Text By Neil Cathan

What if...Hulk Hogan didn't turn heel at Bash At The Beach '96?

Part I

Our story begins on July 7th, 1996, during the main event of 'Bash At The Beach', a 'Hostile Takeover' match between The Outsiders and the team of Randy Savage, Lex Luger and Sting, representing WCW. With Luger already out of action, and Randy Savage's comeback interrupted by a Kevin Nash low blow, all four men are down, and the 'third man' of Hall and Nash's team has yet to arrive. Suddenly, the lights go out, and it's here that we enter the story...

And it's here that it's dark, and nothing can be heard but confused shouting from the ring, and furtive murmuring cutting a frantic undercurrent through the anxious silence of the crowd, as they anticipate the arrival of the third man. Suddenly, a thunderously loud chairshot rings through the arena, reverberating to magnify it's already tremendous sound. There's a pause of silence, as the shouting stops, and the crowd hangs on the edge of their seats. As suddenly as the lights died, so are they reborn, and the ring is bathed again in light, illuminating clearly the sight of Hall covering Sting, as Nash does Savage, the weapon obviously used to down the heroes nowhere to be seen. Loathe to do it, but bound by the rules, the WCW referee bends to his knees, and slaps the mat with both his hands, once, twice, thrice. WCW not only failed to defend it's honour, but it was unable even to learn the identity of the third man. It is on a defeated note, save for the arrogantly posing Outsiders, that Bash At The Beach concludes...

July 8th, 1996: WCW Monday Nitro

The opening shot of Nitro focuses on the broadcast table, and sitting at it are Eric Bischoff, Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan, and the 'American Dream' Dusty Rhodes. They hype the episode's main event, in which Randy Savage will face off against one of his rival Flair's allies when he clashes with Chris Benoit. They start then to talk about the events of last night, when two men stride onto the scene, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall: The Outsiders.

Nash laughs, slapping Hall on the back, as they both   loom over the announce desk

"Hey look, it's another three 'WCW Big Boys.'"  Hall steps behind Nash, a smirk on his face

"Hide me, Kev! They're about as scary as those three men we fought last night!" Nash sighs deeply "Man, that was some fight, huh? I mean, we hardly needed that third man, we had them beat without him, ain't that right, Dusty?" he says, slapping Dusty in a friendly way on the shoulder. Dusty stands up angrily, the former multi-time world champion staring up into the eyes of Nash. Nash laughs, putting his hands up, with a goofy smile on his face, backing off from the broadcast table with Hall, laughing as they go.

Later on in the broadcast, Bischoff puts his hand to his headset, listening closely, before reporting that Randy Savage couldn't make it to the show tonight, and that they're looking into the reason why. Another twenty minutes pass before the reason why is explained, as Bischoff reports that a tape has been sent in with the explanation for his absence, and the camera cuts out to show the tape.

And it's a shocking sight that greets the audience of Nitro: Lex Luger, Randy Savage and Sting, all tied to chairs in a dank room, gags tied in their mouths. A tough voice, full of grit and gravel growls at them from behind the camera.

"Something was wrong with last night. Three former champions, three great wrestlers, couldn't stop two thugs? Now, unless old age suddenly caught up with you all in one night, there's just no excuse. One of you must be the inside man, I'm sure of it. And I've been a part of this business, this industry, this company, too damn long to let it slide. I'm going to get to the bottom of this. That's a promise." The camera focuses on Lex

"Now, your injury at the start of the match, that was awful convenient, if you ask me. Maybe you set it up, huh? Set it up so you could come out there later in the night, and no-one would know." Luger shakes his had in vehement denial of this accusation, before the camera turns to Sting

"And you. It was your splash that took him out, and no-one could have seen if that chairshot was you hitting Savage. Then you could've just lain down to protect your cover." The look of cold fury in Sting's eyes raises above the camera to stare daggers at the man behind it, as he swivels it around to face Savage, struggling against his bonds, trying in vain to reach the man behind the camera. The voice growls

"Of course, the same could easily be true of you. You could've hit Sting and let yourself get pinned too. I find that a lot more likely than Sting, personally. I've fought Sting, and he's a man of honour. Besides, he's always been in this company, whereas you and those Outsiders all came from up north. I'm going to call and let people know where you are now. You won't get back in time for Nitro, but that wasn't the point. The point was to let you know how easily I can have you at my mercy. I'm going to be looking into things. If I find out it was one of you, you'll be back here, and you won't get out so easily."

