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Post by L 0 T T 0 on Aug 31, 2009 23:04:10 GMT -5
First of all, I'm a huge Hogan fan - 4 Life.
Just wondering what you guys think though.
Could WCW still be running today - if Hulk Hogan was never brought in to the company?
Take a minute to think about this - and then give me your thoughts.
Thanks,
Lotto
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Post by Emerald Enthusiast on Sept 1, 2009 0:42:53 GMT -5
It very well might be alive if Hogan hadn't arrived. Hogan was given too much creative power over not only his booking but the entire company. WCW went from Flair, Austin, and Regal holding the singles belts to Hogan, Duggan, and Honky Tonk Man holding them. That tells the story.
The transformation from a wrestling-centered product to a character-centered product didn't produce a substantial increase in attendance or PPV numbers. When that didn't work, Bischoff tried to beat Vince with in-their-prime stars but they were relegated to the role's of Hogan's henchmen. WCW took on more monster contracts but failed to make stars for the next 10 years. Thus, they died. Hogan isn't the only guilty party in the company's demise but the change of direction that started with him was the company's death knell.
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Post by L 0 T T 0 on Sept 1, 2009 0:50:54 GMT -5
Honky Tonk Man never held any WCW championship.
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Post by Patrick Bateman on Sept 1, 2009 1:06:57 GMT -5
Honky Tonk Man never held any WCW championship. Nice one. And the answer is no, I think. It would've folded quicker without Hogan. Once Hogan was in there, it got popular, and more stars jumped on the bandwagon, and more eyes were on the product. Especially once the nWo boom happened.
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Post by Emerald Enthusiast on Sept 1, 2009 4:50:55 GMT -5
Honky Tonk Man never held any WCW championship. My mistake. HTM gave Bischoff flack because he thought he had a right to the TV belt. Bisch said he would get it eventually but Honky felt that his friendship with Hogan gave him an instant right to it. He also stated that he would do no jobs on TV and when Bisch kept asking him to job on PPV, Honky left. The guy was and still is nuts. Nevertheless, he had plenty of video packages coming into WCW. He was going to but pushed like Duggan, who quickly took the US title off of a no-name: Steve Austin. Why would aging guys like this get pushes? One guess.
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Post by Emerald Enthusiast on Sept 1, 2009 5:04:01 GMT -5
Honky Tonk Man never held any WCW championship. Nice one. And the answer is no, I think. It would've folded quicker without Hogan. Once Hogan was in there, it got popular, and more stars jumped on the bandwagon, and more eyes were on the product. Especially once the nWo boom happened. The NWO helped it but Hogan alone made little difference. WCW was routinely getting .50-.60 buyrates on PPVs. Once Hogan got there, his BATB entrance popped a 1.0 but they instantly reverted until the Monday Night Wars & the NWO. Moreover, Hogan's inclusion in the group might have initial garnered interest but it was acidic in the long-term. Not only was the NWO gimmick done to death but Hogan continuing to be WCW's focal point for years was very detrimental.
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Post by joker123 on Sept 1, 2009 7:20:51 GMT -5
WCW would have died if Hogan and the nWo didn't come along.
In the end, Jamie Kellner killed WCW. Even though it was nowhere near as succesful by the end, WCW could have continued for many years. WCW wouldn't have survived very much longer without Hogan.
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Post by ZMaster on Sept 1, 2009 9:07:12 GMT -5
I think WCW could have possibly died sooner and there probably wouldn't have been that exciting time with the Monday Night Wars that we had. The nWo concept worked but it got ridiculous at the end having too many members instead of making it like an elite group and staying with that.
Having said that, I do think they could have done better creatively and were the ones stupid enough to give out creative control in the first place. Blame WCW for giving Hogan creative control.
The AOL/Time Warner merger was the death of it without question.
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Post by indywrestling on Sept 1, 2009 10:54:29 GMT -5
I actually think brining in Hogan helped the company but his stay was to long, they needed to produce new stars like WWE did in that time and they had the talent but didnt utalize them at all, just when they would start to they'd drop the ball, dont get me wrong guys like hogan, flair, savage, sting, luger, were all great talents but they needed to hand over the torch, they could have done it theyre way and still worked for the company but guys like, benoit, jericho, guererro, rey rey, bagwell, storm, should have been in the main event spot around the time that wcw really got in trouble, it would have saved them in my opinion, to many huge egos in 1 company is what brought them down
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Deleted
Joined on: Jul 4, 2024 19:53:54 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2009 11:44:54 GMT -5
I honestly think they would have hit the skids earlier without Hogan.they were in trouble before he arrived......and for a few years when he was there........
it brings us back to the nWo again really........its the "making it and breaking it" argument
Hogan and nWo did both.
then we have to talk about Hogans creativ power......the biggest night in their history-Stings return at Starrcade 97 had the crape killed out of it by Hogans creative control.......
when the nWo ceased to exist and had run its course they had nothing without it.......
so yeah I think WCW would have been doomed without Hogan.....even though he helped carry the coffin
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Rowdy Roddy Piper
Superstar
"I'm the reason Hulk Hogan lost his hair."
