RedJed

This is from his new promotions' website, I think www.ringofglory.com.... “Bash at the Beach”—Finally My Side By Vince Russo It’s been five years . . . a very long five years. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever imagine that what happened one Sunday night in Florida would follow me every where I went for half a decade. Never have I been asked the same question so many times, “What really happened at “Bash at the Beach”. For five years I’ve never answered that question, mainly because it has been a very difficult memory for me. Much pain came with that incident—pain that I wasn’t able to shake until God himself helped me shake it. He gave me the strength to forgive . . . and forget. So why now? The answer is simple: I’m going to take a negative . . . and turn it into a positive; I’m going to take one of the most devastating nights in my life . . . and use it for God’s Glory—to make people aware of him. I’m not going to lie to you---I needed a hook to bring people to “Ring of Glory”, and this is it. And yes—I will stop at NOTHING—ABSOLUTELY NOTHING—to make people aware of Jesus Christ. If this story brings you to this website to witness the things that we are doing in the name of Christ—than my mission was accomplished. Before I tell my story—which is basically my side—I first want to point out that I have no hard feelings towards anyone involved—not one. I understand completely the motivations behind the individuals involved—and I understand. The fact is—I wasn’t shocked . . . or surprised by the outcome—I saw it coming a mile away. But regardless of the consequences—as both a man . . . and a friend . . . that night I did what I felt I had to do. I did what was right. The important thing is—I came into the situation with my integrity . . . and I left with it. At the end of the day that’s all that ever mattered to me. I’m going to try to make this as short and succinct as I possibly can. It all began after I wrote the script from my home prior to BATB. To be honest, I can’t remember exactly the original script—but I believe in the match between Jeff Jarrett and Hulk Hogan I somehow had Scott Steiner involved. Either Hogan was carried out—or he did the laying out—I don’t remember—I just remember that Jeff Jarrett left with his WCW Heavyweight Title—that outcome was vital being that by the end of the night there would be circumstances that led to Jeff defending the title against Booker T.—with Booker being crowned the new WCW Heavyweight Champion. Booker winning the title was something the entire booking committee agreed upon a week prior, simply because Booker had deserved it. Once the script was written I sent it to the John Laurenitis, who was going to be the agent of the match. Johnny was to call Hulk and get his input. After calling Hulk, Johnny called me back and told me that Hulk hated the way the match was laid out—I said no problem and immediately went back to the drawing board. At that time all I cared about was Jeff leaving the match against Hogan with the belt—so we could get to the Booker scenario. At that point I re-wrote the script and implemented a Hulk Hogan—King Kong—finish. Hulk would clean house—get to Jarrett and Steiner—leaving bodies everywhere—BUT—not leaving with the belt—I believe his actions got him DQ’d—but honestly I don’t remember the exact specifics. Once I came up with that scenario I called Johnny again—who called Hogan again—to run it by him. Johnny called me back and said that Hulk “loved” it—something Hulk later denied every saying. So that discrepancy lies with Hulk and Johnny—I don’t know for sure what the conversation was between the two—and who said what—I only know what Johnny told me. At that point I think everybody is happy. The truth is that I wasn’t told differently until about two hours prior to the match. Going about my business backstage the day of the event—Eric Bischoff approached me to inform me that Hulk didn’t like the finish and wasn’t going to do it. This is the first time that I was aware that there was a problem. He told me that Hogan was in his trailer and that I needed to go talk to him—so I did. When I entered the trailer, it was the three of us—myself, Hogan and Bischoff. The first thing I was told by Eric was that he and Hulk had discussed a different finish and that they had called Brad Siegel (who was in charge of wrestling operations at the time) and that Siegel loved the finish but told them that they had to OK it with me first. At that time Hulk laid out the story. Again, being five years ago I can’t remember the specifics—but there are two key elements which I will never forget. The first one being that before Hulk laid out the story he said, “Let’s do this as if it were a shoot”. The second detail was—Hulk walking out winning the match and becoming the new WCW Champion. In my mind I knew that couldn’t happen—mainly because only days earlier the entire booking committee agreed that it was Booker’s time. Not only did I have to stand by their decision—but I also agreed whole-heartedly with it. I felt strongly that Booker needed to leave the building that night the WCW Champion. At the time, in my view and in the view of the committee—that was the best thing for the company and everyone involved in it. Time was ticking away—we were less than two hours away from showtime. As Hulk was laying out the story to me, I was already thinking on my feet. My objective was to make him happy—while keeping our plans in tack. After Hulk finished his story, I basically told him that that didn’t work for me. I then used his words and said, “However—if you really want to do this as a “shoot”, how about this. Here’s the story I laid out to both Eric and Hulk. I said, “If you want this to look like a shoot—let’s make it look like a shoot. Let’s try this—I walk into the building tonight and I find out that Hulk Hogan is playing his “creative control” card and refuses to do the job to Jeff Jarrett. Now—if as a shoot that was the case—this is how Vince Russo would react--I would go to Jeff, who is my friend, tell him what was going on—and then direct him to lay down for Hogan in the middle of the ring the minute the bell rang. Being ringside I would then tell Hogan, `There—you have exactly what you want—cover him and take your precious belt.’ Now Hogan—not having many options—would cover Jarrett—take the belt—because that’s what he really wanted—and then leave. However, in order to work the boys in the back, making EVERYBODY believe this was a shoot--the story had to go one step further--Hogan would be so upset that I showed him up that he would go in the back—get Bischoff—his friend—and the two of them would leave the building in a huff. I explained to Hulk that that part of the story was vital, because in order for me to get to the main event between Jeff and Booker I had to go back out to the ring later in the evening—cut a scathing (my exact word) promo on Hogan saying that he can keep his belt—because that belt didn’t mean anything—there would be a “real” Championship match tonight and it would be between Booker T. and Jeff Jarrett for the “real” WCW Title. Now—that part of the story is crucial because in order for this to look like a shoot to the boys—Bischoff and Hogan had to leave the building (which they did) because if they were still in it when I cut the promo on Hogan—then Hulk would have had to come out and KILL me! After I laid this out to Hulk—with Eric there—he looked at me wide-eyed and said, “I like it.” He then said, “Yeah, and then I could have one belt, and Booker could have the other and we could go from there.” Now again, all I was concerned about that night was what we had written as a committee. Being that I had just come up with this on the fly, I had no idea where we could go with this. So I told Hulk, “We’ll talk about where we go with this—I’ll call you tomorrow.” From there I found Jeff and I completely worked him. I told him that Hulk didn’t want to do the job for him and he needed to just go out there and lay down for Hogan. Jeff was furious—I had never seen him so mad. Man, it was tough working Jeff—my friend—but keep in mind, Hulk, Eric and myself had all agreed that we were going to work the boys in order to make this come off as “real” as possible. So the match went down—just like the three of us discussed—Jeff wasn’t in on anything. After the 1-2-3 Hogan took the belt, found Eric and the two stormed out of the building. The boys were buying this hook, line and sinker. From there I went out to the ring and cut that “scathing” promo that Hulk and I had discussed earlier. The whole reason for the promo was to get to the Jeff/Booker match. It was my job to tie it all together and make it all make sense. That’s all I cared about—I just wanted to get to the main event—like we had planned—with it all making sense. Just an aside: If you remember my character in WCW, every time I went out in front of the people I ALWAYS wore a New York jersey. Well, it you remember that night I wore a San Francisco Giants jersey—something totally out of character for me—again, that was all part of the “shoot”—being that I didn’t have a New York jersey on this time—it had to be real!!! That’s how closely I looked at this “angle”. Well, the next day everybody was talking about it—and everybody was believing it. It was incredible. Even I didn’t think the boys could be worked like that. The next day I pulled Jeff aside and told him what really happened—I just had a real hard time working him when he was right in the middle of it. It’s funny, but Jeff really didn’t seem that surprised. Being a veteran of the business and seeing just about everything—Jeff took it in stride and didn’t seemed “shocked” by any of it. If I made a single mistake throughout this entire incident—here it was—I never called Hogan back the next day like I told him I would. Why? Because we were at Nitro and I had no idea where to go with the story. I just didn’t have the time to think it through. In other words if I called him—I just didn’t know what to tell him—so I just didn’t call—my bad—hindsight being 20/20 I should have. When we got back to the office from TV I meet with Brad Siegel and told him what happened. I also told Brad that I hadn’t called Hulk yet because I didn’t know what to tell him. I wasn’t sure where to go with this. At that point Brad told me that financially we just couldn’t afford to use Hulk Hogan right now so I should just think about going on with the story without him. So—I never called Hulk back. If it were today I would have—I would have been honest with him and told him what Brad had told me—but at the time . . . I just didn’t think it was in my place. Was it a cop-out? Maybe? But at the time---there was no way that I was thinking clearly—the truth is—I was probably on the verge of a nervous breakdown. You all know the rest of the story. A few days later I was hit with a defamation of character lawsuit by Hulk Hogan, claiming that he knew nothing about the interview beforehand that I cut on him in the ring. He claimed that I went in business for myself and he had no knowledge that I was going to do it. So there you have it—my side—to one of the greatest mysteries of all time. In closing, I would just like to add something that I said many times before the incident—and many times after--growing up I was a huge fan of Hulk Hogan, the fact is that wrestling would have never—NEVER—reached the heights it did without him. That translates into this—without Hulk Hogan Vince Russo would have never achieved what he did in the wrestling business because in my opinion the wrestling business would have probably not even existed. Hulk Hogan paved the way for me—and many, many others. I can’t thank him enough for that. I’ve said on many occasions that I would work together with Hulk Hogan in a heartbeat—and I mean that. With the lawsuit—I totally understand where he was coming from—I was never shocked by it because I know why it happened—but—I wish that we could both put it behind us. I wish that one day I would be able to thank him for making my career in wrestling possible—but—that is up to him. ------Interesting stuff, things I never knew about the incident.

