Consider the idea that within an eighteen month span, WCW had two championship matches involving Hulk Hogan where someone literally laid down in the middle of the ring and allowed someone else to win the World Heavyweight Championship. The second time that most unfortunate of finishes was booked for Bash At The Beach 2000, Vince Russo cut a promo that should've actually resulted in the company closing up shop at that moment, because Russo literally revealed everything about the backstage interworkings of the promotion. Hogan was booked to lose versus Jeff Jarrett in a World Heavyweight Championship match at Bash at the Beach in 2000, a decision that Hogan over-rode by invoking his the "creative control" clause in his contract regarding all Hogan-related booking decisions (mainly because Hogan had no direction for his character after losing). Jarrett "laid down" for Hogan and lost, then afterwards, he "shot" on Russo saying "That's why this company is in the damn shape it's in; because of bulls**t like this." Russo then publicly fired Hogan as he re-booked the main event to be Jarrett and Booker T, with Booker T claiming his first heavyweight championship win. In retrospect, the whole scene is bizarre, surreal and needs to be seen to be believed.
Besides having been an independent professional wrestling manager for a decade, Marcus Dowling is a Washington, DC-based writer who has contributed to a plethora of online and print magazines and newspapers writing about music and popular culture over the past 15 years.
