The infamous 'finger poke of doom' - The beginning of the end for WCW

Hulk Hogan, with the infamous ‘poke’ on Nash

173–0 was the statistical count of the number of matches Bill Goldberg remained undefeated in the WCW. He suffered his first loss, against Kevin Nash, at ‘Starrcade’ 1998 due to interference from the NWO members, thereby losing his WCW title. This is the prelude to this infamous incident.

After Nash won the WCW world title, he and the ‘nWo wolfpac’ soared in popularity. Even though they were a ‘heel’ outfit in the WCW, they soon became ‘face’ following the return of Hulk Hogan, who now commandeered the  ‘nWo Hollywood’ faction. With a storyline where Goldberg was arrested, Nash offered his old nemesis Hulk Hogan a shot at his WCW world title on WCW Nitro. Hogan duly accepted the challenge and the match was set.

Everybody looked forward to this match as Nash and Hogan were not only big stars in the industry, but also headed rival nWo factions, intensifying the rivalry.

The match started with Nash and Hogan circling each other. Nash tried to intimidate Hogan by pushing him hard into the ring corner. In retaliation, Hogan faked a punch and poked Nash in the chest with his index finger, for which Nash reacted by dramatically falling on the mat. Hogan then pinned Nash and was declared the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion.

This dramatic moment marked the unison of both the nWo factions as Hogan, Nash, Steiner and Hall celebrated in the ring, with the crowd watched in disbelief.

WWE termed this as “one of the most scandalous title changes of all time”, and also stated that “shocking does not even adequately describe this moment”.

New York Daily News stated that the match “is widely considered the beginning of the end for WCW”. That was indeed the case, as the fans were taken for a ride once again by the WCW and the NWO and they had seen enough of all this. The WCW ratings drastically started decreasing after this incident, and the company was soon sold to its rival, the WWE.