[1991-03-24-WWF-Wrestling Challenge] Interview: Hulk Hogan

[Loss]

Talk about it here.

[Loss]

This is probably a good hype job for Wrestlemania, but the self righteousness is unbearable. He invokes God as a Hulkamaniac and compares him challenging for the WWF title to sacrificing ones life in real military combat.

[shoe]

I threw up in my mouth with Hulk 's spiel.

[Childs]

I have found the Hogan/Slaughter build really unappealing and not even for the obvious reasons of Vince's bad taste. Hogan was just insufferable, and I can't imagine having cheered for him based on these promos. The memorial-wall-in-the-sky shit was just icky and disrespectful to anyone who really lost a family member to war. The God-is-a-Hulkamaniac stuff sucked as well, though as someone who has covered Ray Lewis, I'm more used to that line of thinking.

[PeteF3]

Ever since Sarge's Iraq alliance reached a breaking point shortly before the Royal Rumble and he switched to the "Slaughter Rules" bit, it's been Hogan who's been constantly invoking war metaphors, the troops, and the flag, which makes this stuff self-aggrandizing even by Hulk's standards. ALL DEAD SOLDIERS ARE HULKAMANIACS--holy mother of God, this is insane. Hogan promises to bring the WWF Title to the sky with him so these casualties can wrestle him for the WWF title.

 

I will never, ever complain about hearing God Bless America during a baseball game again. That little piece of show-off jingoism is subtle and understated compared to this. This was beyond words--probably worse than any WM6 promo. I think being content to rid the WWF of Sgt. Slaughter's reign of terror would have worked as a hook just fine, Hulk.

[Kevin Ridge]

Okerlund brings up that Hulkamania will be on the line at WrestleMania. Silly with there being an actual retirement match with Savage/Warrior at same show. Apparently God is fired up about the Hulk Rules shirt being lit on fire. Hulk is overdoing it here with battle and war references. The salute at the end had me thinking Cena.

[soup23]

Well it took me longer than everyone else in here as I had enjoyed the build up but Hogan evoking God being appalled at Slaughter burning Hogan's shirt was a little more along with the Hulkamania wall in heaven being compared to military deaths was way out of bounds.

[garretta]

Well, if you're going to be tasteless and ridiculous, why not go all the way? Seriously, as horrible as this was, I can't single out Hogan, because he had nothing to do with the course Vince set for this crock of garbage months and months ago. At least Hogan waited until WrestleMania weekend to really stretch good taste and common sense to the limit; Sarge has been doing it for months. And, unaccountably, people went nuts for it all. Why be tasteful and talk about a wrestling match when you can invoke God Almighty and all the little dead children and blow the roof off of any arena you choose? It's nonsensical to do otherwise if your idea is to make money, especially if you have to make up the revenue you were counting on from 85,000 lost seats at Mania itself.

 

I realize that it sounds like I'm giving Hogan a pass, and I guess I am to a certain point. The only stuff that really was off to me was what he said about bringing the WWF title to heaven so all the dead children can wrestle him for it; that's right up there with the worst stuff from last year. All the rest, including the references to God and the Hulkamania Wall, are on point for what Vince wants this match to be, which is nothing less than an actual battle in the Gulf War live on pay-per-view. How could Hogan, or Sarge for that matter, be expected to do anything less than hype said war for all it's worth, as disgusting as most fans find the notion? Sure, Sarge could have walked out, as I suggested way back when. So could Hogan, for that matter. But it wouldn't have changed a thing except the names on the marquee. The blame lies with the people (or, most likely, person) who decided that it was okay to go down this road in the first place, not the people chosen to actually walk said road.

 

On a totally different subject, one of the few things Heenan does as a broadcaster that annoys me is when Gino mentions a standing ovation for one of the babyfaces and Heenan automatically says "What? I can't hear you!" or something similar. You've been in the WWF for seven years, Brain. If you don't know by now how nuts the crowds go for Hogan and Warrior, you're as hopeless as you look and sound. The first few times he did it were cute; now, it's a pain in the ass.