Hogans Bad Rap

[BC1978]

I heard a Stan Hansen interview from a while back and he went for a few minutes how Hogan was a great guy and he liked him. During the interview he mentioned people either love Hogan or they hate him.

That brings me to an interview by Bobby Hennan who praised Hogan and said the only people who hated Hogan were just jealous because he never got to work with Hogan and make the big money.

Could all the Hogan hatred just be disgruntled Wrestlers.

Nash, Hall, Waltman, Flair, Lawler, all talk nice about the guy.

Yes Hogan didn't JOB but was he really asked to put over other Wrestlers.

He jobbed to The Rock, Warrior, Kidman, Lesnar, The Mountie, The Genius, Ric Flair, Arn Anderson, Yokozuna. Stinger, etc.

 

[ABMorales787]

The fact that the man used his position to totally redirect WCW still stands. It's a fact that thanks to him guys like Brutus Beefcake and Jim Duggan took time off guys like Steve Austin and turned Ric Flair totally incompetent with his creative input. Not to mention that when Stan Hansen worked with Hulk Hogan, Hulkamania didn't even exist.

 

[Hot Chocolate]

The fact that the man used his position to totally redirect WCW still stands. It's a fact that thanks to him guys like Brutus Beefcake and Jim Duggan took time off guys like Steve Austin and turned Ric Flair totally incompetent with his creative input. Not to mention that when Stan Hansen worked with Hulk Hogan, Hulkamania didn't even exist.

You don't know what you're talking about.

Please tell me how Hogan redirected WCW. Eric Bischoff went on a spending spree.

Everyone in WCW took time off. Lanny Poffo, Marty Jannetty, Jim Neidhart, the list goes on... Lets not pretend like this was reserved for friends of Hogan.

And Stan Hansen worked with Hogan in the late 1980's and early 1990's both in the Ring and on the Movie No Holds Bared.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EZveIuA_hg

 

[lowandmighty]

The fact that the man used his position to totally redirect WCW still stands. It's a fact that thanks to him guys like Brutus Beefcake and Jim Duggan took time off guys like Steve Austin and turned Ric Flair totally incompetent with his creative input. Not to mention that when Stan Hansen worked with Hulk Hogan, Hulkamania didn't even exist.

Don't ever listen to people like the poster quoted above. Fans of the wrestlers who don't like Hogan also don't like him. You only ever side with the people you agree with, just human nature. It's pretty sad that the word fact has lost it's meaning. Gravity is an irrefutable fact. Not hearsay or rumors about backstage politicking. Hogan got what he did because he was the best and wrestling was built up around him.

People forget that Hulk Hogan is not world famous because of wrestling. It's wrestling thats world famous because of Hulk Hogan.

For the record Hulkamania was pretty much in full stride when Hogan wrestled a pretty intense match against Cowboy Stan Hanson in Japan. It would've been around 88 - 92 somewhere there. I've only ever seen it exclusively on an old VHS tape called "the power of Hulkamania" look it up or find the tape if you don't believe me.

As far as Hulk Hogan changing the direction of WCW. Yes Hulk Hogan's mere presence did that. Not backstage politics. He wasn't in charge of how a whole show was booked as much as people want to think so.

As history shows for WCW it was for the better anyway. History also shows that WCW only truly suffered when Hogan was away injured and ultimately when he left and also very much how he left. He had nothing to do with how Jim Duggan etc were booked and Flair was pretty much in on everything Hogan was doing anyway and wanted to be part of it.

People exaggerate the amount of creative control Hogan had. The actual truth is Hogan could care less about anything that didn't involve his matches and the rest of the time he was backstage getting drunk with Macho Man, Flair, Hall, Nash, DDP, Ray Traylor, Sting and The Giant.

As far as Hogan really being a nice guy and the people who didn't get to work with him being jealous goes, it's true. He's painfully nice it's actually quite unbearable if you're around it. As an outsider looking in that would be torture.

Think of it like that guy (or lady) at work who seems to get every promotion and everyone seems to love but you just don't see it and think he's (or she) is just a total douche bag and you hate all their jokes and everything they do. Thats how Hogan is seen by many.

