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Still, there was one ray of hope left for WCW in Bill Goldberg, who had come on the scene in September of 1997 and had quickly built momentum, an impressive undefeated streak, and a big fan following. He got so over so quickly, in fact, that he was put over Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Title ten months after his pro debut. Even as champion, he continued squashing people in under five minutes, but now at Starrcade 98 would be facing his stiffest challenge in Kevin Nash. Nash would not be a strong challenger for the usual reasons of in-ring skill, but rather because he had recently become head booker for the company, and there were a lot of people wondering if he would actually put himself over Goldberg and end the streak.
Still, with a main event that promised to be more interesting for political reasons than entertaining ones, Eric Bischoff competing for the second year in a row, an underwhelming undercard, and the man Starrcade 97 had been built around, Sting, not even on the show, Starrcade 98 was a clear step down from the previous year.
The Undercard
Starrcade 1998 opened with a three way match for the Cruiserweight Title, as Billy Kidman defended against both Juventud Guerrera and Rey Mysterio, Jr. After being freed from Raven’s Flock earlier in the year, Kidman had almost immediately won the Cruiserweight Title and gone on a winning streak against guys he would not have been competitive against even a few months earlier. Juventud and Rey were both members of the Latino World Order, a group put together by Eddy Guerrero to band all the luchadores, who Eddy saw as being underutilized and underappreciated, together into one united force. Juventud had joined willingly, but Rey was only a member because Eddy defeated him in a match with a stipulation that if Rey lost, he would join the LWO. Even now that he was contractually obligated to be a member, the story was that Rey didn’t really want to be in the group and spent much of the match working against Juventud.
This was well past the Golden Age for the WCW cruiserweights, but was still good as this second generation of WCW cruiserweights pulled out a lot of really innovative highspots, but that turned out to be a double edged sword since it led to a legion of spot monkey with no psychology whatsoever invading the wrestling world. These three at least knew how to work it into the context of a match without just going from spot to spot, and they were able to put together a really good match. Eddy, one of the last holdovers from that first wave of cruiserweights, tried to interfere and help Juvi win, but Rey broke up the fall and ended up rolling Kidman into a cradle on Juvi for the win. After the match, Eddy went off on both guys and said that if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself, and then challenged Kidman to come back out and face him.
So this leads to Cruiserweight Title Match #2, with Kidman now defending against Eddy Guerrero after already going 20 minutes with Rey and Juvi, who are both still at ringside. In addition to being fresh, Eddy was also way more experienced and willing to cheat his ass off, which he did liberally. Bobby Heenan got in a great line on commentary, saying that since both guys were wearing jeans and t-shirts, it looked like two construction workers fighting on their lunch break. God bless Bobby Heenan. Eddy’s bodyguard (who was a real life, non-wrestling friend of his whom Eddy brought into WCW to help keep the luchadores in line) came down to ringside and distracted the referee, at which point both Juvi and Rey ended up getting involved, with the end result of Eddy getting crotched on the top rope and falling into the ring, leaving him easy prey for a shooting star press from Kidman for the win.
Having Kidman go over three of the top established cruiserweights in the world on the biggest show of the year makes it obvious that building Kidman into a star was a major priority for WCW. Still, the legendary glass ceiling put Kidman in the same group of guys as Benoit and Jericho who were being “held down†instead of being allowed to break through to the main event scene which was being monopolized by Hogan and company. Kidman did eventually end up getting his shot by being put int oa feud with Hogan, which many considered very one-sided in Hogan’s favor, but I think that regardless of how strong or weak he looked against Hogan, Kidman would be a major, major star if WCW were still around today. These were two terrific matches and a great way to begin an otherwise almost totally worthless PPV.
Speaking of which, we next go to Norman Smiley vs Prince Iaukea. This was as clear a sign as any of how much had changed in a year, that there was this little of importance going on in WCW that these two got a spot on Starrcade. To be fair, Norman was a really good technical wrestler, which he displayed by spending most of this match stretching and mat wrestling the very green Iaukea. The Big Wiggle also got over with the crowd, and I have to think the wrestling ability and the Big Wiggle might have gotten him over in ROH if he were around there a few years later. In any event, just an exhibition to allow Smiley to show what he can do on Iaukea, and he caught him in the crossface chickenwing for the submission win.
