Hulk Hogan was NOT a bad in-ring worker.

[The Crock]

Now, we've all heard people talk about how limited Hulk Hogan was in the ring and how he had his own "5 Moves of Doom". Even though that may be partially true, it does not make The Hulkster bad in the ring. Hulk Hogan consistently got the job done and he made every match he did exciting. Sure, he always had his big boot, slam, and leg drop finish, but that didn't take away from how good he was. During his era he faced guys like Andre The Giant, who was himself one of the most limited in-ring performers of all time (due to size and health issues) but Hogan still came in and wrestled one hell of a match every single time.

What I'm trying to accomplish is to dispell the myth about Hogan's "bad" ringwork. I don't believe he was an excellent technician by no stretch of the imagination, but he didn't need to be. His pure athletic ability made him good in the ring. Have you ever heard of someone carrying Hogan in a match? No, because he was good enough to do it on his own.

Do you agree or disagree? How do you rate Hogan's in-ring work?

 

[TUFFY54]

Hogan was NOT a bad worker. He was one of the greatest in ring performers of all time. He always got a reaction and had the crowd in the palm of his hand. People always forget why Hogan wrestled the way he did. Hogan was a 6'7'' 300lb superhero. There is no reason in hell he should have gone out to the ring and chain wrestled. It would have looked totally stupid for him to spend 30 minutes rolling around on the mat with people. He had no buisness going to the top rope and doing a moonsault becuase he had the charimsa to get over without needing all that stuff. However, just because it would have hurt his crediability to not look dominate, he still knew how to mat wrestle when needed. After leaving the WWF in 93, he put on a great wrestling match with the Great Muta. He did this because thats what the Japaness fans wanted to see. It all comes back to the fact that Hogan always knew what the crowd wanted, and he always gave it to them.

P.S. The whole "he can't work" thing is really stupid and anoying. If in ring ability was that important, Jamie Noble and Charlie Haas would of headlined Wrestlemania the last 8 years.

 

[nikvoodoo]

I'm torn. As a technician, I agree with you. He never did light the world on fire. My personal opinion is he was hardly athletic. Most of the time, he was barely mobile. He always seemed awkward whenever he had to run the ropes even to just get the lead up to the Leg Drop.

Regardless, the reason I'm torn is he could sell as good as anyone else in the ring. And while half of someone's in ring work is their skills and ability on offense, what truly makes a good wrestler is being able to sell their partner's offense. He sold the impacts as good as anyone in the ring. Yes, I know he would Hulk up and No sell at the end, but in order for that to work, you had to believe he was one good strong move away from losing.

So I guess to sum up: On Offense, no way. The IWC view of Hulks in ring work is spot on: It sucks hard. What we seem to forget is how well he sold others offense (until he Hulked Up).

 

[californiachef84]

Hogan was a solid in ring worker. He was better than someone like the Miz in the ring (well that really isn't saying much). People also forget that Hogan worked through a much harder era in pro wrestling. Guys kicked each other harder, punched each other harder, and they also worked a much harder schedule. In addition, the way in which Hogan put people over is epic in itself. Who could ever foget Hogan putting over the Warrior at Wrestlemania 4? What about Hogan putting over Goldberg on Nitro in the Georgia Dome? Or the Rock vs Hogan from WM 18? Hogan has been involved in the most epic, memorable, and biggest money making fueds in pro wrestling history. From bodyslamming Andre at WM 3 to the leader of the nWo, and his classic match with HBK at Summerslam 2006, Hogan has more than proved himself as a solid in ring worker.

 

[Dyno Kid]

I do believe Hogan was a terrible in-ring worker. If you do watch some of his work in Japan you'll see a major difference because his 'Superman' gimmick wasn't enough, you had to put on at least a decent match and Hogan could be carried by the great workers like Inoki, Fujinami, Muta, Hansen ect.

But by no means was he a good in-ring worker. To be fair he wasn't booked to be a worker by Vince but he didn't have the ability to do it if he was.

 

[sTyLnK]

I never thought Hogan was as good as people claimed him to be. To me he was boring, slow in the ring and never very exciting or entertaining, but his character was so popular that I think some people are blinded by that. Just because he is one of the greatest of all time doesn't mean he was good at wrestling. JMO.

