COMING JULY 28, 2020 FROM WARNER BROS. HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Wonder Woman, the beloved 1970s live-action television series starring Lynda Carter, has been remastered and is coming to Blu-ray™! Wonder Woman: The Complete Collection arrives from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on July 28, 2020.
Save the world? That’s a man’s job. Then along comes star-spangled Wonder Woman with her bullet-deflecting bracelets and golden lariat to set everyone straight. With Lynda Carter staring as the title character, Season One features adventures in Wonder Woman’s original World War II era, while Seasons Two and Three whoosh forward to the disco-loving ‘70s. Times change. The need to smash evil, calamity and injustice does not.
The Wonder Woman: The Complete Collection Blu-ray box set (USA $64.99 SRP, Canada $69.99 CAN) comes complete with all 59 episodes, plus the treasured pilot movie, across 10 discs. Bonus features include:
· Audio commentary of the pilot movie by Lynda Carter & executive producer Douglas S. Cramer
· Audio commentary by Lynda Carter on episode, “My Teenage Idol is Missing”
· Featurette – Beauty, Brawn and Bulletproof Bracelets: A Wonder Woman Retrospective
· Featurette – Revolutionizing a Classic: From Comic Book to Television
· Featurette – Wonder Woman: The Ultimate Feminist Icon
The TV movie pilot, The New Original Wonder Woman, premiered on November 7, 1975 on ABC. The first season of the series, Wonder Woman, debuted February 16, 1977 on ABC. The second and third seasons of the series aired on CBS, with the final original episode premiering on September 11, 1979.
LOS ANGELES (July 13, 2020) – ZURU, the award-winning toy company, places inclusivity and kindness at the heart of Itty Bitty Prettys™ Tea Party Surprise, a modern take on traditional tea party and doll play combined with the highly sought after surprise and collectibility factor. From punk rockers, unicorn princesses and classic ballerinas, Itty Bitty Prettys are a squad of collectible fashion-forward, tea-loving, friendship-fostering characters of all backgrounds that come together for the ultimate par-tea.
“We’ve brought together the best ingredients for Itty Bitty Prettys Tea Party Surprise and added a 21st-century upgrade: dress up and classic role-play, collectibility and swapping, rich unboxing, and a craft and creative experience,” said Adam Woods, Creative Director, ZURU. “Our Itty Bitty Pretty collectible dolls are designed to be fashion-forward and inspire individuality and inclusiveness. At its core, Itty Bitty Prettys brings together people of all backgrounds for a cup of tea, friendship and fun.”
ZURU is hosting a big reveal of Itty Bitty Prettys on Walmart.com today and then the Giant and Little Tea Cup will be available at Walmart stores later this month. In August the brand will be found at Target, Amazon and other retailers. The launch all builds towards the Itty Bitty Prettys World Tea Party on Saturday August 8th where kids and families everywhere are encouraged to join the celebration of friendship, fun and fashion. During the first-ever Itty Bitty Prettys World Tea Party, YouTube and TikTok influencers around the world will celebrate inclusivity, encourage kindness, discover Itty Bitty Prettys surprises, share tea party ideas and more. Follow ZURU social media channels including Instagram and YouTube, as well as ittiybittyprettys.com for details.
The Itty Bitty Prettys range includes thirteen stylish Itty Bittys, plus one super rare Royal Tea doll, each touting a distinct, modern party-prowess bring the latest fashion and swapability factor to the par-tea. A complete party-in-a-cup, Itty Bitty Prettys Tea Party Surprise includes surprise magic tea bags and fizzing sugar cubes that, when mixed with water reveal jewelry, accessories and other surprise necessities to help dress and style an Itty Bitty Prettys dolls and host a party! The layers of fun also include compounds that allow for molding and making treats, working teacups and saucers, and more.
