![]() ![]() Sting would eventually join the NWO as the group expanded. Who do you think it should be?’ Hulk said, ‘Well, I think it should be me.’ At the time, Hulk never knew it was going to be Sting-that’s how much of a secret that was.” #BLUEPRINT PRO WRESTLING CRACKED#We sat down, cracked a beer, lit a cigar, and he looked at me and asked, ‘Who’s the third guy?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know, Hulk. “We had a twelve pack of beer on ice and a couple Cuban cigars. Can you make it out to California?’ I said, ‘Sure, I’ll come out,’ and I came to his trailer, which was basically his dressing room and his office. ![]() He said, ‘Hey brother, I’d like to talk to you about what’s going on. That’s when I got the phone call from Hulk, who was literally on location filming in the middle of some mountain range in California. Sting and I were the only two people who knew. Kevin Nash and Scott Hall did not know who the third person was going to be. There are a lot of reasons why I have so much respect for Steve Borden, but one of the biggest reasons is-and I remember specifically talking to him on the phone while Hogan was off doing a movie-I asked Sting to abandon the babyface position he was in and take on that heel role, which was a big ask, and Sting was willing to do it. “Since Hulk had previously expressed that he wasn’t interested, I approached Sting about being the third man. ![]() I just didn’t know if he’d follow through on the decision.” Once Hulk made his decision, I knew it would be shocking and I knew he would be good at it. “Kevin and Scott coming allowed us to apply that kind of reality to the WCW product. “It felt real because it was treated real,” Bischoff says. He had crossed over into the mainstream during that period, and there is no one else who could have made that heel turn feel as substantial. Hogan was the face of the “golden era” of ’80s wrestling. In an era where Bischoff craved a more reality-based product, having Hogan-the ultimate WCW outsider, who wasn’t far removed from a babyface title reign of 469 days-align with Hall and Nash felt extraordinary. It was a conundrum, and having Hogan eventually return in red-and-yellow to fight off Sting, Hall and Nash feels like merely a new twist on an old story. Sting certainly could have worked a convincing style as a heel, but Hall and Nash were cast perfectly as The Outsiders. Imagining Sting as the third man is one of wrestling’s most dizzying “What if?” moments. Bischoff honed in on Sting as the best fit for the third man. With or without Hogan, a new group featuring Hall and Nash would be formed at Bash at the Beach. He knew it, I knew it, the fans knew it, but it took a few more months for him to realize it enough to make that change.” During the next few months, it became a little more obvious to Hulk that the red-and-yellow guy from the ’80s wasn’t working any more. “So I had approached Hulk a little under a year earlier about turning heel and changing the direction of his character. The match at Bash at the Beach was set to be their in-ring debut for their new employer. Together as The Outsiders, Hall and Nash did the seemingly impossible by being equal parts threatening, charming and intimidating, using the equity they had built in WWE to amplify their work in WCW. Hall claimed they were “taking over,” a stroke of genius considering it implied that they were sent from Vince McMahon’s WWE. Two weeks later, Nash also arrived, displaying a striking realism that was simply not present at the time in WWE. In an era when WWE was pre-taping much of its programming and genuine surprises were rare, his appearance sent shockwaves throughout wrestling. Hall had arrived in WCW in May of ’96, emerging from the crowd on an episode of Nitro. No one knew exactly how the Hogan turn would play out-or whether it would even occur, let alone become such a lasting memory for so many. The air of the unknown permeated every moment of preparation for Hall and Nash’s match against Sting, Lex Luger and Savage at Bash at the Beach. ![]()
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