Yes, HBK started the attitude era. Are you kidding me that he didn't. Jannety being knocked throught glass wasn't something that happened often in the WWF at the time when gimmicks were rampant. Let me remind you that what HBK did was more revolutionary than what Austin did.
Let me also remind you that HBK did this during a time that wasn't considered that attitude era. Austin was molding with what the WWF at the time wanted to do, all because they realized the success someone like HBK could have when acting this all out. May I also remind you that HBK was before Austin in terms of entertaining the WWE(F) fans. Once again that kind shit didn't happen in the WWE until HBK brought it back.
No one had done anything like this since Piper's Pit. That was years earlier. Have you forgotten that in the early 90's there were stars like Ultimate Warrior, TugBoat, Papa Shango, EarthQuake, Nailz, Big Boss Man, Tatanka, and Bad New Brown etc.. All those corny gimmicks, and all the ones I haven't mentioned that were that bad.
In other words HBK stood out. Damn right he had a reason to bitch. He had busted his ass in the WWE(F) for years, and was on the road all the time. Hogan can't say the same. He barely travelled, and never did house shows. Yes, he was a draw because he was rarely at shows. In other words when he showed up, people packed the house. Everyone who has been watching wrestling knows this. Hogan hardly ever made an appearance, and so his showing was much more anticipated. That is why he is such a draw. It is like waving the largest lollipop in front of a young child who has a bunch of small not so good lollipops. Hogan may not have been the biggest, but he was the most appealing considering he was so roided, and he ****e Red/Yellow. They advertised Hogan, but never delivered until a backstage promo with Gene Okerlund. Then it was buy the PPV brother, and watch Hulkamania run wild. HBK didn't have to ****e himself out like Hogan. Talking about gay seems as though Hogan was the gay one, ripping his clothes off, constantly selling himself for PPv's, and all the while mainly aimed at young boys.
Let me clear the air here on Hulk Hogan for those of you who seem to be in the dark on this one. He is the biggest draw mainly due to the booming PPV era that he was a part of. Don't you all remember having to pay to see a Hogan match. You talk about all the Wrestlemanias he headlined, but what about all the house shows he never did? As I said what about having to pay to see Hogan live on PPV. HE HARDLY EVER DID LIVE SHOWS EITHER. The man thought he was the GOD of wrestling.
HBK started in the 80's. He paid his dues long before he won the World title. He had been a professional for nearly 10 years at that point. Name the last person that waited 10 years for a world title that is on this list other than Bret Hart? You talk about my claim to HBK not being injured, and holding off going to WCW while being under contract as a fluke. Funny, because it isn't a fluke.
Wrestling is a funny business. I suggest you do some research because I'm not going to debate this, as this is not a debate. You are just wrong. Who cares what Nash said in a shoot, he is friends with HBK, and he is part of the business. You know very little about the industry if you think that everything you hear is true. If HBK's back, or neck, or legs were that bad he would have never come back. No one with serious back problems retires from any sport, and then comes back. No, doctor would allow, and no man is that stupid to put their body in jeopardy like that.
Yes, HBK's back or body for that matter was probably beaten and worn. The year of his retirement he had been in the business 20 years. That is a long time for any physical sport. He saw his friends leaving for big money, and realized that Bret Hart at the time was not working with him. Hart didn't even want to put over Austin people! May I also remind you that Austin didn't want to put over Brock Lesnar. Anyhow, he saw all the money that his friends received, I'm sure it crossed his mind to leave as well. Don't you remember the talk of Vince looking to give Hart that 20 year contract?
I'm sure that talk of a 20 yr contract probably had been rumored for years backstage. It is probably a small reason as to why Hall, and Nash may have left. Feeling that there would be no room for them financially if Hart was going to get all this money with such a long term deal. I remember hearing from Vince's mouth on RAW with issue concerning Hart leaving. Hart never respected HBK because he didn't like him, and thats simple. HBK was selling T-shirts, and other hot merchandise at a time where heels weren't supposed to do such things.
His character stood out, and the only reason Hogan stood out other than on PPV was the fact that he was on STEROIDS just like everyone else he wrestled with. Hogan's look wasn't even natural. Not to mention he was a backstabbing hypocrite who preached one thing to kids, and did the other. He was in it for himself, and rightfully so. That is the story of the business. Hogan was preaching this, and saying that. Playing in rock videos with his band, and being in his own cartoon.
Don't give me this lame crap of Hogan's worth to the business. He was the biggest TOOL of all time. He was plugged every where. He was like the Kiss of the wrestling era, but he didn't have facepaint. Ofcourse when you are advertised everywhere, and are only on PPVs you are going to be huge. Hogan is the reason the WWE went from wrestling to entertainment.
