THE REST OF WRESTLING HISTORY: Hogan goes to WCW

[It's...Baylariat!]

To me, this is a Top 5 moment in pro wrestling history. The top draw of all time. The main man who put pro wrestling into popular culture. The Immortal Hulk Hogan left the World Wrestling Federation. Many rumors abound as to why he ultimately left the federation. One has Vince being tired of Hulk's character and simply wanting to move on by having him drop the title to Yokozuna and in essence 'killing' Hulkamania. Other rumors include Vince wanting him gone due to the Steroid scandal involving Vince and the World Wrestling Federation, and a even unlikelier story had Vince being upset for calling the WWF Title a 'trinket' in Japan when describing the difference in American and Japanese wrestling. But Hogan toured Japan after leaving the Federation, so that rumor's false.

When Hogan left, he didn't really have any gumption to go back into the squared circle. He was content with making bad movies, bad TV shows, and trying to be a family man to a young Brooke and Nick and his wife Linda. That did not last long. Hogan had the bug to wrestle and he did. He didn't sign with the WCW right away. He actually had a brief run in New Japan Pro Wrestling feuding briefly with the Great Muta. His stint didn't last too long as soon after, Ted Turner called.

Now, I'm going to go into what the WCW was like before the hiring of Hulk Hogan. It was a hot mess. The only reason the WCW didn't fold back then was due to the WWE/F being just as bad during this time. I'll go on record and say that 1993 may qualify as one of the worst years in pro wrestling history. 1994 would prove to be one of the most historic in history. That was the year that Hulk Hogan was officially offered a major contract with World Championship Wrestling. And in doing this, it also created relationships with WCW and Universal Studios and Disney World. WCW was able to film high quality wrestling programs thanks to being able to use Universal Studios. The WWF was coming out with Monday Night Raw, and Raw at this time wasn't very good. It was innovative, but not as good of quality as the WCW's programming in Atlanta and Orlando.

The chain of events of this hiring are great. In essence, this turned out to be a bad long term move for WCW. Hogan was still relevant in WCW, but he was also a man who couldn't let go of his glory, which cost many great wrestlers their pushes, and nearly cost a legend his career. That legend was Ric Flair. Flair was second fiddle to Hogan and Bischoff made no bones about it. Despite Flair practically keeping the WCW afloat during this time, when Hogan came in, WCW earned instant buyrates that were higher because of his name. Flair was a huge REGIONAL draw, but worldwide, Hogan was the man.

A year after Hogan's hiring, the WCW created a Monday show to compete head to head with the WWE/F called Monday Nitro. This is where the Monday Night Wars began.

Many say that Hogan's hiring was a big coo for the WCW. It was... for the most part. Mind you, the writing in WCW was still way behind in the times with the Dungeon of Doom, The Butcher (or Brutus Beefcake/Booty Man), and Vader. It was 80's programming and booking in the mid 90's. Eventually, Hogan's numbers dipped and even with him having creative control, it didn't really benefit the WCW as much as anticipated. The quality of programming was better, but the product and booking were awful.

Which is where Eric Bischoff came in. He knew he had to change it up in order to compete with the WWF. He did just that. He created Nitro and instantly went for Vince's throat by calling out his pre-recorded match results and bashing WWF programming by calling the WCW "Where the Big Boys Play." NOTICE THE ADJECTIVE! God Nash is stupid. It's a VERB! PLAY IS A VERB! Anyway, with Hogan's hire, this meant more revenue for the WCW to do the things it was able to do in the future. But Hogan, to me, was a contributor to the quality and eventual downfall of the company. Hogan wasn't about WCW, he was about Hulk Hogan. Hogan jumped off a sinking ship in WCW and waited until the WCW was buried before making his glorious return in 2002 as opposed to playing a role in defending WCW in storyline purposes. Hogan was still wrestling at Wrestlemania and WCW is now extinct. Hogan is Hogan. He only does things to benefit him, which is good if you're only out for yourself and not trying to help the business that helped you. Hogan was a guy who didn't care what was happening around him as long as he had control over HIS character.

And now you know the REST OF WRESTLING HISTORY!

