Karl Malone & DDP Vs. Dennis Rodman & Hulk Hogan Was WCW's Best Use Of A Celebrity
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WCW was trying to push the envelope during the Monday Night Wars by creating new ways to bring in viewers and draw money outside of traditional wrestling norms. 1998 was the most competitive year between WWE and WCW, with both companies thriving in major ways. Steve Austin becoming the face of WWE made them the top dog, but WCW still would score more buy rates or ratings.
The big risk of booking two NBA stars into a top PPV match ended up becoming one of WCW’s biggest success stories. Controversial NBA star Dennis Rodman joined the promotion, and NBA MVP Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz wanted to join the wrestling world as well. WCW witnessed arguably their biggest success by having Rodman and Hulk Hogan main event a PPV against Malone and Diamond Dallas Page.
The Match Brought Mainstream Attention To WCW
WCW already was benefiting from having Dennis Rodman come around occasionally as a member of the New World Order. Hulk Hogan’s friendship with Rodman led to the Chicago Bulls' power forward appearing multiple times in WCW and having his debut match in 1997. The NBA was hotter than ever with Rodman on the popular Chicago Bulls team led by Michael Jordan as the top name in all sports.
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Rodman showing up and getting involved in the action paid off huge for Eric Bischoff to get extra media coverage. The 1998 move to get Karl Malone involved essentially carried over an NBA rivalry to the squared circle. Malone and Rodman faced off in back-to-back NBA Finals with Rodman’s Bulls defeating Malone’s Utah Jazz in 1997 and 1998.
The latter year saw both men already agreeing to their Bash at the Beach 1998 tag match before the season even ended. Rodman and Malone tripped each other during a loose ball in the NBA Finals to sell the WCW match. The NBA Finals was the biggest series of the year for the NBA, and WCW got free advertising from the two on a huge stage.
The Build-Up Utilized WCW’s Popularity Perfectly
There were a lot of moving parts in WCW when this storyline came. WCW found a way to not only highlight celebrities to get extra attention, but they used their stars to benefit from it as well. Hulk Hogan was still the top heel in the company leading the Hollywood version of the New World Order after splitting from the Wolfpac.
The wrestler to get the biggest boost from this was Diamond Dallas Page. WCW needed one of their face wrestlers to team with Karl Malone against the duo of Hogan and Dennis Rodman. DDP was a friend of Malone and arguably the most over face in the company due to his connection with the audience. The rivalry between Hogan and Page was going strong enough to book this celebrity tag match and another the following month involving Jay Leno.
A forgotten part of the celebrity use was that Malone played a role in Goldberg winning the WCW Championship. The ratings were huge for WCW and only grew with the two NBA stars appearing. Malone preventing nWo members from interfering helped Goldberg win the WCW Championship from Hogan in another massive moment from this feud.
The Match Was An Overwhelming Success
There are some critics against celebrities wrestling matches and those who were against Dennis Rodman vs Karl Malone taking place in WCW, but the results shut everyone up. Bash at the Beach 1998 received the second-highest buy rate in WCW history with Hulk Hogan and Rodman vs Diamond Dallas Page in the main event spot. The attraction match helped draw a massive 580,000 PPV buys, only second to Starrcade 1997 led by Hulk Hogan vs Sting.
No one would accuse Rodman and Malone of having a match like Chris Jericho vs Shawn Michaels, but they received huge crowd reactions for their limited moves. Both guys were natural entertainers from the NBA world and played up their established personalities to create must-watch television for the joint NBA/wrestling fans.
WCW continued to chase this success with future celebrities like Jay Leno, Master P, and the rock band KISS with weaker results. Rodman and Malone doing moves to each other made the match worth it to the average buyer. The win for Hogan and Rodman continued the feud for DDP, and Malone enjoyed having a one-off appearance. WCW showed that celebrities could be utilized to perfection with the NBA stars helping create massive success in every business metric.