 

[The Fabulous Rougeau's]

While I could never hate Hogan, as the years pass I find myself less and less a fan. As a child who grew up during the late 80's/early 90's, I along with every other kid liked Hogan. Once he left the WWF, I didn't follow him to WCW and instead started to like guys like Bret, Shawn, Diesel and Razor. Than when Razor and Diesel went to WCW I started to see what they were doing, than when Hogan turned at Bash at the Beach, I was hooked. Heel Hogan was so fresh and everything WCW was doing back in 96-98 was so entertaining that I missed out on a great WWF year live (97) because of it

For me I can say I started liking Hogan less when he came back to the WWE in 02. I had found my way back to WWF by the spring of 98, and have remained ever since. I quickly became a Rock fan and within a year he became my favorite wrestler of all time. So once Hogan came back and had the fued with Rock I started to care less for Hogan. In the years to follow I would start to read about his ego and power trip and all the things he has done over the years (perseption and reality) and that along with my taste in wrestling matches changing as I got older have lead to me liking Hogan less over the years.

 

[Slyfox696]

1. I'm a huge Hogan fan
2. The amount of hate Hogan gets is ridiculous
3. To say Hogan didn't have a hand in what happened in WCW is ignorant.
4. Hogan gets hated because he was great. Most workers who stay on top for long periods of time see other wrestlers criticize them. The wrestling business is a cutthroat business, and all wrestlers have to do what is best for #1. The wrestlers who criticize top guys are usually the "never weres", jealous of the success the main-eventers have, and never understand why they aren't as loved as the main-eventers. Of course, those who criticize could never believe the problem is with them, so it becomes "Hogan held me down".

Very few top guys hold others down, especially today. Guys like Hogan are not responsible for anyone else's success. Each wrestler is responsible for their own success. Too many of the whining undercard workers never understand this.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

You don't know what you're talking about.

Please tell me how Hogan redirected WCW. Eric Bischoff went on a spending spree.

Everyone in WCW took time off. Lanny Poffo, Marty Jannetty, Jim Neidhart, the list goes on... Lets not pretend like this was reserved for friends of Hogan.

And Stan Hansen worked with Hogan in the late 1980's and early 1990's both in the Ring and on the Movie No Holds Bared.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EZveIuA_hg

Thanks for linking to that match. Hadn't seen it in a while, and it's a great one. It's always refreshing to see how Hogan worked in Japan, and how he could do so much more than he was ever given credit for in the US. Two drop toe holds AND a cross body block from Hulk Hogan? Most people wouldn't believe it if they didn't see it.

Funny thing about that match though. It originally wasn't supposed to be with Hansen. Terry Gordy was originally supposed to be his opponent, and at the time the match was booked, the intention was that Hogan would be the WWF champion and be putting the belt on the line. Gordy was willing to do the job for Hogan under those circumstances, but when Hogan dropped the belt, Gordy wouldn't do the job for him. Sounds kind of ridiculous to fans who only know their North American work, but Gordy was a huge draw in Japan at the time, and making his living working there. Hogan was just a special attraction that hadn't worked the country in years. Gordy was concerned about hurting his drawing power by lying down for Hogan if Hogan wasn't champ anymore, so he backed out of the match. Hansen, who was just as big a deal in Japan, if not bigger... and more established because he'd been working Japan for his entire career, stepped in and agreed to do the honors, understanding that a loss to Hogan wouldn't hurt him in the least.

Great match though. Thanks again for the link to it.

 

[ABMorales787]

Never said I had anything against Hulk Hogan. I'm a fan of his myself. That does not change the fact that he used his benefits for personal gain on various occasions and has rubbed people the wrong way because of it. Some people blow it out of proportion, but he's known for being a bit egocentric. He brought baggage talent to WCW with him and he did it in TNA in 2010 again too. Or are we really going to try and say Bubba The Love Sponge and The Nasty Boys were contacted apart?

Don't ever listen to people like the poster quoted above.

I doubt anyone could hear me over the keyboard anyway.

People forget that Hulk Hogan is not world famous because of wrestling. It's wrestling thats world famous because of Hulk Hogan.

And that makes Hogan a saint?

People exaggerate the amount of creative control Hogan had. The actual truth is Hogan could care less about anything that didn't involve his matches and the rest of the time he was backstage getting drunk with Macho Man, Flair, Hall, Nash, DDP, Ray Traylor, Sting and The Giant.

You were there I suppose.

