Hulk Hogan was NOT a bad in-ring worker.

[mulkeymania]

i agree hogans matches from the iron sheik match in 1984 and after that always looked the same but it did work same as it did for flair and probably others i am forgetting but if you watch his matches before that period he did do some good in ring work--theres a match on his unreleased collectors edition dvd against bob backlund that comes to mind where he did some good work.
i think the whole thing is if the getting beat down by the heel before finally hulking up then the big boot followed by a leg drop and the pin made him rich why change it?

 

[Trivia247]

Too get a true grasp of Hogan's capabilites, you can't just gage it from his time in WWF/E and WCW. Look at the stuff he did in the 70s, in WWWF, AWA, Japan.
He has the tools to have been seen as an accomplished grappler for a fairly big man, but the Hulkamania era was geared around Charisma not on Moves persay.
Incidently rooting around on youtube, I had found a true gem, Hulk Hogan vs Gorilla Monsoon, during which is a interview with Gorilla.

 

[AttitudeAJM]

Vince McMahon's WWF was built primarily on very charismatic main event talent and some great workers in the undercard.

Jojo The Show made a comment that i definitely don't agree with. The talent level in the WWF in the mid 80's was actually very impressive. Hogan had some of the best people to work with. I think the issue is primarily that they worked a style that was not as TV friendly. Guys weren't used to working TV matches since it was a very new medium at the level that Vince wanted to use it. WWF talent around that time consisted of Hulk Hogan, Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff, Don Morocco, Tito Santana, and Ricky Steamboat just to name a few.

Also, Hulk Hogan was trained by one of the greatest wrestling trainers ever: Hiro Matsuda, a man that had a hand in training guys like Luger, Orndorff, Flair, and The Great Muta.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Hulk Hogan was a terrible in-ring competitor in my view. He was slow, unathletic and extremely boring to watch most of the time. I know that Hogan was a huge draw, yes I know that he's the biggest name in wrestling history and has tons of charisma. I'm not saying that he didn't deserve a lot of acolades because of those facts at all. However, the man was simply nothing even remotely special when it came to wrestling matches.

The IWC gives John Cena a ton of grief but are willing to excuse Hulk Hogan for his lackluster ability inside the ring. Hogan's offense primarily consisted of the big right hand, the body slam, the big boot & the leg drop. Maybe an occassional rake of the eyes, clothesline or elbow drop. Was Hogan probably better in the ring than what we've seen of him since the mid 80s? Quite possibly, but that's not what we've been shown for a quarter of a century so I fail to see how anyone can be blamed for not seeing Hulk Hogan as a great in-ring wrestler.

I'm not saying that a wrestler has to be on the same level as a Kurt Angle or Shawn Michaels or AJ Styles inside the ring to be "good in the ring", but it just takes a little more to impress me than the most elementary and rudimentary wrestling offense that made up Hulk Hogan's move set.

 

[D-Man]

Hogan was shit in the ring, period. He is the epitome of everything that modern-day fans pin onto John Cena. Although the opinion on Cena is severely untrue, Hogan's fits him with perfection. If it weren't for his over-exaggeration of emotion that showed through his face and mannerisms, he never would've achieved anything that's on his resume.

Although emotion plays a huge part in pro-wrestling, limiting a moveset to punches, gut kicks, clotherlines, big boots, legdrops, body slams, and the occasional chop or suplex makes you a dogshit, in-ring competitor. Especially if those few moves are done in a sloppy way. Half the time that Hogan was making melee exchanges in the ring, his opponents had no idea how to retaliate since Hogan hogged the spotlight and always portrayed himself as the invincible superhero. This resulted in both men not knowing who was punching first or second and made the entire exchange sloppy.

In the ring, Hogan cared more about inflating his ego and looking invincible than putting his opponents over. He didn't believe in teamwork. He was all about himself. Pro-wrestling is a two-way street and Hogan wouldn't open up the other lane. This makes him absolute and utter shit.

 

[excel_excel]

Hogan was poor in the ring. He had an incredible charisma and looked amazing, but in the ring he was way below average. He wasn't the worst, but is around Nash's level. Everyone remembers him slamming Andre the Giant, but aside from that, the WM3 match sucked.
Yes his match with Warrior was good. But its aged badly and great matches don't age badly, not to mention the fact that Hogan did everything he could to make himself the spotlight of the match. he even bragged about it in his first book. (which I bought and read. Easily the worst wrestling biography I've ever read.)

