Russo's side of the story

[RedJed 0]

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.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Its funny too because on the BaTB 2000 VHS cover, they make it look like the main event is going to be Hogan Vs. Booker. I'm glad Booker won though, he did truly deserve it, one of the few good things Russo actually did for WCW.

[Shooting Star 0]

Best thing he ever did in WCW. Has Booker ever told his side of the story?

[Guest JebusNassedar]

Like Deepthroat, but on a smaller time scale.

 

"The truth is out!" "No one cares!"

[KTID 0]

This is absolutely hilarious. Russo is so full of shit. I bet he doesn't even know truth from lies. Comedy gold, i say.

[PLAGIARISM! 0]

So he did it for Jesus?

[KTID 0]

Thats right. Russo is now an honest man cos Jesus said so.