KrisZ Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 An obvious example would be the 02/15/86 Hogan-Muraco. Hogan-Muraco meant nothing, but the post match beatdown of Hogan played into Hogan-Bundy at Mania. Here's where House show stuff played into things. Hogan/ Muraco was a HUGE program at MSG. It followed the typical three match formula at MSG, but for those of us on the East Coast who got MSG network and the local promos, Hogan/ Muraco was a major fued. Seriously, local promos for this had Muraco/ Hogan as THE major fued of the year. And then it seemed to us the blow off match was on SNME, where Bundy attacked Hogan. And then Muraco got Orndorff at Mania 2 in a match me and my pals thought was gonna rule and it stunk. When was the last Muraco-Hogan match in MSG? Who was Muraco feuding all around the WWF at the point of the SNME match, and had been for a while (set up by a rather famous SNME angle the prior year). Muraco-Hogan was long over, and blown off in MSG in a cage match. If it ran in other cities, it had long since been blown off. The SNME match wasn't a Big Match. It was recycling an old opponent of Hogan's to use as a base for a Major Angle: Hogan-Bundy. John Muraco was still feuding with Steamer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLIK Posted January 23, 2011 Report Share Posted January 23, 2011 When I first joined this forum almost 3 years ago, I was obsessed with women's wrestling. I couldn't get enough deevers, joshi, shimmer, knockouts, all of it. Sometime in early 2010, I completely lost interest. Kinda the same here. Still love joshi but my interest in US stuff has gone way down. Dunno, Shimmer just got kinda boring and hard to sit through with really long 10+ match shows so I kind of got out of following it for a while. I'll get back in one day though. The amount of diffrent wrestling groups I watch now in general is way way down then it was compared to just a couple years ago. No longer watch WWE or TNA at all outside of a few PPVs a year and the random 1 off tv ep, AAA i tape every week but haven't watched in months, don't keep up with US indies any more. Still like them but just don't have the time like I used to I guess. These days i'm only regularly watching joshi, fmw, bjw, and then the rest is just random older tapes or off the wall stuff. I'll go through a battlarts phase or a wos phase or 2005 ROH or Dragon Gate or watch some older WWF/WCW or whatever. I enjoy flip-flopping on wrestlers on a weekly basis, but the conclusion I've come to is that you have to be into the rhythm of whatever you're watching. Whenever I watch a big batch of stuff for a poll, I always have an easier time getting into a style/company than if I'm just watching a one-off match where I may not be in the right mood. I agree. It's a much better way to enjoy a style/wrestler/company. I don't watch one-off matches anymore, not that I was ever big on this to begin with. Same way, I much prefer watching stretches of shows from a certain promotion all in a row then 1 random card or match. Never was the kind of fan who only wanted to see just the big 5 star matches or whatever, in a vacuum, out of context. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 They weren't booked like filler matches. Bundy actually got a win over Hogan on tv to set up the January match. It was much bigger than Hogan vs Sika or Hogan vs Race a month later. During the matches Bundy was treated as a full threat to Hogan. That this time he could win. Andre was played up but more he was the final thing that Bundy needed to beat Hogan. He was not treated like cannon fodder. Just pointing that out to compare how good the WWF use to be at this sorta thing and how bad they have been at it since the 90s. I assume we both watched it at the time and have different opinions of what we were watching. Hogan-Bundy hit me as SNME fodder, similar to most of Hogan's SNME singles matches up to that point. They stretches it out to a two-match fodder series. But since we were both watching syndication, we were seeing: * Hogan-Andre wasn't dead after Survivors and we all expected another singles match * Dibiase was talking about buying the title, which Hogan turned down, and Ted was pissed off about * we could see Hogan-Ted was the major program focus because of that * if we were getting a house show pimmped to us, it was overwhelmingly likely to be either the tail end of the Hogan-OMG feud, or some form of Hogan-Ted (often in tag involving Bam Bam and Andre or others) There were a handful of tag matches involving Bundy, but they all come across as Bundy in the "other guy" role similar to Bam Bam being the "other guy" on the Hogan side. Bundy felt like a throwaway. Wasn't even a feud at that time, even remotely close to say something like Hogan-Kamala which has gotten forgotten in time. Hogan-Orndorff in their first SNME match felt like a Big Match: the feud was just started and going around the circuit. Rare that you got to see a Hogan Match on TV while the feud was still red hot. The Hogan-Orndorff cage match felt like a Big Match: despite the feud having just finished up about everywhere at that point, it was a Cage Match (first Hogan cage match on SNME), and in a sense felt like the blow off to the feud if you didn't get the cage match in your city. Hogan-Bossman was similar: cage match, the feud had wrapped up in most places but this came cross as a blow off. Really, Bundy at the end of 1987 felt like yesterday's news. Orndorff did as well. Their time had been 1986, they had a peak moment, and then were just guys in the promotion. :/ John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 The emphasis during the second Hogan-Bundy match on SNME was that Andre was in Bundy's corner. I'd think most experienced viewers would know where that was headed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 As a child watching at the time I thought ANY Hogan tv match was a "big" match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted January 24, 2011 Report Share Posted January 24, 2011 As a child watching at the time I thought ANY Hogan tv match was a "big" match.That's pretty much dead on, dude. The only Hogan match on Saturday morning I remember was vs. Rusty Brooks or Dusty Wolfe or some other jobber. Anytime Hulk Hogan was on TV wrestling anyone was a big deal. Shit, if you're gonna pull the "out of nowhere" card...then Hogan/ Volkoff from the second SNME is the king of that arguement. I was 15 and thought "Nikolai? Fuck it, it's a flag match vs. Fucking Hogan". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Not trying to be argumentative on this, but where does one draw the line? Was Poffo vs Hogan a Big Hogan Match? I (and I suspect others here) watched that when it aired and pretty much thought it was a throw away. Hennig was the feud, and we were going to have to pay for it. Hogan-Hennig didn't air on SNME until the feud was well over, and Hogan dropped the title to Warrior. If those aren't ones, what's the next level? Hogan-Herc? Or Hogan-Ted, which was long after their series was dead? In a sense is every Hogan house show match a Big Hogan Match because people are being asked to pay for it. Do we pick two representative Hogan-Kamala matches from House Shows because it was a strongly pushed feud on TV, ran in pretty much every market, and usually was a two-match series? Rather than one Hogan-Bossman, should we really look at the earlier matches in the feud? That takes us circularly back to where we started the conversation: me talking about one type of Hogan Match, and Matt else talking about a different type of Hogan Match which was based on Big Matches, specifically PPV singles matches starting after a certain point: Hogan-Savage at Mania IV. I don't have a problem including all the SNME matches, and all his available house show matches. That actually was where I started from in my original post talking about Hogan Matches. I was the one willing to bend away from that to consider someone else's set of Big Matches to ponder. :/ John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 My point was just that this is a perception issue. At the time every Hogan match seemed big to me and all my friends at school. It was the equivalent of Clash of The Champions sort of, in that the SNME matches weren't ppvs, but they felt like major events to us kids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 Hogan working TV was kinda special at the time especially for those who didn't have access to MSG, PRISM, NESN, and the like you could say. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 I myself can't speak to stuff around 88-92 as I had more or less stopped watching wrestling outside of the occassional show on TBS or Saturday morning flipping around. But Hulk Hogan being on any show before then lent a feeling of "AWESOME, HOGAN'S ON TV WRESTLING". It didn't matter who he was wrestling. And I had fallen into a "Hogan stinks" phase right as I stopped watching wrestling religously during that time. But it was always a big deal to see him on TV. He was almost never on Saturday morning TV, so when he was on SNME, or even MSG it felt big time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-P Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 When I watched Superstars in the early 90's, Hogan was never a part of it. I was hearing about him, but never got to watch him in action. So whenever I got to see him, it felt like big-time event. It also fet like a disapointment because I soon realized I didn't like this guy at all and thought his wrestling sucked compared to my favourites, but that's another story. But yeah, Hogan showing up on TV was felt as something big to me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FLIK Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 As far as the Hogan on tv thing goes, that continued well on into WCW. Wasn't until Nitro came along that it finally changed as before then, outside of the Clashes you could probably count Hogan's other WCW tv matches on 1 hand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted January 27, 2011 Report Share Posted January 27, 2011 So we need to add these ones to the list of Big Hogan Matches as they aired on national TV: 03/11/84 All American Wrestling: WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Paul Orndorff via count-out at 12:24 after Hogan threw Orndorff over the top rope to the floor (2/20/84; Madison Square Garden) 04/14/84 All Star Wrestling: WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan vs. Afa bout, taped 3/7/84 in Hamburg, PA 01/01/85 Prime Time Wrestling: WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned Big John Studd (w/ Bobby Heenan) at 7:38 with a lariat; after the bout, Studd backed out of Hogan's challenge to attempt to bodyslam Studd for $15,000; pre-match stipulations stated that Hogan could lose the title via count-out (10/22/84; Madison Square Garden) 02/19/85 Prime Time Wrestling: WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned the Iron Sheik (w/ Freddie Blassie) at 3:31 with a powerslam and the legdrop (12/28/84; Madison Square Garden) 04/17/85 Prime Time Wrestling: Big John Studd (sub. for Jesse Ventura) (w/ Bobby Heenan) defeated WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan via count-out at 11:09 when Heenan helped shove the challenger back inside the ring after Studd and Hogan began brawling on the floor; after the bout, Studd & Heenan left ringside with the world title belt (Heenan's surprise debut) (9/22/84; Madison Square Garden) 05/15/85 Prime Time Wrestling: Don Muraco defeated WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan via count-out (4/22/85; Madison Square Garden) 05/28/85 Prime Time Wrestling: WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned Big John Studd (w/ Bobby Heenan) (sub. for Jesse Ventura) with a clothesline even though Studd clearly kicked out before the 3-count; after the bout, Hogan attempted to slam Studd but Studd escaped to the floor (10/13/84; Philadelphia Spectrum) 6/1/85 Championship Wrestling: WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Ken Patera (w/ Bobby Heenan & Big John Studd) via disqualification at 3:05 when Studd interfered and both men double teamed the champion; after the contest, Paul Orndorff made the save for Hogan as Heenan prepared to cut the champion's hair 06/25/85 Prime Time Wrestling: WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan fought the Iron Sheik to a double count-out at 10:47 after Hogan began attacking the challenger on the floor with Sheik's own boot, cutting him open, after Sheik did the same thing to the champion earlier in the match; after the bout, Hogan continued attacking the challenger inside the ring with the boot until he was pulled away by several wrestlers (5/5/84; Philadelphia Spectrum) 03/29/86 Championship Wrestling: WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned Moondog Spot at 1:56 with the legdrop 02/23/87 Prime Time Wrestling: WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned King Kong Bundy with a powerslam at 6:11 after the challenger hit the corner; prior to the bout, Bobby Heenan escorted Bundy to the ring and then returned backstage (10/12/85; Boston Garden) 05/23/87 WWF Superstars: WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan pinned Bob Orton Jr. (w/ Mr. Fuji) with the legdrop at around the 9-minute mark; during the bout, the top rope broke when Hogan sent Orton into the corner 5/14/88 WWF Superstars: Hulk Hogan pinned Boris Zhukov (w/ Slick & Nikolai Volkoff) at 1:59 with the legdrop; after the match Nikolai Volkoff and Slick came into the ring, with Volkoff receiving a powerslam and legdrop and Slick an atomic drop to the outside (Hogan’s final appearance until the summer as he was filming ‘No Holds Barred’) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 Prime Time Wrestling doesn't really "count." Those matches were shown in the context of being house show matches (sometimes recent, sometimes old) on possibly the lowest priority TV show in the company. For his overall exposure it does, but as a kid it didn't feel like "wow, he's in a regular TV match" like with the syndicated shows. SNME was, well, major main events. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 I guess those first few ones educated me: "Hey, Hogan is on TV... need to watch this. Oh... he's facing Volkoff. This is a throwaway." They dressed it up pretty by making it a Flag Match, but it really was lipstick on a pig. If one watched the syndicated shows, you knew who the real opponents were simply by the TV storylines and the promos for the local house shows. JKohn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Liska Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 Didn't Hogan face Tiger Chung Le on TV once? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 Didn't Hogan face Tiger Chung Le on TV once?I kind of remember that, as well as the Rusty Brooks match and the one against the guy who was supposed to look like Dusty.Now, were those important matches? Of course not. But it was Hogan on a Saturday Morning show, which was rare and felt like a big deal. It was similar to seeing Flair wrestle on World Wide. Sure he cut a lot of promos but he didn't wrestle often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 Yup, and it showed up via a TNT segment on a WWE Hogan DVD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 I still remember me being 7 years old being shocked that Hogan vs. Orton was on Superstars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dylan Waco Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 That's my point. Point is not that Hogan v. Chung Lee is equivalent of Hogan v. Andre. The point is that to kids - which to a large, large degree were the target audience of the WWF at the time - ANY tv Hogan match was a "big" match. Hogan v. another WWE "name" talent felt so rare at the time that it was a big deal to me and everyone I was friends with. From the looks of this thread this was not unique to Charleston, South Carolina. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Sorrow Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 That's my point. Point is not that Hogan v. Chung Lee is equivalent of Hogan v. Andre. The point is that to kids - which to a large, large degree were the target audience of the WWF at the time - ANY tv Hogan match was a "big" match. Hogan v. another WWE "name" talent felt so rare at the time that it was a big deal to me and everyone I was friends with. From the looks of this thread this was not unique to Charleston, South Carolina. And for me, a kid who didn't have cable until Fall 1986, all I had was Saturday morning TV..(which had WWF, AWA, WCCW, NWA, and Mid South) and SNME.(Hell, the best part of sleepovers at my pal Joe's house and Summer's at the beach/ my Aunt's house in KY was seeing wrestling on cable. Oh and MTV.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdw Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 Okay, I'll bow to the crowd. Matt will need to consider those Tiger Chung and Rusty Brooks matches when talking about the evolution of Hogan's work in Big Matches, and I'll make sure to track them down for the Hogan-A-Thon section coming up in the WWF thread. I'm going to have to fight down the urge to drop "Big Match" when reviewing throw away tv matches. I have been trying to cut down on the snarky comments in the thread in the second 100 matches, other than standard one when Bob takes a two count(!) that he allegedly never took. John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Victator Posted January 28, 2011 Report Share Posted January 28, 2011 I think the fact the Bundy matches were so heavily intwined with the Andre/Dibiase storyline helps make them big matches. Compare them to the Race match from the following SNME and the Sika match from the previous SNME. They come across as a bigger deal. Certainly on the level of the Orndorff matches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strummer Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 I still remember me being 7 years old being shocked that Hogan vs. Orton was on Superstars. so was I. Pretty sure it was done because of sweeps. Could be wrong about that though. didn't Hogan appear in Savage's corner in a match against one of the Conquistadors in 1988 on Superstars ( or Challenge)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flyonthewall2983 Posted January 29, 2011 Report Share Posted January 29, 2011 He did. It was on WWE Classics awhile back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.