Who do you prefer: Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair

HULK HOGAN

"NATURE BOY" RIC FLAIR

I want to start this off with two of the greatest wrestlers in the last 40 years or so. Hulk Hogan being the top face for WWE during the 80's/early 90's. Ric Flair being the top heel during the 80's and well into the 90's....mostly for the NWA/JCP/WCW.

Which of these wrestlers are/were you more fond of? Why? Fond memories?

As usual, add your comments below.

Hogan's return; Hall of Fame reinstatement

With Hulk Hogan recently signing a new deal with WWE, and his subsequent reinstatement to their Hall of Fame, we've been seeing quite a few discussions involving this. I personally feel that there are several good points to be made about the subject, as well.

Was bringing Hogan back a good thing? Was this a bad move? Should people "move on" and stop beating a dead horse? Is this even a "big deal"?

I'll admit that I've got mixed views on his return, so I'll try to go into some detail on that.

One perspective that's probably a no-brainer is Hogan's legacy. Yes, his legacy does involve him being a racist. I'll go into further detail on that during the course of this article. Right now, I want to discuss what he did as a performer. Hogan, quite simply, was WWE's top draw for many years. Even when you factor all the great talent the company had, Hogan was easily the top draw for the promotion.

Having so many talented people to work with made it easy for Hogan & WWE to keep things fresh. Put him against Roddy Piper? Paul Orndorff and Cowboy Bob Orton were worked into the feud. Problems with Bobby Heenan? Heenan had the revolving door of superstars coming & going from his stable....forcing Hogan to deal with a never ending source of problems. Randy Savage was constantly breathing down Hogan's neck, giving him many great matches over the years.

It was easy, at that time, to question if Hogan would survive. It was no wonder why people kept showing up, buying the merch, ordering the Pay-Per-Views, and so on. At a time when WWE was expanding into a major national promotion, Hogan was the biggest reason why Vince McMahon could afford to keep expanding.

His contribution to the business, as a whole, can't be questioned. I don't think many people would doubt that. He was one of the few people that could catch your attention and keep it.

As far as the racism is concerned, we shouldn't be surprised that it's still happening. If anything, I expect we'll be having problems with racism for a long time to come. Seems like every few weeks, we've got another example of people being cruel to each other. It could be stupid crap like being black in the "wrong" pool, grilling at a public park "without a permit", or selling bottled water without a permit.

There are too many examples to go through. There are probably examples that I haven't heard about yet (somehow).

Realistically speaking, this shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone. I realize that Hogan made his controversial comments during a phone call that was recorded without his knowledge. Doesn't make his comments any less evil. I've heard the argument that Hogan likely wouldn't have made those comments had he known he was being recorded. If he was at a public event, many people seem to think he would've chose his words better.

Should that matter? Depends on the argument you're going to use. Those explaining Hogan's comments have mentioned that we all say stupid crap in private that we wouldn't say publicly. I'll acknowledge that point. I've said many stupid things over the years that I wouldn't normally say publicly.

Doesn't mean that any of my stupid comments in life should've been said. Same goes for Hogan or anyone else.

Now, for a point that should be mentioned. Since we've already brought up Hogan's racist comments, there are others points that should be discussed. WWE has a bad habit of selective memory. How many people forgot about Mike Tyson being in the Hall of Fame? How many people even realize Tyson is a convicted rapist?

If we're going to be upset about Hogan's comments (rightfully so), then we should start looking at Tyson's criminal record. I have to emphasis Tyson is a CONVICTED RAPIST!!! I'd consider that to be pretty freakin' horrible. I doubt anyone ever truly recovers from being raped. Some victims may learn how to live their lives as close to normal as possible.....if there is such a thing. It's not unusual for many victims to suffer so much from the crime, they end up committing suicide.

From what I understand, mental health issues like PTSD and depression are common problems for victims.

Yet, we have a rapist in the WWE Hall of Fame. How sad is that? Yet, we're still upset over racist comments.

You think that's bad? There's still more. We still have the allegations involving Jimmy Snuka, another Hall of Famer. This on, however, is a bit different then Mike Tyson or Hulk Hogan. The story involving Snuka involves him allegedly killing his then-girlfriend, Nancy Argentino.

For decades, he wasn't prosecuted due to a lack of evidence.....as the story goes. When prosecutors felt they could finally make a case, he was deemed too mentally ill to stand trial.

Legally, we'll never have the answers to his case. We'll have our suspicions, based off known evidence. That's about all we'll have is suspicions. Many people will argue that Snuka was never convicted, thus he's innocent. Speculation and actual convictions are two different things, so I'll leave it up to everyone else to make their own judgements.

Is this a case where we learn to forgive Hogan for his screw up? Do we use this as a learning experience?

