Who could have Hulk Hogan faced at WM 6 if he didn't face Ultimate Warrior?

[oogieboogie]

Hello,

Ok after reading PlayTheGame's topic 'Would Hulk Hogan Have Been As Big Without The "Self-Destruction" Of Ultimate Warrior?' for some reason it got me thinking. So many people mentioned HH v UW at WM 6. So i wanna know if HH v UW did NOT happen who could Hogan have faced at WM 6? Let's say that Vince didn't think UW was quite ready for the main event and he was saving that for WM 7.

I basically got into wrestling around Royal Rumble 91 when UW lost the title. I have seen videos of matches and ppvs prior to that. There are 2 names around that time i could think of, one is Mr Perfect. As he did have a feud with Hogan, but i believe it was mainly house shows and SNME. The other would be Rick Rude. I don't ever remember Hogan having a fued with him.

So could Hogan have faced anyone else and still made WM 6 to be as big as it was? I am sure it would have sold out, but most likely not have had the same massive atmosphere.

I am sure they must have had a backup plan in case UW got injured and they would have used someone else.

 

[The Brain]

I remember reading somewhere that Vince was originally thinking about dragging out the No Holds Barred angle to WM6 and having Hogan vs. Zeus one on one. I don’t know that I buy that rumor considering Zeus had basically zero wrestling ability and needed Savage or Dibiase as a tag partner to make up for that.

Mr. Perfect may have been a reasonable choice. As you mentioned he did have a feud with Hogan at the end of 1989 and built up some pretty good credibility with his perfect record for a year and a half. That match however, would not have been anywhere near as big in terms of hype, anticipation, and significance. Not even close to being close.

What probably would have happened is Hogan’s feud with Earthquake would have been moved up. Hogan always liked going against bigger guys and he feuded with Quake after mania anyway. Safe to say that feud would have simply taken place a few months earlier than it did.

Interesting question but Warrior really was the obvious choice. There wasn’t anyone else on the roster that could have generated as much excitement as an opponent for Hogan than Warrior did. I would say Hogan vs. Warrior is probably in the top three for best hyped and most anticipated mania main events.

 

[thebarber]

easy, Curt Hennig. Hogan had been feuding with him and The Genius leading up to The Royal Rumble. Though for this match to have really worked, Hennig would have had to be the champion, Hogan going into Mania 6 with the belt would have been a foregone conclusion what the result was. In saying that though, Hennig didnt commence his double IC Title run April 1990- August 1991(with a 3 month break when he dropped the belt to Kerry Von Ericj).
Looking at the talent roster back then and how feuds were, maybe a Dusty Rhodes heel turn. I know WWE didnt acknowledge guys previosu history back then, but the historians could have gone nuts over Hulk Hogan vs Dusty Rhodes.

 

[Arsenal]

I think any heel opponent for Hulk Hogan at WM VI would need to be the champion, because no one would believe Hogan wouldn't retain if he came in as the champ (with the possible exception of Macho Man Randy Savage since he was a former champion). I think the best move would have been to have Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase come in as the champion and defend against Hulk Hogan. Those two had a long rivalry since before WM IV when DiBiase tried to buy the WWF Title from Hogan, then bought Andre the Giant to get the job done for him when Hogan turned him down, leading to the infamous twin referees screwjob on the Main Event in Feb. 1988 where they screwed Hogan out of the title and Andre handed it over to DiBiase. Another screwjob like that, maybe with Zeus winning the title due to interference by DiBiase and Virgil at Royal Rumble 1990 or around that time, then DiBiase learns from his mistake w/Andre, and has Zeus lay down for him in a title match. They be able to book an awesome feud where DiBiase taunts Hogan about screwing him out of the title twice, and people would pay a $hitload to see Hogan beat DiBiase to win his rightful title back.

 

[Pedigree1]

If no jerk off warrior to face with then i think the choice would be mr perfect!! Man that would have been a main event and i would have loved if it happened for perfect to pin hogan to win the title!! Hell mr perfect deserved a reign what better way to put the icing on the cake than for hogan to drop the title to curt hennig!! Earthquake as an opponent was good for Summerslam but i dont think the majority of the people would have bought it for WM! Just my two cents

 

[justin71]

Mike Tyson if he did not lose to Buster Douglas that would have been a train wreck of a match, but it would have that "Once in a lifetime" vibe to it and would have been the largest buy rates in history...