The Itty Bitty Prettys Giant Teacup Playset includes everything one needs to host the most epic tea party. Available in two surprise friendship themes each with two dolls, the respective themed playset features more than 25 surprises including a convertible table, spoon, working teacup and teapot, stylish accessories including shoes and jewelry, two Itty Bitty pets, dissolvable tea bags, fizzing ‘sugar’ cubes and more. Four dolls plus a rare Itty bitty Pretty can be found in the The Giant Teacup Playset. Designed for ages 4+, Itty Bitty Pretty Little Tea Cups will be available for $29.99
Itty Bitty Prettys Little Tea Cup features 12 surprises and eight fabulous dolls to collect. The Little Tea Cup includes a working teacup, a saucer that also serves as a doll stand, an Itty Pretty doll, a swapable doll outfit and a set of stylish accessories including shoes, jewelry, eyewear and more. Additional tea party must-haves include a magic teaba, fizzing cube, cotton candy dough and more. Designed for ages 4+, Itty Bitty Prettys Little Tea Cups will be available for $9.99
This year, San Diego Coimic Con will offer a unique experience for The Walking Dead fans as all of their scheduled panels will be online and free to view on the week of SDCC 2020 @Home. This happened due to the current pandemic that prevented the actual event to have a massive gathering. Details and the times of each panel have been revealed today as you can see the information below.
Friday July 24th, 12:00PM-1:00 PM
Fear the Walking Dead will present a panel for the series’ upcoming sixth season, premiering later this year. Moderated by Chris Hardwick, the panel will feature TWDU chief content officer Scott M. Gimple, showrunners and executive producers Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg, and cast members Lennie James, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Colman Domingo, Danay Garcia, Karen David, Jenna Elfman, and Rubén Blades. Season six of Fear the Walking Dead explores what has become of the unlikely family once united by a mission to help those in need. After being torn apart by Virginia (Colby Minifie) and her Pioneers, the group is now dispersed across her far-reaching settlements. Morgan’s (James) last message at the end of season five implored the group to “Just Live” and this season we’ll see what that means to each of them. Some will find the stability and opportunity within Virginia’s communities to be intriguing, some will sink into darkness, while others will fight back against what has been forced upon them. Life behind Virginia’s walls will test each and every one of them in different ways, forcing them to define who they are in this new world.
Friday July 24th, 1:00PM- 2:00PM
The Walking Dead will make its 11th San Diego Comic-Con appearance with a panel spotlighting “A Certain Doom, ” which will air as a standalone episode later this year. Moderated by Chris Hardwick (Talking Dead), the panel will feature TWDU chief content officer Scott M. Gimple, showrunner and executive producer Angela Kang, executive producer Greg Nicotero, who directed the episode, and cast members Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Lauren Cohan, Josh McDermitt, Seth Gilliam, Ross Marquand, Khary Payton, and Paola Lazaro. In The Walking Dead episode 1016, “A Certain Doom, ” Beta engages the final battle of the Whisperer War.
Friday July 24th, 2:00PM-3:00PM
The Walking Dead: World Beyond makes its Comic-Con International debut as the third series in wildly successful The Walking Dead Universe. Moderated by Chris Hardwick, the series’ panel will feature TWDU chief content officer Scott M. Gimple, showrunner and executive producer Matt Negrete and cast members Aliyah Royale, Alexa Mansour, Hal Cumpston, Nicholas Cantu, Nico Tortorella, Julia Ormond, and Joe Holt.The Walking Dead: World Beyond delves into a new mythology and story that follows the first generation raised in a surviving civilization of the post-apocalyptic world. Two sisters along with two friends leave a place of safety and comfort to brave dangers, known and unknown, living and undead on an important quest. Pursued by those who wish to protect them and those who wish to harm them, a tale of growing up and transformation unfurls across dangerous terrain, challenging everything they know about the world, themselves and each other. Some will become heroes. Some will become villains. But all of them will find the truths they seek.
