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Thinking of guys that could have ended the streak: I don't expect this to feel right to anyone, but I'll actually pitch Jericho as a candidate. Not in 1998, perhaps, but if the plan is to move Jericho up to that next rung then at some point you need to get away from the idea that "Greenberg" would absolutely kill him. Jericho was a shit-load of fun (I still mark out for that weird flamingo walk he used to do in the middle of his matches), but he never felt "heavyweight." Move him into a program with Flair and hope that he gets more "bass" behind the antics. At some point, hopefully Jericho's a guy you can position to take the belt from Goldberg -- whether by savvy or outright being a cheating shit is your pick.
The streak provides an interesting conundrum: On one hand, you want the person that beats Goldberg to look like they deserve it. If it's someone getting elevated, you want them to actually look like a star for it. If someone looks "lucky" or like that it was an anomaly, then what's the point of them getting it? They look like a guy that wasn't on the level to beat Goldberg and still isn't. But if someone outright beats Goldberg, bye bye mystique.
Another idea that keeps popping into my head is either Bret Hart or Sting. Either would hopefully use that "metal plate under the jersey" gimmick, and the old vet proves that they can edge one out of Goldberg. They beat him because they're crafty; not because they're lucky. Heel Sting gets a bad rap because of the time he is associated with, but there would surely be a time and a place for a heel Sting in wrestling.
None of that feels perfectly right though. It's probably insane to be talking about Goldberg losing before the end of 1998. Maybe in parallel universes, some of these unimaginable things happened and WCW still flourishes today, because they turned out really well, but it's hard to imagine past a WCW that was so disinterested in making money with anyone past Hogan and the nWo, and was perfectly content with the mid-card being the mid-card forever and the likes of Bret Hart and Sting being cursory main eventers quickly losing their cache.
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