The concept of the American dream is that anyone can come from nothing and make it big. But to escape the nightmare that was his life, Dennis Rodman choose to become one himself. Love him or hate him, you cannot ignore him.
Dennis Rodman was born in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1961. He was the oldest of three children that he knows about. His father abandoned them when they were still infants.
His father alleges that Dennis has over two dozen half-siblings. Dennis believes it is twice as many. He doesn’t consider them to be family due to his father’s decision to leave.
Dennis Rodman – The Worm That Conquered The World
They relocated to Dallas, Texas, for a better life. Yet they continued to live in poverty. Their mom worked as many as four jobs at once.
These changes were traumatic for young Dennis. He became overly attached to his mother, and struggled to speak to anyone else.
This may come as a surprise, but young Dennis was well-known for being bad at sports. He was average height, and below average in skills.
The coaches didn’t sugar coat it when they rejected him from school teams. His sisters were basketball prodigies. Both of them became All-Americans, with one winning two national championships. This became a point of ridicule for Dennis.
“There was a lot of pain and suffering in my childhood, but when I lay down in bed at night in that Oak Cliff project, I always had the same thought; there’s something big waiting out there for Dennis Rodman.”
– Dennis Rodman, Bad As I Wanna Be (1996)
Roman became an airport janitor after leaving school. He then experienced a late growth spurt. Now standing at 6’ 7’’, this made him even more self-conscious.
He decided to give basketball another try. Years of practise combined with his new height made him a much better player.
He was recommended to the head coach at Cooke County College (now North Central Texas College) in Gainesville. He proved to be a gifted athlete on the team.
But his poor academic performance meant he flunked out within one semester. He then transferred to Southeastern Oklahoma State University. He became three-time NAIA All-American and set school records as a player and as part of the team.
Even though he suffered with low confidence, he took part in a summer basketball camp. There he befriended a traumatised teenager.
Rodman was invited to compete in the NBA’s try-out camp; the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament. He earned Most Valuable Player honours and became eligible for the 1986 draft.
He was selected by an already strong Detroit Pistons team. Over time, he became one of the best defensive players in the league. The team won two championships while he was there.
In 1992, his life started crashing down. Rodman had been with Annie Bakes for five years, but she filed for divorce after just 82 days of marriage. He was devastated when his father figure Chuck Daly quit the team.
He skipped the preseason camp and was fined $68,000. His performance deteriorated, and the team’s success plummeted.
Rodman got so low that he went for a drive with the intent to take his own life. He fell asleep while contemplating his decision.
He was wakened by a police officer performing a wellness check. It was during this conversation that Rodman decided to reclaim control of his life.
He became obsessed with the notion that an imposter had been living his life. He took steps to transform everything about himself. Rodman finished the season before demanding to be transferred.
His gamble cost him $12 million in pay due over the next three years. He then started playing for the San Antonio Spurs as a power forward. While he wasn’t great in offense, he was still one of the league’s best defenders.
Rodman became inspired by Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) from ‘Demolition Man’. He began dyeing his hair unnatural colours, and collected tattoos and piercings.
He dressed eccentrically and public expressed his bisexuality. He now went by the nickname “Rodzilla”. He wanted people to view him as a larger-than-life monster.
The Spurs were unable to tame this monster. His quick temper and unreliable behaviour led to numerous suspensions.
The Bulls learned that controversy creates cash. Rodman did not seem to fit in with the family-friendly role models like Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.
Yet they set their differences aside for the good of the team. They became an unstoppable unit that gained three more championships together.
Rodman was a paparazzi magnet. He began appearing on television shows and in music videos. He hosted his own reality show ‘The Rodman World Tour’.
Rodman also dated Madonna, whom he alleges offered him $20 million to conceive a child together. He also wore a wedding dress in public and declared he was marrying himself to promote his first autobiography.
His antics were not limited to publicity stunts. He infamously headbutted a referee during a game. His low fine and suspension were more controversial than the act itself.
In another incident, he physically attacked a camera operator after accidentally tripping over him. This suspension cost him over $1 million. The Bulls put up with this because Rodman was an award-winning defender, and every headline increased ticket sales.
