What did hogan do to deserve the title?

[Guest pinnacleofallthingsmanly]

They rushed Hogan's title victory, plain and simple. I think the fact that Hogan got a face pop at Wrestelmania and the fact that they hurried and put the belt on him at the next PPV shows a complete lack of faith in the boking/writing team. They felt that they couldn't keep Hogan's face heat long enough to deliver a big payoff? What ever happened to the thrill of the chase? That's what made Austin's first title win so great. That's what made Foley's last title chase so great. Hogan didn't really have to do shit to get his title reign. He wrestled and lost agianst the Rock and in the next PPV he's the damn champ. Why didn't they have him chase the belt?

[Guest Risk]

I hope Austin 3:16 stomps Hulkamania's red and yellow guts in.  They should have Austin go shoot on Hogan and belittle him mercilessly.  Just this one time it would be great for Austin to "What!?" the hell outta Hogan.  Maybe even bring "Stunning" Steve Austin back to face Hogan.

 

Show him who the REAL "Hollywood Blonde" is.

[Guest What?!]

I just think that once Vince saw the most boring face promo ever by Triple H at Raw, he decided that Triple H was going to drop the belt right there and now. And just by coincidence, his next opponent was The Hulkster.

[Guest]

I saw this column on 411wrestling and thought it would fit perfect on this tread.

 

Norton's Notes 4.25.02: Sad Reasons Why Hogan's Reign Will Fail

 

"The fans demanded that Hulk Hogan win the world title."

 

That's the biggest load of crap I've ever heard in my life.

 

Nonetheless, that's the rationale coming from every WWF rep, and even most wrestling analysts these last few weeks. Sunday at Backlash, the wish came true. Once again, Hulk Hogan has managed to work his way into creating a double standard; one for him, one for the rest of the performers in the WWF locker room. One year ago, Angle, Rock, Austin and Hunter were all jockeying for position to elevate the world title, and in turn, the company. But suddenly, athleticism and work ethic doesn't matter any more. Sure, some of us may have been complaining about Triple-H taking the strap at Wrestlemania on account of his mediocre performances since returning to the ring in January. At least he spent the last three years elevating the title, and the last eight months fighting back from injury. That's worth something in my book.

 

One year ago, Booker T. was one of the top tier players in the game. He was given the ball in WCW, and he ran with it, with poise, integrity and talent. From charisma to athleticism, the big man had it all. He was a proven commodity, with a clean slate, and a fresh face to WWF fans. And yet, from the minute he set foot in a WWF ring as dual WCW World and U.S. champion, he was jobbed further and further down the card to the point where today he can't even compete for the hardcore belt. Here's a guy who deserves his shot, who worked for it, and can run with the ball - and he's being used as a curtain jerker. Why, because he sucks at trivia? Because he doesn't follow the stock market?

 

Six months ago, Rob Van Dam was the most over star in the company. Did that result in him getting the world title, or even an extended main event push? Hell no. Here's a guy who *does* have work ethic, who hasn't been overexposed, who can wrestle an exciting match, has a major future and a strong, underlying fan base. If anyone was primed for a big push, it was Van Dam. And Van Dam got jack shit.

 

Three months ago, Hurricane Helms was routinely pulling some of the biggest pops on the roster outside the main event. Did he even win a damn match? Not by a long shot!

 

So where was this whole "the fans demanded it!" rationale then?

 

Sure, Hulk Hogan has picked up some strong ovations since returning to the WWF, albeit mainly in Canada, where fans' memories tend to run longer than those of us here in the U.S. Great! Go ahead, milk it while you can! Grab a buyrate, pop a crowd!

 

But using that as the basis for putting the world title on a crippled 48-year old who even in his prime couldn't keep up with today's wrestlers?

 

When did THAT jump in logic take place?

 

I'll give you this; Hogan versus Rock, great idea. It's a money match, a fantasy match ripped right out of the WWF magazines. Even Hogan versus Hunter was one to use while Hogan is still hot; can the old guy win the gold one more time? Great angle, the Backlash buyrate won't pull what Mania did last month, but it'll certainly pull in some interest from former Hulkamaniacs.

 

But when you go from Hogan being cast as a legend, a ghost from the past chasing the impossible dream, to Hogan defending the gold just like any other wrestler, that's when the appeal runs dry. That's when the fans stop marking out for the nostalgia and wake up to the reality of a repetitive middle-aged 80's star representing the company.

