WCW '97 - The Greatest Year in the History of Our Sport

[Mister Octopus]

Hi all,

 

I've seen a lot of great dynasties posted on this forum, and I am under no illusion that mine will rank up there. Those of you posting line-for-line announcer dialogue and photos every segment are doing a hell of a job, and maybe if this were 15 years ago I'd have been doing the same thing with my old EWR saves. But that's not what I'm posting here for-- I spent an in-game year (and a few real-life months) building up to this Starrcade '97 card, and I wanted to revisit what I'd done for myself at the very least, to see where I might be able to improve or change things up. I hope someone other than me gets something out of this too.

 

 

Background

 

I've been running World Championship Wrestling from the beginning of 1997, using the "The War Rages On" mod. I'm playing with Eric Bischoff as my player avatar, and doing this as an owner, as I don't really care about arbitrary mandates handed down from Turner. My main focus is fantasy booking, while attempting to keep things reasonably realistic, yet still fun for me.

 

This is my Starrcade 1997 card, and WCW's biggest event of the year. As you may remember, in real-life this was where the Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan feud came to a head, with an infamously mediocre finish. I aimed to give my WCW a much better end to the year, and to set up a '98 WCW that wouldn't instantly slide into a decline. Here's the matches from my event, and a summary of the history that led to each talent's spot on the card.

 

 

 

Pre-Show

 

Terry Funk, La Parka and Rob Van Dam defeat Psicosis, Konnan and Al Snow (56)

 

 

This is the least calculated match on the card, and really doesn't have a lot of set-up. I've been attempting to push La Parka and Konnan out of the undercard for a few months now, with La Parka feuding with Konnan's "Primero Familia" stable (basically all the heel luchadors, as managed by Jimmy "Mouth of the South of the Border" Hart).

 

Terry Funk spent a brief period at the beginning of the year as the WCW Commissioner, and later moved into a manager role (more on that later). I picked up RVD from ECW and Al Snow from the WWF a few months back, and I'm trying to give them more airtime to get them over. I thought this six-man tag sounded fun on paper (I can just picture RVD using La Parka's chair), but the reality is that none of the fans care about anyone here outside of Terry Funk. La Parka picks up the win (with Al Snow doing the job, of course).

 

 

The Suicide Blondes defeat The Hardys (60)

 

 

I picked up Edge, Cage (Christian) and the Hardy brothers early in 1997. With Edge and Cage as the gothy Suicide Blondes in Raven's Flock, I had them feuding with the babyface (and babyfaced) Hardys about 6 months ago. All of them are a bit too early into their careers to fulfill their potential at this point, but Edge has moved slightly up the card on his natural charisma and star quality. The others are a work in progress, but it's hard to concentrate on these guys when WCW has such a stacked roster. I felt bad about the way they've been ignored recently, so I gave them a dark match here on the most important night of the year. Fun note: my Hardys stable has a third brother-- Shane (Helms) Hardy.

 

 

Lex Luger defeats Jerry Lawler (66)

 

 

This is a bit of a strange one. When I bought out the USWA earlier in the year, I inherited a handshake deal with Jerry Lawler, who had a non-exclusive written contract with the WWF at the time. This has given Lawler the strange distinction of appearing on both RAW and Nitro for the second half of the year. Try as I did to sign Lawler to an exclusive contract, his loyalty to the WWF prevented me from doing so (but not enough to stop him appearing on Nitro?). So, I took the Bischoff approach here and buried Lawler at every opportunity. Initially coming in hot with some assists for the Four Horsemen, Lawler's spotty appearances thereafter were used as squash matches for my up and coming stars. I fed off Lawler's popularity like a vampire, using his star power to bolster my roster. He hasn't been particularly pleased about it, and probably neither has Vince. WWF have only just offered him an exclusive written contract, so he'll be gone in a month.

 

Luger's had a much quieter 1997 than his real-life counterpart. While not winning the World Title from Hogan at any point (Hulk would've refused anyway), Luger and The Giant had a small run with the Tag Team Titles. Overall, Lex has been used as a gatekeeper for those looking to enter the upper midcard, with Luger himself bouncing between the upper and midcard positions. Lex Luger was supposed to wrestle Curt Hennig tonight, but I discovered that their chemistry is actually pretty awful. With nowhere else to put him, my apology to Lex came in the form of a pre-show squash match over The King.