With this, the camera is switched off, and we return to the broadcast table, where Bischoff and Heenan discuss whether this could really be true, could any of those three be the traitors, and if we can't trust them, is there anyone we can trust? Dusty, on the other hand, looks determined. He stands up, and begins to walk away from the desk. Bischoff turns, giving him a quizzical look. Dusty comments

"Savage and Benoit is off. We need a new main event, I'm gonna go backstage and get ready to beat some sense, beat some respect into Kevin Nash. How's that sound to you? That sound like a main event?" Bischoff turns in his chair, a shocked look on his face.

"Well, you heard it here first, people. Dusty Rhodes returns to action tonight. I just hope he can put Nash out of it."

When the main event comes around, Nash strolls confidently down to the ring, not looking the least bit worried about the notion of Dusty putting him out of action. The crowd think differently, however, judging by the explosion of noise that greets 'American Dream' blasting through the speakers, and the sight of Dusty striding to the ring. The bell rings, and the match is under way. Nash starts by roughly shoving Dusty, causing him to stumble back, and Nash to raise his arms above his head, as if he'd already won. Dusty looks enraged now, and rushes forwards, peppering Nash with quickfire punches. Nash interrupts, grabbing him by the arm and whipping him roughly into the ropes. Dusty comes back with a shoulder block that causes Nash to stagger back a step or two. From here, Dusty is able to deliver a Bionic Elbow, sending Nash careening back into the ropes. Dusty drops his head, ready to backdrop Nash when he comes back, only for Nash to scoop him up from the position, dropping him back down with a brutal jackknife powerbomb, scooping him up and dropping him with another, then a third, before casually placing a foot on his chest, pinning him for three. As Nash celebrates as if he'd just won the world title, paramedics rush to bring Dusty away, where he can be safely checked medically, drawing Nitro to a close with the Outsiders victorious again.

July 15th, 1996: WCW Monday Nitro

The Four Horsemen look all business as they arrive at the arena for tonight's edition of Nitro. Forcefully shoving the doors open, they stride purposefully through the corridors, where they meet Randy Savage, going the other way. There's a stalemate in the corridor, neither giving way to let the other pass. After a tense moment, Savage steps forward, going eye to eye with Arn Anderson. Arn meets his stare, and the two seem ready to fight, when Flair shoves Savage, turning the two to face each other, Savage keeping watch on Arn from the corner of his eye. Flair warns Savage 

"We're not coming for you, Randy...not today, at least. We're here to get Nash and Hall for what they did to Dusty. See, we went to war, back in the day, and that gave me a hell of a lot of respect for the Dream. And the Dream's slumbering in a hospital bed right now, after that nightmare last Nitro. One way or another, they'll be made to pay. You planning on standing between us and them?"

Savage steps to one side, letting the Horsemen file past him, only stopping Arn, grabbing his arm as he passes.

"This isn't over, Arn."

"You'd better pray it is."

Bischoff happily supports the Horsemen from the announce desk, and the main event of Outsiders versus Ric Flair and anyone he wants to bring with him to the ring is quickly made.

The Outsiders are 'reached for comment' later in the night, although by the look on Gene Okerlund's face, and the arms of Hall and Nash forcefully holding him on either side, it looks more like Hall and Nash reached Gene, to make him broadcast their comment. Hall is the first to speak

"Y'know, Kev, does this whole thing seem fair to you?" Nash turns and looks at his partner, before jovially responding

"What whole thing, Bad Guy?"

"The fact that there's four horsemen," he raises four fingers  "gunning for two of us", dropping two of them now. Nash smiles, reminding Hall

"Three of us, you mean." Okerlund interrupts, turning to Kevin Nash and asking the question

"And just who is this third man we've heard so much about?" Hall's hand pushes Okerlund to face him, and he asks

"What are you, the kind of man who was always sneaking a look at his Christmas presents as a kid? It's a secret, ok? You'll all find out soon enough. You might even find out tonight." Nash shrugs "This guy's boring me, Scott. Let's get gone. We gotta get ready for Flair and the failures later tonight."

