83 Weeks - Starrcade 1999 [Show Notes] (Patreon)

Starrcade 1999 took place on December 19, 1999 before a live crowd of 8,582 fans at the MCI Center, now the Capital One Center, in Washington DC, drawing a gate of $362,550. That’s just about half of the fans who attended the year before, Starrcade 1998 at the MCI Center. Over 16,000 were reported to have been in attendance in 1998 to see Goldberg vs Nash. And the year before that, at the same venue, the same event drew 17,500 for what many consider the pinnacle of WCW vs. the nWo: Starrcade 1997.

Business is not just down - it’s been halved. As Dewey Cox would say, it’s the worst case of cut in half I’ve ever seen. So that begs the question…

What did you think of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story?

Also, how did this happen?

It’s not just the crowd, either. The buyrate for Starrcade 1998 was reported to be around 460,000. Starrcade 1999 drew 145,000 PPV buys. That isn’t even one third!

It feels like something major happened between 1998 and 1999 that fans found offensive. If you could put your finger on that, what would you think it might be?

Tonight, it’s the battle to end the millennium. Our main event is Bret the Hitman Hart ending his career against Bill Goldberg. It isn’t Bret’s last match but it is the cause of it. And we’re going to talk about how we got there.

Headlines

Meltzer reported at the time that Vince Russo, sounding very desperate in the process, lashed out at criticism of his booking and blamed WCW standards & practices for the fact the ratings haven't improved since his arrival this past week on the WCW Live show.

Russo claimed that the ratings haven't fallen (actually they've yet to bottom out below the lowest rated Nitro in years in Kevin Nash's final week, but the 12/13 Nitro drew the second lowest rating in years which certainly can't be construed as showing improvement) and that everything to this point was to put things in place for the big angle at Starrcade and the next night with the recreation of the NWO.

Russo blamed standards and practices for not allowing him to have Roddy Piper call Rhonda Singh fat, no longer allowing Ed Ferrara to mimic Jim Ross' Bells Palsy, and not allowing Buzzkill to burn incense on the air, none of which one way or the other meant even a blip when it comes to ratings. Russo said that WCW has to decide if it wants a squeaky clean show or ratings and that they can't have both. He said he was promised certain leeway when he came in and for the first six weeks everything was fine, but once the heat came from sponsors, the rules changed. He also said people in WCW have been trying to stab him in the back (there is far less feeling of Russo as a creative genius within the organization and those who were 100% with him as recently as four weeks ago now privately believe he has no new ideas and just spun a good line). He claimed people in the company are saying the problem isn't standards and practices and that the show's writing hasn't been good, and claimed the people (who he never mentioned but are believed to be led by Kevin Sullivan and J.J. Dillon) were doing the same thing Jim Ross, Jim Cornette and Bruce Prichard did to him in the WWF. He also lashed out at critics, Meltzer in particular, with name calling that made some in the organization think he was working an angle.

Russo says he gauges his success by internet feedback and crowd response (you'd think he'd gauge success by quarter hour ratings and most importantly, tickets being sold and PPV buy rates but that would mean he'd have to write his shows for the general public and not the internet). He's apparently trying to build for a big angle on 2/14 since Nitro will be unopposed with Raw airing at 11 p.m. due to the Westminster Dog show.

Among the ideas he talked about on the show were to bring Lenny Lane and Lodi back under the names Standards and Practices with crewcuts and glasses and playing nerdy characters (there he goes booking for the mainstream again). He also talked about bringing back Jim Hellwig as a full-timer and also there was talk about talking with Bruno Sammartino (nobody from WCW has at this point contacted Sammartino), which one would think would be to join the Zbyszko, Orndorff, Anderson, Piper team and feud with Russo as the traditionalists who hate what Russo has done to wrestling. He talked about wanting to bring Randy Savage back but again said the contract situation is out of his hands, and talked about Jeff Jarrett as a main eventer starting early in the year. He also claimed if he left or was let go by WCW and he would never go back to the WWF because he could never work with Vince McMahon for another day.

