Post by fg76 on Oct 3, 2009 1:10:52 GMT -5
People who have gotten an actual three count over Hogan, seemingly have not faired well in wrestling. Here is a short list of the known wrestlers who got a pinfall on the Hulkster. And while most of this is a product of my brain, it almost seems real in some areas.
For example:
1. Tony Atlas: Defeated Hogan in 1981, and while he had a hot spot as a tag champion with "The Rock" Rocky Johnson [Duane "The Rock" Johnson's dad] - his career fizzled. He returned in the 1990's as an African Warrior named Samba Simba, and even then Vince had the nerve to bill him as "Tony Atlas going back to his African roots." Did have a good heel manager spot in ECW as Mark Henry's manager when big Mark was a heel - but I missed most of that one. Still a guy who had much more to offer, and it just never went anywhere.
2. Andre the Giant: Defeated Hogan many times in 1980-81 by pinfall. His diease of Giantism crippled him, and he became a former shell of himself - but did get enough glory to return the favor in one of the biggest PPV Main Events ever. Still a big name, but most of his matches after Hogan proved that Andre had no business working in the ring anymore. And yet, just being "The Giant" he was able to use that mystique for five more years before his untimely death. (I should note Andre did pin Hogan in 1988 in one of the greatest angles in history, because Hogan's shoulder was actually up - but most call it a three-count job and Andre did get the title, but quickly threw it to the Million Dollar Man and thus it ended.)
3. The Ultimate Warrior: Defeated Hogan in 1990 cleanly, but the Ultmate Nutjob would burn out quickly as champion. And Warrior admitting, he was in it for the money and creating new products outside of wrestling - the man became more difficult to work with and finally Vince fired him. The man still thinks he's bigger than the business . . . and that he could do more than just wrestle. If it wasn't for his nature, I'd almost applud him . . . but we know his nature and therefore that's IMPOSSIBLE . . . . . . .
4. Yokozuna: Defeated a retiring Hogan in 1993's KOR. Well that's the best way to put it as Vince was sick of Hogan, and Hogan was sick of the WWF. I think Hogan thought he could be an actor, and a twice a year wrestler in Japan - but WCW came calling and history changed. Yoko was a good draw as champion, but once his weigh problems really got bad in 1996 - he was fired and he finally died around 1999-2000.
5. Ric Flair: After years of losing to Hogan, Flair got to pin Hogan on Nitro in 1996. Flair, while always a legend in my heart and mind - always lived the lifestyle of Ric Flair where maybe he should have tried to stop being Ric Flair for just a moment as Flair has had several divorces, and several income mistakes that still haunt him since his retirement a few years ago. And to be honest, the WWE put him out to pasture . . . as he would have probably wrestled forever and put over anybody just for a paycheck. That's how sad his career became, and yet just because he was Ric Flair - we still loved him in spite of what he did to his legacy at the end.
6. Arn Andrerson: Another man who got a pinfall over Hogan. Doing well as a road agent for the WWE, but suffered a career ending injury from the hands of Lex Luger or somebody around late 1996. Anderson's career, however, was winding down by this point - although he had a great midcard run in 1995 as Tv champion - so who knows.
7. Roddy Piper: Well it was a sleeper hold, but I'll count it. Piper was a broken down mess by 1994, let alone in 96, and let alone when he did his match with Jericho at Wrestlemania 25. So its hard to say if the career went even more downhill after beating Hogan both at Starrcade 96 and Halloween Havoc 97. The man is still a cool dude on the mic, but even Piper admitted in 2003 that he knew he was a train wreck in the ring - but he hungered it too much to quit. In 2009, he proved he can hardly walk or move anymore due to injures, cancer, and whatnot -
8. Lex Luger: Several torchure rack victories in 1997 over Hogan, including a short title regin. Luger's career downslide quickly during Russo's regin of terror in 2000, and after a failed run in Australia - Luger made the news having illegal drugs in his possession and questioned due to the questionable nature of his girlfriend's death (Miss Elizabeth). Luger had an spinal infection that damn near killed him, and today he's a born again christian and hardly looks like the total package anymore. And I hope he really means it . . . and it seems like today he does because he almost did die.
9. Sting: Outside of the Nitro 1995 match, Sting has won every battle with Hogan and probably the one who has not been cursed that much. Unless you count working in TNA being a curse? Sting has had some slides in his life, including his friendship with Lex Luger and some other things - but Sting has held up fairly well.
