Mr. America

[Mitch Henessey]

Back in 2003, Hulk Hogan took on a new persona know as Mr. America. Hogan wore a mask, and instead of his traditonal red and yellow or black and silver tights, he wore red, white, and blue. He still used the Real American entrance theme, and all the same moves, gestures, and phrases. Mr. America made his debut on Piper's Pit after weeks of promos, and vingettes. Vince gave America a lie detector test to prove he was Hogan, but America passed it. Mr. America was created because after he defeated Vince at WM 19, Hogan was forced to sit out the rest of his contract in the stroryline due to Vince's obsession to kill Hulkamania. His last appearance was on Smackdown! where he teamed with Brock Lesnar and Kurt Angle in a six man tag match, where his team lost to Big Show, Charlie Haas, and Shelton Benjamin. Mr. America also did a mentorship type thing with Zach Gowen for a while. A week after the six man tag match Hogan quit WWE because it was reported he was fustrated with the creative team. And later on, Vince terminated Hogan's contract. I think the Mr. America gimmick was something refreshing for Hogan fans. Although he was riding on a ton of momentum with the fans at the time, it was cool to see Hogan do something different, even if it was just a variation of the red and yellow Hulk Hogan. What are your thoughts on Mr. America? Do you think Hogan should've stayed with the red and yellow, and never have done Mr. America?

 

[DiscipleofWrestling]

To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of the whole Mr. America gimmick. It was great to see Hogan on TV, which is more often a positive than a negative. But I think it was too gimmicky.... if that makes any sense in this sort of discussion. If WWE fans were going to have a hard time accepting Hollywood Hogan, why would they accept Hogan with a mask on? Hell, Hogan could have came back as Thunderlips from Rocky III, and I think it would have been a little more successful than Mr. America in the long run.

The Zach Gowen thing was interesting because Ho... I mean, MR. AMERICA.... was supporting a younger talent in his quest to become a WWE superstar. But it could have been just as easily accomplished with Hulk Hogan being the person behind Gowen... even though he was......

Look, this whole thing was ridiculous, ok? I'm having a hard time keeping a straight face typing this. I thought the character should have been a one week "Haha, Hogan's back. Gotcha Vince" thing. But I do have to admit: the Piper's Pit where Mr. America debuted was hilarious. "I AM NOT HULK HOGAN, BROTHER!" In the end, it should have been the red and yellow Hogan. I don't think it helped the company having Hogan in a mask.

 

[ccotreau1]

the way i look at Mr America is that you had Undertaker doing the whole American Badass gimmick, something totally different from his normal gothic gimmick, and was successful with it, so why not have someone, who in the early 90s, was involved in a pro-American storyline with Sgt Slaughter, do something else pro-American...granted it didn't work out as well as they planned, I thought it was a nice change of pace for Hulk Hogan

 

[gregfj2]

Now looking back, I think Mr. America was a horrible idea because his run just faded to nothing instead of the spectacular sendoff given to Flair. Concerning his issues with creative: I think Hogan's character and legacy were great, but when he tries to put himself over then I always lose interest. Physically he's awesome to watch in a fight, but when the big boys like he & Nash get on the mic then I always head for the toilet. However my views won't make the PWI editorials anytime soon.

 

[Hulkster4Life]

I think it sucked.. Hulkamania gimmick is the best gimmick there is, the best gimmick there was, and the best gimmick there ever will be!...... AND YOU KNOW IT!!

 

[samboisdead]

I think the dumbass who kept Hogan in a mask should have been fired and banned from wrestling for life. Come on guys Hogan is the most recognizable face and I dont me the kayfabe word I mean his looks in wrestling and honestly he is one of the most recognized celebritys in the world. I just wonder how many casual fans tuned in saw the guy in the mask and didnt realize it was Hogan. They probably turned the channel where they would have watched if they new who it was. This should have been a one night thing. In the 80s Dusty Rhodes lost a loser leaves match and ran as the Midnight Rider, Boogie Woogie Man Jimmy Valiant also had success with this angle as Charlie Brown. Hogan however is just to big of a star to cover his face. I have seen almost every big name star from 1983 until 2008 live. Hogan is one of the very few I never got to see. I live in the deep south and as story goes he came to Bristol TN at the height of Hulkamania and was booed out of the building. I was told he vowed to never work their again and he never came close enough for me to get to see him. If I had been lucky enough to get to attend his match live when he was doing the Mr America gimmick I would have been so pissed because in my mind i wouldnt have seen Hogans face. Weird I no but yeah I bet their are alot more people like me.

 

[80s Dude]

I personally think the Mr. America thing could have been a lot better if it was an unknown personality, or someone else who was known for being known as "The face of America" (ie Sgt. Slaughter, Jim Dugan etc.). But I have to admit, it was refreshing seeing him with a new gimmick, just like it was refreshing to see him turn heel after so many years as the "greatest face of all time".