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

I think if it wasn't Warrior it would've been Ted Dibiasie. From what I've read and seen Vince had started his search for the next face for the company and building for the future. That being said, I don't think DiBiasie fits that bill, but this would've just been Hogan Vs Another Top Heel with Hogan overcoming the odds.


Also I have read that Zeus rumors which leaves me feeling weird. Also I shudder at the realization that Brutus Beefcake would've somehow ME'd a Mania if Vince had none in particular.

 

[dd23beatlesfan1]

I really like Aresenal's idea for the Million Dollar Man screwing Hogan out of the title and winning this time. Mainly because it would've been a very intriguing storyline, would've made sense, would've built massive heat for the Million Dollar Man, would've made the match highly anticipated, and it would've given Ted Dibiase his run with the title that he should've gotten.

I think they could've went with that option, although Dibiase's heat had lessened a bit at that point, though with a storyline like this he would've been right back at the forefront.

The good news as this time was that if they had delayed a Warrior/Hogan match, they certainly didn't have a shortage of heels to go up against Hogan. As has been alluded to he was in a feud with Mr. Perfect at this point, though I think it would've been too soon to have a Hennig/Hogan match at Wrestlemania. Mr. Perfect's I-C title run is what made him a legend, so a Perfect/Hogan match, timeline was would've been better around Wrestlemania VII or Wrestlemania VIII, as at this point, Perfect was just a mid-card guy without any championship experience. It was fine to have a test run on house shows and a brief matchup at the Royal Rumble and SNME. But a headlining Wrestlemania match, I don't think Hennig was quite ready yet for this spot. In another year or two, definitely.

Rick Rude would've been a more logical choice as he was already an I-C champion, massively over as a heel. He could've been an option, but not better than Dibiase.

Earthquake at this point was still fairly new in the company. Wasn't the 1989 Survivor Series his first high profile match in the company? While Hogan typically took on big, monster villains, they didn't ever just join the company and jump right into feuding with Hogan (except Zeus). They usually came in dominated the roster, then went after Hogan. I think it would've worked much better they way they did it. Build Earthquake up throughout 1990, and then have him go after Hogan. Of course they could've done it like how the Brain described, but I don't think it would've been the best option. Earthquake was new and needed time to be built up I feel.

So other than Dibiase, the other best option was a re-match from Wrestlemania V against Macho Man (or King). Personally I think this is the route they would've went with. And like someone else alluded to, Savage was probably the only heel believable enough to the fans to take the title from Hogan, so they probably would've had Savage challenge for the title this time around. As for how the storyline would've went? I don't know, it's Hogan and Savage, do you really need a storyline? lol. I'm sure they would've thought of something and it would've been great.

So in short, I'd say the two best and most likely options would've been the Million Dollar Man or a rematch with the Macho Man/King.

 

[czar76]

Rude would have been the best choice. The match itself would have been interesting. Neither had a large range but could do what they did flawlessly. Many rumors pointed to Rude getting the belt but it never came to be.
The idea at M6 was to set up the next "big thing" so Hogan could fade out but it didn't work. Not sure it would have worked with Rude either.
Perfect would have worked later on but it was way to soon at M6. Next logical choice was Savage but it had been done the year before and didn't get the results they wanted.

 

[justin71]

Imagine if Jake Roberts cut a CM Punk'esq promo on Hogan there you go a ppv that would survive the test of time and Jake Roberts gets remembered forever...

 

[dtroppe]

This is an interesting topic but quite irrelevant. Hogan could have faced anyone on the roster and had good matches, but there was no one on the roster that would have come close to creating the buzz of Hogan v Warrior. That match is one of the most anticipated matches in WM history. It helped solidify the awesomness that is WM and is one of the ligitamate reasons why WM is such a massive event. I love Perfect and Rude, but they werent at the level of Hogan and Warrior-in terms of being over. Million dollar man was a mid-carder at best, and Hogan v Macho man had already been done.

And to the jack-ass that said imagine if Jake Roberts did a CM-Punk style promo it would have been epic, lets be realistic, Jake was one of the best promo men in the biz and Punk's promo was out of the ordinary but lets face it, other than selling a few shirts - it didnt draw. Punk doesnt draw. Warrior and Hogan were draws.