A lot of stuff to unpack here. Did you see the Oklahoma gimmick? Ed Ferrera, mimicking JR’s facial paralysis…

Do you think the cat was out of the bag in that Russo had already been exposed as not what he sold himself as, to be polite?

Meltzer would report the idea to turn WCW around is---the same idea Eric Bischoff came up with that helped turn WCW around three-and-a-half years ago.

The most important thing about the revival of the NWO with Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Bret Hart and Jeff Jarrett, all holding the major WCW title belts, as the final act of the 12/20 Nitro in Baltimore is not whether it was just copying something from the past. Of course it was nothing original, but the object of wrestling is not originality.

The important question is whether or not it will work. The answer to that question should be obvious in weeks, not months, but if you're looking at TV ratings this time for your answers as most everyone will, you're about to be greatly misled.

The subject of Vince Russo as WCW booker/writer has been a polarizing issue, both inside and outside of the company. It's basically come down to two arguments. His detractors point to the ratings not improving, falling last week to the second lowest mark in years, and use that as the argument that his new concepts of what wrestling is aren't working. His defenders claim it took six months to turn the WWF ratings around, and it'll take six months to turn WCW ratings around, and blame TNT standards and practices for nixing basically irrelevant wording and angles as to the excuse on why they've started a decline in recent weeks. There have been people internally complaining to Bill Busch that the new concept of wrestling without wrestling isn't working and isn't going to work, and Busch's reaction has been that they have six months to one year to make it work because anything less would be unfair. There have been people complaining that it's too inside for the casual fan and that's why the ratings aren't moving, or that they're only perpetuated WCW's image as the company filled with past-their-prime wrestlers by importing a new crew of retired wrestlers while not seriously pushing one wrestler under 30. But both sides largely miss the boat by basing the entire worth of everything on the ratings.

Do you agree with the six months time frame to fix sagging ratings?

Do you think Standards and Practices had a negative effect or was it something else?

The Event Itself

WCW Starrcade: Thumbs up 27 (23.7%), Thumbs down 72 (63.2%), In the middle 15 (13.2%).

1. Vito (Vito Lograsso) & Johnny the Bull (John Hugger) defeated Disco Inferno (Glen Gilbertti) & Lash Leroux in 9:39. These four spent all week at the Power Plant working out a match and their effort showed, as this match was a real hot opener which was no easy task because their angle is so silly. Lograsso in particular did a hell of a job. This was probably Johnny's fifth or sixth pro match and he showed a ton of potential. At one point the two turned a double hip toss spot into a double power bomb on Inferno. Johnny slipped on the ropes trying to jump to the top but recovered quickly enough to come off with a twisting legdrop. Disco was staggered and Leroux was thrown into him and he gave Leroux a stunner, or last dance. Lograsso than used a high implant DDT to pin Leroux. After the match Tony Marinera came out with a body bag and they put Disco in it, carried him to the back in their car and drove off, apparently to take Disco to their leader. ***1/4

Chris Benoit came out to his new music and new entrance trying to give him the look of a star. There are little things being done to really push Benoit and Jarrett. Benoit was given the U.S. title since Hall wasn't there, but said titles should be won and lost in the ring and issued a challenge to anyone for a ladder match for the title.

2. Madusa (Debra Micelli) pinned Evan Karagis in 3:32 to win the WCW cruiserweight title. Karagis came out with Spice. Madusa came off the apron with a cross body. Karagis decked her. Madusa used a second rope missile dropkick and was slammed off the top. Madusa nearly killed him with a messed up power bomb. Fans were chanting boring, just as Karagis hit a pretty nice looking plancha on her. Finish saw Spice turn on Karagis, giving him a low blow and Madusa scoring the pin with a german suplex. Spice left with Madusa. That isn't the last time a finish almost exactly like that would be used before the night was over. 3/4*

Meltzer said: The cruiserweight title can't be destroyed anymore than it already has with the champ jobbing on every television show in two minutes leading to this match, so the idea that it's on a woman hurting the title is irrelevant.

