Fingerpoke of Doom
Encyclopedia
The Fingerpoke of Doom is a nickname
for an infamous incident in American
professional wrestling
that happened on January 4, 1999 at the Georgia Dome
in Atlanta
, during a live broadcast of WCW Monday Nitro
, the flagship show
of World Championship Wrestling
. At the outset of a match between Kevin Nash
and Hulk Hogan
—at the time, the leaders of two onscreen rival factions—Hogan poked Nash in the chest with his index finger, prompting Nash to fall to the mat and allow Hogan to pin him; the victory marked the unification of Nash and Hogan's groups and Nash's becoming a villain again after a brief tenure as a fan favorite. During the same broadcast, WCW announcer Tony Schiavone
gave away the results of rival program WWF Raw, revealing that wrestler Mick Foley
was set to win that federation's championship belt. Although this revelation was meant to deter Nitro viewers from switching to Raw, it instead reportedly prompted 600,000 fans to change channels in order to see Foley's victory, with most viewers only tuning back into Nitro when there were five minutes left in the broadcast. The incident was named The Fingerpoke of Doom both for Nash's overselling the finger poke, and for the negative ramifications the incident had for the company as a whole, with some wrestling journalists crediting it as the beginning of WCW's ultimate downfall and loss of the Monday Night Wars
.
, during which Kevin Nash pinned Goldberg
to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
. At the time of the match, Goldberg had been undefeated in his WCW career; he was tremendously popular with fans and had enjoyed crossover success in the mainstream media, and his defeat, which came about due to the interference of Nash's former tag-team partner Scott Hall
, came as a great disappointment to fans.
The following evening, Nash professed dissatisfaction with Hall's interference, and offered Goldberg a rematch. However, Goldberg was (kayfabe
) arrested mid-show (on the night of the planned rematch) and accused of "aggravated stalking
" by Miss Elizabeth
(Goldberg was originally to have been accused of rape
, but refused to go along with that particular storyline). Although Goldberg was later released when Elizabeth could not keep her story straight, he would not make it back to the arena in time to compete against Nash.
Meanwhile Hulk Hogan
, who had "retired" one month prior, showed up for the first time since his retirement. At the time, Hogan and Nash had been onscreen enemies since April 1998, when Nash broke away from Hogan's nWo
stable in order to form his own rival faction, nWo Wolfpac; Nash became a fan favorite
, and Hogan the villain
. In Goldberg's absence, Nash offered the title shot to Hogan, although Hogan only professed to have street clothes in which to compete. Hogan nonetheless accepted the offer.
Hogan came out to the ring accompanied by "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner
. As Nash made his entrance, his former tag team partner Scott Hall entered as well in a Wolfpac T-shirt, reuniting The Outsiders in the process.
compared Nash's fall to "getting 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, Hall and Steiner entered the ring and celebrated with Nash and Hogan to signify the Wolfpac and Hollywood factions were reuniting into one nWo. Hogan then produced a can of red spray paint and painted "NWO" in all capital letters across the belt's centerplate.
Goldberg then reentered the building and ran to the ring to attack the reunited nWo members. Wolfpac member Lex Luger followed him, appearing to assist him, but instead jumped Goldberg from behind and showed he was also part of the reunited nWo. The show ended with Goldberg being handcuffed to the ropes, repeatedly shocked with a taser, and having "nWo" painted in red and black paint all over his back. As the nWo was doing this a loud "we want Sting" chant erupted from the fans in the Georgia Dome, hoping that Sting
would come to rescue Goldberg and even things up for WCW. However, Sting had been out since Bret Hart attacked him at Halloween Havoc in October and would not appear again until March of 1999; by that time the nWo reunion story had largely petered out in favor of Ric Flair
taking control of WCW, and most of the nWo members had been sidelined due to injuries.
in which Mick Foley
(as Mankind) won the WWF Championship
from The Rock. As per their procedures at the time, the WWF had taped this particular edition of Raw six days in advance of the program's airing. Earlier that night, armed with knowledge of what happened, WCW revealed the results of the taped WWF show on their broadcast. On orders from Eric Bischoff
, WCW announcer Tony Schiavone
gave away the result of the match before it aired:
Within minutes, Nielsen ratings
showed that several hundred thousand viewers switched channels from Nitro on TNT
to Raw on the USA Network
. After Mankind won the title, many fans then switched back to Nitro, which still had five minutes of air time left. The final ratings for the night were 5.7 for Raw and 5.0 for Nitro.