 

[bko]

I have NEVER thought Hogan was a bad wrestler during his long reign at the top. To me a good wrestler isn't based on someone who do a good German Suplex, or chain wrestles. There are different styles of wrestling and Hogan was very good at the style he did. To me a good wrestler is some who doesn't injure his opponent, is chrismatic in the ring, gets the crowd to react with emotion, and tell a good story that the crowd can follow through their in ring work, those are not all the trait but they are main ones. last time I checked Hogan did all those traits well. So what if he didn't wrestle the same style as Benoit, Daniel Bryan, Kurt Angle, or Bret Hart, Hogan was very good at the style of match he wrestled as were the wrestlers I mentioned good at the style they wrestled.

 

[Fallen Angel 21.3]

To me wrestling is split into 3 different parts, good on the mike, get the asses in the seats, and put on a good match. Though Hogan could only 2 of those very well, the third one all depends on who you are in the ring with. To say that Hogan never had the best match on the kid is just bullshit, to say that he always had the worst match is once again bullshit. In real life you are only as good as the guy in the other corner. Hogan has carried matches before if you look at his wrestle mania matches with Andre, Warrior, Yoko, and some other he did do most of the work, but you have matches where the hulkster could kinda take it easy like his match with Shawn, Sting, and countless others. Point i am trying to make is you can't have a 5 star in every match you in and you can't please everybody but Hogan was one guy that if the match stunk he would make up on it with the promos and the crowd to get you off your seat when he would be hulking up. We all know that Shawn, Stone Cold, Benoit, Kurt, and Byan Danielson can't have 5 star matches every night cuz they can carry it soooo much before the need the other guys help to make it look good.

 

[Elementz of Fear]

Hogan does get a bad rap for being limited in the ring, which he was, but not as bad as people make him sound. There are far worse superstars that are just completely nonathletic such as The Great Khali. Hogan, however, was good enough for what he was and that's a superman type of mega-face who isn't there to put on a great match but rather tell a great story. People compare him to Cena (which is unfair to Cena because of the time period, but that's a different topic) and they are similar such that they are the same genre of character: Charismatic, guaranteed crowd reaction, can tell a story, but limited wrestling ability. Nothing wrong with that if you can make up for it in other areas which they both do. So no, Hogan was not a bad in-ring worker but he was definitely no better than average. The main difference between Hogan and guys who genuinely suck is that Hogan didn't need to be good in the ring whatsoever....and he wasn't.

 

[GameOver]

Hogan was a solid in ring worker. He was better than someone like the Miz in the ring (well that really isn't saying much). People also forget that Hogan worked through a much harder era in pro wrestling. Guys kicked each other harder, punched each other harder, and they also worked a much harder schedule. In addition, the way in which Hogan put people over is epic in itself. Who could ever foget Hogan putting over the Warrior at Wrestlemania 4? What about Hogan putting over Goldberg on Nitro in the Georgia Dome? Or the Rock vs Hogan from WM 18? Hogan has been involved in the most epic, memorable, and biggest money making fueds in pro wrestling history. From bodyslamming Andre at WM 3 to the leader of the nWo, and his classic match with HBK at Summerslam 2006, Hogan has more than proved himself as a solid in ring worker.

Um when did he have anything to do with Warrior in WrestleMania 4? You mean Randy Savage, and Warrior was WrestleMania 6

and he didn't put those people over, he did a job, He had it in for anyone that was a threat to him period.

Sure he let a handfull of people beat him cleanly, that has nothing to do with being a good inring worker lol. In ring pscychology he was very good and has charisma the likes of no other, and he was definately not as bad as Cena was for ages. But really he wasn't that flash either

match goes 99% of the time,
Hogan starts off strong showing his power
within a few minutes the opponent gets ontop and pummels him for 10mins
Hogan gets a second wind that last a minute or two
Opponent ontop again
Opponent goes for Finisher, Hogan hulks up
shakes the finger, fists to the forehead, Big Boot, Leg Drop, Win

During the Monday Night Wars i admit that he took a back seat more, even though he was always in the limelight he was made to look like he couldn't hold the title to save himself.