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com
Kailynn Heide is a graphic designer based out of Minnesota. She is known for her work of The Walking Dead related print designs. Ever since she started her profession, her work was universally revieved positive in the community of The Walking Dead, and even some of the talent of the show as well. I recently got the chance to intervew Kailynn as we talked about that, along with her passion for graphic design, and getting to know more about Kailynn in this exclusive interview.
First, I would like to get to know more about you and I believe your fans and supporters would love to hear your story too. Where did you grow up? And what were some of your earliest childhood memories?
KH: “Of course! I grew up in Pillager, which is a very small town in central Minnesota (the population is around 500 people)! One of my earliest memories growing up was losing my first tooth. I was in preschool at the time and we were all hanging out on the playground. I remember telling the teacher I had lost my tooth and I couldn’t find it. After some searching, we miraculously found it amongst the wood chips and it was placed into a small bag so I could bring it home and show my family!”
What were some early goals you wanted to accomplish before you decided to do graphic design?
KH: “Before I applied to the graphic design program, I wanted to familiarize myself with the field. To prepare, I was using apps and free programs on my family’s computer to develop my skills. I was also working on building my social media presence by sharing my edits/designs on Instagram and Twitter. I was a shy kid growing up, so I also began to work on my interpersonal skills. I firmly believe my self-confidence improved greatly once I discovered the TWD fandom. It was a relief to finally find people who I could be myself around and who shared a common interest.”
Was there any point that graphic design was challenging if you recall?
KH: “At my community college, the graphic design and videography programs were actually merged together. Because of that, my fellow graphic design classmates and I were required to take a few videography classes and vice versa. Although I did learn some new skills, I did find those classes to be somewhat strenuous. I have huge respect for anyone who works in that field because I learned firsthand just how much work goes into filming, editing and rendering any and all types of video.”
I have seen your work and I am amazed at how much effort you put into it. The fans also love your work too. How did it feel for you when your work started to get noticed in this way?
KH: “Thank you! To this day, the love and support I receive for my artwork blows me away. When I first discovered The Walking Dead and began making fan art to display my love for the show, I was stunned to see the amount of people who were showing interest in this hobby of mine I had only recently discovered. It wasn’t long before I realized this was something I wanted to do long-term.”
A lot of your work is based on The Walking Dead. When did you first hear of the series and was The Walking Dead your first choice on doing commissions for fans?
KH: “Unfortunately, I didn’t discover the series until season six. My favorite YouTuber had the episode “East” playing in the background of one of her videos and it caught my attention. I watched the episode that same night and immediately became hooked. I ended up binge-watching all six seasons within about three weeks after that. The first episode I actually watched live was the dreaded premiere of season seven. In regards to commissions, it wasn’t until this year that I really had anyone show any interest in wanting one. Because most of my followers are from the TWD fandom, I haven’t been surprised that a majority of the commissions are based on the show. I personally find the TWD commissions easier to do, only because I’m so familiar with the show and it’s characters.”
What is your favorite episode of the show, and your least favorite?
KH: “My favorite episode of the show would have to be “The Same Boat” from season six. My favorite character has always been Maggie and being able to see her and Carol’s badassery on full display was so satisfying to watch. It’s hard to choose my least favorite episode, but if I had to, it would probably be “Swear” from season seven. The episode just wasn’t very interesting to me.”
My favorite pieces of your work are the World Beyond and Jaws tributes. Do you have any personal favorites?
KH: “Oooh nice choices! My personal favorites would have to be the Lucille Lineup and Whiskey Cavalier tribute posters. Both were big hits in the fandoms and I am so unbelievably appreciative of all the love I received for those designs.”
What is your thought process when you select particular scenes on the show for you to work on your projects?
KH: “Before the commissions started flowing in, most of my pieces were based on my own personal favorite episodes and scenes from the show. Because my work is done in a minimalist style, I have to be careful with which scenes I choose and how I create the design so as to not make it too busy to the point of the design becoming unrecognizable.”
