Hogan and other big dogs

[Essential1]

Does anyone know what his relationship is like with these guys?

Undertaker
Bret Hart
HBK
Roddy Piper

[Boo!]

His relationship with Piper is good, he's doing a Q&A with him soon in Charlotte. He worked with Taker during his first run and dropped the belt (briefly) to him so I doubt there's any animosity there. HBK dislikes him as Hogan's the one guy in his career he's not been able to get his own way with so he threw a strop and Bret doesn't like him because he blames Hogan for nobody finding him interesting as champ back in 1992/93

[Deleted]

Everyone seems to be friends with Taker, and I wouldn't be surprised of he and Piper are at least cool with each other if not friends.

I think Bret Hart hates him though.

[Deleted]

Their relationships are purely physical

[kidglov3s]

Feb 27, 2014 14:05:33 GMT -5 Boo! said:

Bret doesn't like him because he blames Hogan for nobody finding him interesting as champ back in 1992/93

I got the impression from Hart's book that he dislikes Hogan more from his experience in WCW than from anything in WWF. But that doesn't stick it to the nerds as well. Also I remember what issues he did have with Hogan in WWF stemmed more from his account of plans for Summerslam 1993 than "nobody finding him interesting as champ back in 1992/93".

[The IWC WORLD Champion]

It depends on if they have anything to offer him at any given time.

[Deleted]

Despite a lot of the stuff Hogan has done over the years, one thing he doesn't really do is hold grudges. I'm sure he'd work with anyone in the wrestling business in a heartbeat if that's what the company he's working for wants him to do.

As far as I know, he has a good working relationship with Taker and Piper but they're not particularly friends. And Bret and Shawn obviously dislike Hogan. Bret because of how Hogan acted in '93 when Bret was the champion and Shawn because of how Hogan acted during their feud in '05.

[Deleted]

Feb 27, 2014 14:05:33 GMT -5 Boo! said:

His relationship with Piper is good, he's doing a Q&A with him soon in Charlotte. He worked with Taker during his first run and dropped the belt (briefly) to him so I doubt there's any animosity there. HBK dislikes him as Hogan's the one guy in his career he's not been able to get his own way with so he threw a strop and Bret doesn't like him because he blames Hogan for nobody finding him interesting as champ back in 1992/93

Yeah, it has nothing to do with Hogan being two-faced or going back on his word....

Talk about bias.

[Boo!]

Feb 27, 2014 14:11:42 GMT -5 @robvancam said:

Feb 27, 2014 14:05:33 GMT -5 Boo! said:

His relationship with Piper is good, he's doing a Q&A with him soon in Charlotte. He worked with Taker during his first run and dropped the belt (briefly) to him so I doubt there's any animosity there. HBK dislikes him as Hogan's the one guy in his career he's not been able to get his own way with so he threw a strop and Bret doesn't like him because he blames Hogan for nobody finding him interesting as champ back in 1992/93

Yeah, it has nothing to do with Hogan being two-faced or going back on his word....

Talk about bias.

Hogan never went back on his word. As Meltzer wrote in the Observer even at for the time with business declining, Bret was a particularly weak draw in 1992/93. There's no chance in hell Vince wanted the strap off belt for just a matter of months. If Hogan didn't return then Luger would have been build up as the top face sooner. Bret only got the belt back a year later once Hogan had gone completely, Undertaker was out with an injury and Luger's steam had run out. Bret wasn't going to be in that title seen regardless of what Hogan did and he wouldn't have even got back even when he did if not for Luger's push faltering.

Bret didn't even 'main event' the PPV after he won the title back, Taker vs Taker did. Could you imagine Hogan as champ defending his belt on any other spot of a PPV other than last? Unless he was losing, of course.

Whatever Vince told Bret to placate him is a different matter. Personally I think "You're still my guy, I just want to try this for a few months" seems nicer than "Bret, you suck as a draw, you're being demoted down the card."

