Hollywood Hogan's Fingerpoke Of Doom Had Some Terrible Consequences For WCW

One of the most notorious events in wrestling history occurred on January 4, 1999, at Atlanta's Georgia Dome during the live TNT broadcast of WCW's flagship show "Monday Nitro" when a tap of an index finger — later known as the "Fingerpoke of Doom" — created a domino effect that some mark as the start of WCW's downfall.

The incident took place during the main event bout for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship, contested among rival factions of the New World Order (nWo) — champion Kevin Nash, who had gained the belt from Goldberg a week earlier, led the Wolfpac, while "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan led nWo Hollywood. The match, however, didn't last very long. It began when Nash pushed Hogan and Hogan threatened to punch Nash. Instead, he poked Nash in the chest, and Nash went into a melodramatic plummet to the mat, where Hogan pinned him. The two celebrated Hogan's championship and were joined by Scott Hall and Scott Steiner in a bouncy group hug.

While this was happening, the rival World Wrestling Federation broadcast a pre-recorded episode of "Raw is War" on the USA Network opposite "Nitro" on TNT, a program that featured Mick Foley (as Mankind) defeating The Rock for the WWF Championship. WCW announcer Tony Schiavone — who later said he was acting on the instructions of Eric Bischoff — informed viewers that "Mick Foley, who wrestled here one time as Cactus Jack, is going to win their world title. Ha! That's gonna put some butts in the seats, eh?"

More than half a million viewers switched channels to watch Foley's victory, then turned back for the closing five minutes of "Nitro" after Mankind won the title, and "Raw" soundly defeated "Nitro" in the ratings that night. Hogan would later recall the night with little fondness, calling the bout "the beginning of the demise" of WCW, but Nash doesn't see it the same way.

"I love how the story of my life is how I beat Goldberg to turn around and take the 'Fingerpoke of Doom' a week later," Nash told WWE.com in 2013. "When you look at how people perceive the whole thing, it's ridiculous. The number one problem people have with the 'Fingerpoke of Doom' is it 'got' everybody. And nobody likes to be 'got.'"

Foley, who learned about it after the fact, looked back on the incident with unhappiness.

"I think too much of the credit goes to me individually when a lot of the credit should go to WCW for putting on a really bad show that night," he said in the same 2013 interview.

Wrestling historian R.D. Reynolds would later write that the stunt left too many viewers with a sour taste — by the end of 1999, "Nitro" ratings fell below 3.0.

"The nWo was dead," Reynolds wrote. "Fans no longer wanted to see Hogan, Nash and the rest run roughshod over the WCW. They had seen enough. And they knew WCW sucked. After all, the WCW told them that themselves."