Rock vs. Hogan

[Guest cabbageboy]

You know, something kinda irks me about this whole promotion of the Rock/Hogan match at WM.  I think it is the Rock saying it will determine "who goes down as the best ever."  

 

While I suppose in a way a mark can justify Hogan being involved in this equation, how would the Rock be involved in a match to determine the best ever?  The guy has jobbed to damn near everybody on the roster!  Hell, he's never really beaten Austin and has lost most of his matches with HHH, so that puts him at a distant third on the CURRENT roster, much less all time.  

 

The Rock is kind of like Macho of this era.  Austin was the guy who truly got the WWF popular again and the Rock was a guy who sorta rode that wave of momentum much like Savage did.  But when it comes down to it, Savage knew he wasn't the draw Hogan was and ended up jobbing to him, much like the Rock isn't the draw Austin is and inevitably gets jobbed out to him.  

 

So really I think if you want the biggest WWF stars ever, it would have to be Hogan vs. Austin.  It is silly hearing the Rock saying that he could be one of the best ever, he hasn't done nearly enough to earn that position.

 

Thoughts?

[Guest Kahran Ramsus]

Absolutely.  Check out the thread by the_hurricane for my thoughts on this.

[Guest The Vanilla Midget]

in a purely wrestling and drawing sense then yes you are right, rock is austins bitch in all those areas.  however i think they are trying to play up both guys successes as crossover stars, and both have/had movie careers, are fanatically loved by the people and are well heroes.  austin was always a wrestler first and foremost, while hogan and rock also had other pursuits, so i suppose you could say it was a battle to determine the 'best ever,' though that is all hype, and merely propaganda to sell the match, as neither guy is probably on austin's level as far as wwf stardom.

[Guest Tony149]

Midget said it all. Rock/Hogan is going for mainstream appeal. I also think Austin didn't want to work a feud with Hogan at WM.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

I'm shocked Austin agreed to work a feud with Hall.

[Guest Brian]

I think it's also based on the facts that their characters are so alike. Austin was more of a person, these guys were larger than life.

[Guest cobainwasmurdered]

Yeah Austin's always been marketed as the average guy who hangs at the local bar (who beats up his boss, buries dead guys with heavy machenary, and has a serious hering problem WHAT?)

[Guest Army Eye]

Why do the biggest match (austin/hogan) right off the bat?  That's right, you don't.

 

I know it's being hyped as the match between the to biggest ever, blah blah, but you should be used to hyperbole when it comes to PPV hype

[Guest goodhelmet]

I think this match will go down in history as the biggest DUD ever at Mania! Besides Hollywood Hulk Hogan isn't a friggin icon, The Hulkster is. Terry bollea plays both characters but they are so damn different. Now the Rock vs. The Hulkster would be compelling...but would still be a DUD!

[Guest mastermind]

You know goodhelmet I was thinking the same thing. I actually have thoughts that Vince and Hogan might get turned on by Hall, Nash, and Triple H with the Warrior long shot of HBK. Vince and Hogan work together again after WM in Vince's RAW franchise. I'm not saying the same exact Hulkster, but with the red and yellow with an edge as Hogan said on wwf.com. This depending on how much life the wwf thinks Hogan has left.

 

You see Hulkster vs. Rock is the icon match as you put it. Although, I think Hollywood fits this era much better. Austin/Hogan would be huge, but the red and yellow at this moment would look funny against Austin. Hogan and Rock's characters are more alike in that they pander to the audience. BTW, I was in a night club last night and I swear on the tv screens I must have seen Hogan vs. Rock about 20 times in commercial on the sports satelite feed. The match is getting really hyped. We will see what the buy rate is because the event is being sold with these two guys basically.

[Guest cabbageboy]

Well, one problem I have with Hogan getting this sort of huge match is this:  few people really wanted to see him again.  Sure about 3 years ago it would have been nice to see Hogan have one last nostalgia run in the WWF, but then WCW was actually drawing some semblance of money.  However, if you take a look at Hogan's 1999-2000 work it was abysmal.  

 

As far as the match itself I don't think it will be too bad for some reason, Vince knows the possibility for sucktitude it has so he will have them plot every spot.  

 

Here is my feeling about the NWO in general:  I liked seeing them again for one night, but now that they are all over every show it is already getting dull.  It would be the equivalent of Steve Carlton vs. Nolan Ryan in baseball....it'd be nice to see the old guys again for a night, but I wouldn't care to see them come back fulltime and make fools of themselves.

[Guest goodhelmet]

"However, if you take a look at Hogan's 1999-2000 work it was abysmal. "

 

Abysmal would be the word to describe most of the work in hogan's career.

 

 

"I liked seeing them again for one night, but now that they are all over every show it is already getting dull. "

 

i hate to tell people I told you so, but I had no faith in the WWF machine to promote the dinosaurs right and they haven't. Part of the blame goes to the dinos for being washed-up. The other half goes to the writing staff for not trying to cover it up with compelling tv.

 

Mania will get a huge buyrate but unless Backlash is a supercard, it will probably receive one of the lowest in the WWF's modern era.