 

 

The Show Begins

 

The black nWo limos arrive at the arena and Hogan leads his invading army into the building (95)

 

 

My first point of order when starting this game was to clear the new World order of some of their chaff. Gone were the Big Bubbas, Wallstreets, Vincents and Buff Bagwells of the world (I actually fired Bagwell over his drug use-- the WWF undercard is his new home). Over the year I've slowly introduced a more talented and robust nWo, and most of their members would have a place at Starrcade. The only ommissions for this show were Scott Norton (mostly wallowing in the undercard when not over in New Japan), nWo Sting (currently in Promo Azteca, which I run as a developmental territory) and Brian James (Road Dogg, who I plucked from the WWF in his pre-DX form, then promptly sent to rehab for half the year). We'll see the rest of my new World order later in the card...

 

 

Lance Storm defeats Booker T to retain the WCW World Television Title (77)

 

 

The TV Title has taken a fun journey this year-- from Steven Regal, to babyface Chris Jericho, to Raven, and to Booker T. Booker has transitioned mostly to a singles competitor this year, and his 2-month TV Title reign included defenses at every TV taping. His workhorse effort in 1997 included battles with Dean Malenko, Masahiro Chono and The Flock, and this all quietly pushed Booker T into main event status.

 

Picked up from ECW early in the year, Lance Storm was added as a somewhat out-of-place member of Raven's Flock. A good stack of wins placed Storm in the Flock's deputy position originally intended for Saturn, with Storm eventually beating Booker T for the Television Title at Halloween Havoc.

 

Lance Storm retains here in the rematch, as I'd like to nudge Booker T into the US Title scene, and Storm needs the belt more. Unfortunately, neither wrestler seems to have decent ring psychology at this point in their career, which feels odd. Apparently having Harley Race as the road agent and scripting the entire match wasn't enough to prevent this from being one of the lowest-ranked matches on the card. Still, not too bad for one of the "worst" matches on the show.

 

 

Rey Mysterio defeats Eddie Guerrero (91)

 

 

This match was a long time coming. After cheering on Mysterio's bid for the Cruiserweight Title back in February, Guerrero turned on Rey at SuperBrawl VII, allowing a heel Dean Malenko to retain. There was no time for Rey to get justice however, as Eddie would go on that night to assist Hollywood Hogan in his successful World Title bout against Roddy Piper. Joining the nWo rocketed Eddie up the card and away from the cruiserweight division, as he would find himself propelled into tag matches alongside key players like Hollywood Hogan and Kevin Nash over the next few weeks. Eddie captured the United States Heavyweight Title twice this year, and even beat the freshly-arrived Jerry Lawler at Bash at the Beach for his USWA Unified World Heavyweight Title (while also holding the WCW US Title).

 

While this firmly placed Eddie in the main event scene, Rey Mysterio floundered in the undercard. After a string of losses, Terry Funk took the young Rey Jr. under his wing, becoming his full-time manager and mouthpiece. With Funk as his voice, Rey took on the entire cruiserweight divison and eventually beat Syxx for the Cruiserweight title at the Great American Bash. Defending the gold for 4 months, Rey often found himself teaming with Chris Jericho during Jericho's feud with The Flock. However, Rey's trust in Jericho was misplaced, as Jericho would cheat to beat Mysterio for the Cruiserweight Title at Halloween Havoc. Like Eddie, Jericho went on that night to assist Hogan in a World Title defence against Randy Savage, joining the nWo in the process. Dejected by being backstabbed by two different friends, Rey began another brief losing streak.

