Continued from Part 1
The nWo continued strong and looked to be unbeatable minus a five-day reign by Lex Luger as World Champion for some reason which could have made Hollywood Hogan and the nWo even stronger. Hogan and the nWo had run WCW for 18 months since their creation in June 1996.
There was, however, one man and one man only that could stop the reign of terror by the nWo. That was "The Man Called Sting." It should be no surprise that the man who bled WCW would be the one to stop the nWo from totally taking over WCW but it was not easy.
At the end of 1996, Sting was sick of everyone doubting him for the nWo tricking WCW into thinking he joined the nWo as he cast this loner Crow gimmick where he did not speak or wrestle for over an entire year. For many months, Sting would not help WCW from nWo attacks and even attacked several WCW stars who doubted him.
Many wondered if Sting was done with WCW and was a member of the nWo. Sting then showed he was WCW through and through at Uncensored in March when he attacked members of the nWo after their win in the main event and started to challenge and go after Hogan for his WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
Throughout the entire year of 1997, Sting would come through the crowd, rappel from the rafters, or even came from under the ring to attack various members of the nWo at numerous shows. At the end of the final ever edition of Clash of the Champions on August 21, Sting was standing in the rafters with a giant crow which flew to the ring to scare the nWo. That was also the debut of his new theme song.
Sting continued to not wrestle and never said a single word in 1997. This was perhaps the best gimmick or the best marketed gimmick ever. As popular as Sting was before 1997, he was way more popular under blacks and white crow gimmick and without ever saying a word. Who else could draw this well despite never wrestling or talking?
One of the reasons why WCW was so much more popular than the WWF and why Nitro beat Raw in the ratings for nearly two years was because everyone tuned in to see if Sting would show up and what would Sting do if he showed? I for one wondered when was he going to wrestle or say a word so I kept tuning in that's for damn sure.
Throughout the summer and fall of 1997, Sting non verbally called out and challenged Hollywood Hogan for the World Title, but WCW Commissioner James J. Dillon did not understand Sting since Sting did not speak. He kept offering Sting contracts to fight other nWo members, but Sting ripped them up and only wanted one man: Hogan.
We would finally get our wish for Sting to finally get his hands on Hogan and return inside the wrestling ring as it was announced that Hogan would defend the title against Sting at Starrcade '97, live from the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. on December 28, 1997.
This was Sting's long-awaited return to the ring as he would finally end Hogan and the nWo's dominance so it was going to be huge or so we think. The match itself was dubbed "The Match of the Century!!" The buildup of this match going back to when Sting turned to the Crow and was silent for 15 months is arguably the best buildup ever for a match.
The nWo tried to gain a new member to their organization before Starrcade as Bret "The Hitman" Hart left the WWF after the 1997 Survivor Series to join WCW in December as he signed a three-year contract worth about $2.5-3 million a year.
"Ravishing" Rick Rude (albeit as a manager as he was retired as a wrestler) returned to WCW as a member of the nWo late in 1997 after a brief stint in the WWF. Rude informed Bischoff what had transpired between Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Vince McMahon at Survivor Series and Rude left the WWF to go with his good friend over how McMahon screwed him over in the infamous "Montreal Screwjob."
Rude created wrestling history as he is the only one to appear on WCW Monday Nitro and WWF Monday Night Raw on the exact same night on November 17, 1997. Rude appeared at the beginning of Nitro, which was live, as Rude sported only a mustache where he ripped the WWF and Michaels. An hour later on Raw is War, which was taped six days earlier and played that night, Rude appeared sporting a beard in a truly memorable moment.
Eric Bischoff was confident Bret Hart would join the nWo. Hart was named special guest referee for Bischoff's match with Larry Zbyszko at Starrcade over who would control WCW Nitro: WCW or the nWo. Also if Zbyszko won he'd get a match with Scott Hall since he was feuding with Hall. Hart could not wrestle yet in WCW due to a 60-day no-compete clause from the WWF so the referee angle was used to keep him on WCW TV.
On the Nitro before Starrcade on December 22, the nWo "invaded" and took over Nitro. The nWo ran the announcers off and setup shop. They tore down the sets and did some remodeling by replacing WCW Monday Nitro signs with nWo Monday Nitro signs and spray paint nWo in the middle of the ring as they were anticipating Bischoff winning at Starrcade and nWo taking over Nitro.
Bret Hart kind of allowed Bischoff to cheat in his match at Starrcade to perhaps show he was nWo after all while preventing Zbyszko from attacking Bischoff. Scott Hall put a steel plate in Bischoff's shoe. Bischoff kicked Zbyszko in the head knocking him out. The steel plate flew out of Bischoff's shoe.