In any event Hogan was gone by July. Why not give Bret the title shot at the Summerslam if it's true he wanted Hogan vs Bret for Hart to get the belt back?

[kidglov3s]

Feb 27, 2014 14:18:20 GMT -5 Boo! said:

Feb 27, 2014 14:11:42 GMT -5 @robvancam said:

Yeah, it has nothing to do with Hogan being two-faced or going back on his word....

Talk about bias.

Hogan never went back on his word. As Meltzer wrote in the Observer even at for the time with business declining, Bret was a particularly weak draw in 1992/93. There's no chance in hell Vince wanted the strap off belt for just a matter of months. If Hogan didn't return then Luger would have been build up as the top face sooner. Bret only got the belt back a year later once Hogan had gone completely, Undertaker was out with an injury and Luger's steam had run out. Bret wasn't going to be in that title seen regardless of what Hogan did and he wouldn't have even got back even when he did if not for Luger's push faltering.

Whatever Vince told Bret to placate him is a different matter. Personally I think "You're still my guy, I just want to try this for a few months" seems nicer than "Bret, you suck as a draw, you're being demoted down the card."

It's not like business was doing great then Bret Hart happened. The confluence of scandals, Hogan leaving and a downturn in interest led to a huge drop in all the numbers in 1992. Making him champion didn't fix everything but things were doing as poorly when Savage, Warrior and Flair were headlining. This is the main running theme of the 1992 Observers, which I read all of last Summer.

[Boo!]

Feb 27, 2014 14:20:57 GMT -5 kidglov3s said:

Feb 27, 2014 14:18:20 GMT -5 Boo! said:

Hogan never went back on his word. As Meltzer wrote in the Observer even at for the time with business declining, Bret was a particularly weak draw in 1992/93. There's no chance in hell Vince wanted the strap off belt for just a matter of months. If Hogan didn't return then Luger would have been build up as the top face sooner. Bret only got the belt back a year later once Hogan had gone completely, Undertaker was out with an injury and Luger's steam had run out. Bret wasn't going to be in that title seen regardless of what Hogan did and he wouldn't have even got back even when he did if not for Luger's push faltering.

Whatever Vince told Bret to placate him is a different matter. Personally I think "You're still my guy, I just want to try this for a few months" seems nicer than "Bret, you suck as a draw, you're being demoted down the card."

It's not like business was doing great then Bret Hart happened. The confluence of scandals, Hogan leaving and a downturn in interest led to a huge drop in all the numbers in 1992. Making him champion didn't fix everything but things were doing as poorly when Savage, Warrior and Flair were headlining.

Business was down across the board but Bret even on that level wasn't drawing great. I'm not blaming Bret for the decline in the industry but that also doesn't mean you don't look at how he drew within that context. He was out of the title scene for a year and only returned once the first two options (Hogan then Luger) either left or ran out of steam.

To claim Vince wanted Bret to beat Hogan and be the champ in the summer of 1993 ignores everything that we know to be true of the period.  If Vince wanted the belt on Bret at Summerslam then by Summerslam Hogan was gone. Did he catch amnesia or was it that he didn't really want the belt on him in the first place?

We'll never know for sure but one explanation seems more likely to me. 

[ritt works hard fo da chickens]

Hogan is a lot like Vince his loyalties lie with himself and what best benefits him. If he's put into some program with Bret he will put Bret over as an all time great just like he praised HBK for the network hype.

Also as an aside Hogan often didn't main event as champion. In fact the Rock 'n Wrestling era kicked off with Hogan wrestling a dark match for the title. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Brawl_to_End_It_All

[kidglov3s]

Feb 27, 2014 14:24:17 GMT -5 Boo! said:

Feb 27, 2014 14:20:57 GMT -5 kidglov3s said:

It's not like business was doing great then Bret Hart happened. The confluence of scandals, Hogan leaving and a downturn in interest led to a huge drop in all the numbers in 1992. Making him champion didn't fix everything but things were doing as poorly when Savage, Warrior and Flair were headlining.