There's no comparison in the ring between him and Cena. I don't like Cena and Cena's offence can look really fake and sloppy at times as well but his standard is far above that of Hogan's. Cena got a very good match out of Lashley for chrisakes! Would Hogan in his prime have made Lashley look like his equal the way Cena tried with Lashley? Not a chance. Cena VS Great Khali actually turned out to be passably entertaining. I can't imagine the horrific mess Khali and Hogan would have been.....woo boy!

 

[kingofkings1984]

Hogan was NOT a bad worker. He was one of the greatest in ring performers of all time. He always got a reaction and had the crowd in the palm of his hand. People always forget why Hogan wrestled the way he did. Hogan was a 6'7'' 300lb superhero. There is no reason in hell he should have gone out to the ring and chain wrestled. It would have looked totally stupid for him to spend 30 minutes rolling around on the mat with people. He had no buisness going to the top rope and doing a moonsault becuase he had the charimsa to get over without needing all that stuff. However, just because it would have hurt his crediability to not look dominate, he still knew how to mat wrestle when needed. After leaving the WWF in 93, he put on a great wrestling match with the Great Muta. He did this because thats what the Japaness fans wanted to see. It all comes back to the fact that Hogan always knew what the crowd wanted, and he always gave it to them.

P.S. The whole "he can't work" thing is really stupid and anoying. If in ring ability was that important, Jamie Noble and Charlie Haas would of headlined Wrestlemania the last 8 years.

Now this is a sensible dude, great post.

That pretty much sums it up folks, it pretty much would be a Haas vs Noble main event every ppv of the year even, it doesnt work like that. We as fans are always passionate about seeing a wrestling clinic put on, and there are many superstars who provide that for us, but in terms of a 'superhero' type character that people can believe in then that man was Hulk Hogan. His in ring skills were good enough for the time period he was in i'd say. He's no kurt angle and wouldnt admit to being but in terms of storytelling and reading the crowd he was/is one of the best.

Look at all the suffering he having to cope with now due to years and years of strain on his body. Probly due to the legdrop being such a significant move for him and landing on his backside 300+days of the year, sometimes twice per day in the 80s. Cannot blame him for toning his in ring work down durin his WCW days.

The '5 moves of doom' everyone has a set routine and we know deep down thats what we luv about that person. We would be disappointed if he never did the 3 punches, big boot, legdrop. Watching an event on TV and being there live are totally different in that being there you just want your favourite to win no matter what and thats what Vince gave the crowds back in the day, it satisfied them, left them feeling they got there moneys worth and worked in everysingle town in the country. I believe Hogan could of talked his way through a match and it would of worked, he has the likability factor.

I think he put on some excellent matches over the years: Warrior, Savage, got decent watchable matches out of Andre same with Slaughter, Muta, Flair, Taker, Rock, Angle.

I think if you axe any 'old timer' in the wrestling business "how did i do?" in a match and they say "you got a crowd reaction didnt you?!" then your job is done!and that sums Hogan's career up

 

[Dyno Kid]

Just because Hogan got a great reaction that doesn't mean he was a good worker. He was a great performer, there's a difference. As mentioned Hass was and is a great worker, same as Tim Horner but they weren't great performers like Hogan. They could wrestle circles around guys like Hogan, Warrior, Sid, Kane, Cena, Batista, Nash, Andre, and Big Show to name a few but they couldn't connect to the crowds.

 

[Ultra Awesome]

It trully baffles me how so many people think that Hulk Hogan was a horrible in-ring worker. To find that even Jack-Hammer and D-Man think that Hogan was shit in the ring straight out leaves me in shock. Hulk Hogan was a fantastic in-ring worker. If I remember correctly, an in-ring worker is defined by 5 basic things: Storytelling, Workrate, Psychology, Selling, and Charisma. If we break those 5 things seperately, I will show you that Hulk Hogan was in fact a good in-ring worker.

Anytime in a wrestling match, you always have to tell a Story to the audience. In this way, you get the audience hooked to the match that you are having. Hogan did a great job of telling a story via wrestling. Sure he was pretty slow in the ring, but he was always able to continue his match straight to the end with rarely any botches and problems.

