Did anyone think Hogan was going to be the 3rd man

[American Dragon]

I'm not too sure if anyone on here was watching WCW back in the mid-90's, seems like forever ago, but with the huge amount of speculation going around of who was going to be the third man in the Outsiders angle, that begs the question; did anyone actually think Hogan was going to be the third man beforehand? It's something I've always wondered, and I never see anyone talking about it.

I know the internet wasn't really huge back then, but I'm sure there were a fair amount of reporters floating around reporting certain stories and whatnot. With names such as Sting and Luger being rumored to be the final piece to the puzzle, I wonder if Hogan was ever seriously considered.

It was just so far off that it actually would have made sense for him to be the third man, in retrospect. With him knowing more about the big company up north than anyone, he was the perfect piece to the puzzle, I wonder if that went over peoples heads somewhat, since I never really hear about Hogan being considered for the angle. I know he was chosen at the last minute, but still, just something I've always been curious about.

[lotus]

I never saw it coming in a million years and even wondered why WCW wasn't using Hogan on their team. He was "suspended" at the time for something to do with The Giant.

I thought Luger would end up being the third man after taking that Stinger Splash on the post.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

I was really in and out during this time, I never followed WCW, but I kept up a bit when Hall and Nash jumped. So I was waiting on the 3rd man and watched the PPV that night. The thought crossed my mind if could be Hogan, since they had clues like Okerlund recognizing the voice and a few other things, but I dismissed it.

No way Hogan would be the bad guy. I wish I could have seen the look on my face when he turned. Never, ever saw it coming.

I thought Luger would be the 3rd man after he was knocked out early.

[johnnyk9]

as much as I was back and fourth between WWE and WCW, I never saw it coming, however I had been wondering why Hogan was on hiatus since Uncensored, I really had no idea whatsoever who it was, if I had to lean towards anything, I would've thought it was someone on the WCW roster, if not maybe If I was a smart mark back then I would've thought Shawn Michaels

[ANTLOL]

I expected a new guy from WWF to be the 3rd man, someone who was not in WCW at that time. I don't remember who my cousin and I were guessing it was back then, but we were VERY sure that The Outsiders would lose the match. It was the single greatest swerve in the history of pro wrestling and 99.99999% of all people who say they saw it coming are liars.

[wvmelinafan]

I had no idea at the time. I didn't order the PPV as I was always a WWE/WWF loyalist. But, on my satellite I could do some trick with the audio to where I could hear what was going on, though I couldn't see it. I was shocked to say the last, but afterwards I remember seeing an ad in PWI magazine hyping up their PWI Weekly Newsletter. In it, they showed their issue that went to press shortly before the PPV that said something along the lines of, "Is Hogan the Third Man to join Hall and Nash?!?!?" So, I imagine some people knew. Does anyone know if the Observer speculated on Hogan at all as the "third man"?

[romafan87]

The big names on the Internet at that time were Curt Hennig, Bret Hart (hadn't wrestled in WWF since WM12), and the major sites/newsletters were saying Hogan. So the cat was out of the bag a little bit but there was speculation that WCW would get cold feet and put someone like Hennig in if they chose not to turn Hogan. That move took some big time guts to pull off...

[allenfan69]

I seem to remember somebody mentioning Hogan's name before the PPV, but I immediately dismissed it. Never in a million years did I think that WCW had the nerve to try to turn Hogan heel, especially with the debacle that was "Dark Side" Hogan just a couple months before.

[CMWaters]

Feb 18, 2011 14:09:45 GMT -5 allenfan69 said:

I seem to remember somebody mentioning Hogan's name before the PPV, but I immediately dismissed it. Never in a million years did I think that WCW had the nerve to try to turn Hogan heel, especially with the debacle that was "Dark Side" Hogan just a couple months before.

Funny thing is either Hogan or WCW kept the outfit from that time though, as on the July 15, 1996 Nitro he came out wearing that outfit, since his later, more elaborate nWo outfits weren't ready yet.