 

[PEP3]

Hogan entering WCW even trumped Ric Flair's first appearance on WWF programming, where he showed up carrying the WCW World Heavyweight title, billing himself as the "Real World Heavyweight Champion." Both were landmark events, because for the decade previous, each had been the face of their respective organizations (Flair = NWA/WCW; Hogan = WWF), but something about Hogan's debut in WCW seemed even more remarkable. I think it was because for years, WCW had played second-fiddle to WWF in the eyes of most, and Hogan's appearance served to change that perspective very quickly.

That was one of the last truly EXCITING events in wrestling -- and led to one of the biggest, most eventful and downright breath-taking periods I've known in more than 30 years of loving pro wrestling.

 

[chrisjeric0]

I think bigger than Hogan arriving in WCW was when he turned heel and became an announced that he was a member of the NWO, even though he couldn't even remember the name of the faction and called it the "New World Organization Brother"

 

[Upgrayedd]

Hogan didn't leave WCW in 2000 on his own. AOL/Time Warner was looking for a way out of his contract and didn't want to bring him back to TV. Top that off with the whole Vince Russo situation and Hogan couldn't come back to WCW. So, no, he didn't leave WCW and wait until the WWF called.

 

[It's...Baylariat!]

Hogan didn't leave WCW in 2000 on his own. AOL/Time Warner was looking for a way out of his contract and didn't want to bring him back to TV. Top that off with the whole Vince Russo situation and Hogan couldn't come back to WCW. So, no, he didn't leave WCW and wait until the WWF called.

Hogan had guaranteed money. He didn't have to wrestle until his contract expired, which it did in 2002 and that's when he returned to the WWE. Vince Russo wanted nothing to do with Hogan and the Hulkster was basically told to stay home until his contract expired. So in essence, Hogan DID leave WCW, but not on his terms. And he waited until his contract expired to return to the WWE.

 

[PEP3]

To be honest, in watching Hogan join NwO over again recently on YouTube, he gaffed the whole speech so badly that it was almost comical in retrospect. However, because he had been Hulk Hogan -- the red & yellow, true-blue, All American -- for so long, just the fact that he had turned against the fans gave it a surreal feeling. To be honest, there may never be another performer able to make a heel turn mean so incredibly much in the HISTORY of pro wrestling. The only way to make it compare, John Cena would have to remain his current character for the next TEN YEARS . . . and then turn. No, with half the fans booing him each week on Raw, even that won't work out to have the same impact. Hogan's heel turn was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

 

[Hulkamaniac]

Hogan wasn't about WCW, he was about Hulk Hogan. Hogan jumped off a sinking ship in WCW and waited until the WCW was buried before making his glorious return in 2002 as opposed to playing a role in defending WCW in storyline purposes. Hogan was still wrestling at Wrestlemania and WCW is now extinct. Hogan is Hogan. He only does things to benefit him, which is good if you're only out for yourself and not trying to help the business that helped you. Hogan was a guy who didn't care what was happening around him as long as he had control over HIS character.

And now you know the REST OF WRESTLING HISTORY!

I'm going to take issue here, not necessarily with your words, but with the tone. You make this seem like a negative. Sorry, but the way that the business has been set up, where every wrestler is an independent contractor, nobody is safe, and everyone is selling their own product, which is them, this was exactly the right thing to do. You have to sell yourself, and keep your spot, even at the expense of others. This is how the business has always been set up. Nobody was ever better at that then Hogan. But the thing is, it's not like he did this and made others look terrible. While not a great ring technician, the man could work a crowd, and he made his opponents look like powerhouses. He sold their moves, and generally made them look great.

As to the part about it being a "long-term" bad move for WCW, couldn't disagree more. WIthout Hogan, WCW eventually dies a small, meaningless death that nobody really notices. THey would never, EVER have gotten to the heights they got without Hogan. He gave them name value and relevance on a national playing field. Further, it wasn't Hogan's fault WCW failed. Yeah, he protected his character (not a bad thing, as pointed out), but the money was almost always better when he was on top, anyways. But even then, WCW only rose to those heights with the help of Hogan, and that's why they had so far to fall.