1. Hulk Hogan Sues Vince Russo For Defamation Of Character
Most pro wrestling fans know all about the notorious events of Bash At The Beach 2000, a WCW pay-per-view that was the last time Hulk Hogan was seen on WCW television. Essentially, and without getting too bogged down in the whole shoot-versus-worked-shoot thing, WCW creative director Vince Russo wanted Booker T as the new champion, but Hulk Hogan wanted Jeff Jarrett to drop the title to him: and Hogans contract gave him the last word on the subject. In order to maximise the publicity out of the angle it was agreed that Jarrett would go out and simply lie down for Hogan to pin him. Hogan would react with a weary disgust, do so and then stalk out with the title belt. He would then leave the building as the WCW champion. So far, so good except Russo reappeared in the ring later on, cut a scathing promo on Hogan insisting that the crowd would never see him in WCW again, and set a new title match Jarrett vs Booker T for the main event, which Booker would end up winning. Hogans story is that Russo would run a tournament for the title with a new belt, crowning a new champion at Halloween Havoc only for him to return to WCW, holding the original title belt and insisting that he was the real champion. Hogan says that the abusive promo Russo cut after hed left the arena wasnt part of the deal, and as a consequence he never returned to WCW as planned. He would later sue Russo for defamation of character and breach of contract in real life, not as a part of the storyline. Yes, we know its hard to keep those straight sometimes. Russo tells it a little differently, claiming that the entire thing was a work, including his promo and the restarted title match later on WCW fans were meant to think that Hogan was gone from the company, and then Hogan was supposed to return and face Booker T in the new champion versus old champion angle. He says that Hogans paranoia got the better of him after hed actually seen the rest of the event, and that his failure to call Hogan on time, as hed agreed he would, allowed the paranoia to fester. Whichever the case, a Georgia court ruled partly in favour of Hogan in determining that hed not been handed creative control as agreed in his contract but also handed down a judgment that Russos promo was delivered "in a fictional context by his fictional character about the fictional character Hulk Hogan. As such, there is no evidence that Russo intended to make a false factual allegation regarding Mr. Bollea." Essentially, WCW, Hogan and Russo had been running lame worked shoot angles for so long, and were so confused by that point over what constituted a shoot and a work, that it took a judge to make it clear to them in an actual court ruling. Now thats ridiculous.
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