The Evolution of Sting in WCW, 1996 - 1998

[EmpireWF]

I should add (didn't include it above b/c only saw it in an old flashback PW Torch post recently) that Hogan was apparently playing games at this time because some thought he was leaving for WWF.

Haven't been able to find out more, if there was legit concern at the time or just him using New York to get more power, money or whatever out of Turner.

Plus, it puts the Starrcade finish into a new light.

[EmpireWF]

<B>December 29, 1997
Nitro</b>

They do a rematch of the title fight after Hogan bitches about Bret Hart costing him the belt. So, Sting defends the gold.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xxk586_sting-vs-hollywood-hogan_sport#.Ub_abfaY4dI

But, the match does not conclude on this episode. Yep. The biggest rematch in company history is given away less than 24 hours later and does not even have a finish because…………….

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<B>January 5, 1998
Nitro</b>

The reason is they want to promote the debut episode of WCW THUNDER (January 8, 1998 on TBS). So, on the first Nitro of the new year, the story is that Sting is the champion and the footage of the rematch is in the possession of a judge after the episode went off the air due to time constraints. It would be made available on the Thunder premiere days later.

FWIW, the nWo is conflicted with infighting at the end of the show and Luger & Sting stand tall in the ring. (yeah, they do nothing significant with Bret Hart…..)

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<B>January 8, 1998
Thunder (PREMIERE)</b>

Oh…my….god. These people have no clue what they're doing. The nicest thing you could say is the money was in Sting chasing the gold and nWo, so they didn't want him to have a long run as champion. The worst is that backstage politics fucked everything up and with tons of hands in the cookie jar, it was too easy.


[[[[[ Nothing to do with Sting but woah….a match between Ric Flair and Chris Jericho is in this video ---

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Ref Randy Anderson gets knocked out of it and Sting gets Hogan to submit but then Nick Patrick comes out and Hogan ends up getting the 3 count on Sting. Then Anderson gets up and Sting once again gets Hogan to submit and Randy calls it. Match over, right? Nope.

They end up stripping Sting of the championship. Unbelievable.

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<B>Skipping to Superbrawl 8 (February 22, 1998)</b>

Sting beats Hogan to win the WCW championship again.

BUT, he loses it two months later at Spring Stampede (April 19) to Macho Man. Of course, the gold goes right back to Hogan the next night when Bret Hart turns heel and helps him.

The one positive was this allowed Goldberg to have his famous title win over Hogan at the Georgia Dome on Nitro. Yep, the big match was thrown away for free.

Do you really want to know when the next time the WCW title was defended on PPV? You must go ALL THE WAY to October (Halloween Havoc) when Goldberg defended it by beating DDP.

And yes, you know this tale already….Goldberg, the undefeated phenomenon which WCW stumbled upon was beaten at Starrcade in December by booker Kevin Nash. What happened the following week on Nitro? Why, Hulk Hogan got the belt right back with the infamous finger poke of doom.

Holy shit at this. Mind you, during all of this nonsense, WWF was the top promotion in the country (RAW won the ratings war in April for the first time in some crazy # of weeks).

To sum it all up:

The number of days Sting held the WCW championship between Starrcade 97 and the end of 1998? 67

The number of days Hulk Hogan held the WCW championship in 1998? 77