What if Hogan never left the AWA?

[willywonka666]

This was inspired by the AWA thread in the wrestlecrap section. So what if Hogan never left? Hulkamania was definitely running wild even without Vince, suppose Gagne and Hogan worked out their differences and Hogan got the belt- Would Vern had promoted him as unstoppable? Or would Hogan remain a legend and the title actually be passed around a little? Discuss

[tarheelfan]

willywonka666 said:

This was inspired by the AWA thread in the wrestlecrap section. So what if Hogan never left? Hulkamania was definitely running wild even without Vince, suppose Gagne and Hogan worked out their differences and Hogan got the belt- Would Vern had promoted him as unstoppable? Or would Hogan remain a legend and the title actually be passed around a little? Discuss

I don't think that Gagne would have probably had pushed Hogan as much as Vince did. Without Hogan in the WWE I think that there would have been a huge stalemate between the NWA, AWA and WWE. (I'm not convinced that any wrestler other than Hogan could have made the most of the monster WWE push). I think the big winner if Hogan never left the AWA would have been the NWA.

[jobber2thestars]

Hogan still would have become big, but not the house-hold name that he is now. His lack of wrestling skills would have hurt him, a lot, in the AWA.

[Turd Ferguson]

jobber2thestars said:

Hogan still would have become big, but not the house-hold name that he is now. His lack of wrestling skills would have hurt him, a lot, in the AWA.

He can break it down in the ring if he has to, however his style (much like Cena) is limited because he's Superman. He's also taken a lot of shortcakes.

[BlackJackRobby]

Why would they have hurt him allot in the AWA? When he was in the AWA he was WAY WAY WAY over, and his in ring skills as can be seen in Japan matches can and do increase when it's called for.

I acctuly think it would have made a decent three way battle between the NWA, WWF, and AWA.

If he stayed in the AWA it would be because he would get a bigger deal and promise of the title. The AWA was also a company that always had good tv deals, and it did PPV. They also kept the titles on there champs, the only reason it went from person to person later on was due to people leaving etc.

[BillyBlood]

I believe that if Hogan stayed in the AWA, Gagne would've given him a run at the title, but I bet Gagne would try to expose Hogan for the lack of talent that he had and would give the title to another guy like Hansen or Henning, so he'd be nothing more than a transitional champion.

Another thing would be that the WWE would probably have folded back in the '80s since Vince would not have the ability to promote a strong superstar and his plan of going national would've been a disaster due to the lack of money.

So, strangely, the NWA would've come out the victor in this situation.

[Old School Heel mark4Morishima]

Not so much on whether Hogan would have been big in AWA, but on would AWA have survived with Hogan.

It's a misconception that losing Hogan in 1984 killed AWA.

The fed continued to be active into late '89 or early '90.

'84, the year of its biggest talent outflux (not just Hogan, but also Bobby Heenan, etc.) was actually an extremely successful year. They were selling out football stadiums.

What actually killed the AWA, in my personal opinion, was getting a TV deal with ESPN. In many areas that was a premium channel at the time. NWA was on TBS and WWF on USA; those were both basic cable.

[willywonka666]

Well another reason Hogan left is because Vince was going national and wanted Hogan to be "The One"-that woulda been hard to turn down no matter what. Of course then Vince would have had to come up with another golden boy-Randy Savage perhaps?

[nerdinitupagain]

willywonka666 said:

Well another reason Hogan left is because Vince was going national and wanted Hogan to be "The One"-that woulda been hard to turn down no matter what. Of course then Vince would have had to come up with another golden boy-Randy Savage perhaps?

Piper could've fit that role too.

[AriadosMan]

If Hogan never left the AWA, it probably would have ended up closing anyway due to Gagne's inability to adapt to the changing times. Which I guess means Hogan would have ended up with his WWE superpush anyways, just a little later than it came with the current history.

[Midnight Rider]

It's pretty tough to say;as was mentioned earlier Hogan could work fairly well as evidenced by his Japan matches,the thing is the AWA still followed the traditional territory system similar to the NWA,they had a handful of loosely affiliated promotions (CWA/SWCW/HCW/AJPW that i can think of,there may have been more) with a "World" Champion who toured around the different areas to "pop the gate" wherever the felt it would make them money (a la Ric Flair).I feel both Hogan and Bockwinkle would have worked in that role,though in different ways;Hogan was a Superstar Graham/Ric Flair type that people would come to see on their own while Bockwinkle was more a Dory Funk Jr. type that was not as outwardly flashy,but could be counted on to put on a quality match with any opponent of any skill level at a moment's notice and make that opponent look great.Hogan at the time was already getting the push as a contender to Bockwinkle's belt,but the repeated use of the old Cheap Finish/Dusty Finish was already causing the gates for those Main Events to slide as fans became frustrated;Hogan would have won the belt eventually but I could forsee it ending back on Bockwinkle after a short while and Hogan relegated to the Upped Midcard.