Before we get to the next match, Scott Hall comes out to the ring where, instead of wrestling, he cuts a promo for the second year in a row. Hall had turned on Kevin Nash earlier in the year and joined NWO Hollywood, but then ended up getting booted out of NWO Hollywood a month or so before this show, making him a man without a country. He said that 1998 wasn’t the best year for Scott Hall, but he doesn’t have anything to prove to Kevin Nash or anyone else, and that 1999 is looking up for Scott Hall.
From there we move on to our next match, as Ernest Miller takes on Perry Saturn. I don’t quite remember these guys having a feud, but according to the announcers, Miller caught some kind of cheap pin on Saturn and had been going around bragging about it ever since, so Saturn is going to shut him up here. A wrestling feud I don’t remember…I must be losing it. Anyway, Miller was just starting to come into his own as a heel, but hadn’t become the full on James Brown wannabe quite yet. Saturn, in the meantime, was now on his own after leaving Raven’s Flock, and was sporting a new, metrosexual look with mesh vests and pretty bandanas. In fact, he would soon have to wear a dress when he wrestled as a result of losing a match to Chris Jericho, and he ended up beating Jericho in the rematch and therefore didn’t have to wear the dress anymore, but continued to do so voluntarily, which really made me start to wonder about the guy.
In any event, Miller turned his back and gave Saturn until the count of five to leave, but of course Saturn not only didn’t leave, but laid out Miller as soon as he turned around. I always thought it was funny that a legit badass like Miller was portrated as a total joke loser in WCW when he could have probably legitimately destroyed like 95% of the WCW roster. Then again, I guess when you’re that tough you don’t need to go around proving how tough you are. Saturn, in the meantime, is no pushover himself, with multiple black belts and a stint in the Army Rangers to his credit. In other words, this match would have been a bad time to jump the rail. Saturn spent most of the match beating up Miller, and Miller got a short advantage, but miscommunication led to Sonny Onoo (Miller’s second) accidentally jumpkicking Miller, allowing Saturn to hit the Death Valley Driver for the win.
Before we get any more of that stupid wrestling, it’s promo time again! This time around it’s Ric Flair, coming out to speak with MEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAN, WHOOOOOOO! BY GOD GENE about his match tonight with Eric Bischoff. Gene notes that the Horsemen have been barred from the building for the evening, so Flair starts talking about all the ways he’s planning to hurt Bischoff tonight, and does so with all the gusto of a man who really does want to cripple the guy. Can’t say I blame him.
Anyway, I guess we have to throw some more of this wrestling stuff on there, so we get a tag match with Bryan Adams & Scott Norton against Fit Finlay & Jerry Flynn. Yes, really. Don’t matches like this just scream “biggest show of the year� Even Tony Schiavone wonders out loud who lobbied for this one. Now, Bryan Adams may have had the coolest sideburns of all time, but is there really nothing else we could have put on the show but this? The match actually turned out to be pretty fun to watch due to how stiff it got out there, but none of these guys meant anything in the grand scheme of WCW, so the crowd just ended up sitting on their hands the whole time until the NWO B-Team won when Norton nearly powerbombed Flynn through the mat.
So with that out of the way, it’s time for…that’s right, ANOTHER PROMO! Today’s lucky winner is Eric Bischoff, who comes and and gives a speech about how Ric Flair is wrestling beyond his physical means and is doing so because he’s broke, and after years of paying for his limousine riding and jet flying, Flair never saved a nickel and needs to keep wrestling to get by. It just came off like mean-spirited abuse at the time, but in hindsight turned out to be pretty close to the truth, and even after years of financial woes including trouble with the IRS, Flair still can’t keep himself from living the lifestyle. Sad. Oh, and he’s going to kick Flair’s butt tonight.
