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View Full Version : The Truth about Hulk Hogan!



Dangerous Incorporated
05-14-2008, 05:56 AM
He may be a legend, he may be the reason why lots of people watch wrestling. He put the WWF in our homes throughout the 80's, 90's and early 00's, but do you know what Hogan is like behind the scenes? Why do most wrestlers despise him? Is it because of his fame? Money? or is it because he is just full of crap and only cares about himself!!!

Here are some FAQs you may or may not know about "The Huckster":

1985 - Would Hogan be willing to work a program with Rick Steamboat if Steamboat agreed to turn heel? No. Give him Big John Studd instead.

1986 - Hogan-Savage is tentatively planned for WM 2, after the two had feuded in house shows which Savage had won by DQ or countout. Hogan nixes the idea of facing the dynamic, atheltic Savage at 'Mania, even though he would be booked to win. Hogan handpicks King Kong Bundy to embarass in a cage match. Savage wrestles George Steele far down the undercard.

1986 - Hogan agrees to work with Paul Orndorff, but won't do the job to him. Hogan agrees only because he is guarenteed a win at a huge event. He defeats Orndorff in a cage match on SNME to end the feud.

1987 - Hogan again turns down the idea of feuding with Savage; but suggests turning him face, so Hogan can step aside for awhile, film a movie and get some needed rest.
Savage turns face that summer.

1988 - Hogan agrees to "drop" the belt to Andre, but only under questionable circumstances to preserve his character. Hogan agrees to "give the rub" to Savage at WM IV. Hogan only agrees because he is promised he will get the title back at WM 5.

1988 - Six months later, as Savage is having a successful run, Hogan suggests putting them together as a team "Mega Powers" and they headline Summerslam. Hogan is no longer the champion - but still in the main event.

1989 - Hogan finally meets Savage at Wrestlemania V. Hogan beats him for the title. Rather than face Savage in the anticipated rematch at Summerslam, or a program with Rick Rude as creative suggests - Hogan deccides to go a different route.

Hogan suggests a tag team match, pitting himself and his close friend Brutus Beefcake, against Savage and an ACTOR, Tiny Lister who played Zeus in the Hogan film "No Holds Barred". The film opened that summer to decent business, so Hogan uses a WWE PPV to promote the film, while "giving the rub" to his friend Beefcake.

1990 - Hogan agrees to drop the belt to Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania. Only with a guarentee of an extended break and the promise he would get the title back. A month after 'Mania, Hogan is "attacked" by Earthquake and off TV for a few months. After teasing retirement on TV, Hogan returns at Summerslam as "Immortal" and vanquishes his good friend John Tenta (Earthquake).

1990 - To preserve the Warrior character, creative decides he will drop the title to someone OTHER than Hogan. Despite the allure of a Hogan/Warrior rematch - Randy Savage is rumoured to be the man Warrior will drop the belt to at Royal Rumble '91. Hogan suggests Sgt Slaughter. Slaughter has just returned as an "Iraqi sympathizer" and Hogan pushes for Slaughter to beat Warrior, then he can beat Slaughter to regain the belt.

1991 - Hogan defeats Slaughter a few months after "Desert Storm" starts. He waves his flag and defeats the Iraqi villan at Wrestlemania. After headlining Wrestlemania for the past two years, Savage and Warrior are reduced to the undercard.

1991 - Hogan again decides against a rematch with Warrior at Summerslam, and suggests they team together against Slaughter & The Iron Shiek. Six months after he had beaten Slaughter for the belt, he feels the feud is not over and that fans will tune in to watch him team with Warrior against "the enemy".

1991 - Hogan agrees to drop the title to Undertaker, but refuses to do a clean job to him. Ric Flair interferes in the match with a chair and 'Taker gets the win.

1992 - McMahon decides that Flair will win the title at Royal Rumble, then drop the title to Hogan in a "dream match" at Wrestlemania VIII. Hogan decides he wants to take another extended break after 'Mania. He suggests Flair drop the title to Savage instead and he can work with Sid Vicious and "give him the rub".