He shared top-billing in the movie ‘Double Team’. Rodman’s character Yaz was very similar to the Simon Phoenix character that inspired him.
In the movie, Yaz assists Counter Terrorism Agent Jack Paul Quinn (Jean-Claude Van Damme) in rescuing his pregnant wife from his arch enemy Stavros (Mickey Rourke). The movie was critically panned. Rodman’s wooden acting earned himself multiple “Worst” category awards.
Rodman orbited into one of Hollywood Hogan’s social circles. The two quickly became friends. Hogan pitched the idea of Rodman making some appearances for World Championship Wrestling.
When Hogan told Executive Vice-President Eric Bischoff about it, he alleged that the World Wrestling Federation had been scouting Rodman. Bischoff took the bait and opened negotiations.
Fans had already grown bored with seeing Hogan’s celebrity friends work angles with him. But the media had not. Every celebrity meant headlines. And every headline was free advertising for WCW.
Bischoff knew that a celebrity of Rodman’s calibre would get them mentions on larger networks. This is why Bischoff was willing to make it work.
Rodman made his first appearance on WCW Monday Nitro on March 10, 1997. The originally planned three non-wrestling appearances turned into more.
Rodman became attached to Hogan’s hip, and name-dropped everything the Hulkster picked up a mic. At Uncensored, Rodman officially joined the ever-expanding New World Order (nWo).
WCW had one of their biggest moments at Bash at the Beach 1996. The pay-per-view climaxed with Hogan turning heel and taking charge of the nWo. Bischoff wanted something just as big for the one-year anniversary. He decided on the in-ring debut of Dennis Rodman.
Bischoff quickly learned that Rodman’s personality was not a gimmick. He was initially offered around $1 million for those first three appearances.
This obviously increased as Rodman became more involved. Rodzilla rarely showed up for training and didn’t take it seriously.
He often requested that Bischoff pick up bar tabs, and provided him with a tour bus. One of the strangest demands was a group trip to a strip club. Bischoff once walked in on Rodman entertaining multiple women on the tour bus.
“Rodzilla was perfect because he was a monster. A monster in his social life, in public. Wherever he went, he created chaos.”
– Hulk Hogan on Rodzilla.
Rodman and Hogan faced Lex Luger and The Giant in the PPVs main event. Luger carried most of the match. When Rodman tagged in, he spent a lot of time posturing or recovering outside of the ring. This was likely advice he had been given by Hogan. He did perform an arm drag and took simple bumps early on.
As the match continued, the athlete was visibly winded. He limited his activity to simple strikes. The babyfaces won after Lex Luger used his Torture Rack on Hogan. He used it on Rodman and Randy Savage after the match before other members of the nWo intervened.
The match and Rodman’s performance were both critically panned. Yet his friends insist he did great. Bischoff chooses to view Rodman’s success on the ratings he drew and the amount of publicity he got. To him, this justified the money he had invested in Rodman.
This match led to Luger defeated Hogan for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship on the 100th episode of Nitro. They had a rematch at Road Wild.
Yet another “Imposter Sting” interfered to help Hogan regain the title. The imposter unmasked to reveal he was Rodman. This was a signal that Rodman was not going away.
“Some people criticized me for spending any money on Rodman. (…) I knew hiring Rodman would create controversy – and controversy creates cash.
In those terms, the Pay-Per-View was a runaway success. If I had to buy the amount of press and coverage that Rodman got us, it would have cost me much, much more than what we paid him.”
– Eric Bischoff, Controversy Creates Cash (2006)
Later that year, Rodman married actress Carmen Electra. He filed for an annulment after just nine days. He alleged he was of an “unsound mind” when the wedding happened.
They tried to work things out, but Electra would file for divorce six months later. This led to Rodman meeting his third wife, and the mother of his next two kids.
Lightning struck for a second time. Diamond Dallas Page attended a basketball game with a photographer. Utah Jazz player Karl Malone saw him in the crowd and shot him his “diamond cutter” hand gesture. Next thing they knew, Malone had arranged backstage passes for them. The pair quickly became friends.
