Hulk Hogan's CCW Finale: Dennis Rodman Wins Competition, Didn't Deserve It

Long story short, Dennis Rodman ended up winning the first season of Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling, taking home the CCW belt after making it to the final match against Todd Bridges. Did he deserve to win? No. Was there an underlying reason he did? Absolutely.

I've watched this show all season and wondered why Rodman remained, despite his working stiff and awkward moves. But it became clear in the past few weeks that he was the chosen one to win this show because he's arguably the biggest star on the show.

It didn't matter whether he had the moves or really did much of anything; Rodman was guaranteed to win and we never saw it coming. How else would Hogan, Eric Bischoff, and Jason Hervey sell another season? With Bridges as a champion or a five-time NBA champ that has mainstream name appeal?

It's a television show, and I understand that taking this stuff seriously is a bit ridiculous. But if CMT and all parties involved are asking you to devote eight hours of your life to following this program, I feel like you should walk away with some sort of feeling that things were on the up-and-up and I didn't feel that after Rodman was announced as the winner.

Bridges clearly was the better worker as he was more agile, sold more move,s and became the closest to a decent pro wrestler as you can get. But because he wasn't a big enough star and a former Hogan cronie from the WCW days, Bridges came in second.

According to an interview that Erin Murphy did with Bryan Alvarez from Figure Four Weekly, she said it's nearly guaranteed that a second season will happen. Judging from this decision, it shouldn't be difficult to pick out the winner. Just look for the most famous person and the one with the most ties to Hogan and Eric Bischoff.

Other notes from the final show

- Despite working hurt through the entire show, Dustin 'Screech' Diamond came off looking like a wimp on the final episode due to his reluctance to do chops.

After being told that his chops "suck," he worked on them with the group and proceeded to throw some of the worst-looking chops ever seen, all the while complaining about how they hurt his hand. He then was on the receiving end of some nearly-as-bad chops and got a welted up chest for it.
- Even though I'm positive both will be back, I'd love to see two new coaches for next season to change things up. Brian Knobs is just too much for me and overshadows Brutus Beefcake with his personality. There's enough former WWF/E and WCW guys out there to get two new faces. My vote? "Diamond" Dallas Page and Rob Van Dam.

- If you're keeping score at home, the final two matches were Diamond/Bridges vs/ Rodman/Bean with Bean and Diamond getting cut first. Rodman then took on Bridges in the finale.

-The undercard featured a Tiffany/Nikki Ziering w/Frank Stallone in drag vs. Trishelle/Erin Murphy match. Danny Bonaduce did a postmatch run-in, which didn't save an awful match.

- The crowd sweetners and stock crowd shots for this finale were out of control. I don't remember any show this season as having this much injected crowd noise and stock cheering shots.

How can you tell? It's easy! When you hear the fans going crazy, look in the stands. They're just standing there. Look at the crowd shot closeups and notice the flashing strobes. When they go back to the action, the strobes are stationary. I understand it's TV, but this episode certainly felt a lot worse for that stuff than others.

When it's all said and done, I was entertained by this first season but disappointed in the way everything ended. I certainly watched more of this with more interest than anything I've seen on Smackdown or TNA Impact lately, so I guess CCW has that going for it.

I haven't heard anything about a tour, but I'd be shocked if TNA didn't have any interest in some sort of working relationship.

Jeez...the prospect of Bischoff, Hogan, Vince Russo, and Jeff Jarrett working together again? The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Josh Nason - josh [at] ropesringandcage [dot com] - has published MMA, wrestling and boxing blog Ropes, Ring and Cage.com since 2007. If you are using any content or recapping from this site, please include a link to www.ropesringandcage.com or Bleacher Report.com Thank you for your support!