[1992-02-08-WWF-Saturday Night's Main Event] Hulk Hogan & Sid Justice vs Ric Flair & The Undertaker

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

I did not recall the pre-match moment where Mooney turns to Hogan right as Sid starts to speak, but that was hilarious!

 

If anyone who doesn't get it ever wants to understand the "Hogan is an asshole babyface" phenomenon, this is the perfect example. Sid has reason to feel angry at how Hogan has the promotion in his pocket and that he didn't get the title shot despite being the last man in the ring at the Rumble with the champ, and despite eliminating Hogan, the guy who *did* get the title shot.

 

The Sid turn on Hogan is well done, but aside from the post-match physical altercation, this is almost exactly what the Hogan/Savage vs Twin Towers match was a few years earlier.

[Tim Evans]

Even though you could see it a mile away, Sid's turn on Hogan never gets old. And yeah Hogan was a asshole babyface just like Rock was and Orton is.

[flyonthewall2983]

The first wrestling I ever watched was this show. Vince sells the Sid turn perfectly.

[El-P]

I did not recall the pre-match moment where Mooney turns to Hogan right as Sid starts to speak, but that was hilarious!

 

If anyone who doesn't get it ever wants to understand the "Hogan is an asshole babyface" phenomenon, this is the perfect example. Sid has reason to feel angry at how Hogan has the promotion in his pocket and that he didn't get the title shot despite being the last man in the ring at the Rumble with the champ, and despite eliminating Hogan, the guy who *did* get the title shot.

Hogan's character is pretty compelling in the long run for that reason. He was really the all-time hypocrite bastard he ended up portraying in the nWo.

Sid's fake tag was just great. I realize I loved Sid at that time.

[Chess Knight]

Sid's promos are coming off way more coherent than I remember them being. I liked this, and the Sid/Hogan thing is built really well, but having Hogan/Flair actually PEGGED as the WWF Title match for Mania then swapping it doesn't leave the greatest taste in my mouth.

[Kevin Ridge]

Mooney did his best Okerlund impression by talking to Sid and then taking the mic away and talking to Hogan instead. Sid just walking away was pretty funny. The turn was obvious but watching it this day and age you totally root for Sid as Hogan was incredibly obnoxious at this point. He doesn't have a whole lot of redeeming qualities as a face here and from what seen in 94, WCW seemed to book him the same.

 

Match was decent enough with Sid walking out on Hogan. Didn't like Hogan taking out both Flair and Undertaker at end especially with Undertaker turning face shortly. It doesn't make sense that Hogan would give up the Title shot at WM to take on Sid instead.

[MikeCampbell]

This was probably the first time in my young mark life that I knew damn well what was going to happen before it did. Like Loss said, this is another prime example of asshole Hogan. Even the booking is kind to him, he gets the lame DQ win, and then gets to still make the superman comeback and run off the heels and stand tall. Sid couldn't even lay him out with the powerbomb to heat up 'Mania?

[WingedEagle]

After the great backstage promo recapped above, Sid is out and telegraphing his turn basically from the start. It is awesome despite, or perhaps, because of that. Taker bumps well for Hogan who doesn't fail to generate excellent heat throughout. Sid walks out after passing on a tag and for some reason Hogan still needs to pick up a DQ win rather than take the fall facing two against one odds. There's half of your mania main event.

 

**1/2

[PeteF3]

Sid cuts an awesomely insincere "apology" and puts on a fake plastic smile all throughout. Mooney cuts Sid off during the pre-match promo and Sid shakes his head and walks off. Hogan doesn't just come off as an egomaniac, he comes off as a complete idiot--of Sting-esque proportions. Hogan has Brutus Beefcake has a "special surprise" because God only knows the depths of Hogan's insecurity. The idea that Sid was in the wrong for eliminating Hogan "from behind" is one of the dumbest angle set-ups the WWF of this time period ever did. It may ask for more fan stupidity than the Slaughter babyface turn did. Vince's insistence that Hogan and Sid are now getting along also comes across as phony and desperate.

 

Sid performed his role quite well, but this whole presentation was off. When Hogan drew boos at the Rumble and at subsequent live events, the WWF tried to double down and force-feed us the planned storyline. I know modern-day WWE draws similar criticisms but I think this is an area that they're far, far better at today.

 

The match itself is better than I would have thought. Even the Beefcake save afterward is well-done.

[Robert S]

This whole thing completely undermined Flair as champion and devalued the title.

[Ditch]

Mooney owned Sid so brutally there. That was fucking ice cold.

 

I like how WCW returned to the *exact same angle* in 2000.

[garretta]

This was mixed at best.

 

The only part that was really well done was Sid's promos both before and after. I didn't know that there was a perfectly decent smarmy asshole trapped inside that huge body, and I thought he was better before the match than after, although his reasons for turning on Hogan and how he got them across were more logical than anything we'd seen in the "friend turns on Hogan" department since Andre on Piper's Pit.

 

Unfortunately, whatever subtlety Vince once had in booking turns on Hogan is long gone. Most of the other ones were obvious in hindsight, and Savage in particular was no great surprise, but there wasn't even the faintest attempt to hide what was coming here. What's worse, Hogan never needed Sid at any point in the match; Flair and Taker never really put him in much danger except for the figure-four, which Hogan easily reversed. I remember vividly Bundy and Studd beating the living dogcrap out of Hogan before the Orndorff turn, and how Hogan struggled over to his corner only for one of the heels (can't remember which) to "accidentally" knock Hogan into Orndorff. Then came the doubleteam, and Hogan was DOA. Everyone watching knew that the Heenan Family was finally going to put him out for good........and then here came Orndorff like a whirlwind to clean house. We know what happened next, but the build was exquisitely suspenseful.

