Post by TheBadGuyChico on Jan 15, 2013 16:35:38 GMT -5
Did i get your attention?
I've been wanting to do a few blog esque posts pertaining to missed opportunities in pro wrestling. I thought i'd start with what i feel like is the biggest letdown creatively and financially
of all time. Hulk Hogan's 2002 Red and Yellow nostalgia run.
In the wake of Wrestlemania X18 in Toronto we could all see the red and yellow writing on the wall. Hulk Hogan was about to turn babyface. For those of use who grew up in the 1980s or early 1990s, this was a really overwhelming time to be a wrestling fan.
Hulk Hogan's return to the WWF in February of 2002 at the No Way Out ppv in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was almost surreal. Hulk Hogan was coming home? So many emotions were swirling through the wrestling world, was this really going to happen. There were more questions than answers.
We all know the story of the Nwo's 2002 return and the flop that it too would become, but thats another story for another day.
Hulk Hogan was never going to be accepted as a heel by the WWF fans, never. We grew up with him. He was a part of alot of our earliest memories. He wore his t-shirts, played with his action figures, snuggled with his wrestling buddy, and cheered for him like him winning was all that mattered in our universe.
He was our childhood.
We knew what he needed to be during this run and we let him and Vince Mcmahon know. Toronto drove it home! 68,237 let WWE and Hulk Hogan knew that it was time to come full circle.
You can always go home. Remember that saying?
Hulk Hogan was welcomed back with open arms. The Rock who was arguably the most popular superstar in the WWF was booed out of the building in favor of the boyhood idol. The Rock was a Lambo, but Hulk was good ol' fashioned american muscle. One's nice, the other is sacred.
Hulk Hogan lost the match but won back everything he'd ever lost. Did anybody walk out of Toronto any stronger than the Hulkster? It was like time had reversed all the way back to 1987.
Maybe he was now even bigger than he was in the 1980s?
Has anybody ever for an ovation like this?
He was than booked right into the main event of Backlash againist WWF champion Triple H. Did anybody think he would actually challenge for the title this quickly, or at all?
Before this match took place, the black and white had to go!
Whats old was new again. The attitude era seemed to be irrelevant to alot of fans, the golden age was back! Atleast we felt like it. All of those old feeling and memories flooded back to us in waves. We were reliving our childhoods, how many people get to do that?
For all of to to truely come full circle, he need to win the WWF title one more time! It was his belt, and he needed to put it back where it belonged.
But could he really beat Triple H? Should he? Will the WWF really give the belt back to him, back to us?
I didn't look like it
I think alot of us thought Hulk was only brought back to put over the current crop of talent. Didn't matter if we liked it or not. Hulk was to be a stepping stone for the future. Our childhoods crushed right before our eyes. Or maybe not.........
Hogan was hanging in there with The Game! Amidst all of the run ins and swerves we all had butterflies. Maybe it was all too good to be true. But when the smoke cleared that night Hulk Hogan was New WWF champion. It was a fairytale ending. I didn't want to wake up from the dream, i'm sure i wasn't alone.
Montreal gave him the ovation of his life that Tuesday at the Smackdown tapings, i got chills watching it on Thurdays. We were set to ride this thing for as long as we could.
Sadly it wasn't to last. At the next ppv The Undertaker would take the title. Just as quick as it all started again, it ended. It was like having a dream where you transported back in time, everything familar is there Things you haven't seen in years. Things you had forgotten about. I don't know about you guys, but some of my best dreams have be interupted abruptly.
This one was no different.
Over the next 2 months he would lose often despite winning the tag titles for the very first time with Edge. In August Brock Lesnar would destroy him and signal the end of the greatest comeback of all time. A sad reminder that reality is harsh, and things will never be as simple as they were before. The good guy doesn't win anymore.
So by now you're probably thinking i'm a huge Hogan mark huh? But even more so, you're wondering how in the hell this run was as big of a flop as the invasion. The invasion might have been the biggest storyline ever and the WWF dropped the ball. This Hogan run wasn't even neccessarily a flop whatsoever. I understand.
But this run could've been so much more! The crowds were as electric for Hulk Hogan as they were for Austin or Rock if not more so. His reaction were bigger than anything i'd seen during the damn attitude era. This nostalgia wave cleary was becoming a Tsunami.
Why was it cut so short? The audience wanted to see him, they came out to see him, they were buying the shirts, isn't that all you can ask of the WWF champion?
If he had been allowed to really gain steam and look like the Hogan of old, who knows what kind've bussiness it would've done. They could've milked this for atleast a year. The money was there.
Now alot of people say that the matches were terrible, and in terms of workrate they were. But the people saying thats why the run was cut short are wrong. The audience didn't care. His punches got more of a reaction than kidman's shooting star press. Nobody cared that Hogan was a step slower, they just wanted to relive the magic. Workrate wasn't the issue.
Can you imagine if they just rode the wave along with us? Allowing Hulk to headline the next 10-11 events with the gold. Beating all challengers like the old times. How many people buy tickets to their favorite bands from 20-30 years ago just to go back in time for a few hours. Wrestling is no different. Everybody would've wanted to hear the ol' hits and get lost one more time.
This was a solid farewell tour, but it could've last longer. There could've been more huge gates, they could've brought back the fan from that era, they could've sold more merchandise, you get the point. This run was a success, but did it draw all of the money it could've? Thats my biggestt bussiness question for all of you?
The WWF cut it short for reasons that we don't know. I'll let you guys dish out your best guess. I' don't even know where to start. Everything was there. They just decided to kill it before it really got hot and swallowed everything else around it, is my best guess.
