The overwhelming Hogan bashing occurs because most members of the IWC are gullible, stupid and outright ignorant *****. Sorry for the choice of language but there is no better way to describe them. Plus it’s fun to always be part of a crowd that hates on a marquee star. Not that my two cents is going to matter to the haters because most people already have their minds made up about Hogan but fuck it I am going to speak my piece on things and defend The Hulkster. Over the years, I won't lie there are some things I have been frustrated with in the way of Hulk Hogan. I loathed his crossing over into other entertainment ventures like movies. However, looking at that now as an adult it was a temporary and marginal success, at that time no wrestler could say they had three starring roles in theatrically released films, say what you want about the quality of films like No Holds Barred, Mr. Nanny and Suburban Commando but the movies fared well enough to be shown in theaters and Hogan had some success in that avenue. I can’t say the same for his direct to home video affairs, but hell Steve Austin has done the same thing and on one criticizes his movies to the same degree. To boot he only had one theatrical release with The Condemned and since then all his movies have been home video releases only.
But getting back on target, Hogan as a wrestling superstar is why I was a fan of his and always will be. Side projects like Hogan Knows Best, American Gladiators and Hulk Hogan’s Celebrity Championship Wrestling are other ventures I care not to discuss much about because quite frankly I was not endeared to that aspect of Hulk Hogan’s celebrity. However from a personal standpoint, he’d have been foolish to not at least try these non-wrestling performance ventures due to his age and current health. If any one of us were in his shoes we’d be goddamned liars to say we wouldn’t do the same.
As far as his profile in the business goes, yes I am sure there have been several occasions where Hogan's star power has gotten in the way of what could have been some better scenarios booking wise, again I can't say that with utmost confidence but it's probably true. (i.e. WrestleMania IX might have been best avoided, but there was still a payoff and Bret Hart redeemed himself the next year, no one got buried like most fans like to think) and I also think that Hogan losing to Macho Man via pinfall would have been a great match to see, that's one booking move that never sat well with me and this was even in the pre-internet days that I got that upset when I saw Macho Man come up short against The Hulkster. Then again I also had to deal with The Rock having to wait like five years in the story lines to get a legit one on one pinfall win against Steve Austin. Most reasons people criticize Hogan is by ill-informed means, they buy into every backstage rumor they hear (although they themselves are not privy to such occurrences) and they also use his personal controversies as a means to deride Hogan as well. And yes even I'll concede he has had plenty of them...period.
However many other public figures in the wrestling business have had their share of controversies that could even far exceed the disgust of Hulk Hogan's actions and for some reason I don't hear as much vitriol from the fans as I do with something Hogan had said or done. Take for instance Steve Austin's domestic violence charges, on more than one occasion and with more than one woman Austin has gone to court and has been formally CHARGED and even sentenced for at least one of those occurrences and that was against Debra his ex wife, subsequently Austin served probation for that instance and yet people will gloss over that detail if you were to compare the personal lives of both Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin. Also since people do want to use the backstage rumor mill as a means to criticize Hogan let's also discuss the rumors about Steve Austin's outbursts, on two occasions he supposedly walked out on WWF/E over creative differences, one of those included a booking idea for a supposed loss against Brock Lesnar on RAW and Austin was adamant about this being too much too soon for Lesnar, which in retrospect and hindsight was indeed true but Hulk Hogan had no problem losing to Brock Lesnar. If we remember correctly, Austin's star was nowhere near its same level by 2002, the guy had debilitating injuries one which left him on the shelf for almost a year. It's true that he was still a hot commodity in WWF/E, however I personally don't think a loss against Lesnar would have been beneath him at that time in WWE, it's just too bad Lesnar did not pan out in the long run.
I also wonder what people would say if it was Hulk Hogan that was in Ric Flair’s position circa 1991 when Flair took the Big Gold Belt to the WWF when he left WCW. Most people I can guarantee you would talk about how selfish and egotistical of a prick Hulk Hogan would be if he committed the same act. I mean look at one of Mark Madden’s recent articles detailing the financial woes of Ric Flair, had that been Hulk Hogan you’d have had an incessant bitch session filled blog on Mr. Madden’s part and sadly enough most IWC sheep would follow that article verbatim, even people who aren’t Madden fans but blind Hogan haters would just buy into the hype because of their existing hatred for Hogan. Again, I will admit Mark Madden has a better idea of who Hogan was like behind the scenes than any of us on here, but that doesn’t mean he’s no less capable of playing the double standard like the IWC sheep do here on a constant basis.