HBK's character was able to keep within the wrestling genre while doing things in the ring that no one else has eer done prior to him. That is called pioneering people. Most of Hogan's success comes from commercials, movies, cartoons, appearances on talk shows, and endorsement ads. Hogan said this himself. When Vince says your the one that is basically a career in the making. HBK didn't receive this special treatment.
Michaels was who he always was. He wasn't telling us to do one thing, and then doing the other literally like Hogan. Shawn paid his dues, and his career was a story. HBK wasn't some cheap gimmick, and when I said his gimmick was for adults I was right. He didn't try to appeal to the fans with something like facepaint or silly one liners.
He carried Marty Jannet who was a nobody. Michaels was one of the most memorable IC champions of all time. As I said his career is a story, and an impressive one at that. You couldn't write a better story outside of Flair. In case you have forgot this was a thread on the greatest "wrestler" ever in professsional wrestling. Hogan could never wrestle with the best of them. His fame came off of the fact that he was an entertainment plug. He spent more time on private jets than he did wrestling in the ring, and that is actually fact that Hogan admitted to on a radio show. Research it for yourself.
Yes, HBK was probably a prick backstage, but who isn't. Wrestling is a cut throat business. Have you forgotten that principle? Hogan did sell out seats, and I'm not arguing that. However his appearances were rare, and in the late 80's early 90's you had to pay to see Hogan on PPV. People will draw to something that is forced down there throats in ads, commercials, T-shirts, foam hands, and religion. Hogan was preaching faith, but somehow breaking the law by using steroids. There were so many things that made up Hulk Hogan, and none of it was what he did in the ring.
Hogan has stated so many times that it was Andre's idea to lose to him at WM, and that he (Andre) made it clear that if he didn't want to do it he wouldn't have to. You all seem to forget how big of a star Andre was before Hogan made his debut in the WWF. Beating Andre was something that no one man had done. He was the man, and because of that Hogan's career took off. He beat the largest athlete in the world at the time in MSG.
Hogan was a great mind in marketing. He knew how to sell himself. It wasn't through wrestling in the ring that Hogan made his fortune. It was his ability to sell himself be it through tv shows, autographs, t-shirts etc.. Hogan is to wrestling what Cena will end up being. Cena is heading in the same direction as Hogan. He is doing "B" type movies, and his selling, selling, selling, and selling everything that has his name on it. I give more props to Cean because he goes on th road, and he does house shows. In my opinion Hogan can't even lace up Cena's high tops.
Cena is more of a wrestler than Hogan will ever be. HBK put everything he had every single night of the week. Had Shawn not retired Rock, Austin, and HHH would have had even more successful careers. Without HBK there would have been no Austin, or Rock. Both stars Austin/Rock knew that they had to change with business, just as HBK did in the early 90's when he broke from The Rockers. It was about change, and change Michaels created. He was the cause of the attitude era not Austin. At a time when Rock, and Austin were just mid card greats HBK was doing HIAC with Taker.
To suggest that HBK had no sort of impact that Hogan did is incredibly ignorant. HBK was part of a show called Monday Night RAW. His charcter was exactly that. Once again he stood out from all those weird, kid like characters that the WWE had palced out there. HBK was RAW, and the male audience hated him, and that is what made him great. You loved to hate him because he was what you weren't. His character was to do exactly what it made you do, hate him. No one liked him prnacing to the ring like a gay man.
You can think I'm a mark all you want. HBK's character is unmatched, and so is his story. Hogan doesn't have a story. He was just like a simple glimpse, and so many of you seem to think that he was this great wrestler? HBK was in those arena selling them out 3-4 times a week for over ten tears, and he is still putting on great matches today depsite his awful turn in character, a born again chrisitian. To this day he is still wrestling people, and keepin them 5 start matches. He has hardy missed a step. He is the Jerry Rice of his profession.
Speaking of promos HBK you say things that weren't supposed to be said. Hogan's promos up unitl the NWO were all lame. Just go and youtube some of his old school shit with Mean Gene. It was all bad acting, and cheesy just like the 80's were suppposed to be. Everything was in over drive because people thought that we were going to have a nuclear war with Russia. The WWE(F) always copies current day issues. Exp: Sgt Slaughters run while were in the war with Iraq.
Yiou never saw HBK running around with the American flag acting like some cheap poster boy for the good ol US of A. HBK took it a step further and whiped his ass with the Canadian flag. That was classic, and something Hogan's character never had the balls to do. Canada hated HBK for the longest time. Is there any part of the world that Hogan can lay that claim to. No one gets more heat in Montreal than HBK does.
