[2000-03-27-WCW-Nitro] Hulk Hogan vs The Wall

[Loss]

From that RAW main event stuff to this. Hulk Hogan vs The Wall. What a massive buzzkill. The announcers are already yammering on about the "new Nitro" coming with Eric Bischoff and Vince Russo. Shoot me. The politics behind this match were interesting, as Hogan had a ton of heat on him for his comments on WCW Live about how Billy Kidman couldn't headline a flea market, so to show he was a team player, he changed the planned finish of him pinning Wall to a DQ finish. This is a guy that knows where the power lies at the very least. Match is nothing special, and Hogan should never swing a chair. Wall just stands up after Hogan's Hulk-up and legdrop, which would be a great way to get someone over in a company that wasn't just in a holding pattern until the new regime comes in. The inexplicable Vampiro push continues. I guess I shouldn't complain about that one. They needed to push more guys to the top and they had almost no choices.

[El-P]

The inexplicable Vampiro push continues. I guess I shouldn't complain about that one.

 

Oh yes you should. Cf my WCW Highway to Hell thread... You've forgotten what you're in for.

[soup23]

I have been forgiving of Hogan but this was trash and his worst tendencies here. I can seem him politicing backstage that he gave Wall something by Wall essentially no selling the leg drop but everything was done in such a haphazard way, nothing had impact. In ring this was also brutal with Wall not being able to work up to his size and Hogan not all that interested in bumping on this evening. A sad end to the Spring Break 2000 Nitro. 3/4*

[gordi]

I think that if your goal is to build a guy up as an unstoppable Undertaker-type monster, maybe a white dress shirt, necktie,and frosted tips is not the most frightening look to go with.

[AstroBoy]

Hogan hits a karate thrust to the throat at one point in this. Both guys are wildly overselling, just cartoonish selling from the opening bell.

 

Outside the ring the Wall introduces a table. The layout of the whole Spring Break show here is a fun idea and the crowd is into it, I'll say that much. Wall recovers from some chairshots and hits the world's lightest Chokeslam on Hogan who hulks up. Now the Wall hulks up. I actually think that's a cool kind of fun moment. At least an interesting twist in this match.

 

So now Vampiro comes in and the match ends. Okay then.

[GSR]

Earlier in Nitro Hulk Hogan had an interview with Gene Okerlund and he talked about a $500,000 bounty on his head. Gene speculates that there will be a lot of takers for that kind of money, before the Hulkster starts putting over Vampiro as the future of the industry. As Vampiro was the first person to tell him about the bounty, he promises to stand next to him side by side. Hulk calls Sid Vicious to come out of the shadows, when the camera cuts to The Wall stood high on top a building. Real cool visual here; it’s the outdoor Spring Break episode of Nitro, is night time and this one spotlight is focused on The Wall stood atop the building, wind blowing and his arm raised signalling the chokeslam. Hogan says something about putting up $500,000 himself and tells The Wall that he’ll kick his ass too!

 

Later in the show we have the match and Tony Schiavone calls this a $1 million match, with $500,000 supposedly put up by both men (think old Tone is getting confused as that doesn’t sound right from the earlier interview, and where would The Wall get that kind of money?). The Wall with a knee to the mid-section and he immediately starts going to work on Hogan. The Hulkster ducks a clothesline and fires back with some weak looking punches. A series of punches in the corner and Hogan then bites The Wall’s forehead. Eye rake from The Wall stops Hulk in his tracks and he chokes him with the remnants of his T-shirt. The Wall tosses him to the floor and hits him over the back with a steel chair before setting up a table. He’s taking his time through and by the time he’s finished, Hogan’s recovered and nails him with a few chair shots of his own. The Hulkster throws him back in the ring, but The Wall’s not selling those chair shots and it’s like nothing happened when Hogan follows him back in there. The Wall with a chokeslam but Hogan pops up from it. He ‘Hulks up’, big boot to the sternum, legdrop and while he plays to the crowd, it’s The Wall’s turn to pop up and no sell his opponent’s finisher. As The Wall lays into Hogan in the corner he’s attacked from behind by Vampiro for the DQ. They double team him and a pair of punches sees The Wall fall from the apron through the table he’d earlier set up. To continue the idea that he’s indestructible, he gets straight up and wants some more of the now chair carrying Hogan and Vampiro, while Schiavone screams about him fearing no man.

 

The premise of Hogan popping up from the chokeslam and The Wall popping up from the legdrop (Hulk might be giving in this scenario, but he’s not having him kick out of the legdrop!) is good, but that’s about the only good thing I can say about this match. The Wall’s offense was soft (check out those stomps), whilst Hogan’s punches were bad and looked light and he again couldn’t get his foot all the way up for the big boot. This was also the Spring Break show so the chokeslam and legdrop spots got more reaction from the announcers than they did the audience. A different venue and a more ‘wrestling’ orientated crowd and both would’ve received sizeable pops. The match itself was rushed, the Vampiro interference was an incredibly cheap finish and whatever happened to that $1 million? That was quickly forgotten about!

[goc]

Hogan was still pretty over with live crowds at this point even if you would get some negative signs right in front of the hard cam like the "Please retire Hogan" one that we saw here. I thought Hogan made The Wall's chokeslam look like shit by popping right up from it but then he let Wall do the same to the legdrop which kind of made up for it. This was a nothing match with a shitty finish but the visual of Hogan and Vampiro working together at the end of it to get The Wall out of the ring was very surreal. The Wall didn't look very good here but I was pretty impressed by his short NWA-TNA run as Malice where he dropped a lot of weight and looked a lot less green.