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Wrestling Recap: Hogan & Rodman vs. Luger & Giant (Bash at the Beach ’97)

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The Date: 13 July 1997
The Venue: Ocean Center; Daytona Beach, Florida
The Commentary: “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes, Mike Tenay, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, and Tony Schiavone
The Referee: Randy Anderson
The Stakes: Tag team match between heated rivals

The Build-Up:
On 4 September 1995, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) changed the wrestling industry with the debut of WCW Monday Nitro, which featured the unexpected WCW debut of Lex Luger and kicked off the “Monday Night Wars” by airing at the same time as the World Wrestling Federation’s (WWF) Raw is War. For eighty-four weeks, WCW dominated this ratings war thanks to signing wrestling’s biggest names to lucrative contracts, including Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, who regularly gatecrashed WCW programming to declare war on the organisation. At Bash at the Beach 1996, these “Outsiders” were joined by the legendary Hulk Hogan in a turn that legitimately shocked the wrestling world and reinvigorated Hogan’s career. Rechristened “Hollywood” Hogan, the former hero led the New World Order (nWo) as the WCW World Heavyweight Champion, leading to an alliance of WCW faithful to stand against the group. With Sting on a hiatus in preparation for dethroning Hogan, former nWo member the Giant and the aforementioned Lex Luger led the charge against the nWo, only for Hogan to bring in controversial basketball star “The Worm” Dennis Rodman for this tag team match. Rodman, who had long been a fan of professional wrestling, jumped at the chance to rub shoulders with Hogan and exacerbated the issues between him and Luger the previous month at Uncensored by costing Luger a triangle tag team match and joining Hogan in attacking and humiliating his opponent.

The Match:
This unlikely tag team contest occurred about one year after the nWo first dramatically formed and pretty much solidified that the group were the coolest baddies around since they were rubbing shoulders with the likes of Dennis Rodman. Amazingly, WCW Champion “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan and Rodman were accompanied to the ring by the “Macho Man” Randy Savage, a far more suitable pick for Hogan’s partner, though (as related by the commentary team) the purpose seemed to be to use Rodman to humble Hogan’s opponents and put WCW on the map using his celebrity status. Hogan and Luger started the match, with Luger getting the better of his opponent with some wrist and hammerlocks, so Hogan retaliated by baiting in and taunting his foe. After a bit of stalling, the two locked up and Luger muscled Hogan into the corner, though Hogan eventually answered back with a shoulder block, so Luger fired up and hit one of his own. Aghast, Hogan stalled on the ring apron, argued with the referee, posed, and pranced around the ring to drag out the action before luring Luger in with a test of strength and beating and choking him in the corners. Though downed by a slam, Luger dodged the Atomic Leg Drop and hit a big slam of his own, forcing Hogan to tag in Rodman. Rodman took a page out of Hogan’s book and pranced around, backing away from Luger’s challenge and sticking close to his corner, much to the annoyance of the crowd. When the two finally locked up, Rodman took Luger down with an arm drag, which caused everyone to lose their minds, so Luger retaliated by hitting Rodman and Hogan with multiple arm drags. Stunned, Rodman and Hogan retreated outside to reconvene with Savage before Rodman staggered back into the ring, leapfrogged over Luger, and hit a shoulder block.

After much stalling and messing about, Luger scored the victory in this dull match.