 

No such luck here, as Hogan not only dominated during the bout except for a few seconds, but cleared the ring afterward while looking out for Beefcake at the same time. He shouldn't have been pinned here (and would have flat-out refused to be), but he should have been tombstoned or chokeslammed or put in the fgure-four afterward. With Sid gone for the hills, Beefcake would have had a real choice to make: his face or Hogan's life? More importantly, Sid's absence would have meant more than a minor annoyance for Hogan, and the desire to make Sid hurt as he had hurt at Flair and Taker's hands would have been great motivation for him to give up the title match at Mania VIII and go after Sid instead. As it is, his feelings are hurt because Sid walked out on him. Big deal, you jackass. It's not like you needed him anyway.

 

Vince and Heenan were both way under par here. Vince was in full "scream my lungs out and hopefully the audience will think this crap is fun" mode, and Bobby was trying too hard to push the idea of dissension instead of just mentioning it once or twice and then letting events unfold. Also, the better Curt gets at being a mouthpiece, the less we need Bobby as a cheerleader for Flair and the more obnoxious he sounds in that role. (I know we didn't get any promos from the heels here, but the few times I tuned in live during the year, Bobby sounded more and more out of place as Flair's "advisor". It'll be interesting to see if that holds up as I go through the discs.) The basic problem was that Bobby was seldom seen with Flair and Curt after the Rumble, so he really didn't seem like part of the act so much as someone who wished he was. He sounded the same way during Flair matches in WCW too, from what little I've seen. By the way, excellent move to minimize Sid's turn by mentioning Hogan's match with Flair at Mania, Vince. The man's so busy hyping and shilling that's he's lost all concept of how to tell a wrestling story in the booth. No wonder he needed JR.

 

I didn't mind Beefcake's presence or his inabllity to take bumps as much as I did Vince acting like Flair or Taker even breathing on him was tantamount to drawing a gun and shooting him dead. If he's cleared to be at ringside, that means he of all people knows the risks and is ready to assume them, at least for my money. Did Beefcake need to get physically involved? Of course not; he's probably the only person in the match who acted like you'd expect someone in his position to act. But if he had gotten involved, he could have been figure-foured or chokeslammed with no damage to his face, so Vince was just running his yap for no logical reason whatsoever. (He would never, ever have been allowed to take a tombstone or flying clothesline from Taker in his condition.)

 

Moment of the night: As mentioned several times above, Mooney setting Sid up to talk about his actions at the Rumble, then pulling the mic away to talk to Hogan instead. Maybe Sean's best WWF moment ever. Not even Mean Gene could have pulled it off so smoothly.

[cowboy hats]

Why would they have Sid and Flair wear the same color trunks?

[thebrainfollower]

I think Hogan's actions in this match are part of a trend. When Hogan hears anything less than full blown massive cheers for his act, he goes into uber selling nothing for nobody superman mode rather than allow heels to build heat on him. UT's mild cheer at Survivor Series and the crowd turning on him at Royal Rumble 92 are why he basically takes Flair and Undertaker apart 2 on 1 with ease.

 

We see the same thing in WCW from 94-96 get progressively worse to the point where I'm convinced had the NWO not come along WW3 in 96 would have consisted of Hogan eliminating 59 wrestlers all on his own.

 

I'm kind of shocked Vince allowed this to happen at what is basically Undertaker's last match as a heel for years. Making Flair look bad is par for the course, but he makes Taker look awful here. Had a few more months of Hogan-Taker done this way happened I'm convinced the gimmick wouldn't have lasted past maybe 1993.

[dawho5]

Hogan was definitely at his worst in the match. Sid's turn was foreshadowed more than enough. Still I didn't think it needed to be subtle. He was clearly still pissed and had every right to be. His post-match promo was great and I actually liked Beefcake for once in the post-match. Hogan killing everything that moved was all kinds of bleh.

[Superstar Sleeze]

Hulk Hogan & Sid Justice vs Undertaker & Ric Flair - WWF Saturday Night Main Event 2/8/92

Classic Sid nothing really of note for a whole year after the Wargames ‘91 match and a cool Luger match but he thrust right into the main event. There is nothing Midcard about Sid.

It is the explosion of 90s Four Horsemen! Two of the Horsemen leaving around the same time. Flair and Undertaker are such a strange team. Interesting Hogan gets awarded the shot but opts to face Sid after this. It seems like one of the more convoluted builds. How did they even get to Savage then.

The match is Classic SNME fun. The baby face shine is a ton of fun. Flair is just ready to bump for everyone. Nice symmetry on the backdrops. Hell even early Taker is bumping. I love how he bumps and strains on the sit up. He really never stops moving forward. It is usually a bayface tenedenct but here it works great as the Creature from the Black Lagoon rising again and again. He loves using that underhand thrust to change the tide. Hogan hogging the spotlight and quickly saving Sid was good storytelling. Lots of fun double teams. Hogan is soaking in the adulation and Sid has had enough. 
 

Flair takes Hogan down by the knee. Figure-4. I watched this yesterday so my memory is fuzzy but the heat segment is pretty long for SNME standards as they need to milk that Sid is not going to tag Hogan and he really fucked Hogan over. There was good hope spots and Hogan selling in there. Sid jumps down and leaves Hogan to the wolves. Flair lamely throws the ref down for the DQ. 
 

I would be remiss to mention that Brutus Beefcake makes his triumphant return as Hogan’s friend to the end. Vince, I haven’t heard his voice since all sexual assault shit broke, it reminded me of the first time I watched Benoit. Anyways Vince was really hyping one shot Brutus’ face would cave it in. They teased it with Sid then Flair & Taker. Hogan saves the day. It was Classic SNME fun and camp.