- How it all begins
In the mid of 1998, the nWo was splited into 2 factions, the original black and white known as nWo Hollywood (heel faction), which was led by Hollywood Hogan and nWo Wolfpac (face faction), which was led by Kevin Nash. Wolfpac will be represented by a red and black nWo logo as oppose to the original nWo.
At Slamboree 1998, WCW tag team champions The Outsiders (Scott Hall and Kevin Nash) was in a scheduled title defense against Sting and The Giant, who had recently rejoined nWo Hollywood (making Sting his unwilling partner in the match, which had been signed prior to Giant's defection back to the nWo). During the match, Hall turned on Nash and joined nWo Hollywood. However at World War 3 1998, nWo Hollywood attacked Scott Hall and kicked him out of the group for disrespecting Hogan and Bischoff a few weeks earlier. At the same PPV, Kevin Nash went on to win the 60 man battle royal and earned a WCW World Title shot at Bill Goldberg.
On the Thanksgiving episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Hogan officially announced his candidacy for the President of United States (scripted) as well as his retirement from professional wrestling. Scott Steiner went on to assume the leadership role in the nWo Hollywood faction.
- Starrcade 1998 (End of Goldberg's winning streak)
At Starrcade 1998, Kevin Nash faced Goldberg for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in a no disqualification match. The match went back and forth and as Goldberg was setting up for a spear late in the match, Scott Hall came to the ring and shocked Goldberg with a taser while he was in the corner. Hall had been dressed as a security guard waiting outside the ring for his opportunity. Nash pinned the incapacitated Goldberg to win his second World Championship and his first since 1994. In doing so, Nash managed to controversially break Goldberg's long running undefeated streak of 173 - 0.
- The fingerpoke of doom (build up)
The next night on WCW Nitro, Nash supposedly unaware of and unhappy with Hall's interference at Starrcade and told Goldberg that he would get a rematch next week. This was to be their anticipated rematch; however, Goldberg was arrested mid-show and accused of "aggravated stalking" by Miss Elizabeth (scripted). 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.
- The fingerpoke of doom (the 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 fingerpoked Nash in the chest, and Nash quickly fell to the mat on his back as if he was hit in the chest with a cannonball. Hogan then covered him 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. After their actions, Goldberg ran out and cleaned house, only to be jumped by Lex Luger and then beaten down by the nWo. As the show ended, Goldberg was handcuffed to the ropes, spray-painted on top of his head, and repeatedly shocked with a taser.
- Impact on WCW
After this episode, WCW's TV ratings steadily went down. Some observers inside and outside the pro wrestling business noted that this storyline simply turned off numerous fans for several reasons.
1) It devalued the WCW World Heavyweight Championship by having Nash simply lie down and give it to Hogan with no effort. In the later part of the WCW story line, the title would go on to be held by men such as David Arquette (Hollywood actor) and Vince Russo in the future.
2) 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.
3) 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.
4) 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).
5) The match also damaged 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.
- 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.
Links:
1) Kevin Nash vs. Goldberg Starrcade 1998 (Ring entrances)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvpAZuDOmqA (Thanks to VirtuaCory)
2) Kevin Nash ends Goldberg 173-0 winning streak (ending)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5XJfleooak (Thanks to VirtuaCory)
3) Big Sexy offers Goldberg a rematch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrEj2n0k19s&feature=related (Thanks to VirtuaCory)
4) The fingerpoke of doom match
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zAogVgDiwM (Thanks to GarfieldVsSnoopy)
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