Hulk Hogan is the most underrated wrestler of all time

[Mighty NorCal]

Really though. The vast majority of the IWC will tell you in one second how shit Hogan was. Ive been watching the SNME dvd a lot lately, and for ANY person who is a fan of pro wrestling to say this guy isnt by farand away the best wrestler of all time is incredibly moronic. This man was PERFECT at everything.

His promos were emotional, and exciting. His charisma was off the charts. NEVER ONE TIME have I EVER seen him botch a move, a transition between moves, or did he have things in his matches that seemed phony or didnt make sense in the context of his character, or the match. The matches were wonderfull, and entertaining. His moves looked great, and he sells the ever loving bejesus out of everyone he faces offense.

After seeing so much of his work, in the heyday, I am of the opinion that not only is he by a wide margin the greatest wrestler of all time, but if EVERY SINGLE FAN ON THE PLANET doesnt think so, then he is the most underrated wrestler ever. Becuase he is THAT MUCH better than everyone else.

agree?? Disagree??

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

I definitely agree he is the move underrated among the IWC but in general it's hard to say he is the most underrated since he was the most successful and most famous wrestler of all time. But everything you said was true about him, never has there been a wrestler that seriously had the crowd in the palm of his hand like he did. It was remarkable, his storytelling in the ring was off the charts. EVERYTHING he ever did got a reaction from the crowd, you cant say that about any other wrestler. His promos were amazing as well, his promo before his match with Warrior at WM6 maybe the single greatest promo of all time.

He also played the Hollywood character to a T. He just came across so arrogant and so cocky just like he was supposed to. Whether it was the way he walked to the ring or just him playing the belt like it was a guitar everything he did with that character was great and the heat he drew for it was amazing.

So yeah there really isn't a doubt in my mind that he is the greatest of all time and I laugh at the people that say "anybody could of did what Hogan did if they were given that spot" because that is just bullshit and laughable. I don't think there is another wrestler atleast none that I know of that could of did the shit Hogan did and made wrestling as big as it was like Hogan did regardless if they got the push like Hogan did or not. The closest one would be Savage but I don't even think he could have pulled that off.

Oh yeah by the way all I could see was "Hogan was the most" when I looked on the front page so I thought for sure it was gonna say "Hogan was the most overrated wrestler" so I clicked on it right away figuring it was gonna be some newbie smark saying that so I could have owned him.lol I clicked on it so fast I didn't even get to see that it was you that wrote it.

 

[BeansOnToastUK]

Although i am not the bigiiest fan of Hulk Hogan you do make some intersting points. I feel that Hogan's personality is what lets him down, he knew he was good and told everyone about it. I feel that in recent years these comments you made do not hold truth. Hogan WAS the best but if you want to talk about botching moves then i would have to tell you to watch the match with Rock at WMX8. The atmosphere was great and carried the match but as for the actual wrestling it was really lacking. Hogan had no pace and everything he hit seemed false and stiff. There was one move that was deffinately botched and that was the chokeslam by undertaker when Hogan lost his title in his last championship run.

Agreed... Any wrestler can botch a move now and again but Hogan still talks as if he is selling out arena and seems to be obbssessed with publicising himself. Other classic wrestlers such as Steamboat and Ted Dibiase dont walk around creating there own CCW and talk like they are still headlining every PPV.

I respected Hogan a whole lot more but the big motivator for that man is Money. I read his book and his constant comments when he made his comeback like "Time to make another paycheck" really rubbed up the other guys in the back, granted he realised this but he still goes and does it again. That is someone that is arrogant and knows it.

If you watched Hogan purely from the 80's to the early 90's then yes i would have to agree with your points entirely.

(readies himself to get pelted by Wrestlezone fans!)

 

[thesacredcow]

I'd have to disagree and say that Hogan is in no way the most underrated wrestler of all time. I'm not disputing the fact that he was a great wrestler, the man was the face of wrestling for over a decade, there's no way you could sustain that sort of run without being a talented individual. But for me, there's two very good reasons I wouldn't call him the most underrated wrestler of all time.

1. His gimmick. Don't misunderstand me, I'm not saying his gimmick was bad, he was so over there's no way I could credible argue that it was. However, can anyone point out a difference between Hogan in '85 and Hogan in say 2002 post-WM, Jimi and different ring gear aside. My point is that he never really evolved his character much. Ok yeah of course there was the Hollywood gimmick, but he went straight from Hulk to Hollywood and back. Maybe I'm completely wrong here, but i never saw either of those two characters change much. And i'm not talking about a massive departure from either character, I just mean that he never made any small changes to these gimmicks to keep them fresh, and thats something i've seen from nearly every other truly great wrestler, whether it's using a new move or just altering the character slightly to keep them interesting.

