Vince Russo confirms stars were genuinely fooled by infamous in-ring incident: "Everybody in the back thought it was real" (Exclusive)
Professional wrestling can be deceiving at times, and Vince Russo recently revealed that the Bash at the Beach 2000 incident actually fooled stars backstage in WCW, who all thought it was a real-life storyline unfolding on TV.
The WCW pay-per-view is infamously remembered for Jeff Jarrett laying down on the mat and allowing Hulk Hogan to pin him for the World Heavyweight Championship. The match also saw Vince Russo come out and fire the Hulkster while also nullifying the result of Hogan and Jarrett's match. Vince Russo's apparent shoot decision to oust Hogan from WCW would later result in a lawsuit from the WWE Hall of Famer.
The entire Bash at the Beach 2000 saga revolved around the contentious relationship between Vince Russo and Hulk Hogan, and it ended up in one of the most awkward moments in TV history.
During the latest Legion of RAW episode, Vince was asked about a 'worked-shoot' that managed to also trick "the boys backstage." The former WWE writer recalled Bash at the Beach as the only time it had happened, as you can view below:
"Yeah, Bash at the Beach. 1000 %. Everybody in the back thought it was real. Absolutely, yeah! There really were no comments backstage; I think people were in shock because they really, really, really believed it. That's really the only one I could think of." [17:00 - 17:52]
Vince Russo highlights the problem of the lack of "heat" between WWE teams
The latest Legion of RAW, of course, primarily focused on everything that went down on the red brand this week. In case you missed it, Russo didn't like the opening segment and criticized it for not featuring fresh angles and new faces.
Russo also spoke about various WWE tag teams being overly friendly with each other. RAW had a hilarious backstage segment that featured Alpha Academy, D.I.Y., and The New Day, and it was one example of the issue Russo had pointed out.
The wrestling veteran had a rather sarcastic reaction to WWE's creative approach:
"I don't know, bro, because at the end of the show, there were all the tag teams together, and it looked like everybody was best friends. We don't need heat in wrestling; let's just all be good friends, man! There doesn't need to be any heat." [16:40 - 16:59]
Did you know Russo helped a Hall of Famer get into TNA? Learn more about the fascinating story right here.
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