History
As WCW headed into July of 2000, they were beginning to shuffle older faces off their programming in favor of newer ones. Diamond Dallas Page had declared that he was leaving and did so. Ric Flair had lost a retirement match to Vince Russo and his son David and had vanished. Lex Luger, after being struck in the face with a Lex Flexer by the Perfect Event, had retrieved Elizabeth and they were gone.
As all of this was beginning to happen, another storm was brewing as well. At the Great American Bash, Hollywood Hogan was facing Billy Kidman in a match that would earn Hogan a title shot at the Bash at the Beach if he won and retirement if he lost. Hogan, with the help of nephew Horace, won the match.
The next night, the Cat spent a great deal of the night looking for Hogan. When Hogan finally arrived, the Cat told him he had a title shot that night. As the Cat walked away, Jeff Jarrett blasted Hogan from behind with a guitar shot.
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before Jarrett defended the World title against Hogan, with special guest referee Billy Kidman. Kidman turned on Jarrett and wound up eating a spear from Goldberg that was meant for Hogan. Hogan got speared and jackhammered anyway before GI Bro (the briefly-renamed Booker T) could make the save.
Hogan was then absent from television. On the following Nitro, it was announced that his injuries prevented him from appearing.
Jarrett came out on the following Thunder and talked about Hogan. He talked about how Hogan had been stretchered out the last time they’d fought. Jarrett then promised to find the fattest women he could so they could sing for Hogan after Jarrett beat him at the Bash.
Jarrett came out again on the following Thunder and reiterated his promise to bring out the fattest women he could find to sing for Hogan after his defeat at the Bash. Horace came out to attack but was held back by security. That gave the Cat a brainstorm and he booked Horace vs. Jarrett for the belt.
Jarrett won the match after hitting the Stroke onto a chair. Afterward, Jarrett put a Hulkamania shirt on Horace and started doing Hogan poses. Horace got up and started choking Jarrett with the shirt. Jarrett kicked Horace and nailed him with his guitar.
On Monday, Jarrett came out and introduced three fat women dressed as Valkyries. They rehearsed singing “Goodbye†as an executive hit the ring to break things up (and object to Jarrett’s fat jokes). Jarrett responded to his microphone being cut off by blasting the exec with his guitar.
Thunder opened with Jarrett threatening to retire Hogan that night while arguing with the Cat. He then headed out to the ring and repeated that he would be retiring Hogan. The Cat came out and booked a tag match with Booker T and Buff Bagwell taking on Positively Kanyon and Shane Douglas with the man scoring the pinfall getting a match against Jarrett later in the night.
That brought us to the Bash at the Beach. All night, the announcers and the Cat had wondered where Hogan was, and if he would even show up at all. Finally Hogan showed up – just before the match was scheduled to begin.
The match had an odd feel to it from the get-go as Jarrett refused to enter the ring. He also had an uncharacteristically disgusted look on his face. Finally Vince Russo came out and Jarrett climbed into the ring, and then lay down as Hogan stared. No one knew what was going on as Russo kept prompting Hogan to pin Jarrett, even going so far as to throw the belt into the ring to encourage him to do so. Hogan finally grabbed a microphone and told Russo that things like this were what was killing the company, and then put a boot on Jarrett for the three count. Jarrett rolled out of the ring and didn’t look back.