I seriously doubt it - Shocker was trying to get himself out of working the last ppv and I dont expect much of a push from anytime forward from now. He's been unimpressive for a few months now and just isnt showing the magic he can do when he was in CMLL. For example his program with Vampiro was just off the chain. Havent had a chance to see any of his AAA stuff yet.

I voted Sydal - I saw some of his best work in NWA Wildside recently and this guy needs a major showcase on a national stage. He's talented as hell and is most definately deserves a balls to the wall match with Daniels that will elevate him in the process (I am assuming that is going to be the whole point of the match at the ppv anyway). Aries is kind of in the same boat as Sydal but I think Sydal deserves it just a little more considering he has worked with TNA before and has some sort of history there, so the "hardcores" will know him. With that said, give Aries, Strong, and Lethal (yet another guy who has impressed the hell out of me, just from seeing NWA Wildside footage - I havent even seen any ROH for well over a year) a three way dance on the ppv and I will be that much more happy. Fuck, all of those guys deserve a slot in the TNA ranks, especially once they go national.

Right fuckin on. I'd pay $$ to see a HOF ceremony of that nature next year in Chicago. MN isnt too far away! I think Vince is willing enough to even do that to get Bret to be a part of the "WWE family" again.

All I gotta say is thats one hell of a dark match main event to make up for what I consider to be one of the most badly booked Raws this year. So it's good to see the live crowd got a good payoff at the end. They must have been planning ahead

Michael Shane's real name, which is now also his ring name in TNA.

Yeah, even though this show as a whole was the shits, I can't lie when I say I am already pumped for next week's Raw if it is in fact from Montreal, from how they played up Hart here in that interview. I'm 99 percent sure there wont be a Bret Hart appearance but I will cross my fingers for that one percent to follow through! Can't help it....

Yes, it was a very well done interview segment, Hogan shined as much as HBK with that Bret Hart spot and the lost your smile line. Not feeling the standard Hogan cleans house ending though as that gets old quick when you have Hogan on TV so much this year.

Oh shit, I cant believe Hogan just said that!! Man, they dont waste time mentioning Bret.. Bret, in my opinion, should be just as mad with Hogan as HBK in terms of alot of things.

Damn right. Hogan is clueless how to respond to this.

Well Michaels is sure delivering the goods here - Hogan's body language is kind of funny - kind of uncomfortable looking in response to Michaels

I think Hogan-Angle will turn into Eugene/Hogan v. Angle/Michaels by next week's Raw main event slot-time....

Hogan is wrestling twice in less than a week? Thats gotta be just a setup to a last minute angle and not an actual match. No way is Hogan v. Angle going to be an actual match. Hogan is way too fragile.

This better be fucking good because this show is just SO bad at this point. They hit a new recent low for sure with this crap from start to so-far. They made Matt Hardy's ring return so fucking insanely uninteresting when the shit should have wrote itself EASILY. Especially with so called "hollywood writers" all over the place on the writing committees. Someone needs to step in and put some control in booking and I'm most certainly not suggesting Dusty Rhodes. This is some fucked up shit lately!

Oh my god, this has just gotten from what I thought was the lowest point you could go for a two hour show and now has hit lower than that. I feel some serious pain for someone actually at this live tonite.

Exactly - this is seriously one of the most nonsensical booking of a show I've seen in WWE in a long time. Edge's promo, if scripted, was a million times better than Matts, and this week, Hardy is made to look weak and uttely pointless fodder as they should have never had him in a match before SS and if they had to, build it into something worthwhile. Fuck, they didnt even announce it at all during the buildup to the show but they spent 15 minutes building up a fucking ref v. Jericho. Go figure.

To be fair, if WWE "scripted" his promo last week, its not entirely his fault that he's not getting over all of a sudden. Between last week and this week I almost think the writers are trying to bury him already anyway. And I'm most certainly not a Hardy fan in the first place. Ending was ok, and now Hardy get punked. Edge continues to be the only one to prosper from this program.

Plus all 3 of them will have jobs with WWE by the end of this anyway, probably others too from before You would THINK they would announce ahead of time Matt Hardy in a match tonite, or build to something for next week instead of Hardy v. Shitsky.

Now the show has turned into a bizzare acid trip of a show at this point. That divas segment was downright weird.

lol this girl is cutting a HORRID promo! She's gone by next week, McMahon official decision of course since no girl can be caught cutting an "wont be the chick to get nude" promo in this company so blatantly.

OK this is just fucking weird - I suppose this was more great WWE writing ideas "in theory"

poor girl - she is going to have to change her number by tomorrow

Thanks WWE for making me loathe this Be Yourself track

Fuck, I forgot about the diva search, it just gets further the downward spiral - if the Hogan/HBK deal flops, this show is going to be a huge waste of a good 2 + hours.

Is the writing team on crack this week or what? This show, other than the Edge promo, has been shit-tastic. I mean I know shows lately have been bad, but this is getting out of hand. The small build up for SummerSlam has been real weak also.