 

Behind the scenes, Ric Flair offered to put Rey Mysterio Jr. over. Even though they were both babyfaces, I knew this would be a huge boost for Rey's popularity and had to capitalise on the opportunity somehow. On-screen, Flair began getting increasingly agitated by Rey wasting his potential in unnecessary losses, giving him tough love speeches backstage each week. This led to a match between Flair and Rey Mysterio Jr. at World War 3-- which Mysterio would win! From here, Jericho and Guerrero would team up to mess with Mysterio, Funk and Flair, leading to this bout (and another later tonight). Rey and Eddie had surprisingly not met in a singles match for the entirety of 1997, so to my mind this was the equivalent of their real-life Halloween Havoc '97 match (albeit not for a title). Rey took a clean win here (Eddie could survive the loss), and took a firm position in the upper midcard.

 

 

Flair starts a Four Horsemen promo, addressing the nWo, and is joined by WCW (91)

 

 

The Four Horsemen have really been the nWo's main competition in the nWo/WCW war thus far, though their 1997 looks somewhat different to real-life. Jeff Jarrett beat Steve "Mongo" McMichael in an atrocious feud, turning heel and taking Debra McMichael as his valet. After a few tag team miscommunications, Mongo finally got fed up and turned on the Horsemen for not backing him properly against Jarrett.

 

Arn Anderson's real-life retirement-causing injury never flared up in this universe, so he has continued in his role as The Enforcer of the Horsemen. Also, after a short stint as the WCW Commissioner, Roddy Piper joined as the fourth Horsemen (inspired here by his real-life friendship with Flair). The team of Flair, Arn, Piper and Benoit remained for the rest of the year.

 

All four would often give brilliant promos (Benoit coasted on his groundswell of support rather than his words) and tonight was no different. For this WCW vs. nWo event however, the Horsemen were joined in this promo by other WCW representatives-- DDP, Brian Pillman and The Giant-- all united in their hatred of the new World order.

 

 

Curt Hennig & Syxx defeat Arn Anderson and Roddy Piper (82)

 

 

My earlier discovery that Lex Luger and Curt Hennig had no chemistry in the ring meant that I had to rewrite Hennig's role on the show. Syxx had just returned from a 6-month rehab stint and Arn and Piper didn't have a place on the card, so I figured this would be as good of a match as any to get all four wrestlers on the show. Both Arn Anderson and Roddy Piper have spent most of the year putting over younger talent to stack the main event picture, and they were used in the same capacity here. Wait... Curt Hennig is older than Arn Anderson?

 

 

Randy Savage defeats Masahiro Chono (84)

 

 

Remember when Randy Savage came out on that January '97 Nitro with a chair and sat in the ring, then Sting dropped down from the rafters and confronted him with a bat and they left together? In real-life this was quickly thrown out once Savage joined the nWo, but I decided to continue and expand this angle for the rest of the year. Randy Savage would mysteriously appear with Sting in the rafters, and would eventually become Sting's physical extension by challenging other wrestlers in the ring. Savage would be the one to eliminate Big Bubba and Vincent from the nWo, and he would pick up key victories against both sides of the war, including DDP, Kevin Nash and Eddie Guerrero (becoming the final USWA Champ before the title was retired).

 

Behind the scenes, Hollywood Hogan would spend all year sowing dissent between the locker room and Randy Savage, including Charles Robinson, Bobby Heenan and Mike Tenay! Not coincidentally, Hogan refused to lie down for Savage during World Title bouts at Great American Bash and Halloween Havoc. With Randy Savage remaining one of the biggest draws in the company, but most of the nWo members already wrapped up in feuds for this card, Savage was left to battle the new World order's Masahiro Chono, which will make more sense in context with the next match.

 

Masahiro Chono has been on loan to WCW from NJPW all year, and I've taken full advantage of his abilities. His WCW run has been very 50/50, as he's been used to help put over my upcoming stars while also being pushed as far up the card as possible to make those losses mean something for the victors. Chono has been an essential tag partner for various nWo members, a challenging foe in the TV Title scene, and even took on The Giant in a losing effort at Road Wild. As I knew he would be heading back to NJPW soon, I wanted him to help put over one of my most difficult projects, which would also lead to this match with Savage. After a distraction assist from Elizabeth, the Macho Man would pick up the win against Masahiro Chono here, the last of his WCW run (for now?).