Although Rodman impressed with two more leapfrogs, he got blasted by a Luger clothesline. When Hogan tagged in, Luger answered the crowd’s calls and brought in the Giant. Hogan gained the early advantage with some clubbing blows, choking and chopping the Giant in the corner, but retreating when the Giant shrugged off Hogan’s clothesline and threatened to Chokeslam him. When Hogan returned to the ring, he eventually got planted with an atomic drop and Rodman returned to the fray. Despite his fearless arrogance, Rodman got caught in a bearhug and hit with an atomic drop, but Hogan attacked when the Giant lifted Rodman with a chokehold. The nWo continued to make a joke of the Giant with double team moves and cheap shots and, when the Giant refused to drop after a big boot or be hip tossed, Hogan brought in Rodman but the Giant easily powered out of the cover even with both dogpiling him. Luger tagged in and went on a tear before being shut down by Rodman and dropped by Hogan. More shots and choking from Hogan left Luger powerless to avoid the Atomic Leg Drop, though he kicked out at two to no reaction! Rodman took over with some elbows and a foot choke in the corner, easily dodging Luger’s charge before being repeatedly knocked down by the Giant. After smashing Rodman and Hogan’s heads together, the Giant went to Chokeslam Rodman, only for Sting to whack him over the back with a baseball bat! However, Luger got Hogan up in the Torture Rack and secured the win, before slapping the hold on both Rodman and Savage. Although Rodman showed some impressive agility and held his own in the ring, there was way too much stalling in this match and I hated how the nWo dominated the Giant, who was continuously overwhelmed by the simplest of strikes. They seemed hesitant to kick into a higher gear since Hogan’s repertoire is so limited and Rodman obviously isn’t a competitor, resulting in a plodding and frustrating affair with an anti-climactic finish.

The Aftermath:
If you’re wondering why Sting, who was touted as WCW’s saviour from the nWo at the time, attacked the Giant and tried to cost the WCW team the match, it turned out that it was actually Kevin Nash in disguise. Luger’s victory made him the number one contender for the WCW Championship but, while the match was scheduled to take place at Road Wild the next month, Luger famously challenged Hogan one week early on WCW Monday Nitro. Although Luger scored the victory and became the champion, he lost the belt back to Hogan at Road Wild and Hogan remained champion until the controversial 1997 Starrcade. Luger moved on to feud with Scott Hall, Buff Bagwell, and “Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner before joining the nWo Wolfpac in 1998. He never became WCW Champion again, similar to the Giant, who rejoined the original nWo to feud with “Big Sexy” Kevin Nash before ultimately leaving WCW for the WWF in 1999. This wouldn’t be the last time we saw Dennis Rodman in a wrestling ring, either, as the Worm dressed as Sting to cost Luger the belt at Road Wild and teamed with Hogan again at the following year’s Bash at the Beach to take on Diamond Dallas Page and Rodman’s basketball rival Karl Malone before losing to Randy Savage at the 1999 Road Wild event.

My Rating:

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Could Be Better

Did you enjoy Dennis Rodman’s in-ring debut? What did you think to his performance in this match? Were you a fan of Lex Luger? What did you think to the way the nWo dominated the Giant? Who were your favourite members of the nWo? What are some of your favourite matches and moments from WCW’s Bash at the Beach pay-per-views? Whatever your thoughts on Dennis Rodman, Bash at the Beach, and WCW, feel free to voice them below, show me some love on Ko-Fi, and check out my other wrestling content.

Wrestling Recap: Goldberg vs. DDP (Halloween Havoc ’98)

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The Date: 25 October 1998
The Venue: MGM Grand Garden Arena; Paradise, Nevada
The Commentary: Tony Schiavone, Bobby “The Brain” Heenan, and Mike Tenay
The Referee: Mickie Jay
The Stakes: Singles match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship

