The WWE announced that Goldberg will be making his return on the January 2nd edition of RAW. The former WCW champion will begin his build towards the 2017 Royal Rumble and the road to Wrestlemania. But before we look ahead to Goldberg’s chances at winning the Rumble, let us look back to the day in wrestling history when Goldberg’s legendary 173 win streak came to an end at the hands of Kevin Nash.
Goldberg made his WCW debut on September 22nd, 1997, with a victory against Hugh Morris that would begin an amazing (and slighly inflated) win streak. The streak included a US championship victory and WCW World title victory from Hollywood Hogan on the July 6, 1998 edition of Nitro. At World War 3, leader of NWO Wolfpack, Kevin Nash, won a battle royal to earn his title match with Goldberg at Starrcade.
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On December 27th, 1998, Goldberg and Nash would face off in the main event of Starrcade with the WCW Championship on the line. After a fairly decent match between the two big men, Goldberg would fight off interference from Disco Inferno and Bam Bam Bigelow (not sure why there was suddenly no disqualification) before getting ambushed by Scott Hall (dressed as a security guard) and a cattle prod. As the champion convulsed on the mat, Big Sexy was able to hit his jacknife powerbomb and nab the three count, thus ending Goldberg’s 15 month undefeated streak.
As you watch the clip, you’ll notice the fans popped for the win, despite Nash being the heel. Perhaps, even in 1998, older fans grew weary of watching someone win every single match.
On the January 4 episode of Nitro, Kevin Nash was scheduled to face Goldberg in a rematch for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Goldberg was arrested, however, when he was falsely accused of stalking Elizabeth. After briefly flirting with running for President of the United States, Hulk Hogan returned to challenge Nash for the championship.
This bit of ridiculousness led to the even more ridiculous “Fingerpoke of Doom,” where Nash would lay down and allow Hogan to pin him, effectively handing the title to Hogan. The two would then re-form the NWO, essentially erasing the entire year and a half story arcthat Goldberg had just completed.
Having to produce a new show every week pretty guarantees that nothing good in wrestling lasts forever. Goldberg’s streak was one of the hottest angles of the 90s, and breaking it could have elevated another WCW superstar to unimaginable heights. Instead, it ended with a stun gun and a false arrest. Three years later and the WCW was belly up. Go figure.
Could a Goldberg-esque streak ever work in today’s era?
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