[Kyle Butler]

Feb 18, 2011 9:39:09 GMT -5 ANTLOL said:

I expected a new guy from WWF to be the 3rd man, someone who was not in WCW at that time. I don't remember who my cousin and I were guessing it was back then, but we were VERY sure that The Outsiders would lose the match. It was the single greatest swerve in the history of pro wrestling and 99.99999% of all people who say they saw it coming are liars.

This. They did a good job of leading you to believe it was going to be another WWF guy coming over. I did not see it coming either.

[turkeysandwich]

I remember thinking it would probably be another WWF guy, but I actually remember not thinking it was that big of a deal that Hogan turned heel. However, I have to say that the only thing I really had seen of Hogan at that time was his pointless run with the WWF title after WM IX and his Dungeon of Doom feud in WCW, so he really wasn't that big of a deal to me as a kid.

Also, I remember I couldn't wait for Nitro to start the night after Bash at the Beach, to find out who the 3rd man was. Remember those days before the internet was so widespread and if you didn't get to see the PPV you had to wait until Nitro or Raw to find out what happened. Usually those episodes would open with Bischoff or Vince narrating the goings on at the PPV over stills. I miss that in some ways.

[Kyle Butler]

Feb 18, 2011 16:09:01 GMT -5 turkeysandwich said:

Also, I remember I couldn't wait for Nitro to start the night after Bash at the Beach, to find out who the 3rd man was. Remember those days before the internet was so widespread and if you didn't get to see the PPV you had to wait until Nitro or Raw to find out what happened. Usually those episodes would open with Bischoff or Vince narrating the goings on at the PPV over stills. I miss that in some ways.

I do miss this aspect of wrestling back then. Having to wait until the opening moments of Nitro to see who won the matches at the PPV the night before was always fun to me, even if sometimes the outcome may have ruined my mood for the entire rest of the show.

[Deleted]

I was 12 at the time and in my markish mind I had myself convinced that somehow the 3rd man was going to be Shawn Michaels...I knew he was good friends with both of them during their WWF run and thought he'd quit WWF to take that job with them

[rprince18]

for some reason i actuallhy thoght it was gonna be bam bam bigalow

[Vampiro138]

this man saw it coming...he was trying to tell us for years that Hogan was no good!!

[DavidArquette]

Didn't Heenan get in trouble for his "Yeah but who's side is he on?" line during the PPV?

[Paco]

In my 13 year old "armchair booker" mode, I thought to myself "Hogan being the 3rd man would be damn cool! (pause) Nah, it'll never happen."

Never thought WCW would have the balls but when I saw Hogan coming down the aisle...HOLY SHIT!
I just knew what was coming...I was gonna witness the best heel turn ever.
Sure, I didn't know what the term "heel turn" was yet but still!

[romafan87]

IIRC, Jeff Jarrett was the other big rumor, too.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Feb 19, 2011 6:59:14 GMT -5 DavidArquette said:

Didn't Heenan get in trouble for his "Yeah but who's side is he on?" line during the PPV?

It's edited out sometimes now, for some reason. Yah, he said it, but Heenan didn't have a clue who the 3rd man was, none of the announcers knew. It was a legit call.

[Deleted]

From what I remember (I had no Internet, but was a Torch subscriber), it was either going to be Lex Luger (he jumped from the WWF to WCW, so it would make the most sense), or the 1-2-3 Kid/Sean Waltman. Vince kept losing Waltman's release papers, so his 90 day clause never really got to kick in until much later than it should have.
Bret Hart's name was thrown about, but not in a sense that he was seriously coming in. It just added to the rumors about his loss at WM XII was supposedly his last match in the WWF. (Hall & Nash didn't really care for Bret Hart, so that's where that rumor ended.) Shawn Michaels was brought up, but Eric Bischoff stated plainly in a Prodigy chat that Shawn was "too small". (Funny, Michaels is "too small", yet they wanted Sean Waltman pretty bad, who is like half Shawn's size.)

So, no, I never really thought about anybody but Luger. I had forgot Hogan was even there at that time.