Hulk Hogan To Host Crown Jewel

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Spidey Revivey

Porn is okay here long as it ain't dudes.
Because when I think American values, being part of a hotly contentious and bloated foreign event comes to mind.

WWE seems to be throwing everything they can into this fairly disturbing venue after the unfortunate news regarding Roman Reigns and the obvious decision made by John Cena. After the latest episode of Smackdown, Daniel Bryan can be added to the list of stars not making it over to Saudi Arabia.

Blood money aside, I'd say this was a wise move by WWE. Hogan is still the biggest name to come out of pro wrestling and can deliver on the mic even when he isn't really saying anything. With the holes made for the event, The Hulkster could probably remedy the need for star quality better than most.

Still, there is irony in Hogan of all people being advertised for this show.

I assume Austin couldn't be assed.
 
Considering Saudi Arabia has enough marks that believe Yokozuna and Ultimate Warrior are still available for matches, Hulk Hogan is perfect for them. He hasn't worn out his welcome there like he has here (he did that here 20+ years ago). It fits perfectly for him. He has nothing to lose and no one cares about him any longer. Michaels showed his retirement was only dependent upon the size of the payday, and he chose a ridiculous event for his return.
 
At this point, I don't think it matter. The Saudi government wanted him on the last show but couldn't get him because he wasn't back in the wwe family back in April. But know he is and he's still a big enough draw that he can make some fans that are outrage about this show still want to watch the show just to see how bad Hogan will be.

Anyway, I could see this turning into a regular gig for Hogan since they are less smart fans in Saudi Arabia so you will get less bad reaction when he comes out.
 
As has been mentioned, the Crown Prince wanted Hogan, Yokozuna and some other older stars at the GRR. Allegedly, he hasn't kept up with the goings on in the wrestling world for much of the past 20 years since he didn't know that Yokozuna had been dead since 2000. He especially wants childhood favorites like Hogan, Angle, Taker and DX, so that's among the chief reasons why WWE has loaded this show with as many older, yet still somewhat viable, stars as they can.

I'm not at all surprised Hogan will be part of this show as he's always gone where the money is and you know that he's getting a pretty big chunk of change for "hosting" this thing, which will amount to him coming out once or twice, at the very least. Even with all the various proclamations of fake outrage over this situation some smart fans have expressed, I'd say more than a few will tune in for nostalgia's sake or just so they can rag on WWE afterwards, even if it turns out to be a pretty good show.
 
How do we prove that this event is such a cancer that Roman Reigns actually caught cancer from it?

I don't care much about most WWE events. I thought I would care about Evolution but the announcement was stiff and uneventful and the build lacked the feel of importance. This Survivor Series is getting my interest due to the Becky/Rhonda announcement. Mania can sometimes really interest me. The Rumble has the same effect. SummerSlam is hit or miss. Some events like Capitol Carnage and a lot of TNA cards have made me worry about and feel of kind of bad about the state of professional wrestling.

But this may be the first time ever that I feel like WWE is making the event the biggest heel in the company. It's like their trolling me, like they want me to get angry. It's like they heard that I wasn't bothered by the whole oddity of being paid for by a commodity rich monarch, in a country that had/has serious ties to the worst event of my lifetime #neverforget, as a proganda commercial, and does not include women - and WWE was like "hold my beer" let's see how we can push you over the edge to pure anger.

Now you have this murder and pathetic cover up which lead to fake concern from WWE. Then you waste what should be one of the greatest comebacks in history on a lame story leading to an old man tag match. Then the most intriguing match on the card gets pooped out on SD because one of the talents decides "fuck it". And now you have Hulk "Peter Pan" Hogan show up to suck the life out of whatever small bit of integrity I think WWE management has remaining.

Oh well. At least I will get a good laugh when the IWC reports that Hogan welcomed everyone to the Pontiac Silverdome.

I am a real American,
I fight for the rights of every man*
I am a real American,
Fight for what's right, fight for your life**

*note that this does not include any women or the powerless
**when you enter a Turkish Consulate greeted by 13 Saudi hitmen
 
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It seems like Hogan will likely have some type of ambassador role and he’s probably looking into getting back into the good graces of the WWE. But the reality is you can’t expect much from Hogan. He’s too banged up to wrestle and he shouldn’t. He will probably get a pop and its always nice to see him back in a WWE ring but in this day and age he has little to offer.
 