The opening poster asked if Hogan gets a bad rap. Well yes he does. But when stuff like moving TNA to Mondays getting total troublemakers to TNA and such, Hogan doesn't look like that much of a saint.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

1. I'm a huge Hogan fan
2. The amount of hate Hogan gets is ridiculous
3. To say Hogan didn't have a hand in what happened in WCW is ignorant.
4. Hogan gets hated because he was great. Most workers who stay on top for long periods of time see other wrestlers criticize them. The wrestling business is a cutthroat business, and all wrestlers have to do what is best for #1. The wrestlers who criticize top guys are usually the "never weres", jealous of the success the main-eventers have, and never understand why they aren't as loved as the main-eventers. Of course, those who criticize could never believe the problem is with them, so it becomes "Hogan held me down".

Very few top guys hold others down, especially today. Guys like Hogan are not responsible for anyone else's success. Each wrestler is responsible for their own success. Too many of the whining undercard workers never understand this.

Hogan's biggest problem with how he's perceived today, is he's let people see who Terry Bollea the man is, and it's clouded memories of who Hulk Hogan, the character was.

Terry Bollea isn't a great guy, not by any stretch. Hulk Hogan, was a beloved character. I think for a lot of people, they have a hard time separating the two these days.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I think some of the criticism is deserved and some of it isn't.

For instance, Hogan often catches a lot of crap in regards to his time in WCW. For the most part, it's deserved. WCW was Hulk Hogan's personal playground for nearly all the time he was there. Whatever he wanted, he got it and he got it exactly how he wanted it and when he wanted it. That included creative decisions, some of which were beyond awful.

One thing that's not fair, in my eyes, about Hogan's criticism is seemingly the criticism he gets for being successful. Pro wrestling is full of sharks, backstabbers & politicians. It always has been & always will be. Hulk Hogan played the system and played it better than pretty much everyone else. That coupled with the fact that he pissed charisma and crapped personality made him the mega star he became. That's what ultimately got Hulk Hogan over as it certainly wasn't his ability inside the ring.

I also believe a lot of general dislike of the guy comes from the fact that we've found out that Terry Bollea & Hulk Hogan are two different people. Hulk Hogan is a fictional superhero come to life that basically embodied all that was seemingly good & decent. He was a role model that told good messages to kids and was someone that was safe in the eyes of parents. Hulk Hogan also made the WWE, WCW & pretty much everybody around him during the peak years of his career a ton of money. It's too bad that a lot of his contemporaries ran through their money like shit through a goose and have kept wrestling FAR longer than they should have or that they simply weren't as over with fans as he was. Terry Bollea, based on what we've come to know about him, is an asshole. Not only is he an asshole, but he's an arrogant, self-important, shamelessly self-promoting asshole that sometimes gives the impression that the sun rises & sets in the crack of his ass. Whether it be him sometimes shooting his mouth off before really thinking, thereby looking like a complete fool, or trying to lay all the blame for the guy that his son crippled on the guy himself & God or the general tabloid fodder his personal life has become, Terry Bollea comes off as someone that's easy to dislike.

Hulk Hogan isn't the devil incarnate, but he's sure as shit no saint either. Pretty much sounds like 99% of every other human being on the planet. If I were Hulk Hogan and was able to politic my way to the top of my profession, I honestly can't say that I wouldn't do the same. I don't know that I would either as I've never been in such a position. When you've got international fame & millions of dollars staring you in the face, that's some hard shit to say no to.

 

[Gateway313]

I've been a wrestling fan for over 20 years and I'm a big fan of Hogan. Many hate Hogan but if it wasn't for him wrestling would not be what it is today and it wouldn't be all of these wrestling forums for people to display their hatred for Hogan. Wrestling's popularity=many wrestling forums

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Don't ever listen to people like the poster quoted above. Fans of the wrestlers who don't like Hogan also don't like him. You only ever side with the people you agree with, just human nature. It's pretty sad that the word fact has lost it's meaning. Gravity is an irrefutable fact. Not hearsay or rumors about backstage politicking. Hogan got what he did because he was the best and wrestling was built up around him.

People forget that Hulk Hogan is not world famous because of wrestling. It's wrestling thats world famous because of Hulk Hogan.

For the record Hulkamania was pretty much in full stride when Hogan wrestled a pretty intense match against Cowboy Stan Hanson in Japan. It would've been around 88 - 92 somewhere there. I've only ever seen it exclusively on an old VHS tape called "the power of Hulkamania" look it up or find the tape if you don't believe me.

