Hulk Hogan has spoken about the infamous Finger Poke of Doom, blaming Vince Russo‘s hatred of “older” wrestlers for the horrible angle taking place.
The event came a week after Kevin Nash ended Goldberg‘s undefeated streak at Starrcade 1998 and won the WCW Championship, as part of the NWO Wolfpac.
The following week, Nash would drop the title to Hulk Hogan, in one of the most controversial matches of all time.
Nash and Hogan feigned fighting each other, Hogan early on Hogan pushed the champion in the chest with one finger.
Nash then leapt to the ground, allowing The Hulkster to pin him and win the WCW Championship, reforming the New World Order.
Hulk Hogan has rarely spoken about the issue before, but he broke his silence in an interview on Unaired Voices.
In it, Hogan blamed Vince Russo for the angle. He claimed Russo wanted to get rid of anybody who was 40 years old or over from the company, despite some of their biggest stars being up there in age.
He also blames stars like Scott Hall refusing to wrestle on the Finger Poke of Doom, despite that not making a lot of sense.
Speaking with Unaired Voices, Hulk Hogan said about the Finger Poke of Doom;
“That whole thing was just a spin-off, vile, just negative toxic waste from Russo. At the time, Russo wanted to get rid of everyone who was 40 years old. He didn’t want anybody in the company who was 40; he wanted to go with the young bloods.
You just can’t get rid of the stars. You can’t get rid of guys who are in your prime – wrestling doesn’t care how old you are. They love being entertained and they love their stars.
So, that was kind of like – the whole thing went bad. ‘Guys were showing up and going [imitating Scott Hall] “Hey yo, buzzkill! I don’t want to wrestle. I didn’t bring my gear.” Huh? You didn’t bring your wrestling gear?
I remember Scott Hall telling me he didn’t bring his wrestling gear. [Imitating Hall again] “I’d rather talk than wrestle. Hogan, you’re a buzzkill.” That was the whole attitude.’
Hogan continued, ‘It was all the above, you know? Eric [Bischoff] was on. Then Eric was off. Eric was in the wrestling mode, and then he was in Scott Hall and Kevin Nash mode. I was in wrestling mode; then, I was influenced by people.
It happened so fast. We really didn’t know enough about the business back then to take care of it.
I think, looking back at it, hindsight being 20/20, I think I’d be in a place now where I could handle that success so quickly. None of us were really ready for it and the [Fingerpoke of Doom], and stuff like that was the beginning of the demise of WCW.”
He also later blamed Vince Russo for his part in his, claiming he hated wrestling and didn’t even want to write for wrestlers.
However, you must always take anything Hogan says with a pinch of salt. He is known to bend, stretch and obliterate the truth in order to make himself look better.
