10 of WCW's dirtiest scandals.

Scandal #8: The fast count that wasn't.

Sting puts Hollywood Hogan in the Scorpion Deatlock at Starccade 1997.

One of the hottest feuds in pro wrestling history was Sting--during his 'crow' phase--taking on the NWO. He focused on the figurehead of the NWO, Hollywood Hogan, and for many months WCW teased a confrontation between the two.

That bout finally took place at Starrcade 1997, where Hogan would put the WCW--or perhaps I should say, NWO--World Heavyweight Championship on the line. Sting and Hogan faced each other in what turned out to be a fairly straightforward wrestling match, until something went wrong.

Hogan hit Sting with his trademark move and went for the pinfall. According to WCW, referee Nick Patrick--who had been shown to have NWO loyalties -- was supposed to make a 'lightning fast' three count. However, when Patrick counted Sting's shoulders to the mat, he went at normal speed. The result was Hogan cleanly pinned the hero Sting on national live television. The announce team would assert the count was 'lightning fast' even though fans could clearly see it was not. Patrick was replaced by interim referee Bret Hart who declared Sting the winner after Hogan tapped out to the Scorpion Deathlock.

There are a lot of theories as to what happened. Some say that Hogan refused to job cleanly to Sting, and the 'fast three count' was a way of protecting his character. Others believe that Hogan and Patrick came up with the ruse on their own, without WCW management knowledge. And still others say--and this is the prevailing theory these days--that Nick Patrick simply made a mistake and forgot to count quickly.