The 10th and final episode of The Last Dance went into a story that we all know and love, but never ceases to be captivating: Dennis Rodman missing practice the day after Game 3 of the 1998 NBA Finals to go to Michigan for a taping of WCW Nitro with Hulk Hogan.
As Carmen Electra explained, Rodman “took a detour” to go cut a promo on Karl Malone with Hulk Hogan and beat up Diamond Dallas Page with steel chairs.
Dennis Rodman would miss practice to appear on WCW Nitro!
Get the story on @dennisrodman‘s time with WCW on @WWENetwork!#WWEUntold: Rodzilla Runs Wild streaming anytime on-demand:https://t.co/212pg6NiUO pic.twitter.com/xjEPLYsEu4
— WWE Network (@WWENetwork) May 18, 2020
Rodman’s explanation was also pretty perfect, as he said he was just doing “Dennis sh*t,” which encapsulates the entire essence of Rodman’s career. Maybe the best part of all of it was video from the next day’s practice when Rodman returned and Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan simply cracked jokes about it and Jordan broke the huddle by yelling “Rodzilllaaaaaa” — which is what Hogan referred to him as the night before.
Phil Jackson and Michael Jordan talk about “Rodzilla” at Bulls practice
pic.twitter.com/5fmqsNCdMt
— Rob Lopez (@r0bato) May 18, 2020
Rodman would then escape out a back entrance with the media chasing him up the stairs out of the United Center to no avail. It’s a truly incredible series of events that is almost impossible to imagine happening now, a player taking a day off without permission to go do some wrasslin’ and then coming back and, aside from a fine, everyone just being like, “alright, cool.” That was how it was with Rodman and, as Jackson said to the media, the only people distracted were people outside of the Bulls facility.