All language subtitles for wwe_untold_s03e02_rodzilla_runs_wild

I never in all the years I've been doing
this grand sport remember so much

anticipation and buildup to one match,
not only in pro wrestling amongst our

fans, but in the sports world.

Malone never dreamed as a little kid
being a basketball player.

He dreamed of being a wrestler.

I think the tag match involving Karl
Malone and Dennis Rodman was one of the

highlights of my career.

I've got Phil Jackson calling me going,
where's my guy at? Where's my guy at?

I'm going, Robin, Phil Jackson keeps
blowing up my phone. You got to go back.

goes, I don't want to go back.

All the lines were blurred.

When he hit me with the diamond cutter,
I said, thank God it's over.

The allegiance switched from WWE to WCW.

We were really, really running hard. We
had everybody's attention. Everybody

wanted to be involved.

So they're looking for like, what can we
do that the other show doesn't have?

And so WCW goes to the tried and true
well of celebrities and pro wrestling

matches.

I just think it's something so special.

to take a celebrity that's really,
really established and take them out of

element and just see the reaction of how
they react and how the fans react to

them.

It's easy to laugh at some of these
matches. You know, you can make fun of

Arquette or whoever for all you want.
But this is a part of wrestling history

going back to its very earliest days.
You know, we had like world boxing

champions would come referee wrestling
matches just to like give wrestling that

little sheen of significance in the
sports landscape.

And then to take those athletes and
bring them into the world of sports

entertainment, it gets a ton of media
coverage. And I think the additional

coverage in and of itself.

is one of the reasons why the audience
gets excited about it.

What

WCW

did in 98 was, I think they kind of
shocked everybody because they didn't go

the regular well of football players.
They went to the pro basketball world

they got... Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz
and Dennis Rodman of the Chicago Bulls.

He and Karl Malone are squaring off in
the finals. The Bulls and the Jazz are,

guess, for the second year in a row.

And they're both power forwards. They're
guarding each other on every

possession. Rodman is notoriously, like,
pesky defender.

His only job out there is to make Karl
Malone's life a living hell.

It's very organic, you know? I mean,
these guys already hate each other. They

just sort of end up having a match in
WCW. Somehow it makes all the sense in

world.

Dennis Rodman, the worm, is here.

The opening moments of WCW Monday Night
Trial.

Hulk Hogan, Dennis Rodman.

Together, Eric Bischoff in tow.

And two men who will form a gigantic tag
team at the main event at Bash at the

Beach.

Rodzilla was perfect because he was a
monster. He was a monster with his

life in public.

Wherever he went, he created chaos.

When Dennis and WCW first started
working together, Dennis wanted a tour

So I said, well, what the hell? It's not
that big of a deal. We'll get him a

tour bus for four or five days or a
week.

And it was towards the end of the night
and after an event, and Dennis said, you

know, I want to stop at a gentleman's
club.

And I said, well, what the hell? You
know, the night's over.

That's what he wants to do. You know, no
problem. So there was a number of high

-profile names in sports entertainment
who were part of the the crew, and we

went into the gentlemen's club.

And everybody had a great time, and it
was starting to get late.

And I'm looking around, and I'm like,
okay, where's Dennis?

Has anybody seen Dennis?

Couldn't find Dennis.

So I went up to one of the security guys
that were part of our team and said,

hey, I haven't seen Dennis here for, you
know, 45 minutes or an hour, any idea

where he is, because we should probably
wrap this up, you know, get out of here.

And he says, I think he's out on the
bus.

Hmm. All right, well, I'll go out on the
bus and see what's going on.

And not expecting anything. I thought
maybe he's sleeping out on the bus or

whatever, having a beer, you know.

Didn't know what to expect. And got out
there, and there was a couple security

guys, you know, standing outside the
bus. And they opened the door for me and

said, are you sure you want to go in
there? And I went, yeah, why not? You

I know Dennis pretty well. We're cool.

And I walked in that bus, and it was
like a scene from Caligula.

I went, oh, this is going to be a long
work.