 

 

Akira Hokuto defeats Megumi Kudo to win the IWA Women's World Title (59)

 

 

Another one of my goals in this game was to continue the Women's division in a way that WCW never did. I expected that I could revolve the division around Madusa, but no matter how hard I pushed, the crowd never seemed to click with her. After similar failures to push Jacqueline and Luna Vachon, I decided to take a more extreme approach.

 

I purchased All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling in September, followed by Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling in November and GAEA Japan in December. Buying out all three of these failing joshi puroresu companies afforded me a huge roster of Japanese female wrestling talent. While this left a huge hole in WCW's wallet, the likes of Akira Hokuto, Aja Kong, Manami Toyota, Mima Shimoda, Chaparita Asari and Emi Motokawa (Sakura) were just a few of the Japanese stars I pillaged. They would mostly be starting from absolute scratch in terms of recognition in the West, and even up to November I was still struggling to make them shine in the eyes of the fans.

 

Because it's a huge struggle to have undercard talent putting over other undercard talent in an attempt to push them up the card, I begrudgingly decided to try and use the higher card male talent to put over a few key women. I started with Akira Hokuto assisting Chono and Curt Hennig in a tag match against Luger and The Giant, after which she revealed herself as the first female wrestler in the new World order. On the same night, Akira bumped into Elizabeth backstage and after a miscommunication, put the poor woman through a catering table. Once Randy Savage found out, he was... not pleased.

 

The intergender team of Chono and Hokuto took on the team of Madusa and Alex Wright, with Akira scoring a pinfall victory over Das Wunderkind. After a few scuffles between Chono & Hokuto and Randy Savage, the Macho Man realised he wouldn't be able to exact his revenge on Akira Hokuto directly (for obvious reasons) and instead enlisted the help of Megumi Kudo. Anyone who knows Megumi Kudo knows that she was taking part in street fights and no-ropes barbed wire deathmatches in FMW, so this was one badass lady. Kudo and Savage had an intergender team-up of their own against Aja Kong and Scott Norton, with Megumi Kudo getting a pinfall over Scott Norton. Yes, that is pretty silly, and I don't care. Norton didn't seem to mind!

 

In the go-home Nitro before Starrcade, Hokuto and Chono faced off with Kudo and Savage, with the match going to an overbooked double DQ. Hokuto and Chono actually had pretty awful chemistry as a team (not Kudo/Savage though!), and so I split them into two different matches for Starrcade. With Chono eating a loss in his match with Savage, I wanted Akira Hokuto to go over Kudo here, picking up her IWA Women's World Title at the same time. I'm planning to eventually unify all of the various women's belts that I've picked up from my company purchases, creating a new WCW Women's Championship (probably with the WWWA's lineage that stretches all the way back to 1937!). Pushing these women into the upper parts of the card in this era of the West is going to be difficult, but I'm in it for the long-haul.

 

 

Kidman defeats Dean Malenko in a Ladder Match for the WCW Cruiserweight Title (80)

 

 

The WCW cruiserweight division has been through some tough times this year. Firstly, I wasn't able to sign Ultimo Dragon to an exclusive contract (my no-stealing deal with NJPW prevented it) and he was eventually snapped up by the WWF (where he wrestles on Saturday Night Shotgun as Yoshihiro Asai). Meanwhile, Juventud Guerrera compressed his cervical spine on a house show in March 1997 that has put him on the shelf until April 1998. In June, I sent Syxx to rehab. With three of my future stars out of my reach, I tried bolstering my cruiserweight division with notable lightweights like Blitzkrieg, Super Crazy, Tokyo Magnum and Ultimo Guerrero. Along with Psicosis, all of these guys were nobodies in the eyes of the US fans. I found myself in a similar position to my women's division, with undercard guys trying to put other undercard guys over.

 

Rey Mysterio Jr., Chris Jericho and Dean Malenko would be the saviors of the division for the latter half of the year, but a young and green Kidman would slowly creep up from his lowly position in Raven's Flock. Despite simultaneously sharpening his skills at the WCW Power Plant while appearing on Nitro, an offer came in from Lex Luger to put the kid over. As with Flair and Mysterio, I happily took up Luger's offer and had him put Kidman over clean on a Nitro in November. As this quickly pushed Kidman up the card, I had him become the lucky crossfire recipient of feuding interferences-- he soon had surprise wins over Curt Hennig and Booker T.