Even with all the various proclamations of fake outrage over this situation some smart fans have expressed, I'd say more than a few will tune in for nostalgia's sake or just so they can rag on WWE afterwards, even if it turns out to be a pretty good show.
The last time Hogan mattered in the slightest was the double turn with the Rock. I won't be watching. As for the rest of the card, I'm not interested. They didn't even bother setting up a storyline for the Brothers of Destruction versus DX feud. There isn't even a plausible kayfabe storyline; it's simply obvious that Shawn got enough money to come out of retirement, Hunter can put himself over the Brothers, Undertaker shows up whenever he feels like it, and unlike Brock Lesnar, it simply doesn't matter, and Kane is once again involved in something as distasteful as Katie Vick, but simply follows instructions. This is coming from a huge fan of HHH, Undertaker, and Kane, by the way - Michaels, not so much.

Even without the affair in Turkey, this is still a joke, as was the last Saudi PPV. You're forgetting that a lot of the fans were annoyed with the previous one. WWE has gone to the well one too many times here. It's pretty bad when they can't push the event on live TV (like they do every other PPV) out of fear of getting booed out of the arena.
 
The last time Hogan mattered in the slightest was the double turn with the Rock. I won't be watching. As for the rest of the card, I'm not interested. They didn't even bother setting up a storyline for the Brothers of Destruction versus DX feud. There isn't even a plausible kayfabe storyline; it's simply obvious that Shawn got enough money to come out of retirement, Hunter can put himself over the Brothers, Undertaker shows up whenever he feels like it, and unlike Brock Lesnar, it simply doesn't matter, and Kane is once again involved in something as distasteful as Katie Vick, but simply follows instructions. This is coming from a huge fan of HHH, Undertaker, and Kane, by the way - Michaels, not so much.

Even without the affair in Turkey, this is still a joke, as was the last Saudi PPV. You're forgetting that a lot of the fans were annoyed with the previous one. WWE has gone to the well one too many times here. It's pretty bad when they can't push the event on live TV (like they do every other PPV) out of fear of getting booed out of the arena.

Oh I completely agree that Hogan is irrelevant, but there are a lot of fans, especially on the smark side, who're suckers for nostalgia. They're all for older stars making appearances, especially if they were huge stars and/or childhood favorites; they're even all for these guys having "one more match" until the match actually happens, stinks up the place then they turn around and jump down WWE's throat for putting on the match in the first place. Besides, this show isn't for traditional WWE fans, it's for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia first and foremost. Even on paper, it's a glorified house show with a few things thrown in to help make it newsworthy. The "WWE World Cup" will have no meaning beyond the show itself, just like the "Greatest Royal Rumble" match for the first show but its got several stars from the Attitude Era and 2000s. There'll be a new Universal Champion no matter what, that should be Strowman by all rights, there might even be a new WWE Champion with Samoa Joe finally getting the strap. The BOD vs. DX is, again, almost entirely for the Crown Prince because he's primarily a fan of wrestlers who came about in the 90s and first half of the 2000s. Again, nostalgia will also play a part here with some fans because it's an opportunity to see these two teams go at it and it's HBK's first match in close to 9 years; I mean, that's all the story the match needs when you get right down to it. You may not be excited about it and I'm not all that excited about it either, but guys like Taker, HBK and Triple H do still matter in the eyes of a lot of fans. They're still favorites of mine, but it's time to hang it up. Taker genuinely tries his best but his body is pretty much shot, Kane is starting to get out of shape and he has political obligations that are going to kick in soon, HBK has probably lost several steps himself given that he's the same age as Taker and Triple H is close to 50 himself and looks like he's just one big walking, talking PED. One thing I do like that's going on with DX is that Trips and HBK aren't out there acting like a couple of juvenile frat boys like they were 10 years back; it was embarrassing to watch then and it'd be doubly so now.

Fans are annoyed at this, sure, but it's not like it'll matter in the long run. Any damages WWE has suffered over this will eventually be forgotten about because people and life always move on to the next thing. Once the show is over, resentment will die down up until however long it is until the next Saudi Arabia show, if there's going to be others, and what sort of controversy is going on at the time beyond the usual like women's rights and the KSA history of human rights abuses. WWE will launch another marketing campaign painting them in the light of some progressive organization, critics will come out of the woodwork blasting them, lots of fans will just roll their eyes & bear it and this will be just another controversy in WWE's checkered past.