I like the way you think, though. I
learned from you that bust last year,

remember?

Wow, I'm to a bust, brother.

I mean, it was like, because if you hear
stories about wrestlers back then in

the 70s and 80s and 90s, they was just
blown just out of control.

I mean, they would just sit there, party
all day, party all night. And I think

that's the reason why they like me being
in that situation, because they knew I

could handle that.

And for me to be involved with Bischoff
and all those guys, man, that was just

like icing on the cake for me.

Because, you know, living in Texas,
Dallas, Texas, when they had the Van

had the Van Derks back in the day,
that's all we watched was wrestling back

then. You know, it was like wrestling or
Dallas Cowboys.

That was it.

You know, that was it for us, the whole
culture there.

So wrestling, I watched it every Sunday,
man, relentlessly.

And I said, I got no problem doing that.
And I always wanted to do it. I'm glad

he made sure I fastened me.

There they go. Hey, he locked up, guys.

How about that?

Andre! Wow!

This place has went crazy.

Dennis Rodman has undressed the total
package.

Look back at, like, gorgeous George.

And we've seen a lot of wrestlers with
bleached hair and robes since then, but

at the time, to have like curled hair
that was bleached blonde, to have

spraying perfume behind you, to have
like a fine sequined robe or whatever

coming to the ring, this was just a
signifier of everything you're supposed

hate in the world.

And Dennis Rodman had a very specific
sense of style. I'm sure he was very

it himself, but he would dress in drag
specifically just to like make people

mad. He was trying to become a heel, and
he succeeded at it.

Well, Rodman had an incredible amount of
heat. He was anti -establishment, anti

-athlete. He would drink 75 kamikazes
and go set another record on the

basketball court, and then drink 75 more
kamikazes after the game. We had

Instagram, social media back then. I
would tell people, I'd be a f***ing

billionaire.

I'll tell you straight up.

I think a lot of people started to
really dig what I was doing.

They said, wow, this guy is not
basketball.

He's just an all -around entertainer,
period.

Knowing all that, he knows how to win.

He knows how to win every department of
life.

He knows how to win everywhere.

So when he transcended over to our
business and walked in a main event

everybody hated it.

Even the wrestlers hated it. Everybody
wanted to see him get his ass kicked.

The wrestlers in the back wanted to see
it even more than the fans. Because he

was arrogant, he wouldn't show up on
time.

We'd have ring time set aside for all of
us to work out. We had very busy

schedules. He'd come walking in an hour
and a half, two hours late. I could

smell booze all over his breath.

But when the red light went on and we
were live in front of the camera, he was

genius.

How'd it work?

Man with style, man with class, the NWO
comes to town, it's a new world, baby.

That's what it's going to be, me and my
good friend.

It's for life.

Rodman was my guy. You know, I knew him
forever, and we were really close

friends.

But Diamond Dallas Page bonded with
Malone.

I was at this big autograph signing in
Houston, Texas. I was actually there for

two days.

And someone said to me, hey, do you want
to go to see the Rockets play tonight?

I said, absolutely.

I want to go and check the game out. And
they go, oh, they're playing Utah Jazz.

I was like, oh, man, love to see Malone
play.

Well, when he rose up, and they're at
just a little timeout, and

Malone is looking up, and he does this.

Ross Foreman, who's our photographer,
was like, oh, my God.

Who just did the diamond cutter sign?
And he starts grabbing for his camera.

What a camera.

And he sent backstage passes for me and
Ross Foreman. And at some point, I get

a, hey, Carl's outside.

So I walk outside. I'm like, hey, man.

Gives me a big hug, super, you know, big
personality.

And, you know, here's my number, bro.

I said, we can change numbers. And I
said, if you ever want to, like, get in

ring and, like, play around a little
bit, I go, I can make that happen really

easily.

Great athlete. All he needs is to know
the moves and the science. And Diamond

Dallas Bays has been spending 24 hours a
day.

If you look at Carl Malone back then,
take the old pictures, he looked like a

wrestler. I mean, he was built for it.