If any, have any of the cast or crew seen your work? If they did, what did they say?
KH: “You know it! The number of cast and crew members has grown quite long over the past few years, but there have been a few reactions that have stuck with me more than others. The first was when I was able to meet Lauren Cohan at a convention back in 2017. I was lucky enough to have her sign some artwork I had done of Glenn and Maggie. When I first handed it to her, I could see she had become overcome with emotion and was speechless for a few moments. She actually ended up taking her phone out of her bag and taking a picture of it to send to Steven Yeun! Another incredible reaction I received was from Ryan Hurst just last year. Angela Kang had reposted my minimalist tribute to The Whisperers on her Instagram and Ryan had seen her post and ended up reposting the design to his own page and following me on Instagram and Twitter. I made a deal with him that I would bring him a print of the design at a convention in Atlanta later that week. To make a long story short, he now owns a 24×36 poster of that design!”
In the future, which franchise would you like to produce prints of and what would be your first print of that selected franchise?
KH: “I’ve had a few requests to design posters for the Marvel franchise as well as for Star Wars and Breaking Bad. If I had to choose, the idea of doing a poster for Breaking Bad is something I’d be more interested in. I’ve never watched the series myself, but the vibe and tone of that show would definitely be something I could easily translate into a minimalist design.”
What advice can you give to upcoming graphic designers that would want to do something similar to you?
KH: “Always be yourself. It’s easy to compare yourself to others, but try to remember it’s not a competition. There is only one you.”
Within the next few years, would you like to see yourself in either this industry, or in a path that is not related to graphic design and art?
KH: “I currently define myself as working part-time as an artist and part-time as a service advocate at my retail job. My dream would be to travel the country and sell my artwork at fan conventions across the United States. However, as of right now, I feel good with where I’m at and how far I’ve come within the past few years!”
You can follow Kailynn and check out her online store at the links below.
The feud between Daryl Dixon and Savior lieutenant Dwight has lasted a total of three seasons. Their feud started from something that was accidental, to becoming very major as the time went by. This week, I highlight the feud between Dwight and Daryl on my miniseries, Feuds of the Dead.
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Christine Evangelista as Honey and Austin Amelio as D – The Walking Dead _ Season 6, Episode 6 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
While the group was trying to get the massive horde of walkers away from Alexandria, Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha were luring walkers to another direction. All three of them were suddenly shot at by The Saviors and Daryl lost track of the both of them while they were shooting. Daryl then rode into a burned down forest and had a slightly brutal accident. He did however, took down a walker. After this, Daryl inspects the area until Sherry and Tina appeared and Dwight knocked him out with an object. All three of them held Daryl as a captive since they thought he was a Savior. Dwight orders him to say nothing and Daryl kept telling him that he needs to go back to his community. They walk for a bit and hide because they did not want to be seen by The Saviors since Dwight, Sherry, and Tina are the ones they are actually looking for since they stolen medicine and ran away. Dwight sees Wade cutting off an arm of another Savior since he was bitten. They then go to the cabin that was burned down to give Tina medicine and Tina was bitten by a walker. Daryl took down that walker, and Sherry had to put down Tina. As they were about to depart and split away, Dwight and Sherry demands Daryl to give them his crossbow and motorcycle. Daryl gave it to them.
One month later, Daryl, Rosita, and Denise went on a supply run. After Denise got a soda can, she argues with them both and out of nowhere, a crossbow bolt pierces her skull as she got Abraham’s comic book death thanks to Dwight. Dwight and The Saviors appeared with Eugene as their hostage, and Dwight has a burn on the side of his face. He introduces himself again and demanded Daryl and Rosita their location. As Eugene told Dwight that Abraham is near, Dwight told The Saviors to look for him. While Dwight was not looking, Eugene took a bite on his crotch and next thing you know, a gun battle between those Saviors and Daryl, Abraham, and Rosita happened. Dwight was about to get bit by a walker, but he shot that walker down. Dwight and the rest of those Saviors retreated as Daryl got his crossbow back.
