Did Hogan need a heel turn?

[thebarber]

of course Hogan had to turn heel, his first appearance in WCW he was booed out of the building. WCW had the golden goose and didnt know how to book Hogan, so Hogan got to book himself, and his cronies. WCW used late 1995 to tease a Hogan heel turn, often forgotten when Hogan had his moustache shaved off by Kevin Sullivan,. Hogan worked tweener on Nitor, his first ever 1-1 match with Sting when Sting wore red and yellow and Hogan wore all black..WCW was testing the waters then, the same time Sting grew out his trademark blonde spike. This plan was in motuion for monthskl, 18 years on plenty try to re-write history. Hogan did have misgivings about turning full heel, obviously all of the hard work and huge fan base, kids especuially, that Hogan had built up was real, and he beliebved in that further than a wrestling immick. Obviously the right decision was made, Hogan's turn made WCW relevant, the Monday Night Wars become the most watched wrestlnig programming in history

 

[Bobbywoodhogan]

The answer of course is yes, the guy was been boo'd like crazy at the time as the fans were sick of seeing the same thing. I do believe had Hogan been more willing to put others over (Vader, Flair etc) and not won every natch the same way he did that the boos would not have been there (or at least not as much). But even with that he probably still would've needed to the heel turn as his character had grown stale. If he weren't getting boo'd however the heel turn may never have come and the nWo may have barely lasted.

I'd say Hogan turning hero got him over in WCW. He became relevant again she by the time 1999 around people were wanting him back as a face, that for me was one of the reasons him & Flair switched roles at Uncensored. Not just because Flair begged him. You look at the night after on Nitro, Hollywood hulked up in that tag team match and the crowd loved it. Then fast forward to the night he went back to red & yellow on the Nitro before Road Wild, that's arguably the biggest pop he'd gotten in WCW since his debut at Bash at the Beach in 1994. WCW were happy to have that Hogan back, sometimes you have to reinvent yourself so that you can return to what you love and it seems fresh again.

 

[Bobbywoodhogan]

I absolutely think Hogan's "American Hero" gimmick could have worked in WCW. Southern audiences love patriotic babyfaces. The problem wasn't the American Hero part of the gimmick, it was the unbeatable part of the gimmick.

WCW audiences loved their bad guys. Vader was mega over with the WCW audiences. Having him look incapable of taking out Hogan was pathetic. Having Hogan and Savage go 2 on infinity and take out all the alleged top heels in the company at the same time was pathetic. WCW fans just didn't like simple minded super hero booking. They wanted strong heels and sympathetic babyfaces that worked their butts off to earn your respect before they took down the heel, had a nice run and then fell to the next (or old) dastardly heel and we could repeat the process.

All of the Hogan/Flair matches were good, but the consistent outcome of Flair not being man enough to beat Hogan was just pathetic. Then he cross dressed and retired and all that nonsense.

If they had booked Hogan Flair like Rocky/Apollo Creed that would have done wonders for Hogan in WCW. Have him struggle to win the gold, put it off until Halloween Havoc maybe then drop it to Vader and let Vader get a long run before Hogan finally takes it back off him...WCW audiences would have done much better with that.

I agree mostly with what you're saying the unbeatable part is spot on and he should have faced Vader at Starrcade and put him over clean. Hogan needed his dye if the tiger moment where he's chasing the title and finally wins it back off Vader.

On the title win at BATB he had to win that match, no way could he have come in and list there. But what he should have done was lost the title back to Flair at the Clash to really set up the third rouge decider at Havoc.

I truly believe if Hogan had done these things WCW crowds would have stated on side.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

In my opinion, I'd have to go with yes. Hulk Hogan had been the ultimate good guy in pro wrestling for about 12.5 years by the time Bash at the Beach '96 rolled around. I can see Hogan's reluctance or even WCW's reluctance to turning him because of how profitable Hogan as this ultra patriotic superman had been for the WWF and for WCW itself since he arrived. Hogan was also into his 40s by this time and he was still a major draw, but he couldn't come close to matching a lot of the younger guys on the roster in terms of in-ring ability while both WCW and WWF had younger wrestlers coming up through the ranks that were much edgier in character than Hogan had ever been. Society was changing and Hogan's gimmick was seen as outdated for the times, so WCW took a risk and it ultimately paid off.

Hogan's babyface character during the 80s and John Cena's character for the past decade are cut from the same cloth. Cena started out as some sort of street rapper from the Boston area that eventually morphed into this super patriotic, forthright, morally superior superman very much like Hogan was. There have been some people screaming for years that Cena needs to go heel and, just as with Hogan, Cena's character has been very profitable for WWE. The problem with Cena staying babyface is that his character has gotten pretty stale, so much to the point that fans tend to take out frustrations out on Cena as hate most of the time. It's not exactly Cena's fault as he only does what management tells him, so he can't go heel if management won't let him. If Hogan was in his physical prime today, was in WWE and had been doing the Hulkamania gimmick, I've no doubt he'd get the same level of hate as Cena, if not more so, because Hogan's in-ring ability compared to Cena makes Cena look like he has the technical expertise of Kurt Angle and Daniel Bryan combined.