: The Very Worst of Pro Wrestling, RD Reynolds says of the match, "That was that. Fans had been burned one time too many by WCW and the nWo. From that point on in 1999, ratings steadily dropped for the company." But it must also be noted, that WCW had been losing the ratings war for quite some time and many other factors lead to the ratings decrease.
World Wrestling Entertainment refers to the match as "one of the most scandalous title changes of all time" and states that "shocking does not even adequately describe this moment". According to wrestling writers Brian Fritz and Christopher Murray, the event insulted fans, upset viewers, and alerted other wrestlers in the company to problems in the company. They draw a direct link between the title change and the drop in ratings that took place in its aftermath. R.D. Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez
, authors of the book The Death of WCW, also draw this link, stating that the January 4 incident "more than any other, started the ball rolling towards the company's inevitable doom". They believe that the "now-legendary" event made the episode "the single most destructive Nitro in the history of the company" and call it a "disaster of epic proportions". The New York Daily News stated that the match "is widely considered the beginning of the end for WCW".
In interview with RF Video, Nash claimed that he had nothing to do with the booking of the incident. When discussing what RF Video refers to as "infamous one finger pin with Hogan", Nash said that Goldberg was the one who caused that rumor to be spread and that he had not begun booking until February 1999. In The Rise and Fall of WCW, Goldberg said that the incident was Hogan and Nash playing their own little games against the wrestling world. Furthermore, Reynolds and Alvarez contended in The Death of WCW that the actions of Hogan and Nash from the time Goldberg beat Hogan in Atlanta until their own match in the same venue four months later, including the match itself, were part of an ongoing plot between the two wrestlers.
On the August 31, 2009, episode of Raw, Dusty Rhodes
, Shawn Michaels
, and Triple H
were shown watching and discussing footage of the Hogan-Nash match backstage.
rejected the idea that the Fingerpoke of Doom was pivotal in WCW's fall. He claimed that "watering down the whole concept" of the New World Order by splitting the group and creating spinoffs such as the Latino World Order
and an inability to compete with the WWF's more risqué "Attitude style" were more responsible for WCW's downfall. He also claimed that Goldberg had no positive effect on the ratings and was hard to work with.
Eric Bischoff
's autobiography Controversy Creates Ca$h includes a chapter entitled The Turning Point That Wasn't. In it, Bischoff claimed that singling out the Fingerpoke as the reason WCW went under to be an over-simplification. He did acknowledge that people switched from watching Nitro to Raw after Schiavone's remark about Foley winning the WWF World Championship, but claimed that "the tide had turned so significantly that us talking about one match didn't matter".
Nickname
A nickname is "a usually familiar or humorous but sometimes pointed or cruel name given to a person or place, as a supposedly appropriate replacement for or addition to the proper name.", or a name similar in origin and pronunciation from the original name....
for an infamous incident in American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professional wrestling
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
that happened on January 4, 1999 at the Georgia Dome
Georgia Dome
The Georgia Dome is a domed stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, between downtown to the east and Vine City to the west. It is primarily the home stadium for the NFL Atlanta Falcons and the NCAA Division I FCS Georgia State Panthers football team. It is owned and operated by the...
in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, during a live broadcast of WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro
WCW Monday Nitro was a weekly professional wrestling telecast produced by World Championship Wrestling, created by Ted Turner and Eric Bischoff. The show aired Monday nights on TNT, going head-to-head with the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001...
, the flagship show
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
of World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling
World Championship Wrestling, Inc. was an American professional wrestling promotion which existed from 1988 to 2001. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, it began as a regional promotion affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance , named Jim Crockett Promotions until November 1988, when Ted Turner and...
. At the outset of a match between Kevin Nash
Kevin Nash
Kevin Scott Nash is an American professional wrestler and actor. As of 2011, Nash is signed to a five year contract with WWE under their WWE Legends program and appears as part of their Raw brand roster...
and Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan
Terrance Gene "Terry" Bollea , better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American Semi-retired professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ....
