Highlights

• WCW succeeded with new star Goldberg in 1998, but failed to capitalize on meeting sports icon Mark McGwire.
• The company's lack of creativity led to missed opportunities and showed the decline of WCW during the time.
• The meeting between Goldberg and McGwire was a lost chance for WCW to create a significant crossover moment.

1998 was a huge year for professional wrestling. After 83 weeks of ratings dominance, WCW began to slip as WWE's Attitude Era went into full effect. The Monday Night Wars showed how far Vince McMahon would go to win, and it sadly showed what mistakes WCW would make to lose. Many cracks started to form during WCW in 1998, but they had a major win with the emergence of Goldberg, a new star who was something fresh every Monday on Nitro as the nWo saga grew old. 1998 was also a huge year for sports, where in baseball Mark McGwire broke MLB's single-season home run record. During the season, McGwire, a big wrestling fan, looked to meet Goldberg. He was able to do so but WCW did nothing with it, letting another big chance for publicity get away.

• In 1998, WCW worked with NBA greats Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone
• On July 6, 1998, Goldberg beat "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan for the WCW Championship
• Mark McGwire broke Major League Baseball's single season home run record in 1998
• Mark McGwire and Goldberg met before a St. Louis Cardinals game

1998 Was The Year Of Goldberg In WCW

Goldberg's Undefeated Streak Was The Talk Of Wrestling

In 1997, WCW ruled wrestling thanks to the nWo vs Sting storyline, arguably the biggest and best in history. Going into 1998, however, cracks were starting to appear in their dominance. WCW butchered the ending to Hulk Hogan vs Sting at Starrcade, and meanwhile, in WWE, the era of Austin 3:16 was taking over. As the nWo started to grow stale, the company found a rare new star in Goldberg. He may have looked like Austin, but his gimmick was completely different. His undefeated streak was the company's top story, and he was so over with the fans that, by July, he won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Hogan on Nitro (giving this away on free TV was another sign of a weakening company).

The summer of 1998 was the summer of Goldberg, as the streak went on and on. Though WCW had issues, their new champion was a temporary salve, but even that had its problems. Once Goldberg won the title, the aura started to fade just a little. He'd done it all, so what was next? Goldberg may have been WCW's biggest star, but they often didn't treat him like it, as the nWo drama often stayed Nitro's focal point.

Mark McGwire's Home Run Chase Captivated Baseball Fans In 1998

Mark McGwire And Sammy Sosa Went Back And Forth For The Record

The summer of 1998 was also the summer of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, as the St. Louis Cardinal and Chicago Cub chased after Roger Maris' single season home run record. The two sluggers brought baseball back from the brink after a disastrous strike in 1994. Every night, McGwire and Sosa went back and forth knocking baseballs out of the park, with McGwire usually slightly ahead.

As big as Goldberg was, Mark McGwire was even more popular, and to WCW's benefit, it turned out he was a wrestling fan. One day, he even reached out to WCW, wanting to meet Goldberg. This could have been a huge moment for WCW. The company had struck gold several times throughout the late 90s when it came to mainstream crossovers by having NBA greats Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone in matches, as well as The Tonight Show host Jay Leno. So what would they do with McGwire? Nothing.

Goldberg And Mark McGwire Met In 1998

WCW Began Making Many Mistakes In 1998 And 1999

In August 1998, ahead of St. Louis Cardinals game, Golberg and McGwire met at batting practice. Mark rubbed his baseball bat on Goldberg's chest for luck and the two spoke for a few minutes as news cameras watched, but WCW did nothing with it other than to quickly show the clip of them meeting on Nitro, and to put them together on the next WCW Magazine. Now, while McGwire was a little busy and wasn't going to be coming in to wrestle matches, WCW's lack of imagination showed how their creative ideas were slipping.

In the book, The Death of WCW by Bryan Alvarez and R.D. Reynolds, one quote from the great Bobby "the Brain" Heenan, who was working commentary for the company, summed up the company's issues. Heenan said:

”I remember one time Goldberg met Mark McGwire, who was on the verge of breaking the home run record and was in the news literally every day. McGwire was a huge mark for wrestling. He and Goldberg met up before a game, did some batting practice. Had this happened in the WWF, they’d have filmed everything, probably had Goldberg and McGwire going to Louisville to pick out bats. But we never showed anything. We weren’t allowed to make mention of it, because it wasn’t WCW’s idea.” (h/t comealy17.wordpress.com)

The fact that WCW didn't treat Goldberg meeting Mark McGwire like a big deal to be covered as much as possible showed how out of touch the creative team was. While they stayed hung up on the past, they let the present get away from them. This incident was a microcosm of the whole, an issue that would only continue to grow, beginning with Goldberg's streak ending later in the year to Kevin Nash at Starrcade. Goldberg and WCW never recovered.