WWE Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan has become infamous for using backstage politics to get his own way. This became a bigger issue during his time in WCW, where he was given a certain amount of creative control in his contract.
One attempt to use that power led to a now-infamous match between The Hulkster and current AEW star Sting at the 1997 edition of Starrcade.
At that time, Hulk Hogan was not only the WCW World Heavyweight Champion but also the leader of the NWO. Sting had taken it upon himself to wage a war against the legendary faction. Taking on The Crow gimmick, he began watching shows from the rafters and then began attacking members of the faction most weeks on Nitro throughout the year.
This culminated in him finally getting his shot at Hogan and the WCW Title that December. The match, however, fell far short of expectations due in no small part to it’s chaotic ending.
The bout was to saw Hogan hit his signature Leg Drop and pin Sting, with NWO-aligned referee Nick Patrick counting the pinfall as normal and awarding him the match. However, Bret Hart then appeared and claimed Patrick had performed a fast-count, so ordered the bout to be restarted with him as the referee. Sting then locked Hogan in the Scorpion Deathlock for the submission victory.
Hart restarting the match made little sense to fans as Patrick had clearly counted the pin cleanly. Many have since claimed that he was supposed to perform a fast-count, but colluded with Hogan to make Sting look weak.
Hulk Hogan explains why he didn’t want Sting to beat him
During the latest episode of ‘A&E Biography: WWE Legends’, though, Hogan gave his verison of events, claiming that he had no idea Hart would be involved.
“I don’t remember Bret Hart being involved. I don’t remember another referee coming down. I don’t remember anything like that ever being talked about.”
He went on to admit that he had a problem with Sting winning, explaining that WCW President Eric Bischoff “wasn’t sure” where things would go after Hogan lost.
“I had a problem with it because if you’re gonna beat me when I’ve got this type of momentum, this is about making money.
“If you beat somebody, you beat them in a way that they’re better off after they’re beat than they were before, and Eric really wasn’t sure where we were going with this thing.”
Bischoff then explained that Hogan “wasn’t feeling it”, leading to the involvement of Hart and the confusing ending.
“Despite the fact that Hulk Hogan did have creative control, and he never exercised it, he never threatened to use it, he had never implied that he might, it was like, ‘Yeah, it’s there, but it’s not,’ except for that night. And because Hulk wasn’t feeling it, he called an audible and it was a mad scramble.”
H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the above transcription.