The time of the match rolls around, and Hall and Nash casually stroll to ringside, Hall stopping to make a crying face at a camera, mouthing "Poor Dusty" at it before laughing and moving on. They slouch in adjacent turnbuckles, watching the ramp with bored expressions, as conversation at the announce desk is furtive about who Flair has picked to be his partner. Flair struts out, holding a microphone and accompanied by the rest of the Horsemen, who, with the exception of the approving smile of Arn Anderson, look disgruntled. They flank the ramp on either side, and look towards the entrance arch, as Eddy Guerrero steps tentatively out, looking slightly unsure of himself, but proud nonetheless, and takes his place next to Flair. Flair raises the microphone, and begins to speak.

"Let me introduce to you, my partner for the night, Eddy Guerrero!" The camera cuts to Nash and Hall, and the former shouting in a voice of mock terror

"Not Eddy Guerrero! We're finished now!" while the latter is unable to stand still for laughter. Back to Flair, who continues

"I see some of you are a little...confused about my choice" Bischoff interjects on commentary that Benoit and Malenko look "more angry than confused."

"Especially you two in the ring, who I wouldn't expect for a second to understand this choice! Now, while I see confusion in you, all I see in Mr. Guerrero here is one hell of a lot of promise! And it's that promise that makes WCW so great, and it's that promise that you two are trying to crush by coming here! Me and Dusty, we were just guys on the midcard with a hell of a lot of promise once, and it's for that reason that I want Eddy Guerrero in my corner, to help me beat some respect into you two punks! Wooo!"

Eddy, getting increasingly fired up by Flair's speech, dashes towards the  ring. Flair looks mildly frustrated before dropping the mic and heading after him, the Horsemen heading down to surround the ring. Eddy hits the ring first, charged up, and makes a beeline for Hall, only for Nash to blindside him with a big boot. The two then proceed to lay the boots to him, until Flair enters, laying a blinding flurry of knife edge chops that alternates between the two, giving Eddy time to regain his feet, whereupon he immediately leaps on Nash and throws elbows wildly. The official calls for the bell, and is eventually able to regain order, forcing each time to send a man back to their corner. Flair sends Eddy back, as Nash steps over the ropes to his side. A fire burns in Flair's eyes as he obviously seeks vengeance against Nash for Dusty, fixing Hall dead on with a look of pure steel and mouthing

"Send him in." Hall shakes his head and laughs, prompting a barrage of chops from the Nature Boy, causing Hall to stagger backwards into the turnbuckle next to Nash's corner. Flair grabs him by the head, and drags him towards Nash, before receiving a knee to the midsection, which doubles him over. Flair regains his posture in time to catch a lariat from Hall. Hall scoops him up, and hoists him in the air for a suplex, only for Flair to float over and score with a neckbreaker. He strides to Nash, and slaps him roughly across the face, turning back around to Hall. Nash, look of anger on his face, takes a step across the apron and slaps Hall on the back, tagging himself in. Flair doesn't notice, allowing Nash to smash a giant elbow across the back of his head, dropping Flair to his knees. Nash grabs Flair's hair and begins to pull him up, but the dirtiest player in the game lives up to his name, scoring a low blow on Nash, much to the crowd's approval. The two then engage in a wild mix of high impact throws and suplexes with merciless strikes, Flair's rage more than compensating for the size difference. After a brutal exchange of strikes in the centre of the ring, the fight has clearly taken a lot out of both men, and when a Flair closed fist strike staggers Nash, and is thrown with such force by the battered Flair that he drops to a knee, they each recognise the need to tag out, and make their ways to their corners. Hall cockily stares Eddy up and down, a smile on his face. Hall's underestimation proves to be is undoing, as Guerrero surprises him with a flurry of dropkicks, enzuiguris, headscissors and other aerial manoeuvres that keep Hall from mounting a counter offensive. His youthful exuberance is his undoing, however, as he clambers prematurely to the top rope for a Frog Splash, which Hall is able to roll away from, tagging his partner in. Eddy regains his feet and sprints at Nash, leaping up for a hurracarana, only for Nashto transfer it into a Jacknife Powerbomb. With Eddy firmly in enemy ground, and Flair battered and tired, he is unable to reach Eddy in time to stop the three count. The Horsemen hit the ring, causing Hall and Nash to duck out of it, laughing and congratulating each other as they back off up the ramp.

