The Fingerpoke of Doom

The Fingerpoke of Doom is the common nickname for a pivotal storyline in American professional wrestling history that happened on January 4, 1999 on "WCW Monday Nitro", the flagship show of World Championship Wrestling. The show took place at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. This event is considered by some as one of the pivotal broadcasts that led to the downfall of WCW during the Monday Night Wars. [cite book|last=Fritz|first=Brian|coauthors=Christopher Murray|title=Between the ropes: Wrestling's Greatest Triumphs And Failures|pages=41|isbn=1550227262|publisher=ECW Press|date=2006]

etup

In the storyline, champion Kevin Nash was scheduled to face Goldberg in a rematch for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Goldberg had previously been undefeated until Nash, with interference by Scott Hall, beat him for the title at Starrcade '98. Supposedly unaware of and unhappy with Hall's interference, Nash came to Nitro the night after Starrcade and told Goldberg he would get a rematch next week. This was to be their anticipated rematch; however, Goldberg was (kayfabe) arrested mid-show and accused of "aggravated stalking" by Miss Elizabeth (he was originally going to be accused of rape but refused to go along with that particular storyline). [cite book|title=Bill Goldberg|last=Davies|first=Ross|pages=52|isbn=0823934950|publisher=Rosen Publishing Group|date=2001] [cite web|publisher=Sporting News|url=http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/Big%20Sooners%20fan/tag/TSNrecognition|title=BWE Uncovered: Aug. 27-Sept. 2, 2006; Plus More!|date=2006-09-01|accessdate=2008-05-22] He was released when Elizabeth couldn't keep her story straight. Meanwhile, the "retired" Hulk Hogan showed up for the first time in months in the middle of the show. Nash interrupted to say that everyone was promised a title match and offered Hogan the match since Goldberg was not going to be able to wrestle. Hogan accepted despite only having street clothes to wear. Contrary to his most recent stint being part of the nWo, Hogan now gave the impression of a face with Nash playing off their previous feud as leaders of their separate nWo factions.

Match

The match started with the two men circling each other. Nash tried intimidating Hogan by pushing him hard into the corner. As retaliation, Hogan then poked Nash in the chest, and Nash quickly fell to the mat on his back (in the book "The Death of WCW", RD Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez compared Nash's fall to "Getting hit in the chest with a cannonball").cite book|pages=172|last=Alvarez|first=Bryan|coauthors=R.D. Reynolds|title=WrestleCrap and Figure Four Weekly Present...The Death of WCW|publisher=ECW Press|isbn=1550226614|date=2004] cite book|pages=80|last=Davies|first=Ross|title=Kevin Nash|isbn=0823934926|publisher=Rosen Publishing Group|date=2002] Hogan then covered for a pin and was declared the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion. After this occurred, Scott Hall (who accompanied Nash) and Scott Steiner (who accompanied Hogan) entered the ring and celebrated with Nash and Hogan to reform the nWo. [cite web|title=The NWO: a history|publisher=Wrestling Digest|url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCO/is_1_4/ai_86127538/pg_2|accessdate=2008-05-22] [cite web|title=Kevin Nash|publisher=SLAM! Wrestling|url=http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Bios/nash.html|accessdate=2008-05-22] After their actions, Goldberg ran out and cleaned house, only to be jumped by Lex Luger (who turned heel) and then beaten down by the nWo. As the show ended, Goldberg was handcuffed to the ropes, repeatedly shocked with a taser, and nWo was spray-painted on his back. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GP5mVAhaxM - Nash vs Hollywood: 1.4.99 - Fingerpoke of Doom! ] ]

Impact

After this episode, WCW's TV ratings steadily went down, only reaching a 5.0 rating or higher twice (it drew a 5.7 on February 8, 1999 because of a Westminster Dog Show-induced "RAW" pre-emption on the USA Network). In retrospect, some observers inside and outside the pro wrestling business noted that this storyline turned off numerous fans for several reasons: [ [http://www.onlineworldofwrestling.com/columns/misc/joel03.html Online World of Wrestling ] ] [ [http://www.lordsofpain.net/news/2004_/articles/1094883002.php Wrestling in a Bottle: Unforgiven Predictions and the Lowdown on Randy Orton's Face Turn ] ]

*It devalued the WCW World Heavyweight Championship by having Nash simply lie down and give it to Hogan with no effort. (In proving how devalued it truly was, the title would go on to be held by men such as David Arquette and Vince Russo in the future.)

