Insane Insights Dark Side Of The Ring: Bash At The Beach 2000
Dark Side of the Ring has had some depressing and sad content that occurred. Some episodes are tamer and one of those episodes covered The Bash at the Beach 2000 fiasco in WCW. It didn’t focus on drug addiction and death, as many of the others have. At least not the death of a person, as this was one of the many nails in WCW's coffin. It was one of the biggest disgraces of that company's history and another example of wrestling politics blowing up publicly
10. Dave Meltzer's View On Vince Russo's Impact On The Wrestling Business
One talking head who covered this whole fiasco was Dave Meltzer. The producers of the show asked a very intriguing first question to him. "Has Vince Russo done more harm or good for professional wrestling?". The look on Dave's face was so funny because he had to think about it. His answer was "Harm. Yeah, long term…harm.”. While Russo has done great things in pro wrestling, a majority of what he did was more harmful and was a huge contributor to why WCW Fell.
9. Vince Russo's Idea of Crash TV
A key idea Vince Russo introduced in Pro Wrestling is Crash TV. This is the idea that the viewer was too intrigued with the show and not allowed to see what was happening elsewhere. The goal was to keep the viewer tuned in, rather than see what was happening on WCW Nitro. It threw away the old wrestling idea Vince was going on and it worked. WWF was back on top in the Attitude Era in the late 90's.
The problem with Crash TV, and this wasn't mentioned in the documentary, is that it doesn't help the product long term. The audience doesn't get tuned in long term with the product through Crash TV. WWE heavily relied on Crash TV for way too long and the product over time got worse. Crash TV is still utilized today, but not to the level it was.
8. Why Russo Went to WCW?
Vince Russo had a big role as the lead writer at the time, which made his departure big news. WWF was extremely popular, and it resulted in a second show beginning, called SmackDown. Russo was getting more work and less time with his family. When he brought that up to Vince McMahon, The CEO responded "You make enough money to hire a nanny to look after them". What an absolute ethical man to work for. That comment angered Russo, and he left WWF to join WCW. It was a big deal in the community, and it led to WCW on Nitro announcing his addition to the team.
A big fact not mentioned in the documentary was that Russo's departure also led to Ed Ferrara leaving. Ferrara was a key writer and agent for WWF in the 90's. He was one of Vince Russo's right-hand men in creative, and Ferrara left at the same time Russo did. Both were seen as big additions to a desperate WCW at the time.
This was huge for WCW as both were seen as the replacement for Eric Bischoff who was out of power when they came in. It's too bad that WCW thought it was a brilliant idea to bring him back to the company and oversee Russo. Spoiler Alert!! It went wrong.
7. Vince Russo Wanted To Do An Illegitimate Son Story With Lance Storm
Vince Russo is known for the absolute nonsense stories he approved and came up with. Some of Russo's ideas were the Judy Bagwell on a pole match, turning Goldberg heel, making himself WCW champion, etc.
One of the dumbest ideas involved pro wrestler Lance Storm. He was interviewed in his documentary and revealed while negotiating his contract that he much preferred Bischoff than Russo. There is no love lost between Storm and Russo as both have hated each other for years.
When Storm officially signed with the company, Russo started pitching ideas to use him on TV. One of those ideas was to have Lance Storm be Bischoff's illegitimate son. What is it with the professional wrestling business when it comes to booking an illegitimate son angle?
Here is the weird part of this potential angle. Eric Bischoff is 10 years younger than Lance Storm. How is WCW going to overcome that? Eric Bischoff didn't understand that angle at all and said, "Russo had no creative instinct or talent". This idea was abandoned, and Storm was just inserted into the Cruiserweight division.
6. The Original End Goal Was To Have Booker T As WCW Champion
When it came to Bash at the Beach 2000, the original plan was to have Booker T finally win the WCW championship. Russo asked in the creative meeting "If you could make anyone WCW champion who would it be?". Everyone in that meeting answered Booker T.
Jarrett was the big heel champion, and he was in his "The Chosen One" gimmick. The plan was to have Jarrett beat WCW Legends and then have him drop the title to Booker T. Jarrett was all in on this and the main event was penciled in.
There is just one problem, Hulk Hogan didn't like it. A month previously, he beat Billy Kidman to get a title match at Bash at the Beach. Russo had the idea to have Jarrett beat Hogan first then drop the title to Booker. That didn't work for Hulk Hogan and he used his creative control clause in his contract to change the whole plan last minute.
5. Hulk Hogan Never Trusted Vince Russo
One of the biggest issues with WCW was that Hulk Hogan had complete creative control. Especially in the way he finished his matches. This meant that if he didn’t want to lose, he wasn’t going to lose. He used that card so many times throughout his time in WCW and it made booking difficult. Hogan was no longer the draw he once was, but not in his egotistical mind, he viewed himself as the main star.
Hogan didn’t trust Russo at all as soon as he walked into the company. Bischoff and Hogan got close, and Bischoff was more of a yes-man than Russo was going to be. It caused so much conflict between Russo and Bischoff. Bischoff tries to paint himself as the good guy in this documentary but he's not. It was Bischoff’s job to oversee Russo, while Russo was in charge of writing the shows and he did a poor job with that.
4. Jeff Jarrett Lost Respect For Hogan After This Match
Bash at The Beach 2000 started, and it was a complete mess behind the scenes. Jeff Jarrett was so lost because he didn't know what to do and had second thoughts. He didn't want any part of this and stayed in the back longer than he was supposed to. Jarrett even thought about forcing Hogan to punch him. Russo told Jarrett before he went out to immediately go on your back and get pinned by Hogan.