For me, I think the way Titus O'Neal, Mark Henry, and New Day are all handling the situation are great examples for the rest of us. Their public statements have made it known that they're upset with Hogan while being professional about it. They're demonstrating that you can upset with someone without it interfering with business.

Seeing their public display of professionalism should be commended. It would very easy for them to go on huge tirades on social media. I wouldn't blame them for blowing a gasket, either. Yet, they've maintained their cool....at least in public. How they've reacted behind closed doors, I can only guess.

All the black performers should be applauded. I believe they're handling the situation far better then I could.

Hogan or Flair: Who's More Memorable?

Back in the 80's, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair were easily the two biggest names in wrestling. Both were huge draws. Hogan was the man in the WWF while Flair was the cornerstone of the NWA/JCP. They each drew the best money for their respective promoters. They were the biggest draws when it came to Pay-Per-Views buy rates (CCTV previously).

While they were both huge, both guys were also popular with different types of fans. Hogan was more popular with the younger fans, namely the kids. Older fans who were looking to see a "fight" were more prone to like Flair. This tends to make sense, at least from my perspective.

After all, we had Hogan mentioning stuff like "saying your prayers" and "taking your vitamins, as well as talking about his little Hulksters.

Flair, on the other hand, would talk about things that adults could better relate to. This usually involved his $600 shoes, the Rolexes, flying on private jets, riding in limos, wining and dining the ladies and so on.

I could go on and on, but I'd likely be mentioning the obvious. Hogan & Flair are probably two of the most memorable people in wrestling. Which one is more memorable? Personally, I have to say Flair. For me, Flair always stood out more. I was able to take him more seriously while I found Hogan was a bit too cartoonish for me. Even when I was a kid, it always felt like a forgone conclusion that he'd win.

Sure, I was a huge mark for Hogan. I suppose I'm still a huge mark for him. With Flair, however, I was on the edge of my seat far more frequently. Every time Flair was in a match against a credible opponent, I felt that he might finally be taken down. Didn't matter if it was against Sting, Lex Luger, Dusty Rhodes, or Harley Race. Anyone that even looked like a credible singles wrestler often looked like a credible threat to Flair.

Thoughts on this? Feel free to leave them in the comments section below.

Record setting wrestlers

Super Bowl 51 is in the record books. Tom Brady has set a record for having the most Super Bowl Championships as a quarterback. To my knowledge, not too many quarterbacks come close to this record, though I could easily be wrong.

This has me thinking. In pro wrestling, who would be considered the most successful wrestler(s)? There are a lot of people that could fall under this category.

Hulk Hogan

6x WWE Champion

6x WCW Champion

1x WWE Tag Team Champion

2x Royal Rumble Winner

Beaten the likes of Randy Savage, Andre the Giant, Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff, and many others. His first few title reigns lasted 1 year, or longer. If I'm not mistaken, his first reign went three years.

Considering Hogan was a box office draw for a better part of a decade, just in WWE, I'd say he's a record setter.

Ric Flair

If you listen to WWE, The Nature Boy is a 16x World Champion. Unofficially, he's at 21 World Title Reigns.

9x NWA World Champion

8x WCW World Champion

2x WCW International World Champion

2x WWE World Champion

This is only his recognized world title reigns. This doesn't include other major title reigns.

2x NWA Television Champion

6x NWA/WCW United States Champion

3x NWA World Tag Team Champion

1x WWE Intercontinental Champion

3x World Tag Team Champion

If my math is right, this is 36 major championships. This doesn't include territorial titles, like the Mid-Atlantic titles he held.

Considering how many big name matches he's been in over the years, Flair has a reputation that can't be beat anytime soon.

John Cena

13x WWE Champion

3x World Heavyweight Champion

2x World Tag Team Champion

5x WWE United States Champion

2x Royal Rumble Winner

Twenty three title reigns in the course of his roughly 14-year stay in WWE. Depending on how healthy he remains and how long he chooses to keep his career going, Cena can easily add to these numbers.

Probably the biggest name in the company during the last seven years. Cena is a cash cow that I haven't seen in a long time. This goes back to the Attitude Era, at the very least, when we had several wrestlers that were bringing in ratings, buy rates, merch sales, etc. His success could even rival (potentially) the success Hogan had during his heyday.

Cena is easily "da man" currently. That isn't going to change anytime soon, unless something drastic changes. With his reputation for hardwork & giving to charity, John Cena could easily be viewed as one of the most successful wrestlers yet.

Triple H

For the sake of not repeating old arguments, I’ll avoid the standard pissing and moaning about The Game. Triple H is another one of the more successful performers in wrestling.

9x WWE Champion

5x World Heavyweight Champion

5x Intercontinental Champion

2x European Champion

3x WWE Tag Team Champion

1997 KOTR Champion

2x Royal Rumble Winner

There aren’t many titles Triple H hasn’t won. Easily one of the most dominant performers during the last 20+ years. If it wasn’t for the Curtain Call incident, I have to wonder what else Triple H could have done.

