Jim Ross and Conrad Thompson discussed how Dennis Rodman nearly worked with WWE in 1997 before ultimately joining World Championship Wrestling instead.
Thompson explained that Rodman had originally been in talks to appear at WrestleMania 13 as part of a storyline involving Goldust, noting how Rodman’s public persona at the time made him a natural fit for WWE’s creative direction.
“Dennis Rodman was going to become a part of WCW, and the Observer would report that this wasn’t actually WCW’s idea. Dennis Rodman had apparently received an offer from the World Wrestling Federation to be a part of WrestleMania—to do something with Goldust. Now, this is a weird association in hindsight, but you have to understand the context. Dennis Rodman was showing up to his book signing in a wedding dress. So as we’re trying to establish this WrestleMania theme of Goldust doing big stuff, we know what he did with the Hollywood Backlot Brawl the year prior with Roddy Piper. Well, we’re looking for another spectacle. Last year, we maybe leaned a little bit too far into the O.J. Simpson stuff—well, this year we’ll lean into Dennis Rodman. Instead, Rodman loves Hulk Hogan, makes the call to Hulk Hogan, the agents get involved, Eric Bischoff closes the deal on the phone, and now all of a sudden, Dennis Rodman is not going to be a part of WrestleMania 13. Now, he’s going to be a part of WCW’s program. He’ll show up at Uncensored, but he’ll actually wrestle a match as a free agent later that summer for WCW and do bonanza business. How frustrated was Vince McMahon that he thought he had Dennis and it slipped through his fingers, and damn it, it went to the competition?”
Ross confirmed that WWE had strong interest in using Rodman as a one-off attraction and admitted there was disappointment internally when the deal fell through.
“Yeah, it was frustrating for everybody, because we all had a thought that, for a one-off, one-time-only appearance by Dennis, it would be a hit because he was kind of a lightning rod. He’s polarizing, and so we were disappointed, no doubt, because it seemed like it was going to be a layup—that he was, you know, what we needed for that attraction, for that Piper role of an outsider coming in and doing his thing. He [Bischoff] was smart enough, aggressive enough, and bold enough to make it happen—simple as that. They paid Rodman, I’m sure, a lot more than Vince and we were going to pay him. I’m guessing that, and it was an unknown—how’s he going to react? How’s he going to be? So yeah, it was disappointing, but was it a deal breaker? No. To me, it was always going to be a one-time deal. Now, I know WCW got more than one out of Dennis, as you alluded to. It was a successful investment for Bischoff and WCW with Dennis Rodman.”
Rodman ultimately aligned himself with Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff, becoming a recurring presence in WCW and contributing to the company’s mainstream appeal during the late 1990s wrestling boom.