3. Norman Smiley retained the hardcore title beating Meng (Uliuli Fifita) in 4:29. They ended up backstage where Smiley ran and hit after they messed up the catering area. Meng no sold a lot of head shots and even no sold a fire extinguisher. Fit Finlay and Brian Knobs attacked Meng and he was holding his own with both of them while Smiley was hiding. Knobs threw coffee on him and Meng wore out Knobs with a garbage can and put the death grip on him. Finlay hit him with a chair and later a pipe to finally lay Meng out and they left. Smiley came out from hiding, saw Meng laid out, crawled over timidly and pinned him. After the match Meng put the death grip on Nick Patrick. *

David Flair was given a present of a solid gold tire iron. They showed Oklahoma on the screen and the fans groaned. This was not good heat heel. The Misfits then kidnapped Oklahoma and later put him in a cage.

4. The Revolution (Troy Martin & Dean Simon & Perry Satullo & Christi Wolfe) beat Jim Duggan and The Varsity Club (Kevin Sullivan & Rob Rechsteiner & Lawrence Rotunda) in 4:53. Kristina Laum (Kimona in ECW) came out as the cheerleader for the Varsity Club, who were Duggan's secret partners. Since Duggan worked the whole match, it was awful. The poor guy battled back from cancer but his offense looks horrible and slow, which looks worse because the guys oversell it like crazy. Then he never sells anything, plus he's so big he makes his opponents like Saturn and Malenko look like midgets. Douglas, with his torn bicep, was at ringside doing commentary so it was three-on-four. Duggan worked the entire match. There was one spot where the Varsity Club came in for a brawl and Sullivan did the three of woe gimmick to Asya before they all turned on Duggan. Sullivan gave Duggan a low blow and Douglas came from the announcing spot and hopped into the ring to score the pin. Hudson should be more alert because if he can hop off the announcing area into the ring whenever someone is knocked out in WCW and get credit for a pin, he could develop a Goldberg record in just a few weeks. After the match the Revolution buried Duggan under their flag. This finish ended up being changed as the original idea was for the Revolution to do the janitorial work for 30 days rather than Duggan having to renounce his U.S. citizenship. -*

Meltzer said: The Varsity Club angle appeared to be a flop. Kevin Sullivan, at 50, looked awfully old to be a college jock although Mike Rotunda seemed as if he'd actually turned the clock back since his last stint in WCW.

5. Vampiro (Ian Hodgkinson) beat Steve Williams via DQ in 5:02. Oklahoma was at ringside in a cage doing the announcing and would have to wrestle Vampiro if Williams lost. Apparently Williams refused to do a job because the news would get to Japan where stuff like that matters (it really doesn't matter much anymore to the fans but All Japan doesn't look highly upon it). Vampiro did a plancha off the cage onto Williams. Williams launched him in orbit with a belly-to-belly superplex. Williams destroyed the Misfits whose getting involved physically took the match down. Vampiro hit one spin kick, tried a second but Williams caught him with a back suplex. Williams then knocked down ref Charles Robinson for a cheap DQ finish. *¾

Meltzer said: Steve Williams refused to do the job for Vampiro, creating a really weak DQ ending in their match, and with his All Japan tour pending, that may be it for him with this company.

6. Vampiro pinned Oklahoma (Ed Ferrara) in 2:52. Vampiro was laid out and Oklahoma wanted at him, but was still locked in the cage. By the time Doug Dillenger unlocked him, Vampiro recovered. OK hit a lousy DDT and tried to run but the Misfits stopped him. Vampiro used a uranage and the Misfits were pounding OK around. Vampiro used his nail in the coffin for the finish. Horrible. -*¼

Meltzer said: Vampiro vs. Oklahoma, due to the physical interactions of Oklahoma with The Misfits, was total amateur hour.