 

Dean Malenko retained his Cruiserweight Title in a feud with Rey Mysterio early in the year, but eventually lost it to Syxx in March. Malenko then vied for Raven's Television Title, eventually turning face to assist Jericho in his battles against The Flock. After failing to win the TV Title after many attempts against Raven, Booker T and Lance Storm, Malenko turned his sights back to the Cruiserweight Title. After a series of wins up and down the card, Malenko beat nWo's Chris Jericho for the Cruiserweight Title at World War 3. At this point, The Man of 1000 Holds found himself moving towards main event status.

 

Kidman's challenge for Malenko's gold began to intersect with Booker T's battle for Lance Storm's Television Title, even ruining Malenko's own attempt at Storm's TV belt. Leading to this Ladder Match, I decided that Kidman needed the title more than Malenko needed to retain, and gave Kidman a big win here.

 

 

Doomsday defeats The Giant (76)

 

 

In the real world, Glenn Jacobs debuted his new Kane character in October '97 at WWF's Badd Blood event. In my timeline, Isaac Yankem's WWF contract expired in September 1997, and Glenn Jacobs would make his debut at WCW Fall Brawl later that month. I decided to give Jacobs a masked monster gimmick that he'd used in the USWA-- "Doomsday" (hey-- I bought USWA, so I own the gimmick!). The world would sadly never see Kane.

 

Doomsday made his surprise debut during Fall Brawl's War Games main event, busting through the cage door (heh) and helping the new World order (Hogan, Guerrero and The Outsiders) defeat their WCW opponents (Flair, Benoit, DDP and Benoit). As the new masked monster muscle of the nWo, Doomsday has gone on an undefeated streak, beating the likes of Jeff Jarrett, Jerry Lawler, Arn Anderson, both Steiners, the Rock 'n' Roll Express (in a handicap match), and Lex Luger. Of course, the only man that could stop this beast is another giant.

 

The Giant had a few unsuccessful World Title attempts this year against Hollywood Hogan at Souled Out and Spring Stampede. With Lex Luger, he instead made his mark this year with a solid (though short) Tag Team Title reign. Winning them from Mortis & Wrath at Fall Brawl, Luger and The Giant defended the gold straps against most of the established WCW tag teams. They found themselves in the crossfire in a feud between The Steiner Brothers, Mortis & Wrath, and The Outsiders, and eventually lost the titles to The Outsiders due to interference from Doomsday at Halloween Havoc.

 

After Doomsday wiped the floor with Lex Luger at World War 3, this led to The Giant challenging him for Starrcade. Again, I felt that Doomsday needed the rocket strap, and gave him a decisive win here over The Giant. Like a lot of big man vs. big man matches, this one was lacking selling and psychology, causing it to be the worst-received match on the card. Hopefully this won't hinder my big main event plans for Glenn Jacobs.

 

 

Mortis and Wrath defeat the Steiner Brothers in a Tables Match to win the WCW World Tag Team Titles (82)

 

 

One of my favorite pet projects, I pushed the team of Mortis and Wrath early in the year. Ignoring the real world's "Blood Runs Cold" storyline, I pushed these guys as a solid team, eventually picking up the Tag Team Titles from the Steiners at the Great American Bash. They retained against several notable teams, such as Harlem Heat and Public Enemy, before losing the titles to Luger and The Giant at Fall Brawl. Somehow Wrath accidentally ended up as a major star in the eyes of the fans.

 

The Steiner Brothers dominated the tag team division all year, with only a handful of losses to speak of. A massive feud between Mortis & Wrath, the Steiner Brothers and The Outsiders resulted in the Steiners regaining the Tag Team straps at World War 3. Mortis & Wrath would give them plenty of bother for the next month, in an attempt to reacquire the belts they'd lost earlier in the year. I decided to add a bit of violence here with Scott Steiner taking a careful stunt bump through a table for the big finish, putting the titles back on Mortis & Wrath, solidifying their position in the upper midcard.