 

[god-soldier]

I like everyone's picks of Mr. Perfect, Dibasie, and Jake Roberts. If the WWF was going to have Hogan face another face at WM VI my pick would be the American Dream Dusty Rhodes!!!! Why Rhodes let see he was the second biggest face in wrestling in the mid and late 80's and was the biggest face in the early 80's right before the end of 83. Hogan vs Rhodes for the championship at WM VI would have drawn over 80,000 fans in the skydome might have been more if Hogan vs Warrior drew 68,000 fans and Warrior was only in the WWF for 3 years the most at the time imagine every wrestling fan finding out Hogan vs Rhodes at WM would have drawn with Rhodes being a huge name way before Hogan or Warrior. Now the only way this could have worked was Dusty Rhodes common man gimmick would not lose a match till WrestleMania. So he would have beaten Big Boss Man @ SummerSlam, been the sole survivor of his team at Survivor Series and had to be one of the last four men in the Royal Rumble and have Hogan accidently eliminate him to or eliminate him to win. Then Rhodes and Hogan could have the same build up as Warrior or a real friendship heading into the match and have Rhodes turn on Hogan either to win the championship or after he lost. Then you have a heel Rhodes vs Hogan at SummerSlam to settle their feud in the cage match. I think this program has a lot of potential to be something real big before and after Mania.

 

[justin71]

If Jake went from being to being a tweener say knowing back then what we know now he could have made a Austin/Punk'esq character work and further more right behind Hogan/Warrior/Savage/Piper Jake Roberts was a top draw in his face run and just because at that time because you did not have a title or not did not determine if you were drawing. Of all the WWE talent in '89 Jake could have pulled it off(honorable mention to Dr. D David Shultz but were talking '84) I have to wonder how that would have played out because society as a whole was changing back then too just like the Attitude Era...

 

[THTRobtaylor]

There is no question who should have gotten that spot. Rick Rude.

Rude at the time was the best natural heel WWE had, he had defeated Warrior and carried him to the best feud of UW's career. The ingredients were there for Rude to make the step up in stature had Hogan allowed it.

Rude had excellent selling and psychology, he could fight bigger men and make it look like he was a serious threat in a better way than Perfect and even some bigger guys could. In Bobby Heenan he had a manager who added the extra spice to the feud, that he had come up short against Hogan with Andre and was looking for revenge. Finally you had Rude's own showmanship, he had proven in his previous fueds that concepts like the customised intros and tights were worth their weight in gold. Rude was the most direct mirror image for Hogan, indeed he was the heel that Hogan was when he started, only better. The promos about selling out to fat out of shape Hulkamaniacs and while Hogan was hugging their babies their moms all wanted him... It could have really flown...

Sure Vince wanted a replacement for Hogan but it could have waited till the following year and someone beating Rude... The proof in the pudding was that a few months later, it was a green Earthquake fighting Hogan and Rude was wrestling his last PPV match, burned by the politics of Hogan and Warrior... What did he do? Walked straight into WCW to the push he should have gotten, a whole year as US champ and their top heel of the day... To this day I believe Rude's defection to Nitro was motivated by his disrespectful treatment by Vince in 1990, not any screwjob.

Had they not gone that route and were adamant on face vs face, then the only guy who could have realistically done the feud was Roddy Piper... Gone the whole "you never fought me for the title" schtick.

 

[Headman]

Bad News Brown claimed that he was supposed to be in the main event of wrestlemania 6, but everyone sort of laughs this off.

Other possibilities before the Warrior/Hogan match was announced was that Zeus would face Hogan 1 on 1, but Vince decided to kill the angle in December. Probably around the same time he decided on the Hogan / Warrior match. Ather possibilities included speeding up Earthquake's push but I don't think they wanted to kill him off as a major threat that quick. Other possibilities included Mr Perfect who did have a mini feud with Hogan before and after the Royal Rumble. Hogan could have easily been the one to avenge Beefcake for the attack at the rumble, but they didn't go with that either and ended the feud on free tv. And the last and hardest for me to image would have been Dusty Rhodes. Dusty vs Hogan would have been an NWA fan's wet dream come true, but it's obvious how Vince saw Dusty. Dusty was already a star, but he wasn't once of Vince's stars.