Whatever the case, Hogan = money, no matter what he decides to do with his career.

 

[KingNick]

I actually thought the whole Mr. America concept was pretty clever, but I think Hogan's return and tenure in that period could have been so so much better.

Hogan, Nash, and Hall all came in right after the Invasion angle was finished. I think that angle didn't do so well partly because when fans thought of WWF(E) vs. WCW, I think they thought Austin vs. Hogan, Rock vs. Hall, Undertaker vs. Nash, things like that. The Invasion angle had mostly WCW guys that didn't have a chance to be in the spotlight in the original company (with the exception of Booker T of course and a few others).

My point is, why didn't they just wait longer to do the Invasion Angle with the original NWO and Flair who came in right after also? I just feel like if they waited for all those guys the Invasion angle would have been much better and the company would be doing much better today.

Having said that, nothing can change Hogan returning w/ the NWO later. It started off good, but I never got the feel of fear in the WWF that was in WCW when the NWO was around. They took Hogan out almost immediately and the NWO angle just didn't work after that.

When they took Hogan out, they did bring him back to red and yellow, but they had the Jimmy Hendrix music for his entrance for some reason, and that kind of killed it for me too. Why not go all away and go back to the "Real American" theme? They would eventually do this when Hogan came back again several years later and I think it was b/c they realized "Voo doo Child" didn't work.

So that's my 2 cents on it. I think Hogan should have come back earlier for one thing and for another I think they should have gone all the way with his face turn. As far as the Mr. America gimmick/storyline is concerned, I actually thought it was pretty clever and funny.

 

[JBK2008]

Mr. America was pretty cool to see at first but yes it was way too gimmicky. It was still nice to just see Hogan on TV on a weekly basis. The fans ate it up and him mentoring Zack Gowen was pretty sweet too.

 

[LynchCats]

I really enjoyed the Mr. America gimmick. Just seeing the Hulkster defying Vince in any way possible was fun to watch, and when he pulled the mask off behind Vince's back was absolutely clever. It was different, and it didn't ruin Hogan's legacy IMO.

 

[Nature Boy]

^ I think a lot of you are missing the point with Mr America.

It was a comedy gimmick, and nothing more.

The whole senario was that Vince knew it was Hogan under the mask, but couldn't prove it was Hogan.

It was great to see McMahon go out of his mind with rage trying to prove it was Hogan and both men displayed great comic timing.

Yes it was silly, and I think Dusty Rhodes did better with the Midnight Rider angle, yet at the same time it was great fun to watch, and I really enjoyed the angle.

 

[King Patrick Star]

When I saw Mr. America, I immediately thought it could have been something good. I was hoping Angle would wear a mask as well and they could have teamed up for a bit. That would have been some entertaining comedy for the WWE. Point is, I liked the character and the idea, but I didn’t like what they actually did with it on TV.

 

[666_The_Game_666]

It was stupid hi lets give Hulk Hogan a mask and we all new it was him it wasnt realy hard to tell who it was. He used the same damn moves and entrance as hulk but calls them maniacs insted of the classic Hulkamnaics. A very bad part of 2003 and Hulk Hogan all together

 

[SAVE_YOURSELVES_111]

Well of course we all knew it was Hogan, that was the whole damn point! Man, this is just one of those angles, that "oh hey, lets all hate it because all the other smarks do". Gimmie a break people! The only way Vince could prove it was Hogan, is unmasking him! Look, we all knew, Vince knew it, but that's what made it so fun! It was the fact that Vince knew it, that he couldn't do anything about it, unless the mask was off!

He fired (or sent home) Hulk Hogan! Not Mr. America!

 

[The Australian Rage]

To be honest, I didn't see too much of Mr America because where I was we didn't get Smackdown at the time.

So after an extensive YouTube search, I managed to catch SOME Mr America moments.


I applaud the idea of an alter ego of sorts for Hulk Hogan, but keeping it as an extensive character is an idea that I kinda didn't like for the following reasons

-Like a majority of masked superstars in WWE, and in the old WCW, ECW, etc, once the gimmick of a man behind the mask grew stale, then Vince and his higher-ups would make the decision to unmask him. Which leads me to my next reason

-Mr America was Hulk Hogan. I knew it, you knew it, many people knew it. The first time he walked down the ramp as Mr America, he was already rediculously WAY over with the crowd, as his mannerisms were the complete same as Hulk. No brainer right? If they kept the mask on him any longer I dare say the crowd potentially woulda started chanting Hogan instead of America

Don't get me wrong, I quite enjoyed the gimmick, but not if it meant keeping it as a new, constant character.

 

[MrCharisma]

If you have Hulk Hogan on your roster they should have played something else off him, maybe managing a new star or creating new storylines, or just continuing main eventing. Although it was comedic I don't really think it helped or deterred Hulk in his career.