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Hulk Hogan's best matches


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I thought his matches during his 2002 comeback tour were some surprisingly strong stuff. The Rock match at Mania is of course the big one, but he also did some interesting stuff with Jericho, Angle, and Lesnar. Those all had different stories and flows, and were neither just the same Hogan match nor the same WWE Main Event Style match. It wasn't all great, the HHH and Taker matches stunk. But for a little while, he looked more like HULK F'N HOGAN again and less like a sad old man trying to relive his glory days.

 

Anyone remember if his team with Edge produced anything decent? I'm drawing a total blank on how those matches went.

 

To just name random one-offs, his big interpromotional bout with Stan Hansen in 1990 was a lot of fun. Him and Muta in '93 was way better than it had any right to be, too.

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Working on the finishing touches of the AWA Set now (actually I'm done watching stuff and things look to be shaping up for a match list in the VERY near future). Hogan was a hell of a lot of fun there. My favorite match of his from the AWA is The Super Sunday match with Bock from 4/24/83. It MIGHT be the best match of his career - at minimum it's in the discussion:

 

This had the feel of a true heavyweight, clash of the titans match and was worked that way. Both guys appeared to be firing on all cylinders and were throwing desperation bombs . Really loved Hogan in this as he was straddling the fence nicely between vulnerable babyface and monster babyface. Also his big offense looked really good, especially his elbow drop and powerslam which got a really great nearfall. Hogan missing the leg drop was a great spot and Bock responding by throwing these last ditch effort blows that looked like they were being tossed out to balance himself as much as they were to inflict damage was really great. Cool sequence as Bock chops down Hogan but then goes for a slam and just collapses with Hogan getting a great nearfall. Hogan has Bock really and hits another strong elbow drop for a really slow counted nearfall with Hogan given an awesome "fuck you" look to the ref as he circles out of the way. Hogan charges the corner but Bock moves and Bock locks on admittedly sloppy sleeper. Normally the sloppiness of this sleeper would piss me off but here it works as it comes across as the desperate attempt of a defeated man to put away an unbeatable giant. Bock gets slung over the top onto the ref to break it but goes back to it again, this time the ref gets squashed in the corner. Bock goes for another attempt but Hogan leans forward sending him over the top to the floor. Hogan brings him in and hits a suplex and then the leg drop for what should have been the most important title change in AWA history. Instead they do the screwjob Dusty finish with Blackburn reversing the decision because Hogan had thrown Bock over the top. This is a famous and very good match.

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He had multiple matches with Jericho and Angle. Which ones are you referring to? He had multiple matches with HHH. Which ones stunk, or did they all stink?

-I only remember one with Angle, at KOTR; the bizarro-world sight of Hogan actually tapping out makes that one memorable, if nothing else. Angle's master-of-suplexes gimmick had Hogan taking more bumps in that one match than he did in his entire last year of WCW.

 

-I think Jericho/Hogan ran twice on Smackdown; both were similar to each other, but decent enough.

 

-With Trips, I know they had one on Backlash and I think a rematch on Smackdown, and recall them both being rather slow and dull and way too long. This was during that Quadruple H period when Trips had come back from the leg injury all bulked up and wasn't moving around nearly as fast as he used to, and at this time Hogan really needed an opponent who could run around him and provide a contrast to Hulk's lumbering.

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The Bossman MSG cage match

 

Vader Superbrawl V

 

Randy Savage Boston Garden - May 24, 1986, it was a great performance from both of them. Best match they ever had together.

 

Kamala Madison Square Garden - January 19, 1987 Kamala had great chemistry with Hogan. They even had a good match in 1995.

 

I will have to give a fifth one some thought.

 

EDIT: Hogan and Angle had a pretty good rematch on Smackdown in 2002. For some reason 24/7 played it more than once. The Judgment Day match with Taker is good all things considered.