It didn't really matter though, in the end Hulkamania put wrestling on another level and the 80's Hulk Hogan was the ultimate character whether he sucked in ring or not. Long Live that Hulk Hogan

 

[jhauth11]

Hogan was the good in the ring ... compared to an indy Hardcore wrestler or a backyarder. but with that said he can also be called the Brett Hart of Body Building power wrestling. He made Powerfull HUGE scoop SLAM!! and then the HUGE ! LEG DROP! known all around the world and changed not only wrestling to spots entertainment but the style of what wrestling was performed in. It all depends on what your view of wrestling is, .. is it a Red Neck sitting their with a beer shouting KNOCK HIM OUT! then sure Hogan was good. But if its WRESTLING! as in the old style then no way is he any good at all

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

I think people love to lambaste Hogan as much as they can for not being a good wrestler, and the most amusing thing is that most of the people that say he was slow, awkward and unathletic are probably those never have done a single physical endeavor in their life. I am not telling people they have to like The Hulkster, but I don't care what anyone says, Hogan had to pay his dues to get to be to the level he was at in the business to work the formulaic style that he ended up working during his WWF and WCW heydays. But what amuses me is that no one ever points out those same shortcomings with The Rock and Austin and believe me those two had their moments of redundancy. Don't get me wrong, I ate up everything in the Attitude era but there was a formula too. No doubt about it.

Watch some of Hogan's old matches from before his mega babyface Hulkamania return to WWF in 1983 and you'll see someone that worked a very decent power based style with a few fancy holds thrown in when needed. If Hogan was a total invalid in the ring, he'd never have made it past the opening match on Saturday morning wrestling and he'd probably have gotten out of the business sooner rather than later. Essentially in order to be the "overrated" and "terrible worker" he had to have done something right first, despite how many marks don't want to acknowledge that.

While, I'll definitely never put him in the same category, I don't dare dismiss Hogan's abilities, while he didn't always do the biggest variety of moves, doesn't mean he never could.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

Hogan was never amazing in the ring, but had alot more wrestling ability than he was allowed to display in the WWF. In Japan, the fans wanted to see more wrestling and Hogan was able to provide that.

However, in his "superman" style gimmick in the WWF, Hogan was not required to throw out loads of moves, he had his small moveset which was over to the max, and he had his "Hulking Up" and masterful crowd-working techniques. That was all he needed. If Vince had wanted him to nail an Enziguiri, he would have (I have seen him do this in Japan). So he is not as limited as most people think.

I think you have to look at his awesome charisma too, to say he wasnt a bid in-ring worker. It isnt just the actual wrestling that makes a great worker, its also crowd interatction, and noone was better than Hogan at this. He had the crowd eating out of his hand every time, and for doing very little.

So while Hulk may never be a HBK for wrestling ability, he is no Great Khali either!

 

[TheHitMark-SirJoseOle]

Um when did he have anything to do with Warrior in WrestleMania 4? You mean Randy Savage, and Warrior was WrestleMania 6

and he didn't put those people over, he did a job, He had it in for anyone that was a threat to him period.

Sure he let a handfull of people beat him cleanly, that has nothing to do with being a good inring worker lol. In ring pscychology he was very good and has charisma the likes of no other, and he was definately not as bad as Cena was for ages. But really he wasn't that flash either

match goes 99% of the time,
Hogan starts off strong showing his power
within a few minutes the opponent gets ontop and pummels him for 10mins
Hogan gets a second wind that last a minute or two
Opponent ontop again
Opponent goes for Finisher, Hogan hulks up
shakes the finger, fists to the forehead, Big Boot, Leg Drop, Win

During the Monday Night Wars i admit that he took a back seat more, even though he was always in the limelight he was made to look like he couldn't hold the title to save himself.

It didn't really matter though, in the end Hulkamania put wrestling on another level and the 80's Hulk Hogan was the ultimate character whether he sucked in ring or not. Long Live that Hulk Hogan

Dude, bottom line is this, Hogan paid his dues to get to where he got in the business, luck and all that stuff only lasts for so long, yeah Hogan had a formula but again, all the most successful stars usually do. One can say the same thing about Steve Austin, if you watch his early days in WCW, which were more easy to access in the early-mid 90s because cable TV was a bigger factor than it was in the 70s when Hogan was getting started, you can see that Austin wrestled so much differently as opposed to his Thesz Press, Mud Hole Stamp, Double Middle Fingers and Stone Cold Stunner.