 

 

Chris Jericho defeats Ric Flair (89)

 

 

During contract negotiations early in the year, Ric Flair asked for us to limit his wrestling appearances to pay-per-view events only, so Flair has had a slightly more comfortable year than most. He lost a World Title effort against Hogan at Slamboree, and put Rey Mysterio over at World War 3 (at his request!).

 

1997 has been Chris Jericho's year, making his way from the Lionheart to a fully-fledged main event member of the new World order. He won the TV Title from Steven Regal at Souled Out, feuded with Raven and The Flock for months (losing his title to Raven in the process), and turned on Rey Mysterio while becoming a member of the new World order at Halloween Havoc. Though he would lose the Cruiserweight Title to Dean Malenko at World War 3, there were bigger plans in place for Chris Jericho. With Rey Mysterio earning Ric Flair's respect, Flair turned his attention to Mysterio's rival, Chris Jericho. Jericho would go on to beat Flair at his own game here, cheating to win and tapping Flair out in the Liontamer. To be the man, he beat the man.

 

 

Diamond Dallas Page and Brian Pillman defeat The Outsiders (79)

 

 

With 30 days left on Brian Pillman's WWF contract in September, I made good on Eric Bischoff's real-life promise and hired Pillman back to WCW for more money than he'd been paid before. This created quite a departure from Pillman's real-world tragic fate. Meanwhile, after a solid 4-month reign as US Champ, DDP had found himself feuding with Curt Henning. After beating Hennig at Halloween Havoc, Hennig and his manager Rick Rude took their revenge on DDP with a post-match beatdown, until Brian Pillman emerged from the crowd to make the save! Returning as the Loose Cannon, Pillman picked up his own win against Curt Hennig at World War 3, and began consistently appearing to watch DDP's back.

 

The Outsiders started 1997 as the Tag Team Champions, defending the titles mostly against various Horsemen for a few months. After losing a challenge for DDP's US Title at Spring Stampede, I made the choice to send Scott Hall to rehab, as his personal demons were beginning to affect both his on-screen performance and WCW's backstage morale. He would remain off WCW television for five months. With his tag partner gone, Kevin Nash was forced to vacate the Tag Titles, and a Tag Team Title tournament eventually crowned Mortis & Wrath as the new champions.

 

Nash bounced around the main event scene somewhat directionless, keeping up appearances in the new World order while not really competing for any titles. Scott Hall would return for the Fall Brawl War Games main event against the Four Horsemen in September, and The Outsiders would begin challenging for the Tag Titles again. They eventually defeated Luger and The Giant for the tag team gold at Halloween Havoc, and spent the next few months harrassing Diamond Dallas Page (who had turned down their offer to join the new World order earlier in the year). DDP and Pillman eventually distracted The Outsiders at World War 3 to help the Steiner Brothers win the tag straps, setting up this match at Starrcade.

 

Here, I felt it would be a great moment to give Brian Pillman his biggest win yet by pinning Scott Hall. Even though Hall has a creative control clause in his contract and often uses his veto power, he didn't in this instance. Maybe rehab had a positive effect on him after all...

 

 

Raven defeats Chris Benoit to win the WCW United States Heavyweight Title (88)

 

 

Chris Benoit finally defeated Kevin Sullivan at Souled Out in January, to cap off their heated blood feud. Nancy Sullivan (Woman)'s contract expired soon after, and as I'd been using the other Horsemen to act as Benoit's mouthpiece, I let her contract run out. Nancy Sullivan left WCW, and her on-screen relationship with Chris Benoit never developed into their infamous real-life off-screen affair. Benoit became a workhorse in 1997, working his way up the card until he beat Eddie Guerrero for the US Title in an instant classic match on a Nitro in July.

 

Raven appeared on WCW Nitro with Perry Saturn and Stevie Richards in January, climbing over the guardrail to attack Chris Jericho. After "signing a WCW contract", Raven would eventually go on to beat Jericho for his Television Title at SuperBrawl. He held the TV strap for 7 months, defending against all-comers, often in Hardcore "Raven's Rules" matches. His lengthy winning streak as champ gave Raven a huge boost in the eyes of the fans, slowly becoming a main player in WCW. Though he would lose the TV Title to Booker T at Road Wild, Raven would then turn his attention (and The Flock) towards Chris Benoit and the United State title. For the rest of the year, Raven would send Flock member after Flock member to challenge for Benoit's United States Championship, while Benoit would beat each challenger back. In the meantime, Raven would often brawl with other Horsemen, especially Roddy Piper, who he beat in an epic Last Standing Match at Halloween Havoc.