Austin Amelio as Dwight; Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon – The Walking Dead _ Season 6, Episode 15 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
While Michonne and Glenn were in the forest, they heard whistles from The Saviors. It was Dwight that made the call for them to be captured. If there is one thing I should say, is that there is a lot of capturing going on during this feud. Daryl and Rosita found both of them, but Glenn tried to warn both of them to get away from the area. Dwight sneaked up on Daryl and shot him in the shoulder as he and Rosita are captured. Later that night, almost every member of Rick’s group is surrounded by a large group of The Saviors. Simon ordered Dwight to get Michonne, Glenn, Rosita, and Daryl, who is still wounded, out of the van to join Rick and the rest. Negan makes his introduction and told Rick about the “new world order.” We know how this went. Negan picked Abraham to meet his demise by lucille. After Negan taunted Rosita, Daryl punched Negan. Then, a few Saviors put Daryl on the ground as Negan shouted ” Not one bit of that **** flys here.” Dwight, now in possesion of Daryl’s crossbow again, asks Negan if he can kill him right there. Negan told Dwight to not kill him. Daryl is then put back at the line as Negan killed Glenn due to the fact that he said that he would shut it down if someone tries to come after him again. In the morning after Negan took Rick for a hunting trip and broken Rick much more, He ordered Dwight to place Daryl in one of their vans to take him back to The Sanctuary as their prisoner.
Austin Amelio as Dwight, Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon – The Walking Dead _ Season 7, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
At The Sanctuary, Daryl is forced to do yard work and chores as the other prisoners. Negan wanted Dwight to not only break Daryl, but to also convince him to join The Saviors. Daryl did not break even though he had to endure too much torture and declined to join as he is not “Negan” at all. Even Sherry did not want to see Daryl as a prisoner either. When Negan and The Saviors went to Alexandria for their first pickup, they brought Daryl there to not only parade him around, but to show Rick and everyone what they did to him. Daryl did not say a word while this whole visit happened. Then, we are back at The Sanctuary as Daryl sees that Negan is with Carl Grimes. And later that day, they all witnessed Negan burning Mark’s side of the face with an iron due to him sleeping with one of Negan’s wives, who was also with Mark before they became a Savior.
Some time later while Negan and a number of The Saviors were at Alexandria, Daryl killed Fat Joey, and escaped The Sanctuary to go to The Hilltop. It was there where he reunited with Rick and everyone else as he also given them intel about The Sanctuary. Daryl is then placed at The Kingdom as Simon and The Saviors went to Alexandria to look for Daryl. It is here that Richard given Daryl a new crossbow to use (PSE Fang model) and to plan to strike The Saviors. But when the both of them were by themselves, Daryl beats the crap out of Richard because of the way Richard talked about Carol along with the fact that he wanted to alert them. Meanwhile at The Sanctuary, Dwight placed the blame on Daryl and Sherry’s disappearence on Dr. Carson and Negan had him burned to death at the furnace. Dwight also started to become a double agent as he wanted Negan to be taken down too. Dwight meets with Rosita as she takes him to the cell at Alexandria. Daryl wanted to kill Dwight right there, but Rick told him not to because they need him for information. Daryl vows to kill Dwight after they kill Negan.
At the battle at Alexandria Dwight left a note to Daryl telling him that he did not know that the attack would happen. Back at The Sanctuary, Negan declares war against all of the other communities. Rick, Jesus, Ezekiel, Maggie, and the rest were prepared for it. But to keep them prepared, Dwight was still acting as a double agent. He and Daryl used their crossbow bolts to send messages to eachother of the locations of their outposts. All of the outposts were attacked before, during, and after the attack at The Sanctuary. After The Saviors were trapped at The Sanctuary due to the attack and the fact that there are hundreds of walkers outside, Dwight, Simon, Regina, Gavin, and Eugene talk about the current situation of how it happened as they suspect that there is a mole within the group. After this, Eugene and Dwight talked about how he should keep his tracks hidden or he would be exposed.