2. The Rock. I guess that's pretty much my second point. The Rock was a far superior wrestler to Hogan, so if Hogan's not the greatest wrestler of all time then he can't be the most underrated, based on whats said in the original post. He had everything Hogan had and more. I remember watching Smackdown before NWO 03 when they squared off again, and Hogan was cutting a promo in the ring, giving it the usual spiel. Then the Rock appears on the Titantron and fucking owns Hogan. I mean he just destroys him. And it wasn't that he verbally ripped into Hogan, he just made Hogan look stupid. Check it out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6luymyCthJo it's about 4 minutes in. I actually feel kinda bad for Hogan watching this.

It's this sort of thing that makes the rock stand out more so than Hogan. He was more charismatic, better in the ring, and so much more versatile than Hogan.

Again I'm not saying Hogan is an overly suntanned turd, not by any means. I just think The Rock was better

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

Hogan WAS the best but if you want to talk about botching moves then i would have to tell you to watch the match with Rock at WMX8. The atmosphere was great and carried the match but as for the actual wrestling it was really lacking. Hogan had no pace and everything he hit seemed false and stiff.

I thought that match was great, yes the atmosphere added to that but those 2 told a great story in the ring and both especially Hogan had the crowd in the palm of their hand, which is the biggest thing for me when watching a match. If I'm glued to the TV and completely into it because of the match like I was this one then both wrestlers did a great job which is what they both did and makes it a great match.

There was one move that was deffinately botched and that was the chokeslam by undertaker when Hogan lost his title in his last championship run.

I'll give you that, that was a pathetic looking chokeslam.

Other classic wrestlers such as Steamboat and Ted Dibiase dont walk around creating there own CCW and talk like they are still headlining every PPV.

As good of workers as Steamboat and Dibiase were they're not in Hogan's league so they would have no business doing that since neither headlined PPVs repeatedly like Hogan did. And even if they wanted to they couldn't create a show like CCW because the reason that show even worked and was picked up was the name value of Hulk Hogan.

I respected Hogan a whole lot more but the big motivator for that man is Money. I read his book and his constant comments when he made his comeback like "Time to make another paycheck" really rubbed up the other guys in the back, granted he realised this but he still goes and does it again. That is someone that is arrogant and knows it.

I obviously don't know Hogan personally but I get this vibe a bit from him but who knows if it's true. He may do it because it's something he loves and even if it is true and he only does it to get a paycheck it doesn't take away from how good of wrestler he is.

(readies himself to get pelted by Wrestlezone fans!)

Nah don't worry about it, I don't think you'll get pelted, this was a good post just had somethings that I disagreed with that I had to point out. I don't think anybody is gonna tear you apart for it.

 

[JerryvonKramer]

I agree that typical smarks underrate Hogan's work. It's not often noted but Hogan spent a good 90% of his matches SELLING. Your typical Hogan match goes: BIG POP + posing, heel clears the ring, some early shots by Hogan to fire up crowd, heel breaks momentum and beats on Hogan for about 10 minutes before ... Hulk-up, big boot, leg-drop and win. So that's most of the time that he's making the heel look good. Good examples are his matches against The Iron Sheik, Ted DiBiase, Sgt. Slaughter and even people like Earthquake. So in that respect Hogan is underrated.

HOWEVER, to say he never botched a move is silly. Especially in his lazier WCW/ Hollywood Hogan run. Some of those matches (vs. Piper stands out) were horrible.

Also:

As good of workers as Steamboat and Dibiase were they're not in Hogan's league so they would have no business doing that since neither headlined PPVs repeatedly like Hogan did. And even if they wanted to they couldn't create a show like CCW because the reason that show even worked and was picked up was the name value of Hulk Hogan.

Well Stemboat mainevented for NWA for most of 1989, but yeah point taken.