Despite the fact that Flair/Savage is the WWE Title match, it is placed in the middle of the show. Hogan and the lumbering Sid Vicious close the show. The first time the WWE Champion has not been in the main event of Wrestlemania.

1993 - Hogan agrees to return to team with Brutus Beefcake against Money Inc. at Wrestlemania and it appears to be the first time he will NOT be in the main event.

When Hogan learns that WWE Champion Bret Hart is scheduled to drop the title to Yokozuna, he informs McMahon that this will be the first Wrestlemania that a face doesn't win the main event and the "people aren't gonna like it". Hogan suggests "surprising" the audience by challenging Yoko immediately afterward and beating him to win the WWE Title. Vince McMahon agees. Hogan beats Yoko to regain the title.

1993 - McMahon and WWE creative suggests Hogan and Bret Hart engage in a face vs face match at Summerslam that will see Hogan "pass the torch" to Hart and drop the title.

Hogan turned the idea down, and agreed to drop the title back to Yokozuna, who in turn would drop it to Hart at SS. Some critics believe, however, that Hogan simply didn't want to drop the title to the new flagship of the company.

Hogan drops the belt to Yoko at KOTR (but doesn't drop it cleanly), while WWE goes with the failed Lex Luger "US Express" idea. Hogan leaves WWE two months later and does not appear at Summerslam.

1994 - Hogan signs with WCW after being courted by Ric Flair and Eric Bischoff. Hogan insisted on "complete creative control" over the Hulk Hogan character and a certain perrcentage of EACH PPV TOTAL REVENUE.

1994 - A three match series is planned with Hogan/Flair. Hogan would win the first, Flair would regain it and Hogan would win the finale. All parties agree.

Hogan wins the WCW World Title from Ric Flair in his first match back in a year. When the time comes for Flair to regain the title, Hogan refuses, saying the fans "weren't ready for him to drop it".

Flair later admits in his book, that fans were already booing Hogan at shows, but that WCW was dubbing in a "cheering crowd soundtrack".

The subsequent PPVs featuring Flair/Hogan fail to sell.

1994 - Hogan negotiates for former WWE stars and Hogan allies Brutus Beefcake, Earthquake and Typhoon to join WCW.

Creative suggests Hogan face Sting in a face vs face "dream match" at Starrcade. Hogan decides it makes better sense for him to face Beefcake as the heel, "The Butcher". The PPV flops.

1995 - Hogan convinces Randy Savage to leave WWE and join WCW. Instead of starting a feud between the two former WWE Champions, Hogan insists on teaming with Savage against Kevin Sullivan and his 3 Faces of Fear.

1995 - Hogan agrees to work with Vader, but the program soon falls apart when both acuse the other of "not selling for the other".

Fans are steadily losing interest in WCW. The company begins to falter seriously, as executives point at the Hogan contract and "creative control" agreement as being a main culprit. Hogan takes extended time off - but remains the highest paid man on the roster.

1996 - With WCW desperate to compete with WWE, WCW signs Hall and Nash and plot the NWO angle. Hogan is booked to turn heel and he agrees. The angle is a smash. Within weeks, Hogan wins the World Title from The Giant.

Instead of milking fresh matchups as a heel, Hogan decides that WCW should bring in Roddy Piper. Despite the possibility of a Starrcade matchup with Lex Luger or The Giant - Hogan faces Piper in a cage match in the main event. Hogan puts over Piper via the sleeperhold, in a NON-TITLE match.

1997 - Hogan feuds with Piper and Savage, while turning down suggestions he put over Luger or Diamond Dallas Page for the title. He appears weekly, but rarely wrestles on TV, while still remaining the highest paid star in WCW.

1997 - In his much hyped Starrcade match with Sting, it was decided that Hogan would beat Sting after an alleged "fast count" by referee Nick Patrick. WCW's newly contracted Bret Hart would accuse Patrick and have the match restarted with Sting winning by submission.

Hogan reportedly paid off referee Patrick, to count normally and make it look like Hogan had pinned Sting cleanly. When this DID happen, the planned finish played out - but fans booed because it was clearly botched and made Sting look bad.