As far as Hulk Hogan changing the direction of WCW. Yes Hulk Hogan's mere presence did that. Not backstage politics. He wasn't in charge of how a whole show was booked as much as people want to think so.

As history shows for WCW it was for the better anyway. History also shows that WCW only truly suffered when Hogan was away injured and ultimately when he left and also very much how he left. He had nothing to do with how Jim Duggan etc were booked and Flair was pretty much in on everything Hogan was doing anyway and wanted to be part of it.

People exaggerate the amount of creative control Hogan had. The actual truth is Hogan could care less about anything that didn't involve his matches and the rest of the time he was backstage getting drunk with Macho Man, Flair, Hall, Nash, DDP, Ray Traylor, Sting and The Giant.

As far as Hogan really being a nice guy and the people who didn't get to work with him being jealous goes, it's true. He's painfully nice it's actually quite unbearable if you're around it. As an outsider looking in that would be torture.

Think of it like that guy (or lady) at work who seems to get every promotion and everyone seems to love but you just don't see it and think he's (or she) is just a total douche bag and you hate all their jokes and everything they do. Thats how Hogan is seen by many.

Whatever you think of WCW in that early 90's period - Hogan's arrival was part of a strategy. Now I have no doubt that some of Hogan's friends did very well out of it (anyone who hired Ed Leslie to a contract after that facial injury would only be doing it as a favor to Hogan) and some did take spots from younger workers. Did it harm WCW at the time? No - Take Ausin "slipping on Duggan" - they got a known name as the US champion and although Austin never really wrestled for them again, he was clearly not in the plans to work with Hogan so the damage was minimal at the time.

Of course that moment had a massive impact on the business as a whole but no one could have forseen Austin's explosion at that moment, he was a great potential worker who was pushed aside for the "proven" commodity of Jim Duggan in that role - Duggan was limited in the ring but massively popular and underutilised in the WWF, so WCW pushing him to that title wasn't unwelcome in itself, that he was also one of Hogan's friends is probably coincidence.

By investing in Hogan, WCW had to make sure they had opponents who could work with him without any awkwardness, so again they go to previous opponents like Ray Traylor, John Tenta, Randy Savage, Meng and the Barbarian as these guys could make Hogan look great but also hold their own as draws and building WCW's image, again they were buddies with Hogan but someone like Meng was a US champion and pushed as his talent merited like Duggan he was underused by Vince and, no one has ever said a bad word about he or any of those names I just mentioned so they were more "everyone's friend" than Hogan's.

Now some bullets were dodged by fate, sadly Rick Rude got hurt right around the time Hogan debuted. Had that not occured, you could have seen some awkwardness between he and Hogan and Rude returning to the WWF in 94.

Some of the younger talents who could have befitted from Hogan jumped like Trips and guys like Davey Boy Smith also didn't stick around once Hogan was on point. Personally, I think Hogan v Davey would have been a great WCW title feud, but you could imagine Hogan not wanting to do it or feeling it beneath him.

At the end of the day, Hogan has the kind of rep that is based on a lot of opinion and conjecture - no one really knows the jobs he refused or the men he kept down except him, he suffers from the fact that people believe he is capable of it rather than any evidence he ever did.

Cena and Austin both have it too, A-Ri and Jeff Jarrett are not names on the level of a Rick Rude or Terry Gordy but they have been involved in disputes that the bigger guy has "won". They only have to do it once and then they are guilty on every time someone thinks they did it.

 

[FlairFan2003]

I love the Hogan apologists. Hogan had major creative control power and their have been numerous articles and books written that have detailed this, and how he used it to protect his character, even it was clearly not what the audience wanted.

Ultimately, I think Flair hit in on the head years ago explaining his opinion of Hogan. Flair praised him as a main event attraction (no one can dispute his star power), and although he detailed some specific instances of Hogan changing match finishes, etc in WCW, he points out that pro wrestling is a hard business, guaranteed contracts are rare and a wrestlers marketability depends heavily on how they are booked (which can be influenced by many factors that are personal, not professional), they are independent contractors who need other independent contractors worried about their own careers to make them look good (increase your marketability), there is extensive travel, no retirement, no health insurance, and no unions or collective bargaining power. You essentially are the only one who will protect yourself. He never blamed Hogan nearly as much as he blamed the overall lack of institutional control by Eric Bischoff, he let the inmates run the asylum so to speak, losing control to talent like Hogan that Vince McMahon never would have tolerated. In essence, Hogan shouldnt be blamed for covering for himself because no one else would. Bischoff deserves the blame for the backstage politics, etc because he let it get out of control.