I heard Rodman was coming

in again.

And I thought Dennis did a phenomenal
job the first time because he embodied

heel. He embodied the showman.

He'd been watching our stuff since he
was a little baby, you know, and loved

just like Carl.

I thought, hmm, I wonder if Malone would
do this.

So I called him up, and I said, hey, big
man, Rodman's coming in again. I

said, would you consider wrestling with
me against

Rodman and Hogan?

Yeah, I think I would.

Now, Eric Bischoff lived on the other
side of the hill.

Two houses away from me. We walked on
his deck. We're having a beer.

I said, I got an idea.

I said, what if it was me and Malone
against Rodman and Hogan?

And I thought, wow, that would be hard
to believe that it could happen. So I

have to give a lot of credit to GDP for
bringing Karl Malone into the picture.

To me, this guy right here is the
hardest working man in professional

especially when it comes to basketball.

I know, but, you know, it's funny. I
think they pitched that because of what

happened in the playoffs.

You know, we kept battling each other,
kept hitting each other, kept elbowing

each other, stuff like that. I said, why
not Carl Malone and Dennis Rodman?

And one of the reasons that I invested
so much money in Carl and Dennis for

particular pay -per -view is because I
knew that I would get advertising in

mainstream sports media that I could
never afford to buy.

I knew that every sports writer would be
criticizing both Carl and Dennis for

stepping into the world of sports
entertainment because, geez, you're

professional athletes and you should
never get involved with something like

that. I knew that wrestling media would
be so super critical. All of that added

up to a ton of press, a ton of media
that, like I said, we couldn't afford to

buy.

You know, Hulk Hogan's going to sell,
sell, sell.

You know, so it's like, hey, you can
always count on what the hell he's going

do. And then when you throw me in the
mix, the bad boy NBA, and you got

and the guy from Utah.

It's like, wow, what a matchup.

There's nothing more important.

Oh, my goodness.

That was Rodman.

And Hogan.

You know, one of the highlights of that
period of time was Dennis Rodman decided

to skip practice to attend a Nitro.

I knew it was going to create an issue
within the Chicago Bulls and probably

Dennis. But I wasn't too worried about
any ramifications with regard to WCW

because it was really Dennis' choice.

I've got Phil Jackson calling me going,
where's my guy at? Where's my guy at?

I'm going, Robin, Phil Jackson keeps
blowing up my phone. You got to go back.

goes, I don't want to go back. All the
lines were blurred.

Jordan really didn't say too much to me
because he knew the fact that no matter

what I did off the court, I'm there.

He didn't have to worry about me. I was
always there to play.

I knew I couldn't.

Talked to Dennis and Carl about doing
anything on court during play that would

help promote WCW.

But there was probably a conversation or
two, wink, wink, where someone

may have said, hey, guys, if you get the
opportunity off court during a stoppage

in play or during a timeout, do you have
any kind of...

animated conversation between the two of
you, if you get my drift.

That would only help.

I just wish that when we got into a
fight, that would have been as exciting

moving a man up.

You know, to make it more interesting as
far as a final.

Dennis Rodman, he was always pushing the
envelope.

And he did wrestling. Ah, it's
wrestling. You know, it's a circus.

When Malone did it, it changed the face
of what was happening.

Malone never dreamed as a little kid
being a basketball player.

He dreamed of being a wrestler.

Look around,

man. It's a part of American culture,
world culture.

Didn't want to announce it, announce it.
We were figuring out how we're going to

do it. And then one day it hit me. I
call Eric up and I go, bro.

You know, I talked to Carl and he said,
whether they win or lose, he's going to

be on The Tonight Show. We're not
shooting this angle on The Wrestling

We're shooting this angle on The Tonight
Show. The world stage with Jay Leno in

the middle. That was...

It was me, Hulk.

So anyway, so we're sitting there. I'm
sitting there doing my interview. Hulk

comes out.

The next thing you know, here comes DDP.
They come this way.

And it started to just get real quick. I
mean, I didn't even expect that. Is

Malone a wimp? Did you just call Malone
a wimp? I did.

