Monday Morning QB: Goldberg's World Title Reign

In July 1998 one of the biggest moments in WCW history happened at the Georgia Dome when Goldberg challenged Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Title. This moment would in some cases be one of the final major moments in the history of the company, but could it have changed things if Goldberg had been booked better after winning the title. The one thing that sticks out about Goldberg's title reign was the fact that he never was really treated like the World Champion. Following his victory Goldberg never really felt like he was on the same level of Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan, Sting, The Outsiders, Lex Luger, and others which is a shame. The company really missed out on having Goldberg go head to head with the established stars. But in hindsight that's what this series is for as I show how I would've changed the booking of his reign on top. 

To start I wouldn't change much about his first defense against Curt Hennig as they had been feuding prior to his title win. The one thing about the match I would change is the length the match goes due to the belief I would have that Curt could carry Goldberg for at least 10-12 minutes in a competitive match. In my opinion this shows that Goldberg would now be facing a higher level of talent then he had before his title victory. I would also start holding Goldberg off some episodes of Nitro similar to how the company had been booking Hulk Hogan as a way to make Goldberg's appearances on free television more special. 

The focus of my attention would be on Road Wild & Fall Brawl 1998 which highlights how poor Goldberg's title reign was booked. At Road Wild he was booked in a battle royal which included every NWO member & then he wasn't even booked on the Fall Brawl PPV. Looking at the Fall Brawl event I ponder the reason the World Champion wasn't featured on the show even though the main event was a number one contender match. In my opinion Hulk Hogan should've gotten a rematch against Goldberg at Road Wild with Kevin Nash getting involved causing a DQ. Which would've elevated Goldberg having him included with Hogan & Nash as well as elevating the NWO vs NWO storyline due to Hogan actually being included unlike he was in real life. 

Then moving forward to Fall Brawl instead of having the match they did I would put a triple threat match between Kevin Nash, Hulk Hogan, and Goldberg for the WCW World Title. As far as the number one contender I would've taken Stevie Ray out of the match and instead had a Six Pack Challenge for the #1 contender honors. Moving forward I'd either go with Lex Luger or Diamond Dallas Page to fight Goldberg as both men could help Bill to a good match in my opinion. As a way to help Goldberg's credibility as a main eventer I would have him against Luger in sort of a passing of the torch match which would have Goldberg take Luger's spot in the main event. I would save Goldberg vs Page, because I think that could have a longer story arch then rushing a match between the two for Halloween Havoc like they did.

Overall though booking things the way I did would put more emphasis on the NWO vs NWO storyline which Hogan should've been a part of from the start. His involvement in that story could've been the way to send him down the card a little out of the main event allowing Goldberg to hold the spot for a few months to see if he could sell as the face of the company. Leading the company Goldberg could start with Kevin & Hogan, then move to Luger, Hart, Sting, Flair, the possibilities were there, but WCW didn't explore them. The other door that was opened by how I would've booked was the seeds were planted for Kevin & Goldberg to revisit a feud at a later date which could've been Starrcade.

I think I would've went with Kevin Nash vs Hulk Hogan at the event in sort of a blow-off to their Wolfpac vs Black n White feud, but Nash vs Goldberg could've worked too. However, if Nash vs Hogan was the match then there is no doubt that Ric Flair would've been my selection to challenge Goldberg at Starrcade. The reason being this was the biggest event of WCW's year and should've been the culmination of Goldberg's main event ascension as his match vs Flair would've been his longest match yet going 20-22 minutes and other than Bret Hart I don't think anyone could've helped Goldberg to that long of a match and made it look good. Unfortunately thinking about these possibilities tells the entire story of what could've happened had the WCW not just had tunnel vision to mediocrity of the time.