Hogan As A Heel...The Better Option From Now On?

[Mitch Henessey]

We've seen Hulk Hogan play the bad guy role in the past before. Hogan does have a strong presence, and he is very believable as a leader. Hogan is THE BAD GUY in TNA, and the authority figure role is probably better for him at this stage of his career, and there are times where I believe the heel role is better for Hogan.

Hogan's heroics as a face usually revolved around him conquering his opponents in the ring. Hogan was always the White Knight in shinning armor who would come to save the day. But Hogan is up there in age, and his back is in horrible shape. Having a match isn't so simple for this man anymore. There's also a good chance Hogan won't wrestle again. Sure, there were some flashes of nostalgia, and crowds did pop for this man like crazy in 2002, when the red and yellow version of Hogan returned. Fans also supported Hogan during his Summerslam feuds with Shawn Michaels and Randy Orton, but could the "good guy" version of Hogan have the same goosebump/spine chilling impact today? I'm sure Hogan would receive a warm reception if decided to be a face again, but I'm not so sure a "Hulkamania!" comeback would have the same feeling. Hogan has made the heroic comeback before, so could we have that same level of excitement again?

I think Hogan fits the heel role a lot better now. Hogan's look screams "bad guy." To some, he might look like an old man who has a serious mid-life crisis problem, but when I look at Hogan now, I see a cocky and bold man with an edge. Hogan will probably turn face again sometime in the future, but I do think the bad guy authority figure is a better role for him. As a villain, Hogan has to throw his weight around, he has to cut a promo every now and then, and he dishes out the bulk of the orders in Immortal, but he doesn't have to be a hero. He doesn't have to be the guy who saves the day.

Hogan is going to have a prominent role in TNA. There's no doubt about it, so if he's going to be in the spotlight, would staying on the dark path be such a bad thing? Heel Hogan can feel different at times. I prefer heel Hogan now, because seeing him as a bad guy can be refreshing every now and then.

 

[MoeIsBetter]

I completely agree. In fact, if he were to ever stop being heel I wouldn't even want him to be a "face". At most, a tweener who has to make hard decisions but does what's best for the company. That doesn't mean siding with faces on every situation.

 

[whoopin' ass]

it is tough to say. he could still work as a face if he wasn't on tv every damn week. obviously for the storyline they need him to be heel, and i personally always prefered hollywood hogan to hulk hogan, but something is wrong with it. i think they should not have mentioned his back surgery on the air. we all know about it and that he is probably never going to wrestle again but mentioning it on the air and showing him come out wearing the brace weakens the character. if he said "i am management now, i don't get into the ring anymore", it would make him seem both arrogant and a little cowardly. plus there is always the tease that he might get back in. as it stands now, you know he is injured and in the back of your mind, all you can think is "someone just hit him with the lead pipe and he will be gone". he needs bodyguards.

i think if they had someone like Rob Terry to be his bodyguard, and he wasn't on tv every week, it would make him a stronger character and would work better.

 

[MoeIsBetter]

Personally the cowardly heel is SO overplayed for me. Am I the only one that wished Jeff Hardy would have been a little more bad ass as the bad guy? His character would have been perfect having not been scared to face anybody but working as Hogans boy getting all the perks. His type of matches, etc.

 

[PhD]

Personally the cowardly heel is SO overplayed for me. Am I the only one that wished Jeff Hardy would have been a little more bad ass as the bad guy? His character would have been perfect having not been scared to face anybody but working as Hogans boy getting all the perks. His type of matches, etc.

Which character type isn't overplayed in professional wrestling? Cowardly heel, the little engine that could, monster heel, Superman face...there are only so many ways to book people when feuds rely on the good vs. evil dynamic. Hogan's current gimmick suits him fine, mostly because, at least for smarks, he's totally jumped the shark in his personal life in terms of seeming like a decent human being.

 

[Theo Mays]

Hogan will get cheered whether heel or face, but that isn't due to him doing a bad job. That is due to him being Hulk freaking Hogan. But as far as TNA, I agree that Hogan as a heel is much better for the company. I'll admit to watching TNA, main reason being I'm a Hulk Hogan mark and I don't care that he isn't wrestling I just want to see him. His mic work is much better as a heel considering his role right now in TNA as the authority figure. Hogan's face gimmick really wouldn't be spectacular as an authority figure as he'll fill it with a bunch of his old schticks and that is better saved for actual wrestling, which I hope we don't see again.

