Legendary referee Nick Patrick looks back on one of the most controversial pro wrestling finishes in history.
Patrick spoke with Chris Van Vilet about the ending to the WCW Starrcade 1997 pay-per-view, which saw Hulk Hogan battling Sting in the main event for the WCW world championship. The ending saw Patrick, who was supposed to do a fast count on Sting, make a slow count instead making it appear as if Hogan legitimately won. The count would be changed and Sting would ultimately end up victorious but fans were very confused.
How the botched match finish is still talked about until this day:
That’s the most talked about [topic]. Man, that was 20, some 25 years ago, and they’re still talking about it. You know, there’s people, anytime that people want to know about that. Man, that was, as crazy as that was and is as odd and as horrible as it felt while I was doing it because, if you’ve heard the story, then you know what I’m talking about. I’ll tell you the story if you want to hear it. Okay, well, here’s the story. I showed up before the biggest pay-per-view and gross in wrestling history, money wise. And I knew I had to main event. And soon as I get to the building, which was really odd, because I get along good with Eric now. But back then it wasn’t like we didn’t get along. It’s just he was a boss; I was a little referee. And, man, I had a lot of things going on in my life. And you know, egos and all that stuff. And he had to cater to a bunch of egos. And I don’t have time for all that crap. People are people, man.
Recalls the conversation he had with Bischoff about the finish when he arrived to the venue:
But anyway, I show up to the building and you know, him and I hardly ever had a conversation. I’d say hello, we shake hands, and that was it. Well, he come up and met me soon as I got there. I still have my bag on my shoulder, hadn’t made it to the locker room yet. And he says, here’s what we’re doing today, and he gave me a straight finish. And I said, that’s, okay, that’s, you know, kind of plain, I figured that they’ll dress it up during the day. And so, so okay, you know, and he told me to just do a straight 123 count, you know, not a fast count. And that was when Hogan covers Sting. So anyway, I’m there and an hour or so goes by, you know, you’re there all day long. And, and back then Hogan went over his stuff, he had his own locker room. And nobody went in there except, you know, except from who he was working with and who he invited in there. A security guy would go and somebody would take him in there. You know, I was one of those guys, you know. And that was cool because I was good enough. I knew what, you know, just tell me what you want me to do before we walk out the screen through the curtain and I’m good to go. You know, and they knew that. But anyway, Eric told me how he wanted it to go.
Says Hogan and Sting later told him two different things about the finish prior to it happening:
So, I’m like, okay, so Hulk comes up to me first. A couple hours in, you know, while we’re there, he knows Hey, Nick I’m not about that count, man. Nice and slow man. 123. Okay, that’s normal. I can’t do it slow. That’d be ridiculous as what we’re doing, there’s heat in that. But also, so about an hour or so later than that, Sting comes up to me and says, Hey, did you know about that count? Rapid Fire baby. Okay, so now I got one guy that’s the franchise, Hulk Hogan, the other guy that’s the other franchise Sting Yeah, both telling me the same finish. But the complete opposite. Whether you count faster, whether you count slow completely changes the complexion of the finish, you know.
Check out the full interview below.
(Special thanks to Chris Van Vilet for sending us quotes)