Flair talks why he vs Hogan never happened at Wrestlemania 8

[héad.casé]

On a recent episode of WOOOOO! Nation with Ric Flair, the Nature Boy answered many questions submitted by fans. Flair addressed the longstanding rumor that a match between Flair and Hulk Hogan was supposed to be the main event of WrestleMania 8. Instead, Flair defended his WWF Championship against 'Macho Man' Randy Savage, while Hogan faced off against Sid Justice at the event.

According to Flair, Flair vs. Hogan at WrestleMania 8 is "an illusion that people have" because the match was neither ever booked nor promised to him.

"When I got [to WWE in 1991], [Vince McMahon] said it was a possibility, but, at the same time, I knew that Hulk [Hogan] wanted to go out and do the show called Thunder in Paradise and they weren't getting along," Flair said. "They just decided to go another way."

Although many have speculated that Flair vs. Hogan for WrestleMania 8 was squashed after house show bouts between the two saw underwhelming crowd reactions, Flair stated that WWE brass put Flair and Hogan in house shows all over the country several times in case Hogan left the company early.

Flair came away content with how WrestleMania 8 played out, as he ended up facing Savage. He said that he didn't think it was a great match, but it was a great honor to walk out in front of 75,000 people in Indianapolis. While Flair and Hogan never squared off in WWE, the two would eventually lock horns in WCW at Bash at the Beach 1994.

www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2015/0816/599502/ric-flair-on-why-wwe-booked-his-matches-against-hulk-hogan-on/

[Instant Classic]

They squared off on Raw in 2002.

[domrep]

Flair's timeline must be weird, was Thunder in Paradise in development that long? It came out in 94 and Flair' stalking about 1991.

[tms]

Aug 16, 2015 18:27:44 GMT -5 domrep said:

Flair's timeline must be weird, was Thunder in Paradise in development that long? It came out in 94 and Flair' stalking about 1991.

I thought it was around the time Flair won against the 40,007-pound Vader by forcing him to tap out in the center of the ring in the Greek Coliseum in front of the pantheon of gods, WOOOO!!!

[Mozenrath]

I know he says it was never promised, but stuff like Flair costing Hogan the title versus Undertaker would at the least heavily imply it was considered at some point.

[Tiger Millionaire]

Horseshit.

[Toilet Paper Roll]

I always wonder how it would have played out if they squared off in WWF. Im guessing Hogan would have won, Im also guessing he would have won the rematch. Im sure whatever happened it'd have been widely panned,

[thecrusherwi]

Of all the "What Ifs" in wrestling, this one bothers me the least. Flair/Savage is one of my favorite Wrestlemania matches/storylines, and Hogan and Flair still fought in 1994 when they were young enough to have what I consider to be a pretty darn good match in WCW.

[somsta]

I don't think anyone will get the story straight about this. I remember some WWE DVD documentary where they talked about the house show matches and someone says it didn't draw well or go over well and then they cut immediately to someone else talking about how big the matches were and how they had to turn people away.

[Can you afford to pay me, Gah]

I don't know how that would really played out. Flair not telling the real story. Thunder in Paradise came up several years later. Early WM 8 posters had them on it. I wonder how it would played out being Hogan had one foot out the door at this point and wasn't seem in the WWE until WM time a year later.

There WCW 94 Match showed a big PPV buyrate increase for WCW when that match happened compared to the PPV before this without Hogan so not drawing in a BS statement I think.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

Aug 16, 2015 18:27:44 GMT -5 domrep said:

Flair's timeline must be weird, was Thunder in Paradise in development that long? It came out in 94 and Flair' stalking about 1991.

The pilot was released as a straight to video movie in 93 and was in production before the series was greenlit. Given how hectic Hogan's schedule was, it's possible it spent a good while in development long before cameras started to roll.

[2coldMack is even more baffled]

Aug 16, 2015 19:47:16 GMT -5 thecrusherwi said:

Of all the "What Ifs" in wrestling, this one bothers me the least. Flair/Savage is one of my favorite Wrestlemania matches/storylines, and Hogan and Flair still fought in 1994 when they were young enough to have what I consider to be a pretty darn good match in WCW.

