Starrcade, but Windham was too over for a lame duck role such as that. Flair's career is full of this sort of thing, guys who probably should have beaten him for the belt. David Von Erich in 1984, Magnum in 1986, maybe Windham in 1987, Luger in 88, and so on.

 

Flair would have lost the belt to Magnum in '86 if the crash didn't happen.

 

And wasn't he going to lose it to David Von Erich if he didn't die?

[Diamonddust 0]

Given the NWA's booking of the day I wouldn't 100% say that was a done deal. It's probable, but what if Magnum ended up the victim of another bullshit Dusty Finish?

 

Magnum was one of Dusty's closest friends. Dusty was grooming him to be champion and then launch a Nikita/Magnum feud over the World Title.

[PILLS! PILLS! PILLS! 0]

Flair would have lost the belt to Magnum in '86 if the crash didn't happen.

And wasn't he going to lose it to David Von Erich if he didn't die?

 

Yes, he was.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

I don't think that DVE was actually going to win the NWA title, but he did come close. When David's name came up as a proposed NWA champion, it was around 1983 for when Flair was going to drop the belt in order to regain it at the first Starrcade. As I recall, it came down to Von Erich or Harley Race, and in the end, the NWA Board of Directors voted on Race to be the one to get the belt.

[cabbageboy 0]

They definitely made the right call. I can't see David working in that role anywhere near as well as Race did. Can't see him doing the bounty angle with Flair as well at all, although it would be an amusing payback from when Flair took out the bounty on Kerry.

 

In fact I don't know if David would have ever been a long term champ. Crockett controlled the NWA title by 1983-84 and I can't see him not wanting Flair as champ for an extended amount of time. Particularly when keeping it on a Von Erich for a long time would have made WCCW the place to be in the NWA.

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Another problem with David getting the NWA title to drop it to Flair would have been that he would have had to have lost it clean to Flair, and Fritz Von Erich would never have allowed that. When Kerry lost the NWA title to Flair in Japan, Fritz's cover story to explain the loss was that Flair used the ropes and that the referee was a Sumo referee who didn't understand the rules properly.

[MillenniumMan831 0]

What a fabulous excuse. I can imagine the mixed up bookings w/ someone like Tommy Young finding himself officiating a sumo match surprised that he doesn't have to warn anyone for using a closed fist.

[cabbageboy 0]

Let's think about this for a minute. Crockett likely wouldn't have wanted the NWA title going to anyone who wasn't a JCP guy, not for any amount of time. Some of these guys might get a token title run but the only guy who likely was groomed to be a face champ was Magnum, since he was a fellow Crockett employee.

[Ed Wood Caulfield 0]

Eh I don't think they ever were going to have Sting kill the NWO. Hogan's loss would likely have simply caused the split with the Wolfpac that happened anyway in 1998. Hogan still would have gotten the belt back in the nefarious way that he did.

 

I've thought about this a little bit, and I just realized: even if Sting defeated Hogan fair and square and killed the nWo, how exactly would the nWo end after Starrcade? Would Hogan go on Nitro the next night and say that he was disbanding the group? Or, like what "Macho Man" did, would members start leaving one by one until it was just Hogan and Bischoff?

 

Furthermore, with all the money that they made off of Starrcade, I am not surprised that they did a rematch at SuperBrawl VIII. So you would have to think that the group would still be around for a little while longer to give Hogan some backup since the fans wouldn't think he would have a shot by himself against Sting.

 

Third, who would face Sting if the nWo were to end after Starrcade 1997? Because everyone else seemed busy at the time. I know Scott Hall got a WCW World Heavyweight Title shot, but besides a rematch with Hogan and a match with Hall, who else could Sting face?

 

Basically, what I'm trying to say is, even if the Sting/Hogan feud got the proper blowoff, there was nowhere to go from there. Everything was leading up to Starrcade and after that WCW would have no idea what to do (as usual).

Edited October 2, 2008 by Ed Wood Caulfield

[cabbageboy 0]

Exactly. WCW built everything to that big Starrcade but had zero clue what to do after it. History has always shown Sting to be a better chaser than champion, since he loses steam once he actually wins the belt.

 

Personally I would have had Sting hold the belt for a while, then around mid 1998 drop the belt back to Hogan in a screwjob (let's say Bret runs in, setting up Sting/Bret). Then at Starrcade I go with Hogan vs. Goldberg. Oddly enough with some tinkering the NWO wasn't really out of steam, but branching off into the Wolfpac and Hollywood hurt a lot. Eventually Hogan could have been ousted from the NWO for losing to Goldberg, then he could have feasibly turned face in 1999 instead of the half ass way he did.

[Prophet of Mike Zagurski 0]

I just thought about this. At Wrestlemania X8, Trish should have won the Women's Title there. I don't know why Jazz won except for the fact that people don't win in their hometowns.

[Silence 0]

I just thought about this. At Wrestlemania X8, Trish should have won the Women's Title there. I don't know why Jazz won except for the fact that people don't win in their hometowns.

 

That sadly seems to be what started the whole "losing in their hometown" deal WWE's been doing for a while. I can't remember if anyone in WWE was losing in their hometown more often before Trish did at WM X-8.

[cabbageboy 0]

I don't know if it was exactly a hometown deal but I think the Hardys should have won the titles at Summerslam 2000. It was in Raleigh, NC. Yet for some bizarre reason E & C retained there, and the Hardys didn't win the belts until the next PPV.