I think Hogan also gets a bad rep compared to HBK because HBK came back and tried to make amends for his bad reputation, working to elevate young talent like Cena and Orton, and being willing to put over stars from time to time. Hogan's subsequent returns were largely marked by short runs designed to make him look good vs HBK, Orton, Vince, et all, along with the impression he takes too much air time and is centered too heavily in TNA storylines despite not being a wrestler (and rarely putting over anyone, unlike Vince, who almost always puts over his foes in the end of his feuds with wrestlers). Fact is, the stories you hear about Michaels in his heyday are as bad as anything (or worse) than what you hear about Hogan.

 

[lowandmighty]

Never said I had anything against Hulk Hogan. I'm a fan of his myself. That does not change the fact that he used his benefits for personal gain on various occasions and has rubbed people the wrong way because of it. Some people blow it out of proportion, but he's known for being a bit egocentric. He brought baggage talent to WCW with him and he did it in TNA in 2010 again too. Or are we really going to try and say Bubba The Love Sponge and The Nasty Boys were contacted apart?



I doubt anyone could hear me over the keyboard anyway.


And that makes Hogan a saint?

You were there I suppose.

The opening poster asked if Hogan gets a bad rap. Well yes he does. But when stuff like moving TNA to Mondays getting total troublemakers to TNA and such, Hogan doesn't look like that much of a saint.

Your first comment was pretty funny actually.

No it does not make him a saint.

No I wasn't there but I read his book and thats what he said they were doing.

Whatever you think of WCW in that early 90's period - Hogan's arrival was part of a strategy. Now I have no doubt that some of Hogan's friends did very well out of it (anyone who hired Ed Leslie to a contract after that facial injury would only be doing it as a favor to Hogan) and some did take spots from younger workers. Did it harm WCW at the time? No - Take Ausin "slipping on Duggan" - they got a known name as the US champion and although Austin never really wrestled for them again, he was clearly not in the plans to work with Hogan so the damage was minimal at the time.

Of course that moment had a massive impact on the business as a whole but no one could have forseen Austin's explosion at that moment, he was a great potential worker who was pushed aside for the "proven" commodity of Jim Duggan in that role - Duggan was limited in the ring but massively popular and underutilised in the WWF, so WCW pushing him to that title wasn't unwelcome in itself, that he was also one of Hogan's friends is probably coincidence.

By investing in Hogan, WCW had to make sure they had opponents who could work with him without any awkwardness, so again they go to previous opponents like Ray Traylor, John Tenta, Randy Savage, Meng and the Barbarian as these guys could make Hogan look great but also hold their own as draws and building WCW's image, again they were buddies with Hogan but someone like Meng was a US champion and pushed as his talent merited like Duggan he was underused by Vince and, no one has ever said a bad word about he or any of those names I just mentioned so they were more "everyone's friend" than Hogan's.

Now some bullets were dodged by fate, sadly Rick Rude got hurt right around the time Hogan debuted. Had that not occured, you could have seen some awkwardness between he and Hogan and Rude returning to the WWF in 94.

Some of the younger talents who could have befitted from Hogan jumped like Trips and guys like Davey Boy Smith also didn't stick around once Hogan was on point. Personally, I think Hogan v Davey would have been a great WCW title feud, but you could imagine Hogan not wanting to do it or feeling it beneath him.

At the end of the day, Hogan has the kind of rep that is based on a lot of opinion and conjecture - no one really knows the jobs he refused or the men he kept down except him, he suffers from the fact that people believe he is capable of it rather than any evidence he ever did.

Cena and Austin both have it too, A-Ri and Jeff Jarrett are not names on the level of a Rick Rude or Terry Gordy but they have been involved in disputes that the bigger guy has "won". They only have to do it once and then they are guilty on every time someone thinks they did it.

I can't really disagree with anything you wrote.

All I'll do is say that all I meant by Hogan not having anything to do with how Jim Duggan was booked was purely that Hogan himself probably didn't decide the exact people Duggan would go over. He did have to do with people like that inadvertently obviously because of who he is and the known relationships between him and those wrestlers.

