Hulk Hogan explains why he refused to lose against AEW star
Hulk Hogan recently shed light on his infamous match against Sting at WCW Starrcade 1997.
WCW higher-ups initially booked Hogan to lose against the current AEW star. However, The Hulkster decided on the day of the show that he wanted to change the finish. At the time, the wrestling legend was allowed to make backstage decisions because he had a creative control clause in his contract.
On the latest A&E Biography: WWE Legends episode, Hogan recalled a conversation he had with former WCW executive Eric Bischoff before the match:
"I had a problem with it because if you're gonna beat me when I've got this type of momentum, this is about making money. If you beat somebody, you beat them in a way that they're better off after they're beat than they were before, and Eric really wasn't sure where we were going with this thing."
STING vs HOGAN - Starrcade 1997 #WCW http://t.co/sgduGt6WQQ
To this day, confusion still surrounds the finish of the match. Hogan appeared to have won after referee Nick Patrick counted to three during a pinfall attempt. Moments later, Bret Hart restarted the contest with himself as the referee after claiming that Patrick counted too fast.
In the end, Sting won the match via submission to capture the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.
Hulk Hogan did not expect Bret Hart to appear
Replays showed that Nick Patrick counted to three at normal speed, which only added to the confusion.
With so many changes being made at short notice, Hulk Hogan was unaware of Bret Hart's role at the end of the match:
"I don't remember Bret Hart being involved. I don't remember another referee coming down. I don't remember anything like that ever being talked about."
Starrcade 1997 🖤 https://t.co/eXUuqenSr2
Eric Bischoff added that a "mad scramble" took place behind the scenes to quickly come up with a new finish at the last minute:
"Despite the fact that Hulk Hogan did have creative control, and he never exercised it, he never threatened to use it, he had never implied that he might, it was like, 'Yeah, it's there, but it's not,' except for that night. And because Hulk wasn't feeling it, he called an audible and it was a mad scramble."
Hogan also spoke about the time Vince McMahon allegedly contemplated shutting down WWE's doors during the ratings battle with WCW.
Do you think Hulk Hogan should have lost cleanly against Sting? Let us know in the comments section below.
Please credit A&E Biography: WWE Legends and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.