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He has a match with Terry Funk on the SNME DVD that I liked a good bit. I can't recall the date though (1/4/86?). I'm confident he has a good match with Race as well during that time period. He has a very good tag match teaming with Buddy Rose in NJ. I think they face Yatsu and Fujinami. That's on Will's Rose comp. I haven't seen any AWA Hogan with the exception of one Bock match that is on his DVD. I like Hogan-Warrior a good bit and Hogan-Savage but the finish to the latter is pretty shitty. Obviously the Bossman Cage matches. I feel like I've seen one of his Orndorff matches but I can't recall the quality. I believe I saw War to Settle the Score years ago but my memory is bad today. The Brock match is pretty memorable for it's disturbing visuals and I thought it was very good. I don't know what the consensus is on that. This is all very vague but it's off the top of my head. I'll look into this a little further maybe sometime later.

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There's actually a lot of stuff in the first few WWE years I haven't seen. I like most of the Slaughter stuff (I know, dates). Hogan v Earthquake is the best match on SS 90. I like the third MSG Flair match. i love the Orndorff cage match.

 

I'll double back later.

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Here are 10 of his best (IMO) matches in no particular order:

 

- vs. Vince McMahon (Wrestlemania XIX)

- vs. Ultimate Warrior (Wrestlemania VI)

- vs. Antonio Inoki (1st IWGP Tournament)

- vs. The Rock (Wrestlemania XVIII)

- vs. Roddy Piper (Starrcade 96)

- w/ Team NWO vs. Team WCW (Fall Brawl 96)

- vs. Kurt Angle (King of the Ring 2002)

- vs. Keiji Mutoh (Wrestling Dontaku 93)

- vs. Big Bossman (March 89 MSG show)

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I still love the Hogan/ Schultz match from 6/17/84..the "Massacre in Minneapolis". And the Hogan/ Valentine match from the Philly Spectrum 08/04/1984 is fucking great. Both are on the first Hulkamania videotape that I must have watched a thousand times when I was 15. I like the Studd match from that tape a bunch as well. The Orndorff match from "The Big Event" is great but with a wonky finish.

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I can't understand this revisionism that Hogan was effective. Somebody point to the one match for a skeptic like me.

It's not hogan that changed. It's us.

 

Part of it is the footage that's available. I didn't have access to every NJPW TV show from 1982-1983 back in the 90s. I had no inclination to spend the money to build a collection of 80s WWF house shows considering the general quality of work. Now you can go on YouTube and DailyMotion and find tons of Hogan house show matches. And there's a lot of good ones. Classics on Demand has also opened up matches that weren't available.

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I can't understand this revisionism that Hogan was effective. Somebody point to the one match for a skeptic like me.

It's not hogan that changed. It's us.

 

Well, I watched the Orndorff cage match and it was a fun match because of Jesse and Vince and Orndorff and Bobby in that order. I'm not trying to be contrary, but Hogan didn't do a single thing in the match that I would consider noteworthy. I guess you could argue that he was effective at following the script, so to speak, but that's the job of a professional wrestler. Nobody's going to accuse Hogan of not knowing the basics.

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Every halfway decent babyface in the history of the business has been able to follow the script to the extent that Hogan did in that match. Just because Hogan was more over than just about every halfway decent babyface in the history of the business doesn't mean that he did something extra special. If Hogan's so spectacular then why do they need a three ring circus in Danny Davis, Bobby Heenan and the cage? Hogan wasn't bad or anything, but it's not as though he did anything special to draw heat.

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Just because Hogan was more over than just about every halfway decent babyface in the history of the business doesn't mean that he did something extra special.

How do you figure?

 

If Hogan's so spectacular then why do they need a three ring circus in Danny Davis, Bobby Heenan and the cage?

You could say that about every main event act ever.

 

"If Austin is so good, why did he need Vince as the guest referee?"

 

"If Misawa was so great why did he need so many moves?"

 

"Why does Rey Mysterio need to jump off the top rope?"

 

The answer is Hogan did not need them. It was a bonus.

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