Hart saw this as Bischoff wants him to declare him the winner, Hart punched Bischoff down. Hall ran into the ring only to be attacked by Hart as he locked Hall in the Sharpshooter. Zbyszko then choked Bischoff with his own belt. Hart then raised Zbyszko's hand in victory declaring him the winner and WCW remains in control of Nitro. This wouldn't be the last time we saw Hart that night.
Now it was finally time for the match we had all been waiting for about 18 months or even since Hulk Hogan first came to WCW. Hogan took on Sting as Sting is finally wrestling for the first time in 15 months when he began his transformation from surfer Sting to Crow Sting. I don't care if Hogan was in WCW it was still WCW's biggest star ever in Sting vs. the WWF's biggest star in Hogan.
With all the time WCW and Eric Bischoff did to hype up this match and build up Sting for well over a year by not saying a single word and not wrestling one time you would think Sting would end up winning the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, cleanly from Hogan. You would think that but ultimately be wrong.
Sting definitely looked like someone who had a lot of ring rust and being out of the ring for over a year. The match did not go well as Hogan dominated Sting most of the match. It was a rather quick match, less than 13 minutes, for a high-caliber PPV match maybe the biggest in company history.
Hogan gave Sting the big boot and the leg drop and pinned Sting as referee Nick Patrick counted 1-2-3. To the disappointment of many, Hogan retained the title as we all thought Sting would be the champion. Sting did not even kick out or even make any attempt to kick out. We are all so confused as to what the hell happened!!
Bret Hart, still as a WCW referee this night, came out and said Patrick counted three "too fast", which he did not. Patrick was a former nWo ref turned back to WCW as many felt they could not trust him. Hart prevented the time keeper from ringing the bell and yelled out on the microphone he wasn't going to let Sting get screwed over like Hart did at Survivor Series. He punched Patrick and ordered the match to restart.
Hart grabbed Hogan and threw him back into the ring. Sting nailed Hogan with two Stinger Splashes. Sting then locked Hogan in the Scorpion Death Lock. Hogan submitted and Hart rang the bell as Sting won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship and giving WCW their biggest victory in 18 months over the nWo.
This night was to belong to Sting and of course WCW but it was not to be. Due to the controversial finish of Starrcade and the subsequent rematch between the two the next night on Nitro, Sting was forced to vacate the title but we'll discuss that in WCW 1998.
Originally Sting was supposed to win the title cleanly over Hogan, but Hogan used his creative control in his contract to change the finish to a screw job finish as Hogan did not want to drop the belt cleanly to Sting. Many were mad as this was another example of how Hogan used his creative control card to change numerous outcomes of matches and another example of backstage politics that were in WCW.
The new finish was to be where Hogan cleanly pinned Sting following the leg drop and Nick Patrick was supposed to count 1-2-3 really fast and Bret Hart claimed the count was too fast and take over the refereeing duties. Patrick, however, did not count 1-2-3 fast as no one knows if Hogan told him not to count it fast to make Sting look bad or it was Patrick's or it was simply a mistake.
Eric Bischoff said it wasn't Hogan that changed the outcome rather it was Bischoff who changed the finish as he said on Ric Flair's Podcast. Bischoff said Bischoff, Hogan, and Sting all met before Starrcade to discuss the match. They noticed Sting looked out of shape and was very unsure of everything so Bischoff and Hogan thought they couldn't put the belt on Sting yet.
Starrcade '97 was the highest-grossing best selling WCW PPV of all-time as it drew a whopping 1.90 buy rate, doubling the 0.95 of Starrcade the year before. Starrcade '97 absolutely destroyed the buy rate of the December WWF PPV In Your House: D-Generation X, which only drew a 0.44. WCW looked to put away the WWF going into 1998 but a funny thing happened and that was the WWF came back to kick their ass.
How come WCW ultimately failed while it was so far on top? While there were a lot of reasons as to why WCW ultimately failed and go out of business a few short years later despite being on top for a period, this PPV and horrible finish was the start of WCW's downfall and eventual demise. WWF would be back on top and never looked back.
Blame Hogan. Blame Bischoff. Blame Hogan and Bischoff. Blame Sting if you like. Blame all three. Whoever is at fault, they ruined what was supposed to be their biggest night ever and put the WWF away for good. Wrestlers were getting sick of the backstage politicking that had been going on and it would get worse as the years wore on.
Ted Turner looked to spend Vince McMahon into the poor house and drive the WWF out of business and leave WCW as the lone professional wrestling company in America. What McMahon lacked in capital, he made up for in intestinal fortitude where he refused to quit and was determined to beat Turner. When it looked all but dead for McMahon, many believed McMahon would bounce back better than ever and unfortunately for WCW, he did.
WCW and it's record-breaking profit year would carry over for another year as they were clearly riding the wave of momentum. Beyond 1998, however, the end for WCW was near.
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