The AWA itself had really sorta been slowly slipping since the late 1970's as the nature of the business began shifting its focus away from in-ring ability and towards character and look;Verne stuck with the same very traditional booking style he'd been using since the 50's & 60's, which fans were becoming increasingly more bored, next to the flashier promotions with action centered more on young guys with a good look it seemed even more bland.

IMO the more major impact would have been that without Hogan to build up into "their guy",the WWF's agressive expansion would have stalled out,and with promotions like MACW and SWCW already picking up steam throughout '83 you would have seen one or both of them pick up some quality talent and make a good run of it.Another thing to consider is that without that momentum,there is a good chance the whole sneak replacing of GCW programming with WWF promgramming on TBS following a secret buyout(the infamous "Black Saturday") would never have happened,leaving GCW with a very sweet national cable deal,all of which could have caused an interesting power struggle within the NWA.

[Joekishi]

billyblood said:

I believe that if Hogan stayed in the AWA, Gagne would've given him a run at the title, but I bet Gagne would try to expose Hogan for the lack of talent that he had and would give the title to another guy like Hansen or Henning, so he'd be nothing more than a transitional champion.

Wha expose him for his lack of talent? What dude was wrestling Nick Bockwinkle who Bockwinkle says is one of his favorite opponents, reguardles of technical skill he could go when warranted.

Armdrags,arm bars, and dragon suplexes do not=great talent.

Seriously though hansen? Hansen had about as much wrestling talent as Hulk Hogan.

I also would have loved a serious Mr. Perfect/Hogan fued.

Without the AWA he wouldn't have found his character beyond cocky meat head. Also in AWA he was given tons of screen time and well it was the beginning of the Hulkamania.

The reason Vince did things the way he did was to get ahead and really that's why WWF won out in the end, because of their willingness to compete.

I will say this though I really think WCCW and AWA could have been bigger than they were for much longer with an actual business plan that accomadated the changing times.

[dutch dragon]

Wrestling would still be considered a "sport", and we'd still have lost of te old territories most likely.

[Corporate H]

WWE had enough talent that they would have eventually reached the same level of success without Hogan. It might have taken longer though.

[Mozenrath]

Snuka or Savage probably would've worked, too, but it's impossible to really say for sure.

[doctorhillbilly]

bencrocker said:

WWE had enough talent that they would have eventually reached the same level of success without Hogan. It might have taken longer though.

No chance.

Who's to say he'd been able to get the other guys without Hogan's cash cow.

[Joekishi]

Hogan's arrival brought forth more people to jump to WWE

[Skeleton Crew]

lariatoooooooooooo said:

jobber2thestars said:

Hogan still would have become big, but not the house-hold name that he is now. His lack of wrestling skills would have hurt him, a lot, in the AWA.

He can break it down in the ring if he has to, however his style (much like Cena) is limited because he's Superman. He's also taken a lot of shortcakes.

Hogan stole shortcakes? where they strawberry ones?

[Next Level was WRONG]

kiddobradley said:

Snuka or Savage probably would've worked, too, but it's impossible to really say for sure.

Wasnt Terry Taylor being considered aswell?

[big nasty]

nerdinitupagain said:

willywonka666 said:

Well another reason Hogan left is because Vince was going national and wanted Hogan to be "The One"-that woulda been hard to turn down no matter what. Of course then Vince would have had to come up with another golden boy-Randy Savage perhaps?

Piper could've fit that role too.

i have to disagree. hogan was almost a folk hero of sorts. most american folk heroes are known for great size or strength. hogan was larger than the average man and had a powerful looking build. it was easy, even on a subconscious level, for people to like and get behind him, especially portrayed as a do-gooder.

a psychopathic scotsman or a flamboyant, slightly gay looking man who bossed around women would never have gotten as mainstream as hogan back then.

hogan was perfect for the role, played it to the hilt, and was pushed on the fans just hard enough and in the correct ways for it all to work.

if he had never left the AWA, wrestling would probably still be very similar to what it was in the early 80's, for better or worse.