The Build-Up:
World Championship Wrestling (WCW) gets a lot of flack for not building more original, home-grown stars; one of the principal reasons they took a commanding lead in the “Monday Night Wars” against the then-World Wrestling Federation (WWF) was because they lured over big-name stars like Hulk Hogan and “Macho Man” Randy Savage with lucrative contracts to cash-in on their mainstream popularity. However, there are actually many home-grown WCW stars: “The Icon” Sting was unquestionably the heart and soul of the company, “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair their most prolific link to the glory days of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), Diamond Dallas Page/DDP their most inspirational story of a journeyman wrestler becoming a beloved figurehead, and Bill Goldberg easily their most successful home-made talent. After an injury saw his American football career come to an end, Goldberg transition first to powerlifting and mixed martial arts before being persuaded by Sting and Lex Luger to train at the WCW Power Plant. Impressed by the big man’s physique and intensity, WCW head honcho Eric Bischoff rushed Goldberg to television and booked him on an unprecedented winning streak that saw him amass an alleged win 173 consecutive wins (though the number was actually closer to 156) using a very simple formula of hitting a couple of big moves, including performing his finisher, the Jackhammer, on the seven-foot Giant! In contrast, DDP was a late bloomer, having started as a manager before transitioning to an in-ring career at the relatively late age of thirty-five. Page hit his stride when he famously rejected joining the New World Order (nWo) super stable and cemented himself as WCW’s top babyface, scoring WCW Tag Team Championship and United States Championship victories with his signature Diamond Cutter, which he boasted he could hit on anyone, anywhere, at anytime. Goldberg’s impressive (if inflated) winning streak eventually saw him dethrone “Hollywood” Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on one of the most successful (if controversial) episodes of WCW Monday Nitro in 1998. After DDP earned the right to challenge for the championship at Halloween Havoc by winning a War Games match the previous month, the stage was set for these two icons to collide but it wasn’t all plain sailing. Goldberg disagreed with DDP’s ideas for the match and WCW came under fire when the pay-per-view overran its allotted timeslot, meaning paying viewers didn’t get to see the main event bout and had to settle for a re-run on the following episode of Monday Nitro.

The Match:
As I’ve detailed before, I wasn’t lucky enough to grow up watching WCW or WWF; I wasn’t able to get into wrestling until early-2000, and by then all I could really watch were WWF pay-per-views, so my knowledge of WCW was limited to magazines and videogames. Still, competitors like Goldberg and DDP definitely stuck out for me, primarily because they had a lot of media attention and featured in one of my first real experiences of WCW, the ill-fated Ready to Rumble (Robbins, 2000). I didn’t really get to see DDP in action until he was inexplicably cast as the Undertaker’s sadistic stalker during the botched “Invasion” angle, a decision which meant DDP’s WWF and World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) career never reached the heights of his WCW fame. Similarly, I wouldn’t get to see Goldberg in action until he arrived in WWE in 2003 for a lacklustre run that saw him put on one of the worst performances in wrestling history, and later further tarnish his reputation with a series of questionable performances following his Hall of Fame induction. Still, I’m always excited to watch WCW biggest stars perform at the height of their career and popularity and to see them booked correctly, especially as this is considered one of the best matches in either man’s career. There was a moment of trepidation as the bell rang; at this point, Goldberg has amassed a winning streak of 154 and his matches were short, sharp affairs that played to his strengths as a powerhouse. DDP, meanwhile, was more of a technician and a wily competitor, though neither man backed down or showed any fear; this was undoubtedly a match with high stakes for both since it meant a championship reign for DDP and another feather in the cap of WCW’s brutish superstar. After a spot of jaw-jacking, the two men locked up, with DDP being easily overpowered in the early going; Goldberg repeatedly tossed him into the far corner with little effort and DDP, realising that tenacity alone wouldn’t win the day, changed tactics, stalling for time and then took the big man down with an arm drag before goading him into charging the two of them through the ropes and to the outside.

It took some time for Goldberg to play to his strengths and he ended up injuring himself as a result.

The crowd grew a little restless as the two men stalled some more and clambered back into the ring; DDP went back to basics, slapping on a headlock, only for Goldberg to surprisingly wrestle his way out of it with a wrist-lock takedown and then counter DDP’s attempts at a trip with an impressive standing back flip! DDP’s efforts to rile Goldberg up resulted in the big man losing his cool and pummelling the challenger with some stiff shots, slamming him to the mat with an overhead throw, and then locking in a cross armbreaker on the canvas. DDP easily reached the ropes and stunned Goldberg with a jawbreaker before laying in some forearms and working over Goldberg’s arm and shoulder; however, he found himself tumbling outside when Goldberg easily threw off an attempted Diamond Cutter. Once DDP hopped back into the ring, Goldberg went back to the wrist lock and, this time, DDP countered with a drop-toehold before being bashed to the outside again with a shoulder block. A jawbreaker over the ropes and a spinning neckbreaker saw allowed DDP to press the attack, tossing Goldberg into the corner and scoring a two count off a Russian leg sweep. DDP put the pressure on with a front facelock to give both men a chance to rest, but Goldberg soon fought back with some stiff knee strikes to DDP’s ribs and that weird spinning takedown thing he liked to do. Goldberg followed up with a modified suplex and a nice sidewalk slam, but a lackadaisical cover saw DDP easily kick out. Goldberg then punished DDP with another cross armbreaker but, clearly having run out of moves, paid the price when he tried for another sidewalk slam as DDP countered with an awkward, but effective, headscissor takedown! Goldberg popped right back up, however, and delivered a sidekick (thankfully not to DDP’s head…) but crashed and burned on a Spear attempt when DDP wisely flipped out of the way and caused the champion to charge shoulder-first into the ring post and spill to the outside.