Pretty much. Would it have been cool? Sure. Was what we got WAYYYYYY better? Absolutely.

[andrew8798]

And also there is the story that Sid was promised the Hogan Mania match if he jumped ship from WCW

[somsta]

Slightly off topic, but looking back, it's weird how Vince has such a history of resisting anything from outside his company, yet Flair and Sid were in the co-main events of Mania after being in WCW a year prior.

[Brandon Walsh is Insane.]

Flair v Hogan was announced though, they even did that press conference bit.

But Hogan did leave to pursue a film career after WM8, they even did a one on one interview between Hulk and Vince on Prime Time alluding to Hulks last match being against Sid.

[tigermaskxxxvii]

Aug 16, 2015 18:27:44 GMT -5 domrep said:

Flair's timeline must be weird, was Thunder in Paradise in development that long? It came out in 94 and Flair' stalking about 1991.

You can't rush genius.

[somsta]

Aug 16, 2015 20:34:43 GMT -5 Brandon Walsh is Insane. said:

Flair v Hogan was announced though, they even did that press conference bit.

But Hogan did leave to pursue a film career after WM8, they even did a one on one interview between Hulk and Vince on Prime Time alluding to Hulks last match being against Sid.

That press conference was bogus!

[HMARK Center]

Aug 16, 2015 20:56:45 GMT -5 somsta said:

Aug 16, 2015 20:34:43 GMT -5 Brandon Walsh is Insane. said:

Flair v Hogan was announced though, they even did that press conference bit.

But Hogan did leave to pursue a film career after WM8, they even did a one on one interview between Hulk and Vince on Prime Time alluding to Hulks last match being against Sid.

That press conference was bogus!

The most BOGUS thing they EVER pulled off!

[cabbageboy]

Hogan was in fact leaving after WM 8 for a variety of reasons, maybe another movie, maybe he was leery of being involved in the steroid controversy, who knows. Either way he wasn't around until early 1993, so him going over Flair made zero sense. It also made no sense to involve the title in that match. It could be read that Flair screwing Hogan vs. UT was to set up Flair/Hogan, but it also could be read as just a means to the end of having the vacant title at the Rumble.

The funny thing is that I think this worked out pretty well. Flair/Savage to me are far better natural rivals than Flair and Hogan. Flair/Hogan is one of those dream match scenarios to people but as an actual match it doesn't make that much sense. Flair was best when a bigger guy like Hogan could beat him from pillar to post and then Flair had to figure out something or cheat. The problem is that Hogan himself was best when he ended up selling and getting beaten by a monster heel, not so much beating up on a smaller heel. It isn't a real natural match up.

[Brandon Walsh is Insane.]

Aug 16, 2015 22:31:16 GMT -5 cabbageboy said:

Hogan was in fact leaving after WM 8 for a variety of reasons, maybe another movie, maybe he was leery of being involved in the steroid controversy, who knows. Either way he wasn't around until early 1993, so him going over Flair made zero sense. It also made no sense to involve the title in that match. It could be read that Flair screwing Hogan vs. UT was to set up Flair/Hogan, but it also could be read as just a means to the end of having the vacant title at the Rumble.

The funny thing is that I think this worked out pretty well. Flair/Savage to me are far better natural rivals than Flair and Hogan. Flair/Hogan is one of those dream match scenarios to people but as an actual match it doesn't make that much sense. Flair was best when a bigger guy like Hogan could beat him from pillar to post and then Flair had to figure out something or cheat. The problem is that Hogan himself was best when he ended up selling and getting beaten by a monster heel, not so much beating up on a smaller heel. It isn't a real natural match up.

The Flair/Taker thing did set up Hogan v Flair, albeit on the house show loop. Same as the Roddy/Flair feud was launched on TV and ended up being a house show feud.

Thinking about it some more, it was all set up for house shows. Even the bogus press conference was set up to start off the Sid/Hogan pairing.