Hulk Hogan booked in WCW before nWo

[arthuradams2002]

It seems like Hogan's run in WCW before the nWo was pretty crappy.

First, they brought him in to face Flair. To me, it just seemed like two years too late. Remember we never got the payoff from their angle in the WWF. The buildup just didn't spark the same interest to me as did the buildup in 1991. Then the Hogan/Flair 1994 feud got booked to death and really ridiculous.

Then Hogan goes on to squash Vader on a number of occasions to where Vader (kayfabe) becomes a Hulkamanic.

You had the god awful Dungeon of Doom. Sullivan is in the forest then gets transported to a secret cave where an old man in a chair who is contributing a plot to destroy Hulk Hogan. So now your main heel roster is comprised of guys trying to act like B-movie horror monsters.

And who can't forget the Dower of Toom match at Uncensored ?

My point is that WCW never hit big with Hogan until they paired him up with Hall and Nash.

[SAJ Forth]

It seemed to me like they were just puting themselves through motions until the time was right.

[fg76]

Hogan in WCW from 1994-96 was more or less a "rehash" of 1984 and 1985, and as a 17 year old, I enjoyed it. I was still a major Hogan fan at the time, and had gone thru a bout of depression in 1993 that made me miss Hogan's WWF comeback and burial at the time and I was overjoyed as WCW "considered" brining him in.

Because my brain works the way it works, just because it was 1994 in WCW and not WWF in 1992 - didn't mean I didn't want to see Hogan vs. Flair. I mean I had waited years to see this, and while kayfaybe was more or less dead for me (kind of, sort of) - I was still a mark for Hogan.

Also once Hogan won the title, and what not, before the Nitro era - we got typical Hogan promos and highlighted on all the other WCW Superstars - so while some of Hogan's buddies got pushes - he wasn't as shoved down our throats as in the nWo/WCW Nitro era.

I will admit Steve Austin got buried, but honestly - does anybody think Austin would be as revered today if he hadn't found the "Stone Cold" persona in the WWF. I mean, Austin was never going to be "Stone Cold" in WCW. He might have gotten pushed under a 1994 Hogan-free/Flair booked company as "Stunning Steve" - but I really don't see it catching on. While his stuff in ECW was indeed epic and proved he could do something, I just don't seeing it fitting "Bischoff's vision" and Eric Bischoff ran WCW when somebody could run WCW.

In retrospect, I do kind of hate the whole "Butcher vs. Hogan" feud for Starrcade. The match wasn't that bad for a Hogan catfight, but come on - Vader should have gotten his first brush with Hogan here - won by DQ - and then do the slow build where Hogan overcomers Vader once and for all - or Vader actually beats the man.

Instead Hogan kind of puts Vader over at Superbrawl - and most smarks basically say he sabtoged Vader's career until Vader got fired in August. I kind of agree, as Vader was Vader in the Superbrawl match and then Vader became "Random Big Guy Hogan faces" after that match.

The whole son of Andre thing, while it introduced us to Paul Wight (who I still like) was dumb.

The Monster Truck gimmick was so dumb - I almost thought maybe the Giant had really fallen off the roof.

I kind of like early Nitro when Eric would book "Dream Matches" each week that would have been "Dream Matches" just three or four years prior, but WCW fans were sick of Hogan by November 1995 and even Hogan didn't get the hint until he left to film "Santa with Muscles" in April 1996.

Hell, until the final hour - there were still talks of Hulkamania coming in and destroying "the outsiders" to prove the real "WWF talent" was Hogan and not "Razor" and "Diesel." Luckily (even though in the longrun, it wasn't) - Bischoff convinced Hogan to turn heel and it saved the company.

Until 1997, when Hogan's Memphis tatics just bored me to tears. I guess I was so used to babyface Hogan, that when he had to do "heat heel spots" that he truly sucked at them. Not to mention, outside of jobbing to Luger like FIVE times before actually dropping the title (FOR A WEEK) to him . . . every match was a run in finish. Hogan never gets a clean win. Hogan never gets to be a cool heel like Nash and Hall had become. The man reinvented himself for a short time, but honestly I wanted to see Hogan destroying people even as heel - not cutting promos and watching Sting in the rafters.

Might have worked if the payoff had been Hogan beating Sting cleanly and turning babyface again, or Sting squashing Hogan and destroying the nWo for good and then have Hall, Nash, and Hogan return in about three months for revenge.

Sadly, it didn't happen.

[Vice honcho room temperature]

Looking at it Hogan (and Macho) gave WCW a quick boost with matches against Flair and Vader because it was still Hogan and while not at the peak of his pop. he still had a built in audience who would watch him do somethings that are fresh and new because of the setting. But yeah it could only go so far before people needed something new like him turning heel.

[MolotovMocktail]

They tried to capture lightning twice by booking him in feuds that were pretty close to what he was doing in the WWF. The problem was, WCW fans didn't like the interloper from up north going over "their" home-grown talent like Flair and Vader. Hence, they wouldn't support him, and he and Bischoff used this to create the nWo.

[BorneAgain]

Hogan really seemed to be suffering from insecurity and/or paranoia at the WCW guys looking too strong, because he didn't seem to sell their offense and beatdowns nearly as well as he did in WWF.

[SAJ Forth]

Jul 12, 2010 0:38:40 GMT -5 BorneAgain said:

Hogan really seemed to be suffering from insecurity and/or paranoia at the WCW guys looking too strong, because he didn't seem to sell their offense and beatdowns nearly as well as he did in WWF.

Yeah, I noticed it to.