He was part of one of the most taboo storylines of all time with the Montreal screwjob. It exposed wrestling for what it was. Tell me the last time Hogan had this kind of impact on the wrestling world. This Montreal screwjob is still specualated as a work, and others say it was real. Things like this didn't happen in Hogan's era. HBK was a part of a new wrestling that he helped influence more than Hogan ever did. Hogan never pioneered a match. That is important if you want to throw his name down for greatest wrestler of all time. What do you think?
Let us not also forget that HBK put tons of stars over. Perhaps Scott Hall raises an eyebrow, or even Kevin Nash. Without those two names being what they were what would the NWO have even been. Hall, and Nash worked plenty of mathces with one another. Nash/HBK rehashed friend v.s friend feud that Hogan/Savage had prior. Hall/HBK were a part of Ladder match history. Something Hogan would never have done. Both Nash/Hall were the stars they were because both men received rubs off of HBK.
When Nash/HBk had their feud it was one of the better feuds seen in a while. The story behind it was great. At one point even Sid got invovled. In fact it was so great that from that point on when ever a smaller guy with a little look to him, has a larger friend we all say it reminds them of HBK/Nash. Example Kendrick/Jackson. They were the first real interesting big guy, little guy pair. You can sit here and talk about HBK's title run being unsuccessful. You can think that all you want, but in comparison to whom, and what he was going up against it wasn't much.
He wrestled big guys who wrestled like they had two left feet, and made the match 5 star. Guys like Vader, Sid, Viscera etc.. Hogan could never do this. HBK was a and is a great wrestler. He was trained by Lou Thesz for chirst sake. He retired, and then came back. He faced a new batch of wrestlers, and still proved that he was still better than most if not all of them in the ring. That includes Eddie, Benoit, Kidman, HHH, Taker, Orton, Cena, Jericho, Angle, Edge, Jeff Hardy, RVD, etc... Hogan could never do this.
Cena didn't get to wrestle Hogan, but he did wrestle HBK and it was one if not the best match(es) he has ever had in his career as a professional. I bet if you asked Cena today who he felt he wrestled the best with, he would say Shawn Michaels. By the way HBK retired Ric Flair. As far as I'm concerned the former greatest of all time up until he retired, or was retired by HBK.
Let me also remind you that HBK did this during a time that wasn't considered that attitude era. Austin was molding with what the WWF at the time wanted to do, all because they realized the success someone like HBK could have when acting this all out. May I also remind you that HBK was before Austin in terms of entertaining the WWE(F) fans. Once again that kind shit didn't happen in the WWE until HBK brought it back.
No one had done anything like this since Piper's Pit. That was years earlier. Have you forgotten that in the early 90's there were stars like Ultimate Warrior, TugBoat, Papa Shango, EarthQuake, Nailz, Big Boss Man, Tatanka, and Bad New Brown etc.. All those corny gimmicks, and all the ones I haven't mentioned that were that bad.
In other words HBK stood out. Damn right he had a reason to bitch. He had busted his ass in the WWE(F) for years, and was on the road all the time. Hogan can't say the same. He barely travelled, and never did house shows. Yes, he was a draw because he was rarely at shows. In other words when he showed up, people packed the house. Everyone who has been watching wrestling knows this. Hogan hardly ever made an appearance, and so his showing was much more anticipated. That is why he is such a draw. It is like waving the largest lollipop in front of a young child who has a bunch of small not so good lollipops. Hogan may not have been the biggest, but he was the most appealing considering he was so roided, and he ****e Red/Yellow. They advertised Hogan, but never delivered until a backstage promo with Gene Okerlund. Then it was buy the PPV brother, and watch Hulkamania run wild. HBK didn't have to ****e himself out like Hogan. Talking about gay seems as though Hogan was the gay one, ripping his clothes off, constantly selling himself for PPv's, and all the while mainly aimed at young boys.
Let me clear the air here on Hulk Hogan for those of you who seem to be in the dark on this one. He is the biggest draw mainly due to the booming PPV era that he was a part of. Don't you all remember having to pay to see a Hogan match. You talk about all the Wrestlemanias he headlined, but what about all the house shows he never did? As I said what about having to pay to see Hogan live on PPV. HE HARDLY EVER DID LIVE SHOWS EITHER. The man thought he was the GOD of wrestling.
HBK started in the 80's. He paid his dues long before he won the World title. He had been a professional for nearly 10 years at that point. Name the last person that waited 10 years for a world title that is on this list other than Bret Hart? You talk about my claim to HBK not being injured, and holding off going to WCW while being under contract as a fluke. Funny, because it isn't a fluke.