Stone Cold Steve Austin

Another legend from an era where you could work for at least two international promotions. Austin made his success like many other performers at the time. When opportunities dried up at one promotion, he went elsewhere. Best known for being the bird flipping, foul mouthed, beer drinking SOB, Steve Austin has done just about everything one individual can possibly do.

6x WWE Champion

2x WWF Intercontinental Champion

4x WWF Tag Team Champion

2x WCW United States Champion

2x WCW Television Champion

1x WCW Tag Team Champion

1x NWA Tag Team Champion

1996 KOTR Champion

3x Royal Rumble Winner

One of the few people in the business that could make a reputation for being anti-establishment, fighting with the boss. I can probably count on one hand the number of people who’ve successfully pulled this off.

The Rock

While many wrestlers have had roles on the big & small screen, Dwayne Johnson has easily been the only one that’s had such a great transition into acting. I know, Hogan did a lot of acting, as have many others. None of the wrestlers you can name have went on to the success The Rock has had with acting.

His in-ring success is just as impressive. One of the rare people in his generation to make his success in on company.

8x WWE Champion

2x WCW Champion

2x WWE Intercontinental Champion

5x WWE Tag Team Champion

Rock had “it” where it counted the most: charisma, actual speaking ability, and looks. You can say the same crap over and over again and somehow make it seem cool if you have charisma. Having actual speaking ability is a whole new subject. If you can say a variety of different things and still make it seem cool, that’s real talent. If you’ve got a certain look, that can be highly useful.

Sure, having great looks, in and of itself, doesn’t do much. If you have talent or speaking ability, having a certain look will certainly help. Take a look at guys like Arn Anderson, back in the day. If he had to rely purely on looks, he wouldn’t of succeeded as much as he did. Since he had in-ring talent and speaking ability, fans were able to accept him as a working class wrestler….someone you’d see as a neighbor, if you’re neighborhood involved mechanics, construction workers, and whatnot.

Rock had the look of a real superstar, someone that was going places. With the right combination of talents, it was only a matter of time before he was going to see success outside of WWE.

Sting

The painted one has enjoyed a highly successful career, as well. Damn near everywhere Sting has gone, he’s enjoyed some level of championship glory.

2x NWA World Champion

2x WCW International World Champion

6x WCW World Champion

4x TNA World Champion

2x WCW United States Champion

1x NWA Television Champion

3x WCW World Tag Team Champion

1x TNA Tag Team Champion

There’s been a bunch of other minor glories, winning a variety of tournaments and whatnot. Sting’s one of those guys that isn’t known for being highly talented, per se, but can somehow be worked with. The right look, the right character, a certain level of speaking skills, and the ability for fans to identify with him….Sting’s been able to make a great career for himself in wrestling.

Bret Hart

The Best There Is. The Best There Was. The Best There Ever Will Be. Bret “Hit Man” Hart has made a hell of a career as a wrestler. The accolades are highly impressive, IMO.

5x WWE Champion

2x WWE Intercontinental Champion

1x WWE United States Champion

2x WWE Tag Team Champion

2x WCW Champion

4x WCW United States Champion

1x WCW Tag Team Champion

KOTR Champion-1991 & 1993

Royal Rumble Co-Winner w/Lex Luger-1994

There have been many great matches & feuds over the years, including those with Jerry Lawler, Owen Hart, Shawn Michaels, and so many others. If it weren’t for some health issues, including a mule kick to his head by Goldberg, as well as a stroke (if I remember correctly), Bret could’ve ended his career on a far better note….potentially.

I know there’s a laundry list of people that could be counted on this list. HBK has won it all. Scott Hall’s had an impressive streak, himself, as has Kevin Nash. It could be argued that Lex Luger could be mentioned somewhere along the lines.

There are plenty of who could be the “Tom Brady” of wrestling. In wrestling, it’s hard to accurately determine what true success is. It’s not like the “legit” sports in many areas. You don’t “legit” win championships like you would in a sports game. If an injury happens to one member of a team, someone else can fill your spot until you come back. The team can keep moving forward. A wrestler gets an injury and their momentum stops.

Who’s truly the most successful in wrestling? Beats me.

Hulk Hogan (opinions)

I realize Hogan has many flaws, including a racist comment several years ago about his daughter dating black dudes. I know there are plenty of reasons for knocking the guy. I can’t disagree with the reasons for hating the man. I truly can’t.

Yet, he still manages to be a favorite of mine. Probably will be one of my all-time favorites, no matter how old I am. No matter how flawed certain people are, all of us still manage to have fond memories of certain people. Hogan is one of those guys that I have a hard time hating on too much.

