Hulk Hogan Dies At 71

[David Mantell]

1 hour ago, David Mantell said:

Hogan Vs Warrior needed Pat Patterson to make it work.

With him you got WM6

Without him you got HH98.

I think a WM7 Hogan Warrior rematch with Pat directing traffic would have turned out similarly acceptable.  Probably also sold more tickets than Hogan-Slaughter.

[C.S.]

On 8/16/2025 at 4:19 PM, PeteF3 said:

I don't think Hogan's a bad worker (and comparisons to Daddy are laughable) but it's also possible they just have different ways of evaluating wrestlers than you and Hogan comes up short.

It's not just me who thinks Hogan is good worker - I'm not arrogant enough to declare myself the final say on the matter - it's also other workers who think so. 

The Daddy comparisons, as you readily acknowledged, are absurd.

[Dav'oh]

Hogan was a great worker. We, here, at PWO, in 2025, are not who he was working for. He was working for the crowds in front of him and he had them in the palms of his hands.

Can he pop the wrestling intelligentsia? No, but why the fuck should he?

[Control21]

On 8/15/2025 at 2:39 PM, David Mantell said:

Happened in a few places eg Israel circa 1995, shut down by local  moral guardian Dafna Lemish.  Not in Britain though, AFAIK Mary Whitehouse left wrestling alone. The Mae Young/puppies incident was after her time anyway.

Israel is a pretty funny case because UWFi held a show there in 1995, which was a very well attended. UWFi Bushido was also apparently a very popular program on Israeli TV and often drew big ratings in prime time 

[David Mantell]

1 hour ago, Control21 said:

Israel is a pretty funny case because UWFi held a show there in 1995, which was a very well attended. UWFi Bushido was also apparently a very popular program on Israeli TV and often drew big ratings in prime time 

It had its own wrestling scene in the 60s/70s under promoter/lead babyface (and future Rabbi) Rafael Halperin and between then and the WWF's arrival it had quite an assortment of foreign tours - German opposition promoter Edwin Shoburgh, World Class, All Star Wrestling from the UK ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_wrestling_in_Israel

 

[David Mantell]

7 hours ago, C.S. said:

The Daddy comparisons, as you readily acknowledged, are absurd.

It's not about them being good or bad workers.  It's about them being shoved down one's throat as superheroic lead babyfaces with incessant wins.

That's why 12 year old me made the link in January 1987.

[Coffey]

I was born in 1981. Hulk Hogan was the reason why I got into professional wrestling as a child & he made me a fan of the business for life. Growing up, I always heard the "I was never a Hogan fan anyway" or "I liked Macho Man better" or "I liked Ric Flair better" stuff but, not me, WWF reeled me in exactly as intended with their charismatic, giant poster boy. I was the perfect age & perfect mark.

He turned out to be an awful man outside of the ring, but as a little boy, I didn't know that & couldn't see the future - obviously. Although as an adult looking back, there were always some signs & stories from others. Jesse Ventura talking about the union busting comes to mind, or what happened with Bret Hart at WrestleMania 9. Nowadays, when everyone has done a shoot interview or a podcast, you can hear everything & just have to decide which person telling which story to believe... but we all heard with our own ears the awful things Terry said both after his son's car crash & while cheating with Bubba the Love Sponge's wife, about black people. Unforgiveable, inexcusable, awful things that truly tanked everyone's opinion of Terry Bollea & rightfully killed all his respect. That's putting it mildly. More personally & accurately, I not only stopped being a fan of Hogan when those audio tapes leaked but to me, that was when he died. 

I can still watch Hulk Hogan. If I put on an old WrestleMania, I still get drawn into his promos. I want to be able to separate the performer from the man because he was such a monumental figure in my life, honestly. There's just no way the shit doesn't float to the forefront of your mind though. You look at him differently.

