It's pretty much the spirit of rasslin' to claim Hogan built or pushed a promotion to the top single-handed.
I'm not saying the guy's charisma or ability isn't that once every generation type of things, because he's definitely one of those rare guys that has that it factor that 99.9999% of wrestlers don't have. As great as I think Triple H or Harley Race were, Hogan is on another level. But the reality is Hogan was never ever going to be able to do it alone. That's just how rasslin' works.
Hogan got lured to WCW when he seemed content to ride out the acting thing with the TV show and those terrible movies. It's not like WCW suddenly shot to #1. Not many shits were given before the NWO. It wasn't even like Hogan went to Bischoff with the idea of the invasion storyline where he'd end up going heel.
Look at the caliber of talent he was surrounded by in the WWF. You still had a territorial system where they could keep bringing in these very experienced wrestlers who had name value to them. They'd build each of these guys up and eventually feed them to Hogan to work with on the rare PPV, work the road shows for the better part of a year. A huge part of Hogan's story was tied up with the great rivalry with the Heenan clan as well. Heenan was to Hogan was Mr. McMahon was to Austin.
I'm not saying anyone else really could have been plugged into Hogan's spot and you'd see the same results. He belonged at the top, as much as others might have grumbled about having to lose to him on TV or a PPV, they made loads of money because of this guy's ability to make the most of being their top guy.
McMahon and Hogan made a great team, I think that combination of work ethic and knowing what works is why the WWF got so big. Not because of just one guy. Everyone in a promotion has their place, right down to all those journeymen that filtered through the WWF from the territories.
And let's not forget the huge catalysts for the Rock n Wrestling Connection: Cyndi Lauper and Mr. T. Lauper was one of the biggest names in pop music at the time and she comes in to work an angle that leads to a match. Think about the massive ratings for MTV's WWF special, who do you think most people were tuning in for, Hogan or Cyndi Lauper when she was managing Wendi Richter against Moolah?
Mr. T was a pretty big star on the A-Team, at a time when network TV actually pulled much bigger shares of the audience than they do now. As a result of their being booked together, you then had Hogan appearing on the A-Team, huge with the demographic that the WWF wanted. You had Hogan and Mr. T being booked for Saturday Night Live, when wrestlers weren't being put on that kind of show. Cyndi Lauper had Hogan appear with her on stage at the big music awards show on TV as her body guard.
Much bigger stars were giving Hogan this mainstream media exposure, giving him a huge rub, or as with the case of Cyndi Lauper, getting involved in a non-Hogan angle to arguably set up some huge ratings coup for the WWF.
Hogan was the only guy that would have worked in that spot at the time. But making the WWF huge on his own? Too much of an exaggeration.
I'd think of him along the lines of the MVP though. It's like the Broncos without Peyton Manning. He needs those other guys to make the team work and not get killed out there. But without him, it would be a very different story.
I'm not saying the guy's charisma or ability isn't that once every generation type of things, because he's definitely one of those rare guys that has that it factor that 99.9999% of wrestlers don't have. As great as I think Triple H or Harley Race were, Hogan is on another level. But the reality is Hogan was never ever going to be able to do it alone. That's just how rasslin' works.
Hogan got lured to WCW when he seemed content to ride out the acting thing with the TV show and those terrible movies. It's not like WCW suddenly shot to #1. Not many shits were given before the NWO. It wasn't even like Hogan went to Bischoff with the idea of the invasion storyline where he'd end up going heel.
Look at the caliber of talent he was surrounded by in the WWF. You still had a territorial system where they could keep bringing in these very experienced wrestlers who had name value to them. They'd build each of these guys up and eventually feed them to Hogan to work with on the rare PPV, work the road shows for the better part of a year. A huge part of Hogan's story was tied up with the great rivalry with the Heenan clan as well. Heenan was to Hogan was Mr. McMahon was to Austin.
I'm not saying anyone else really could have been plugged into Hogan's spot and you'd see the same results. He belonged at the top, as much as others might have grumbled about having to lose to him on TV or a PPV, they made loads of money because of this guy's ability to make the most of being their top guy.
McMahon and Hogan made a great team, I think that combination of work ethic and knowing what works is why the WWF got so big. Not because of just one guy. Everyone in a promotion has their place, right down to all those journeymen that filtered through the WWF from the territories.
And let's not forget the huge catalysts for the Rock n Wrestling Connection: Cyndi Lauper and Mr. T. Lauper was one of the biggest names in pop music at the time and she comes in to work an angle that leads to a match. Think about the massive ratings for MTV's WWF special, who do you think most people were tuning in for, Hogan or Cyndi Lauper when she was managing Wendi Richter against Moolah?
Mr. T was a pretty big star on the A-Team, at a time when network TV actually pulled much bigger shares of the audience than they do now. As a result of their being booked together, you then had Hogan appearing on the A-Team, huge with the demographic that the WWF wanted. You had Hogan and Mr. T being booked for Saturday Night Live, when wrestlers weren't being put on that kind of show. Cyndi Lauper had Hogan appear with her on stage at the big music awards show on TV as her body guard.
Much bigger stars were giving Hogan this mainstream media exposure, giving him a huge rub, or as with the case of Cyndi Lauper, getting involved in a non-Hogan angle to arguably set up some huge ratings coup for the WWF.
Hogan was the only guy that would have worked in that spot at the time. But making the WWF huge on his own? Too much of an exaggeration.
I'd think of him along the lines of the MVP though. It's like the Broncos without Peyton Manning. He needs those other guys to make the team work and not get killed out there. But without him, it would be a very different story.
