WCW drew their second highest pay per view with Bash at the Beach in 1998 featuring Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone. Eric Bischoff, who was serving as the promotion’s president, banked on their teams clashing in consecutive NBA finals to stir up media attention for his weekly TV programming. Rodman had previously made appearances alongside Hulk Hogan and the nWo. They then roped in Karl Malone and played on the rivalry between their teams to sell tickets. Clearly, this was all successfully done. But how exactly did they go about it?
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To understand this story better, we have to understand what was happening in the world of wrestling at the time. Commonly known as the Monday Night Wars, WCW and WWE were at war for TV ratings. Eric Bischoff and Vince McMahon did everything they could to outdo each other.
The WWE created the blueprint of using celebrities to garner mainstream attention. They did it with WrestleMania and all through the Rock and Wrestling generation. It was now WCW’s turn to do the same. Rodman and Malone were both huge wrestling fans, and once they agreed to be on the show, it was just a matter of blurring the lines between real and reel life.
Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone Capitalized on 1998 NBA Finals to Draw Second Highest Selling PPV in WCW History
Dennis Rodman joined WCW long before Karl Malone did. He came out as a member of the nWo. Rodman was friends with Hulk Hogan and would often be a part of the show. Rodman was part of the Michael Jordan led Chicago Bulls that won back-to-back finals against the Utah Jazz in 1997 and 1998.
Malone was part of the Utah Jazz team. So, there was a bit of a rivalry there for WCW to explore.
WCW managed to rope in Malone and scheduled the two for a tag team match at Bash at the Beach 1998. Rodman would partner Hulk Hogan, and Malone would fight alongside Diamond Dallas Page.
The match was agreed upon before the NBA season even ended, and the two played their rivalry up to sell more tickets.
Eric Bischoff later admitted that he suggested the two had a bit of a push off while the cameras were on them to create more hype for their match.
“I said, ‘Look, nothing during the game. I don’t want to be accused of screwing up a game, be it playoffs. But if there’s cameras running, if you guys could like push and shove each other a little bit, you know, kind of raise the heat just a bit. I’m not telling you to do it!’ I’m just telling you if something were to happen like that, I’d be pretty happy about it,” Bischoff explained.
Malone also helped Goldberg to win the WCW World Championship by ensuring there was no nWo interference to help Hogan retain the title. This way, the baby face Malone had heat with both of his competitors.
WCW Bash at the Beach 1998 secured 580,000 PPV buys
A lot can be said about the caliber of wrestling that took place in the main event of WCW Bash at the Beach 1998. However, its success cannot be questioned. All the hype and plays worked. The event secured the second highest PPV buys, only behind Starrcade 1997 that was main evented by Hulk Hogan and Sting.
The match went on for 23 minutes and 47 seconds. While it was no The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania. It was a lot better than what you thought having two NBA stars in a ring would get you.
In fact, Malone was praised for his wrestling in the match, but it was still a while away from being called a classic.
Regardless, the match served its purpose. All eyes were on WCW, and a lot of that had to do with Malone and Rodman getting the way the wrestling industry sells itself as quickly as they did, and then using their natural charisma to entertain fans and hype their match.
The WCW could only go up from there. Unfortunately, that’s the opposite of what happened. The promotion, instead of using this new-found attention to bring light to their story telling and actual wrestlers, decided to bring in even more guest wrestlers and often sacrificed coherence for one moment of flash.
WWE, on the other hand, was building the stars of the next generation, while WCW prevented anyone new from getting into the main event.
Triple H, The Rock, Stone Cold and many more were thriving in the WWE while WCW had a Hollywood actor win their world championship.
WCW eventually folded and was purchased by none other than Vince McMahon himself.
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