Fingerpoke of Doom The Fingerpoke of Doom is the common nickname for a pivotal storyline in American professional wrestling history that happened on January 4 , 1999 on " WCW Monday Nitro " , the flagship show of World Championship Wrestling . The show took place at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta . Setup . In the storyline , champion Kevin Nash was scheduled to face Goldberg in a rematch for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship . Goldberg was undefeated until Nash beat him for the title , and this was going to be their anticipated rematch . However , Goldberg was arrested mid - show and accused of " aggravated stalking " by Miss Elizabeth ( he was originally going to be accused of rape , but Goldberg refused to go along with that particular storyline ) . He was released when Elizabeth couldn ' t keep her story straight . Meanwhile , Hollywood Hulk Hogan returned to WCW after a hiatus and challenged Nash to a match , which Nash accepted . Match . The match started with the two men circling each other . Hogan then poked Nash in the chest , and Nash quickly fell to the mat on his back . Hogan then covered for a pin , and was declared the new WCW World Heavyweight Champion . After this occurred , Scott Hall ( who accompanied Nash ) and Scott Steiner ( who accompanied Hogan ) entered the ring and celebrated with Nash and Hogan to reunite the nWo . After their actions , Goldberg ran out and attempted to clear the ring , only to be jumped by Lex Luger ( who turn ed heel ) . Goldberg was then handcuffed to the ring ropes and tasered by Hall before having ' nWo 4 life ' spraypainted on his back . The show ended with Hogan and Nash spraypainting ' nWo ' on the title belt . The Mankind Giveaway . On the same night , the arch - rival WWF aired a taped match directly opposite " Nitro " on " RAW " in which Mick Foley ( as Mankind ) won the WWF Championship from The Rock . Eric Bischoff ordered WCW announcer Tony Schiavone to give away the result of the match before it aired , in which Schiavone sarcastically added " That ' ll put some butts in seats ! " Bischoff ’ s decision was in retaliation , as Vince McMahon had Jim Ross give away the Nitro result on a Raw live voiceover ( word about the scheduled finish had leaked out over the Internet ) . Within minutes , Nielsen ratings showed that several hundred thousand viewers switched channels from " Nitro " on TNT to " RAW " on the USA Network , then switched back for the last five minutes of " Nitro " after Mankind won the title , suggesting that had WCW not given away the " RAW " main event results they would have been the ratings victor on that night . The final ratings for the night were 5 . 7 for " RAW " , and 5 . 0 for " Nitro " . Impact . After this episode , WCW ' s TV ratings steadily went down , only reaching a 5 . 0 rating or higher twice ( it drew a 5 . 7 on February 8 , 1999 because of a Westminster Dog Show - induced " RAW " pre - emption ) . In retrospect , many observers inside and outside the pro wrestling business noted that this storyline turned off numerous fans for several reasons : Legacy . While the Fingerpoke of Doom was far from the only factor in the downfall of WCW , the circumstances surrounding that event and that night may well have been the most pivotal factor of all .