DDP discovered that Malone had wanted to be a wrestler as a kid, but was encouraged to stick with basketball. Page offered him the chance to work a match. When he pitched the match to Bischoff, he began booking it as a PPV main event.
The story line was already there. The Bulls had just beaten the Jazz in the NBA finals. Malone was the single biggest threat to the Bulls’ chances.
The media had picked up on the increasingly physical interactions between Rodman and Malone. Putting them in the ring seemed like the most obvious move.
“I heard Rodman was coming in again. And I he did a phenomenal job the first time because he embodied the heel. Embodied the showman.
He had been watching our stuff since he was a little baby. He loved it just like Karl. And I thought, ‘Hmm, I wonder if Malone would do this?’ ”
– DDP on setting up the Bash At The Beach ’98 main event
The story began with Hogan and Rodman attacking DDP with chairs. Malone discovered that Rodman and Hogan had been invited unto The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
He passed the information to DDP who passed it onto Bischoff. The heels had no idea that the babyfaces would be interrupting the interview until it happened.
Bischoff had DDP and Malone interrupt the interview with chairs and issue the challenge. They then proceeded to attack the heels. Both Hogan and Rodman alleged that they were struck for real. The publicity stunt did everything Bischoff hoped it would.
Both athletes took different approaches to the match. Rodman appeared on every Nitro to promote it, while Malone only appeared once.
Malone kept all of his commitments to the Jazz and trained extensively in his free time. They excused him from television by alleging he and DDP were driving a truck across the country.
DDP would address viewers “live on the phone” by claiming they had a surprise for Hogan and Rodman. That surprise turned out to be more chairs.
Rodman appeared on every Nitro leading up to the event. He let his commitments to the Bulls drop. Coaches and agents would phone Bischoff to try and locate him.
Rodman was once fined for missing a game, which Malone competed in, because he went to a WCW event instead. Rodman saw no issues as he was still one of the league’s best players and was still winning championships.
Some of the roster had been partying hard the night before BatB ’98. Rodman showed up the PPV feeling unwell. There was allegedly concerns that he would not be ready for match time.
Rumours claim that they had considered having retired football player Keith Green, who already had a match on the show, replace Rodman. But Rodman’s friends convinced management he would be ready to go.
Malone chose to compete topless like wrestlers typically do. Hogan and others urged Rodman to go shirtless too. They theorised that Rodman was self-conscious about his physique next to Malone. Rodman insists he was promoting his t-shirt that WCW was selling.
The match was poorly received. The basketball players struggled with basic moves against each other. The match ended after The Disciple interfered and helped Hogan pin DDP.
Rodman and his friends blame Malone’s lack of experience. Malone’s friends point out how polished he seemed. Even Hogan himself marvelled at how easily Malone could body slam him. Viewers felt both basketball players did poorly. But Bischoff again based their success on ratings and publicity.
The Bulls made a catastrophic decision to replace older players. Top stars like Rodman, Jordan, and Pippen were let go due to their ages.
Rodman’s acting career reached its peak. While he mainly played fictional versions of himself, he did have a few action roles. In ‘Simon Sez’, he plays an Interpol agent who aims to rescue a woman from an arms dealer.
In ‘Cutaway’, he plays a member of an army skydiving team. Rodman also joined the second and last series of ‘Special Ops Force’, he plays a retired army helicopter pilot and explosives expert.
He resurfaced in WCW in 1999. He was now being billed from Los Angeles instead of Chicago to reflect his team change. At this point, the nWo was finally winding down.
Savage had created a new “Macho Madness” persona. His onscreen antics drew parallels with Rodman’s public image.
They engaged in a story line where it appeared that Rodman had stolen Savage’s girlfriend Gorgeous George. Despite the poor reception his earlier matches received, Rodman and Savage convinced fans that they had legitimate heat.
He had his first singles match Road Wild. It proved to be another let down. It was slow-paced, and both men attempted to work as heels.
It featured multiple referee bumps, and an awkward spot where Savage put Rodman into a portaloo and tipped it slightly.
Rodman had learned some new moves and took more bumps. But he was beaten up for much of the contest. Despite this, Savage still had to use a steel chain to win.