1998 - Hogan agreed to put over Goldberg cleanly on Nitro, but with the condition that Karl Malone & DDP get involved to prompt a Hogan/Dennis Rodman team to debut on PPV at Bash At The Beach. Hogan promoted the match on "The Tonight Show" and later teamed with Bischoff against DDP and Jay Leno HIMSELF!

The Hogan celebrity tag team matches stole all the attention while WCW Champion Goldberg was all but ignored.

1999 - After six months without the title, and still being the top guy, Hogan regained the title from Kevin Nash in the "Fingerpoke of Doom" incident. Openly flaunting his creative control clause. He would lose the title, but not cleanly to Ric Flair.

When the NWO angle began to lose serious steam, Hogan turned face again. Randy Savage had recently turned heel and regained the WCW Title.

Once again, this time conviently as a face, Hogan defeated Savage to regain the title.

Despite having names like Hart, Luger and Sting to work with Savage - the title went baclk to Hogan. At his request.

2000 - Hogan begins feuding with WCW booker Vince Russo over how he's being used. Russo wanted to push younger stars and to appease Russo only, Hogan worked with young Billy Kidman.

When a WCW Title match with Jeff Jarrett was booked, Russo had Jarrett winning. Hogan refused, because his contract with WCW was almost up and he feared Russo wouldn't use him on future PPV events. Meaning Hogan would lose out on serious cash.

Russo pulled a swerve on Hogan by having Jarrett lay down for him intentionally. Hogan did so, winning the belt - then was immeditaely stripped of it.

Hogan was never seen in WCW again.

2002 - Hogan accepts an offer to return to WWE and reunite the original NWO, with the understanding he would be in a featured match with The Rock at Wrestlemania X8.

Hogan scored a huge deal from WWE, and agreed to put over The Rock. He suggests they close the show as he felt "they had drawn the crowd" - but McMahon and specifically Triple H refuse to put the WWE Title match in a secondary role.

Hogan is later booked to win the title from Triple H, but is dissapointed when it comes with the condition he drop it to Undertaker a month later.

After being booked to lose to Kurt Angle at KOTR 2002, Hogan decided he needed time off again. Despite only having been back for all of four months.

Hogan is convinced to stay long enough to get in a quick tag team championship win with Edge. He is then asked to put over Brock Lesnar, which he does.

He is dissatisfied with his role, because he isn't be portrayed the way "he thought he would". He takes another "extended break" after the Lesnar match.

2003 - He returns at the request of VinceMcMahon and the promise of a big Wrestlemania payday. Their street fight is a featured match on the card.

With the WWE Title now revolving around much younger wrestlers, Hogan is frustrated by Creatives decision to book him in a secondary role on Smackdown and he leaves WWE again.

2004 - Hogan is openly courted by TNA Wrestling, but the deal hits a snag when Hogan was reportedly told he would have to put over Jarrett at some point. Hogan begins to complain of "knee problems" as the deal falls apart.

2005 - Hogan is inducted into the Hall of Fame, and agrees to the idea of a Hogan/Shawn Michaels match at Summerslam.

McMahon proposes two matches, with each winning one. Hogan agrees.

After spending all of his comeback as a face, HBK agrees to turn heel to sell the match.

Michaels carries a clearly laboring Hogan through a decent match at Summerslam, and HBK does the clean job to Hogan.

The second match in the series is called off, when Hogan began to complain "his knee was acting up again".

Hence, the Hogan win over HBK stands as their one and only meeting.

2005 - Hogan proposes the"Dream Match" scenario of Hogan vs Steve Austin to WWE Creative for Wrestlemania. Austin says no - citing the HBK scenario at Summerslam. He refuses to put Hogan over.

2006 - Hogan is asked to appear at Summerslam and face Randy Orton. He agrees with the rumoured condition that WWE pushes his daughter Brooke's debut CD.

Instead of putting over "The Legend Killer", Hogan flexes his "creative control".

