July 15, 1996
- After 15 years as the biggest babyface in wrestling history, Hulk Hogan turned heel at Bash At The Beach in an angle that will likely be remembered for years to come. Hogan was revealed as the third man of Kevin Nash and Scott Hall's team. The heat for Hogan's heel turn, with trash literally flooding the ring, was as intense as anything ever seen in U.S. wrestling. Hogan then gave one of his best promos in years to end the show. At one point, a fan (definitely not a plant) even ran into the ring and got dropped by Nash and kicked by Hall. The plan from here seems to be a worked promotion vs. promotion feud, similar to the NJPW vs. UWFI angle from last year. The new group will be called the New World Order. It's believed that Jeff Jarrett and Ted Dibiase will join the group when their WWF contracts expire and WCW will be making plays for any top WWF stars (such as Davey Boy Smith) who's contracts are nearing their end.
- Hogan agreed to do the heel turn 11 days before the show, mostly because he he had already done everything he could in WCW as a babyface. Hogan's contract was due to expire in a few months and with WCW doing record TV ratings and strong PPV buyrates without him, his negotiation leverage was weakened. They don't really need him as the top babyface anymore. So with the Outsiders story being arguably the hottest angle in WCW history, Hogan figured he could turn himself heel and become the centerpiece of the company again, and he did just that. But it doesn't come without risks. Hogan's merch sales are sure to go down and he was still a strong draw as a babyface. But the angle is so hot that it's likely to spark interest in a big way.
- There was legit concern that Hogan may change his mind at the last minute, as he's been known to do and the Plan B was for Sting to turn heel if that happened. The original plan had been Lex Luger or Savage turning, but since so many people had already speculated those 2 names, WCW wanted a shocking ending so they would have gone with Sting. Hogan and Bischoff were negotiating the details of the heel turn as late as the afternoon of the show. The plan was kept secret from most people, although in the days before the show, most people in WCW strongly suspected it would be Hogan, but no one knew for sure. Scott Hall was telling people that he didn't know until 2 hours before the match, but Dave doesn't buy that. From here, Dave recaps Hogan's career, mostly the early years when he worked as a heel before he became a big name on the national scene.
- Other notes from the PPV: the Hogan turn totally overshadowed one of the best WCW matches in years between Rey Mysterio Jr. vs. Psicosis, which Dave says was one of the best matches of 1996 so far and gives it 4.75 stars. Sherri Martel returned to the company during the pre-show, after being fired earlier this year, and renewed her storyline with Col. Robert Parker and Harlem Heat.
- Ultimate Warrior was officially suspended by WWF this week after missing 3 shows over the previous weekend. The suspension was announced on Raw by Gorilla Monsoon, saying no matter how popular he is, no wrestler is big enough to miss appearances and let down fans. Monsoon also said that Warrior's suspension will be lifted if he posts an appearance bond, which is actually true. Vince McMahon told Warrior that he would bring him back if Warrior essentially posted a large bond (in excess of $100,000), which WWF would then keep if he no-showed any future events. Warrior hasn't agreed to that yet, but WWF is hopeful that he will and are expecting him to return. The issues started a couple of weeks ago, when Warrior and McMahon had a phone argument because Warrior saw his likeness being used at a licensing show for something he wasn't being paid for. Warrior also apparently called WWF headquarters and blew up at people in the marketing department over the issue. As for Warrior's father passing away being the reason he missed the shows, it's true that he passed away on 6/30 but Warrior missed the 2 shows on the 28th and 29th as well and reportedly never informed WWF about his father's death until after he had already no-showed the event on the 30th. Warrior also gave an interview to the Prodigy internet company, which is a competitor of AOL, who WWF has a contract with, so there's some heat there also.
- Matthew Hart, the 13-year-old nephew of Bret and Owen Hart, was hospitalized this week in critical condition with a very serious virus. Matthew is he son of Bret & Owen's sister Georgia and Owen Hart is especially close to the child. Dave doesn't know much detail about it yet (turns out it was some flesh eating virus and sadly, the kid ends up dying from it. We'll get to that tomorrow).
- Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Steve Williams & Johnny Ace gets the 5-star review from Dave, with him calling it one of the 3 best matches of the year so far.
- Dave says Sandman's son "is turning into another Macauley Culkin" and has been stealing the show in ECW in the angle with Raven.
- Latest on the "Blood Runs Cold" commercials airing in WCW, word now is that it will be several wrestlers in a group called Glacier. (I forgot how long this Glacier tease lasted. Literally months and months of vignettes before he debuted. It was like Emmalina, but ugly.)
- Ted Dibiase will be starting with WCW in the fall as an announcer and may get involved with the New World Order storyline.
- WCW has also offered Davey Boy Smith a $400,000-per-year for 3 years. WWF countered with a 5-year offer for $250,000 per year. WWF's offer is a "downside guarantee", meaning he'll make at least that much each year and possibly more depending on various things like merch sales, ticket sales, PPV numbers, etc. (This is the same sort of contract WWF offers today. WCW forced them to start offering guarantees). WCW is also still very interested in bringing in Chris Jericho.
- WWF contract news: Barry Windham has been offered a contract and will likely be starting soon. 1-2-3 Kid met with Vince to discuss a new deal but nothing was decided yet. And Bret Hart's deal has ended and he's currently not under contract anymore but is still in talks with WWF but you gotta assume WCW is interested.
- Jesse Ventura is reportedly interested in returning to WWF.
- The Los Angeles Times had a lengthy story about weightlifter Mark Henry who is being sponsored by the WWF and will probably join the company after he competes in the Olympics. The story talked about how Henry's childhood idol was Andre The Giant. Hey, I actually found the original article!
- Dale Torborg, the son of former White Sox and Indians manager Jeff Torborg, wants to be a wrestler. He played a couple of years for the Yankees minor league team but couldn't make the cut into the major leagues. (Torborg does indeed become a wrestler, most famous as WCW's Kiss Demon. But we'll get there).