7. Creative Control (Ron & Don Harris) & Curt Hennig beat Booker T (Booker Huffman) & Midnight (Anne Marie Crooks) in 7:53. Before the match, Stevie Ray and T had a falling out and Ray didn't even come out so it was 3-on-2. It was announced that the winning team would become top contenders for Hall & Nash's WCW tag titles. Ray eventually came out but T told him to leave. Finish saw Hennig hit T with a foreign object and Don Harris pinned him. The cameras totally missed the pinfall. 3/4*

8. Jeff Jarrett pinned Dustin Rhodes (Dustin Runnels) in 11:21 in a bunkhouse match. There were so many reference during the show to Dusty Rhodes that he has to be coming back. Dustin bleached his hair back blond. Jarrett took out Rhodes' knee with a wheelbarrow. Rhodes slammed him in the wheelbarrow. He later clocked Jarrett with the cowbell and posted him. Rhodes took ref Billy Silverman and tied him up with duct tape to the ropes and taped his mouth shut. Hennig came out while Jarrett was whipping Rhodes, to untie the ref and pull the duct tape hard off his mouth. That must have hurt. Jarrett used a 2x4 on Rhodes. They traded near falls until Rhodes used the shattered dreams kick on Jarrett, but Hennig pulled Silverman out of the ring. He then gave Hennig the shattered dreams. The match ended with both men brawling near the entrance way. Rhodes bulldogged Hennig on the floor, but was then prey for Jarrett to come off the ladder that was there for the later ladder match, with a guitar shot on Rhodes for the pin. **½

Meltzer thought “The ladder match was great.”

It won the best match poll of readers of the Observer without a close second.

What did you think about the match?

9. Diamond Dallas Page (Page Falkenburg) pinned David Flair (David Fliehr) in 3:26. Page did a really good job of carrying Flair to at least a not bad match. Flair came out of the crowd in disguise and attacked Page with the tire iron. Charles Robinson then awarded the match to Flair because Page couldn't continue, but before Dave Penzer could make the announcement, Page threw him down. I guess that means the match continues even after the ref stops it. Flair's work didn't look nearly as bad as usual and he even got a big pop for using the figure four. Page reversed it and hit the diamond cutter for the pin. After the match, Page gave Flair another diamond cutter off the ropes before Daphne Unger, the Flair stalker, saved David. Page was about to use another diamond cutter on Robinson but for whatever reason spared him. *¼

About this, Meltzer wrote Diamond Dallas Page carried David Flair to his best performance to date, but it still wasn't a good match by any means.

10. Sting (Steve Borden) beat Total Package (Larry Pfohl) via DQ in 5:25. If Sting won, then Elizabeth would be out of her contract with Luger. When Sting & Liz were backstage, Sting switched cans of mace with the one Liz had saying he had a more high powered can. This pretty well gave away he knew Liz was doing to turn on him. Fans were chanting "steroids" big time. I'm pretty sure Elizabeth isn't using steroids. Of course Elizabeth went to turn on Sting and sprayed him with the mace, but it turned out to be silly string. The angle had zero pop. So much for the comedy. Sting hit a splash off the top for a near fall, a facebuster and two stinger splashes before putting on the scorpion. Liz grabbed Sting's bat and Sting stopped her. Then, for some unknown reason, probably because Sting didn't want to come across as being duped since they've done that to him for ten years straight but couldn't figure out a way out of this, he simply turned his back on Liz and she gave him a hard shot with the whiffle ball bat for the DQ. After the match, Luger threw Johnny Boone over the top and put Sting's wrist in a chair and Luger destroyed the wrist and gave several baseball bat shots to the arm. They went for major heat on this one. *

Meltzer said: Sting vs. Lex Luger has been done a million times and this angle was an excuse for Sting to take time off so he can be repackaged. This down time for Sting was a decision forced on him rather than time off that he asked for like in the past.

11. Kevin Nash beat Sid Vicious (Sid Eudy) in a master of the power bomb match in 6:58. Actually this was worst than it sounded on paper going in. Another ref bump, this time by Mark Johnson. Sid's back was bleeding a little. Sid used the power bomb, very clumsily, but Johnson didn't see it. Jarrett then ran in and KO'd Sid with a guitar shot. Nash twice went for a power bomb but couldn't get it because he was selling his back from getting the power bomb. He then simply told Johnson, who saw Sid laid out, that he had power bombed him while Johnson was out and Johnson raised Nash's hand. Boy was that a lame finish. -*

Meltzer said: The less said about Kevin Nash vs. Sid Vicious the better.