What I'm hoping for is for this year to be over with and hopefully WWE can get back on track in 2019. For much of this year, Raw has absolutely sucked. That's not to say that SmackDown has always shined like a diamond but it's often been a more entertaining and much easier show to sit through. Vince has overextended WWE a lot this year by spending more time on company PSAs and marketing campaigns to create an image that a lot of people have never bought into, trying to promote two or three different shows at once during a five or six week period, putting too much emphasis on one or two storylines while leaving everything else to feel like filler and too much focus on the wrong talent.
 
Many questions come to mind, none of them good.

How much say does Prince Salman have over the show?

I ask that question, because it seems awfully odd to me that Hogan is being dug up to essentially save the show. I might be completely wrong, which would be the case if the WWE had originally planned to have Hogan host the show and simply waited to announce as much. This would be really weird though, considering the show itself has been poorly hyped and Hogan himself is still biting the nuclear bomb sized bullet for alienating his own audience who likely frown upon sex tapes, racism, and blaming the victims of deadly car crashes.

Assuming I'm not wrong, which I always do, I imagine that the WWE scrambled and offered Hogan to Prince Salman as a means of appeasing fans that were expecting an AJ Styles vs Daniel Bryan mega-match. Nothing could have been done, and the WWE could have simply ran the show as it stands without Hogan's involvement. But no, they're bringing Hogan into the mix which seems like an offering to a Prince who has already been outed as a fucking moron when it comes to his understanding of prowrestling continuity. No self-respecting fan is unaware of the fact that The Ultimate Warrior and Yokozuna have passed away.

I believe that Prince Salman lost his shit when he was told that Daniel Bryan chose not to make the trip because of Saudi Arabia's role in the negligent homicide of Jamal Khashoggi, and that Vince offered Hogan's name as a replacement and a means of appeasement. I'd like to know how much say the Prince has in terms of if he can just have any random person from prowrestling's golden age, that are still somewhat beholden to Vince, jump on a plane and promote the event. It would help if I knew who to blame for all of this.

Could the WWE have had anybody except for Hogan host this show?

I get it, Hogan was a huge name during the era that apparently Prince Salman assumes is still in effect. Can someone please spin the Prince up on who is relevant these days, and who is least likely to cause problems?

I just find it very odd (fucking stupid more like) that a few things happened at the GRR that had Saudi officials frothing at the mouth, and now they're wanting to have a star spangled US jingoist come to the ring and suck up to Saudi Arabia. The Daivaris did a spot meant to promote Saudi WWE hopefuls, and officials lost their shit because "GEOPOLITICAL STRIFE! RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!" A promo for an upcoming event aired on the big screen, and women were seen in it, which caused officials to lose their shit because "WOMEN ARE FOR BABYMAKING ONLY! RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!"

I'm sorry, I swear that I love everyone, but do these motherfuckers want to be upset!? They're putting Mr. USA front and center, and he's known for fucking up the arena that he's in. Oh and, let's see if Hogan "forgets" to remove his cross necklace.

Okay, maybe everyone will be good sports, and even start some "USA!" chants for Hogan and Angle. I'm just having trouble figuring out who this show is for. Fans in the US are pretty much over Hogan, if they don't outright hate his guts. He doesn't have enough US based "Hulkamaniacs" to justify letting him host a show in the US. The way I see it, US fans are asked to watch the show if we feel like it, but fuck us because this show is for Prince Salman and he wants Hogan (possibly just because he can't have Daniel Bryan).

To answer my own question; no, they couldn't have had anybody else do what they're about to ask of Hogan. There aren't any hometown heroes for the Saudi audience to relate to. Sheik Adnan is from Iraq, but for all I know there's a reason why Saudi officials hate them too. Sting would probably say no on religious grounds, Rock has a reputation to maintain in Hollywood, and Flair's daughter is subhuman to them. Hogan is literally the only person who fits that niche of having been a huge star while needing the money and opportunity that this event will provide more than he needs to be able to respect himself.

Congratulations Saudi Arabia, you're getting a desperate embarrassment of a human being.

What does this say about the wrestlers who are still going, or have agreed to go after the fact, in spite of Daniel Bryan and John Cena opting out?