 

[Poop Master Flex]

A lot of top guys try to protect their spot, Hogan isn't the only person who did this, hell you could easily argue Piper was worse as I've heard numerous stories where he was asked to lose clean and never did but that's neither here or there.

The way I look at it is this:

1) WCW are idiots for letting top guys have creative control over their characters. That's like giving Lebron James control over when he plays, how many minutes he plays and who he plays with at all times. How well would it go over if James said flat out "I will only play when both Wade and Bosh are on the court, if they BOTH aren't on the court I will not play?". Not only that he gets no punishment for doing so?

2) Bischoff shouldn't be such a push over and let guys like Hogan, Hall and Nash do whatever they want. If you work for a company and you get free reign to do what you want without any real consequences why wouldn't you do it? If Nash is booker why wouldn't he put himself first? Guys like Verne Gagne, Eddie Graham, Jerry Lawler, Fritz von Erich, Hart family, ect. are no different. They did the EXACT same thing and very rarely get bitched at for it.

3) Hogan is the single biggest name in the business so chances are he isn't gonna take it well when he's told "you aren't the guy anymore", so he goes out of his way to protect himself. As the old saying goes there is only 1 place at the top of the mountain and everyone is going for it. No top guy ever is going to give up his spot without fighting for it. Flair had to TAKE the spot from Race, do you think even Harley Race would give up his spot if Flair hadn't already proven himself as the top guy? Race put Flair over true but its not like Flair wasn't already the most popular guy in the NWA, his victory at Starrcade just made it official.

Did Hogan put himself first at WCW? Of course. Did it affect business in both a positive and at the end very negative way? Of course but at the end of the day that's NOT Hogan's fault. You put any top guy in his position and 99% of them will do the same thing and its been proven over time. You think Hogan didn't fight with Vince when he was told that Hulkamania was wrapping up? You think Hogan just accepted it and moved on? Of course he didn't but Vince put his foot down, realized the change needed to be made even if it meant Hogan isn't gonna be around anymore. At the end of the day Vince did what he needed to do in order to be successful, WCW didn't, they didn't change when they needed to, they kept going back to the same well over and over and people got sick of it. By the time they did change it was over, all the stars that SHOULD have been the top guys in WCW left or simply stopped trying and they basically had to go with guys who had no business being top guys. WCW shot themselves in the foot, they didn't change when necessary and they have no one to blame but themselves.

Why would you give talent creative control and final say over who wins and loses? Why would you let talent decide who they work with? By doing that you are basically expecting ALL your talent to be selfless and that simply won't happen anywhere ever. As soon as Hogan refuses to lose so will Hall, and so will Nash, and so will everyone else because its apparent its not about the team, its about the individual. As the old saying goes there's no I in team.

 

[donfryeismyhero]

While I could never hate Hogan, as the years pass I find myself less and less a fan. As a child who grew up during the late 80's/early 90's, I along with every other kid liked Hogan. Once he left the WWF, I didn't follow him to WCW and instead started to like guys like Bret, Shawn, Diesel and Razor. Than when Razor and Diesel went to WCW I started to see what they were doing, than when Hogan turned at Bash at the Beach, I was hooked. Heel Hogan was so fresh and everything WCW was doing back in 96-98

You've just described me as a wrestling fan growing up right here.

1. I'm a huge Hogan fan
2. The amount of hate Hogan gets is ridiculous
3. To say Hogan didn't have a hand in what happened in WCW is ignorant.
4. Hogan gets hated because he was great. Most workers who stay on top for long periods of time see other wrestlers criticize them. The wrestling business is a cutthroat business, and all wrestlers have to do what is best for #1. The wrestlers who criticize top guys are usually the "never weres", jealous of the success the main-eventers have, and never understand why they aren't as loved as the main-eventers. Of course, those who criticize could never believe the problem is with them, so it becomes "Hogan held me down".

Very few top guys hold others down, especially today. Guys like Hogan are not responsible for anyone else's success. Each wrestler is responsible for their own success. Too many of the whining undercard workers never understand this.

SlyFox speaks truth right here. The thing with Hogan is he was an opportunist but name one guy who made it to the very top who wasn't. Everyone from Hogan to Austin to Cena used their spot to benefit themselves in terms of staying at the top. The thing is, when it was time to put guys over like Goldberg & Rock, Hulk laid down for them because even he knew they were THE guy at that moment. Sure there's guys that he should of laid down for & didn't (Savage, HBK, Bret) but I'd blame management for that more so then Hulk who was looking out for his own best interest.