This one won the Observer worst match poll. How did you like it?

12. Chris Benoit either won the vacant U.S. title or retained the title he was given earlier in the show beating Jarrett in a ladder match in 10:15. Excellent match. Benoit suffered a big cut on the bridge of his nose early from getting the ladder dropkicked into his face and not protecting himself, which only made the thing more dramatic as he'd fire back with his face all bloody. Benoit delivered a superplex off the top. Jarrett did sort of a backward superplex on Benoit from the ladder. Jarrett was hung upside down by his legs and the ladder was shoved down. Both took big bumps when the other would knock the ladder down. Benoit took a throat drop on the ropes falling off the ladder while Jarrett crotched himself taking a fall. Benoit climbed and Jarrett dropkicked the ladder and Benoit took a great bump. Benoit came back and delivered a diving head-butt off the top of the ladder, then climbed back up and grabbed the belt to win. ****

What did you think about the match?

Meltzer said: Chris Benoit and Jeff Jarrett in a ladder match put on one of WCW's best matches of the year and both men virtually stole the show. Jarrett, who wrestled a fairly good bunkhouse match with Dustin Rhodes earlier in the show, was a last minute replacement for Scott Hall, who blew out his knee, and then favoring it, injured his groin on 12/13 Nitro and will be getting the knee scoped in January. Hall is expected back in action by late February, although he did participate in an angle the next night on Nitro. While WCW didn't acknowledge on Thunder the possibility that Hall wouldn't be there for Starrcade, they at least released it all over the internet that Benoit would still wrestle a ladder match and that Hall wouldn't be there. And at least to their credit, Jarrett put on what was probably a lot better match than Hall would have under the same circumstances. While there is bound to be the natural resentment of Jarrett because he's the one getting the promotional push largely because he came with Russo from the WWF, to his credit, he is working very hard and the guitar gimmick because of the noise and the debris flying everywhere does get over. There was also strong consideration given to Ric Flair being put in the spot since it would have gotten a huge pop, but for their purposes, the choice was better long-term.

13. Bret Hart beat Bill Goldberg to retain the WCW title in 12:10. Goldberg dominated with power moves. Hart did a really good job of carrying Goldberg and making the match dramatic and believable before the flat finish took it down a notch. Way too many ref bumps however. Billy Silverman was the first ref knocked down at 4:00. Charles Robinson was the second ref bumped when Goldberg suplexed Hart, whose legs knocked robinson down. Goldberg missed the spear and hit the turnbuckle pads. Boone came back to ref. Hart used the figure four around the post and in doing the move appeared to crack his head on the floor. The trick to the move is that the guy who is taking the move has to grab the guy giving the move and hold him from crashing on the floor. Goldberg didn't hold onto Hart, who injured his back when he hit the floor hard doing the move. Hart continued to work on the legs before putting on the figure four. Goldberg's forehead was bleeding pretty good by this point from him ramming it on a locker backstage most likely. Good heat. Goldberg turned the figure four but Hart made the ropes. Boone got decked by Hart's back swing on a punch and Goldberg then side kicked Hart and speared him. Roddy Piper came out with his arm in a brace. He deserves a ton of credit for working Thursday and Sunday with a freshly torn bicep even if he wasn't being asked to do much physically on either show. Hart put on the sharpshooter and Piper immediately called for the bell. Piper acted like he was a beaten man, like they threatened to eat his children or something while Hart acted like he didn't know what was going on and the show abruptly went off the air. **¾

Give us your thoughts on the main event?

We had several questions from fans asking if Bret might have been injured during the figure four spot on the ring post instead of by Goldberg’s kick...

Regular Everyday Normal Guy asked...#AskEric what are your thoughts on Bret Hart smoking his skull on the ground during the ring post figure four, knocking himself out, thus ending his career & not the kick by Goldberg?