 

[Midnite Express 2009]

@The Barber, are you crazy in thinking a Hulk Hogan/Dusty Rhodes match would have made the "historians" go nuts? Yeah, nuts with why in the world are they wrestling at WrestleMania. My 1st choice was Ted DiBiase. He had a mini feud with Hogan back in 1988-89 over the title and as we all know, was trying to buy the title from anyone (insert Andre The Giant). I think a DiBiase match with Hogan would have been a good payoff. But in the end, it had to be The Ultimate Warrior, for better or worse. Especially since nobody BUT Hogan was as hot as Warrior was.

 

[MMK]

In terms of the storylines that were going on at that time, Mr.Perfect would have made the most sense. On an episode of Saturday Nights Main Event, he stole the WWF title from Hogan and smashed it to pieces with a hammer. Also, he was the final man eliminated by Hogan at the Royal Rumble.

That being said, Warrior-Hogan was the dream match people wanted to see. Plus, Hogan was taking time off to make crappy movies so they needed someone to takeover as the top babyface. Warrior really was the only choice. And it was the right one.

Although, Dusty Rhodes would have made for an interesting dream match. The Real American Hulk Hogan vs The American Dream Dusty Rhodes. The face of the NWA vs the face of the WWF.

 

[shooter_mcgavin]

This one is hard ... when Wrestling PPV were bought because of the main attraction it would have difficult to replace Hogan and Warrior to sell the Toronto Skydome. Much like WM3 when 70,000/90,000 fans were in attendance for Andre vs. Hogan a similar match in terms of magnitude for Skydome to sell 60,000.

From what is available I would have to say would be a Hogan vs. Piper with Hogan as the WWF Champion in a Face vs. Face ... Title for Career Match. Piper is already a legend and they could have probably done a story where Piper wanted one more shot at the title. So they setup Hogan vs. Piper.

 

[The Eighties]

If Warrior hadn't gotten as over as he did and they used someone else for Hogan's WrestleMania 6 opponent it would have been a simple case of finding a heel challenger who'd go on to lose as the Hulkamania train trundled on down the money track.

Rude would have been the best choice as he'd beaten Warrior for the IC title the year before at Mania and had feuded the rest of that year with Roddy Piper, plus he'd never had a program with Hogan before so it would have at least been a fresh challenger for Hogan going into the biggest show of the year.

Rude would have been the best choice. The match itself would have been interesting. Neither had a large range but could do what they did flawlessly. Many rumors pointed to Rude getting the belt but it never came to be.
The idea at M6 was to set up the next "big thing" so Hogan could fade out but it didn't work. Not sure it would have worked with Rude either.
Perfect would have worked later on but it was way to soon at M6. Next logical choice was Savage but it had been done the year before and didn't get the results they wanted.

How did Hogan vs Savage at WM5 not get the results they wanted?

 

[THTRobtaylor]

You have to remember that in those days the booking was much more long term, had Rude been the pick, then the Perfect feud would not have happened... Rude would have probably gone over someone like Beefcake in the run up for the match, perhaps damaging him with the Rude Awakening or cutting his hair. That would raise Hogan's ire enough and then won the Rumble.

Warrior would have probably been the guy to fight Mr. Perfect at Mania, ending the Perfect streak.

 

[FlairFan2003]

warrior was at his height and had a similair "unbeatable force" aspect to his character as Hogan. Im no Warrior fan by any means but the appeal of this match was the biggest thing WWE could have done.

Hogan had already had runs vs DiBiase and Rude, he'd already beaten Roberts too. Those matches and feuds might have been entertaining but not as big a draw.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

warrior was at his height and had a similair "unbeatable force" aspect to his character as Hogan. Im no Warrior fan by any means but the appeal of this match was the biggest thing WWE could have done.

Hogan had already had runs vs DiBiase and Rude, he'd already beaten Roberts too. Those matches and feuds might have been entertaining but not as big a draw.

Hogan never feuded with Rude... He felt he was too small to face him. Any matches they had were part of other feuds where Rude was part of the Heenan Family. Also, Hogan never had a solo feud with DiBiase, they were always tag based with Andre and later Money Inc. Again, Hogan felt DiBiase too small to compete one on one...