Once they get things back in order, Negan launches an attack at Alexandria as he and The Saviors bombed the entire place with grenade launchers. At the same time, More Saviors blocked the road on the other side. While they had their gun battle with Daryl, Tara, Maggie and the rest, Dwight turned on The Saviors by shooting them down. Laura found out about this as it happened and she ran away afterwards. Dwight then explained his actions to Daryl, Rosita, and Tara and told them that he cannot go back to them. Dwight still wanted to help them and by Daryl taking back his vest and Stryker crossbow back again, that means that he will still accept Dwight’s help.
Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon, Christian Serratos as Rosita Espinosa, Alanna Masterson as Tara Chambler, Austin Amelio as Dwight; group – The Walking Dead _ Season 8, Episode 11 – Photo Credit: Gene Page/AMC
A few days later, Daryl, Rosita, Siddiq, Tara and other members needed to cross the lake to get to the other side without being seen by The Saviors. Dwight helped them across, but they still could not trust him yet. Tara was about to kill him, but Dwight rejoined The Saviors as he also did this because he and Tara were about to be caught seen. Dwight returns to The Sanctuary as Simon wanted to attack Hilltop now since Negan was missing. This was after Simon ordered The Saviors to kill all of the members of Jadis’ scavengers at The Junkyard. The battle of Hilltop started at night, and they all did the plan that Negan told them to do before he went missing and that was, to infect all of their weapons with walker blood so that way when they use their weapons against their opponents, they will all turn. Everyone did this except Dwight as he used a compound bow to shoot Tara with a clean arrow. Tara figured out that Dwight was still on their side because she did not turn like everyone else that got hit with those weapons did. Daryl still did not trust him. Meanwhile, Laura told Negan about Dwight turning on The Saviors and Dwight was not the prisoner that Daryl was before. On the final battle of the war, Eugene’s plan to sabotage all the bullets worked and it gave time for Dwight to fight Negan. But that did not end there as Rick was the one to end the war by slicing Negan’s throat as the rest of The Saviors surrendered.
Elsewhere, Daryl took Dwight to a forest. It is quite telling that the beginning of their feud started in a forest, and the end was in a forest. Dwight thought that Daryl was going to kill him. But Daryl spared his life and exiled him. He told Dwight to look for Sherry and to never return ever again or else he will kill him to end the feud.
For a feud that lasted a long time on The Walking Dead, this one had a better payoff than the Rick and Negan feud. Since Daryl eventually became a leader and Dwight crossing over to Fear The Walking Dead, who knows if their paths will ever cross again in this world.
I will return next week for the final feud of this mini-article series Feuds of the Dead!
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com
There are many incidents in the world of professional wrestling that is talked about to this day. From the Montreal Screwjob, to CM Punk walking out of WWE, and even the Owen Hart tragedy, These key moments are never forgotten from the old generation of fans, and the current generation once they do their research on these topics. One of these key moments happened in WCW on this day 20 years ago which has since been named the “Bash at the Beach 2000 incident” by the fans. It is time to revisit this moment that is not only talked about to this day, but also debated on which parts of this incident was planned or not.
WHAT LEAD TO THIS INCIDENT
Vince Russo returned to WCW in June 2000 after taking a brief hiatus. At this point, WCW was already in it’s worst year and the damage of the company itself left everyone uncertain. Vince Russo wanted to push the younger talent that has not had the chance to the main event status. He began this a few months earlier when he pushed for Jeff Jarrett to win the WCW Championship and he did exactly that. There was no problem with Russo doing this because the majority of the fans wanted to see more talent that they already had become main eventers and some of the talent they already had before Russo came to WCW left for WWE and became bigger stars. The only thing that was somewhat preventing this, was the big name talent such as Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and Sid were all still in the main event scene that year. You could imagine the politics going around backstage during this time with those bigger names over the mid to lower card names.