I guess they ran out of people to interview, because it’s all wrestling from here on out, beginning with Konnan defending the World TV Title against former champion Chris Jericho. Before the match, we are treated to Konnan’s music video, which got played ad nauseum in Nitro and actually did make me nauseous once. Jericho was so entertaining and so on his game at this point, and it killed me seeing him drop the TV Title to Konnan. Now that I think about it, I didn’t like it when Konnan beat pretty much anyone. The thing about Konnan is that he wasn’t a bad wrestler, I liked watching him wrestle well enough, at least until he got to the point where throwing his shoe at his opponent became his highspot. It’s just that his stupid character where he was trying to be half urban friendly and half kid friendly made him difficult to enjoy, whereas it might have been different if he went completely one way or the other. I know when he came to ROH in 2006 as LAX Konnan and cut a profanity laced promo on Jim Cornette, it was the most I think I’ve ever enjoyed Konnan, and I’m not saying they could have had him swearing and blurting out racial slurs in WCW like he did that night, but if he were more a straight up badass thug, he’d probably be remembered more fondly. Anyway, Konnan hit the X-Factor (or whatever he called his version) and then trapped Jericho in the Tequila Sunrise for the win.
Okay, here we go…Ric Flair vs Eric Bischoff. Both sides have their version of the history between each other, but basically what it came down to was that Flair took a night off to go watch his son wrestle in a tournament, Bischoff called him for breach of contract for failing to appear on a night he was scheduled to work and suspended him. Flair sat at home for months while everyone figured out the legalities, and eventually stuff was worked out and Flair returned to a huge ovation and a great welcome on an episode of Nitro in September of 1998. They ended up turning the real-life heat into an angle with Bischoff not only trying to ruin Flair’s career, but his personal life as well, even going so far as to pay Flair’s longtime friend Barry Windham to turn on him, beat up Flair’s son David, and kissing Flair’s wife Beth. So by the time we got to Starrcade, Flair pretty much wanted to kill Bischoff, and Flair pretty much beat the tar out of Bischoff for several minutes until Bischoff connected with a cheap kick, and then went to work on Flair with KARATE! Flair came back with the great equalizer (which you’d know what I mean if you’ve ever seen a Flair match), and then went to work on Bischoff’s groin for the next several minutes. The ref got bumped and then Flair put Bischoff in the figure four, but Curt Hennig ran in and slipped Bischoff a set of knucks, which Bischoff then used to knock Flair out and get the win. I will refrain from saying what I really think of this finish except to say that there was no reason for it other than Bischoff wanted it that way as some weird form of self-gratification and leave it at that.
From there we go to Diamond Dallas Page taking on the Giant, seeking revenge for Giant (now in his second run with the NWO) causing DDP to lose the US Title to Bret Hart several weeks earlier. Hey, speaking of great wrestlers getting treated like garbage in WCW, Bret Hart coming into the company straight off the hottest wrestling story in years and then getting pushed down to US Title level certainly falls into that category, but that’s a whole other rant for another day. I’ve noticed that DDP’s heat seems to run proportionately to how much non-wrestling attire he wears during his matches. A year earlier he wass wearing jeans and work boots, and often a t-shirt during his matches and he was one of the most over guys in the company. Now he’s wearing regular wrestling tights and boots and the crowd seems to have cooled on him quite a bit. Anyway, standard big man/little man match where DDP used his speed advantage to stay away from the Giant and get shots in here and there at the beginning, but eventually the Giant got ahold of him and spent most of the rest of the match pounding on him, including one really cool spot where Giant picked DDP up and hit a chokeslam into a backbreaker, and I can picture a 14 year old Roderick Strong sitting home watching this with a light bulb appearing over his head. Bret Hart came out with a chair and went to hit DDP, but accidentally ended up laying the Giant out, but when DDP went for the cover he only got a 1. DDP took advantage of this turn of forture, coming off the top rope with a pair of clotheslines, but when he went for the third Giant caught him and then tried to chokeslam him, but DDP reversed it into a Diamond Cutter for the win. Great finish.
The Main Event
And now we have our main event of the evening, as undefeated WCW World Champion Bill Goldberg defends against Kevin Nash. Goldberg was billed as coming into this match with a record of 173-0 which was not true at all, as I know somebody who once sat down with results from WCW shows and worked it out and Goldberg didn’t get anywhere near 173 wins, and in fact lost a match prior to his TV debut to Eddy Guerrero’s brother Hector, which I guess is something Hector can point to whenever people ride him about the Gobbledy Gooker or Lazertron. Still, as far as the fans knew he was firmly undefeated and apparently unbeatable as well.