But DiBiase was one of the WWF's top 3 heels between 1988 and 1991 and a tag champ after that. He mainevented: WM4, SS88, King of the Ring '88 (winner), Survivor Series 88 (vs. Mega Powers's team), had a much-hyped angle when he bought the number 30 ticket at RR89, Survivor Series 89 (Million $ Team vs. Hogan's team), RR 90 (not really but he was in for over 40 mins and got eliminated to a HUGE cheer), Survivor Series 90 (in final match after being sole survivor in his match), WM9 (billed as "double main event"), plus a fair few smaller main events like SNME, "The Main Event", and stuff like Wrestlefest.

Ok, not quite up there with Hogan -- but Hogan was "the franchise". The point is that DiBiase was a main-eventer.

 

[TwistofRKO]

Bit of a Hogan mark?

I agree with most of what has been said. Main thing was that Hogan shaped wrestling to what it is today. He wasn't the greatest in-ring performer, or even most charismatic. He is probably still the most popular to date, and again it goes back to him shaping wrestling, not his in-ring ability. He set the format which wrestling has followed since the 80s, which is his main legacy. Wrestling would be nowhere without him, that cannot be argued, but it wasn't based on his in-ring work. Notice a pattern?

The Rock was more charismatic, and Stone Cold quite possibly is as well. I know I'm on the short list of people who didn't get in the Stone Cold phase, but his lovers far outweighed his haters.

Again, I have to reiterate that I believe Hogan was the most important thing that's ever hppened to the wrestling industry, but it's just silly to say it was on his wrestling abilty.

TONS of botches, you can't let your fan hood get in the way of that, especially in the nWo days. Watch his Roddy Piper match and his Ultimate Warrior match from '98. I know Warrior was a bad worker but Hogan was just as bad that night, cultimated by burning himself in the face with flash paper.

Great boost but not the G.O.A.T.

 

[Jordan adams]

I was watching between hogan and terry funk that was very well but together and hogan look very good in the match I have always felt when people bashed hogan there was always a little jealousy in there tone or people that are just trying to be smart than everyone else. His mic skills where second to none. has for I'm being underrated by the smarks he is but a lot of them smug and like the smell of there own farts lol. Thank you south park. but he did wrestle in the worst match of all time against ultimate warrior at Halloween havoc.

 

[Agent-67]

I don't know if he is the most underrated wrestler? However, he does get bashed a lot for not having much talent in the ring & I have to disagree with that. His charisma is through the roof. His promos & interviews are always solid. Some guys are amazing in the ring, but I could care less about them because they bring absolutely no charisma. Take Jeff Hardy for example. Phenomenal athlete, but its like nails on a chalkboard when he does an interview. I am bias because I was a huge nWo fan, but Hollywood might be the greatest heel of all time & Hulk might be the biggest babyface of all time. Something needs to be said about that. I have never seen heat like he got as Hollywood. I have also rarely(exception Stone Cold) seen arenas errupt for one man like they did in the 80's for Hulk. In ring performance is important, but today one might argue mic skills and charisma are even more important. Hulk has been able to adapt with the times. He mad wrestling mainstream during the 80's. Lets not just say WM 3 but how about Saturday Night's Main Event with how many MILLIONS of viewers for the rematch. Then he was a main factor in reviving wrestling in the mid/late 90's. The nWo would not have been as great with Hart or Sting as the front man. Then again in the next century was able to draw with the revival of Hulkamania. Underrated, probably not. But he gets unfair marks from some people. Kevin Nash said it best when he was asked who is the best. He stated its entertainment & who made the most money and brought in the most fans? Hulk Hogan! He is without a doubt the greatest of all time as far as this industry goes.

 

[The Madrid Slam]

I will agree. In pure Wrestling, he was definitly underrated. The only real legit complaint in my opinion that a fan could have was either

a) A limited moveset

b) Rarely losing cleanly.

In my personal opinion, I don't see them as valid arguments. While Hogan wasn't exactly Bret Hart, what he knew, he did well. I won't go as far to say that he "never" botched a move, but he rarely did. And for the most part he was not in control of his matches. One of the most charasmatic individuals to ever don a mic.

I will not say that he's the best wrestler of all time. Move wise or mic wise. Nor will I say he's not the best. I couldn't pick one. You would still have Bret Hart, Stone Cold, and The Rock. All of whom were great in the mic, and great in the ring, for their own reasons. It's just too close to say who's better as an overall performer, without using your own biased opinion.

 

[Steamboat Ricky]

I'm not so sure that Hogan can be considered "underrated." Yeah, he is sometimes categorized as a poor worker, but I don't see how a guy who is a 12 time world champ could ever be considered underrated. Yeah, Hogan doesn't do any Swanton Bombs or Shooting Star Presses, but that's not what his character is about. And it seems the only people that really criticize his in-ring work on a regular basis are the fanboys that have TLC matches streaming on repeat on their computers.