Both men hit their signature moves but it was the undefeated Goldberg who eventually came out on top.

The two milked the moment to take a breather before DDP took Goldberg down with a big top-rope clothesline for a two-count; despite favouring his right arm, Goldberg planted DDP with a uranage-like slam (that honestly looked like DDP countered into a DDT). Although DDP got to his feet first and called for the Diamond Cutter, he got absolutely blasted with Goldberg’s trademark Spear, much to the delight of the crowd, but Goldberg couldn’t capitalise thanks to his shoulder injury from the ring post. This also meant he struggled to lift DDP for the Jackhammer and, when he finally did, the challenger slipped out of it and planted him with the Diamond Cutter. However, exhaustion also meant that DDP couldn’t immediately follow-up so Goldberg easily kicked out. It was at this point that the crowd really came alive, just in time for Goldberg to counter DDP’s suplex into a Jackhammer and score the three count in the blink of an eye! Having been taken to his limit, Goldberg helped DDP to his feet and showed him respect before celebrating his win to a chorus of cheers. However, I have to say that I wasn’t massively won over by this; Goldberg was always at his best when he played to his strengths, which meant power, power, and more power. There were times here where he looked lost and his limitations showed, such as him struggling to respond to DDP’s attempts to get him up and him going for the same moves. It wasn’t massively glaring but it makes DDP’s efforts to carry Goldberg to a more competitive match even more obvious; Goldberg, didn’t exactly press his attack, or overpower DDP enough for me to believe that Page was too beat up to make a cover, especially as DDP did a lot of stalling throughout the match. I appreciated the attempt to showcase Goldberg’s more technical abilities, but his physicality could’ve been played up more, maybe with a few more hard shoves and that military press slam he liked to do. In the end, it was a decent match, potentially the best of Goldberg’s career at that point, but I could feel the crowd getting restless throughout and I echoed those sentiments and was just waiting for a little more action from both men.

The Aftermath:
Although this wouldn’t be the last time Goldberg and DDP faced off against each other, it did mark the end of their feud; by the next month’s pay-per-view, DDP was once again the WCW United States Champion and was busy feuding with Bret “Hitman” Hart. Although Goldberg wasn’t on the show, he did headline Starrcade the following month, where he lost the WCW Championship and had his winning streak snapped in controversial fashion by “Big Sexy” Kevin Nash following interference from Scott Hall and a taser. Goldberg and DDP wouldn’t face each other again until April 1999, where they battled for the WCW Championship on an episode of WCW Monday Nitro, this time with DDP as the champion. They battled each other sporadically throughout 1999, with their final match being a singles bout at Fall Brawl 1999, which Goldberg again won. As far as I can tell, they never crossed paths when in WWE and, with DDP officially retired and committed to helping wrestlers and others improve their lives through his DDP Yoga, I can’t imagine that we’ll ever see these two locking up in a match ever again.

My Rating:

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Pretty Good

Are you a fan of Goldberg’s match against Diamond Dallas Page at Halloween Havoc? Do you agree that it’s one of their best matches or do you think it’s over-rated and prefer a different bout of theirs? Were you a fan of either man during their WCW days? Which of their matches and moments was your favourite and what did you think to their career outside of WCW? What’s your favourite Halloween Havoc match or event? Whatever your thoughts on Goldberg, DDP, WCW, and Halloween Havoc, I’d love to see them in the comments.