“For me to be involved with Bischoff and all those guys, man. That was just like icing on the cake for me.
Because living in Texas, that was in Texas back when they had the Von Erichs back in the day, that’s all we watched was wrestling back then.
You know, it was like wrestling or Dallas Cowboys. That was it for us, the whole culture there.
So wrestling, I watched it religiously every Saturday. And I had no problem doing it. I always wanted to do it.”
– Rodman on making his wrestling dreams come true.
The Dallas Mavericks’ went all out to sign Rodman. They needed a player with his skills. They also wanted someone who generated the publicity that he did.
They offered him the number 69 jersey and residence in the team owner’s guest house until the league blocked them.
The investment was not worth it. Rodman did not along with his teammates, and his behaviour got worse on the court. He picked up more punishments than before.
Rodman’s personal life was also unravelling. His antics went from being headlines to items on a criminal record. All of them connected to his alcoholism.
His charges over the following years included accusations of domestic violence, drink driving, theft, battery, and business violations.
Australia experienced a short wrestling boom in 2000. The highlight was a WCW tour. It marked the only time when they held shows in the southern hemisphere. But Rodman made his debut in the country months earlier.
The i-Generation Superstars of Wrestling launched that year. They held one PPV which was built around Rodman’s first visit to the country.
He battled Curt Hennig in the main event for the company’s championship. Hennig won by disqualification. When Rodman returned to the US, he declared he had retired from wrestling.
After his acting work dried up, he tried to return to basketball. He played for the American Basketball Association in hopes of returning to the NBA.
Even though he helped Long Beach Jam win the first championship, he got no offers. He would play for teams in Mexico, Finland, and the United Kingdom.
Much of Rodman’s acting work would be in reality television. He was meant to host a wife-carrying competition in Finland, but backed out due to health issues.
Rodman became an on-screen commissioner for the Lingerie Football League. Then he went through a spate of reality game shows on both sides of the Atlantic. Some of these were to raise money for charity.
Rodman made his wrestling return for a reality TV show in 2008. ‘Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling’ had a simple premise. Brutus Beefcake and Brian Knobbs would train a group of celebrities.
They would pick the best students to put on a match that night. The judges (Hogan, Bischoff and Jimmy Hart) would declare one to be a “Jabroni” and eliminate them. While it was presented as taking place over several weeks, it was filmed within several days.
Rodman put in little effort. He presumed he had retained enough from his WCW days. When asked to create a wrestling persona for himself, he chose to be called “Rodzilla”, and continued to be himself.
Yet Rodman was booked to win most of his matches as a babyface. This included the CCW Championship match where he was declared the series winner.
Those who appeared on the show with him felt he was one of the worst participants. Some felt that actor “Mr. Not-So-Perfect” Todd Bridges had earned the honours.
He was a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice in 2009. This was when someone finally became concerned about his drinking. They led an intervention with friends and family.
Rodman initially refused rehabilitation because he had tried it a year earlier. But he would then do rehab-based reality shows. When these failed, he would try genuine rehab clinics. He was allowed to return to Celebrity Apprentice in 2013.
Despite the restrictions on Western media in the country, Kim had been a long-time fan of Rodman. The pair became unlikely friends.
Over the following years, Rodman would make numerous trips to Korea. He would use these opportunities to try and broker peace talks between the two countries.
Rodman once made statements that were critical of prisoner Kenneth Bae. However, Bae credits Rodman for raising awareness of his situation.
They eventually led to him being released and returned to the U.S. He indirectly influenced the release and return of Otto Warmbier. Sadly, Warmbier passed away a few days after returning home.
Rodman made two surprise appearances at All Elite Wrestling in September 2023. His first was on an episode of AEW Collision. He would be confronted by a group of heels.
He then aligned himself with The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn. He would be in their corner of their match at All Out the next night.
In March 2026, ESPN announced that Rodman would be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. The decision was largely criticised due to Rodman having never made a single appearance in WWE.
Although his supporters praised the accolade as he had more wrestling experience than other “celebrity wing” inductees.
His mother dubbed him “The Worm”. Rodzilla turned himself into a monster. All he wanted was to be noticed, and he made the world pay attention to him.
