Trill Co$by
Believes in The Shield!
When we talk about the greatest heel or face turns in the history of wrestling, we often think of some of wrestling's best moments. Moments such as the infamous Red & Yellow leg drop in WCW that ushered in the era of the nWo. Moments such as The Rock and Mankind doing a perfect double turn at Survivor Series: Deadly Games. Moments such as Stone Cold aligning himself with Vince McMahon. Moments such as Stone Cold aligning himself with The Alliance. There are plenty of glorious turns in the history of wrestling, not just the WWE, that we could without a doubt all think of a top 10 list. But I'm going to ruin your day and ask for absolutely the greatest turn in your opinion.
For me, there's only really one turn that can be quoted as the greatest because it helped shape the landscape of wrestling today. I speak of course, about the turn of Hulk Hogan... and I don't mean the one in the 1990s.
Confused? Let me explain.
On the January 7, 1984, episode of Championship Wrestling, Hogan confirmed his face status for the WWF fans by saving Bob Backlund from a three-way assault by The Wild Samoans. And on this day, the evolution of Hulk Hogan would begin. Professional wrestling would see its first big launch into the mainstream as Hogan put the WWE on his back and took the industry from a territorial mesh, and began marching from coast to coast as he formed the phenomenon known as Hulkamania. And the rest, as we know, was history.
Now I don't think I need to explain why this was such a great turn, considering the billions WWE has made since then. But I'm going to anyway. You see, Vince McMahon doing what he did in the 80s was exactly what pro-wrestling needed. It was stuck in a rotating door syndrome of being territorial everywhere. And there were so many territories to follow that the casual fan didn't know who was what champion. You had the WWWF, the NWA, and even the AWA. And each of those main three had minor regions that really just made it annoying to watch. Sure, it was great if you didn't care for storylines... but this isn't great when you're wanting to know who the real world champion is. And back then, knowing who the real world champion was was a huge factor in life.
So wrestling needed to become one entity. It needed its grandest champion, one that the entire nation could know about and watch on television every single airing. It needed a face that it could point non-watchers to and say, "This is the hero I follow". And Hulk Hogan, being the giant of a man that he was, was the person that the wrestling world needed as that poster boy. Now some would say that Ric Flair could've been that guy, others say Vince had who he needed with Bruno Sammartino and/or Bob Backlund, but really he didn't. He had great talented in-ring workers, no doubt about it, but he didn't have a megastar that could lore you in. That wasn't until Hogan came along.
But there was a problem. Hogan was a heel. He had wrestled in the WWF as a heel, people knew he was one and they needed him to be face. So they turn him face, and the rest was history. Imagine what wrestling would've been had Hogan not turned face that night. Imagine how life would be. It would be a whole different life that, personally, I'm not willing to accept.
So there you have it. My pick as the single greatest turn in wrestling history. What's yours? Do you agree with mine?
For me, there's only really one turn that can be quoted as the greatest because it helped shape the landscape of wrestling today. I speak of course, about the turn of Hulk Hogan... and I don't mean the one in the 1990s.
Confused? Let me explain.
On the January 7, 1984, episode of Championship Wrestling, Hogan confirmed his face status for the WWF fans by saving Bob Backlund from a three-way assault by The Wild Samoans. And on this day, the evolution of Hulk Hogan would begin. Professional wrestling would see its first big launch into the mainstream as Hogan put the WWE on his back and took the industry from a territorial mesh, and began marching from coast to coast as he formed the phenomenon known as Hulkamania. And the rest, as we know, was history.
Now I don't think I need to explain why this was such a great turn, considering the billions WWE has made since then. But I'm going to anyway. You see, Vince McMahon doing what he did in the 80s was exactly what pro-wrestling needed. It was stuck in a rotating door syndrome of being territorial everywhere. And there were so many territories to follow that the casual fan didn't know who was what champion. You had the WWWF, the NWA, and even the AWA. And each of those main three had minor regions that really just made it annoying to watch. Sure, it was great if you didn't care for storylines... but this isn't great when you're wanting to know who the real world champion is. And back then, knowing who the real world champion was was a huge factor in life.
So wrestling needed to become one entity. It needed its grandest champion, one that the entire nation could know about and watch on television every single airing. It needed a face that it could point non-watchers to and say, "This is the hero I follow". And Hulk Hogan, being the giant of a man that he was, was the person that the wrestling world needed as that poster boy. Now some would say that Ric Flair could've been that guy, others say Vince had who he needed with Bruno Sammartino and/or Bob Backlund, but really he didn't. He had great talented in-ring workers, no doubt about it, but he didn't have a megastar that could lore you in. That wasn't until Hogan came along.
But there was a problem. Hogan was a heel. He had wrestled in the WWF as a heel, people knew he was one and they needed him to be face. So they turn him face, and the rest was history. Imagine what wrestling would've been had Hogan not turned face that night. Imagine how life would be. It would be a whole different life that, personally, I'm not willing to accept.
So there you have it. My pick as the single greatest turn in wrestling history. What's yours? Do you agree with mine?
