When did Hogan start wearing the weight belt?

[Burst]

I was going to say it had to be during WCW, but then it was pointed out to me that he had it at least in 1993, for his match with Yokozuna, if not even earlier than that. Maybe about the same time he switched to tights full-time?

I guess another good gauge would be to see when he injured his back, since it seems like over the years the weight belt switched from being just part of his costume to something he actually needed to do any sort of heavy lifting in the ring. Looking at more recent pictures of him, I seriously wonder if he'll hunch over if he doesn't, from all the crap his back's been through from landing on his ass for twenty plus years.

I always thought it looked kind of overdone on him, vs. the classic simplicity of the plain yellow trunks and boots, but at least he kept that and not the helmet.

[thegame415]

He wore it when he came out at the end of WM 9.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Yeah, Mania 9.

[mrtuesday]

Hogan has ALWAYS worn the weight belt when not in wrestling attire.

Go watch the footage of Hogan training Mean Gene for their tag team match. He's wearing the weight belt, and that's the early 80's.

Any time he's done a talk show, or in-arena interview segment, he's worn what would eventually be the "Hollywood Hogan" attire of a tank top, long tights (plain red in the Hulkamania days) and cowboy boots.

Why? Hell, if I know. He just did.

[willywonka666]

You know it's a shame, for as safe as he played it in his matches, that he might wind up in the worse shape of any wrestler of the modern age. Hell, Foley is probably going to be in better shape when he hits Hogan's age.

[Deleted]

[mcd]

Nov 6, 2011 8:26:45 GMT -5 willywonka666 said:

You know it's a shame, for as safe as he played it in his matches, that he might wind up in the worse shape of any wrestler of the modern age. Hell, Foley is probably going to be in better shape when he hits Hogan's age.

That is the most shocking part to me. I grew up on Hogan, and even as a little kid I saw that he wasn't flying all over the place and doing crazy stuff.

And yet, I watch him now and see how busted up he seems and how much pain he looks to be in and it floors me that Mick Foley moves around better, Terry Funk seems less pained and even Sabu looks (relatively) better in comparison!

[Deleted]

Nov 6, 2011 12:42:35 GMT -5 mcd said:

Nov 6, 2011 8:26:45 GMT -5 willywonka666 said:

You know it's a shame, for as safe as he played it in his matches, that he might wind up in the worse shape of any wrestler of the modern age. Hell, Foley is probably going to be in better shape when he hits Hogan's age.

That is the most shocking part to me. I grew up on Hogan, and even as a little kid I saw that he wasn't flying all over the place and doing crazy stuff.

And yet, I watch him now and see how busted up he seems and how much pain he looks to be in and it floors me that Mick Foley moves around better, Terry Funk seems less pained and even Sabu looks (relatively) better in comparison!

Honestly, Hogan's schedule in the 80s was probably a good bit tougher than even Cena is working nowadays. That guy was everywhere. Combine that with steroids and cocaine(?) and his body was eventually going to break down.

[mrtuesday]

Nov 6, 2011 12:45:54 GMT -5 @akeem said:

Nov 6, 2011 12:42:35 GMT -5 mcd said:

That is the most shocking part to me. I grew up on Hogan, and even as a little kid I saw that he wasn't flying all over the place and doing crazy stuff.

And yet, I watch him now and see how busted up he seems and how much pain he looks to be in and it floors me that Mick Foley moves around better, Terry Funk seems less pained and even Sabu looks (relatively) better in comparison!

Honestly, Hogan's schedule in the 80s was probably a good bit tougher than even Cena is working nowadays. That guy was everywhere. Combine that with steroids and cocaine(?) and his body was eventually going to break down.

Not to mention ending every night by jumping and dropping his entire body weight right onto his ass. It's no wonder he's had so many back and hip problems.

[Clash, Never a Meter Maid]

Nov 6, 2011 15:47:48 GMT -5 mrtuesday said:

Nov 6, 2011 12:45:54 GMT -5 @akeem said:

Honestly, Hogan's schedule in the 80s was probably a good bit tougher than even Cena is working nowadays. That guy was everywhere. Combine that with steroids and cocaine(?) and his body was eventually going to break down.

Not to mention ending every night by jumping and dropping his entire body weight right onto his ass. It's no wonder he's had so many back and hip problems.

Hogan carried a good deal of weight around in his prime (though he probably was actually below 303 lbs), so I imagine the bumps he took were just as tough on him as some of the wilder ones from smaller or more evenly conditioned guys. Say what you will about his ego, but the dude sacrificed a lot.

[RareTradU]

Ya the 80s and 90s did a number on Hogan's back. 320+ days a year wrestling once and sometimes twice a day would do some major damage. Plus even with his 'safe' style, the guy would drop his ass from four feet in the air with 300+lbs compressing his spine every match! It's a wonder he can even walk today. If Austin was as jacked as Hogan and was on top for as long as Hogan he would probably have the same problems today because of the stunner.