Again, a formula, maybe Austin's was a little flashier than the Big Boot and The Legdrop, but it was a formula nonetheless.

I've never seen Hogan permanently injure an opponent and he was able to keep drawing a crowd consistently. I think that makes him a very decent ring worker. In ring psychology is also an important part of being a worker, you can do all the moves in the world but you can't make any sense or tell a story when you are doing it, what does it really matter in the long run. All the more power to Hulk Hogan for using a smaller move set but telling just as much if not a more compelling story than say someone like Rey Mysterio, who's got all the athleticism in the world but let's be honest is no Hulk Hogan, plain and simple.

And last but not least, yeah Hogan seems like a pretty competitive guy, no doubt about it, but even if guys like Warrior seemed to be a threat to him, he still dropped the title to him plain and simple. It's nothing like Austin walking out on the company TWICE after WrestleMania X8 and before King Of The Ring (that's if what the rumors say are true, I am not an authority on this, but if we are going to mention wrestlers feeling threatened let's not give Stone Cold a free pass) or the Bret Hart Montreal Screwjob controversy. ( I might be a Hart fan but if everything we've seen documented about this is true, it makes Hart look pretty petty and prone to feeling threatened as well).

Bottom line, Hogan's a better worker than people might bother to think.

 

[nbkush]

"in-ring worker"--If that is defined as a wrestlers move repertoire, the actual performance of the moves, such as technique and skill, and being athletic..then NO Hulk Hogan IS NOT a "bad in ring-worker"...he IS A HORRIBLE in "ring-worker"
Have you ever listened to him on Buuba the Love Sponge. Hogan is always self depricating of his own "in ring-work".
Hogan deserves many accolades for his contribution to pro-wrestling. His look, his charisma, made him one of, if not THE biggest, wrestling stars ever. His matches were more about emotion than athletic moves.
Ive seen his Japan matches and his match with Hart in WCW. While it was kinda cool to see Hogan chain wrestle and in more of a technical style, he is not even in the same league as Hart, Muta, Angle, Steamboat, Flair...I could go on. Its OK that Hogan was not a good in-ring worker, because thats not what made Hogan GREAT.

 

[FatGuyIan]

Here's my take...

As many of you guys have stated, Hogan had to have some skill to begin with or he wouldn't have gotten the push. That being said, that doesn't mean that he sustained that over even half of his career. He will ultimately go down as the biggest name wrestling has ever seen, but his in-ring work turned into a sham. As time went on, he had fewer and fewer moves in his repetoire until it got to the point where he was known for his "5 moves of doom".

Does this sound eerily familiar? Can anyone else think of a wrestler that came up in, say, '02? Maybe answered a challenge from a former olympian? Maybe had more moves then? Maybe turned into the biggest babyface and biggest name in the biz since Hulkamania? Currently uses only about 5 moves that are telegraphed from the time he does his salute and run to the ring?

Point being, Hulk Hogan was not a technician by any stretch of the word, but he drew. Kids loved watching him and WWF wouldn't have been able to expand nationally without that drawing power. If I want to watch a classic match for pure technical wrestling and amazing movesets, I can think of a dozen wrestlers that I'd watch before Hogan. However, if I was starting a company, I'd begin and end with a guy that draws and Hogan has them all beat.

 

[cantknockrob]

match goes 99% of the time,
Hogan starts off strong showing his power
within a few minutes the opponent gets ontop and pummels him for 10mins
Hogan gets a second wind that last a minute or two
Opponent ontop again
Opponent goes for Finisher, Hogan hulks up
shakes the finger, fists to the forehead, Big Boot, Leg Drop, Win

Few Things.....

I hear a lot of people bringing up Hogans redundancy. Bret Hard was pretty redundant in some of his move-sets towards the end of matches (side Russian legsweep, elbow from the middle rope, ect) but no one would consider him a non great worker (cept for flair lol).