10. The Giant: (Pinfall over Hogan on a Nitro before Souled Out 1998) The Big Show is another who seems to be in good shape, but for years the Big Show was a jobbing fool. He jobbed to Austin right when he showed up in the WWE. He's jobbed to Rey Mysterio, and he's never been used like the "son of Andre" should have been used. They give hints of it, or they'd have Show be a comic genius - and then they'd just throw it into the trash. Much like Sting, and much like Tony Atlas - some strides as of late seem to say this curse is horses*** - but still Paul Wight has gone thru a lot and doesn't get pushed enough.
11. Bill Goldberg: Pinned Hogan on Nitro to win World Title in 1998. While Goldberg is healthy and having a good life, his wrestling career was quickly trashed by either Kevin Nash or himself. Depending on who you want to believe. Races street rods nowadays, and promotes some shoot fighters. Still made a name for himself, but its on the c-levels of sports and most of his wrestling mystique has been forgotten by 2009 by most.
12. Mike Awesome: Yes, during the Russo/Bischoff era. It might have been an handicap match with Bill Kidman or something, but Hogan actually put over one of his family members. (Rumor was that Awesome was a cousin of Horace, who was Michael Bollea's son - Hogan's brother) Sadly, Awesome's great ECW career crashed and burned and the man took his own life a few years back. The match had nothing to do with it, btw.
13. Vampiro: Yes, another brilliant idea from the braintrust of Vince Russo during the infamous Hogan/Kidman feud. Hogan jobbed to the guy. I mean Hogan should have been jobbing to Sid, Kevin Nash, Sting, or some real Main Eventers - but no Vince Russo was all about "THE NEW BLOOD" and how they needed to be "put over" and name me one NEW BLOOD wrestler that is any reverance to the WWE or TNA nowdays? Huh, huh?
14. Jeff Jarrrett: Or what I call the death of WCW. Cancer or not, Hogan could have still been a draw - even in WCW and Vince Russo basically either hated Hogan or was told by a bunch of suits after he and Hogan had agreed on one of Russo's stupid shoot angles - that Hogan could no longer be used. Either way, Jeff Jarrett burnt all his bridges when WCW died and created his own company - that now he really no longer owns and is actually sitting at home from it after messing with the top star (Kurt Angle's) ex-wife. They call them ex-wives for a reason, but Dixie Carter sided with Kurt Angle on this one.
15. The Rock: Yes, both the Wrestlemania X-8 and the No Way Out matches . . . Again not much of a curse in terms of health, or even a dead career as I think Dwayne Johnson would actually be welcome back with open arms by even the modern WWE fanbase - but luckily Dwayne Johnson found his character was more about wrestling and trust me - until Johnson himself feels that doing Disney movies isn't enough - then you'll never really see him do anything outside of movies again. And from most accounts, outside of a divorce - he's invested well after his wrestling career. I'll never know if Hogan put him over because he knew he was on his way out or not . . . but in terms of wrestling - Rocky was gone shortly after this.
16. Triple H: Yeah, but Trips did put him over first at Backlash - so maybe the Smackdown job doesn't count. Or maybe it doesn't count right now, because Triple H is firmly married to Stephanine McMahon and pretty connected with his father-in-law too.
17. Kurt Angle: The KOR 2002 match, where Angle won cleanly. Angle currently is a loose cannon in real life due to assumed drug use, and working in TNA still (I think). Living off the past glory of his six years in the WWE.
18. The Undertaker: Actually this should have been earlier, since Taker has taken Hogan out in 1991 and 2003. Taker is currently the only guy, if he retired tommorow - who hasn't really seemed cursed over winning in a Hogan match. Then again, Taker seems to have his head on straight - outside of getting divorced twice.
19. Brock Lesner: September 2002 taping in Richmond, VA. Hulkamania's offical exit from wrestling was in my hometown, but I didn't go to tapings back then. I still don't most of the time. Lesner is actually, I think, going to break the curse as a shoot figther - but shoot fighters are short lived careers - but at least he's on top for now. His wrestling career is forever dead, sadly.
And I think that's actually the last man to job to Hogan. Hogan came back and more or less refused to job to anybody, outside of Dwayne Johnson and mostly nobody has dealt with him since 2007. Outside of a wrestling spot on a fixed reality Tv show (which I actually enjoyed), Hogan's last match was against Paul "The Great" Wight on April 27, 2007.
