Kevin Sullivan wanted things to go a bit differently for Goldberg’s first loss in WCW.
Goldberg’s undefeated streak was one of the best things going for WCW in the late-90s. Goldberg walked into Starrcade 1998 with a win streak and the WCW Championship. He ended up losing that night to Kevin Nash, but the match is still controversial because WCW had Goldberg lose after getting shocked by a cattle prod.
Scott Hall interfered on behalf of Nash, tasing Goldberg with a cattle prod. Nash then hit a Jackknife powerbomb for the win, but the match still leaves a sour taste in fans’ mouths.
WrestleZone recently spoke with Kevin Sullivan, former booker of WCW. Sullivan previously said he helped create Goldberg’s persona, and he’s also touted wanting to turn Hulk Hogan heel before the rise of the nWo.
“I saw what he could bring to the table, but I knew he was limited,” Sullivan said of Goldberg. “I put him in short black boots, no socks, black tights. No ring jacket, ala Mike Tyson.”
A Clean Finish
Sullivan was asked if there were any other characters or angles in WCW that he did want more credit for, that he might not have received before.
Sullivan shared his original pitch to actually end Goldberg’s streak. It didn’t ultimately happen, but he feels like it would have been better received than what did transpire.
“And the day he got beat, I really, really — my finish was, rather than a cattle prod and 12 people running down. I wanted Bill to whip Kevin into the corner, go for his charge, Kevin move out of the way,” Sullivan explained. “Bill [would] hit the post and came back out. Kevin gives him a big boot, gives him the powerbomb, and beats him 1-2-3.”
Sullivan explained the reasoning behind his plans, once again using Mike Tyson’s boxing career to highlight his point.
“Why I wanted that was because he had won clean all the time. I wanted him to lose clean. It’s like when Mike Tyson went over and fought Douglas, nobody thought Douglas had a chance. But Mike got knocked out. It was a clean knockout. It wasn’t a referee’s decision or a split decision by the referee or two judges,” Kevin Sullivan said. “I wanted him to lose clean.”
A Great Trilogy
Sullivan believes Kevin Nash and Goldberg could have had a great series of matches if the first one was done correctly. In hindsight, Sullivan says maybe Goldberg’s character had run its course, pointing to a particular moment he caught during a recent rewatch of the match.
“The funny thing is someone mentioned this to me, and I went back and watched just recently. When Kevin won, half the audience jumped up and cheered. And I was thinking, ‘Well, Bill has run his course. He has to lose sometime.’ But I didn’t want to take any of his believability away from him,” Sullivan said. “Because it was hard for me to see him get cattle prodded.”
Sullivan joked that they couldn’t just consult the “booking manual”, so being right or wrong now is a bit of a moot point.
“They fought the Atlanta Falcons off, the cops,” Sullivan said. “But who’s to say who’s right or wrong? We turn to page 40 in the booking book, and ‘Oh, that’s what we’re supposed to do.’”
Watch our full interview with Kevin Sullivan below:
