[1990-04-13-WWF/AJPW Summit] Hulk Hogan vs Stan Hansen

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

Terrific match. Hogan works as hard as I've ever seen him work, to a point where it may be one of the best performances of 1990. Both guys work really aggressively, which suits Hogan well at this point. I like the brawling side of Hogan, and I think Hansen would have been the perfect 80s opponent for him. Hansen did kick out at the last second to save himself a little, but if these two matches don't show the difference between Hogan and Warrior (and for that matter, Hansen and DiBiase), I'm not sure what does.

[PeteF3]

So this one has its own interesting backstory, as the advertised match was Hulk Hogan vs. Terry Gordy for the WWF title. When AJPW got word that Hogan dropped the title to the Warrior, Baba was quite upset and Gordy ended up backing out of the match entirely, supposedly (according to a Meltzer post on Classics) at the advice of Stan Hansen himself. Guess who "selflessly" volunteered to step in and do a job to Hogan in order to save the show.

 

Great performance from Hogan, who is all business and vicious aggression here, which is fitting in the face of his title loss and is something that I really wish the homogenized WWF product could have touched on at some point. Double juice and that a hot finishing stretch of countermoves before an Axe Bomber puts Hansen down.

[Childs]

I've always thought "Japan Hogan" makes the case for Hogan's intelligence as a professional wrestler. Say what you want about the man, but he knew how to get over in any setting. And as Loss noted, that puts a huge gulf between him and someone like Warrior. It would have been interesting to see the reaction if he worked a match like this on a big show in the U.S. during his prime. Would your average fan have noticed the difference?

 

I do think he could have had a great series with Hansen in the U.S., because Hansen was the kind of larger-than-life character who could have dropped right into the WWF for a six-month run in 1987.

[ohtani's jacket]

This was all right, but it wasn't as good as Hogan's brawling sprints against Orndorff and Race. I don't think he did anything special to get over, either. He got a pop because he was Hulk Hogan. Match was better than the usual WWF fare at the time, but I didn't like how symmetrical it was in terms of the length of time Hogan spent working Hansen over and Hansen's reply, and the finish wasn't very dramatic. It was interesting how close it resembled the modern WWF style with its over reliance on going to the outside, something which plagued Japanese wrestling horrendously as the decade wore on. Hogan's takedowns were probably the most fun part of the match. You've gotta protect yourself in Japan, brutha.

[jdw]

I do think he could have had a great series with Hansen in the U.S., because Hansen was the kind of larger-than-life character who could have dropped right into the WWF for a six-month run in 1987.

The generally proper time for it would have been after No Holds Barred, where Hansen played nice with McMahon and Hogan. I'm not sure if 1987 coming off Hansen's issue in the AWA would have worked.

 

Hogan went off to film No Holds Barred between later April through roughly mid/late July.

 

He had some matches with Andre, DiBiase, Haku and Bad News before his major fall feud with Bossman started in mid/late September. That was pretty much his feud all the way through Mania the following year, at which point it transitioned into Hogan-Savage.

 

No Holds Barred opened 06/02/89.

 

Hogan-Savage went on forever, including Hogan & Beefcake vs Savage & Zeus at SummerSlam and the No Holds Barred PPV.

 

Hogan vs Bad News started a small series in Oct, while Hogan vs Perfect/Genius started in Nov/Dec.

 

One could argue that Hogan-Hansen would have been a good feud instead of Hogan-Perfect, and instead continue Perfect's winning streak to set him up for Warrior. The problem with that is this:

 

11/17/89 - 12/06/89 Real World Tag League 1989

 

Hansen is going to have to be on the series. Now you could time Hogan-Hansen into the slot after the tag league is over. This was a time when gaijin, including Hansen, didn't work every series. So he could skip the first series and show up for the second series which was late Feb through early Mar.

 

All Japan's series in this time frame were:

 

09/30/89 - 10/28/89 October Giant Series 1989

11/17/89 - 12/06/89 Real World Tag League 1989

01/02/90 - 01/28/90 New Year Giant Series 1990

02/21/90 - 03/06/90 Excite Series 1990

03/24/90 - 04/19/90 Champion Carnival 1990

 

You could arguably shoot an angle between the October Giant Series and the Tag League that would air later to start the feud:

 

WWF @ Topeka, KS - Expocentre - October 31, 1989

WWF Superstars taping: 11/18/89, 11/25/89, 12/2/89

Saturday Night's Main Event #24 - 11/25/89 (Hogan-Genius)

 

WWF @ Wichita, KS - Kansas Coliseum - November 1, 1989

Wrestling Challenge taping: 11/19/89, 11/26/89, 12/3/89

 

You certainly could have shot an angle on one of those two. Typically they shot Superstars first then Challenge the next day, but they *could* have flipped them here if they wanted to give Hansen an extra day to get back and in good mind. Rather than Hogan-Genius, give Hogan a different opponent and left Hansen interfere and chop Hogan's head off.

 

In addition, you could have Hansen on the 12/2 show cutting a promo... and give him a manager like Heenan to do most of the talking.

 

The next set of tapings:

 

WWF @ Indianapolis, IN - Market Square Arena - November 20, 1989

WWF Superstars taping: 12/9/89, 12/16/89, 12/23/89

 

WWF @ Ft. Wayne, IN - Allen County War Memorial - November 21, 1989

Wrestling Challenge taping: 12/10/89, 12/17/89, 12/24/89

 

Would see Hansen in Japan:

 

11/17/89 - 12/06/89 Real World Tag League 1989

 

But they're easy ones to insert replays of the SNME angle into, along Heenan doing mouth work for him.

 

 

WWF @ Nashville, TN - Municipal Auditorium - December 12, 1989

Wrestling Challenge taping: 12/31/89, 1/7/90, 1/14/90

No Holds Barred: The Movie / The Match - 12/27/89: Hogan & Beefcake vs Savage & Zeus (Cage)

 

WWF @ Huntsville, AL - Von Braun Civic Center - December 13, 1989

WWF Superstars taping: 12/30/89, 1/6/90, 1/13/90

 

Hansen would be back from Japan for those. Doubt one would want to have him interfere in the NHB match, but you *could* have Hogan go into it in a neck brace to sell the lariat. You also could run another angle on the Superstars taping the next night (an example where they flipped the taping order) that could start airing on 12/30.

 

Then try to cram it into mid-Dec through mid-Feb:

 

01/02/90 - 01/28/90 New Year Giant Series 1990

02/21/90 - 03/06/90 Excite Series 1990

03/24/90 - 04/19/90 Champion Carnival 1990

 

You might be able to get Hansen in between the Excite and Carny series, but who knows.

 

Issues:

 

* you don't have a feud to bridge Hogan to Mania

 

* would Hansen be willing to job around the horn to Hogan

 

* you don't really have a blow off

 

It's Hogan... it's potentially a lot of money... maybe he would be willing to job... maybe not.

 

In the end, it's hard to book Hansen around his obligations to All Japan (both the series he had to work and his willingness to job) to fit into a typical long Hogan Feud of the era.

 

I kind of like what we got: one big match, in a big setting, with a clean finish that reflected decently well on both Hogan and Hansen.

 

The feud I would have rather seen that we missed was Dusty vs the WWF after the Dusty-Backlund match in New Japan was so fun.

 

John

[NintendoLogic]

Wasn't Hansen blackballed in the US for several years after the whole deal with the AWA?

[jdw]

The blackball was over for Vince by April/July 1988 when he used Stan in No Holds Barred. So that's why I go with the notion that if Stan was ever going to work a program with Stan, that was the time: after NHB and most likely after it got released.

 

John

[soup23]

I honestly think this is one of the best matches we have seen so far in 1990 as was blown away by how good it was. To me it speaks volumes on Hansen as a GOAT contender and Hogan as a better worker than given credit for. This mixed in many elements we just weren't seeing at the time in WWF main events including drop over toe holds, slamming on tables, and double juice. This match also went the right length and I thought the finish was very appropriate and dramatic with Hogan missing the legdrop for a Hansen nearfall and Hogan putting Hansen away with a lariat of his own. Hogan had some bad business exposing boot exchanges but other than that this was great stuff and I can certainly see this as a rewatchable match.

[shoe]

I liked this match, but it seems not as much as everyone else. I would agree I liked the Hogan/Race matches more.

[Kevin Ridge]

Hansen knocking over Mel Phillips while he was doing the introduction and then whipping him was awesome. Hogan with a drop toe hold! Hansen gets the best out of the slugging exchange but eats post outside. Crowd gets antsy about a count out finish and cheers when it gets back in the ring. Hogan takes a chair shot to the head. Some fan at ringside gets real protective of him and keeps touching him. Was waiting for Hansen to pop her in the mouth.

 

Both men bloody now. Hogan tries using the bullrope but gets whipped. More of a pro Hansen crowd at this point. Hansen can't hit the lariat and Hogan missed the leg drop. Hogan wins after getting his own lariat off a counter. Hogan adjusts very well to wrestling in Japan.

[Cox]

It's really remarkable how different this is from most Hogan WWF matches. No "Hulk Up," no legdrop finish, no pretense of Hogan playing by the rules, Hogan trading holds (!)...I think that's what makes this stand out. As much as I think a Hogan/Hansen series would have been fun, I think I'm with jdw on this one. They had their one match with a clean finish on a big show that will be remembered for years. Why water it down with a series that would have been fraught with booking complications and that would have been held back by the WWF house style of the late 80's?

[Zenjo]

What's come over Hogan this month? Working his ass off and having good matches. Like most guys his size he was physically quite limited, but was a decent wrestler when he so desired. The Hulkster went toe to toe with the badass Texan and even busted him early. The favour would be returned. It was no classic but more than good enough to make an impact. Great to see a clean finish instead of the expected shennanigans.

[TravJ1979]

My first time seeing this (as with a bunch of non US stuff on this YB) and it's a very high MOTM contender for April. Better than Hogan/Warrior and better than Hansen/Vader from Super fight.

