"So it has come down to this. After so many years of watching wrestling, one of these guys just won't go away. I am talking about mister ego himself, the red and yellow power ranger, 'Thunderlips' in all his glory ... it can only be the Immortal Hulk 'look at me I am still cool' Hogan.
You would assume wrestling fans embrace a legend like Hogan, but in the world we live in, we see a society where those big icons are getting old (and somewhat annoying), while no one new is coming through, at least, not in the magnitude of stars from previous decades. We have to endure stars like Justin Bieber, John Cena and Lady Gaga, while we look back at the glory days, with men like Freddie Mercury, Michael Jackson, and even Hulk Hogan. Of course, a lot of those former stars have tarnished their own legacies in some fashion, or are no longer with us, and Hogan has done really well at embarrassing his legacy in recent times.
So I sat there watching TNA wrestling from 2010-2013. A company trying to grow, a company trying to get noticed, but they clung onto dinosaurs. Full respect to what dinosaurs did for our planet, but they became extinct, and they were replaced by much cooler, much younger species. As long as people cling to the past, you can't move forward, and that's what really grinds my gears."
Episode 3 - Revenge of the Hulkamania.
So without further ado ...
"To all my love slaves out there, Thunderlips is here. In the flesh, baby. The ultimate male, versus the ultimate meatball."
Yes, I went there. It was an easy target, but it had to be done. Hogan will always be one of the most loved, and at the same time, overrated superstars of the wrestling industry.
It is difficult, with so many children/teens of today only being born in the 90s and 2000s, they never got to embrace Hulkamania in its prime. It was a true phenomenon, you can't even compare him to guys like Cena. The only man to be on the same level when it came to merchandising and all-round awareness was Stone Cold Steve Austin. It is difficult to see anybody reaching that level again, it's true that Cena may sell some merchandise, he may have a lot of Facebook/Twitter followers, but he is not "cool" to the point that he gets a loud ovation every single time he steps into an arena.
Hogan innovated that, he got the crowds going insane for him on the first few seconds of an entrance. He had the build, he had the catchphrases, he had the move-set. Although it was an incredibly predictable move-set, fans didn't care, they paid to see the move-set, and back then you didn't have people calling each other "marks", and you didn't have people complaining because he wasn't "wrestling". People were seriously behind him, but he only got there because of help from certain individuals like Vince McMahon, Randy Savage, and other wrestlers who helped to put him over, and build him into a mega star.
He was becoming stale in the early 90's, people wanted change. His politics helped to keep him afloat in the main event picture, until he decided that Vince and the WWF was no longer good for him, so he jumped to WCW. We all know what happened after that, he turned Hollywood and went full-blown heel, forming the nWo, and keeping himself alive for a few more years.
And then guess what? He fell off the cliff. He got to the point where he was no longer the biggest draw. Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Attitude era changed all that, and his larger then life character was no match. He attempted to revive Hulkamania in the WWE not long after WCW went down, but he never quite reached the same level, he was too old, too out of touch with what wrestling had become. He needed to step aside and put over younger talents.
He lost his edge in WCW. Instead of helping to put over the talent of the future, he used his creative control and influence to keep himself, and friends in the main event scene. This created a rift between the mid-card and management, and they were very frustrated. They were doing a lot of the hard work, while guys like Hogan took cuts from their merchandise sales.Of course, a lot of blame for this should be blamed on WCW itself, for giving him such a lucrative contract, it would have been stupid of Hogan not to take advantage of it, anybody else would have. He did put over some guys during his WCW days, but ultimately, it was his contract that stopped anybody getting close to his spot. It was...
No comments:
Post a Comment