And Hogan has had his fair share of botches...just ask Saddam Husein's reign over Kuwait, brother.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

How can the most popular wrestler of all time be underrated? I don't get it. Ask any non fan to name a wrestler and most will say Hogan.

I don't give a shit about popularity or drawing ability, doesn't effect me. So I'll say that Hogan is more than rated correctly. It's cool to like Hogan again. Although I don't.

When I started watching wrestling Hogan wasn't on the shows that I saw. The odd highlight here and there, but that's it. I was watching mid card wrestlers beat up jobbers. The only time I saw Hogan wrestle was on the odd SNME and PPV. So I hardly ever saw the guy, so he never captured my imagination. Along with being patriotic towards America, a country which I'm not from, and religious, I didn't see any reason why I should like Hogan over somebody like Jake Roberts, Randy Savage or many others.

I also think his matches are poor. Hey it worked for him, but not for me. Me enjoying a Hogan match was often down to who he was facing.

 

[seven3too]

DISAGREE! and AGREE! to an extent...He was the greatest entertainer in the wrestling industry. but you're right he never botched a move and sold things well..but he had tons of practice cause he used the same 12 or 13 moves for 8 years. when i saw a suplex i would be floored... he had great promos, yes you're right. but his move set was horrible. what did he have that curt hennig didn't? mr. perfect had great promos and was a hell of a wrestler. rick rude also had mega heat especially the cheryl roberts angle and a great wrestler. it just so happends that he had the world eating out of his hand forever. where i agree is this...he a one of a kind charisma...hogan cheated everytime he got a chance i sound like a broken record but its true...royal rumble 93 he screwed sid justice out of his chance at the strap because he got eliminated....even though he one the 2 prior...if the roles were reversed sid would have drew mega heat..but hogan did it and we were all like "sid cheated he eliminated hogan when he wasn't looking"...so sid went into mania the heel..lest we forget how he cheated to beat the undertaker at tuesday in texas...and yokozuna at wm 9 the whole savage mega powers angle when he did everything possible to nail elizabeth... he had the wool pulled over everybodies eyes long ago. i will say that in hind sight he had a perfect career concidering all his cheating lead him to START THE NWO. so i was like a great story book so in that aspect his CAREER was great. but as a wrestler not really or at all actually. needless to say he made sports entertainment what it is today.

 

[gunslinger72]

Really though. The vast majority of the IWC will tell you in one second how shit Hogan was. Ive been watching the SNME dvd a lot lately, and for ANY person who is a fan of pro wrestling to say this guy isnt by farand away the best wrestler of all time is incredibly moronic. This man was PERFECT at everything.

His promos were emotional, and exciting. His charisma was off the charts. NEVER ONE TIME have I EVER seen him botch a move, a transition between moves, or did he have things in his matches that seemed phony or didnt make sense in the context of his character, or the match. The matches were wonderfull, and entertaining. His moves looked great, and he sells the ever loving bejesus out of everyone he faces offense.

After seeing so much of his work, in the heyday, I am of the opinion that not only is he by a wide margin the greatest wrestler of all time, but if EVERY SINGLE FAN ON THE PLANET doesnt think so, then he is the most underrated wrestler ever. Becuase he is THAT MUCH better than everyone else.

agree?? Disagree??

Well...you are VERY close...but its not under, its OVER rated. Hulk Hogan is clearly the most over rated wrestler in history.
I will grant you he had charisma. Big deal, Hitler had more...LOL. To say his promos were great is to forget one fact. He only HAD one promo! Well let me tell ya somethin brother! There were all essentially the same! Not real hard to do. To say he never botched a move is silly. He did that a lot, especially in WCW...but setting that aside, how many moves did he have?? I don't count posing or finger waggling/pointing to be moves. So lets see..he gave a couple of punches...threw opponent into the ropes....lifted his leg up...then bounced himself off the ropes to deliver the most pathetic leg drop in the world. Seriously, if you watch, the leg doesn't even touch the other guy most of the time! Aside from doing that and getting hit, he did nothing in the ring.
Ummm...he didn't have things in his matches that looked phoney?????? OK...guy is getting the living hell beat out of him, suddenly he gets on his knees and starts pumping his arms (as we all know, this cures most injuries as well as makes you invincible!). He slowly gets up..arms pumping (while he is still getting the hell beat outta him) Eyes BULGING and arms pumping!!! He gets hit, eyes bulge more...hit again (by an oppontent who seems bewildered by all this) and he looks (with bulging eyes) right at the opponent and points his finger at them. Naturally this terrifies the opponent who begins to beg for his life. One head punch...two...and three! The oppontent is staggering! He tosses them into the ropes and lifts his leg...WHAM opponent is DOWN!!!! Leg drop, Hogan WINS!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats not PHONEY????