[JerryvonKramer]

Again, this looks totally unmissable. I'm actually pretty excited to see it. I can only imagine what the prospect of this match must have felt like to a Japanese fan at this time.

 

Hogan comes down and he's all business. No showboating, nothing: he just wants to wrestle. He's come to fight.

 

This is as good a match from Hogan as I can recall seeing. He was so aggressive and I think it says something that, in Japan, he worked a Hansen match rather than asking Hansen to work a Hogan match. Really good. And up there with the best of 1990 so far. B+

[garretta]

Unless Hogan-Warrior shows me something I haven't seen before, this is my WWF Match of the Month for April. Just a tremendous brawl, the kind Hogan used to work on Japan tours regularly. His wrestling sequences looked a bit rusty, but they were bound to be, since he hadn't used them in years. Lots of brawling into the crowd, and even the announcers had to be on their toes, including Mel Phillips. (I saw him get shoved, but not whipped, although I'm not doubting it happened.) In the end, Hansen does the job with style, which Gordy (if I recall) was reluctant to do, even with the title on the line. I don't think he could have had a better match with Hogan than this one, though.

 

As for John and his projected Hogan/Hansen feud, Vince would probably have wanted nothing to do with it unless Stan was willing to drop All-Japan entirely and come stateside fulltime. He'd have probably had the Zeus run in '89, complete with a Beefcake program similar to the one Ron Bass got and the SummerSlam tag match with Savage. The only appreciable difference might have been that the No Holds Barred match would have been Hogan/Hansen singles in a cage, with Hogan going over in a lot more of a squash than we got here, since he had to be seen as all-powerful heading into Mania against Warrior. Stan would have probably had Sherri as a manager, since he'd have been brought in by Savage, and I'm not sure he'd have been allowed to use the lariat, since most of the guys in the WWF used the clothesline frequently. The Boston crab would have been out too, since that was protected for Rick Martel. His finisher would probably have been something like the Pedigree, only done the way Bass did it with the arms unhooked.

 

In short, we got the best we were going to get with this one match. I highly doubt a Hansen program would have been very memorable; in fact, the Poffo/Hennig series that John scrapped for it in his post was more memorable, since Lanny beat Hogan on SNME, which I doubt Stan would have come close to doing.

[drew wardlaw]

From Hansen's book:

 

"The day before the show, Gordy decided he wasn't going to "do business" with Hogan. He knew he was in line for a top spot with the company, and he didn't think it would be a good career move. Finding himself in a tough spot without a top talent for Hogan, Baba called my home in Mississippi and asked my dad if he knew how to get in touch with me. I was enjoying time off at my wife's house in Japan. Baba got the necessary information from my dad and called me.....He explained that Terry had backed out and asked if I would take the spot. Baba said he was in a bad position since Gordy was one of the boys, and it made him look bad to both New Japan and the WWF. I was happy to take the match."

 

So take this for whatever it's worth, but its a different side of the story that Meltzer says about the match.

[paul sosnowski]

Umm...Stan was already working a complete All Japan tour from March 24, 1990 to April 19th...  

He worked April 9th, so he may have been on a short break for a few days before the Dome

[Superstar Sleeze]

Hulk Hogan vs Stan Hansen - AJPW/WWF 4/13/90

HULK HOGAN VS STAN HANSEN IN THE TOKYO DOME~! I have been meaning to see this forever. Not just two of my favorites, but two of the best wrestlers ever with two big of the biggest personalities headlining the Tokyo Dome! I would love to hear the story behind why the WWF ran a joint venture with All Japan here. I know their Japanese counterpart was New Japan until like 85/86. Why the return to an alliance? Why All Japan? WCW/New Japan did not start until 1991 correct?

Hansen was definitely in what I would call Baba mode early, which is to say he was pretty cooperative. Hogan took him down a bunch with drop toeholds and sort of wrangled him in. Hansen would throw a shot here and there. For the most part, he just let Hogan tee off. There was a pretty good firefight early with them trading eyerakes and fists. I liked Hansen pelting Hogan as he was trying to enter the ring only for Hogan to keep coming. On the outside Hogan bashed Hansen's head into the post busting Stan open. He worked the cut. The best part was the Hogan bodyslam of Hansen into the ringside tables and the irreverent back heel stomp. It was all Hogan early. Then Hansen hit the Lunging Shouldertackle! The crowd popped and so did I. It was 90% Hansen I would say. He did not go full bore wild ass Hansen but that chair shot right to the skull looked gnarly and I know Earl Hebner would disagree with me as Hansen fucking chucked the chair at him, he would say that was 110%! We got double juice! Hogan grabs the bullrope just to survive at one point. Hansen slams him into the announce tables! This was awesome! I loved Hansen signaling for the Western Lariat twice getting the big pop, Hogan evading, you get the reaction but protect move. HOGAN MISSES THE LEGDROP! Hansen pounces on top for two. Hansen misses the second Lariat like I said only for AXE BOMBAH~! 1-2-3! Killer finish! 

I really liked the finish run, electric and heated! The double juice was awesome! Loved all the brawling around ringside. Kickass Clash of the Titans brawl in the Dome! Dream match that loves up to the hype, brutha! ****