Randy Orton was recently ambushed by another soulless sack from TMZ, and asked about John Cena opting out. Randy, likely having been prepared for these moments, answered/questioned "Does he still wrestle?"

DAMN RANDY!

Okay, that answer actually said a great deal. I get that sometimes wrestlers stay in character for the fans, and that the douche-bag character that Randy plays on tv would have taken that opportunity to jab John in the ribs about his lack of participation. But, but Randy, John Cena still has a lot of fans. Fans these days don't just pay attention to what happens on tv or through the WWE's official information channels on the internet, fans figure shit out. Fans have figured out that John opted out of the show, not because he faded into obscurity due to a lack of participation, but because he takes issue with Saudi Arabia. I believe that John's beef is regarding the negligent homicide of Jamal Khashoggi. I imagine that fans might recognize Randy's remark as mockery of the negligent homicide. Just saying Randy; next time don't comment.

There are many reasons to take issue with Saudi Arabia (lack of women, discrimination against Sami Zayn), and money is the only reason why the individuals going are expected to ignore those issues. Whether it's what they're paid, or it's what the WWE stands to gain by pulling off this show. These performers are being blind workhorses at best, and are taking bribes to help distract from criminal acts on part of the Saudi government at worst.

I feel that given the circumstances, everyone else who goes to perform at Crown Jewel has greatly disappointed me.

I'm shocked that AJ is still on, I recall him breaking character a long time ago, where he threatened to legitimately beat up his opponent (I forget who that was) for appropriating John 3:16 for a promo. I thought that he was all about the Bible, and his love for his family, and above all the integrity and decency of the prowrestling business. Now he's going to wrestling Samoa Joe in a throwaway match for a government that literally executes any Muslim who attempts to convert to another religion. It might have been a situation where he has to go, or the WWE will fire/blacklist him, but still. That sounds like a small price considering his reputation with me now.

So, in a nutshell, I'm not surprised that Hogan is going, but I'm very disappointed in the WWE for what they've let this become.
 
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LOL i assume you didn't watch WCW then? Or WWE in 2002 or 2005, 2014? every time the guy shows up he gets a massive pop; nobodys sick of Hogan
His pops then weren't like they were back in the day. You also forget some of his weak reactions at the end of his first WWF run. He needed the NWO to rework his character. I've been watching for decades, and I'm frankly sick of the man. I don't need him constantly reminding me who he is, but, apparently some people do.
 
His pops then weren't like they were back in the day. You also forget some of his weak reactions at the end of his first WWF run. He needed the NWO to rework his character. I've been watching for decades, and I'm frankly sick of the man. I don't need him constantly reminding me who he is, but, apparently some people do.

really his pops weren't as good? so how many times did he get 10 min standing ovations like he did in 2002 back in the 80s? sure he had weak reactions 93-96 as you said at that time the character needed a rework but he did and became arguably the greatest heel in the biz this side of flair or mcmahon, be sick of him all you want, thats your opinion and youre entitled to it but dont try to revise history to fit your narrative
 
really his pops weren't as good? so how many times did he get 10 min standing ovations like he did in 2002 back in the 80s?
Nothing is being revised. If you put him on a show right now outside of a good wrestling town (i.e. Calgary, Toronto, Chicago, New York), it'll be a subdued reaction.
 
Nothing is being revised. If you put him on a show right now outside of a good wrestling town (i.e. Calgary, Toronto, Chicago, New York), it'll be a subdued reaction.

hahaha whatever dude, move the goal posts all you want, FACT is that he got a humongous pop in several cities that year and in the few years after
 
Nothing is being revised. If you put him on a show right now outside of a good wrestling town (i.e. Calgary, Toronto, Chicago, New York), it'll be a subdued reaction.
hahaha whatever dude, move the goal posts all you want, FACT is that he got a humongous pop in several cities that year and in the few years after

You are both wrong. Put him in front of a large wrestling audience anywhere the citizens have some reasonable level of freedom, equality, and access to information and you are likely to get some huge cheers, some heavy boos, some walkouts, some demands for money back, a few fights, and a lot of confusion.

He hasn't made amends. He hasn't grown up. He's not worth it. He has nothing to offer with plenty of risk.
 
You are both wrong. Put him in front of a large wrestling audience anywhere the citizens have some reasonable level of freedom, equality, and access to information and you are likely to get some huge cheers, some heavy boos, some walkouts, some demands for money back, a few fights, and a lot of confusion.

