Diamonddust

Good point.

I don't even know if it would have worked in that period either. Hogan was the superhero champion. Flair was the high living playboy, but even he was grounded in reality. He wasn't a cartoon character like Hogan was at that point. Look at Flair's main feud of that era with Dusty Rhodes. It's been said many times, but the reason it worked is because there was a definite realism the fans could accept. Rhodes was one of them - a hardworking blue collar man of the people. Flair was the flashy playboy that looked down up on the simpletons because he was better. In a feud with Hogan, Flair would have been just another bad guy who would have fallen in the end.

Wow... the one person you thought would be doing the job gets the pin.

For some reason, Raw looks like it's in an infinite "John Morrison" slow-down.

PLEASE DO THE BASKETBALL SHOT!

Yay! They brought up the 4th generation bit mentioned earlier.

And the crowd just seems so excited to see Deuce.

Another damn funny Santino segment... The Manimal...

Awesome! Kane is turning into Biff Tannen!

If you go back to Jess, Shane is 4th generation and Vince is 3rd generation... but hey... it'd be a nice fit.

I think Adamle might be getting "fired"...

Damn... That's a pretty decent face pop for Orton.

Unfortunately, it took a few years before they made him the color guy with Jim Ross on the Saturday Night program.

Crockett bought UWF because, as Watts tells it, Jim Ross called him and said, to the extent, "McMahon is about to buy us out and will leave you in the dust." Watts was the #3 company at that point. Watts was about to go head to head with McMahon in an anti-trust suit based out of New Orleans (Watts' home base). Vince wouldn't buy him out because he knew he could bleed Watts dry during litigation. Watts didn't have any other choice but to basically "push" Crockett into buying the UWF with the threat of McMahon becoming even bigger if he got full control of the UWF's properties.

There's been rumblings that he's said he has one match left in him. With Wrestlemania in Texas and probably a Hall of Fame spot waiting for him that weekend, WM25 looks to be the best possible event for "one more match".

If his demons didn't get the best of him (Even without the crash increasing his dependency), I think he would have been the on again/off again foil for Austin like many people are saying. He might not have been a consistent main eventer during the period, but he would have definitely had a nice stretch against Austin... probably as a hired gun by McMahon with the line of logic: Only someone as crazy and deranged as Austin can take him down.

Dusty was also spending like a drunken sailor apparently. The way Jim Cornette tells it is that Crocket thought they were going to get a lot of ad revenue from TBS and PPV. They wanted to buy another airplane, and when the accountant checked the books (He was months overdue), they finally noticed they were in the hole like $5 million. As a result, he had to sell to Turner, and then he started signing people to ridiculous contracts because he knew he wasn't going to have to pay them. I think what killed Crockett big time is buying the UWF and screwing up that invasion angle (Sound familiar) because of egos involved. When Crockett tried to run Watts' old towns after having the old UWF guys look inferior, he fell flat. Consequently, the people in the Carolinas and Mid-Atlantic, Crockett's base, didn't care too much for the Mid-South guys either. Another thing to remember: JCP was a mom and pop organization run in basically a strip-mall office in Charlotte, while at the same time, Titan Sports was being run like a major company.

I'm in!

Because adjusted for inflation, I'm sure Hogan pretty much drew more money and ratings that "will probably never be rivaled" than Austin. Not to mention he has been on top of WWF for 8 years (in his first run), Austin has only for 2 to 4 years. I don't know how you can adjust ratings for inflation, but I can help with adjusting the money via this handy site, The Inflation Calculator. Obviously with ratings, you adjust it for how many homes get the channel, and how many people are watching TV in general. The fact that Hogan was drawing monster ratings for WWF (in an admittedly less crowded market) whereas Austin was drawing monster ratings adjusted for the time. Whatever term you'd call it to explain why a 15.0 rating in 1988 is not as impressive as a 15.0 rating in say, 1998. The other thing that needs to be considered is what kind of shows were available to watch. Back in Hogan's era we had SNME every now and then and weekly "Superstars of Wrestling". There was nowhere near the hype or quality in those old shows as the ones we get today because now, even with all the complaints, we get real matches between real stars. Back then it was just a star squashing a jobber, which I don't think can really compete with a show that will consistently match the stars up against each other. The business model was different back then. If you wanted to see a star battle another star, you paid money to go to a house show or you waited until SNME or The Main Event was broadcast (Considering Andre the Giant/Hogan on The Main Event is still the most watched wrestling match in history). They were not about to give away top tier matches to television that was in syndication or on cable when it was still in its relative infancy. Back in the day, a loss on television could mean death for a career. Without a guaranteed contract, they could quickly do away with you after jobbing you out just once, thus killing any momentum you might have been able to use in another promotion.

I honestly think they thought the fans would boo Sid for what he did to Hogan. The thing being though was that Sid was the next big thing, and Hogan was turning into yesterday's news at that point. People wanted to see Sid on top and cheer for him... not become cannon fodder for Hogan.

Best line out of the 8/12/91 Observer posted today (Features a lot on Flair going to the then WWF and the rumblings about Watts possibly stepping in at WCW):

It's hilarious to go back and listen to some of the rants Ventura had against Hogan on commentary over the years. I remember him really laying into everyone when Savage came out first at Wrestlemania V.

Which begs the question, how bad is Tennessee this year? Early season evaluations are a bitch but if I had to rank the SEC from 1 to 12 at the moment, I think I'd put the Vols at #11 ahead of only Arkansas. Ahead of MS State? State sucks this year... good defense, NO offense. I wouldn't consider MSU having a good defense after Georgia Tech destroyed them today. Triple option, I know... but still... they ran all over them.

Big Bama fan here and watching the game... Arkansas is gift wrapping touchdowns to Alabama. We've had two pick 6's on Casey Dick, and a 84 yard touchdown run as well. Our defense has been on the field a lot, and Arkansas is actually moving the ball pretty well... they just tend to find a way to screw it up more often than not. Quick edit: Alabama stops Arkansas at a 4th and goal situation to close out the half with the lead 35-7.

While wrestling-wise, Rock is not on the level of Hogan, his movies have blown away anything Hogan has ever made. Neither are any good. The Rock has not got the global crossover into film yet - and I don't think he has the ability to achieve it. Get Smart- 129 mil domestic, 94 mil worldwide Game Plan- 90 mil domestic, 57 mil worldwide Rundown and Walking Tall also did moderately good business, and Rock is seen as a movie star in Hollywood, given he is racking up A-list leading roles, while many of Hogan's films landed DTV. I was defending it against people acting like this is the worst WWF/E has ever been, which is utter nonsense. And the cherry on top... The Rock has been a presenter at the Academy Awards as well.