The second is Workrate: the ability to draw a crowd into the matches so that they can believe what they are seeing and not find it false--Another thing Hogan exceled at doing. I find it hard to believe that when people watched Hogan wrestle back in the day, they were never intriuged by what Hogan did in the ring. Hogan was one of those guys that you just couldn't wait to see what he did next.

The third--Psychology--is something that Hogan pulled off rather well, also. People say Hogan was a tad slow in the ring. Well this is true, but you got to give the guy some credit; he was pretty large. And if he were to try to do high-flying moves, I don't think anyone would find that believable. Which is why I say Hogan was great with in-ring psychology. He wrestled exactly the way he should wrestle in order to make his matches look believable.

Which brings me to the 4th thing that makes a wrestler a good in-ring worker: Selling. People are always constantly saying that Hogan never had the ability to "sell" while in the ring. They think that if someone works on your knee, that your knee should be injured for the the rest of the match. How absurd. Selling is simply selling the story of a match via pain inflicted to the body. In Hogan's case, he would spend the majority of the match getting beaten half to death--every time showing that he WASN'T invincible--showing that he can be beaten. And then, when all hope was lost, and it was believed he was about to loose the match, he would recover via Hulk-up and ultimately win. Thus, you have an immense pop from the crowd--generating an unbelievable cheer. The fans thought all was lost; yet, here Hogan is, ready, up, and fired for more.

Finally, you have Charisma. Which really needs no explanaition as we are all aware of what it is. And since we know what it is, it's safe to say that Hogan defined charisma. Hogan always managed to connect with the audience and ultimately get them to cheer for just about anything that he did, including while wrestling.

Hulk Hogan was not a bad in-ring worker. The fact that he only had the '5 moves of doom' means nothing when it comes to how good he was in the ring. Many people adopt the common myth that the number of moves that you hold in your arsenal determines how good you are in the ring. Well, let me tell you, this is straight out false. You could hold up to 1000 moves in your arsenal, but if you are not able to do the above, then you are not a good wrestler. A good wrestler that excels in the above is a great wrestler; and as I have proven, Hogan was infact a great wrestler.

 

[Hulk Hogan's Brother]

It trully baffles me how so many people think that Hulk Hogan was a horrible in-ring worker. To find that even Jack-Hammer and D-Man think that Hogan was shit in the ring straight out leaves me in shock. Hulk Hogan was a fantastic in-ring worker. If I remember correctly, an in-ring worker is defined by 5 basic things: Storytelling, Workrate, Psychology, Selling, and Charisma. If we break those 5 things seperately, I will show you that Hulk Hogan was in fact a good in-ring worker.

Anytime in a wrestling match, you always have to tell a Story to the audience. In this way, you get the audience hooked to the match that you are having. Hogan did a great job of telling a story via wrestling. Sure he was pretty slow in the ring, but he was always able to continue his match straight to the end with rarely any botches and problems.

The second is Workrate: the ability to draw a crowd into the matches so that they can believe what they are seeing and not find it false--Another thing Hogan exceled at doing. I find it hard to believe that when people watched Hogan wrestle back in the day, they were never intriuged by what Hogan did in the ring. Hogan was one of those guys that you just couldn't wait to see what he did next.

The third--Psychology--is something that Hogan pulled off rather well, also. People say Hogan was a tad slow in the ring. Well this is true, but you got to give the guy some credit; he was pretty large. And if he were to try to do high-flying moves, I don't think anyone would find that believable. Which is why I say Hogan was great with in-ring psychology. He wrestled exactly the way he should wrestle in order to make his matches look believable.

Which brings me to the 4th thing that makes a wrestler a good in-ring worker: Selling. People are always constantly saying that Hogan never had the ability to "sell" while in the ring. They think that if someone works on your knee, that your knee should be injured for the the rest of the match. How absurd. Selling is simply selling the story of a match via pain inflicted to the body. In Hogan's case, he would spend the majority of the match getting beaten half to death--every time showing that he WASN'T invincible--showing that he can be beaten. And then, when all hope was lost, and it was believed he was about to loose the match, he would recover via Hulk-up and ultimately win. Thus, you have an immense pop from the crowd--generating an unbelievable cheer. The fans thought all was lost; yet, here Hogan is, ready, up, and fired for more.

Finally, you have Charisma. Which really needs no explanaition as we are all aware of what it is. And since we know what it is, it's safe to say that Hogan defined charisma. Hogan always managed to connect with the audience and ultimately get them to cheer for just about anything that he did, including while wrestling.

