9. He Said/She Said: Bash At The Beach 2000
If the idea of reading about a few old men arguing like children about the events of fifteen years ago doesnt appeal, please feel free to skip to the next entry in this article. God knows no one would blame you. Back on 21st September 2015, John Layfield interviewed Eric Bischoff for his Legends show on the WWE Network. In part 2 of the interview, he was asked about the infamous WCW Bash At The Beach in July 2000, and the controversy stemming from Hulk Hogans last ever appearance for the company. If youre not familiar with the story, heres the briefest of recaps: Hogan had creative control written into his contract, and he and Bischoff disagreed with Russo over the title match. It was agreed that the current champion, Jeff Jarrett, would throw the match and lie down for Hogan to pin him, and that Hogan would then leave in disgust with the title. WCW would declare a new world heavyweight champion, and Hogan would then return at a later date, the true champion, to demand his spot back, leading to a champion versus champion feud. All of this took place as agreed and thats the last thing that Bischoff and Russo ever agreed on. According to Bischoff, the worked shoot was
his idea, and he and Hogan left congratulating themselves on pulling off their part in the angle, and got onto Hogans plane intending to head home. When they landed and turned on their cell phones, they had a dozen or so missed calls telling them that Russo had cut an unplanned and blistering shoot promo on Hogan after theyd left. For Russos part, hes claimed in a shoot on YouTube in 2013 and a subsequent to-camera rant on YouTube on 6th September 2015 that the worked shoot was
his idea, and that Hogan and Bischoff were fully aware of the promo hed cut, as it was essential to the story to set up a new main event that night for the title between Jarrett and Booker T. Russo swears he was adamant that the only thing he cared about that night was making sure that Booker T walked out with the title, not Hulk Hogan. This week, JBL got word that Russo had buried his interview with Bischoff, and responded in a formal written statement online claiming that he stood by the interview and would be happy to interview Russo but was too busy helping disadvantaged youth to set it up. On New Years Day, Russo responded in a 20 minute rant to an acquaintance that was once again - you guessed it - posted to YouTube, shouting about how he didnt appreciate being called a liar but hadnt actually watched the interview with Bischoff, just a brief clip on RAW. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBhCQifmCVI Fair warning: its twenty minutes long, and he shouts and interrupts
a lot while saying very little. He also says bro far too often for a man in his fifties. Firstly, the boys are all talking at cross purposes: Russos September 2015 rant was a fortnight
before JBLs interview with Bischoff, and related to comments Bischoff made in a WWE interview for a show on the Monday Night War. Russos not slagging your interview off, John. You can relax and enjoy your charity work. Vince, Layfield isnt interested in interviewing you on the Network and Bischoff isnt going to come on your ridiculous YouTube show. No one except your little friends online gives a good handful of crap about you anymore. Now, Ive read
the judgement following appeal on Hogans lawsuit against WCW after Bash At The Beach, and Hogan lost the defamation leg of the case, but won the breach of contract argument. Anyone want to know why Hogan lost the defamation argument? It was dismissed because Vince Russo and Eric Bischoff had been running worked shoots on WCW programming for so long that not only could the judge not tell the difference between a shoot and a work, but
Hogan and his lawyers couldn't explain the difference to him either.
That might just be the most ridiculous thing Ive ever heard in quarter of a century of being a wrestling fan.