Starrcade 1997: The Beginning Of The Plummet
by David J. Robinson
Psychology plays a major part in Wrestling. The reason a Match with many high spots isn’t rated very highly is because of the psychology. At Starrcade 1997, WCW didn’t follow the psychology that is known as a unwritten rule of Pro Wrestling. In any major Match, the Good Guy defeats the Bad Guy cleanly. Its plain and simple. At Starrcade 1997, STING should have pinned Hulk Hogan cleanly. But Hogan wouldn’t have it. Instead, Hogan pinned STING on a supposed fast count (it was a 3 count) but Bret Hart wouldn’t allow it. No need to go into every detail but after the Match was restarting, Hogan submitted to the Scorpion Deathlock and STING was the WCW World Heavyweight Champion. When WCW began the NWO Angle, they made STING the key to how things would go. His allegiance was in question and they played off it for many months. Then for many months to follow, STING appearing un-expectedly to attack the NWO was played off. Finally, the Match was signed. But the thing about it is, the whole Storyline was messed up in months previous.
Lets go to August of 1997. Lex Luger and Hulk Hogan were in a mini-feud. A week before Road Wild, Lex Luger not only beat Hulk Hogan cleanly but he also took out members of the NWO before doing so. At Road Wild, Hogan would regain the Title but the damage had been done. Hogan, who was suppose to enter Starrcade as the Champion who couldn’t be defeated because of the NWO, had been beaten cleanly. This damaged the Storyline badly. Afterward, WCW picked it up nicely and once the Match was sign they handled it well. In the weeks before Starrcade, the NWO beat STING down and Hogan gave him a couple Leg Drops. This was a very good idea. It was the first time STING had been seen vulnerable in over a year. If we were to believe Hogan could even hurt STING at Starrcade, this was needed. Not to mention it followed another un-written rule of Wrestling. If you get the last laugh before the big Match, you end up losing the big Match.
Now, lets move forward to the weeks after Starrcade 1997. In January on WCW Thunder, the Title was declared vacant and was kept vacant until February at Super Brawl VIII. This was yet another mistake. If a re-Match was to happen, it should have happened either on a Nitro or at least at Souled Out. But instead, we had to wait over a month for the re-Match. The re-Match followed the same plan of the Starrcade Match without Hogan getting the pin and someone re-starting the Match. This one ended with STING pinning Hogan after Savage hit him with a spray paint can earlier. So for fans to have to wait over a month for this re-Match and it not ending clean, all the heat was killed. Hogan became the Wrestler who never lost his Title without something marring it. STING became the Wrestler who couldn’t beat Hogan cleanly. It was like both switched their roles of Face/Heel. However, things weren’t over.
STING’s next big Match was against Scott Hall (who had won the World War 3 of 1997 which give him this Title Shot). But, this Match never had a chance. All the damage done in previous months left WCW with two options. One, they can try and start a good feud between STING and Hall and make Hall to be a top challenger to the Title. Two, they can use this Match to put STING over big time. They choose number two. The result of the Match was STING kicked out of Dusty Rhodes Atomic Elbow (I think that is its the name), STING kicked out after being hit with a pair of brass knuckles, and STING reversed the Outsider’s Edge into the Scorpion Deathdrop. This made Hall’s World War 3 win seem like a fluke. The upside, WCW had re-established its Champion as hard to beat. But the downside to this was the Match didn’t even get the Main Event. A
Hogan-Savage Match did. On Nitro’s sandwiched between Uncensored and Spring Stampede, STING Wrestled Kevin Nash twice. With neither Match ending with a clean pinfall, both men left one of the Matches in control (Nash was about to hit a Power Bomb in the first when Hogan interfered and STING had the Scorpion Deathlock on Nash when Konnan interfered). Then at Spring Stampede, STING dropped the Title to a injured Randy Savage when Nash gave him a Power Bomb and put Savage on top for the pin.
From there, the picture for STING was even more strange. He won the WCW World Tag Team Titles with The Giant but The Giant joined the NWO. STING declined the offer by Clotheslining Hogan and Body Slamming The Giant. He joined the Wolfpac with Nash, Konnan, Savage, and Luger. Why? Other than Luger, he had been enemies with the others. From there, he defeated The Giant cleanly to give him both Tag Titles. In a defense of the Titles, STING was pinned by Scott Hall (wasn’t he practically invincible against him only months earlier?) causing him and his partner (either Nash or Luger, they both defended the Titles with STING) to drop the Titles.
The point of everything you had read up until now: Starrcade 1997 was the beginning of STING’s plummet from the top (not to mention WCW’s as well). Some people say STING lost his heat and “dropped the ball” with the opportunity he was given. Bad booking decisions (Luger winning cleanly over Hogan in August of ‘97), abuse of Creative Control (Hogan refusing to lose to STING cleanly at Starrcade ‘97), and lack of direction (having STING beat Hall convincingly only to lose to a injured Savage) is what caused STING to lose his heat. For example, do you think Steve Austin would have retained his heat if Shawn Michaels had not jobbed cleanly to him at WrestleMania 14? Nope. It was Austin pinning Michaels cleanly that lit the fire that the WWF is still using
today. Maybe if STING had pinned Hogan cleanly at Starrcade 1997, STING could have led WCW into 1998 and the horrible year that it was would not have been.
David J. Robinson
August 6, 1999
