60 vs 69

[Slim]

In all reality... Hogan is one of the most important WWF champions as he really was the head man leading into the main stream era. Everything was riding on Hogan and could he carry everything on his oversized back. Yeah he had help getting over and being carried but he still had to do quite a bit. Benoit's reign was important. It was the culmination of an awesome story for sure and the match he won it in... epic.

But Hogan should win this one.

 

[EffectsofRaven]

No doubt Hogan's reigns where important but being the top draw within a company, the belt isn't a 100% needed to draw, infact you keep the belt away from your top draw and you'd have multiple various draws... Your Top Draw, your Main Attraction (Andre the Giant in this case), the WWF title and various other draws, such as Macho Man and Ultimate Warrior.

So while Hogan is pretty important, I'm just pointing out how he didn't need the belt to be the top drawer or the top guy.

I can't remember Hulk Hogan's reign being memorable, Benoit's was...

By that, I formulated my decision... Memorability.

 

[Slim]

I don't argue that. I mean that logic is good. And it'd work but they went with drawin him as a champion. And the casual person is always going to look towards the champion first before they look at anybody else and they wanted the focus on Hogan. So he had to be champion to make that formula work otherwise he would have been second fiddle to whoever was the champion.

But Benoit's reign... I won't forget it.

 

[The Hoov]

I know EXACTLY why he's winning this poll: No matter what Benoit has done in the past, when compared to Hulk Hogan, he is STILL considered the lesser of two evils.

 

[PHX]

Can't believe Benoit is probably about to take this over Hulk Hogan.

 

[The Hoov]

I think Hogan has no one but himself to blame for tainting his legacy with his selfishness. His World Title reigns, albeit important, just lack the real feel good moment that Benoit's had. Take the "incident" out of the equation because none of us truly know what happened so no one has any room to speculate. Just celebrate who Benoit was and what he meant to the history of professional wrestling and, more importantly, what he meant to the fans. Hogan is an egotistical prick and I think the majority of wrestling fans have realized this. If Hogan was still the guy he claims to be and the textbooks claim he was, then TNA would be the number one company but they are FAR from it.

I'm going to say this one statement: Hulk Hogan is VASTLY overrated. Let's face it, Hulk Hogan didn't change wrestling. That belongs to the mind of Vince McMahon.

 

[Slim]

I don't think you could place TNA's success/failure on Hulk Hogan. TNA has screwed itself up for so long trying to compete, completely stupid storylines, I mean TNA shot itself over and over again before that huge Monday night they had when they had all these big returns. Hogan is still a draw, he is still relevant to wrestling but TNA needs a complete revamping and overhaul. TNA needs common sense.

And I also don't think we are dissing Benoit. I mean he is still winning the vote 9-7. We're not holding Benoit's last few days of his life against him. And we don't know everything but we do know enough about those days. But I dunno. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but to trash Hogan and blame TNA's failure instead of being number 1 cause of Hogan is really overstepping things. Hogan still has a huge place in wrestling history and it was while he was champion. Whether he did politic his way up there, was an egotistical prick, and was in business all for himself, he still was a huge part of wrestling history.

And this is coming from a guy that cannot stand Hogan at all. But will give credit where it is due.

 

[The Hoov]

I said he was important in the past, but I disagree with the fact the he's still relevant. Hogan hasn't been relevant since 1997. Hogan isn't the main reason TNA sucks. What I'm saying is this: If Hogan was still the draw he claims he is and if Hogan was still "the man who changed pro-wrestling" then TNA would be in a way better boat than they are now. And I still credit most of the success of Hogan to Vince McMahon. He was Vince's pet project and he was never going to let him fail. I have much more respect for those who get over by themselves.

And as far as Benoit goes, I really don't believe the general consensus but again, we don't know any certainties, only assumptions.

 

[Keith]

I agree with that last point. Hogan's last important run was his Hollywood Hogan heel turn which peaked 96-98. So for more than a decade now he has had very little to offer wrestling and has just been living off his glory years, and that has tainted his legency up to a point.

This is not that suprising to me. Modern wrestling fans are very down on Hogan and Benoit is seen as one of the best talents of the recent era, and did bring a lot of credibility.

Personally I think Hogan should win. If Benoit had, had a couple more title reigns and they had been just as good as his first WWE Title one then maybe he would have a stronger case. Then again I am not sad to see Hogan lose this LOL.

 

[Slim]

Yeah I'm not sad to see Hogan lose... but most people would just write Hogan off as having done nothing his entire career and thats where I have an issue. And yeah if it wasn't for Vince... Hogan wouldn't be anything today cause that character was going to go to someone and Hogan just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Just glad to see some folks give him some credit instead of none.

And with Benoit... what we do know is his brain was severely messed up due to all the undiagnosed concussions which has adverse effects all around. that is what we do know.

 

[albo2]

So the vote is now 10-7 now to Beniot but the reason I voted for Beniot is very simple. I only started watching wrestling in 2001, I never watched one eposide of Nitro so I didn't see the WCW version of Hollywood Hulk Hogan and I didn't see any of Hogan's title reigns, except for the single one he had in 2002 as Undisputed Champion and everyone knows that it was a horrible reign, even if it lasted, what was it 2 months? Was it even that? I remember Beniot's WWE Title win and title reign, I think his match at Wrestlemania, his moment after winning it and the feud that continued with Triple H and Kane over the title while he held it as well was something that stood out in 2004 for me. Hogan's reign was definatly not something that stood out in 2002 so thats my reason for voting for Beniot

 

[The New F'n Show]

Still stunned by this. Benoit moves on.