—at the time, the leaders of two onscreen rival factions—Hogan poked Nash in the chest with his index finger, prompting Nash to fall to the mat and allow Hogan to pin him; the victory marked the unification of Nash and Hogan's groups and Nash's becoming a villain again after a brief tenure as a fan favorite. During the same broadcast, WCW announcer Tony Schiavone
Tony Schiavone
Noah Anthony "Tony" Schiavone is an American sports broadcaster. He is the play-by-play broadcaster for the Gwinnett Braves of the International League...
gave away the results of rival program WWF Raw, revealing that wrestler Mick Foley
Mick Foley
Michael Francis "Mick" Foley, Sr. is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, author, comedian, actor, voice actor and former color commentator. He has worked for many wrestling promotions, including WWE, WCW, ECW and TNA. He is often referred to as "The Hardcore Legend", a nickname he...
was set to win that federation's championship belt. Although this revelation was meant to deter Nitro viewers from switching to Raw, it instead reportedly prompted 600,000 fans to change channels in order to see Foley's victory, with most viewers only tuning back into Nitro when there were five minutes left in the broadcast. The incident was named The Fingerpoke of Doom both for Nash's overselling the finger poke, and for the negative ramifications the incident had for the company as a whole, with some wrestling journalists crediting it as the beginning of WCW's ultimate downfall and loss of the Monday Night Wars
Monday Night Wars
Monday Night Wars is the common term describing the period of mainstream televised American professional wrestling from September 4, 1995, to March 26, 2001. During this time, the World Wrestling Federation's Monday Night Raw went head-to-head with World Championship Wrestling's Monday Nitro in a...
.
Setup
The match was directly related to a controversial main event that occurred at Starrcade 1998Starrcade (1998)
Starrcade was the sixteenth annual Starrcade professional wrestling pay-per-view event. It was the eleventh Starrcade event produced by World Championship Wrestling , and it took place on December 27, 1998 from the MCI Center in Washington, D.C....
, during which Kevin Nash pinned Goldberg
Bill Goldberg
Goldberg earned a scholarship to play for the University of Georgia Bulldogs football team where he served as a defensive tackle. He was taken in the 11th round, with the 302nd overall selection, in the 1990 NFL Draft....
to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship
WCW World Heavyweight Championship
The World Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in World Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation . It existed within WCW between 1991 and 2001. Following the acquisition of WCW by World Wrestling...
. At the time of the match, Goldberg had been undefeated in his WCW career; he was tremendously popular with fans and had enjoyed crossover success in the mainstream media, and his defeat, which came about due to the interference of Nash's former tag-team partner Scott Hall
Scott Hall
Scott Hall is an American professional wrestler. He is best known for his tenure with the World Wrestling Federation in the early and mid 1990s under the ring name Razor Ramon, as well as for his period in the mid 1990s and early 2000s with World Championship Wrestling under his real name...
, came as a great disappointment to fans.
The following evening, Nash professed dissatisfaction with Hall's interference, and offered Goldberg a rematch. However, Goldberg was (kayfabe
Kayfabe
In professional wrestling, kayfabe is the portrayal of events within the industry as "real" or "true". Specifically, the portrayal of professional wrestling, in particular the competition and rivalries between participants, as being genuine or not of a worked nature...
) arrested mid-show (on the night of the planned rematch) and accused of "aggravated stalking
Stalking
Stalking is a term commonly used to refer to unwanted and obsessive attention by an individual or group to another person. Stalking behaviors are related to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person and/or monitoring them via the internet...
" by Miss Elizabeth
Miss Elizabeth
Elizabeth Ann Hulette , best known as Miss Elizabeth, was an American professional wrestling manager. She gained international fame from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation, and the mid-1990s in World Championship Wrestling in her role as the manager to the late...
(Goldberg was originally to have been accused of rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
, but refused to go along with that particular storyline). Although Goldberg was later released when Elizabeth could not keep her story straight, he would not make it back to the arena in time to compete against Nash.
Meanwhile Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan
Terrance Gene "Terry" Bollea , better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American Semi-retired professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ....
, who had "retired" one month prior, showed up for the first time since his retirement. At the time, Hogan and Nash had been onscreen enemies since April 1998, when Nash broke away from Hogan's nWo
New World Order (professional wrestling)
The New World Order was a professional wrestling stable that originally wrestled for World Championship Wrestling . The group later appeared in the World Wrestling Federation after the purchase of WCW by the WWF...
stable in order to form his own rival faction, nWo Wolfpac; Nash became a fan favorite
Face (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a babyface or face or in simple words, a fan favorite is a character who is portrayed as a heroic relative to the heel wrestlers, who are analogous to villains...
