Hogan's 1st Title Reign

[diggitydubz]

Hey R.D. and Blade

Love the website and board. I have always wondered about Hogan's first reign and all that went into it. In reading the various books, we come to learn that Vince targetted Hulk as his 'number one' guy while Hogan was in the AWA and they secretly met, coming up to an agreement that included him getting the WWE/F Title.

What I wonder is, what if Hogan declined. At the time, he was a pretty big deal in the AWA and could've easily won their title. What were Vince's back-up plans? Would he have pushed Jimmy Snuka, Sgt. Slaughter, Andre or someone else as his top hero?

As for the 4 year reign that Hogan had...were there ever any plans to end it earlier? Bundy at WM II? How serious was the talk that Andre might've gone over at WM III? And, with the condition that Andre was in at the time...what would they have done if he couldn't have wrestled? Would Randy Savage have gotten the shot in a title for title match? (what would Steamboat have done)

Any light anyone can shed on this would be appreciated.

[Clarence "Showstealer" Mason]

A lot of what you're asking is really personal opinion sort of things. But I'll give it a go. Bear in mind these are just my own thoughts

If Hogan had stayed in AWA, then Wrestlemania wouldn't have happened in 85 I don't believe, noone else had that ability to be the face of a national company yet. As for the title, I'm figuring Vince probably would've gone back to Backlund for lack of anyone else until Piper got himself over to the point that he could take over the title in his fued with Snuka

Personally I don't think the Andre talk at WM3 was ever that serious, Andre knew that he couldn't lead a company any more and it was time to pass the torch.

If Andre couldn't have wrestled? That's tough, it wouldn't have been Savage. His program with Steamboat had FAR too much heat for them to have anything else happen. The only two things I can see if that were the case were these

A) A Piper Turn and a title v career match (Very Risky though considering Piper was leaving to do They Live straight after)
B) The whole Roberts-Honky Tonk Angle doesn't happen. Jake was the only real guy on that level at the time that you could pull out of a match into the main event. Probably would've been better for Jake's Career but I don't think they get 93(or 78 depending on who you believe),000 to the Silverdome on Roberts V Hogan.

Who else is there really? Bundy again maybe?

As for the 4 year reign. I'm sure there were discussions of ending it before they did. But serious discussions? I don't think so, WM3 showed Hogan was still drawing as champion. I don't think Bundy would've been it had they chosen to switch though, again if they were going to pull a switch at around WM2 it would've been Piper, he was still the most over heel.