He hasn't made amends. He hasn't grown up. He's not worth it. He has nothing to offer with plenty of risk.

I feel that you are wrong on this, if Hogan comes back anywhere in the world and does the old hulkamania routine, fans will pop as soon as real American plays. Just look at how successful the now reunion they did at his beach club was. He still have a solid base of followers on Facebook and outside maybe the smartest of smart fans, pretty much everybody as move on and forgiven him for what happened. But that's just my opinion. I'm was and always will be a hulkamania and have forgiven him for what happened because I feel he did his time and prove that he was truly sorry just by all the acts he did with the African American community over the last few years.
 
I feel that you are wrong on this, if Hogan comes back anywhere in the world and does the old hulkamania routine, fans will pop as soon as real American plays. Just look at how successful the now reunion they did at his beach club was.

Read what I wrote and think about it. I acknowledge that he still has fans. I have no idea what happened at his beach club reunion but I'll take your word that his fans showed up and supported him.

He still have a solid base of followers on Facebook and outside maybe the smartest of smart fans, pretty much everybody as move on and forgiven him for what happened.

Well, good thing smart fans never cause any trouble during live shows.

But that's just my opinion. I'm was and always will be a hulkamania and have forgiven him for what happened because I feel he did his time and prove that he was truly sorry just by all the acts he did with the African American community over the last few years.

What did he do to make amends? I don't have a clue of what he has done to make things better and I'm pretty on top of this stuff. How has he grown up? All I see is a bunch of stupid comments from him. Whining about how younger guys treat older guys. Lies about how people talked when he was growing up. The bloom is off the rose. Hulkamania is dead. Just Terry continuing to try to play us.
 
Read what I wrote and think about it. I acknowledge that he still has fans. I have no idea what happened at his beach club reunion but I'll take your word that his fans showed up and supported him.



Well, good thing smart fans never cause any trouble during live shows.



What did he do to make amends? I don't have a clue of what he has done to make things better and I'm pretty on top of this stuff. How has he grown up? All I see is a bunch of stupid comments from him. Whining about how younger guys treat older guys. Lies about how people talked when he was growing up. The bloom is off the rose. Hulkamania is dead. Just Terry continuing to try to play us.

For a guy that supposedly is on top of theses things, I feel you miss a lot in the last few years about this. He did a lot of volunteer works for the boys & girls club in his area and been even honored for his work with this organization. He also did a few conference to talk against racism. But since this hasn't been reported in dirt sheet and wrestling website, you probably didn't know about it. Just follow his Facebook page and you would know a lot more about what He's done to make amends or just go and read interview with other performers that knows what happened since the whole thing happened maybe you would be more informed about the whole thing.
 
Not the kids in the audience, and there are no shortage of them.

Everybody knows who Hogan is even kids since he did so many kids movies in the 90's plus parents that watch wrestling when they were kids tend to rewatch old wrestling with their kids especially during the Hogan era which was one of the better era in wwe history, so I doubt really much that kids don't know who Hogan is.

Also just watch wrestlemania 30 and how fans of all age reacted to Hogan when he came out or pretty much any raw he was on before he got release. Kids and adult went bananas when Hogan cames out.
 
You know your wrestling website is dead when the latest wrestling news thread is a Crown Jewel one that happened back on November 2nd.
 
Also just watch wrestlemania 30 and how fans of all age reacted to Hogan when he came out or pretty much any raw he was on before he got release. Kids and adult went bananas when Hogan cames out.
I'd have to watch back, but I think you overestimate Hogan's fame among the youth.
 
I'd have to watch back, but I think you overestimate Hogan's fame among the youth.

Go rewatch this, plus their also the fact that Hogan as been in a lot of bad movies that has where for kids and parents that grew up fans of Hogan are sharing their love with Hogan whit their kids. So I don't feel I'm overestimating Hogan's fame among the youth, sure he's no John cena, which is pretty much this generation's Hogan, but he's still pretty over because his fans is keeping his legends alive with the younger fans

Also, I don't know if you go to conventions, wrestling or comiccon. But he came a few years ago to the one we have in Montreal and there was as many kids in his line waiting for a autograph as we the was fans my age that grew up during the hulkamania era and from what I saw from other fans that posted photos from other convention, it look like this is the situation everywhere he goes.

Anyway, let just agree to disagree on this one.
 
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