The week of the show, John Laurinaitis had a meeting with Hulk Hogan. John told Hogan that Russo wanted Hogan to lose to the WCW Champion Jeff Jarrett at the show. Hogan did not like this idea and called Eric Bischoff to talk to Russo about another idea for the match. The plan that was purposed was for Hogan to win the title, leave WCW with the Championship, have Vince Russo set up a new tournament to crown a new champion, and then have Hulk Hogan return at a later date as the “real” champion (Similar to how CM Punk and John Cena were both WWE Champions at the same time in the summer of 2011). Hulk Hogan as the real champion vs the current champion would have then be booked at either Fall Brawl, or Halloween Havoc at that year.
Vince Russo did not like this idea. But due to Hogan using his creative control clause in his contract, Hogan figured that Russo would not change that plan. Vince Russo stated on Kayfabecommentaries that his plan the entire time is that no matter what, Hogan was not leaving with the belt. Booker T was.
THE DAY OF THE SHOW
At the day of the PPV and about two hours before the show began, Eric Bischoff talks to Vince Russo the moment he arrived to the arena. Bischoff told Russo to talk to Hulk Hogan about the match. Hogan told Russo that he should win the WCW Championship because he needed the title again, or else he will not work the show in protest. Hogan then asked Russo what would happen if it was real that he beats Jarrett in a shoot. Vince Russo then told Hogan if it was real, then he would go out and cut a promo towards Hogan. Vince Russo then pitched the Booker T vs Hogan match for both WCW Championships down the line and Hogan liked the idea. But what was about to happen, was not what they expected.
THE MATCH
The match then started. Jeff Jarrett’s music played, but Vince Russo made his entrance followed by Jarrett. Hulk Hogan then made his entrance. As soon as the bell rang, Russo told Jarrett to lie down which stunned Hogan, the announcers, and even the crowd. Russo then threw the belt in the ring and walked off. Hogan then got a microphone and said that infamous line “That’s why this company is in the damn shape it’s in because of bull**** like this” as he put his foot on Jarrett’s chest for the three count. Jarrett left the ring afterwards as Hogan became the new WCW Champion. Hogan then left the ring to walk to the back. What happened next during the Sting and Vampiro skit, is that Hogan and Bischoff left the arena to go to their plane. Vince Russo returned to the ring to not only cut a scathing promo on Hulk Hogan, he fired him as well and rebooked the main event as Jarrett will now face Booker T. Hogan and Bischoff was not aware of the promo Russo cut until they landed at their location a few hours later. Booker T defeated Jarrett to win his first ever WCW Championship.
THE AFTERMATH
Everything that happened before Jarrett lied down was part of the pitched plan. The only people that knew about this, was Hogan, Vince Russo, and Eric Bischoff. This was an example of massive communication as nobody knew what was real, and what was not in that situation. Hogan then sued Russo for defamation which was settled a few years later. Hogan would never return to WCW. Vince Russo stayed for a few more months. Booker T would then win the WCW Championship three more times in WCW, and be signed to WWE after they brought WCW. It was in WWE when Booker T won his fifth WCW Championship. And Jeff Jarrett stayed in WCW until the end, but WWE did not sign him. But he eventually founded Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, which is now Impact Wrestling. To this day, there are different versions of the story told by Vince Russo, Jeff Jarrett, Booker T, and Eric Bischoff. Between the parties involved, it is up to you on which take of the story about the incident that you side with. I remember watching this show live on Pay-Per-View with my brother and cousin and they both had a hard time piecing out whether if this incident was part of the show, or not. This was, until the next day, we realized that Hogan was really gone from WCW. The way you can sum up this incident, is that it was a work, presented as a shoot, that then became a shoot.
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com
