I didn't imply that his fanbase is limited to children, hence my use of the word "plenty". Although I don't have any figures, I'm willing to guess with some confidence that Cena's fanbase is predominantly children (under the age of 18). So either you are deliberately being difficult or you couldn't grasp what I was saying.
Either way, it looks bad for you.
Whatever, you got busted trying to imply Cena's fans wouldn't know Rock, which was the whole basis of your statement of how Rock's promo wouldn't hurt Cena. You can play word games now, but if Cena's fans include "plenty" of adults as well, then those fans remember Rock, and Rock's promo could hurt Cena.
Play all the word games you want, no matter how you spin it, you're wrong. Either you intended people to think most of Cena's fans wouldn't remember Rock, or you're wrong that "plenty" of Cena's fans WOULD remember Rock, and thus his promo would hurt Cena.
I didn't watch wrestling before 2010 so I'm not even going to go into that.
Just because you didn't watch before 2010, doesn't mean it's not true.
The fact is, however, that Cena was always going to respond in the manner that he did. Therefore, I can't see how what The Rock said could be seen as damaging. Yes he's an IWC darling. Does that mean Cena shouldn't feud with people the IWC likes?
You're completely missing the point. You do not want an IWC darling to come in and mock your biggest cash cow who's there every week. If you want to do a feud hyping promo, that's fine. If you want to make fun of whether or not Cena deserves to talk shit to Rock, that's fine. But to mock Cena's very character, to demean the character in the manner he did, is just not good business. Even with Cena coming out the next week and rapping.
Sure he did. Or are you forgetting WCW?
No, I haven't forgotten Giant, Sting, Luger, Hall, Nash, Bischoff, Kidman, etc. Hell, even Buff fuckin' Bagwell and Nick Patrick were over in WCW thanks to the Hogan led nWo.
I believe Jericho even pointed that out in his book (among all the other guys that knew how Hogan dealt backstage). I think Jericho's proven himself to be the polar opposite of Hogan in that regard (putting people over) so I'm inclined to accept him at face value concerning Hogan.
And Bret Hart said this:
Bret Hart said:
I can remember, even during the glory days of Hulkamania, how Terry would come into the dressing room and say hi to every single wrestler. Every night he headlined there was a sell out and throughout the night all the wrestlers would come up to him and whoever his opponent was and thank them both for the house, for putting food on their tables and making wrestling something worth respecting.
I can say that Hulk Hogan was not only a hero to millions of Hulkamaniacs, but to all the wrestlers too.
http://www.brethart.com/bio/columns/tribute-hulk-hogan
And that's coming from Bret Hart, who doesn't even like Hogan because of the way Hogan left in '93. I'll take Hart's word just as soon as you'd take Jericho's.
But it hasn't. How long has he been there? How much ratings stability has he garnered?
How has he hurt them? Since when is ratings the sole determinant of impact on a promotion? I guess things like merchandise, the promotion's credibility with other wrestlers, increased mainstream visibility, etc. don't matter now?
At least you said biggest "star", and not "talent" (or worker). Wording is the only way I can't comment about that one...
In his prime, there's not a single person in wrestling history who can claim to be as great of a worker as Hulk Hogan. Not one.
Hogan used most of these "overages" as means to an end. He would "put somebody over" in the vaguest sense of the word until he could come back and take them out, hence making himself look better. And I'm sure if we negated every "over" for every "bury" he's done, the average wouldn't look so good.
So, now it's not whether or not he put someone over, but how Hogan looked at the end? You're right, Hogan should have gone to Vince and said, "Hey, Vince, I know I'm the biggest superstar in wrestling history, and I know I make you millions and millions of dollars, but I think I want to lose to this young kid Big Bossman tonight. I think that will be best for the WWF"?
That's just stupid. Hulk Hogan made a main-eventer out of everyone he feuded with, or anyone he associated with. He even made that talentless hack Beefcake someone people loved, and if not for Beefcake's accident, he would probably have been a multi-time IC champion.
Again, a great person to look at is Jericho. He's a future HOFer, no doubt about it. He's solidified his legacy. Yet I don't recall ever hearing him being talked about as negatively as Hogan.
And I don't ever recall anyone calling him the biggest draw in the company, much less history.
Perhaps you are young, and don't realize this yet, but people always hate those who are great. It's called jealousy. They don't realize they just don't work as hard as the top dog, and so they get jealous and spew jealousy and talk bad about those who are on top.
The fact of the matter is no one helped Hulk Hogan become who he was. He didn't marry a promoter's daughter, his best friend wasn't booking the shows...Hulk Hogan worked his ass off in the gym, and had a natural charisma in the ring we had never seen before, and haven't seen since (and include The Rock in that as well, in terms of working a match). Hulk Hogan was an incredible talent, and for people to get upset because he wouldn't lose to some talentless midcarder is just absurd. He made believable main-eventers out of Zeus, Earthquake, Curt Hennig, and that was just from 1989-1991. None of those guys ever came CLOSE to achieving what they did when they feuded with Hogan.
Hogan put people over, and to say otherwise is absolutely silly.
You could even look at Cena, too. He's this era's "Hogan" yet you don't hear about him politicking in the back, refusing to work and/or put over people, etc. etc.
He doesn't have the clout Hogan did, or even the clout Austin did. You damn sure heard about Austin not putting people over, right? How about HBK? HHH? Before he became old and worthless, Flair used to be notorious for holding down talent.
Hogan is the pot calling the kettle black here. Whether he's right or not, he's guilty of the same crime.
Except he's not, because Hogan HAS given back plenty to the wrestling world. He's earned the right to say what he did, because he has never gone out on TV and buried someone the way the Rock potentially could have buried Cena.
And don't get me wrong, I'm not upset with the Rock, or even the WWE. I think it was just a mistake. But to say Hogan doesn't have the right to voice his opinion is just silly, because he's put over MORE than his fair share of talent, and he's never worked a program with someone and not tried to make them look good.
