25 Years Ago

[klunderbunker]

We currently sit about a month away from the 25th anniversary of Hulk Hogan's breakout moment in the WWF and capturing the WWF World Title from the Iron Sheik and ushering in the modern era of professional wrestling. There had never been such a flashy wrestler being pushed as the top guy in the company and no one ever had been pushed so hard. Needless to say, it worked and it worked huge. Without that night, it is highly unlikely that this forum would exist today.

Lately I've been watching some older Hogan matches from the late 80s and early 90s when he was still the red and yellow wearing superhero that was running wild all over the WWF and absolutely no one could stand in his way. His four year world title reign is absolutely unprecidented on the national scale and will never be approached again. So this is what I want to ask: Would it work today?

Imagine for a minute if Hulk Hogan didn't debut January 23, 1984. It's January 23, 2009 and a 6'8 300lb muscle man has what is in essence his first major match in the company and wins the World Title in less than 10 minutes. All of a sudden this man is the top guy in the company and no one can touch him. He has some of the highest energy promos of all time, has an amazing look, wrestles using what is in essence 5 moves after being beaten up for most of the match, and hardly never loses once. Would this work? Is today's wrestling audience still an audience that would buy into it as hard as they did before?

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Obviously it is, becuase John Cena does it week in, and week out. Its not a Hulk Hogan thing, its a pro wrestling thing. On a larger scale, its the basis for everything that entertains us, from the ancient tales, to action movies. To compare, what is Bret Hart known best for?? REALLY known best for?? Being the best seller of all time. He would get his ass destroyed, and make it look fantastic, but always somehow find a way to triumph. Its pro wrestling, its basic story telling. good fights evil, the evil puts the audience into peril thinking they will win, and good finds a way to triumph.

Yes it will work. It always will work. Or the buisness wont exist anymore.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

What a terrific question.

In essence, KB, what you are saying is that everything that make hardcore Internet Wrestling fans HATE Goldberg and John Cena is the same exact criteri that drove Hogan to be pro wrestling's all time superstar.

There are three major reasons Hogan would fail today:

1. The "4th wall" was broken long ago, and kayfabe goes only as far as the underutilized imaginations of its fans will allow it to go.

2. The attention spans of fans today is far shorter than it was 25 years ago, and 80% of fans today would lose interest in a long, dominant title reign, ESPECIALLY considering there was no "other brand" to watch, and really limited competition - no big WCW or TNA to run to, and

3. National, or even WorldWide Wrestling, is no longer fresh, nor is it a surprise. Hogan's reign marked the full arrival of national wrestling, and successful syndication and Pay Per View marketing, in lieu of territory systems. When Hogan did it, it was still a novel concept. It's not anymore. We have WWE 24/7 On Demand, and HUNDREDS of DVD's if we need a fix. People didn't have that then.

 

[klunderbunker]

Have to agree with IC. What happened to Hulk Hogan years later is identical to the same thing that happened to Austin years later: it looks like nothing at all. The things that Hogan did when he arrived have been done over and over again to the point where they're stale. Small men have beaten every giant that there is, musclemen have won the world title for decades, and the good guy always triumphs. Back in the 80s what Hogan did blew people's minds.

Ther'es one other major issue, and it's the same reason taht the NWA territory system died out, and the reason that Saturday Night's Main Event is the joke that it is today: Cable television. Look at the show Hogan wins the belt on. It's a house show. That's all there was back then. Pay Per View hadn't been invented yet and neither had Raw or Superstars, at least not on a national level. All you would hear unless you were at the show were whispers that some guy beat the Sheik for the world title. You might not get to see him for 3 months at a time. When you got to see him, it was amazing. The World Champion was this mystical creation that no one got to see ever.

Once the show was on tv every week, the mystery was gone. When you can see this guy every week, it was nothing special. Cena was champion for just over a year and people were so sick of him they couldn't stand it. What if that was 1/4 of his reign? In 2008, John Cena, who has been world champion all of 5 weeks this year and was injured a good amount of the year has wrestled on PPV 11 times and more times than I care to count on free television. During Hogan's reign that lasted over four years, he appeared on PPV 5 times, which was all the PPV there was in that period.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

Its hard to say but one things for sure Hogan would probably get booed out of the building at some point. Think about it, fans got old with Cena for holding the title for roughly a year booing him out of the building, what would they do with a guy holding the belt for 4+ years? I think the wholesome say your prayers and eat your vitamins routine that Hogan did would get old pretty fast with today's wrestling fan. So people might watch it just like they do with Cena but I wouldnt expect the positive reaction that Hogan received during his whole Hulkamania run to be the same today. Im sure he would get plenty of mixed reactions after a couple years.

 

[Mighty NorCal]

Thats now what you asked though KB. You asked if the fans would accept a 300 pound muscly guy who gets his ass whipped all match but still wins all the time. And the answer is yes.

Who are these "people" you speak of who were so sick of Cena?? Morons on internet forums?? The people who matter werent sick of it. It was merely a time of flux that caused the backlash, not the booking, not Cena, and not the reighn. Now we have fully transitioned (or almost) back to the old style booking, Im quite confident a very long reighn can be successfull. It also has much to do with the popularity of wrestling. Hogan, and wrestling itself, were far more popular in comparison. You may point to Austin to disprove this, but its just simply not an acceptable comparison, becuase of how different the landscape was during that time.

