10 Secret Times Wrestling TV Mirrored Real Life
4. Hulk Hogan Calls Bullsh*t
The angle was stupid, the thinking behind the angle was even stupider, and Hulk Hogan Vs Vince Russo on its best day wasn't going to pull WCW back from the brink as a pay-per-view main event.
But.
But but but.
Things didn't need to get as serious as they ended up at Bash At The Beach 2000.
Detailed recently by Jeff Jarrett on his new long-form podcast, the day was fraught and overrun with bad ideas, but the worst was Russo's when he returned to the ring after orchestrating a worked shoot between Jarrett and Hogan to play into some very real life frustrations he was having with 'The Hulkster'. It's old ground, but the short version - Jarrett lays down, Hogan "pins" him, lips off Russo for the nonsense, leaves, and the real title match takes place later with 'Double J' and Booker T. Not ideal, but something Russo deemed was genuinely better than nothing. Until he doubled down with a blazing promo at Hulk's expense that called him worse than sh*t and seemingly didn't leave any room for any kind of follow-through.
Russo going into business for himself long after Hogan had left the building took an already-wonky programme and buried it in legal paperwork that had less than nothing to do with pro wrestling. The work shouldn't have made it on air, let alone the shoot.