What If? Hogan Joined NWA/JCP

[Mr. Fister]

I saw this in another thread that if Hogan would of joined JCP in 1987 it would of been great for Jim Crockett. So I decided to make a thread discussing this. Lets pretend that Hogan joined JCP in 1987. I'm sure we all know JCP would of made alot of money as Hogan was that hugh in Pro Wrestling. Plus you would of had a better storyline between Hogan and Flair, with the Horsemen involved, Hogan/Sting, ect,ect.. So just like Flair left WCW and went to WWF in 1991, what if Hogan left WWF and went to JCP in the late 80s. Again lets pretend with this whole theory. Lets say Hogan gets into a backstage beef with VKM because VKM would want Hogan to put other wrestlers over to build for the future. Hogan would not like that idea and it would get so bad Hogan would leave WWF and go to JCP. How do you think JCP would of been with Hogan in their company circa 1987?

 

[Kane666]

As much as i don't agree with everything VKM does i admit that he knows how to build stars.I wonder if Jim Crocket would've known how to build Hulk properly.Vern Gagne certainly didn't know the star he had in Hogan and lost him.Power guys did not get pushed too often in back in the early 80's.Hogan in the exception because Vince saw something in him.So much so that when Hogan returned to the WWF he was pratically handed the world title.No way that would've happened in the NWA.Guys like Flair,Anderson,Windam,and other technical wrestlers got the pushes in JCP.

 

[whoopin' ass]

let's be totally honest here - Hogan was never the best wrestler. while most companies wanted good wrestlers to be their champs, vince saw the entertainment side of wrestling and liked the bigger guys and knew that he could make Hogan a champ and get people behind him despite him being an okay wrestler at best. could he have been a champ in the NWA? maybe but never with the push that Vince gave him. he might have been a 1 time champ or something like that. the weird part is that if he had gone there for a while, who is to say he would have gone to the wwe later and become as popular as he was? timing is everything in wrestling and even a delay of 2 or 3 years could have meant Hulkamania never happened.

 

[EastCoastFan]

I don't think Hogan would have been a good fit for what Crockett was doing in the 80s. However, if he had gone in 1987, we would have gotten Hogan vs. Flair with both men in their primes.

 

[FlairFan2003]

By 1987 It was too late - Hogan was too established in WWE and wouldn't have left. JCP tried to get Hogan in the early 80's, especially for the first Starrcade card, they saw the potential star power in him, as did AWA's Verne Gagne, but I doubt he would have flourished the same way in JCP. Dusty Rhodes had a lot of behind the scenes clout and no fan favorite could be bigger than Big Dust, Hogan's best bet if he went to JCP in the early 80's would have been to be a heel.

However, in 1987 we would have gotten Hogan-Flair when both were in their primes. The match was still huge in the mid 90's, even after Vince dropped the ball and never put them one on one on PPV.

 

[Marzyk]

Vince McMahon had a vision. He was thinking miles ahead of what was going on at any given moment. Yes, Hogan was the star but Vince's vision is what made the star what he was, as evident by the fact that WWF wasn't Hogan's first dance. I do not think that Crocket had the foresight to bring Hogan or wrestling, for that matter, where Vince brought it. I actually don't think that anyone else on earth did. Also, why would Hogan have ever left a place that made him an icon (and not just a wrestling icon) of the 80's to go to a company that never had a clue what Vince would do next. A company that unknowingly paid for the fist Wrestlemania, thinking they were hurting Vince.

Actually that's what The Rock said when he was asked that same question about WCW. He said "Why would I leave a company that made me a household name for a company that cant beat a dog show." He was referring to the time Raw was off the air because USA was contracted to show the Westminster Dog Show. Well, that week the even though Nitro had the dance floor all to themselves, the dog show got higher ratings... lol

 

[GameOver]

By 1987 It was too late - Hogan was too established in WWE and wouldn't have left. JCP tried to get Hogan in the early 80's, especially for the first Starrcade card, they saw the potential star power in him, as did AWA's Verne Gagne, but I doubt he would have flourished the same way in JCP. Dusty Rhodes had a lot of behind the scenes clout and no fan favorite could be bigger than Big Dust, Hogan's best bet if he went to JCP in the early 80's would have been to be a heel.

However, in 1987 we would have gotten Hogan-Flair when both were in their primes. The match was still huge in the mid 90's, even after Vince dropped the ball and never put them one on one on PPV.

Hogan did leave WWF b4 Hulkamania hit it big. he was in WWF in 1979 - 1980 but left because VKM didn't want him to be involved in Rocky III during 1980 he was still under contract with WWF and wrestled for NJP aswell eventually leaving WWF in 1981 and heading to AWA for 2 yrs where funny enough he was to be there champion twice but declined the victories because he was unwilling to give up his life as a bachelor just for the world title of the AWA (however he did win twice but it was never set in the history books at the time) Gagne then tried to put a hit on him sorta when he realised Hogan was going back to WWF in 1983 he asked Iron Sheik to break Hogan's leg but it never happened.

The rest is history.

So yeah there you have it they did see the big thing in and had him as a 2 time champ b4 Hulkamania was born but as the saying goes, money talks and shit walks.