I thinks Hogan's work was OK in his WWE days. Again, the man was booked the way he was booked. Not every big man can be Mike Awesome. I think a big part that people do not give credit for is Hogan would get the crowd and TV audience involved in matches. You can be technical all you want, but if you don't "tell the story" then it's no good.

Also keep in mind that Hogan had a lot of guys that he was limited with. King Kong Bundy, Kamala, One Man Gang, Andre, Warrior(minus WM6), Earthquake, ect. You did not have guys like Shawn Michaels on top when Hogan was in his prime WWE days.

Now his WCW work was borderline horrible after a while. When he first got there his gimmick was played out, (anyone remember the dungeon of doom feud? yes, it was that bad) then when he did the heel turn he only wrestled 6 times a year (as champion no less). I remember plenty of PPV's where Hogan was champ and not even wrestling, god bless his agent. Minus his match with Goldberg he did not earn his paycheck in the ring, more as a talker/celebrity.

I think saying someone is a "shit worker" or "bad worker" is too bland. How about we name some people that were worse workers than Hogan?

I start with Bossman. I have never counted him doing more than 6 moves in a match.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

I have not seen Hogan's in ring work prior to 1984 but from what I have seen of him I have no problem in concluding that he was a pretty shoddy in ring worker. I don't even think he had 5 moves as most people point out because I do not think that a punch or a kick could be termed as a pro wrestling move. He could get a huge crowd reaction to be pretty boring. I think that if you showed some guy this match without showing him how the feud came about and if he did not know during his match but that is more of a testament to his charisma than to his non existent athletic ability. As a match, I find Andre vs Hogan much about either guy, he would find it pretty boring as well.

The other thing about Hogan is that he had the same type of match every night regardless of who the opponent was. A lot of people in this thread have pointed out how Austin was just as limited a worker. But I would ask them to check out Austin's matches with Triple H and Benoit in 2001. There are a lot of examples I could give in Austin's case but I think if you watch the two matches you will realise that Austin has wrestled differently in both of them. As for Hogan check out Hogan vs Savage at WM 5 and Hogan vs HBK at Sumerslam. Does Hogan even try to wrestle differently in either match? The answer is NO.

The only positive I can think of when I talk about Hogan's in ring ability is that he sold very well upto his "Hulk Up". That made people relate even more to his " Hulk Up."

So in conclusion Hogan is certainly not the worst in ring worker I have seen but he is certainly bad without a shadow of a doubt.

 

[AttitudeAJM]

All pro wrestlers have redundancies. They have certain moves that they all want to work into their matches.

If we're talking about Hulk Hogan in the AWA/WWF in the 80's and early 90's, he was tremendous worker. He played the babyface role to perfection. Look at his work with Bockwinkel in AWA for proof of that. His WWF style was a certain type of way he worked. If you can, look up his New Japan stuff you'll see a very different Hulkster in the ring. No one in wrestling was better at giving people what they wanted to see.

By the time he reached WCW, he was in a completely different mindset. He was more interested in making money and movies by that point. His effort definitely lacked. It had nothing to do with whether or not he could go because he proved he still had it at Wrestlemania X8.

 

[JoJo The Show]

Also look at the talent back then, WWF really didn't have a whole lot of guys that was that great in the ring except for a handful, hell only guys that Hogan worked with that had any talent was Savage, Piper and I can't recall if he worked a program with Million Dollar Man or not. Most of Wrestlemania matches was with some pretty crappy wrestlers back in the day. So yeah Hogan was a better worker in the ring compared to who he faced. The guy could make the crowd eat out of his hand and that is what sells though.

 

[CuddleBuns84]

As much as we all hate on Hogan, Hogan was very knowledgeable on wrestling. He knew how to put on a match, and get the crowd involved. In my opinion, you can have a onslaught of moves, but if you can't get the people to care about you, then it doesn't matter.

He was a lot of flash don't get wrong about that. A lot of people were a lot of flash. However Flair was better mat wrestler then Hogan. Yet, one guy made the wrestling very big. While the other, helped wrestling, but didn't tap the mainstream like Hogan.