You called Dennis? I didn't hear Dennis.

I did.

I call Carl a lot more than a wimp on
the court, brother.

Really? A lot more than a wimp.

It comes to that point where me and
Malone come through the wings, holding

chairs, throwing down the chairs,
throwing up the diamond that he signed.

And, you know, Diamond Dallas Page has
never really gotten his hands on me, so

it was the perfect opportunity for
Diamond Dallas Page to kick my butt. I

realize he was going to do it for real.

TDP said, f*** me.

He said, f*** me, man. I got my one
shot, man. Let me do this, man. Let me

this. So he did it, and it actually came
out pretty good.

That's real, man.

The adrenaline was so high.

Drew Carey, I'll never forget.

Lionel came up to me later. Drew Carey
said, oh, my God, was that real? Oh, my

God, that was intense.

The next

day, well...

Then it was pandemonium. This year we're
going to Bash at the Beach 98 in San

Diego, and I think the entire sports
world is awaiting this announcement.

I've seen press conferences before, you
know, when big things happen, like big

things happen.

This was like the Super Bowl.

They were lined up everywhere.

There's three things I wanted to do
growing up as a kid. I wanted to be a

trooper. I want to fly jets, and I want
to wrestle.

I can't do those other two.

The only thing I'm thinking about is
beating Rodzilla and that little sister

got with him, Hulk Hogan.

No one ever called him that, but I'll
call him. He's a coward, a yellow

coward, and I'm looking forward to it.

These two guys were two of the greatest
athletes I've ever been with. Karl

Malone.

had the most intense work ethic. When he
told me he was going to do this, he

wanted to really do it. Like, he didn't
want to do it where he came in and just

did one little thing and got out.

Like, he came and trained with me at the
power plant on and off for weeks.

It was really uncomfortable working with
Dennis in the very beginning in terms

of training because you could never
really tell if he was paying attention.

When we were training together, and it
was a limited amount of time to train

with Dennis, partly because of his
schedule and partly because Dennis just

didn't like to prepare much. You could
tell that he was picking it up, but he

didn't have the same intensity that Karl
Malone did.

But game day for WCW, when the red light
was on, he would shock you.

Rodman had a good feel for what we
actually did in the ring from day one.

it's nice to work with somebody that the
physicality and the placement and the

timing is already there. It's what we
call them having it.

Rodman had it.

So did Karl Malone.

We decided to go to his bar.

And we all go to this bar, somewhere on
the beach, stuff like that, drinking all

night, all night.

I remember that next day, I had to
really reach really deep, man, to do

was drunk, man. I was, ooh.

And I used to ask this guy, how the fuck
do you guys do this all the time? I

mean, drink.

First 15 minutes of that match, I was
like, hell.

Once I started to get hit a little bit
more, I was cool. I was fine, yeah.

You know, one can only imagine what
activities that Dennis Rodman has

over the course of the past couple of
weeks, and only a small portion of those

activities made the national press.

Some things he did we probably can't
even talk about.

When Malone came out and took his shirt
off and was there with DDP, the place

exploded.

Here's Carl, the mailman.

I was really surprised because I saw
Dennis get a little intimidated. I was

supposed to actually rip Dennis' shirt
off, but he told me to leave his shirt

on. I don't think he wanted to take his
shirt off and stand next to Malone

because his car looks so jacked and so
big.

It looks awesome, and he and DDT are
here to fight. Ladies and gentlemen,

four... How come you didn't take your t
-shirt off?

Who, me or him?

He took his off. I didn't take my shirt
off. No, because, you know, after the

match, I did.

After the match, after the match, if
we're doing to do a whole thing, I just

want people to see the shirt.

It's going to be Rodzilla and the
mailman and the referee calls for the

And Rodzilla still has his glasses on.

Oh, he's cool.

You know, Carl's like, you know, he's
like country diesel strong. You know,

that country born strong.