Jarrett did not want to do this and legit contemplated his options. He eventually went out there, but only to just get it over with. Jarrett laid down and Hogan pinned him. Russo tossed the belt to Hogan and Jarrett immediately walked to the back embarrassed. After this incident, Jarrett never looked at Hogan the same ever again. That's a common thing almost everyone says after a match gets messed up thanks to Hogan. Even The Undertaker said that, when Hogan lied (what else is new) about getting his neck injured after taking the tombstone piledriver.
3. Vince Russo Doesn't Come Off Great In This Episode
Throughout this documentary Vince Russo speaks about this and the more he talks the more he comes across worse. When the episode began Russo states
“I despise the wrestling business, bro. I despise the people in it! You can't be a good person and exist in the wrestling business. You can't..."
At the end of this episode, he backtracks say that he doesn’t hate anybody involved because it was just a job to him. He's full of it and he constantly contradicts himself so many times it is insanity.
During the Bash at the Beach PPV, Russo did not handle himself well. He decided to go off the script, return to the ring, and cut a vicious promo on Hulk Hogan. Hogan at that point left the arena with Eric Bischoff.
Russo called Hulk a "big, bald son of a b****”, and told fans they'd “never see that piece of s*** again”. This would eventually cause a tremendous legal issue with himself and the company.
Hogan and Bischoff found out later, and Hulk was furious. What makes no sense, is that Eric and Hulk thought everything went well. Especially earlier in the night when Jarrett broke from the script lying down and not talking to Russo. Do these people ever think or are their egos that tremendous?
2. Eric Bischoff Doesn't Come Across Great Either
Eric Bischoff always comes off like a complete malcontent every time he speaks. In this documentary, it's no surprise that Bischoff doesn't come across as great either. Bischoff 1,000% of the time just kisses Hulk Hogan's behind. He even did a classic Bischoff-type move, by trying to throw Dave Meltzer under the bus for presenting facts and even called him a scumbag. Eric, just because the facts presented don't paint you well doesn't mean Meltzer is a scumbag. Meltzer has lost some credibility in his reporting over the past few years, but at that time Meltzer was a key reporter.
Eric Bischoff was re-hired in the first place to oversee Russo. He did a terrible job doing that, and it didn't help that he failed to even try and work with Russo. He kisses Hulk Hogan behind so many times that it is insanity. It's funny that on his podcast he always claims that Hulk Hogan never used creative control. Yet, on this show, he says multiple times that what Russo wanted wasn't happening because Hogan had creative control. Sounds like Mr. Bischoff went to the Hulk Hogan school of lying when he goes on his podcast.
Bischoff's version of what happened at Bash at the Beach 2000 does not make any sense. Especially when he said that Hogan would leave with the belt and reappear after a new championship tournament was done. This would not lead up to the final goal of getting Booker T as the champion which was the conclusion from Day 1. The conclusion from this tournament would have had Hogan on top, which wasn't the plan as it was always going to be Booker T that wins the title.
Here is another question that nobody is asking. If everything Bischoff is saying is true and what Vince Russo did was a shoot, then why didn’t Brad Siegel fire Russo? Brad Seigel at the time was the president of Turner Entertainment Network. Russo was against Seigl's word as he authorized Bischoff's script. Why was he not fired or suspended for going against it? WCW was dysfunctional at this time, but they're not this incompetent. Again, don't buy into Bischoff's nonsense.
1. Hogan Sued WCW
In the aftermath of the event, Hulk Hogan decides to take legal action. He sued Russo and WCW for both breach of contract and defamation.
The judge getting the case was just laughing and it involved a wrestling show and a guy cutting a promo on the show. That judge threw out the case and Hulk got another judge to look at it.
It was in the next round of the case that Hogan's lawyer sent a fax to WCW offices that he was using creative control to WCW. Russo said he had no idea of this. WCW offices were closed, so nobody knew a fax was sent. Eric Bischoff says that doesn't hold up and calls it ridiculous. He says, "Why would there be an after-hours fax excuse". Here's the problem. The whole fax story was made up as Dave Meltzer never heard of this story and can't trust either side as they are dishonest.
The courts rule in favor of Russo as fictional characters can't be defamed. Jarrett claims that Hulk Hogan wanted to settle with Time Warner as they weren't going to renew his contract
Even Dave Meltzer said that Hogan might have been looking for a payday as there was nothing left for Hogan in WCW. Eric then claims that Dave Meltzer is a liar and a useful idiot. What's funny is that Hulk probably viewed Bischoff as a useful idiot throughout his time in WCW.
As for the lawsuit, Hulk Hogan eventually settled. The amount was not revealed but Bischoff knows it was well in the seven figures.
My Thoughts On The Documentary
The question is who to believe in this situation? Well, the problem is nobody involved can be trusted. Vince Russo doesn't come off that great in this episode or in other stories that have been told about the man. Hulk Hogan is an absolute piece of slime and a pathological liar. Eric Bischoff always comes off like a complete malcontent, and he always kisses Hulk Hogan's behind. I don't trust anyone in this situation at all.
We're never going to know the real story of what truly happened at Bash at the Beach 2000. If I had no choice but to believe a side in this case, I'd probably go with believing Vince Russo. However, I don't believe them or feel bad for the three.
The only person to feel bad for in this situation is Jeff Jarrett who got caught in a nasty situation. While he is a little hypocritical, as he did the same thing in the early days of TNA. He's the only one in this documentary who comes across as the most believed person in this situation. Dave Meltzer comes across great in this episode too with his knowledge covering this.
This event was one of the final nails in WCW's coffin. It wasn't the main thing that killed it as WCW was a dysfunctional mess, but Bash at the Beach 2000 was a tremendous black eye. This was a great documentary that did a great job breaking down one of the biggest disgraces in the dying days of WCW.