The Fingerpoke of Doom is the common nickname for a pivotal storyline in American professional wrestling history that happened on January 4, 1999 on WCW Monday Nitro, the flagship show of World Championship Wrestling. The show took place at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta. A nickname is a short, clever, cute, derogatory, or otherwise substitute name for a person or things real name (for example, Tom is short for Thomas). ... In professional wrestling, an angle is a fictional storyline (the wrestler Kurt Angles name is a coincidence). ... Professional wrestling show at the World Wrestling Entertainments Tribute to the Troops. Shown here is WWEs Chris Masters. ... January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... WCW Monday Nitro logo, 1999-2001. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... World Championship Wrestling or WCW, was a professional wrestling promotion that was based in Atlanta and existed from 1986 to 2001. ... The Georgia Dome is a domed stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia. ... Nickname: The Horizon City, A B, The Big Peach, A-Town, The ATL Official website: http://www. ...

The Setup

In the storyline, champion Kevin Nash was scheduled to face Goldberg for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. However, Goldberg was arrested mid-show and accused of "aggravated stalking" by Elizabeth (he was originally going to be accused of rape, but Goldberg refused). He was released when Elizabeth couldn't keep her story straight. Meanwhile, Hollywood Hogan returned to WCW after a hiatus and challenged Nash to a match, which Nash accepted. Kevin Scott Nash (born July 9, 1959 in Detroit, Michigan) is a professional wrestler who has performed for World Wrestling Entertainment, World Championship Wrestling and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. ... William Scott (Bill) Goldberg (born December 27, 1966 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is a Jewish American professional wrestler and retired American football player. ... WCW World Heavyweight Championship (1994-2001) The WCW World Heavyweight Championship was the primary championship in the World Championship Wrestling professional wrestling organization. ... In mathematics, stalk usually refers to the idea of the stalk of a sheaf. ... Miss Elizabeth on the cover of the May 1988 issue of WWF Magazine. ... Terrence Gene Bollea (born August 11, 1953 in Augusta, Georgia), graduated from Camelback High School in Phoenix, Arizona, best known professionally as Hulk Hogan (and occasionally Hollywood Hulk Hogan), is an American professional wrestler and actor. ...

The Match

The match started with the two men circling each other. Hogan then poked Nash in the chest, and Nash quickly fell to the mat on his back. Hogan then covered for a pin, and was declared the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion. After this occurred, Scott Hall (who accompanied Nash) and Scott Steiner (who accompanied Hogan) entered the ring and celebrated with Nash and Hogan to reform the nWo. After their actions, Goldberg ran out, only to be jumped by Lex Luger (who turned heel) and then was beaten down by the nWo as the show ended. Christopher Daniels covers Jerrelle Clark with a lateral press while hooking the leg for a three count during an episode of TNA iMPACT! A pinfall, also known just as a fall, is a victory condition in professional wrestling that is met by holding an opponents shoulder blades to the... This article is about the professional wrestler. ... Scott Rechsteiner (born July 29, 1962 in Bay City, Michigan), better known as Scott Steiner is an American professional wrestler who previously worked for World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment on the RAW brand. ... The nWo (New World Order) was both a professional wrestling storyline and the stable of wrestlers who were its central players. ... Lawrence Wendell (Larry) Pfohl (born June 2, 1958 in Buffalo, New York, now resides in Atlanta, Georgia), better known as Lex Luger, is an American professional wrestler and former professional football player. ... In professional wrestling, a turn occurs most frequently when a wrestler develops a new gimmick (persona) and changes, frequently from face to heel or sometimes vice versa. ... In professional wrestling, a heel is a villain character who is portrayed as behaving in an immoral manner; sometimes they are humourously referred to as evil. ...

The Impact

After this episode, WCW's TV ratings steadily went down, only reaching a 5.0 rating or higher twice (it drew a 5.7 on February 8, 1999 because RAW didn't air that night). In retrospect, many observers inside and outside the pro wrestling business noted that this storyline turned off numerous fans for several reasons: When TV viewers or entertainment professionals in the United States mention ratings they are generally referring to Nielsen Ratings, a system developed by the New York City-based firm Nielsen Media Research to determine which shows television viewers watch at what times. ... February 8 is the 39th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... WWE RAW is the Monday night professional wrestling show for World Wrestling Entertainment. ...

• It devalued the WCW World Heavyweight Title by having Nash simply lie down and give it to Hogan with no effort.
• The nWo by that time was very stale. Reforming it made many fans tired.
• nWo Wolfpac became the "elite" group, yet WCW continued to allow nWo Hollywood (which was dubbed the "B-Team") to exist despite the lack of fan support.
• By this time, WCW had developed a reputation for consistently putting heels over faces, no matter the circumstances. This incident reinforced that perception in the minds of many fans.
• Many internet fans or smarks saw this as a vulgar display of backstage power since it was well known that Kevin Nash was the booker in WCW and Hulk Hogan had a creative control clause in his contract.
• This was also the night that the arch-rival WWF would air a pre-taped match directly opposite Nitro on RAW in which Mick Foley (as Mankind) would win the WWF Championship. On orders from Eric Bischoff, WCW announcer Tony Schiavone gave away the result of the match before it aired, sarcastically adding "That'll put a lot of butts in the seats." Within minutes, Nielsen ratings showed that several hundred thousand viewers switched channels from Nitro on TNT to RAW on the USA Network, many of whom wished to see a guaranteed title change. After Mankind won the title, fans then switched back to Nitro, which still had 5 minutes of air time left, suggesting that WCW had a show that the fans wanted to see and had WCW not given away the RAW main event results, WCW could have emerged the victor on that night. The final ratings for the night were 5.7 for RAW, and 5.0 for Nitro. Incidentally, during the year following the incident, WWF fans would bring signs to the shows, saying "Mick Foley put my ass in this seat."

The nWo (New World Order) was both a professional wrestling storyline and the stable of wrestlers who were its central players. ... In professional wrestling, a face is a character who is portrayed as being moral or approving (that is, faces are good guys or crowd favorites). The vast majority of wrestling storylines (though not all) place a heel (or bad guy) against a face. ... A smark is abbreviated professional wrestling slang. ... A booker, as the term is used in professional wrestling, is a person who puts matches together and determines basics about their content, such as relative overall length, who the eventual victor will be, and many of the moves which will be made during the match; in other words, the... World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. ... Michael Francis Mick Foley, Sr. ... John Cenas customized version of the WWE Championship, April 2005-present. ... Eric Aaron Bischoff (born May 27, 1957 in Detroit, Michigan) is a professional wrestling promoter and personality, who served as president of World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and later as an on-screen General Manager for World Wrestling Entertainment. ... Noah Schiavone, better known as Tony Schiavone (born November 7, 1964 in Atlanta, Georgia) is a professional wrestling announcer and sports talk show host. ... Turner Network Television, usually referred to as TNT, is a cable TV network created by media mogul Ted Turner and launched with a showing of his favorite film, Gone with the Wind, on October 3, 1988. ... The USA Network is a popular cable TV network based in the United States with about 89 million household subscribers as of 2005. ...

Legacy

While the Fingerpoke of Doom was far from the only factor in the downfall of WCW, the circumstances surrounding that event and that night may well have been the most pivotal factor of all.