PART 7
nWo History – Part 7
Dennis Rodman makes his impressive wrestling debut. Rodman’s athleticism no surprise, but his ring presence and psychology surprisingly strong.
Expectations were low for Dennis Rodman leading into Bash at the Beach. Although he is a great athlete, his main skill is rebounding. He’s tall and lanky, unlike the NFL players WCW has featured in recent months. Yet Rodman, the biggest of all mainstream names WCW has brought in, was thrust into a main event as a partner of Hulk Hogan. Rodman, like Lawrence Taylor over a year earlier, contributed greatly to an entertaining main event match. The next test of whether the risk was worthwhile for WCW compares the unpublicized price they paid for his appearance to the increase generated from the buyrate.
Intangible, yet valuable, publicity came after the pay-per-view when ESPN, CNN/SI, other sports TV shows, newspapers, and talk radio shows featured coverage of Rodman’s WCW appearance. The publicity helped cement WCW as the most visible, well-known promotion in the mainstream. The rating for Nitro the next day drew a strong, yet relatively disappointing 3.5. The first hour’s rating may have been lower because it went head-to-head with CNN’s broadcast of the O.J. Simpson interview.
Michael Buffer did not exaggerate when he announced the ring entrance of Hogan and Rodman, calling them two of the most recognizable faces in the world. He did exaggerate when he said Rodman for a decade has dominated sports in many venues. Rodman showed up wearing black jeans, a black NWO t-shirt, sunglasses, and an NWO bandana around his head. Ironically, he looked conservative compared to his look during NBA games. Randy Savage joined Hogan & Rodman at ringside.
The match began with Hogan vs. Lex Luger. After Luger elbow locked Hogan, Hogan grew frustrated and threw his bandana at Luger. The first few minutes continued to progress slowly, with a highlight of the first five minutes being a mid-ring collision between Hogan and Luger. Luger moved out from under a Hogan elbow and then bodyslammed him. Hogan oversold his back and went over to hug Rodman. At 6:32 Rodman tagged in. He looked to the crowd for reaction, then stepped in against Luger. Rodman managed to stall and avoid touching Luger until 8:15 when he popped the crowd by giving Luger an armdrag takedown. Luger backed into the corner in shock and Hogan and Savage ran into the ring to congratulate Rodman. Rodman checked to make sure his sunglasses weren’t smeared.
Luger circled Rodman, a bit embarrassed by what happened. At 9:00 Luger gave Rodman two armdrags. Hogan ran into the ring only to also get armdragged to the mat twice in a row. Fans popped as Hogan, Rodman, and Savage consoled each other at ringside. Rodman circled the ring, holding his back. Rodman returned to the ring at 10:30 and locked up with Luger. Luger applied a headlock, but Rodman shoved him into the ropes, leapfrogged Luger, and then shoulder blocked him to the mat. Bobby Heenan on commentary said, “That’s no rookie we’re looking at there.” Rodman wiped sweat from his face as Schiavone called his early efforts “flashes of brilliance.” At 11:10, Luger again headlocked Rodman, who whipped Luger into the ropes. Rodman leapfrogged Luger twice, but on the third rebound by Luger, he dropped Rodman with a clothesline. Rodman took a good bump to the mat and convincingly sold the impact of the move. He tagged out to Hogan.
Hogan yelled at Luger. Luger threatened to tag in the Giant, but Hogan shook his head no, showing apprehension at facing the Giant. Hogan got in some offense on the Giant, but when Giant made a comeback at 13:30, Hogan bailed out to ringside again, continuing to do an effective job at getting more heel heat with the crowd. Fans chanted, “Hogan sucks, Hogan sucks.” After returning to the ring, Giant atomic dropped Hogan to the mat. Hogan cried in pain and hopped to his corner. Rodman offered to tag in, and Hogan accepted the offer.
Rodman signaled “eye to eye,” as if to say, “I’m your height.” Rodman circled Giant, then drove a knee into his mid-section during a lock-up. He again leapfrogged Giant once, but on the second attempt, Giant caught him and applied a bearhug. Giant then reverse atomic dropped Rodman to the mat. Giant grabbed Rodman by the belt and began spanking him. The crowd laughed in response. When Giant lifted Rodman in the air with a choke, Hogan kicked Giant from behind. Hogan tagged in and choked the Giant. Rodman lifted his boot and Hogan rammed Giant into his boot. Hogan tagged in Rodman at 16:30. They executed a double clothesline on Giant. The announcers continued to rave about Rodman, saying his appearance isn’t one-time only and he wasn’t there just to be a distraction.
At 17:30 when Hogan was unable to hiptoss the Giant alone, Rodman entered the ring. Rodman kneed Giant and with Hogan, they both hiptossed Giant. Hogan and Rodman both covered the Giant, but Giant kicked out. At 18:00 Giant hot-tagged Luger, but as Luger bounced off the ropes, Rodman kicked him from behind. When Hogan got a two count on Luger, Rodman complained to the ref that the count should have been faster. Rodman tagged in again at 20:00. Rodman threw some Nash-style elbows in the corner on Luger. Rodman then stuck his boot against Luger’s throat in the corner, a la Nash. As Hogan and Rodman celebrated together, Luger tagged in Giant. Rodman turned around and wasn’t fazed. Giant dropped Rodman with a headbutt and a boot to the face. He then rammed Rodman and Hogan’s heads together.
“Sting” then walked to the ring. Meanwhile, Rodman headbutted the referee twice. Giant grabbed Rodman with a choke. Sting entered the ring with a baseball bat and bashed Giant from behind. This impostor Sting was actually Kevin Nash with a Sting mask. The announcers sold it like it was the real Sting. Heenan said, “Has he been NWO all the time?” Luger ducked and Hogan accidentally hit Rodman. Luger then racked a shocked Hogan. Ref Nick Patrik ran to the ring and called for the bell when Hogan submitted. Luger then racked Rodman and Savage. Finally the heels escaped. As they returned arm in arm to the dressing room, Hogan claimed the illegal man beat him, so they weren’t losers.