Hulk Hogan was not a bad in-ring worker. The fact that he only had the '5 moves of doom' means nothing when it comes to how good he was in the ring. Many people adopt the common myth that the number of moves that you hold in your arsenal determines how good you are in the ring. Well, let me tell you, this is straight out false. You could hold up to 1000 moves in your arsenal, but if you are not able to do the above, then you are not a good wrestler. A good wrestler that excels in the above is a great wrestler; and as I have proven, Hogan was infact a great wrestler.

Great arguement Slyfox...er...Mister Awesome but it is flawed in some ways.

When you are talking about in ring talent of a guy some things among the five you have mentioned are more important than the others. Workrate and Psychology is more important than charisma and storytelling and selling is really just a part of psychology.

Now let us analyse Hogan on the points you have mentioned. His workrate was shit and because I cannot say it any better I will just quote what D-Man said.

Although emotion plays a huge part in pro-wrestling, limiting a moveset to punches, gut kicks, clotherlines, big boots, legdrops, body slams, and the occasional chop or suplex makes you a dogshit, in-ring competitor. Especially if those few moves are done in a sloppy way. Half the time that Hogan was making melee exchanges in the ring, his opponents had no idea how to retaliate since Hogan hogged the spotlight and always portrayed himself as the invincible superhero. This resulted in both men not knowing who was punching first or second and made the entire exchange sloppy.

This is what workrate is all about, especially the bolded part and as D-Man puts it Hogan was dogshit.

The second point is psychology. I'll give you that point that Hogan was good at selling upto his comeback. But Hogan was a huge guy and his size indicates that he should have used a lot of power moves. He should have thrown people all around the ring because he looked strong enough to do that. Instead he brawled in an insipid and slow manner. So he was shit at psychology as well.

The next points are minor points in my opinion. Charisma might be important in the ring but its way more important whe you are not wrestling. And Hogan did most of his work when he was not wrestling.

He only told one story in the ring. That being of a hero in trouble and then conquering insurmountable odds and coming out on top. Now that story gets less and less believable if we continue seeing it for a long time. If you have seen one Hogan match you have seen them all.

Hogan was very bad in the ring and the fact that he is the greatest superstar of all time is a testament to his charisma than to his in ring ability.

 

[Nikkolas]

I think a wrestler is only as good as the booker. Hogan could have had the technical skills of Dean Malenko but it wouldn't matter because that wasn't his gimmick. His gimmick was a power wrestler because he was a big powerful guy.

As others have said, wrestling isn't all about holds and whatnot. It's about telling a story. Hogan was, IMo, one of the best in-ring storytellers ever. He simply had charisma pouring out of his ears and could make full use of it.

 

[ABMorales787]

People can't seem to tell the difference between being a good in-ring worker and a good psychologist. Yeah, they are two totally different aspects. Shelton Benjamin was a tremendous in-ring worker, but let's see how much he drew at the end of the day. Yup. Not a penny. Why? Because he didn't have that "know-how" that made the fan's care. He didn't have the appeal in the ring. There's more to it than knowing how to do a German Suplex. Hulk Hogan was an absolute hype machine. He knew how to make a believer out of the masses. He had the "it" factor. It certainly wasn't his in-ring ability.

Comparing him to John Cena is pretty fair, but Hulk was completely new to the world back then. Hulk was an unreal figure in an unreal world. John isn't. He's an unreal figure in the real world. Hulk was surrounded by other larger-than-life characters that complemented him. The evil Roddy Piper, the eccentric Randy Savage, the lovable monster Andre, the evil foreigner, Iron Sheik. The cartoon speaks for itself. With John Cena than isn't the case, as everyone is pretty much down to Earth.

At the end of the day, Hulk Hogan worked because of the right hype, the right time and the right people with him. I really doubt he would've worked as well as he did in a time period like today's.

 

[Nikkolas]

Couldn't that be said for all gimmicks though? I mean, shove Steve Austin into the 80s and would he have taken off?

A lot of people, wrestlers and smarks alike, talk about how professional wrestling has changed. The crowds do not want the same things today as they wanted ten or twenty years ago. Hogan went over well because his gimmick and style did really well with young kids which was apparently the biggest market for pro-wrestling in the eighties. Austin ddi well because his gimmick did well with the tweens/teens, the biggest market in the late 90s.