I strongly disagree that he sold in his matches, especially WWF/E. He refused to lose a match except in VERY rare occasions. He always had to be the star. Now Flair on the other hand sold VERY well!

You love Hogan, and hey...he is one of the biggest stars in wresting history. Given his abilities, that clearly makes him the MOST overrated wrestler in the world.

 

[reddevil69]

Hogan as a pure wrestler=overrated. As an athlete in the ring he's not even in the top 100...but he was the most successful and made the most money, many people in the industry would say he's the best worker for that fact alone, and that is what the business is about, drawing money and entertaining people and you cannot take that away from Hogan...he did his job and did it well and was as good as he needed to be between 1984 and 1990..

after the WWF started to shift towards more athletic guys, smaller guys and guys that could generally go half an hour each night, Hogan wore out his welcome for awhile, but he is still an icon and that will never change.If he was able to accomplish what he did with what little athletic skill he had then so be it...I certainly won't begrudge him for that.

 

[jazzua]

Well...you are VERY close...but its not under, its OVER rated. Hulk Hogan is clearly the most over rated wrestler in history.
I will grant you he had charisma. Big deal, Hitler had more...LOL. To say his promos were great is to forget one fact. He only HAD one promo! Well let me tell ya somethin brother! There were all essentially the same! Not real hard to do. To say he never botched a move is silly. He did that a lot, especially in WCW...but setting that aside, how many moves did he have?? I don't count posing or finger waggling/pointing to be moves. So lets see..he gave a couple of punches...threw opponent into the ropes....lifted his leg up...then bounced himself off the ropes to deliver the most pathetic leg drop in the world. Seriously, if you watch, the leg doesn't even touch the other guy most of the time! Aside from doing that and getting hit, he did nothing in the ring.
Ummm...he didn't have things in his matches that looked phoney?????? OK...guy is getting the living hell beat out of him, suddenly he gets on his knees and starts pumping his arms (as we all know, this cures most injuries as well as makes you invincible!). He slowly gets up..arms pumping (while he is still getting the hell beat outta him) Eyes BULGING and arms pumping!!! He gets hit, eyes bulge more...hit again (by an oppontent who seems bewildered by all this) and he looks (with bulging eyes) right at the opponent and points his finger at them. Naturally this terrifies the opponent who begins to beg for his life. One head punch...two...and three! The oppontent is staggering! He tosses them into the ropes and lifts his leg...WHAM opponent is DOWN!!!! Leg drop, Hogan WINS!!!!!!!!!!!! Thats not PHONEY????

I strongly disagree that he sold in his matches, especially WWF/E. He refused to lose a match except in VERY rare occasions. He always had to be the star. Now Flair on the other hand sold VERY well!

You love Hogan, and hey...he is one of the biggest stars in wresting history. Given his abilities, that clearly makes him the MOST overrated wrestler in the world.

I agree with you a hundred percent. I'm not going to sit here and say that almost every face doesn't do the comeback. Michaels, Cena, Hardy, and any other big face of today even still do it. However, for some reason Hogan's was simply ridiculous. Sure, he sold for the first 3/4 of a match. But the way he made his comeback took all credibility away from whatever it was he just sold. Case in point. HBK vs Hogan at Summerslam. Michaels gave everything to Hogan including a chair shot(that would of been botched if HBK didn't follow Hogans movement;seriously, nobody takes a worse chair shot then Hogan) only to have the match end with Hogan "pumping up". I've always enjoyed Hogan. When he makes returns I still mark out. However, I have never considered him a good wrestler in terms of in the ring. There are three types of wrestlers; those who wrestle, those who entertain, and those who do both. Hogan is the best entertainer this business ever had next to the Rock...Who could do both.

