Sorry it took so long to respond but my daughter got the opportunity to cheer with her school squad on the field before our area minor league baseball teams game last night. The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders. Anyway while I read Stormtroopers post I have been unable until now to respond.
Stormtrooper said- irrelevant
Stormtrooper has said this about a few of the things I posted in my support of Bruno. Rather then answer each one at a time I think tis umbrella explanation would be better.
Nothing is irrelevant in this tournament. In the 4 years I have voted and posted in it and in the years prior in which I just read I have discovered that anything and everything will be used to push someone along. Some of the things I have seen include-
Wrestler A beat B, B beat C so A beats C.
Andre couldn't lift Robin Wright during filming of The Princess Bride so he can't beat Steve Auston in a 3 stages of hell match.
Older wrestler can't climb a ladder( I have seen this used against Hogan, Andre and Thesz).
Wrestler A is the type of wrestler Wrestler B would put over.( saw this one in the Cena/Andre match )
Brody is not the kind of wrestler a promoter would have win this.
And my fav, Stars in Japan would never be booked to win in the States. The person who posted this argument then went on to vote Rikidozen over Bret Hart in Miami and Inoki over Flair in Chicago.
So, anything and everything goes and someone who just argues irrelevant usually can't refute what he is arguing against. So I maintain...
Advantage Bruno.
And here is where we disagree. Hogan built WWE/WWF. Bruno was the face of the WWWF.
You have it backwards. People like to say that without Hogan there would be no Stone Cold. Well, without Bruno there would be not Hogan. And no Hogan did not build the WWF.
QUOTE=Stormtrooper;4432925]Basically, Bruno was the top guy for Vince Sr. and Hogan for Vince Jr.
Vince Jr. took the regional company of Vince Sr. and built a Global Empire.[/QUOTE]
Right, Vince did it, not Hogan. That is one of the great myths of Hulkamania. Oh, and Sports Illustrated agrees with me.
Given the era in which Hogan was champ, it is arguable that Hogan has the advantage. Hogan was on TV defending in high profile matches with more regularity, and was defending a national championship, instead of a regional one like Bruno.
However, I will give you this one.
Except it was not a regional title. It was defended mainly in the Northeast, the biggest area at the time, but Bruno also defended it in Florida, Maryland, The Midwest, Mexico, California, Canada, Australia and Japan. Just because you chose to ignore this fact does not make it less true.
This is completely subjective. And based on the fact that Hogan wrestled in front of MUCH larger crowds, I'd say Hogan was a bigger draw. The largest audience Bruno was in front of was Mania 29 when he was introduced with the Hall of Fame class.
How is it subjective? Because it hurt your case?
1. It was with Vince Srs pocketbook that made Bruno do all that he did.
2. Hogan took Vince Jrs vision and made it what it became. He deserves a ton of credit for what WWE became.
This isn't Sammartino's and you know it.
No, again you are ignoring facts. Bruno became so over that other promoter sought him out. In 1965 the NWA offered to have him win the NWA title. Bruno became a world wide attraction on his own, without Vince Sr promoting him outside the Northeast.
So Bruno saved a regional promotion twice. Hogan built a GLOBAL promotion (WWE) and a NATIONAL promotion (WCW). Again, how is that Sammartino?
Oh, and Hogan main eventing WrestleMania saved WWF/WWE. If he wasn't there, the PPV fails and the company is done.
First we have already agreed that Vince Jr made it a global promotion.
Second, Hogan helped lift WCW, it was already a GLOBAL promotion. He then helped destroy it from the inside.
Third, Hogan did not save the WWF at WrestleMania. This is another myth of Hulkamania. Hogan was in the WWF for a year before WrestleMania. It is not like he signed and WrestleMania happened. And he was as important as Mr. T and Roddy Piper. Take one of those three out and WrestleMania fails. Also, had Hogan nevr signed with the WWF then Vince Jr would have created WrestleMania around another main event and it would have succeeded.
If anything Cyndi Lauper and Mr. T made WrestleMania.
So a weekly show showcasing Sports stars did an episode on Bruno. That's awesome. Of course this was during his career I bet, back when wrestling did not admit to being predetermined.
You want to know what IS impressive?
Click for Spoiler:
The spoiler is Hogan on the cover of Sports Illustrated from April 1985.
This is perhaps my favorite Hulkamania myth. Hulks the greatest because he was in SI. Hogwash. People who brag on this NEVER read the articles.
SI( link 1 )
The article mocks wrestling, puts all the credit of it going national on the shoulders of Vince Jr and Cyndi Lauper, and hardly mentions Hogan. Here is what they say...
HULK HOGANZoomed to stardom after playing bad guy named Thunderlips in Rocky III. Hulkamania! Before that, was a journeyman heel wrestling under the name Sterling Golden. "I was a young kid, lost and misguided," explains Hulkster. But silent was Golden. Conversion followed in which Hulk developed "a relationship with the Big Dude upstairs." No more heel. Now he's the ultimate babyface to the baby-boomers, who don't seem to mind a hero with a receding hairline. Hulkamania! Not noted for wrestling technique. "His entire repertoire," says one critic, "consists of the Eye of the Tiger, a shredding muscle shirt, a few minutes of inept brawling and the infamous leg-drop finish out of nowhere." Tag-team partner is Mr. T. Between them not one decent head of hair.
That's great. But there were two articles.
SI2( link 2 )
This one only mentions Hogan as a cartoon.
Please, keep posting things like this; Bruno is losing and I need all the help I can get.
If you look at the date on that Sports Illustrated cover, you will notice it say April 29th, 1985. This was AFTER professional wrestling was confirmed to be not legit sport. No other professional wrestler has EVER been on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Oh my. No it wasn't. The WWF would admit it was fake in 1988 to avoid state athletics regulations. It would be then that the NWA would start their 'We Wrestle' campaign. Facts are a bitch, huh. And yes, he is theonly wrestler on the cover of a magazine who then proceed to mock the man, his sport and profession. Good find.
In the end I see Hulk Hogan as a great magician who performed a great trick. We are all astonished by the magic we have seen. However, once we learn how the trick was done it is not so special. The magician is still great for being able to do the trick, but not as great as we thought.
Hogan was a great wrestler who was credited with allot of things. Now that we know that most of those things where illusions, he does not appear as great as we thought.
Is Hogan great? 100%
Is he one of the greats ever? With out a doubt.
Is he the greatest? No, but he is currently beating the greatest in this match.
And that is sad.