 

People didn't pay to see Hogan at Mania and Backlash in spite of the probability he was going to lose; they paid to see Hogan because they expected him to lose.

 

When he returned to the WWF two months ago, Hogan's character was portrayed as a bitter old man, clamoring to hold on to his legacy in an era where he could no longer compete. Without realizing it, the WWF marketed him the most effective way they could have; the majority of their audience today, in their early twenties to early thirties, grew up with Hulkamania. And now, here he was, a ghost from the past; a man out of time, their childhood icon, knocked down from his mighty pedestal. Going in to Wrestlemania, The fans saw him as the old dog out for his last run before being taken back to the barn and shot in the back of the head. Leading into the show, Hogan's bitter, pathetic attempts to put The Rock out of action only drew on the sympathy of fans even more. Come time for the big show, Rock was stuck in the unenviable position of being the farmer chosen to put the old boy out to pasture. Not even The Rock can look like a babyface under circumstances like those. People were comfortable with supporting Hogan's will to win, to retain his legacy for another year, for one reason more than any other - because they knew he would lose.

 

That night, Hulkamania would finally go down one, two, three; and this time, it would be forever.

 

On that night, the fans in Toronto were respectful. They chose to say "Thank You."

 

The days surrounding Wrestlemania were a capsule in time, a one-time blast. They did not create, they referenced. They were not a foundation on which to build the company. They were not the start of a journey forward, they were the recollection of a journey once taken. The journey once taken is the one the fans were popping for, not the one that lies ahead for Hogan, which from here, is all downhill. They know that. That's WHY they popped. We loved him as kids. Every former Hulkamaniac saw a little piece of their childhood dying, so they gave him one last night.

 

Many of the fans in the arena at Wrestlemania, like many other arenas he's visited since returning to the WWF in February, grew up watching "Hulkamania." It's like finding the Dr. Suess book your grandfather used to read to you as a child buried in the attic, or running into a classmate from 4th grade one day in a restaurant. It's a wonderful, powerful feeling; it's a pop. But it doesn't mean that you're going to start reading children's books again, nor does it mean that you want to grab a bag of candy bars and go camping with your buddies in your mom's back yard.

 

Hogan's appeal today has nothing to do with the world title, and certainly not his wrestling ability. Fifteen years ago, it was about Hulkamania, it was about the championship. Today, Hogan is embraced for his legacy, the memories, not for his talent, nor his wrestling. At Wrestlemania, they sold his legacy, and it worked in spades. The fantasy of the battle superceded the reality of the match.

 

Well, welcome to reality, people. Next time Hogan steps in the ring, he's not the underdog out for his last run any more, he's simply an over-the-hill champion, once again holding back the evolution of the business.

 

I thought the WWF would have been smart enough to keep the focus on the Hogan story, not the Hogan ring-work, but Sunday night they made the fatal error. Hogan is fine as yesterday's hero, but a dismal failure as today's world champion. Hogan is now wrestler first, legend second. And as a wrestler, people won't pay to see him.

 

Hulkamania's days are now more closely numbered than ever before.

 

Yeah, Hogan got a big pop at Wrestlemania. I've got news for you - The pop for the late, great Gorilla Monsoon at Wrestlemania XV was deafening. So did Triple H put HIM over for the world title? Of course not, that would have been insane. Gorilla got a pop because he's a beloved legend, not because people wanted him to return to the ring and win the damn world title.

 

Hogan got a big pop.

 

That's cool. I popped for him too.

 

But like the vast majority of the wrestling world, I wasn't popping because I want another ten years of Hulkamania. I don't want six months, or even a day. I care about wrestling; and for all the things about Hogan I don't like, his accomplishments in wrestling, which are bigger than the man and bigger than the character, they made me pop. Seeing Hogan's name on a Wrestlemania card again made me pop, because like everyone else in the arena that night, I "knew" that night would never happen again.

 

At Backlash, it happened again.

 

And like the fans in the arena, I cared a whole lot less.

 

Hulk Hogan got a few good pops and drew a few good numbers based on nostalgia. Good for him. As Widro pointed out in a recent column, ("Voice Of Reason: A Hogan Reality Check"), they may have even pulled a few more months out of Hogan's current run had they continued to ride that nostalgia, that fantasy. Have him take on Kurt Angle, to show he's still an in-ring wrestler. Have him take on Jericho for the title of "Living Legend." But for that to work, for fans to continue to buy Hogan for any length of time, they need to be left to their fantasy of the immortal legend, not the reality of a bitter, immobile 48-year-old man.