Business was down across the board but Bret even on that level wasn't drawing great. I'm not blaming Bret for the decline in the industry but that also doesn't mean you don't look at how he drew within that context. He was out of the title scene for a year and only returned once the first two options (Hogan then Luger) either left or ran out of steam.

To claim Vince wanted Bret to beat Hogan and be the champ in the summer of 1993 ignores everything that we know to be true of the period.  If Vince wanted the belt on Bret at Summerslam then by Summerslam Hogan was gone. Did he catch amnesia or was it that he didn't really want the belt on him in the first place?

We'll never know for sure but one explanation seems more likely to me. 

Yeah, I actually agree that it's more probable that Vince made the decisions he wanted to make, rather than Hogan forcing his hand (which sounds ridiculous, sorry Bret), but I think the picture we're arriving at is a bit different from "nobody finding him interesting as champ", which you probably knew was going to be inflammatory, especially to fans of Bret Hart, there being many such people on that dastardly internet.

[Boo!]

Feb 27, 2014 14:27:36 GMT -5 kidglov3s said:

Feb 27, 2014 14:24:17 GMT -5 Boo! said:

Business was down across the board but Bret even on that level wasn't drawing great. I'm not blaming Bret for the decline in the industry but that also doesn't mean you don't look at how he drew within that context. He was out of the title scene for a year and only returned once the first two options (Hogan then Luger) either left or ran out of steam.

To claim Vince wanted Bret to beat Hogan and be the champ in the summer of 1993 ignores everything that we know to be true of the period.  If Vince wanted the belt on Bret at Summerslam then by Summerslam Hogan was gone. Did he catch amnesia or was it that he didn't really want the belt on him in the first place?

We'll never know for sure but one explanation seems more likely to me. 

Yeah, I actually agree that it's more probable that Vince made the decisions he wanted to make, rather than Hogan forcing his hand (which sounds ridiculous, sorry Bret), but I think the picture we're arriving at is a bit different from "nobody finding him interesting as champ", which you probably knew was going to be inflammatory, especially to fans of Bret Hart, there being many such people on that dastardly internet.

i didn't really have the inclination to do a person-by-person analysis of the time to see how they felt. 

"he drew well as champ"

"he drew poorly as champ"

"he was hugely over"

"nobody found him interesting"

It's only when these things are said about certain people that others pick up on the generalisation. Had I said it about Batistia, it wouldn't have got noticed.

[Amazing Kitsune]

Bret probably doesn't hate Hogan overall. Bret, several times, in his book does not deny Hogan's skill as a performer. Bret also seems to be a little blind to the fact that Vince was playing them against one another.

He also dislikes things that happened in WCW, but by that time their relationship was so strained that they were bound to have problems.

I believe Hogan is kind of perturbed by Bret's quasi-animosity, because he says they always got along well.

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Hogan and Piper seem to get along very well.

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Hogan and HBK probably don't exchange Christmas cards, but I doubt there is any animosity between them.

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Hogan and Taker get along fine, as far as I know.

[Boo!]

Hogan doesn't get on with Bruno, I know that. Strange as their paths never really crossed,I don't think

[Deleted]

Hogan's in his line of work to do whatever makes himself the most money? Wow, what an ass, huh?

[dav]

Feb 27, 2014 14:34:04 GMT -5 Boo! said:

Hogan doesn't get on with Bruno, I know that. Strange as their paths never really crossed,I don't think

Bruno was around for WrestleMania I at least to help get his son over. Considering Bruno's opinions regarding what wrestling turned into, maybe it just chaffed Hogan to have to deal with a guy who just didn't like what he represented for the business?

[thegame415]

It's not that big, but...

[RIHT]

Feb 27, 2014 14:06:10 GMT -5 @therealoblivion said:

Everyone seems to be friends with Taker, and I wouldn't be surprised of he and Piper are at least cool with each other if not friends.

I think Bret Hart hates him though.

You could say that about basically anyone.