 

[JJYanks121]

It's a weird situation with Hogan. We know that he's a pretty bad dude in real life so he should be a natural heel, yet he is still seen as a face. Well why is that?

It's because he's Hulk Hogan.

He is a walking nostalgia act and that's all he is. Same thing with Flair. You can turn these guys heel and have them act datardly all you want, but no one is going to buy it. When guys get to a certain point in this business, they are going to be cheered no matter what, so it's not worth making them heels. Hogan is of this case yet he is playing not just A heel but THE heel in the company. While I won't get into the full problem of this, having a guy people WANT to cheer as a legend as your top heel just won't do.

He's not a bad heel as he really is a piece of crap as a human being and he does act that out a little bit, but none of that matters. He's the guy that rewrote the book on wrestling and is the greatest of all time in many eyes.

In my opinion, it's incredibly stupid to try and use him as a heel. The fans will never fully buy it. The WWE wanted to do it with the nWo but the fans popped like crazy for his return. It simply didn't work and they turned him face. The fans were loving him in TNA being the decision maker in TNA that wasn't face or heel, so naturally he was turned heel and has trouble getting booed. Any time a show is done outside the Impact Zone, he gets cheered like crazy. I'd say take the hint.

Either use him as a walking nostalgia act or as a face leader, but as a heel he's worthless because people simply don't want to boo him no matter how terrible a human being he might be.

 

[TheFranchise]

just a small side note: What Hogan does outside of the buisness is irrelevant. I dont care if he kills small kittens on youtube for fun, thats on his time. I'm only interested in his TNA work and his 'attempt' to 'turn the company around'

 

[neildittmar]

In his (first) prime, Hogan was the biggest babyface in wrestling due much in part to his charisma, build, and ability to be believable as someone who could do what Hogan did (ie; take a beating only to come back in a superhuman display and win). This is ultimatey why he connected with fans and why those same fans have embraced his schtick time and time again.

In contrast, it is almost human nature to want to see the "squeaky clean good guy" exposed in some fashion... to break the mystique and humanize the hero so that he becomes just like everybody else. Hogan played into this role perfectly during his second "prime" as Hollywood Hulk Hogan. Hollywood's main focus was that he was not only professional wrestling in its entirety, but that he was bigger than the business... that he transcended it. In order to perpetually "keep his spot" he would bury guys and play backstage politics with the higher ups. This mirrored what a number of people thought about Hogan at the time and again, it was very believable if not the outright truth.

All of that said, from now forward Hogan will always play the role of heel better than he will a face, simply because he can't really do the "superhero" schtick anymore. He can't look the part, he can't go like he used to, and his "mortality" (divorce, back surgeries, other family issues, etc.) is very well documented on-screen. Hogan as a super babyface just isn't believable anymore.

Truthfully, this is why I was really hoping the whole "Band" thing in TNA would've played out differently than it did. Before Hall and Waltman had "issues" again, it was looking like TNA was going to cast them in the role of has-beens who still thought they had all the power in the company. Sort of a "past history does in fact indicate future results" type of thing. Bitter old men who should've retired long ago, but were holding onto their former glory like it was still the mid-late 90's. During that time I assumed Hogan would turn heel and join "the Band" at some point, but it would be as their "in" to attempt to run the show again. I suppose that's essentially what happened with Immortal... sans Hall, Nash, and Waltman of course.

 

[deforty]

He should stay heel. He is doing a fine job of it, I would like for the first time to see a Bischoff/Hogan power struggle. I don't care about the network crap. I would like to see who Bischoff could get into his corner and who Hogan would get. Let them both keep their heel gimmicks and fight like two bad guys each pulling dirty tactics on the other. Hell allow the network to be involved as a way for TNA to be run by Dixie or Foley or whomever they reveal as the network.

Hogan doesn't really have to put the Red and Yellow on again ever. Just play a hard as nails authority figure who doesn't take shit off of no one and he could be heel or babyface.

 

[marker]

I have always liked hogan. Current heel run is no exception.