Wrestling is a funny business. I suggest you do some research because I'm not going to debate this, as this is not a debate. You are just wrong. Who cares what Nash said in a shoot, he is friends with HBK, and he is part of the business. You know very little about the industry if you think that everything you hear is true. If HBK's back, or neck, or legs were that bad he would have never come back. No one with serious back problems retires from any sport, and then comes back. No, doctor would allow, and no man is that stupid to put their body in jeopardy like that.
Yes, HBK's back or body for that matter was probably beaten and worn. The year of his retirement he had been in the business 20 years. That is a long time for any physical sport. He saw his friends leaving for big money, and realized that Bret Hart at the time was not working with him. Hart didn't even want to put over Austin people! May I also remind you that Austin didn't want to put over Brock Lesnar. Anyhow, he saw all the money that his friends received, I'm sure it crossed his mind to leave as well. Don't you remember the talk of Vince looking to give Hart that 20 year contract?
I'm sure that talk of a 20 yr contract probably had been rumored for years backstage. It is probably a small reason as to why Hall, and Nash may have left. Feeling that there would be no room for them financially if Hart was going to get all this money with such a long term deal. I remember hearing from Vince's mouth on RAW with issue concerning Hart leaving. Hart never respected HBK because he didn't like him, and thats simple. HBK was selling T-shirts, and other hot merchandise at a time where heels weren't supposed to do such things.
His character stood out, and the only reason Hogan stood out other than on PPV was the fact that he was on STEROIDS just like everyone else he wrestled with. Hogan's look wasn't even natural. Not to mention he was a backstabbing hypocrite who preached one thing to kids, and did the other. He was in it for himself, and rightfully so. That is the story of the business. Hogan was preaching this, and saying that. Playing in rock videos with his band, and being in his own cartoon.
Don't give me this lame crap of Hogan's worth to the business. He was the biggest TOOL of all time. He was plugged every where. He was like the Kiss of the wrestling era, but he didn't have facepaint. Ofcourse when you are advertised everywhere, and are only on PPVs you are going to be huge. Hogan is the reason the WWE went from wrestling to entertainment.
HBK's character was able to keep within the wrestling genre while doing things in the ring that no one else has eer done prior to him. That is called pioneering people. Most of Hogan's success comes from commercials, movies, cartoons, appearances on talk shows, and endorsement ads. Hogan said this himself. When Vince says your the one that is basically a career in the making. HBK didn't receive this special treatment.
Michaels was who he always was. He wasn't telling us to do one thing, and then doing the other literally like Hogan. Shawn paid his dues, and his career was a story. HBK wasn't some cheap gimmick, and when I said his gimmick was for adults I was right. He didn't try to appeal to the fans with something like facepaint or silly one liners.
He carried Marty Jannet who was a nobody. Michaels was one of the most memorable IC champions of all time. As I said his career is a story, and an impressive one at that. You couldn't write a better story outside of Flair. In case you have forgot this was a thread on the greatest "wrestler" ever in professsional wrestling. Hogan could never wrestle with the best of them. His fame came off of the fact that he was an entertainment plug. He spent more time on private jets than he did wrestling in the ring, and that is actually fact that Hogan admitted to on a radio show. Research it for yourself.
Yes, HBK was probably a prick backstage, but who isn't. Wrestling is a cut throat business. Have you forgotten that principle? Hogan did sell out seats, and I'm not arguing that. However his appearances were rare, and in the late 80's early 90's you had to pay to see Hogan on PPV. People will draw to something that is forced down there throats in ads, commercials, T-shirts, foam hands, and religion. Hogan was preaching faith, but somehow breaking the law by using steroids. There were so many things that made up Hulk Hogan, and none of it was what he did in the ring.
Hogan has stated so many times that it was Andre's idea to lose to him at WM, and that he (Andre) made it clear that if he didn't want to do it he wouldn't have to. You all seem to forget how big of a star Andre was before Hogan made his debut in the WWF. Beating Andre was something that no one man had done. He was the man, and because of that Hogan's career took off. He beat the largest athlete in the world at the time in MSG.
Hogan was a great mind in marketing. He knew how to sell himself. It wasn't through wrestling in the ring that Hogan made his fortune. It was his ability to sell himself be it through tv shows, autographs, t-shirts etc.. Hogan is to wrestling what Cena will end up being. Cena is heading in the same direction as Hogan. He is doing "B" type movies, and his selling, selling, selling, and selling everything that has his name on it. I give more props to Cean because he goes on th road, and he does house shows. In my opinion Hogan can't even lace up Cena's high tops.