 

With Benoit softened up by his battles with the other Flock members, Raven would finally move in for the kill at Starrcade, and defeat Chris Benoit in another Last Man Standing Match for the WCW United States Heavyweight Title.

 

 

Sting defeats Hollywood Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Title (79)

 

 

This is it-- the big one. Hollywood Hogan has been the WCW World Heavyweight Champion all year, and for good reason-- he refuses to lose. Many stars have tried and failed to capture the title-- Lex Luger, The Giant, DDP, Roddy Piper, Randy Savage, Ric Flair and Arn Anderson-- none of them were deemed worth by Hogan and his creative control clause. I knew that I wanted to lead up to the classic Starrcade match between he and Sting, and I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get Hogan to drop the belt to the Stinger.

 

Sting spent his year in a much similar way to his real-life 1997. He appeared in the rafters, he rappelled from the ceiling, he fought off the nWo with a baseball bat to protect WCW-- everything you'd expect out of Sting's iconic Crow persona. The only true ally he kept by his side was Randy Savage, who fought in his name in the ring.

 

In the World War 3 main event, 59 men fought to become the number one contender to Hollywood Hogan's World Title belt, but only one man would walk out as the victor-- Sting. It would be Sting vs. Hollywood Hogan at Starrcade 1997 whether Hogan liked it or not, but now the question was whether or not I could convince him to take a loss to the hottest character in World Championship Wrestling.

 

With Jim Ross (yep), Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan calling the action, I decided to bring Charles Robinson in as the referee (the best in our company), while Dusty Rhodes would act as the road agent for the match. Hogan refused to put over Sting cleanly, which I anticipated. I briefly considered a strange alternate reality where the screwjob of the year would be over Hollywood Hogan at Starrcade '97 (imagine Sting putting Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock and the ref instantly calling for the bell!), but I knew Sting wouldn't be okay with the idea (nor would our lawyers, probably). Instead, I ensured that Hogan would be kept strong throughout the match, and that we would make sure that he was protected out there to make him look good in any way possible. With the knowledge that this wouldn't be the end for either Hogan or the new World order, this seemed to assuage his fears, and he relented.

 

Sting picked up a decisive win over Hogan, submitting him cleanly to the Scorpion Deathlock and winning the World Heavyweight Title back to World Championship Wrestling. No shenanigans, no quick count, no match restart-- just the clean win that everybody wanted to see.

 

 

Sting celebrates with WCW in the ring (87)

 

 

Sting's WCW brethren piled into the ring-- Luger, Flair, Giant, DDP, Savage, Mysterio, Booker T-- they hoisted him up on their shoulders, Sting didn't shout "MAMACITA" into the camera for no reason, and Starrcade 1997 went off the air as the greatest night in the history of our sport.

 

 

And so...

 

...that was my 1997, and my Starrcade card to cap it all off. There was certainly a lot more to my booking year than this-- Jake the Snake turned up as The Flock's patron before heading off to rehab for 9 months, Arn Anderson lost in a big feud with Steven Regal, Ken Shamrock signed with WCW, Bill Goldberg quietly began his streak, Roddy Piper became Edge's mentor, and Ted DiBiase lived in catering with nothing to do. All in all, I'm pretty happy with what I achieved, and I can't wait to see what will happen when Bret Hart debuts on Monday Nitro tomorrow night...

 

[Tjmarney]

Awesome read, inspiring

[Blodyxe]

Enjoyed the recap a lot! Would be awesome to read more updates from this save

[Old School Fan]

A well-detailed and very descriptive card that gives an alternate take and a "what if..." view on the historic Starrcade '97 card. Nice work all around.

[Hitman74]

Very cool start!!!

[stillnotover]

yeah great show

[Bigelow Cartwheel]

Really good.