Fingerpoke of Doom

[Troy]

Fourteen years ago on Jan. 4, 1999, WWE and WCW were in the midst of the Monday Night War. Each week, WWE Raw is War and WCW Monday Nitro battled head to head in an industry-wide clash for wrestling supremacy. As 1998 drew to a close, WWE had finally picked up momentum in the race for ratings despite airing a taped show every other week while Nitro always ran live.

On Tuesday, Dec. 29, 1998, in Worcester, Mass., WWE taped an edition of Raw to air the following Monday on Jan. 4. In the main event of that show, Mick Foley defeated The Rock to win his first WWE Championship, a moment widely considered to be one of the most emotional in wrestling history.

WCW, in an attempt to convince fans not to change the channel, gave away the taped outcome on air. Broadcaster Tony Schiavone even gave the sarcastic remark of, “Ugh, that’ll put a lot of butts in the seats.†At that very moment, 600,000 homes changed the channel and for years afterward, signs were seen in arenas with the words: “Mick Foley put my butt in this seat.â€

Meanwhile, Nitro was airing from Atlanta’s massive Georgia Dome in front of almost 40,000 fans. WCW had advertised a highly anticipated Starrcade rematch for the WCW Championship with Kevin Nash defending against Goldberg. But in a shocking turn of events, Nash was instead defeated for the title by the returning Hollywood Hogan after a mere poke of the finger from Hogan onto Nash’s chest.

The combination of WCW’s “Fingerpoke of Doom†and Mick Foley’s emotional championship victory was seen by many as a spiritual changing of the guard in the Monday Night War. WWE Classics spoke with both Mick Foley and Kevin Nash about this historical night. Hear about the night that changed wrestling from the two men who lived it.

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There is a great article up on wwe.com regarding the Fingerpoke of Doom which occured just over 14 years ago. They talked to Kevin Nash and Mick Foley, two key figures from that huge night in wrestling history. First of all it is great that they talked to the most important guy from both companies from that night, it is good to hear perspective from both sides rather than just a one sided bias view. Surprised that Nash talks it down so much, it may not have been the only thing that caused WCW to falter but it played a massive role in the War.

What do people think about that night in wrestling? What should WCW have done with the mainevent match that night?​

 

[The New F'n Show]

Interesting article. I like how Foley was so "real" in his comments. All of them made sense. Nash on the other hand continues to try to prove he is "smarter" than everyone else and kind of comes off as a moron. I agree that night didn't kill WCW, but it did kill their momentum. I was a bigger WCW fan at the time and the fingerpoke of doom is one of the things that made me start to switch. It was moronic and to tell your fans that a huge unexpected title change is happening the night your booking is God awful is going to have an impact, whether Nash wants to admit it or not.

 

[Tapout]

I swear, Nash should never be allowed to speak, ever. He's got to be the stupidest guy in wrestling, and thinks he's hot shit when him, and and his two best friends ended up killing a promising company. He's just bitter that he never got to be one of the greats.

Foley however is very intelligent, very truthful, and WILL go down as one of the greats. I could only get about halfway through Nash's idiotic answers until I just wanted to skip to the Foley part of the interview.

 

[The Cork]

lol, people say titles are meaningless nowdays but look how they were treated back then too.

A companys WORLD title shouldn't be degraded that badly, although Triple H and Shawn Michaels basically did the same thing but with the European title a year previous to this and didn't get half the abuse Nash & Hogan did.

 

[Tapout]

lol, people say titles are meaningless nowdays but look how they were treated back then too.

A companys WORLD title shouldn't be degraded that badly, although Triple H and Shawn Michaels basically did the same thing but with the European title a year previous to this and didn't get half the abuse Nash & Hogan did.

Here's where the difference is, Shawn Michaels and Triple H were loved by the fans, and they did with a Third Tier title. One that is basically a prop.

Nash and Hogan were not fan favorites, and did it with the WORLD title. Big difference.

 

[Chris]

Here's where the difference is, Shawn Michaels and Triple H were loved by the fans, and they did with a Third Tier title. One that is basically a prop.

Nash and Hogan were not fan favorites, and did it with the WORLD title. Big difference.

Shawn and Trips were HATED by the fans at that time, and the heat they got for doing it was awesome. And that was before the European title was that much of a prop, they treated the match as a huge deal at the time. But yes, I do agree that it's a big difference because Nash and Hogan did it with a World title, but not the fan favorites argument, that's silly.

 

[Cwalker]

I wouldn't go so far to say Nash is the stupidest person in wrestling. You've got to be somewhat intelligent to last as long as he's had and play chess with the people he's played with. He does come off disallusioned though. I don't agree that the Fingerpoke was what killed WCW. Many people, including Ted Turner has stated that Time Warner didn't want wrestling, so the second they could, they got rid of it.

 

[Mick Donalds]

I swear, Nash should never be allowed to speak, ever. He's got to be the stupidest guy in wrestling, and thinks he's hot shit when him, and and his two best friends ended up killing a promising company. He's just bitter that he never got to be one of the greats.

Foley however is very intelligent, very truthful, and WILL go down as one of the greats. I could only get about halfway through Nash's idiotic answers until I just wanted to skip to the Foley part of the interview.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Props.

 

[FalconPunch]

Kevin Nash is actually very smart. He's a millionaire for a reason. It does make me laugh when he can purposely get a rise out of people to talk about him, make him relevant, without the mark even knowing.

 

[Rated R Superstar]

Kevin Nash is actually very smart. He's a millionaire for a reason. It does make me laugh when he can purposely get a rise out of people to talk about him, make him relevant, without the mark even knowing.

He was part of one the most influential factions ever. Don't need to be a genius to do that and reap the riches.

 

[FalconPunch]

He was part of one the most influential factions ever. Don't need to be a genius to do that and reap the riches.

A part of? Or one of the reasons it was influential? Don't be so ignorant as to why the nWo took off.

Besides, he was a millionaire before he went back to WCW, so your point is mute.

 

[Rated R Superstar]

Not really, I think you're just a big Nash mark who over speculates what people say. I'm not saying he's an idiot, but some of the shit he says sometimes backs up that statement.

 

[Troy]

Nash had already had a massive run in WWF before the NWO including the longest WWF title reign on the 90's. He was already a huge star and a rich guy based just on that, the NWO just made him an even bigger star and he played a pivotal role in making it big. Remember the Outsiders were there first and he was getting a huge reaction already before Hogan turned.

He is very clever at pushing people's buttons and keeping his name relevant.

 

[Weez]

So I'm assuming [Know-it-All] = Smarks? Marks? lol

God, Nash is such a tool. He's a smart guy, but goddamn, could you stop practicing the gospel of "Controversy Creates Cash" already? He's one of those people who's the 1st one to take credit for anything and the last person to every take an ounce of blame for ANYTHING lol.

But he's right. Tyson was a much bigger reason than The Fingerpoke of Doom.

I really don't think it was a big deal to begin with, tbh. It's been overanalyzed by the IWC for years. Much like anything else, it's something that's been done, or teased many, many times before. How many times have you had title matches with someone from the same tag team or faction and an announcer say "What if he just lays down for his partner?" "Who's to say we're going to get a legitimate contest here?"

Maybe it's just because I'm so damn old, I remember this even before the Euro Title thing as well. It's not a new device. Nothing in wrestling is. Except maybe some honesty. Let's try that.

 

[Deezy]

The only thing I remember from this incident is what Tony Schiavone was saying before this happened. He was like "This is what pro-wrestling is all about.....NO this is what WCW is all about."

Pretty much buried the whole company in one sentence.

Foley should thank Tony for saying that.