For example:
1. Tony Atlas: Defeated Hogan in 1981, and while he had a hot spot as a tag champion with "The Rock" Rocky Johnson [Duane "The Rock" Johnson's dad] - his career fizzled. He returned in the 1990's as an African Warrior named Samba Simba, and even then Vince had the nerve to bill him as "Tony Atlas going back to his African roots." Did have a good heel manager spot in ECW as Mark Henry's manager when big Mark was a heel - but I missed most of that one. Still a guy who had much more to offer, and it just never went anywhere.
2. Andre the Giant: Defeated Hogan many times in 1980-81 by pinfall. His diease of Giantism crippled him, and he became a former shell of himself - but did get enough glory to return the favor in one of the biggest PPV Main Events ever. Still a big name, but most of his matches after Hogan proved that Andre had no business working in the ring anymore. And yet, just being "The Giant" he was able to use that mystique for five more years before his untimely death. (I should note Andre did pin Hogan in 1988 in one of the greatest angles in history, because Hogan's shoulder was actually up - but most call it a three-count job and Andre did get the title, but quickly threw it to the Million Dollar Man and thus it ended.)
3. The Ultimate Warrior: Defeated Hogan in 1990 cleanly, but the Ultmate Nutjob would burn out quickly as champion. And Warrior admitting, he was in it for the money and creating new products outside of wrestling - the man became more difficult to work with and finally Vince fired him. The man still thinks he's bigger than the business . . . and that he could do more than just wrestle. If it wasn't for his nature, I'd almost applud him . . . but we know his nature and therefore that's IMPOSSIBLE . . . . . . .
4. Yokozuna: Defeated a retiring Hogan in 1993's KOR. Well that's the best way to put it as Vince was sick of Hogan, and Hogan was sick of the WWF. I think Hogan thought he could be an actor, and a twice a year wrestler in Japan - but WCW came calling and history changed. Yoko was a good draw as champion, but once his weigh problems really got bad in 1996 - he was fired and he finally died around 1999-2000.
5. Ric Flair: After years of losing to Hogan, Flair got to pin Hogan on Nitro in 1996. Flair, while always a legend in my heart and mind - always lived the lifestyle of Ric Flair where maybe he should have tried to stop being Ric Flair for just a moment as Flair has had several divorces, and several income mistakes that still haunt him since his retirement a few years ago. And to be honest, the WWE put him out to pasture . . . as he would have probably wrestled forever and put over anybody just for a paycheck. That's how sad his career became, and yet just because he was Ric Flair - we still loved him in spite of what he did to his legacy at the end.
6. Arn Andrerson: Another man who got a pinfall over Hogan. Doing well as a road agent for the WWE, but suffered a career ending injury from the hands of Lex Luger or somebody around late 1996. Anderson's career, however, was winding down by this point - although he had a great midcard run in 1995 as Tv champion - so who knows.
7. Roddy Piper: Well it was a sleeper hold, but I'll count it. Piper was a broken down mess by 1994, let alone in 96, and let alone when he did his match with Jericho at Wrestlemania 25. So its hard to say if the career went even more downhill after beating Hogan both at Starrcade 96 and Halloween Havoc 97. The man is still a cool dude on the mic, but even Piper admitted in 2003 that he knew he was a train wreck in the ring - but he hungered it too much to quit. In 2009, he proved he can hardly walk or move anymore due to injures, cancer, and whatnot -
8. Lex Luger: Several torchure rack victories in 1997 over Hogan, including a short title regin. Luger's career downslide quickly during Russo's regin of terror in 2000, and after a failed run in Australia - Luger made the news having illegal drugs in his possession and questioned due to the questionable nature of his girlfriend's death (Miss Elizabeth). Luger had an spinal infection that damn near killed him, and today he's a born again christian and hardly looks like the total package anymore. And I hope he really means it . . . and it seems like today he does because he almost did die.
9. Sting: Outside of the Nitro 1995 match, Sting has won every battle with Hogan and probably the one who has not been cursed that much. Unless you count working in TNA being a curse? Sting has had some slides in his life, including his friendship with Lex Luger and some other things - but Sting has held up fairly well.