Similar question from mikey Messier...I've analyzed Brett's injury and does Eric think it's possible that Bret actually injured HIMSELF when he dropped to the ringside floor doing his Figure Four on the ringpost and NOT the infamous Goldberg stiff kick to the head?

(STAN NOTE: Video podcast will show frame by frame IF you want to reference)

Meltzer had this to say about the show:

The final PPV of the century ended with a repeat of the most talked about match ending of the last thousand years.

The Montreal finish complete with the reference by Scott Hudson, announcing his first PPV alongside Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan, that it was Montreal all over again, ended the main event on a flat note and led to generally negative reviews to a show that had some good wrestling and very good crowd heat early.

As expected, Bret Hart was in the role of Shawn Michaels, the "unexpected" winner who "pretended" to be surprised by the match outcome. Bill Goldberg was in the role of Hart, apparently Vince Russo had decided that WCW blew it when they had Hart in that position (an opinion shared by virtually everyone in the world) and is going to show what he would have done had he been the booker at that time, ie. making Goldberg the biggest star in wrestling coming out of this. Roddy Piper was in the role of Earl Hebner. Russo, who never came to ringside for the quick bell ring out of a sharpshooter, I guess becomes Vince McMahon.

For better or for worse, it was the new Russo concept of wrestling PPVs. There were 13 matches and virtually nothing screw-job finishes. As compared with the past several WCW PPV outings, this was a big improvement, largely because the writing was tighter and because the wrestling, at least some of it, was better.

The main event could have been a very good match, except the finish ruined it. Hopefully they'll get mileage at the other end from the finish because it sure didn't work live. The show abruptly went off the air at the finish, just like Montreal. The only problem is, everyone knows about Montreal and it became a huge topic of conversation because it was a shoot. The same finish as a work has been repeated on so many indie shows and WWF shows so many times that people were groaning.

What were your thoughts about the show, overall? Give us the Bischoff rating on a scale of 1 to 10!

Aftermath:

Meltzer said this about the next night on Nitro…

Whatever major curiosity that was supposed to come of a reprise of the Survivor Series finish and abrupt end of Starrcade for the ratings the next day didn't result, as it was the lowest rated day after a PPV rating since Russo took over.

Nitro on 12/20 was more notable for the word "shit" being used in various forms and not bleeped out on three or four occasions during the show. WCW responded in a fashion remarkably like the WWF last week, with a press release stating:

"Monday evening some strong language aired live on WCW Monday Nitro. The reason for this occurrence was a network delay booth operator did not report to work on Monday evening. This absence was not immediately realized due to the fact that the Broadcast Operation Center and the delay booth are located in different areas of the building. Once the personnel shortage was realized, the Broadcast Operation Center took action to staff the delay booth.

The network has taken corrective measures to prevent this type of incident from happening again in the future.

There was no intent by WCW or the network to allow offensive language to air on the program."

Is that a pretty uncommon thing - for someone responsible for censorship not showing up and no one noticing?

In particular, during the first hour of Nitro, during a Kevin Nash supposed shoot interview, complaining about the lack of pensions, medical, dental, and arduous schedule and physical punishment, Nash used the terms "shit" and "bullshit" at about 8:35 p.m. Since the timing of this was on a show meant to be shocking and meant to be the talk of wrestling the next day, there has to be suspicions. When this same interview aired at 1:35 a.m. that evening on the replay show, those words were all edited out.

The reaction to this supposed mistake, which probably really was one if only because it made company co-owner Ted Turner look like such a hypocrite, although Bret Hart managed to say the same word as Nash on the air after the booth was definitely staffed about 30 minutes later in the show, was similar to a WWF's reaction of a different but similar situation a week earlier which surely was an insincere claim of a planned incident as an accident.

Last week Turner responded to a woman's question on Larry King Live regarding the direction wrestling had taken had seen Turner claim the caller wasn't differentiating between the two products and blamed that on Vince McMahon's wrestling. The New York Post actually ran a story the day of Nitro regarding the direction of wrestling and Turner's comments, and the swearing on the show on the very day the story ran completed an amazing coincidental trifecta of Vince Russo's booking plans making Vince McMahon's enemies look like hypocrites.