*The hierachy of the nWo became over-developed, as there was now an "elite" group sporting the black and red of the Wolfpac, and a sardonically labeled "B-team" of midcard jobbers wearing the black and white of the by-then increasingly unpopular Hollywood label. Scott Steiner and Buff Bagwell joined the "elite Wolfpac" while Konnan was thrown from the group. Sting, a former member of the real Wolfpac, had been on hiatus during the nWo reunion and did not partake in the heel "elite" stable upon his return.
Over just the next few months alone, constant defections and injuries would collapse the super-group from the elite top to the bottom of the B-team. Bret Hart, Scott Steiner, the Outsiders, and Jeff Jarrett's new "silver and black" version of the nWo in late 1999 would only last a few months itself. Thus, the Fingerpoke of Doom moniker became very apropos for the storyline, which in effect jumped the shark for and killed all the progress and momentum in the nWo name.

*By this time, WCW had developed a reputation for consistently putting heels over faces, no matter the circumstances. This incident reinforced that perception in the minds of many fans.

*At the time, Goldberg was a big face who many fans perceived as a threat to the nWo. As a result, he was mercilessly and completely beaten down by the group. After the beating, his back was spray-painted with the "nWo" logo. Some fans saw this as a sign that Goldberg was going to be buried and pushed onto the back-burner for the newly-reformed (yet tiring) nWo.

*The event made it apparent that the nWo Hollywood/Wolfpac split had been a swerve all along and trivialized months of storylines just to see the nWo once again unified.

*Vince McMahon once made a reference to the incident, commenting that the Hogan-Nash encounter deserved to be held at WrestleMania or Starrcade, which would make the company millions of dollars; instead, WCW management opted to book the match on "Monday Nitro" (notwithstanding the fact that it was also reduced to a plot device for the sudden reunion of the nWo).

*This was also the night that WCW's arch-rival WWF would air a pre-taped match directly opposite "Nitro" on "RAW" in which Mick Foley (as Mankind) won the WWF Championship from The Rock. [cite web|title=History of the WWE Championship: Mankind's first reign|publisher=WWE|url=http://www.wwe.com/inside/titlehistory/wwechampionship/3044541411|accessdate=2008-05-23] Earlier that night, WCW found out about what was going to occur, and spoiled the results on their broadcast. On orders from Eric Bischoff, WCW announcer Tony Schiavone gave away the result of the match before it aired, saying "We understand that Mick Foley, who wrestled here one time as Cactus Jack, is going to win their world title." and sarcastically added "Ugh, that's gonna put some butts in the seats." Within minutes, Nielsen ratings showed that several hundred thousand viewers switched channels from "Nitro" on TNT to "RAW" on the USA Network, many of whom wished to see a guaranteed title change and/or a title victory by the exceedingly popular Foley. After Mankind won the title, many fans then switched back to "Nitro" (which still had 5 minutes of air time left), suggesting that WCW had a show that the fans wanted to see, and could have emerged the victor that night had they not given away the "RAW" main event results. The final ratings for the night were 5.7 for "RAW" and 5.0 for "Nitro". During the year following the incident, many WWF fans brought signs to the shows saying "Mick Foley put my ass in this seat."

*Also damaged was the credibility of the company itself, which did not present the match that had been advertised (a Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash rematch from Starrcade '98); in fact, several times throughout the night, the WCW announce team talked about how they had a "real main event." This was perceived to be an underhanded way of selling out the arena for that night's telecast.

In "Wrestlecr
RD Reynolds says of the match, "That was that. Fans had been burned one time too many by WCW and the nWo. From that point on in 1999, ratings steadily dropped for the company".cite book|last=Baer|first=Randy|coauthors=R.D. Reynolds|title=Wrestlecr
isbn=1-55022-584-7|pages=201|publisher=ECW Press|date=2003]

Legacy

When asked about the Fingerpoke incident, Kevin Nash once replied "If Hogan had given Goldberg the Fingerpoke of Doom, it would've killed him!" in reference to Goldberg's propensity to get himself injured doing routine things at that time. Nash has also defended the incident by claiming that any Nash/Hogan matches would have been terrible.

References