There was my first attempt at something like this. So give me some feedback.
I've been wanting to do a few blog esque posts pertaining to missed opportunities in pro wrestling. I thought i'd start with what i feel like is the biggest letdown creatively and financially
of all time. Hulk Hogan's 2002 Red and Yellow nostalgia run.
In the wake of Wrestlemania X18 in Toronto we could all see the red and yellow writing on the wall. Hulk Hogan was about to turn babyface. For those of use who grew up in the 1980s or early 1990s, this was a really overwhelming time to be a wrestling fan.
Hulk Hogan's return to the WWF in February of 2002 at the No Way Out ppv in Milwaukee, Wisconsin was almost surreal. Hulk Hogan was coming home? So many emotions were swirling through the wrestling world, was this really going to happen. There were more questions than answers.
We all know the story of the Nwo's 2002 return and the flop that it too would become, but thats another story for another day.
Hulk Hogan was never going to be accepted as a heel by the WWF fans, never. We grew up with him. He was a part of alot of our earliest memories. He wore his t-shirts, played with his action figures, snuggled with his wrestling buddy, and cheered for him like him winning was all that mattered in our universe.
He was our childhood.
We knew what he needed to be during this run and we let him and Vince Mcmahon know. Toronto drove it home! 68,237 let WWE and Hulk Hogan knew that it was time to come full circle.
You can always go home. Remember that saying?
Hulk Hogan was welcomed back with open arms. The Rock who was arguably the most popular superstar in the WWF was booed out of the building in favor of the boyhood idol. The Rock was a Lambo, but Hulk was good ol' fashioned american muscle. One's nice, the other is sacred.
Hulk Hogan lost the match but won back everything he'd ever lost. Did anybody walk out of Toronto any stronger than the Hulkster? It was like time had reversed all the way back to 1987.
Maybe he was now even bigger than he was in the 1980s?
Has anybody ever for an ovation like this?
He was than booked right into the main event of Backlash againist WWF champion Triple H. Did anybody think he would actually challenge for the title this quickly, or at all?
Before this match took place, the black and white had to go!
Whats old was new again. The attitude era seemed to be irrelevant to alot of fans, the golden age was back! Atleast we felt like it. All of those old feeling and memories flooded back to us in waves. We were reliving our childhoods, how many people get to do that?
For all of to to truely come full circle, he need to win the WWF title one more time! It was his belt, and he needed to put it back where it belonged.
But could he really beat Triple H? Should he? Will the WWF really give the belt back to him, back to us?
I didn't look like it
I think alot of us thought Hulk was only brought back to put over the current crop of talent. Didn't matter if we liked it or not. Hulk was to be a stepping stone for the future. Our childhoods crushed right before our eyes. Or maybe not.........
Hogan was hanging in there with The Game! Amidst all of the run ins and swerves we all had butterflies. Maybe it was all too good to be true. But when the smoke cleared that night Hulk Hogan was New WWF champion. It was a fairytale ending. I didn't want to wake up from the dream, i'm sure i wasn't alone.
Montreal gave him the ovation of his life that Tuesday at the Smackdown tapings, i got chills watching it on Thurdays. We were set to ride this thing for as long as we could.
Sadly it wasn't to last. At the next ppv The Undertaker would take the title. Just as quick as it all started again, it ended. It was like having a dream where you transported back in time, everything familar is there Things you haven't seen in years. Things you had forgotten about. I don't know about you guys, but some of my best dreams have be interupted abruptly.
This one was no different.
Over the next 2 months he would lose often despite winning the tag titles for the very first time with Edge. In August Brock Lesnar would destroy him and signal the end of the greatest comeback of all time. A sad reminder that reality is harsh, and things will never be as simple as they were before. The good guy doesn't win anymore.
So by now you're probably thinking i'm a huge Hogan mark huh? But even more so, you're wondering how in the hell this run was as big of a flop as the invasion. The invasion might have been the biggest storyline ever and the WWF dropped the ball. This Hogan run wasn't even neccessarily a flop whatsoever. I understand.
But this run could've been so much more! The crowds were as electric for Hulk Hogan as they were for Austin or Rock if not more so. His reaction were bigger than anything i'd seen during the damn attitude era. This nostalgia wave cleary was becoming a Tsunami.
Why was it cut so short? The audience wanted to see him, they came out to see him, they were buying the shirts, isn't that all you can ask of the WWF champion?
If he had been allowed to really gain steam and look like the Hogan of old, who knows what kind've bussiness it would've done. They could've milked this for atleast a year. The money was there.
Now alot of people say that the matches were terrible, and in terms of workrate they were. But the people saying thats why the run was cut short are wrong. The audience didn't care. His punches got more of a reaction than kidman's shooting star press. Nobody cared that Hogan was a step slower, they just wanted to relive the magic. Workrate wasn't the issue.
Can you imagine if they just rode the wave along with us? Allowing Hulk to headline the next 10-11 events with the gold. Beating all challengers like the old times. How many people buy tickets to their favorite bands from 20-30 years ago just to go back in time for a few hours. Wrestling is no different. Everybody would've wanted to hear the ol' hits and get lost one more time.
This was a solid farewell tour, but it could've last longer. There could've been more huge gates, they could've brought back the fan from that era, they could've sold more merchandise, you get the point. This run was a success, but did it draw all of the money it could've? Thats my biggestt bussiness question for all of you?
The WWF cut it short for reasons that we don't know. I'll let you guys dish out your best guess. I' don't even know where to start. Everything was there. They just decided to kill it before it really got hot and swallowed everything else around it, is my best guess.
There was my first attempt at something like this. So give me some feedback.