It's a match that has caused shock, celebration, and controversy.
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By July 6, 1998, WCW found itself in an interesting position. After taking the lead in the Monday night wrestling wars for pretty much two years, the then-WWF had countered and was really starting to put pressure on the Atlanta-based promotion.
So on this date, WCW made the biggest match it could possibly make for Monday Nitro: the undefeated Goldberg vs. Hollywood Hogan for WCW's World Heavyweight Championship.
In front of over 40,000 clearly-biased fans — Goldberg being a former Georgia Bulldog and Atlanta Falcon — in the Georgia Dome, the football player did what many didn't think could happen at the time: amid fans jubilantly throwing trash into the ring, Goldberg hit the spear, Jackhammer, and then got the pin to take the title from Hogan.
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WCW won the ratings battle against WWF that night, and the reaction of the fans is one of the lasting shots from the WCW-era of wrestling. However, the match has been the topic of controversy for years, all because of one thing: why wouldn't WCW wait to bill the bout as a "Match of the Century", and make all of the money possible on a pay-per-view events.
The decision to air it on free television over a paid event is often an indictment on WCW's management at the time, but regardless of that decision, we the fans got one of the best moments ever out of the deal, and for that, we thank the ol' Ted Turner 'rasslin company.