 

On Sunday night at Backlash, they crossed that line. The fantasy became a reality, the second Hogan beat Triple-H.

 

The reality is that fans don't want Hulkamania to run wild again.

 

They simply wanted to pay respects to what it was.

 

You heard it at Judgment Day, and you'll continue to see it in the ratings each and every week he holds the belt.

 

Hogan having the title around his waist, hulking up and doing the whole deal isn't nostalgia anymore. As J.R. might say, this is no longer fantasy. This is reality.

 

The problem is, it's the fantasy the fans were popping for.

 

At Wrestlemania, the fans said "Thanks for the memories, Hulk."

 

At Backlash, they were forced to add, "Now it's time for you to go home."

 

Blake Norton is a pro-wrestler, and his previous credits include founding contributing editor of WOW Magazine, writer for ECW Magazine and editor of the Bagpipe Report Newsletter. Catch him with Sandy Penner every Tuesday morning at 6:30 est. on Sports Animal radio (620wdae.com) for your weekly wrestling wrap-up, and visit out his official website at www.BlakeNorton.com.

[Guest Austin3164life]

Hogan winning the title is signifying his last run in the WWF.  I hate the man, but might as well let him have his last dance with glory now.  If the Austin/Hogan showdown on Raw was any indication, the huge money match will be Austin vs. Hogan, and they better capitalize on it quick......

[Guest FakeRazor]

Hogan's reign might seem rushed, but think about it this way... his title reign is inevitable.  Would you rather get it over with now, when he's still somewhat over, or a few months down the line when he's not over, and the nostalgia REALLY dies.

 

I'm against this title reign, but I realize that if its gonna go down, there really isn't a better time for it to go down.

[Guest Brian]

Austin doesn't want to work with Hogan and they don't need the title for that. Let him lose to Jericho than have the Austin feud.

[Guest Redhawk]

Wrestlemania's buyrate can't be credited just to Hogan. I think it was more the Hogan-Rock matchup than anything. If Hogan were facing, say, Kurt Angle or Rob Van Dam at 'Mania, the buyrate wouldn't have been as high. The whole selling point wasn't, "Oh, Hulk Hogan's back," it was "Hulk Hogan's fighting The Rock."

 

And if you go by the logic of "Hogan popped the crowd as soon as he came back," than almost everyone would get a title reign. Like I said, Tazz got a huge pop at Royal Rumble 2000. RVD was getting huge pops by the time SummerSlam 2001 came. Even Chris Benoit was getting huge pops when he debuted in the WWF.

 

Look at Kane. He's gotten some of the biggest pops I've heard in recent years, and has one 24-hour title reign to show for it.

[Guest TheMikeSC]

Tazz....... ha that's a good one.  Considering Hogan is more over than Tazz can ever hope to be.  Face it everyone knew Tazz was killing his career by moving to the WWF.>>>

 

 

Except that he's, you know, paid on time.

 

And paid FAR more.

 

But, other than that, yes, the WWF has been the death of Tazz's career.

 

 

<<<Vince was never going to give someone as short as Tazz a decent title.  And now Tazz can't even wrestle that well to boot. >>>

 

 

He never could wrestle all that well.

                      -=Mike

[Guest TheMikeSC]

Where you a fan in the 80's? Thats why. >>>

 

 

And that is exceptionally irrelevant.

 

Dusty Rhodes was obscenely over in the 80's.

 

Would anybody be happy if Dusty was given a World Title?

                         -=Mike

[Guest Goodear]

I would, but I'm a horribly sick person who just wants to hear the fans go "DOO!" (or whatever sound that was) every time Dusty hits an elbow.  Then he could dance with Rikishi and Scotty... it would be II Cool III!  

[Guest El Satanico]

Well it's probably safe to say that Hogan wouldn't had won a title anytime in near future if the crowds hadn't taken to him so much. Hogan would've still been nWo and would've been 0-2 on his tour of the current main eventers if the crowds didn't react the way they did for the orange devil.

 

So the crowd reaction IS a big reason for him holding the title. However that wasn't the only reason. Hogan's name and his "legend" which was built in WWF combined with what you know(no matter what WWF says) was an unexpected crowd reaction is why he has the title. That is why he gets a title for great crowd reactions when others like RVD and Booker T don't.

