More On Hogan

From the Clash XXX comments…

As horrible as Hogan's face run was, that's what WCW brought him in for. The superhero who beats up all the bad guys is what Hulkamania was about and that's what WCW was trying to recreate. I didn't like it either but I don't know why some people think WCW should have made the huge move of signing Hulk Hogan and have him adapt to WCW's product. The whole idea was to change their product and make a run at #1, not have Hogan and Flair trading the title like Flair did with everyone.

I’d like to stress once again, as someone who lived through Hulkamania almost start to finish, that is 100% the opposite of what his deal was in the WWF.  Hogan wasn’t a superhero who beat up the bad guys effortlessly, he was the larger than life but flawed hero who would get jumped by the heels and frequently betrayed by his friends, sell like crazy for them, typically lose or sometimes win by countout/DQ in the first house show run and then rally to beat them decisively in the rematch.  Yeah, if you were in Buttfuck, MN and happened to get a Hogan show with him defending against some midcard goof like Terry Funk or Bob Orton or god forbid Iron Sheik he would typically steamroll through them, but if it was the SERIOUS houses like MSG with the Big John Studds or King Kong Bundys on top, totally different formula, where the heels would be protected with a DQ for the first run.  Paul Orndorff won a TON of matches over Hulk by DQ after steamrolling through the midcard following his heel turn. All the way up until Zeus that was the basic formula – heel attacks Hogan and gets the best of him, Hogan has to figure out to foil their devious boss attack pattern, Hogan rallies and beats them with the legdrop after drawing a second big house. 

It really wasn’t until he started getting ridiculous creative control in 92-93 and believing his own hype that you saw him turn into whatever it was he became when he went to WCW.  The formula with Vader should have simple – Vader lays out Hogan at the Clash with the powerbomb and all hope is gone, Hogan defends against Vader at Superbrawl and wins by DQ because Vader is beating the shit out of him and escapes the legdrop comeback by Race running in and saving him like a coward, and then Hogan wins the big cage match at Uncensored.  At that point with all the money gone he can no-sell the fuck out of the powerbomb and beat him clean because Vader has served his purpose.  Instead, they STARTED with Hogan no-selling the powerbomb.  It was the same deal with the Butcher/Flair nonsense at the Clash, although at least there he showed a slight bit of vulnerability, but then immediately came back to retire Flair and then put away Butcher in their very first match!  There’s a HUGE jump from “NWA style trading the title” to “Hogan is an untouchable superman who never ever loses or sells anything” and Hogan drew money in the 80s by finding the middle ground.