 

[Queers and Steers]

its hard to botch a body slam, back rake, big boots or a leg drop its not like hes executing hurricaranas or Canadian destroyers he has the simplest most boring move set of all time!!!
he always said the same thing in his promos! the gut is as overrated as is gets. i don't think the word overrated existed until he was born! it is however true that he hads fanc in the palm of his hand but look at how many terrible wrestlers there were back in the dya the natural disasters, and all of these guys who made wrestling look so fake, ultimate warrior piss poor in ring performer who did not sell finishers at all1, sid whatevr justice, vicious, psycho it doesn't matter what his name is because you could tell that it was fake when watching him wrestle Vince purposely used garbage people to make hogan look like god mission accomplished because now dumb ass people believe it!

 

[Budro5454]

Guys... he did the most important thing for each business he worked at. HE SOLD TICKETS!! Jeff Jarrett is a decent technical wrestler... but how many tickets can that idiot sell? Yes Hogans moves were basic and easy and we all knows he charges McMahon tons of money just to walk on out on to RAW and cut a 3 min promo but we always tune in. END OF STORY

 

[PBA_Sensation]

Seeing as I dont have the patience to read everyone glorifying Hogan, I am gonna post a response to why he is the most OVERrated wrestler of all time. First I will list the reasons he could be:

-I agree that if it wasnt for him, wrestling wouldnt be where it is today. No question there, but his style is storytelling. That style went out about 15 years ago. He tells a story in the ring, because no one had to speak on a mmic back then. There weren't promos cut unless it was on a "talk show" type thing (i.e. Pipers Pit, the Heartbreak Hotel, Flower Shop, etc.). Hogans style was so over the top, that it worked in his hay-day. When we watch that now, it just looks silly. He can still cut a promo now a days, and we will all listen, even though he called himself gay. Look it up if you dont believe me. His promos are good for a laugh because he still thinks its 1989

- Now onto the first post here, about him never botching and whatnot. Sure, he was on his game back in the 80's and early 90's. But have you seen the guy in the last 10 years. His chair shots expose how staged the wrestling world is, his big boot misses the guy by about 30 feet, and how in the hell was the leg drop ever sold as a finishing move? He was the king of "no selling" which Randy Orton had to pick up on. He can get his ass whooped in a match from begininng to end, but god knows when he hulks up, he looks like he just entered the match, much like Randy Orton (thats for a different post). The guy was a top-level talent his whole career because he made sure he didnt lost his spot. Anytime someone came up in the system and threatened him, he jobbed them out or had his buddies do it. Put Hogan in the ring with any top level guy right now, the guy would have to carry the match. Hogan is still in good shape, his style was never that of a high flyer, so he could still work a classic "Hogan match", but the problem is, he cant. His style is so cheesy it wouldnt work. When you have to signal a move as often as he did, its a wonder how the other wrestler "didnt figure it out". And how can anyone job to the leg drop.

WORST FINISHER OF ALL TIME

(I never saw X-pac win with it, even though he performed the move quite often and followed it with a pin)

If I remember correctly, Mark Madden called it on some random Nitro or Thunder. A cruiserweight hit a leg drop and performed a pin, and he said something like "Oh god, I havent seen anyone win with that move in years. How can anyone pin someone after that"

Nuff said

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

Guys... he did the most important thing for each business he worked at. HE SOLD TICKETS!! Jeff Jarrett is a decent technical wrestler... but how many tickets can that idiot sell? Yes Hogans moves were basic and easy and we all knows he charges McMahon tons of money just to walk on out on to RAW and cut a 3 min promo but we always tune in. END OF STORY

Exactly. And for all you people that say all he did was the same thing, well the fact remains that's all he needed to do. Hogan could do more than that if he wanted to but why would he? Why would he adjust his character when he was the most over guy and most popular guy? What would be the point of it? Once he sensed that maybe his Hulkamania character had run its course he switched to the Hollywood one and tore the house down with that. What more does the guy have to do? He was at the top of the card his entire career.

Asking him to do something else would be like asking Shaq in his prime to go out and shoot 20ft jumpshots instead of staying inside and overpowering people like he did. There would be no point to it because he wouldn't need to do it. Same thing with Hogan, why would he change his character or his moveset when it was working so well? Doesn't make any sense.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

This is for the people that say "all he could do were the same moves", no Hogan could do more moves, in fact Hogan was a pretty good "technical" wrestler if he wanted to be. Here's a match from him in Japan against Antonio Inoki, Hogan wrestled a more "technical" style in this match because that's what the Japanese crowds wants. The American crowd don't care about that so he never did this in the WWF. He could adapt to any crowd and that's all he really cared about. He has said in the past if he wrestled in America how he did in Japan he would be a mid carder, I don't know if I agree with that but who knows he may have been right. Despite the style you can see what made Hogan so good and that is his ability to work a crowd.