Cena is more of a wrestler than Hogan will ever be. HBK put everything he had every single night of the week. Had Shawn not retired Rock, Austin, and HHH would have had even more successful careers. Without HBK there would have been no Austin, or Rock. Both stars Austin/Rock knew that they had to change with business, just as HBK did in the early 90's when he broke from The Rockers. It was about change, and change Michaels created. He was the cause of the attitude era not Austin. At a time when Rock, and Austin were just mid card greats HBK was doing HIAC with Taker.
To suggest that HBK had no sort of impact that Hogan did is incredibly ignorant. HBK was part of a show called Monday Night RAW. His charcter was exactly that. Once again he stood out from all those weird, kid like characters that the WWE had palced out there. HBK was RAW, and the male audience hated him, and that is what made him great. You loved to hate him because he was what you weren't. His character was to do exactly what it made you do, hate him. No one liked him prnacing to the ring like a gay man.
You can think I'm a mark all you want. HBK's character is unmatched, and so is his story. Hogan doesn't have a story. He was just like a simple glimpse, and so many of you seem to think that he was this great wrestler? HBK was in those arena selling them out 3-4 times a week for over ten tears, and he is still putting on great matches today depsite his awful turn in character, a born again chrisitian. To this day he is still wrestling people, and keepin them 5 start matches. He has hardy missed a step. He is the Jerry Rice of his profession.
Speaking of promos HBK you say things that weren't supposed to be said. Hogan's promos up unitl the NWO were all lame. Just go and youtube some of his old school shit with Mean Gene. It was all bad acting, and cheesy just like the 80's were suppposed to be. Everything was in over drive because people thought that we were going to have a nuclear war with Russia. The WWE(F) always copies current day issues. Exp: Sgt Slaughters run while were in the war with Iraq.
Yiou never saw HBK running around with the American flag acting like some cheap poster boy for the good ol US of A. HBK took it a step further and whiped his ass with the Canadian flag. That was classic, and something Hogan's character never had the balls to do. Canada hated HBK for the longest time. Is there any part of the world that Hogan can lay that claim to. No one gets more heat in Montreal than HBK does.
He was part of one of the most taboo storylines of all time with the Montreal screwjob. It exposed wrestling for what it was. Tell me the last time Hogan had this kind of impact on the wrestling world. This Montreal screwjob is still specualated as a work, and others say it was real. Things like this didn't happen in Hogan's era. HBK was a part of a new wrestling that he helped influence more than Hogan ever did. Hogan never pioneered a match. That is important if you want to throw his name down for greatest wrestler of all time. What do you think?
Let us not also forget that HBK put tons of stars over. Perhaps Scott Hall raises an eyebrow, or even Kevin Nash. Without those two names being what they were what would the NWO have even been. Hall, and Nash worked plenty of mathces with one another. Nash/HBK rehashed friend v.s friend feud that Hogan/Savage had prior. Hall/HBK were a part of Ladder match history. Something Hogan would never have done. Both Nash/Hall were the stars they were because both men received rubs off of HBK.
When Nash/HBk had their feud it was one of the better feuds seen in a while. The story behind it was great. At one point even Sid got invovled. In fact it was so great that from that point on when ever a smaller guy with a little look to him, has a larger friend we all say it reminds them of HBK/Nash. Example Kendrick/Jackson. They were the first real interesting big guy, little guy pair. You can sit here and talk about HBK's title run being unsuccessful. You can think that all you want, but in comparison to whom, and what he was going up against it wasn't much.
He wrestled big guys who wrestled like they had two left feet, and made the match 5 star. Guys like Vader, Sid, Viscera etc.. Hogan could never do this. HBK was a and is a great wrestler. He was trained by Lou Thesz for chirst sake. He retired, and then came back. He faced a new batch of wrestlers, and still proved that he was still better than most if not all of them in the ring. That includes Eddie, Benoit, Kidman, HHH, Taker, Orton, Cena, Jericho, Angle, Edge, Jeff Hardy, RVD, etc... Hogan could never do this.
Cena didn't get to wrestle Hogan, but he did wrestle HBK and it was one if not the best match(es) he has ever had in his career as a professional. I bet if you asked Cena today who he felt he wrestled the best with, he would say Shawn Michaels. By the way HBK retired Ric Flair. As far as I'm concerned the former greatest of all time up until he retired, or was retired by HBK.
I mean, obviously. Let's take a look, shall we?
Don't worry, I won't get offended easily because you're debating me. I'm open to it.