goldberg WCW champ question

[NormanSmiley]

Goldberg was WCW champ from july-dec of 1998 basically for 6 PPVs. was it ever discussed why he was not even featured on 2 of these shows (fall brawl and WW3)? or why he only defended the title 3 times?

[Ultra Mantis]

WCW's booking was retarded. They often had PPVs where there wasn't a world title match, either because the champion was in a throwaway tag team match or just plain wasn't booked. I don't think Hogan even defended the belt on PPV before he dropped it to Goldberg.

[Aguakate]

'Cause his wrestling ability wasn't the greatest, and they didn't want to expose his weakness (not being a good wrestler) too much. They wanted to protect the mystique he had.

That's my guess, anyway.

[Theo Dious]

I think the first time I realized how retarded WCW was getting came when they booked Piper vs Hogan with Hogan as champion, at Starrcade, in a goddamn non-title match. Years later I heard Eric Bischoff state on the Starrcade DVD that he didn't see Starrcade as their top PPV. That was when I realized how retarded Bischoff is.

[Aguakate]

I think the first time I realized how retarded WCW was getting came when they booked Piper vs Hogan with Hogan as champion, at Starrcade, in a goddamn non-title match. Years later I heard Eric Bischoff state on the Starrcade DVD that he didn't see Starrcade as their top PPV. That was when I realized how retarded Bischoff is.

Yet I always DID see Starrcade as their big ppv.

[Rammsteinmad]

So what did Bischoff see as the major PPV? Superbrawl?

[Gertner]

Because Hogan didn't want anybody overshadowing his matches so Goldberg was either booked in non title or not booked at all.

[Swiss Ultimate]

Sure revolutionized the fuck out of wrestling.

[Rammsteinmad]

Jericho said something in his first book about how he had some great ideas for his feud in WCW with Goldberg, to which when the topic of the PPV match came up, Goldberg said 'I'm supposed to have that PPV off', to which Jericho asks (to the reader) if anyone gives a shit about the product.

So yeah, maybe he just had it 'booked off' and didn't want to work those PPVs. Great attitude to have if you're the company's World Champion. :y:

[Swiss Ultimate]

"I don't want to work 15 minutes."

[#BROKEN Hasney]

So what did Bischoff see as the major PPV? Superbrawl?

Souled Out

[M-A-G]

Goldberg was WCW champ from july-dec of 1998 basically for 6 PPVs. was it ever discussed why he was not even featured on 2 of these shows (fall brawl and WW3)? or why he only defended the title 3 times?

Simplest explanation was WCW was ass-backwards when it came to booking and management. Sure the WCW Heavyweight Title was the be all and end all....when it was in the camp of the veterans. Plus, why would you put your major title on a guy that has guaranteed PPVs dates off?

[Aguakate]

Simplest explanation was WCW was ass-backwards when it came to booking and management. Sure the WCW Heavyweight Title was the be all and end all....when it was in the camp of the veterans. Plus, why would you put your major title on a guy that has guaranteed PPVs dates off?

"Because he was bald and had a goatee, and also wore black trunks...and, you know, Stone Cold Steve Austin was at his peak back then, and was really hot, and they kinda looked alike, so therefore WCW had kind of a counterpart to Austin in Goldberg. And also, he was so big and muscular, and grunted and yelled, and the fans really dug that, you know...he was so fierce, so turning him into a monster was the logical way to push him".

...that'd be WCW's explanation, of course.

[Hanso Amore]

You put the title on him despite his days off because he was the most over draw you had, and he had the IT factor.

GOldberg was the only true draw they had in 98. And they wasted him.

[Fox]

Basically it comes down to the fact that even though Goldberg was the champ, the powers in charge saw the nWo vs Wolfpack vs WCW storyline as the main event of every show - it was never about the world title and that's why the WCW Title didn't really mean shit for a long time. Take a look at the Goldberg matches/main events:

Bash at the Beach 98
- Hollywood Hogan & Dennis Rodman def. DDP & Karl Malone
- Goldberg def. Curt Hennig for the WCW Title

Road Wild 98
- DDP & Jay Leno def. Hollywood Hogan & Eric Bischoff
- Goldberg def. the entire nWo Black and White & nWo Wolfpack in a Battle Royal

Fall Brawl 98
- Team nWo (Hogan, Stevie Ray, Bret Hart) vs. Team Wolfpack (Nash, Sting, Luger) vs. Team WCW (DDP, Roddy Piper, Warrior) - DDP wins to earn a WCW Title shot at HH
-No Goldberg match

Halloween Havoc 98
- Goldberg def. DDP for the WCW Title in the best match of his career - which was cut short due to the PPV going over its time slot
- Hollywood Hogan def. The Warrior

World War 3
- Kevin Nash wins the WW3 Match, which sees Hogan make a surprise appearance at the very end.
- Goldberg makes an appearance during the WW3 match to brawl with Bam Bam Bigelow, adding fuel to a feud that would essentially go nowhere.

Starrcade 98
- Nash defeats Goldberg for the WCW Title and ends the streak
- Fingerpoke of Doom takes place 2 weeks later.


Basically WCW had no idea what it was doing with Goldberg as the champion. He was easily the hottest commodity they had at the time, and a well-built up Goldberg match (DDP/Goldberg being the best example) would've been far better PPV main event quality than bullshit like they had at Bash at the Beach and Road Wild. They wasted Goldberg and Chris Jericho at Fall Brawl in a match that could've helped build Jericho toward the main event (highly unlikely) and would've only helped to serve Goldberg's streak numbers, but instead they didn't use him at all. No real reason why he wasn't included in WW3 except that WCW was off their meds and didn't know how to handle their champion - they decided having him show up to brawl with Bigelow during the WW3 match was better than having him defend the belt on the PPV. And then they killed the streak.

In the end, it was probably all just a set-up to make Kevin Nash and Hollywood Hogan look good and to destroy one of the most popular non-nWo guys that WCW had at the time, and frankly, they accomplished their goal.

[NormanSmiley]

anyone know who was booking during his run with the gold? i know nash has claimed he didnt get the book til february of 99, but anyone know who it was during july-dec?

[Fox]

I think Bischoff still officially had the book during this time (which explains why he, Hogan and DDP were in most of the main events), but Nash was part of the creative development (which is why he squashed Wrath on Nitro, ending what could've been the beginning of another Goldberg-esque killer face character). As Hogan was getting a lot of heat from the boys for hogging the main event spotlight in shitty matches and angles, he and Nash put Big Kev into the spot to take the belt from Goldberg at Starrcade, and then pissed all over him two weeks later during the infamous Fingerpoke of Doom Nitro.

Nash may not have been the official booker, but he was part of the creative team of Bischoff/Hogan that put him into the main event.