The NWO and Sting saga was can't miss TV. It was also unique. The idea that a group of wrestlers were somehow challenging WCW on their own program for control of it in a coup was revolutionary. Then Eric Bischoff reveals he is in the NWO and the storyline picks up steam really shocking viewers with Hogan's heel turn at Bash at the Beach in the summer of '96. This continues for a year and a half in dramatic fashion playing out weekly on Nitro and in other PPVs.

Meanwhile WCW's beloved franchise wrestler, Sting, hasn't been in an officially sanctioned match instead teasing the audience with his dramatic appearances in the rafters and taking on an almost invincible, supernatural type of persona (very different from his prior schtick).

So after a year and a half of building the tension between Sting and Hogan/NWO, it all culminates with the Main Event at Starrcade '97: Sting vs. Hogan. Now we all know that referee Nick Patrick royally fucked this up. He was supposed to give a fast 3 count in favor of Hogan but instead counted to 3 at a normal pace and it appeared that Hogan had unthinkably beaten Sting fair and square. Bret Hart comes out, insists the 3 count was fast and restarts the match. Sting wins. This was a really unsatisfying conclusion. Sting illegitimately beat Hogan. Even when the rest of the WcW wrestlers swarmed the ring to celebrate their liberation it wasn't the ending we deserved as viewers.

In any event, it wasn't an immediate sharp decline in quality I suppose but more the beginning of the end. The storyline got stale, the NWO fractured into the Wolfpack and regular NWO and it lost its appeal. WCW desperately wanted Goldberg to be a huge megastar but his push was really mishandled. Every week he would spear and jackhammer someone and look invincible but he never really crafted a compelling schtick. So you have him undefeated after like 200 matches and annihilating top guys. It wasn't believable and it creates a situation where he almost can't lose lest his star power be destroyed. Incidentally, the cruiserweight division continued putting on incredible matches every week. WCW never realized the potential these guys had and didn't roll them into the main storylines enough. They tried later with Rey Mysterio's "Giant Killer" shtick but I think it was too late at that point. Then they unmasked him and Juventud, which I think was not only a mistake but down right disrespectful.

As this was playing out on WCW simultaneously the WWF attitude era was really taking off as another historically significant and in many ways superior era of professional wrestling.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3767805&forum_id=11#34480704)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3767805&forum_id=11#34483323)

LOL you don't say

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3767805&forum_id=11#34483437)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=3767805&forum_id=11#34659039)