, and Hogan the villain
Heel (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a heel is a villain character. In non-wrestling jargon, heels are the "bad guys" in professional wrestling; the term heel coming from the term take to you heels, which means to run away which heel champions tend to do to avoid losing their titles.storylines...
. In Goldberg's absence, Nash offered the title shot to Hogan, although Hogan only professed to have street clothes in which to compete. Hogan nonetheless accepted the offer.
Hogan came out to the ring accompanied by "Big Poppa Pump" Scott Steiner
Scott Steiner
Scott Carl Rechsteiner is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Scott Steiner. Steiner is perhaps best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling alongside his older brother Rick as the Steiner Brothers and as a member of the New World Order...
. As Nash made his entrance, his former tag team partner Scott Hall entered as well in a Wolfpac T-shirt, reuniting The Outsiders in the process.
Match
The match started with the two men circling each other. Nash tried intimidating Hogan by pushing him hard into the corner. In retaliation, Hogan then faked a punch and poked Nash in the chest, causing Nash to quickly and dramatically fall to the mat on his back (in the book The Death of WCW, RD Reynolds and Bryan AlvarezBryan Alvarez
Bryan Alki Alvarez is a semi-retired American professional wrestler and the editor and publisher of Figure Four Weekly, a newsletter that has covered professional wrestling since 1995. Alvarez credits a portion of his pro wrestling training to pro wrestler Buddy Wayne, and is credited in training...
compared Nash's fall to "getting 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, Hall and Steiner entered the ring and celebrated with Nash and Hogan to signify the Wolfpac and Hollywood factions were reuniting into one nWo. Hogan then produced a can of red spray paint and painted "NWO" in all capital letters across the belt's centerplate.
Goldberg then reentered the building and ran to the ring to attack the reunited nWo members. Wolfpac member Lex Luger followed him, appearing to assist him, but instead jumped Goldberg from behind and showed he was also part of the reunited nWo. The show ended with Goldberg being handcuffed to the ropes, repeatedly shocked with a taser, and having "nWo" painted in red and black paint all over his back. As the nWo was doing this a loud "we want Sting" chant erupted from the fans in the Georgia Dome, hoping that Sting
Sting (wrestler)
Steven James "Steve" Borden , better known by his ring name Sting, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling...
would come to rescue Goldberg and even things up for WCW. However, Sting had been out since Bret Hart attacked him at Halloween Havoc in October and would not appear again until March of 1999; by that time the nWo reunion story had largely petered out in favor of Ric Flair
Ric Flair
Richard Morgan Fliehr is an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Ric Flair. Also known as "The Nature Boy", Flair is one of the most well-known professional wrestlers in the world....
taking control of WCW, and most of the nWo members had been sidelined due to injuries.
Mankind incident
Airing opposite Nitro this night was the edition of WWF Raw is WarWWE RAW
WWE Raw ) is a sports entertainment television program for WWE that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States...
in which Mick Foley
Mick Foley
Michael Francis "Mick" Foley, Sr. is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, author, comedian, actor, voice actor and former color commentator. He has worked for many wrestling promotions, including WWE, WCW, ECW and TNA. He is often referred to as "The Hardcore Legend", a nickname he...
(as Mankind) won the WWF Championship
WWE Championship
The WWE Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in WWE. It is the world title of the Raw brand and one of two in WWE, complementing the World Heavyweight Championship of the SmackDown brand. It was established under the then WWWF in 1963...
from The Rock. As per their procedures at the time, the WWF had taped this particular edition of Raw six days in advance of the program's airing. Earlier that night, armed with knowledge of what happened, WCW revealed the results of the taped WWF show on their broadcast. On orders from Eric Bischoff
Eric Bischoff
Eric Aaron Bischoff is an American entrepreneur, and professional wrestling booker and on-screen personality currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling...
, WCW announcer Tony Schiavone
Tony Schiavone
Noah Anthony "Tony" Schiavone is an American sports broadcaster. He is the play-by-play broadcaster for the Gwinnett Braves of the International League...
gave away the result of the match before it aired:
Within minutes, Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
showed that several hundred thousand viewers switched channels from Nitro on TNT
Turner Network Television
Turner Network Television is an American cable television channel created by media mogul Ted Turner and currently owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner...
to Raw on the USA Network
USA Network
USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...
