Tony Schiavone on WCW Starrcade 1997 Being the Beginning of the End for the Brand

– During the latest edition of his What Happened When podcast, former WCW broadcaster Tony Schiavone weighed in on the infamous finish to Hollywood Hogan vs. Sting at WCW Starrcade 1997, calling it “the beginning of the end of WCW.” Schiavone stated the following (via WrestlingInc.com):

“[Starrcade 1997 was] the beginning of the end of WCW. It wasn’t a fast count, Anybody who saw it knew it wasn’t. They made me say it was a fast count and I knew it wasn’t. We just, we just f***** all of ourselves and try to lie our way through it and people saw through it. Sting should’ve won clean or there should’ve been a fast count… and it was just brutal.”

The WCW Starrcade 1997 main event match ultimately saw Bret Hart interfere and have the match restarted. Sting then put Hogan into the Scorpion Deathlock to earn the submission victory. After another rematch between Hogan and Sting on Nitro, the title was vacated and Sting and Hulk Hogan had another rematch at SuperBrawl 8, which Sting won to win the title again.