Perhaps it’s all those memories I’ve built up, over the years. Maybe I realize that we all screw up hard and try my damnedest to judge him too harshly.

As far as entertainers are concerned, he was huge at a time when wrestling didn’t have nearly the TV time that it has now. Since the internet wasn’t exactly available, we didn’t exactly get to see guys like Hogan on TV on a never-ending cycle. Made it a lot easier to hide his in-ring flaws.

Personally, I feel WWE officials were a lot smarter back then. They used people as agents, bookers, and whatnot to help develop their talent in such a way that they could look good on television.

Hogan was no different. He was pushed in such a away where his strong points were emphasized. Quite simply, Hogan had a certain charisma. Kids seemed to love him. When kids love certain performers, promotions are foolish to not take advantage of that. WWE was no different. You need younger fans, those less jaded, to help sell tickets. When younger fans want to go to a show, the parents buy tickets for the kids, themselves, maybe bring along a few friends. It could be a parent and the interested child. Maybe it’s the whole family.

Either way, you’ve got several people going to the event. Merchandise is bought at the event. A buddy of mine from Middle School used to get all the Pay-Per-Views, back in the day. This was when the major companies only had 4-5 major shows a year. Didn’t matter if we were talking WWE or NWA/WCW. Dude use to get them all.

Stuff like this was huge. Took guys like Hogan to keep drawing in the revenue.

Somehow, he managed to do it. Even as a kid, we knew it was the same, worn out, tired shtick. Said the same thing when he was on TV. His matches followed the same format. I suppose it was forgivable, considering the generation. Hogan had so many talented opponents, all of whom seemed more then capable of working an entertaining feud, nobody seemed to care all that much.

Wasn’t until a few years into the 90’s when anyone gave a damn. Wrestling was gaining more exposure on TV. We had a fresh crop of talent available to us. Tastes were changing. While the business was slowly changing, beginning with the New Generation, guys like Hogan were still operating under the old ways of doing business.

Took the formation of the New World Order to give Hogan a fresh image, something that allowed fans to look at him in a new light. If you didn’t grow up in this generation, you can’t completely understand how big of a deal this was. Personally, I feel this kept Hogan’s career alive. There’s a strong possibility that Hogan’s career would’ve ended in the mid-90’s if he failed to change with the business.

Hogan’s ability to change with the business was probably his biggest asset. Playing politics, no matter your line of work, is always a high priority. I don’t care if you clean toilets for a living. If you have the ability to play ball convincingly, you’ll always be poised to get the best returns for your investment, in a manner of speaking. That’s what kept Hogan going for so many years.

Sure, he had the look. He had the gift to gab. He could keep your attention when you’d otherwise stop caring. Hogan had the ability to make you believe he was in deep crap, during his matches. Each match could be the match where some monster heel, such as King Kong Bundy or Andre the Giant, would take him down. When he face a technically sound opponent, he had a way of making them look strong as well, despite the size advantage he had over them.

We don’t get that like we used to. Perhaps one day, we’ll go back to the basics. Perhaps we’ll return to the days where you had to convince the fans that shit has gotten real.

Spotlight: Hulk Hogan

NOTE: This won't be a full biography. This is merely intended as a partial look at Hogan's career.

Alias:

Hollywood Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan

Mr. America

Sterling Golden

Terry Boulder

The Super Destroyer

Thunder Lips (Rocky III)

Nicknames:
Hollywood
The Fabulous
The Incredible
The Immortal
The Hulkster
The Unstoppable Force

Billed Height: 6' 8"

Billed Weight: 303 lbs.

Billed from: Hollywood, CA (as Hollywood Hogan), Venice Beach, CA (as Hulk Hogan), Washington DC (as Mr. America)

Trained by: Hiro Matsuda

Debut: 1977

Promotions worked for:
AWA
WWF
WCW
TNA
NJPW

Finishing Move:
Atomic Legdrop

Managers:
Lou Albano
Freddie Blassie
Miss Elizabeth
Jimmy Hart
Johnny Valiant

Championships/Awards:
WWE World Heavyweight Champion (x6)
WWE Tag Team Championship (x1) (w/Edge)
WCW World Heavyweight Champion (x6)
Royal Rumble Winner (1990, 1991)

Notable Feuds:
Roddy Piper
Bobby Heenan
King Kong Bundy
Paul Orndorff
Andre the Giant
Big Boss Man
Ted DiBiase
Slick
Randy Savage
Earthquake
Sid Vicious
Zeus
Mr. Delete repeated word
Sgt. Slaughter
Yokozuna
Ric Flair
Dungeon of Doom
The Giant
Arn Anderson
Lex Luger
Sting
Ultimate Warrior
Goldberg
Diamond Dallas Page
Kevin Sullivan