Look at the physique of the mailman.
Tremendous shape. Diamond Dallas is a

shape. The moment when Rodman and Malone
locked up. He and Hogan were quite a

tag team. They locked up.

The fans are loving this.

Like, just the physical contact.

Side headlock by Dennis Rodman. Just the
moment of realizing, these guys are

actually trained to wrestle.

Into the ropes.

There we go.

Good move. To the floor.

I mean, it wasn't exactly like Hogan
slamming Andre. It wasn't just like the

biggest finishing move you've ever seen
at like a WrestleMania main event. But

that first lockup, this felt like a huge
moment.

When he comes out, everybody just
notices he's there.

DDP hooked it up collar and elbow with
Rodman and just pulled him down to the

mat.

Wow. There's a class act.

So you spit at DDP at one point. Was
that something that you guys talked

No.

No, because DDP, he... DDP was like a
little selfish.

for a minute it's all

right now we're even let's go at it
he'll look at me i'm like

okay you know okay let's do this all
right let's do it and he'll sit there

hit me for real i mean literally hit me
for real they're getting frustrated guys

But I think that I just did it because
it was easier for me to do that than

anything else.

If I went over and got a chair and took
outside the ring and stuff like that, it

would have got really ugly.

Grinding in a side headlock.

Rodman, look at DDP fight away.

I thought he delivered in all the spots
that we needed. And into the ropes he

goes. Whoa!

Make it two up. Look at that.

As an athlete, I'm telling you. And when
he added the match down, it looked

pretty sweet.

It's an awful confident -looking Carl
Malone.

Look at the wings spread on him. I mean,
from fingertip to fingertip. Like a

condor. You know, one of the things that
really impressed me with Carl is

what he lacked in entering experience
and technical ability,

he was able to make up for just in sheer
strength.

For example, the body slam, Hulk Hogan.
You go back and look at that.

It looks like he was throwing a 50
-pound bag of, you know, horse feed

How about that?

I've never been thrown around like that
by any other man, even Andre.

Mullen had no bounds.

I mean, if he wanted you over there,
he'd just throw you over there. I was

oh, my God, this guy's so strong.

And when he got in the ring, he had a
certain feeling of peace where it was

I was in some market that was grabbing,
trying to walk up to me and poking me in

the eye or stepping on my feet or
tripping over me. He was there.

It's time to get the mail.

And then runs him down.

What he did, when he did that move, to
be honest with you, I said, thank God

this is over.

When he hit me with the diamond cutter,
I said, yeah, this is over.

The disciple's in, though.

The disciple is in.

Oh, he wipes out D .D.

they gave us an opportunity to be there
and an opportunity for people to

actually see us, actually wrestle
against each other.

I just wish the fact that they would
have had us do a lot more doing that

Me and Carl Malone. I wish they would
have had us doing some really, really

cool, interesting things with, you know,
David Page and Hulk Hogan or even...

Randy Savage, all the guys that was back
then, back in the day. I wish they

would have had me and Carl doing a whole
lot of things. Even having me and Carl

just do like a whole match by ourselves.

When I look at all of the pieces, two
high -profile athletes at the very peak

their careers, coming off the playoffs,
stepping into the ring with Hulk Hogan,

who was and probably still is one of the
most recognized names in sports

entertainment in the last 30 years.

That was something that I think had
never happened before.

and will probably never happen again. It
was an amazing accomplishment, and it's

one that I'm, it may not be the most
successful thing I've ever done in this

industry, but in many ways, it's one
that I'm most proud of.

When I look back at it now, it was just
so special.

And when I watched the tape, I just
catch myself grinning from ear to ear

an idiot because we pulled it off.

We talked about the second, third win
that best football players, the

athletes will get.

And now he's smiling.

I think that looking back at celebrities
who've been bothered, we've had a ton.

We've got a win for the Celebrities Hall
of Fame.

Karl Malone needs to be in that win.

Final thoughts.

That's all the time Karl beat me.

No finals, no finals, no finals.

We got the ring. He didn't.

So he kicked my ass in the ring. That's
okay.

That's okay.

That's my story.