[Slingshot Suplay]

Nov 6, 2011 16:09:58 GMT -5 RareTradU said:

Ya the 80s and 90s did a number on Hogan's back. 320+ days a year wrestling once and sometimes twice a day would do some major damage. Plus even with his 'safe' style, the guy would drop his ass from four feet in the air with 300+lbs compressing his spine every match! It's a wonder he can even walk today. If Austin was as jacked as Hogan and was on top for as long as Hogan he would probably have the same problems today because of the stunner.

He was also wrestling alot of big, fat & heavy wrestlers, bumping for them and slamming them during every match, so that probably contributed to his health woes.

[RareTradU]

Not to mention for as much slack as Hogan gets, I've seen matches where he was superplexing Bossman off the top of the steel cage! That's a pretty big bump for those two "big" men to take!

[MichaelMartini]

I could see Cena having the same problems down the road. He's lifted a bunch of obese guys and does that top rope leg drop almost every match.

[Mozenrath]

Nov 7, 2011 2:39:54 GMT -5 MichaelMartini said:

I could see Cena having the same problems down the road. He's lifted a bunch of obese guys and does that top rope leg drop almost every match.

True, though he benefits from having a ring with more give than Hogan had in the 80s, where NBC mandated it'd be very stiff to look better on TV.

[mcd]

Nov 7, 2011 3:09:01 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Nov 7, 2011 2:39:54 GMT -5 MichaelMartini said:

I could see Cena having the same problems down the road. He's lifted a bunch of obese guys and does that top rope leg drop almost every match.

True, though he benefits from having a ring with more give than Hogan had in the 80s, where NBC mandated it'd be very stiff to look better on TV.

Agreed. But to follow up on the Cena example I can see him having back and joint problems down the road as well, due to his drive and the size of his opponents in his earlier years.

[bathory]

Weight Belts aren't meant to be used like that, they are used during heavy weightlifting sessions, max 3 reps or so to prevent your lower back from beeing hurt. Training or working with the belt constantly will however result in those back muscles not beeing properly trained since the belt is there to release the stress from that area so in the long run, your back gets disproportionally weaker compared to the rest of your body which makes hard physical work dangerous. Even without the drugs and steroids, the same fate would have happened to him as long as he overused the support of the belt. Now he could have compensated with it by doing lots of exercises for the lower back (before it was too late) but I guess he wasn't that educated about the topic IMO.

[moneyman20]

Nov 8, 2011 20:26:13 GMT -5 bathory said:

Weight Belts aren't meant to be used like that, they are used during heavy weightlifting sessions, max 3 reps or so to prevent your lower back from beeing hurt. Training or working with the belt constantly will however result in those back muscles not beeing properly trained since the belt is there to release the stress from that area so in the long run, your back gets disproportionally weaker compared to the rest of your body which makes hard physical work dangerous. Even without the drugs and steroids, the same fate would have happened to him as long as he overused the support of the belt. Now he could have compensated with it by doing lots of exercises for the lower back (before it was too late) but I guess he wasn't that educated about the topic IMO.

To be fair to him. I don't believe people really had the kind of knowledge about core strength then as they do now.

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Nov 8, 2011 20:29:56 GMT -5 @moneyman20 said:

Nov 8, 2011 20:26:13 GMT -5 bathory said:

Weight Belts aren't meant to be used like that, they are used during heavy weightlifting sessions, max 3 reps or so to prevent your lower back from beeing hurt. Training or working with the belt constantly will however result in those back muscles not beeing properly trained since the belt is there to release the stress from that area so in the long run, your back gets disproportionally weaker compared to the rest of your body which makes hard physical work dangerous. Even without the drugs and steroids, the same fate would have happened to him as long as he overused the support of the belt. Now he could have compensated with it by doing lots of exercises for the lower back (before it was too late) but I guess he wasn't that educated about the topic IMO.

To be fair to him. I don't believe people really had the kind of knowledge about core strength then as they do now.

Plus how many Hogan workouts did we see... might have just been a look

[Drillbit Taylor]

Nov 6, 2011 16:05:46 GMT -5 Clash, Never a Meter Maid said:

Nov 6, 2011 15:47:48 GMT -5 mrtuesday said:

Not to mention ending every night by jumping and dropping his entire body weight right onto his ass. It's no wonder he's had so many back and hip problems.

Hogan carried a good deal of weight around in his prime (though he probably was actually below 303 lbs), so I imagine the bumps he took were just as tough on him as some of the wilder ones from smaller or more evenly conditioned guys. Say what you will about his ego, but the dude sacrificed a lot.

Thats why I allways called him the fittest fat man in WWF. He had arms and legs. His chest and stomach was just a fat guy's torso.