It’s time to look back at Hulk Hogan’s turn Dennis Rodman and Carl Malone from basketball players to superstar wrestling.
The world of sports is still upset by the shock that Hogan has passed away. The legendary wrestler and entertainer were 71 years old.
Despite being known as a wrestling icon, he truly transcended the medium and became a pop culture icon over the years.
But one of Hogan’s biggest passions was basketball, particularly the NBA. Hogan is famous for walking into the ring once with Shaquille O’Neill.
It also included glimpses of his massive fandom and building a friendship with controversial star Dennis Rodman. His friendship would lead to Hogan leading Rodman into his villain, NWO fact.
When one of Rodman’s NBA enemies came to World Championship Wrestling, they even went from friends to a partner on the tag team.
In 1998, Carl Malone and Dennis Rodman were removed for just a month from their NBA Finals showdown, this time in the ring again.
Rodman, who joined the NWO with Hogan, teamed up with the Immortal. On other teams, Malone teamed up with fan favorite Superstar Diamond Dallas Page (DDP).
The two formed rivalry in both 1997 and 1998 during physical conflict in the NBA Finals, when Rodman helped contain Malone’s offensive explosion.
When it was time to be locked up, both stars were unstoppable and they put on a show for the audience. Just like in the NBA Finals, Rodman went on top.
Of course, unlike the NBA Finals, Rodman and Hogan used unruly tactics to beat Malone and DDP fan favorite pairings.
At the time, seeing two players at the height of their careers reveal it in the ring was an eye-opening sight for NBA fans.
This was not Rodman’s first rodeo in the world of wrestling. The Bulls sense was also wrestling with the previous year’s bash at the beach pay-per-view.
That night, Rozilla and Hulkster were unable to win, losing to Rex Ruger and the Giants, and were well known to fans as today’s big show.
However, Rodman’s fandom for wrestling ran so deeply that he skipped practice with the Chicago Bulls during the playoffs to attend WCW Monday’s Nitro.
Naturally, both Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson were angry at the enforcer. But when it comes to crunch time, Rodman went on business.
He helped the Bulls win two straight NBA championships against the Utah Jazz. But when he wasn’t in court he occasionally wreaked havoc with Hulk Hogan.