Despite being 53, having wrestled one match in over a year, and bad knees, Hogan defeats the 26 year old former World Champion via clean pinfall.

legolas4792
05-14-2008, 11:00 PM
interesting list but can you tell me what "the rub" means

Kage
05-15-2008, 12:49 AM
Wow this makes me hate Hogan. There should be a list like this for Triple H. :shock:

Will
05-15-2008, 04:43 AM
interesting list but can you tell me what "the rub" means

Getting the rub references an over worker jobbing in the hopes some of the star power will "rub off" by such a well known and/or popular wrestler being defeated.

tapout
05-15-2008, 05:44 AM
Wow. I thought he was disliked because he was an over-rated, no talent hack.

mikedudelang
06-25-2008, 06:58 PM
he may well be a jerk but he did what he thought was best for himself...can't really fault him for watching his own back and taking care of his friends (earthquake, beefcake, typhoon).

Kenpachi Zaraki
09-11-2008, 06:24 PM
I agree with Kage

3D-Shadow
09-17-2008, 07:11 AM
Look at the end of the day if you were in Hogans position, or even HHH's position not that I agree with his total abuse but think about it, in their era's wrestling was/is a huge popular thing world wide, everybody in wrestling wants to be the top guy, every wrestling fan is talking about the top guys, and if YOU had the power to be putting yourself in that position, famous world wide, would you to not take advantage of it?

You wouldn't care about Mr. top wrestler no.2 and putting him over particularly if you didn't like the guy would you? Now don't quote me on what I'm going to say but I mean not everybody is going to be as lucky as Sting (who, to my knowledge didn't play backstage politics to establish himself, while he does use his power a little now with TNA to get deals that work for him, i believe at nearly 50, he should be able to and has earned it after all the hardship in his career) or Flair, not everyone is going to be looked at and told 'hey you've got that sparkle in your eye, the spring in your step, we'll take you to the top' so guys are going to have to make the best of what they've got and what they can use to there advantage.

I mean look at HHH in 1995/1996 he was a nobody really, he was even working in WCW not WWF/E but look at the people around him at the time who were the top dogs, people like Austin who was just being established, the Undertaker, people who he later would feud against when he put himself at the top. At the end of the day wrestling is a business whether or not they were suits and sit in an office all day, it's still a business and like in all business' everyone wants to be at the top

Even after reading this to me, Hogan is still Hogan

I hope this generates some replies cause i think it raises some good points

rassling fanatic
10-09-2008, 01:05 PM
Oh yes. the biggest draw in the world at the time needed to use politics to keep his spot. Espicially early on.
As far as WCW goes, well there is a bigger reason as to why he and other vets kept there spots. There were suits running the company. They wouldn't want to be paying guys a fixed amount to not be on television. So, Hogan etc got there spot becasue they could draw and they proved it. They kept tehre spot and others were not given a chacne to shin in the upper midcard and main event becasue of the suits that took over around late 1999.

As far as the alst few runs with Vince. Randy Orton wasn't going to get the run with Hogan because of alcohol and drug problems. HBK didn't get the chance to wrestling Hulk again becasue of the way he decided to insult Hogan by over-selling the Hogan comeback. Showing he was still as immature as always. Funny how Hogan siad he hurt his knee. Should have said he lost his smile!

Oh, Hogan vs. Bret. Lets talk about that one. Bret was already over as a babyface, but there wasn't a monster heel on the other side, even though Yokozuna was getting over with the belt. Instead of putting over Bret, who had a big following Hogan put over Yokozuna. He was over even more which, enabled WWE to have a year of programming where the babyface would chase the heel. Vince went with Luger early on, then went with Bret.

Hogan vs. Flair? It was canned because they were not drawing at House Shows. Flair was not beleivable as someone who could challenge Hogan like previous heels and one babyface did in the past.


I could go on for a long time about why Hogan had long runs at the top, but the proof is in the pudding. When Hulk was on top the company he was with drew big money. You can also say it was the Hogan run which, ended the days of champions holding the top spot for years. He was the last person to have a reign last longer than 15 months. But I guess that was just part of his plan.

It is different if you are on top and not drawing aka HHH (2002) and HBK (1996). When you are bringing in the big bucks and filling teh seats though, you have no argument.