July 22nd, 1996: WCW Monday Nitro

Two events of significance to our story occur on this broadcast. The first sees Sting barge up to Ric Flair, with an obvious mind to speak his piece

"Explain something to me, Ric! How come, when I extend the offer of partnering you, of being in your corner, you brush me off? You tell me you have a better partner in mind, and then that happens? What is it, you don't think a man who's held the top honour in wrestling multiple times, has even taken it from you, is good enough?"

"Now Sting, I know you're good in the ring. Hell, I know you're one of the best in the ring. But two weeks ago, on Nitro? I reckon some pretty good points were raised. I don't know yet if I can trust you to be good in here" he places a hand on Sting's chest. The implication that he might be the third man is too much for Sting to take, and he shoves Flair with such force that he stumbles backwards, dropping to the ground.

"Let me get this straight, you don't trust me? You, who took this company's world title, and ran off to parade it around the same places those two scumbags came from? You, who could have had anyone in your corner, and chose someone they were able to best easily? You, who call yourself the dirtiest player in the game, want to call yourself clean of this, and me dirty?"

Flair regains his feet, and the two have to be separated by a mass of people as they struggle towards each other, itching to fight.

The other is another video taken by the abductor of Sting, Savage and Luger two weeks ago. This time, we see, from a shoulder mounted camera, the man root through a house, muttering under his breath that there

"must be some clue here. Got to show people the truth."A car is heard pulling up, stopping, and doors slamming, causing the man to exclaim "Damn!" as the voices of Hall and Nash and Nash can be heard outside.

"Man, sure is good to take a well earned break from kicking the ass of a whole company, huh?"

"Oh, because it's such hard work"

The camera is put down onto a table, and we see the midsection of the investigator, a well built man, crouching on his haunches, and grabbing a nearby baseball bat to defend himself with, the other hand reaching to switch off the camera.

July 29th, 1996: WCW Monday Nitro

Nitro this week opens with the announcers excitedly discussing news of Flair vs Sting being added to the upcoming Hog Wild card. They are interrupted, however, by the sight of Hall and Nash, dragging a struggling man, with hands bound, and a large sack placed over his head, towards the ring. He is hurled roughly under the ropes, and stumbles to his feet while the Outsiders enter the ring, only for Hall to put him down with a rough punch, before raising the microphone to speak

"Well what have we got here? Looks like we've got a treat for you, people of" he turns to Nash with a bemused stare, mouthing "what town is this?"

Nash replies "Rome. All these hick towns look the same to me, too."

Hall laughs a little "Rome? As in, friends, Romans, countrymen? This town sure looks built in a day. Anyway, people of...Rome, we have here the man who has been stalking this company, looking for some sign of who the third man is. Apparently he thinks we're some second rate movie villains who'd just leave these kind of clues lying around. And today, we ain't gonna tell you who our third man is, that's our litte secret, but we will show you who this mystery investigator is! Hicks and hickettes, may I present your home-town hero, Arn Anderson!"

With this declaration, the sack is removed, and the camera focuses in on the bloody, bruised visage of Arn Anderson, rage still burning in his blood caked eyes.

Hall continues, once the anger of the crowd dies down "Now, what should we do with you" when all of a sudden, over the broadcast system...

"He's American Made!"

A male voice croons  over power chords, signalling one thing: Hulk Hogan had returned to WCW. Hall and Nash appear for the first time to be concerned, and drop from the ring, backing off with hands raised, the cock-sure grins half wiped from their faces, but still lingering at the corners of their mouths. Hogan hits the ring to an enthusiastic reaction from the live crowd, and cannot help but strike a quick pose before he sets to Arn's bound and gagged state, freeing him from his restraints, and offering a hand to help him up, only for Arn it shove it away, hefting himself up by the ring ropes. Hogan looks surprised, and watches as Arn limps towards and lifts one of the mics dropped by Hall and Nash as they made their escape.