Joined on: May 29, 2005 6:02:36 GMT -5
Posts: 599
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Post by Rowdy Roddy Piper on Sept 1, 2009 13:15:26 GMT -5
WCW would have died if Hogan and the nWo didn't come along. In the end, Jamie Kellner killed WCW. Even though it was nowhere near as succesful by the end, WCW could have continued for many years. WCW wouldn't have survived very much longer without Hogan. The AOL/Time Warner merger was the death of it without question. If WCW had the support it needed in 2001 it would have been able to survive. I believe WCW were still doing decent ratings by todays standards.
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Dwight
Main Eventer
Joined on: Feb 10, 2007 11:02:46 GMT -5
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Post by Dwight on Sept 1, 2009 13:41:18 GMT -5
I feel the same as a lot of people. Hogan brought forth some interest to the company and for that they should thank him. But without Nash and Hall and the formation of the nWo who knows what would have happened.
The problem with the company was the fact that there were too many old timers around. To me by lets say 1998...I was sick of seeing the same exact people on top. Which mainly consisted of Hogan. But it was always Flair, Savage, Luger, Nash and so on. I love all of those guys but it was just old (literally) by that point. It just got real boring. They mixed it up by having Sting change his character and by having DDP and Goldberg thrown into the mix.
But at the end of it all the same guys were still in there somehow. Instead of creating new stars (which is what was needed) they all would end up going to the WWF and making an impact. Like Benoit, Jericho, Giant, etc.
So to answer the question. I don't put full blame on Hogan as he really did help them and became the biggest heel of the 90's. He was just on top far too long. But either way WCW would've died if you ask me. Hogan just managed to get one last big run out of them.
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Post by Sam Hain on Sept 1, 2009 21:16:17 GMT -5
No, WCW sank because of poor management and bad business decisions. Hogan helped WCW greatly.
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Post by Emerald Enthusiast on Sept 2, 2009 4:38:39 GMT -5
No, WCW sank because of poor management and bad business decisions. Hogan helped WCW greatly. I realize there are many aspects to this argument but here is why I don't buy the assertion that Hogan "helped WCW greatly". Here are the Halloween Havoc buyrates for 4 years in the '90s. I picked HH over Starrcade because Hogan missed SC in '96. '93 (Cactus Jack vs. Vader) = .50 '94 (Hogan vs. Flair) = .97 '95 (Hogan vs. Giant)= .60 '96 (Hogan vs. Savage) = .70 Hogan got WCW a negligible bump in notoriety but that didn't translate into huge money for the company, especially considering his & his friends monster salaries. The WWF banner/marketing style was as much a part of the Hogan magic as the shirt-ripping and the hand-cupped-around-the-ear.
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Post by joker123 on Sept 2, 2009 5:35:55 GMT -5
WCW would have died if Hogan and the nWo didn't come along. In the end, Jamie Kellner killed WCW. Even though it was nowhere near as succesful by the end, WCW could have continued for many years. WCW wouldn't have survived very much longer without Hogan. The AOL/Time Warner merger was the death of it without question. If WCW had the support it needed in 2001 it would have been able to survive. I believe WCW were still doing decent ratings by todays standards. That's what I was getting at when I said WCW could have continued for many years. Hogan helped WCW but he also hurt it. Ted Turner let him overstay his welcome. If he had gotten rid of Hogan back in 1998 when he should have, he could have built the company around fresh stars that people like and could help the company like Sting, Bret Hart, Chris Benoit, Jeff Jarrett, Booker T.
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Post by carly1988 on Sept 2, 2009 22:20:02 GMT -5
There is only one thing that could have kept WCW alive and thats if Jim Crockett would have kept his ass in the South.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 2, 2009 22:25:20 GMT -5
I think it was inevitable that Hogan would come to WCW. After shooting Thunder in Paradise, let's say he went back to the WWF instead of going to WCW...he wouldn't eventually had a falling fall out with Vince circa say, 97, come to WCW in 98, and stayed for a couple years, never forming the nWo but still hogging the spotlight.
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Post by Patrick Bateman on Sept 3, 2009 2:01:28 GMT -5
There is only one thing that could have kept WCW alive and thats if Jim Crockett would have kept his ass in the South. If you want the best of WCW, that's where you look: Jim Crockett Promotions. WCW/NWA was never better.
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Post by petergriffin on Sept 5, 2009 18:34:29 GMT -5
no is the answer to this. I think Hogan was a huge part of WCWs success with the nWo
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Post by L 0 T T 0 on Sept 9, 2009 21:55:05 GMT -5
Bill Watts, love him or hate him - when he became the booker man in the mid 90's post Crockett era, he actually tried to restore some of Crockett's ways into the product at the time. I think Watts's run in the mid 90's was really under rated. Thoughts?
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