 

[FlairFan2003]

It has been widely reported by people who worked with him in WCW that Hogan had Creative Control not just over his storylines and matches but over any storylines and matches not directly involving him but involving people who worked with him such as Savage, Sting, Luger, & Flair. There was the fiasco of the Starrcade 97 & SuperBrawl 98 screwjobs vs Sting, his refusal to put over Flair at Clash 94 & SuperBrawl 99, plus the downsizing of Goldberg, constantly booking his matches and feuds as mid card filler while Hogan dominated the PPV main events despite Goldberg being champ. Other than sharing the main event booking with Hogan-Warrior at Halloween Havoc in Oct 98, Goldberg's matches and feuds constantly were promoted under Hogan through out his time as champ until Starrcade 98 (when Hogan exercised more political muscle by refusing to appear, if the show bombed he could return with a " I told you so" moment and if it was successful he could re join when things were going well, a win-win for him).

Even Eric Bischoff has never totally denied the idea that Hogan had final say in not just his matches & storylines but also those of The other main event stars. At the end of the day Hogan was a great businessman, great at protecting his brand, but he wasnt a great company guy. Bischoff was the boss though and he didnt do enough to curb it so any blame for the downside consequences to the company.

 

[The Boss]

A lot of top guys try to protect their spot, Hogan isn't the only person who did this, hell you could easily argue Piper was worse as I've heard numerous stories where he was asked to lose clean and never did but that's neither here or there.

EVERYONE who every attains that spot does everything they can to retain it. Even the The Rock who was once considered to me mr locker room used politics during his ,ost recent stint with WWE. First he wouldn't job to Cena even though HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN jobbed to The Rock when he was in Cena's possession. Then he required to win the title and rumor has it that he didn't want CM Punk to drop the title to anyone else in the year between WrestleManias so that The Rock's win would seem like a bigger deal. Then he would only defend it once. And after all of that only then would he do the job.

Am I bashing the Rock? No. I'm just reminding people that all top stars use politics to retain their spots. HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN should not be singled out.

 

[e3mrk]

Like Him or not He is credited with saving Wrestling.
While He was a great Showman and new how to get over with the Fan's He was not the best Wrestler by a long shot but He has Charisma and Ring presence.

 

[berlinbrawler]

Let's see, why would one have no respect for Hogan?

It starts with his wrestling abilities, or lack thereof. One of the laziest routine men in history. People knock John Cena for his 5 moves of doom, but compared to Hogan he is an innovator and a pioneer. At age 9 I got bored by the monotony of Hogan's matches. By the time I turned 13 I downright loathed him for it.

Hogan clung to the top way past his prime. Incredibly selfish, he always looked out for number one and number one only. As long as the Hulkster is taken care of the rest of the business be damned. This became apparent at the very latest when he got full creative control in WCW, got to the top and then build the show around him FOREVER. Hogan is a major factor in WCW not rebounding in the late 90s and eventually going out of business.

When Hogan got his way, he never put anyone over. Ever. OK, that's not true. He put over a couple of people, like Warrior, the Rock or Goldberg. But with the exception of Goldberg, pretty much no one in WCW could cleanly beat the almighty Hulkster. Even Sting needed Bret Hart to randomly restart the match (for a fastcount that wasn't one) to steal a win. And that was against heel Hulk. And an ancient Hulk refusing to put over Shawn Michaels or Randy Orton was just pathetic. Even today he runs TNA in a way that the show is still build around him, even though he is like a billion years old and can barely move, let alone wrestle.

Then there is Terry, the man outside the ring. Man, what a tool. Whether he shows off his disturbing family on national TV or he posts videos on the web of himself taking a crap, he never fails to lower my opinion of him with every appearance, tweet or comment. Remember when his son paralyzed his buddy in a car accident and then later a phone conversation leaked in which Hulkie and his son discussed how they could use the incident to their advantage?

Every now and then he gives a good interview, in which he comes across as smart, well intentioned and misunderstood. But for every decent appearances he's got like 5 like when Edge was forced to retire due to injury and Hogan's reaction was like"Bah, back in my days we were tougher than that and worked through such injuries."

The simple truth for people not respecting the Hulkster is he doesn't deserve it.