While appearing at a live Q&A session during River City Wrestling Con, Kevin Nash revisited one of the most infamous moments in wrestling history—the “Fingerpoke of Doom.”
At the time, Nash was reigning WCW World Heavyweight Champion, having famously ended Bill Goldberg’s undefeated streak. Just days later, on the January 4, 1999 episode of WCW Monday Nitro, Nash laid down for Hollywood Hulk Hogan after a simple finger poke—instantly transferring the championship and sparking backlash that has followed the angle for decades.
Reflecting on the creative process behind the decision, Nash explained that the idea came together poorly from the outset. “I think it was one of those situations where you get a bunch of guys in a room and they come up with an idea that’s kind of really bad. And because what they want to do is they want to have a six to eight minute match, and THEN I’ll take the fall. Because everybody knows in real life that if you were going to let somebody slide over you, you’d let them punch you in the face for a good eight minutes before you do that.”
Nash went on to describe how he attempted to make the moment at least feel logical within the framework of professional wrestling. “So I said, ‘if we’re going to do this, why would I let him punch me? Why would I go out there and just let him punch me in the face?’ I said, ‘you’ll get a better response if he touches me and I go down.’”
Despite the lasting criticism, Nash maintained that the execution itself succeeded in one major respect—completely fooling the live audience. “And to this day, they say the Fingerpoke of Doom—if you watch the crowd—it’s the only reason it’s such a brutal thing in wrestling. There wasn’t a soul in that building that called it. We got them all. We got every one of them. And that was their problem.”
Nash also addressed long-standing narratives that he personally booked the controversial angle, offering his own pointed take on the situation. “And then my favorite thing is that I booked it. I booked me beating Goldberg, and then six days later, I booked me to do the Fingerpoke of Doom.
Instead of being the champion that beat Goldberg, which was a babyface and got to sell merchandise for nine months- which one would you guys rather do? Sell merchandise as the hottest guy in the territory, or turn around the next week and give it to somebody else that has creative control, and he’s the only one that does.”
Decades later, the Fingerpoke of Doom remains one of WCW’s most debated creative decisions—often cited as a turning point in the company’s decline. Nash’s comments offer additional insight into how the angle came together and why, in his view, the backlash still misses key context from inside the locker room.