Kevin Nash, in the meantime, had been made head booker of WCW a couple of months earlier, and after Kevin Nash not only put himself over in World War III to earn the title shot at Starrcade, but then went on to beat Wrath and effectively kill the momentum he had been building for months, a lot of people on the internet were now expecting Nash to put himself over Goldberg for the title as well. Whatever you think of Nash, I don’t think he’s as selfish as he and his buddies are often made out to be, the worst that can be said about him as a booker was that he had questionable success. As far as putting him in there with Goldberg, he was one of the few guys in WCW that you really believed was big and powerful enough to physically match up to Goldberg when it came to pure strength, so it’s not like people were worried about El Dandy beating Goldberg for the title.
But being on the same physical level as Goldberg didn’t stop Nash from getting tossed around without much effort, as Goldberg lifted him up with authority and killed him with a belly-to-back suplex right off the bat. Nash did end up in control before too long, taking over with his usual methodical offense, but Goldberg powered out of the boot choke in the corner, which I had never seen before, and took Nash down, but Nash reversed that into a cross armbreaker (!), which Goldberg then reversed to a heel hook. Like I said in the Starrcade 1997 column Goldberg is mostly known for throwing people around, hitting the spear and Jackhammer, and calling it a night, but he does have some really nice moves that he’ll pull out once in a while and make people go “Wow, I didn’t know he could do that!†I guess Nash getting a cross armbreaker would fit into that category of unexpected technical proficiency as well, but I’ve seen him do some stuff early in his career that he didn’t do later on too. For example, can anyone picture Kevin Nash doing a leapfrog? Because I’ve seen it.
Anyway, Goldberg hit the spear, but before he could get the Jackhammer, Nash hit a low blow, which was okay because as we now find out, this match is No Disqualification. WCW was always really bad about letting us know about stipulations like this ahead of time, and it often looked like WCW just made stuff up as they went along. I would surmise that that’s because they did. Goldberg did make a comeback and started picking Nash up and slamming him around like he was 230 lbs, but before he could put Nash away, Disco Inferno and then Bam Bam Bigelow ran in and attacked Goldberg, but Goldberg cleared both of them out. However, Scott Hall comes out and zaps Goldberg with a taser, and Goldberg did the best sell job of his career, laying on the ground twitching and everything. Nash picked Goldberg up, hit the Jackknife, and much to the chagrin of internet fans everywhere, pinned Goldberg to win the WCW World Title and end The Streak.
Final Analysis
Regardless of what else happened on this show, for good or bad, this show has been remembered in history as the show where Kevin Nash put himself over Bill Goldberg, ending The Streak and killing Goldberg’s career in the process. I don’t think that’s an entirely fair assessment, because he was going to have to lose sometime, and I think that no matter who you ended up having Goldberg lose to, unless it was Benoit or Jericho, the internet fans would have revolted. Problem was that all the guys that the internet fans would have wanted to get that win like Benoit, Jericho, or even Booker T or Guerrero, were nowhere near being in a high enough position on the card that it would have been accepted by the non-internet fans. Other than that, who else would you have had go over Goldberg that a)could have used the rub and b)would have been accepted as being legitimate enough by the general public that it wouldn’t have come off as contrived? The only two I can think of would have been Sting or Bret Hart, but with those two we’re talking about a couple of guys that WCW had chance after chance to make into their top star and were either unwilling or unable to do to a satisfactory level. Benoit beating Goldberg would have been nice, but at the end of the day, I think Nash was as good a person to do it as anybody, especially when you consider the Fingerpoke Of Doom a couple of weeks later. Would you have preferred Hogan himself beating Goldberg? Didn’t think so.
As for the rest of the card, there was WAY too much filler on this show, because even with a couple of really good matches in DDP-Giant and the two Cruiserweight Title matches, at least a third of the show featured people who were nobodies in the WCW totem pole, and also that Flair-Bischoff match with the finish of which we will not speak ever again. You can’t tell me that there was nothing better that they could have put on the show than Norman Smiley vs Prince Iaukea and the NWO B-Team vs Jerry Flynn & Fit Finlay. Like I said, there’s some great stuff on here to balance it out and the Nash-Goldberg match can make for some great classroom discussion, but it was definitely a step down from Starrcade 1997. Mildly Recommended.
So there we go, I’ll be back soon with Starrcade 1999: The Phantom Russo. Until then, all feedback can be sent to stupwinsider@yahoo.com as usual. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you all soon!