At this age, no Hogan can't put on some great matches. He is 57. But, Hogan's image and character wasn't about mat wrestling. It was about the power, and the slam, and getting the crowd involved. But if you look at my example, Hogan wasn't a bad mat wrestler. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqVj2JcWrAk and the second part http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Owjv4aWXII&feature=related


Now the match ended with a swerve, but it showed that Hogan knew much more then what we credited him for. He had some skills, and he knew what he was doing.

But like previous posts stated, he was limited to his moves. A 6'7 300 pound main really isn't going to sell mat moves. He is going to sell power slams, and great bursts of strengths. Plus, seeing Hogan jump around pulling off moves like Benoit and Jericho would kind of kill the story of the match. Just really wouldn't help sell a match.

So was Hogan limited in the ring. Yep... It was his character. Having him do submission moves, and technical wrestling wasn't part of his character. So that's what Hogan could do best. Putting on a good match, without those attributes. He had them, but wasn't part of his character.

It's like Batman. He did everything with his hands and gadgets. No guns. If Batman had a gun, it really wouldn't of been a great story to follow.

 

[orton0384]

While I absolutely despise Hulk Hogan and found him quite bland and boring and more destructive to wrestling that he helped build I can stand up for the Red and Yellow(preferred him as black and white) and say his ring skills did the job. He is a powerhouse much like Diesel, The Great Khali, The Big Show. I am not putting him neccisarliy in that same group of people for his wrestling purely. It is to show that he is not suppossed to be very technical or superb at wrestling. He is there to overpower, shock, and awe the crowd with power moves and inhuman comebacks. He did this very well to the point it brought WWF mainstream and helped garner a new wave of fans. I hate you Hulkster but you did a lot of good for wrestling in the 80's and part of the 90's but you did more to destroy it in the mid 90's to 2000's than any one I can think of except maybe Ric Flair. But that is another post for another time. My opinion Hogan wasn't terrible he just did enough to get by. I will also note he and John Cena suffer from the same syndrome. Both CAN perform amazingly however, it is not in their characters to do so. Please keep that in mind. Thank you all and have a great day!

 

[jacdnwarrior]

He was a good entertainer in the ring. He wasn't a technical master at all. He came at a time, where people wanted a larger than life superhero. He had a character and was good on the mike, and being that character that his in-ring work didn't need to be great just good enough to move match, the storyline or feud along. At the height of his popularity, I prefered the other performers lower on the card, Macho Man, Tito Santana etc. and the tag team division more than anything else.

 

[Jackal960]

We need to be honest here. Most of us were too young to assess someone's in-ring ability at that time, we were just caught up with the excitement he brought in the ring. Some of us might not be even born. But i remember one thing, the pace of wrestling was slower comparing to now. They would put an arm-lock and wait like that for two minuets. The excitement was only turning up when a wrestler was doing a high-flying move or something extraordinary to pump up the crowd.

In such days, Hogan always put on exciting matches. You were always involved in the match from start to finish. That means he was a great in-ring performer. As times passed by, and the pace of wrestling became faster (those are the times which most of IWC watched wrestling) Hogan become mediocre. All wrestlers stepped up on their moves, and while this was happening Hogan was becoming older. He was already 45 during the Attitude Era (for comparison: HHH is 41 now, Kane is 43) And Hogan was not up to the standards of great wrestlers at that time.

To sum up, Hogan was a GREAT in-ring performer in his prime. As years passed, he became mediocre as wrestling style changed. But don't forget the times when he was in his prime and how wrestling was at that time.

 

[californiachef84]

Um when did he have anything to do with Warrior in WrestleMania 4? You mean Randy Savage, and Warrior was WrestleMania 6

and he didn't put those people over, he did a job, He had it in for anyone that was a threat to him period.

Sure he let a handfull of people beat him cleanly, that has nothing to do with being a good inring worker lol. In ring pscychology he was very good and has charisma the likes of no other, and he was definately not as bad as Cena was for ages. But really he wasn't that flash either

Sorry, it was Wrestlemania 6... I was very tired when I wrote that.

Hogan putting people over is essential in understanding is in ring ability. Most of the most memorable moments in Hogan's career came when he lost. All of those moments were classic, and Hogan was really at his best when he lost. See WM 6 & 18 specifically.
Those two matches may have been the best in his career.