‘Bad Boy’ Dennis Rodman was approached by former WCW President Eric Bischoff during the 1998 Finals to start a feud with Karl Malone
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Dennis Rodman is one of the most unique personalities to have been associated with the NBA. The 6’7″ is considered one of the best defensive players ever. Despite being a 5x NBA Champion, Rodman is more popular for the things he used to do off the court.
The Worm was a terrific player on the court and would secure 15-20 rebounds for his team on a regular basis. He also used to lock up the opponent bigs and used the most unorthodox methods to achieve the same.
However, his off-the-court antics often surprised people. Rodman was known to take time off regularly, during the season, and would be in Atlantic City or Las Vegas whenever he got the chance. As revealed in Michael Jordan‘s ‘Last Dance’, Rodman missed a practice before Game 4 of the 1998 Finals. The reason? He was in a WCW’s Monday Nitro with Hulk Hogan.
Eric Bischoff tried to build up a narrative between Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone
During the late 90s, the Chicago Bulls faced the Utah Jazz in back-to-back NBA Finals. During that time Karl Malone and John Stockton were the driving forces in Utah. Dennis Rodman and Malone were very physical with one another, just like players used to be in the 90s. However, Game 6 of the 1998 NBA Finals saw the same on a higher level. The Worm and the Mailman were going back and forth at each other.
Eventually, the Bulls took the game, and secured their 2nd 3-peat. However, it wasn’t until recently that we got to know the real reason behind Rodman’s extra physicality during Game 6.
Eric Bischoff, the then President of WCW, wanted to get Rodman and Malone to face off in a WCW cage. The Worm was game, but Karl wasn’t giving it much thought during the Finals. However, Eric was convinced he could get Malone to agree, and he wanted Rodman to build the hype for the future fight from the Finals itself.
In a recent interview with TMZ, Bischof talked about what had taken place back in 1998.
“What I said to Dennis, not to Karl, was, ‘Hey Dennis, if anything were to happen off court while there’s a timeout, while there’s no gameplay, if you guys happen to rough it up a little bit at the sidelines or look like you’re going to and establish that intent so that the feud between Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone is real … that wouldn’t piss me off at all.’ It was kind of subtle but clear.”
The Worm and the Mailman fought it out in the WCW Pay-per-view Bash at the Beach special
After losing the Finals, Karl Malone agreed to Eric Bischoff’s proposal. A huge pay-per-view event was organized for a tag-team match between Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone. Rodman was teamed up with ‘Hollywood’ Hulk Hogan and formed a duo named ‘Rodzilla’. On the other hand, Karl Malone patterned up with ‘Diamond’ Dallas Page.
It was a 23 minute long fight, which was quite underwhelming, considering all the hype that had been built up.
The fight is often called the falling off point for WCW.
As for Rodman, he went on to play with the Lakers and the Magic, before hanging up his boots. Malone went on to win the 1998-99 MVP, and made his way to one more NBA Finals, but could not win a ring.