Struggling between ragged breaths, he begins to speak "First of all, let me thank you, Hulk, for helping me out of a bind there, not to mention helping me out of those binds...once you were done posing for the crowd. And I'll follow these words of gratitude with a question: Where the hell have you been? WCW's in trouble, WCW's in the worst trouble it's been in for a long time, and you're, what - vacationing? Spending some quality time at home? This is the first time I've seen you since those invaders showed up. You didn't think it was worth defending the company that welcomed you with open arms when they were done with you up north? But maybe, just maybe you were around. Maybe you were there on July 7th, huh? Maybe, when the lights went out, you were able to avoid the spotlight just that once, to go and help those two out, and all that this is is an act to cover it up."

Hogan stares with reproach at Arn, the crowd unsure of how to react, waiting for his response. Hulk picks up the other abandoned mic, and ends the crowd's waiting

"Arn, pal, you're hurt bad. I'm going to let all that slide, because you've obviously been through hell this last week. I'm just gonna walk away, and forget what you just said, okay?"

Hogan heads towards the ropes on the other side from Arn, making to leave, before Arn bitterly remarks "Walk away then. I guess more than just your ring gear is yellow, huh?"

Hogan pauses, looking back at Arn.

"What was that?"

"You heard me, coward."

Hogan's patience is clearly frayed by accusations of treachery and cowardice, and he storms across to Arn, giving the injured man a shove hard enough to send him over the top rope to the floor below, before storming off.

Arn's night goes nowhere good after this, shortly after an announcement that he is booked to face Hogan at Hog Wild, the cameras catch him limping backstage, when he bumps into the Macho Man, Randy Savage, who has some choice words

"Oooh Yeeah! Karma, baby! What a concept! Looks like you got what was coming, running around like Sam Spade!"

A grimace firmly planted upon his face, Arn's response is to growl that he's "Gonna get better, Savage. I'll remember those words. I got better people to deal with right now."

And so it is that we later catch up to him, entering the locker room of The Four Horsemen, whose faces turn to looks of concern on seeing their comrade in arms in so bad a condition, while his remains a bitter one.

"Where the hell were you, huh? I thought The Horsemen rode together, that we looked out for our own."

Flair is quick to answer "Looking for you, Arn. You've been missing all week. We were in town, trying to find you. Hell, we only got word of what happened an hour ago. We've got your back again, and we'll get them. No-one does that to a Horseman. Benoit and Malenko here have got Hogan and our old friend Sting tonight, and once we're done with them, we can focus on the fools trying to outgun us."

Arn settles wearily into a seat and takes a drink from a hipflask, and the scene fades out, the horsemen talking strategy for the main event.

The main event sees Benoit and Malenko hold their own briefly against Sting and Hogan, with considerable help from Flair at ringside, before eventually tumbling to the combined forces of two of WCW's biggest names, who look ready for anything at Hog Wild. The commentators spend much of the match tensely wondering if Hall and Nash would make an appearance, but this match was free of their interference.

August 5th, 1996: WCW Nitro

In the final Nitro before Hog Wild, the focus is obviously on the card ahead, and with that in mind, the main event is set: the Horsemen's top two men will face their enemies at Hog Wild, Hogan and Sting, in a triangle tag match against the Outsiders.

Bischoff smugly adds from his desk "Oh, and that's going up against Ahmed Johnson winning some battle royal on Raw. Not much of a comparison, is there?"

Mean Gene Okerlund is able to get an interview with the returning Hulk Hogan during the evening, who has something to get off his chest, for all the fans to hear, and there's an obvious anger to his usual energy.

"Y'know something Mean Gene? It's good to be back, good to be back in the old WCW, in front of all my Hulkamaniacs! But when I get here, everything's out of control, brother! We got, we got these damn punks, these Outsiders, trying to run wild on my company, on my friends, and on my Hulkamaniacs! And that makes me angry, brother. I get to the show, and those two fools are in my ring, parading that they kidnapped a man, that they took him and beat him like a dog! And that's not right, brother. So I make my way down there, I make my way down, and I save Arn Anderson, a man I have no love for, a man I've fought before. Does he say thank you? NO! He calls me a coward, calls me a traitor. You want to say it's all a cover, Arn? Well, I gotta say, I think that The Horsemen are fools for riding with you, Arn! Because you're the one kicking up the biggest fuss about finding out who this is, and the best reason to do that is if you're trying to push eyes away from you, brother. I'll see you in the ring!"