Sadly enough there’s that contingent of marks out there that would also consider Chris Benoit (You know the same Chris Benoit who spent a whole weekend killing his family and then himself) a better person than Hulk Hogan and trust me I have heard that nonsense before, I wish I was kidding. I read the Shawn Michaels rumors too about SummerSlam 2005, I personally don’t know how much truth there is to the whole controversy and backstage arguing over how that angle was going to be booked. Personally speaking WWE DVDs and books are no better a source for the truth than Wikipedia is. You have to take it with a grain of salt especially in today’s wrestling era where reality and fantasy no longer have a definitive line anymore. Therefore I don’t put much stock into what is being said in these things, I take them on entertainment value and not educational merit. Also isn’t this the same Shawn Michaels “who lost his smile” and who most of his title reigns have ended via vacancy in the storylines? Again not to say I don’t like Shawn Michaels but there are several occasions where there have been rumors that the Shawn Michaels character was kept intact at the expense of other performers, let’s not kid ourselves there. Again if we are going to hold Hogan’s rumors against him why does Shawn Michaels get a free pass? He shouldn’t if we are going to play this game.
But again this isn’t to discredit that there are some unpleasant things about Hulk Hogan or better yet Terry Bollea the man that plays the character of Hulk Hogan. But to be fair who in this world doesn’t have their shortcomings or flaws? Simple answer....nobody. I have indeed met Terry/Hulk myself and I can say it was a great experience, it’s possible that maybe I caught him on a good day, but on that good day I can say he treated every fan with respect and even went above and beyond his advertised time (this was at a TNA house show in Upstate New York), I personally can tell you that Hogan was so loyal to his fans that night that one couple whose camera battery had died almost didn’t get their picture taken with the Hulkster. I however saw them within eyesight and before they left I asked the Hulkster to call out to them and get back over to take the pic since my camera was in working order. Hogan did indeed do what I asked and those fans went home happy people. Again I know there was incentive for Hogan he’s being paid to do what he does so it’s not like there isn’t something in this for him. However, there was nothing obligating him to call those fans back over but he did so anyway, he even took multiple photo-ops with me and even accepted a custom made action figure an acquaintance of mine crafted. He was even hesitant to accept it because he didn’t want me to lose something I valued so greatly but he took it just the same and was legitimately flattered by the gesture. He even posted a twitvid about it. Which I will provide at the end of my post. To me that says a lot about how the guy feels about his fans.
I understand that a lot of bad stuff has come to light about the guy. The accusations from his wife about spousal abuse (again who knows but as far as I am concerned speculation and nothing more), the John Graziano tragedy (again as a Marine he should have known better, but that’s another story for another day) and I have to accept that not everyone is going to like the guy. Despite the fact he is the icon of professional wrestling and one of its most influential figures doesn’t equate to universal acceptance or love on the part of all wrestling fans. However if you are going to dislike Hulk Hogan why not have it be based more on the fact of not being in favor of his wrestling character? Isn’t that the way it really should be? Because think of it, if we were to sit down here and judge the quality of these professional wrestlers on their personal character we’d be hard pressed to find a favorable ratio of quality people to unsavory people, it’d be damned impossible.
There are wrestlers that have made worse choices in their lives, not to say those people are bad per se or that I didn’t like them but wrestlers but Hennig, Guerrero and Pillman all made horrible choices that cut their lives short. There have also been outright unsavory people like The Dynamite Kid and Iron Sheik. If the rumors are true about those two then again these should be two people catching unlimited reams of hatred from the self righteous part of the IWC. In his book, Tito Santana claimed that because of Sheik’s history with the law and substance use he was known to plant drugs on his traveling buddies because of how often he’d be searched at airpots for narcotics. It’s also been said that Dynamite Kid used to put an unloaded shotgun under his wife’s chin and dry fire it and to boot he supposedly said that “one day it will be loaded”. Since some IWC sheep love to believe rumors as outright truth shouldn’t that be enough to make most people cry foul about these two individuals? I mean in my honest opinion
these two don’t even catch a fraction of the universal hatred I seem to read Hogan getting. I mean again it all depends on where on the net you venture to but on WrestleZone.com it’s very apparent that there’s a lot of animus towards Hogan. Before anyone jumps the gun though that’s not to say every user on here hates Hogan, but a good amount do, let’s face it.
Believe it or not if you don’t like Hulk Hogan that’s all well and good I honestly can accept that and even debate with some users on here about the topic. Some people didn’t like his wrestling style, some people thought he was overrated and some just don’t like the character, period. That’s fine, but when one’s judgment of him is clouded by rumor and hatred then in my opinion such people have no leg to stand on in a discussion related to Hulk Hogan. Because it’s obvious that those that think that way can’t put aside their personal bias and acknowledge Hogan’s impact in wrestling to have a productive discussion. The blind hatred that I read from most users on this forum only motivates me to be as belligerent as they are. If you are going to be someone that comes on this forum to troll or say some very hateful things about ANY wrestler you have a flaming come to you. Again I am not the nicest poster on here and have never claimed to be but I can with all confidence and honesty proclaim that I have never gone to the lengths to bash wrestling characters that I don’t like to the point that many users here have.
Took me long enough to explain but that’s why I think so many people love to hate on Hulk Hogan.