Perhaps every wrestler owes their success , at least somewhat, to coming in at the right time.

Hogan did adapt though, that has to be said. He was not a dinosaur incapable of understanding how things had changed. He was a huge name in the 80s for being a face and then a huge name in the 90s for being a heel. So I don't think people can chalk up his success to dumb luck.

 

[UltimateHitman]

Everybody can debate until they're blue in the face, but you have to go by what the thread is all about. If you take the base statement of Hogan is NOT a bad in-ring worker, you have to say, bullshit. He was. Hell, even when I was a kid growing up I saw past the flash and noticed that. He was not really supposed to be, that is true, but again he WAS a bad in-ring worker, period.

Now, if you go to the separate question of "Did he have charisma and/or sell well?" then the answers are yes and kinda. He had the heart of millions in the 80's, no doubt about that, and was a hero to probably 95% of the children at the time so he definitely had an "it" factor. Selling well? Sure, to an extent. Quite often, though, he kind of oversold to the point of looking silly. Not to say that's always a bad thing because it can provide a comedic moment or make something look devastating, but you have to do it sparingly or just for certain things or it will become overdone.

In closing, people can argue and bicker, but the basic concept of in-ring work would be answered yes, he was bad. Did he influence the sport like no other and have superhuman levels of charisma? Sure. But the bare bones of it all was that he was boring and kind of plodded along in the ring. Hell, at least Cena goes airborne and can move around the ring well...


Edit: The Killjoy wrote: "People can't seem to tell the difference between being a good in-ring worker and a good psychologist. Yeah, they are two totally different aspects. Shelton Benjamin was a tremendous in-ring worker, but let's see how much he drew at the end of the day. Yup. Not a penny. Why? Because he didn't have that "know-how" that made the fan's care. He didn't have the appeal in the ring. There's more to it than knowing how to do a German Suplex. Hulk Hogan was an absolute hype machine. He knew how to make a believer out of the masses. He had the "it" factor. It certainly wasn't his in-ring ability."

Didn't see that post but that's exactly what I was trying to get at. Hope I made this point in my post too...

 

[theHeadliner]

Hogan could wrestle. When he was in Japan, he did some maneuvers that I never thought I'd see Hogan do in regards to takedowns and mat wrestling. Also, when he wrestled Bret Hart on Nitro he tried to do some real wrestling moves to impress Bret. Also, Hogan could work the crowd and have the match mean something.

Also, Hogan worked in the "New York style" of keeping it simpler, dramatic comebacks, dramatic selling points, signature moves, and he did all that stuff great. Him chain-wrestling in his prime at WWF would have been useless for his character. When he went to Japan he chain-wrestled with the best of them and still sold and did all the other comeback stuff. He may be a lousy human being when it came to certain backstage things, but to say he was a bad worker is definitely debatable and most likely false.

 

[The Eighties]

Hogan was the master of just doing enough, but when he felt like it and was with the right guy he could pull off a good match. He was restricted by the need for all his finishing sequences needing to be the same, but he was great at reading the crowd and making the change in match momentum.

He wasn't a great worker because a great worker can have a good match with anyone, with Hogan you need a specific type to get the best from him, usually someone of a decent size (Although he clicked with Savage) with mobility, but once you get the right opponent Hogan was very capable of delivering a solid match.

 

[jaceynightheat]

Who really cares how his ring work was? Pro Wrestling is all fantasy not MMA. It's the same world that has had voodoo doctors, dead people, clowns. Pseudo Jiu Jitsu & MMA moves don't really sell action figures & t-shirts.

Hulk Hogan in the 80s was suppose to be a super hero. That's the part he played.

 

[Chris Jericho Markaholic]

Hogans Charisma and Character Overshadows His Ring Work And That's A Good Thing

Because Hogan In-Ring Work Ability Was Lex Luger Bad

Thing Is I Always Liked Lex And Hulks Characters It Made Me Interested To See There Matches Dragged Me Into It , At WM VI i don't think anyone was expecting a techinical clash between hogan and warrior both were very limited in the ring but these guys were so over and people loved there characters so much it was a matter of who really cared about in ring ability at that point in time

They Wanted To See There Hereos

But In My Opnion yes he's a lex luger level wrestler (which is bad)