Ric Flair and Sting start the main event off with an excellent display of chain wrestling, which Flair is able to get the better of, leaving Sting down after a strong superplex. Hall blind tags himself in on Flair, and proceeds to beat down the already tired Sting, using quick tags to Nash to keep the other men out of the match. Sting gets a window of opportunity when he is able to dive out of the course of a Nash avalanche in the corner, a time he uses to will himself to Hogan for the hot tag.  Hogan and Nash face off now, the Hulkster in the rare position of having to stare up at his opponent. Fuelled by the crowd's deafening response to him, however, he is able to trade blows with a colossal Nash. With one of the men responsible for subjecting him to a week of ceaseless brutality and humiliation, and the man who has accused him of treachery both in the ring, Arn begins to pace impatiently on the apron. Seeing no sign of a respite in the trading of shots, Arn steps into the ring, and charges into the melee, striking both men with wild abandon. When the focus becomes on Nash, Hall is quick to enter, drawing Arn away and into a fight with Hall. Flair steps in to chop block Hall's legs out from under him, and with both other teams having both their men in the ring, Sting joins the growing brawl, as the referee abandons all hope of controlling the ensuing chaos, which eventually draws to it's conclusion when Sting hits Arn with the Scorpion Deathdrop, only for Hall to quickly lariat him down, and cover Arn for himself, earning the victory for the Outsiders.

August 10th, 1996: WCW Hog Wild

Hog Wild opens with a panning shot of the crowd, before focussing on two "fans" in the front row: Hall and Nash. Security stands near the duo, arguing with them as they brandish their tickets, and Hall complains "Hey yo, this is persecution! We just wanted to watch from the good seats man, see how our golden friend does tonight."

Security leave, with the Outsiders being ticket holders, and not actually doing anything to warrant being thrown out. The opening contest between Dean Malenko and Ultimo Dragon is blindingly good, and when Malenko is able to beat Ultimo to retain his title, the Outsiders stand and applaud loudly. So goes the format for both Lex Luger's TV title defence and The Giant's defence of his World Heavyweight gold, the Outsiders enthused for the champions, while the commentators muse if this is what they meant by "Golden Friend", and if one of these men is the third man, or just a false trail set by the Outsiders.

Another early point on the show sees a camera catch Hogan bump into Sting going the other way in the corridor. Hogan makes some small talk with his recent tag partner, before Sting brushes him off, telling him

"I tagged with you because the office told me to, nothing else. I don't care one bit for Arn, but he makes some good points. Where the hell were you, man? And now that you're back, finally,  the first thing you do is pick a fight with the guy who is most against the Outsiders. I'm starting to see his case, brother." Sting walks away, leaving Hogan to fume silently.

Elsewhere on the card, Sting faces Ric Flair in a match that begins as the usual display of wrestling mastery one expects from this pairing, but the recent bad blood quickly drives this beyond a standard match, and things get out of hand when Flair is hurled into a turnbuckle, rolls over it and onto the apron, dashing to the other side to climb. The dash is interrupted by a Sting dropkick which sends Flair to the outside. Sting tries to plancha onto Flair, who avoids it narrowly, and begins using the area around the ring to his advantage. Sting takes a harsh beating, with Flair several times rolling in for long enough to restart the count, but turns it around when the sight of his own blood following an Irish whip into the ring post triggers something in him, and he repays the beatdown he received in kind. As he climbs back through the ropes, Flair grabs his leg and yanks it down, crotching him on the ropes. From here, Sting is dragged to the turnbuckle, and Flair applies a figure four from outside, assisted by the cornerpost. Back in the ring, Flair is merciless in his targeting of the leg, and while Sting begins to mount several comebacks, each is cut off in turn by quick cheap shots to the leg, before Sting eventually falls to the figure four.

While Sting vs Flair began as a standard match and then became a bloody affair once it left the ring, Hogan and Anderson makes no pretences at being a technical encounter from the start, both men flying at each other with fury and recklessness. The referee is able to keep things barely in line, and Arn holds his own for a decent time, but is overpowered by Hulk Hogan, who doesn't stop to pose as he usually does, his bad mood from the general mistrust of him leading him to drop the usual pageantry and merely storm off after earning a three count from a pair of legdrops, leaving Arn down and out in the middle of the ring.

To be continued...