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[pflet87413]

Any true Hulkamaniac knows Hogan is more than he lets on, in Japan than America. The best I seen was his once and only match against Bret Hart in WCW on Nitro, Hogan was so technical he was out wrestling Bret, Hogan dominated the match. When Hogan left WWF Bret was his replacement to me, and am a huge fan of both, so when they fought, I was so torn, but Hogan proved a great deal that match, does anyone remember it. I had it recorded on tape, but when I got out the military lost the tape, I was so bummed.

 

[agentmichaelscarn]

Any true Hulkamaniac knows Hogan is more than he lets on, in Japan than America. The best I seen was his once and only match against Bret Hart in WCW on Nitro, Hogan was so technical he was out wrestling Bret, Hogan dominated the match. When Hogan left WWF Bret was his replacement to me, and am a huge fan of both, so when they fought, I was so torn, but Hogan proved a great deal that match, does anyone remember it. I had it recorded on tape, but when I got out the military lost the tape, I was so bummed.

Yeah I remember that one, that was the one where Bret left because of an "injury" and Sting replaced him halfway through the match, then Bret came back and turned on Sting and sided with Hollywood. If that's it Hogan did try to outwrestle Hart and he did do a pretty good job, I remember the announcers even commenting on it, like they were surprised. I think Hogan took that as a challenge since Hart was known as one of the better mat workers and technicians in wrestling. Honestly it didn't look right having Hogan do that, which is why I don't understand why smarks don't realize that.

Hogan was billed as the guy with the largest arms in the world and strongest man in wrestling, he basically was like a superhero. So why on earth would he do drop toe holds into a leg submission or something like that like I think smarks expect him to or knock him for not doing? It just wouldn't make any sense for him to do any like that.

It would be like expecting a guy like Bret to do power moves. Would it look right or make sense seeing Bret do a chokeslam or powerbomb to somebody? Of course not because that's not his style and doesn't fit his character. It's the same thing with Hogan and mat wrestling or whatever else people knock him for not doing. The fact is Hogan was a good worker and wrestler, I mean the guy was trained by Hiro Matsuda so he knew what he was doing in the ring.

The thing is that Hogan knows that majority of American wrestling fans couldnt care less how many moves you know, that's not important what's important is the story you tell in that ring. If you can do it with 3 moves more power to you. The great wrestlers realize this, take Bret Hart for example. He realizes it, he even said that Hogan was a great worker because of that. Bret is a great storyteller himself and despite what people think he didn't do hundreds of moves in his match, sure he did mix it up alot and did more than most but he didn't use a ton and that's not what made him good. Hell I'm sure he knew every move in the book but he didn't use them because even he knew that's not what's really important he concentrated more on the storytelling and psychology of the match, and just like Hogan he was one of the best at it.

 

[HBK-aholic]

Eugh, I'd never call Hogan underrated in a million years. When discussing Hulk Hogan, the "IWC" seem to be brought up a lot. However, it's only the people on the internet that keep going on about him - I don't see it at events, I don't see fans shouting they want Hogan in a match with someone.

He'll sell events when he's there now, and? So would The Rock, Austin etc. When HHH/Undertaker/HBK retire and come back for a match 10 years later, they'll also sell out a crowd, because seeing that person wrestle is a novelty.

Hogan needs to stay out of the limelight for a while as well, his wrestling days are long behind him, people act as if he's still great, um, no. He was, years and years and years ago. Same can be said for a lot of people. But I've never known someone so boring be so overrated, ever.

 

[JerryvonKramer]

He'll sell events when he's there now, and? So would The Rock, Austin etc. When HHH/Undertaker/HBK retire and come back for a match 10 years later

You make it sound like those guys are in some way comparable with Hogan. Just remember that A. none of them were ever near to him in terms of drawing and B. each of them were, whichever way you look at it, an attempt by Vince to recreate the success he had with Hogan.

Quite why you've put HBK there I'll never know. He was champ during the lowest point in recent WWF history and frequently got booed as a face champ (see vs. Sid at Survivor Series 96) and cheered as a heel (see DX). Not even in the same league.