Or Russo was a plant?

Despite its best laid out show coming after its biggest angle in months, there was little in the way of good news from a ratings standpoint for WCW.

Raw drew a 5.83 rating (5.55 first hour; 6.09 second hour) and an 8.8 share to Nitro's 3.20 rating (3.89 first hour; 2.86 second hour; 2.89 third hour) and a 4.9 share. Over the head-to-head two hours and six minutes it was Raw at 5.83 to Nitro's 2.74 making the total wrestling audience for the night at about 9.9 million. The reason Nitro's head-to-head average is below the rating of both its second and third hours is because the third hour average included a five minute period which went unopposed. If you take the unopposed five minutes, that third hour average drops all the way from 2.89 to 2.70. Monday Night Football (Green Bay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings) drew a 15.12 rating.

How weird is it to read about a 3.2 rating being bad news when today, that would be a good number for RAW?

Questions

Gavin asks...While it's cool to see Madusa win the Cruiserweight belt, it's weird that she never had the WCW Women's title, nor was that belt or the Women's Cruiserweight belt ever significant after she arrived with the fanfare she had. What caused the women's division to flop?

Instagram: A Wrestling Historian asks...1.) Did you and Kevin Sullivan have a Starrcade main event planned before you were sent home?

2) How would you have ended the Goldberg Vs. Hart match?

The Rosencoaster asked...What is your take on Vince Russo’s version of the nWo? Did the concept have potential to evolve under this creative regime? Or did you look at this as a poor attempt to revive a popular brand?

Rob Mendyka asked… why wait to do the NWO reunion on Nitro? Why not do it on the PPV instead of the confusing way it went off the air? It felt like the NWO reunion could have been great way to build anticipation to Nitro the next night.

Dan Borrello asked... @steveaustinBSR always said @Madusa_rocks really worked well with "the boys." Do you think she was the best female wrestler of her era, and perhaps clean-up in this new one, too?

King Buka...Did any of the talent reach out to you during this time period complain about Vince Russo and his booking? 

Adam asked...At this point in the chronological history of WCW, could there have been any hope in saving the company with the right management, talent and financial backing? Or was it too far gone by December 1999?

Rory asked...If you could go back in time and could warn only either Goldberg or Bret Hart what will happen in their match, who would you warn and why?

Nicked asked...Bret v Goldberg should have been a money feud, but for all sorts of reasons, it didn’t work. Out of Bret’s issues with WWE, Goldberg being green, the creative - what was the biggest?

HazardF5 asked...I liked the build to Goldberg v Bret but HATED the match(but it involved the limited Goldberg)/finish. If you came back that weekend, how would you have booked the match and ending? And what was your relationship with Bret like at this point in time heading into 2000

AJ Lanagan asked...Why are the VHS releases of Starrcade mislabeled? Hogan vs Piper says 97 Sting vs Hogan says 98 and Nash vs Goldberg says 99. This is very confusing!

Melly V asked...If Bret Hart hadn't gotten injured, how long would his reign have been? Was the NWO 2000 reformation always the plan?

JRSaenz asked...Were you paying attention to wrestling at all during this time, or was it something you assumed was in the past and were ready to move onto new things?

AuthorDamarioMorris asked...How different is directing a wrestling event from television or movies? Is it a major difference or something that if you can do one, you can do the other?

Jeremy asked...Where do you rank Madusa on your all time women's list?

Daniel asked...Eric, if matches are laid out in the dressing room before, wouldn’t Bret have known that the kick was coming from Goldberg or was that a spot that was called in the ring.

Arturo asked...Where you a fan of the WCW Hardcore title?

Grant asked...How bad of an idea was Heel Sting at Fall Brawl 1999, that they had to completely undo it by Starrcade 1999?

Altuan asked..what made y’all decide to do the MCI Center again for Starrcade? Who idea was it to try and keep the ppvs mostly at the same arenas every year?