I also agree that at current hogan's age and condition he is better as a heel. As a heel he does not need to wrestle anymore. He can always cheat and manipulate his way out of any problems. On the other hand if he was a face, he would need to act as a face. This would mean that sooner or later he would need to face some heel.

 

[Cena's #1 In My Heart]

Nice topic.

I agree Hogan should stay heel, he plays it well. I mean who is going to tell Hulk Hogan he can't run something?

All the dumb f**ks out there that thinks he should leave TNA are just... dumb f**ks! He should leave TNA for his own sake maybe, but TNA shouldn't let Hogan go.. he makes them more credible, even if he isn't wrestling.

I mean why are fans trying to push Hulk Hogan out of the business? Don't you think a man who has been to the top such as him... and a man who has been in the business for ages would be a good mind to have in the business? Nope.. everyone just thinks hes ruining everything which is complete crap..

Sure seeing him play the bad guy role on TNA ain't always the most exciting, but its a good fit. For years we talked about the politics in WCW.. well he's playing politics right on the air in TNA... what a better way to make people hate you.

 

[neilphipps]

I agree here w/ everyone Hogan can't go wrong being face or heel. Hulk does a great job at being the lead heel foe TNA. I love his feud he has w/ Mr. Anderson right now those two are money together feeding off each other is great t.v. it has a small Austin vs McMahon feel to it. Obvious Hogan will never wrestle again all those back surgeries did him in so anyone hoping for Hogan vs Sting one last time sorry thats just not going to happen.

Hulk is great at causing mayhem in & out of the ring so its fitting that he's the top heel spilling the backstage politics out in front of the camera for us all to see. Bischoff is great as well being Hulk's #2 his robin to Hulk's batman those two are as close as brothers & it shows on t.v. I like them as heels & I know theirs lots of TNA haters out their that rip these two for their creative direction of the company but I think TNA has more exposure no questions about that thanks to Hulk Hogan he's known world wide & that ultimately helps TNA.

 

[daby]

I LOVE the current Hulk Hogan. He is heel, he's PERFECT. I remember his face run last year, it was sooo cheesy. The heel role is the best for him. You can see that he is more natural, he moves much better, he talks better, he's having fun.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

Hulk Hogan, in this day and age works best as a part time wrestling face. Even then I believe that he should work somewhere around the middle of the card. If he does not want to wrestle he should come once in a while to cut a promo to build a feud, maybe he could even be the special referree for a match.

Hogan was once pro wrestling and he still is thee biggest star ever but he should realize that his time has passed. Look at how he was handled by the WWE in 2002. He came back to huge pops, he was given a title reign but soon after he lost his title he was working much lower down the card. And that was 8 years ago. Hogan's appearance in any pro wrestling company will create a furore for a while but no longer do people want to see him on their TV sets everyday.

As for Hogan working as a heel, he obviously plays a good heel but the fact is that he is too big of a legend to get booed anymore. Tell me, is anyone in their right mind going to cheer Mr Anderson or RVD over Hulk Hogan?

Hulk Hogan will do best if he works in a backstage role. Maybe as an ambassador for the company or something.

 

[Brian in Austin]

Most of these guys when asked, always like playing a heel more than a face. It's easier because they can explore their own dark side with more freedom to move within the parameters of that character versus the face who always has to say and do the right thing. It's a cultural thing that is a real thing in everyday life. For most of us, always doing and saying the right things requires more thought and introspection. Being bad rarely does right? Taking a short cut at work to achieve a goal is always easier than doing the actual leg work. Running the red light is always easier than slamming on the brakes and waiting a whole minute and a half. LoL Finding the $10 on the ground at work and sliding it into your pocket is easier than turning it in to lost and found right?

It's human nature in that regard. So for Hogan, I'm sure this role is easier for him to pull off even though he was the superhero face for so many years. I'm sure it's why his family was nowhere to be seen or heard during those runs. He needed the squeaky clean image to fit his on-screen persona, as being opposite would have ruined the fantasy for all. It's why Cena is rarely, if ever, seen at a bar, but gets lots of publicity for his charitable work. It fits his on-screen persona.

So yes, Hogan as a heel works much better for all involved right now.