. After Mankind won the title, many fans then switched back to Nitro, which still had five minutes of air time left. The final ratings for the night were 5.7 for Raw and 5.0 for Nitro.
Impact
In WrestleCrapWrestleCrap
WrestleCrap is a professional wrestling website created by RD Reynolds and Merle Vincent , serving as a "hall of shame" for some of the worst gimmicks and storylines in pro wrestling history...
: The Very Worst of Pro Wrestling, RD Reynolds says of the match, "That was that. Fans had been burned one time too many by WCW and the nWo. From that point on in 1999, ratings steadily dropped for the company." But it must also be noted, that WCW had been losing the ratings war for quite some time and many other factors lead to the ratings decrease.
World Wrestling Entertainment refers to the match as "one of the most scandalous title changes of all time" and states that "shocking does not even adequately describe this moment". According to wrestling writers Brian Fritz and Christopher Murray, the event insulted fans, upset viewers, and alerted other wrestlers in the company to problems in the company. They draw a direct link between the title change and the drop in ratings that took place in its aftermath. R.D. Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez
Bryan Alvarez
Bryan Alki Alvarez is a semi-retired American professional wrestler and the editor and publisher of Figure Four Weekly, a newsletter that has covered professional wrestling since 1995. Alvarez credits a portion of his pro wrestling training to pro wrestler Buddy Wayne, and is credited in training...
, authors of the book The Death of WCW, also draw this link, stating that the January 4 incident "more than any other, started the ball rolling towards the company's inevitable doom". They believe that the "now-legendary" event made the episode "the single most destructive Nitro in the history of the company" and call it a "disaster of epic proportions". The New York Daily News stated that the match "is widely considered the beginning of the end for WCW".
In interview with RF Video, Nash claimed that he had nothing to do with the booking of the incident. When discussing what RF Video refers to as "infamous one finger pin with Hogan", Nash said that Goldberg was the one who caused that rumor to be spread and that he had not begun booking until February 1999. In The Rise and Fall of WCW, Goldberg said that the incident was Hogan and Nash playing their own little games against the wrestling world. Furthermore, Reynolds and Alvarez contended in The Death of WCW that the actions of Hogan and Nash from the time Goldberg beat Hogan in Atlanta until their own match in the same venue four months later, including the match itself, were part of an ongoing plot between the two wrestlers.
On the August 31, 2009, episode of Raw, Dusty Rhodes
Dusty Rhodes (wrestler)
Virgil Riley Runnels, Jr. , better known as "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes, is a semi-retired American professional wrestler currently working for WWE...
, Shawn Michaels
Shawn Michaels
Michael Shawn Hickenbottom , better known by his ring name Shawn Michaels, is an American television host and retired professional wrestler. He presents the Outdoor Channel show MacMillan River Adventures, and is currently signed to WWE, where he has served in an ambassadorial role since December...
, and Triple H
Triple H
Paul Michael Levesque is an American professional wrestler, professional wrestling authority figure, WWE Executive Vice President of Talent and actor, better known by his ring name Triple H, an abbreviation of the ring name, Hunter Hearst Helmsley...
were shown watching and discussing footage of the Hogan-Nash match backstage.
Criticism
In his autobiography, Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Hulk HoganHulk Hogan
Terrance Gene "Terry" Bollea , better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American Semi-retired professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ....
rejected the idea that the Fingerpoke of Doom was pivotal in WCW's fall. He claimed that "watering down the whole concept" of the New World Order by splitting the group and creating spinoffs such as the Latino World Order
Latino World Order
The Latino World Order was a professional wrestling stable that existed in World Championship Wrestling in 1998 and 1999 led by Eddie Guerrero...
and an inability to compete with the WWF's more risqué "Attitude style" were more responsible for WCW's downfall. He also claimed that Goldberg had no positive effect on the ratings and was hard to work with.
Eric Bischoff
Eric Bischoff
Eric Aaron Bischoff is an American entrepreneur, and professional wrestling booker and on-screen personality currently signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling...
's autobiography Controversy Creates Ca$h includes a chapter entitled The Turning Point That Wasn't. In it, Bischoff claimed that singling out the Fingerpoke as the reason WCW went under to be an over-simplification. He did acknowledge that people switched from watching Nitro to Raw after Schiavone's remark about Foley winning the WWF World Championship, but claimed that "the tide had turned so significantly that us talking about one match didn't matter".