What happened in the Hulk Hogan vs. Sting match at Starrcade 1997?

The main event of the 1997 Starrcade pay-per-view saw "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan collide with Sting in a highly-anticipated match. The bout was dubbed by many as "The Match of the Century."

After a year-long buildup, the two biggest WCW Superstars of all time were ready to face each other in a classic Good vs. Evil battle. This contest was touted to be the defining moment of the rivalry between WCW and NWO.

So, what went wrong that night?

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The main event between Sting and Hulk Hogan ended in controversy

Behind the scenes, things weren't too well between all the characters involved. Hulk Hogan, who was often accused of not putting others over, seemed uncertain about the finish of the match.

Sting vs. Hulk Hogan had been in the works for the last eighteen months, but the winner was, surprisingly, not decided.

Eric Bischoff left it upon the two competitors to come up with the result of the match. After multiple negotiations, it was decided that Hogan would win the title as a result of a fast count. This development would lead to the dramatic intervention of Bret Hart, who would restart the bout, helping Sting to become world champion.

But what transpired in the main event was enough to trigger the downfall of WCW.

After an underwhelming thirteen-minute-long contest, Hogan laid out his opponent with a Leg Drop to pick up a clean victory. "Clean victory" is the keyword here, as things weren't supposed to happen that way.

Nick Patrick, the referee, made the count at the usual pace and handed the victory to The Hulkster.

This controversial loss diminished the aura surrounding The Stinger. To make matters worse, Bret Hart went ahead with the plan of restarting the match, even though it had ended without any shenanigans. Hulk Hogan had defeated Sting clean, with the audience having no doubts about it.

Over the years, wrestling fans and critics have come up with various theories about why Patrick didn't make the fast count that night.

Although Sting left the MCI Center as the WCW world champion, he could not easily recover from the damage done in the main event. Despite being the promotion's highest-grossing event, Starrcade 1997 is always remembered as the pay-per-view where the collapse of WCW began.