10. The Giant: (Pinfall over Hogan on a Nitro before Souled Out 1998) The Big Show is another who seems to be in good shape, but for years the Big Show was a jobbing fool. He jobbed to Austin right when he showed up in the WWE. He's jobbed to Rey Mysterio, and he's never been used like the "son of Andre" should have been used. They give hints of it, or they'd have Show be a comic genius - and then they'd just throw it into the trash. Much like Sting, and much like Tony Atlas - some strides as of late seem to say this curse is horses*** - but still Paul Wight has gone thru a lot and doesn't get pushed enough.
11. Bill Goldberg: Pinned Hogan on Nitro to win World Title in 1998. While Goldberg is healthy and having a good life, his wrestling career was quickly trashed by either Kevin Nash or himself. Depending on who you want to believe. Races street rods nowadays, and promotes some shoot fighters. Still made a name for himself, but its on the c-levels of sports and most of his wrestling mystique has been forgotten by 2009 by most.
12. Mike Awesome: Yes, during the Russo/Bischoff era. It might have been an handicap match with Bill Kidman or something, but Hogan actually put over one of his family members. (Rumor was that Awesome was a cousin of Horace, who was Michael Bollea's son - Hogan's brother) Sadly, Awesome's great ECW career crashed and burned and the man took his own life a few years back. The match had nothing to do with it, btw.
13. Vampiro: Yes, another brilliant idea from the braintrust of Vince Russo during the infamous Hogan/Kidman feud. Hogan jobbed to the guy. I mean Hogan should have been jobbing to Sid, Kevin Nash, Sting, or some real Main Eventers - but no Vince Russo was all about "THE NEW BLOOD" and how they needed to be "put over" and name me one NEW BLOOD wrestler that is any reverance to the WWE or TNA nowdays? Huh, huh?
14. Jeff Jarrrett: Or what I call the death of WCW. Cancer or not, Hogan could have still been a draw - even in WCW and Vince Russo basically either hated Hogan or was told by a bunch of suits after he and Hogan had agreed on one of Russo's stupid shoot angles - that Hogan could no longer be used. Either way, Jeff Jarrett burnt all his bridges when WCW died and created his own company - that now he really no longer owns and is actually sitting at home from it after messing with the top star (Kurt Angle's) ex-wife. They call them ex-wives for a reason, but Dixie Carter sided with Kurt Angle on this one.
15. The Rock: Yes, both the Wrestlemania X-8 and the No Way Out matches . . . Again not much of a curse in terms of health, or even a dead career as I think Dwayne Johnson would actually be welcome back with open arms by even the modern WWE fanbase - but luckily Dwayne Johnson found his character was more about wrestling and trust me - until Johnson himself feels that doing Disney movies isn't enough - then you'll never really see him do anything outside of movies again. And from most accounts, outside of a divorce - he's invested well after his wrestling career. I'll never know if Hogan put him over because he knew he was on his way out or not . . . but in terms of wrestling - Rocky was gone shortly after this.
16. Triple H: Yeah, but Trips did put him over first at Backlash - so maybe the Smackdown job doesn't count. Or maybe it doesn't count right now, because Triple H is firmly married to Stephanine McMahon and pretty connected with his father-in-law too.
17. Kurt Angle: The KOR 2002 match, where Angle won cleanly. Angle currently is a loose cannon in real life due to assumed drug use, and working in TNA still (I think). Living off the past glory of his six years in the WWE.
18. The Undertaker: Actually this should have been earlier, since Taker has taken Hogan out in 1991 and 2003. Taker is currently the only guy, if he retired tommorow - who hasn't really seemed cursed over winning in a Hogan match. Then again, Taker seems to have his head on straight - outside of getting divorced twice.
19. Brock Lesner: September 2002 taping in Richmond, VA. Hulkamania's offical exit from wrestling was in my hometown, but I didn't go to tapings back then. I still don't most of the time. Lesner is actually, I think, going to break the curse as a shoot figther - but shoot fighters are short lived careers - but at least he's on top for now. His wrestling career is forever dead, sadly.
And I think that's actually the last man to job to Hogan. Hogan came back and more or less refused to job to anybody, outside of Dwayne Johnson and mostly nobody has dealt with him since 2007. Outside of a wrestling spot on a fixed reality Tv show (which I actually enjoyed), Hogan's last match was against Paul "The Great" Wight on April 27, 2007.