 

As far as Hogan winning now being a sign that Vince doesn't have faith in his booking team. Well why should he have faith in them? They haven't exactly done anything to build confidence in Vince. Besides his booking team had nothing to do with Hogan getting insanely over so there's no reason to think that they can keep him over. Fans will cheer Hogan for however long they want to and WWF can't stop them from stopping. There is no way to tell when this will happen so it makes sense to use it all up NOW. Then if Hogan's cheers suddenly die his big storyline is done and he won't have to be on tv.

 

Besides i'm glad that he already got the belt. It's as high as he can go and since it's over with already he'll be gone sooner.

 

If we are lucky

[Guest El Satanico]

Yes i'd be happy if Dusty won the title.

 

However i'd settle for Dusty replacing JR on the WWF mothership if you weeeeeil

[Guest]

The wwf approached Austin first about fighting Hogan in the main event of WrestleMania, and he turned it down. However, the thing is... he didn't turn it down because he hated Hogan. he turned it down because he knew that he would get booed out of the building just like Rock did.

[Guest]

That's a load of crap! Austin does/did hate Hogan. Go watch his shoots in ECW after he was released from WcW. Enough Said.

[Guest humongous2002]

Austin can't stand Hogan, because of him Austin didn't get the push he deserved in WCW, and I don't blame him because at that time Austin was ready to be a champion, but Hulk saw him as a threat for his freaking spotlight. Another reason for me to hate Hogan.FUCK HOGAN!!!

[Guest]

Hmm Lets see what Hogan down to deserve The Title. In The 80's to early 90's he was the biggest draw in the company and ahh thats about it do you actually think 12 Years from now Austin Will come back and win the title not very likely. Hogan did nothing to deserve.

[Guest]

That's a load of crap! Austin does/did hate Hogan. Go watch his shoots in ECW after he was released from WcW. Enough Said.

Ummm guys... I hate to break it to you, but Hogan wasn't directly responsible for pushing Austin down. Ted Turner was for signing him. It was strictly business.

 

Further proof of Austin's feelings towards Hogan...

 

From the Torch Talk Interview with Austin from 1996

 

Keller:When Hogan arrived, were you and a lot of the guys in awe of who Hulk Hogan was or was it sort of like Hogan was old news and he was intruding on the new generation and raining on your parade by trying to take it over?

 

Austin: No, I wasn’t in awe of him. And like I said, I was a skeptic of him coming in and drawing houses, but I didn’t hate the guy just out of spite. I didn’t know what he was gonna be like. I just didn’t feel like taking the pay–per–view bonuses. But after I met him, we were on our way to Germany for the Germany tour and he was out drinking beer with us and everything was cool. I don’t believe anybody was in awe of him. I thought it was cool to have him aboard. If they were gonna bring him aboard, I thought it was fine.

 

Keller:Did he have any kind of a chip on his shoulder that set anybody back, or did he fit in as one of the boys right away?

 

Austin: He tried to fit in as one of the boys. Whether you like him or not, he’s Hulk Hogan. He’s probably made more money in the business than anybody else has. He’s extremely successful. I would never take that away from him. I think it’s fantastic everything that he’s done and all the success that he’s had. He tried hard to just be Hulk Hogan and be one of the guys.

 

So there you have it boys

[Guest]

Oh yeah, I forgot to add something... in a WWF interview, Austin spoke about being somewhat excited about having a run with Hogan. Take that for what its worth

[Guest Redhawk]

I'm pretty sure the WWF interview was "in character," so don't count those for shit.

[Guest Risk]

Let me end this thread.  

 

1)Hogan did nothing to deserve a title win.

2)He does not deserve a title win.

3)He made money because he had a big look, an all-American character, and was given the best push a wrestler can ever receive.  

 

That's the bottom line.

 

Thread closed.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Austin will work with Hogan.

 

The spot they did after Raw last week was a test spot.

 

Can you hate someone and still work with them?

 

Of course you can...

 

Did Austin turn down a match at Mania?  Yes.

 

Could you blame him?

 

Can anyone picture Austin as Hogans lil buddy like Rock had to become to get his heat back?

 

And as far as Hogan's title reign:

 

1.  Make as much money off of him while you can

2.  Anyone is better than HHH at this point...even Hogan.

 

Will I root for Taker at JD?

 

That is a tough one.

 

Its like the WWF is taking all of my least favorite people and presenting them as my options for world champ.

 

HHH, Taker or Hogan...

 

yeah...politics don't exist.