 

[Shocky]

It just depends on what happened over the last 25 years, assuming of course Hulk Hogan never came to be. The Reason why guys like Goldberg and Cena don't work anymore with smarky crowds, is because they've seen it done. There's a reason why people call them Hogan wannabes or something like that. People want to be challenged and people want to see something new. When you see a lot of something in someone new, they are either automatically ripping the first person off, or it's just bland, safe vanilla way of doing business.

 

[HBK-aholic]

his first major match in the company and wins the World Title in less than 10 minutes.

This is what stands out to me. I love the idea of watching a wrestler working his way up. People like Jeff Hardy, I LOVE his reign because I remember watching him as a tag -team competitor, and now he's champion of the company. I think it helps you build a 'connection' with them, something I know I like.

That being said, I think it could work. Hogan's charisma could bring around the most 'smarky' of audiences. If it was someone that wasn't anywhere near as good as him, you have no chance. But Hogan could do anything.

 

[Dragonslayer]

When I first read the initial post, I was inclined to say "no", simply because the times were so much different back then. The 80ies was a period of extremes; music, fashion, media - you name it, everything was "over the top". And Hulk Hogan fit in just perfectly at the time. He was huge, had an impressive physique, and his Hulkamania-Persona was just as "over the top" as can be. And I initially thought that nowadays, wrestling has to deal with a much more sophisticated audience, most if not all stories have been played out time and again, and the whole landscape of wrestling is different, with people almost getting an overkill with a PPV every four weeks, hardly any decent buildups for really "big" moments anymore, or long reigns - all that made wrestling in the 80ies seem so "monumental". I mean, just look at it - Hogan held the title for 4 years and then some; the effect it had when he finally LOST it was HUGE - nowadays, titles change hands all the time, plus there are technically 3 top titles in WWE alone... of course it is still "special", but not so "monumental" and awe-inspiring it was made to be back then. And again - Hogan's entire persona, his look, and wrestling itself was centered around these occasions. So I'd have been inclined to say "no".

However, when I read HBK-aholics last post, it got me thinking; mostly about Hogan and the way I remember him as a kid when he was still (almost) in his prime.
Of course back then you had the Cold War that made the "All American" character all the more appealing; but even today, with terrorism a constant fear in the back of the western world's consciousness, and new conflicts out there between "systems" and "ideologies", the "All American" approach still works, and I think would also work for Hulk Hogan again, simply because he was such an unambiguous character. He was all-out good, personifying everything Americans love(d) about America, and he was basically everything that Americans want to be / want to be seen as incarnate. And especially in times like today, where America has lost a lot of international goodwill because of various political decisions that have not been so well-received internationally (to put it politely ), a character that symbolizes everything that "America really stands for" could work all the better.

Plus, we are talking about Hulk Hogan. HULK F'N HOGAN. The guy who put wrestling on the map. The guy who revolutionized wrestling 10 years later. The guy who had the biggest impact on the wrestling world ever. Twice. Simply because he has this CHARISMA (and I am deliberately using caps here), and that's what got me in HBK-aholics post.

No one, and I mean no one, ever had this same amount of intensity and of charisma that Hogan had. From his interviews, to his performances inside the ring; the moment the camera was on, the moment he stepped through the curtain, he was 100% that character he was playing. He was not the conservative father who is anxious about his daughter you know from "Hogan Knows Best"; no, he was the "Real American" Hulk Hogan, ready to kick the USSR's, Iraquis' or now "terrorists'" asses (if you permit this politically incorrect statement) and to do what no one else can do. And with this intense charisma, I think he could make it work again, if he was 20-something years again and would start out now in WWE. For as has been said - if it is working for John Cena (especially with kids being the current target audience), it would work for Hogan as well. For there was no other wrestler ever who brought so much charisma to it all, with the exception of The Rock - but we will never know to which levels of stardom he could've gone in the wrestling world (and I honestly believe he could've at least reached the levels of "monumentality" and the "myth" that Hogan used to have in his heyday; hell, he was already scratching at that around the time he left). But if there was one who could kick-start it all over again, it would be Hogan. Just as HBK-aholic put it: Hogan could do anything.

And if he was still young enough, he could do for a third time what no one else could ever do, heh.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

After re-reading your original post I think I misunderstood the question. If you're just talking about it happening period and not having it be the Hulk Hogan character then yes I think it could work with the right guy and the right gimmick. Take Austin for example he was so over in the attitude era I think he could have held the title for 4 years and it would have worked and people wouldnt have complained about it because he was so "cool" in people's eyes. Sure you would have some people get sick of it but I think for the most part it would have worked and at that time its basically the same as how it is now as far as number of TV shows and PPVs they would have to wrestle on.

But it would have to be a character similar to Austin's or The Rocks or somebody "cool" like that. Thats why it worked with Goldberg even though it wasnt as long but he was insanely over because he looked and acted like a real badass, something that most people thought was cool. He had the black trunks, shaved head and goatee he and the fact he didnt say much made him cooler. Now not taking anything away from Hogan himself, he has the charisma to pull off a cool character like that just look at his Hollywood character but if you made him do the whole Hulkamania character I dont think that would work long term. People nowadays grow tired of the goodie two shoes act. The whole saying your prayers, eating your vitamins and being all wholesome. Yes it would work with the kids but I dont think it would be badass enough for the 16-35 crowd for it to have staying power. Cause to be honest if a guy like that came on the scene now I probably wouldnt be into him and I dont think I would be alone on that.

 

[Milkyway!]

Didn't Mark Madden write a column about Hogan not long ago, about this very same thing? Hogan did it in the 80's, long after his prime in the mid 90's, and WAY WAY after his prime he did it in early 00's, and if he was young enough HE COULD DO IT AGAIN.