The first WWF show I remember watching was probably an old WWF Superstars because I remember seeing the Macho Man Vs. Hulk Hogan stuff after the Mega Powers exploded during Saturday Night's Main event. There's no way that I was still awake to actually watch SNME then though, so that's why I think it was probably a replay on the Saturday morning show. I also remember, at least a couple of years, WWF Survivor Series was actually on Thanksgiving Day & my family ordered the Pay-Per-View as a way to placate one family member that was a fan, but also as a way to give the children something to do to keep them out of the hair of the adults. I sat & watched with my brother & my cousin. As a kid, I just loved the babyfaces like I was supposed to. The Ultimate Warrior, Jake 'The Snake' Roberts & of course, Hulk Hogan. I was drawn into the show like I would be a cartoon like He-Man & the Masters of the Universe, or like a comic book. I reckon that was the whole point. Hogan & Warrior both had crazy tirades & Jake smoked crack. Who was picking the babyfaces for WWF!? ...oh, right.

I didn't remember the campaign encouraging it until seeing it again years later, but I remembered writing in a "get well soon, Hulkster" letter after The Earthquake squashed him on The Brother Love Show & he did a stretcher job. That was in 1990 so I was 8-9. I took a break from wrestling sometime around the steroid trial era but Hogan being a bad guy when I was a rebellious teenager is what brought me back to wrestling. The nWo started in 1996, when I would have been 15 & ran at least until I was 17 or 18. I graduated high school in 2000. Then Hogan going back to WWF for the nostalgia run, I was right there. I actually got tears in my eyes during Hogan's "Hulking up" comeback against The Rock at WrestleMania because the wave of nostalgia hit me so hard. Including the same sign in the crowd of Hogan's face that was at the Skydome during Hogan/Warrior.

Something interesting that I thought about is how despite the creative control, being the top babyface, "Hogan's gotta pose" & all that... the most memorable moments I have of Hulk Hogan's wrestling career were actually his losses. Which maybe meant more because they didn't happen as often. I remember Hogan losing to Warrior at WrestleMania 6. Losing to The Undertaker with the Tombstone on the chair. I remember Hogan losing to Luger on Nitro & washing the nWo spray paint off of the title. Goldberg in Atlanta. I remember Hogan losing to The Rock at WrestleMania 18. Losing to Brock Lesnar where he was bleeding during a bearhug. Losing to Sting at Starrcade. If you look at a lot of them though, now, several of even those have stories that go with them. We all know about the drama surrounding Sting & the finish at Starrcade. We've all heard the "Ahh, you got me brother!" soundbite from The Undertaker about the Tombstone. Or the rumors of dropping the title to Luger was to deflate some of the air out of the ball for when he had to drop the title to Sting. His popping up & making it all about himself after losing to Warrior at the 3-count. There was always something with that dude, brother. 

One of, if not the biggest name in professional wrestling & it was all marred & thrown away by his out of ring bullshit. He went from being the top guy, the main event & the world champion, to being a punchline. A racist. The last things people will remember him for (other than his racial tirade) are his shitty reality TV show, doing shit like The Celebrity Roast of David Hasselhoff & trying to come back to shill shitty beer or that dumb ass amateur wrestling idea. He died as a has-been, even after being on top of the world. Dude made his own bed & I don't pity him but it sucks that my horse was connected to his wagon, even just as a fan/viewer, for so long when he showed his true colors.

[David Mantell]

On 8/16/2025 at 10:57 AM, David Mantell said:

Daddy was restrained by Max Crabtree. Without that he could have been a British version of Hansi Rooks in Germany. 

Just realised that last reference will go over the heads of people not familiar with German Catch.

I'm on about the blond one, btw

 

 

[bussinrounds]

Hogan started getting annoying for me in 86 sometime. Granted, I'm not a fan and haven't seen much from the major promotions past the very early 90s.  (more into stuff like ECW and SMW when it came to rasslin in the 90s)

[flyonthewall2983]

When did he start wearing the cross necklace to the ring