After a Vampiro vignette and a Goldberg interview, Russo came back out, microphone in hand. He said:
â€ÂThere’s only one way for me to do this, and that’s for me to tell it like it is. You know, 3 weeks ago, I left WCW. 3 weeks ago, I left WCW and quite frankly, I didn’t know if I was gonna come back. And the reason I didn’t know I was gonna come back or not… is because from day one that I’ve been in WCW, I’ve done nothing, nothing, but deal with the bullsh*t of the politics behind that curtain. The fact of the matter is, I’ve got a wife, I’ve got 3 kids at home, and I really don’t need this sh*t. But let me tell you the reason why I did come back. I came back for every one of the guys in that locker room that, week in, week out, bust their *ss for WCW. I came back for the Booker Ts! I came back for every single guy in MIA. I came back for the Animals, I came back for Jarrett, I came back for the guys behind that curtain that give a sh*t about this company! And let me tell you who doesn’t give a sh*t about this company. That g*dd*mn politician Hulk Hogan! Because, let me tell you people what happened out here in this ring tonight. All day long, I’m playing politics with Hulk Hogan because Hulk Hogan tonight wants to play his creative control card. And to Hulk Hogan, that meant that tonight, in the middle of this ring, when he knew it was bullsh*t, he beats Jeff Jarrett! Well, guess what? Hogan got his wish. Hogan got his belt and he went the h*ll home. And I promise everybody, or else I’ll go in the g*dd*mn grave, you will never see that piece of sh*t again! But I also, I sat out there in the people just like you. And I know you paid good money to come here tonight and nobody is gonna be ripped off here tonight. So Hulk Hogan now has the WCW belt. And Hulk, let’s refer to that as the Hulk Hogan Memorial belt, because from here on in that belt don’t mean sh*t! Because there will be a new WCW belt… and as far as I’m concerned, that belt still belongs to the one guy that busts his *ss week in and week out in the middle of this ring. And you people can love him and hate him, but he doesn’t screw anybody back there, and that’s Jeff Jarrett! Now hold on a minute. Jeff Jarrett is still the official WCW champion, BUT he will defend that title in this ring tonight. And he will defend that title against the son of a b*tch back there who, for 14 years has been bustin’ his *ss in WCW and can’t get a g*dd*mn break because of the Hulk Hogans! And I’m talkin’ about Booker T! Booker T and Jeff Jarrett are the two reasons why I’m in this d*mn, stinkin’ business to begin with. So tonight, in this ring, for the WCW title, two deserving guys… Jarrett and Booker… will compete for the WCW, and they’ll tear this g*dd*mn house down! And Hogan, you big bald son of a b*tch, kiss my *ss!”
Later in the night, Booker T won the title from Jeff Jarrett, providing WCW with one of the strongest babyfaces they had had in some time.
Hogan was understandably furious and filed a lawsuit for character defamation against WCW that lasted longer than the company. It was eventually thrown out of court. Still, Russo did keep his promise. Hogan never appeared on WCW programming again.
This angle had its ups and downs. The Great American Bash had marked another attempt for WCW to shuffle some of the older stars off-screen after the failure of the New Blood/Millionaire’s Club feud.
Years later, Vince Russo addressed the issue on his website. He claimed that the entire event had been set up beforehand, but his interview had pushed a little too far. Hogan had also been promised a call the next day that was never made. Hogan, likely with the memory of Bret Hart in Montreal in his mind, filed the lawsuit. In reality, WCW simply had no further plans for Hogan and couldn’t afford to pay him anyway, so he wasn’t used.
In the end, Hogan left TV and was replaced by Booker T. The next night, WCW took another step in the right direction by having Booker (who was loved by the fans) and his wife reunite with Stevie Ray, then segued into an angle where Booker was being hunted by all of the other title contenders like Scott Steiner, Goldberg, and Jarrett.
Overall, when WCW got something right, they got something right. They needed a new top face after the attempt to turn Goldberg heel at the Great American Bash, and they got it in Booker T.
Jeff Jarrett remained with WCW until it was purchased by the WWF. Jarrett then went to Australia and worked with World Wrestling All-Stars until it closed. Afterward, he and his father Jerry Jarrett formed Total Nonstop Action, where he remains today.
After WCW folded, Hulk Hogan was next seen in a match against Curt Hennig for Jimmy Hart’s XWF. Shortly after that, he returned to the WWF to reform the New World Order with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. Things didn’t work out as planned, as the crowd turned him face at Wrestlemania that year during a match with the Rock. In 2003 Hogan left the WWE again as he had grown frustrated with dealing with the booking team (who had turned him into a masked character named Mr. America). Hogan has continued to appear on and off with the WWE ever since. He also has his own reality show on VH1 named Hogan Knows Best. Hogan’s most recent match was in Memphis, where he took on (and defeated) Paul Wight, the former Big Show.
