How did the WWF explain Hulk Hogan's absence in 1993?

[Deleted]

Just to compare it to today's issue with absent World Champion Brock Lesnar, how did the WWF explain no Hogan from April 1993 to June 1993? Was it kayfabe he was injured? Did Jack Tunney suspend him? Did Yokozuna beat him in between Wrestlemania 9 and King of the Ring?

Did they explain anything to the crowds on all those Monday Night Raw's from April to June of that year?

And why didn't Jack Tunney strip Hogan of the WWF title, when he did the EXACT THING to Shawn Michaels later in 1993 for not defending his IC title in 30 days?

I was too much into the King of the Ring tournament with Bret Hart to remember exactly how they explained a lack of WWF Champion Hulk Hogan.

[molson5]

I don't think there was an explanation. Monday Night Raw had just started, and Hulk Hogan hadn't been a regular on it yet, so there was no reason to expect him on TV weekly, since he never appeared regularly on TV prior to that except to hype upcoming live events, or occasional angles/promos. And I do remember him doing pre-taped promos to hype the King of the Ring match for a month or so before that event. So it was really only around 4-6 weeks that he was gone altogether. Unlike Lesnar though, I'm sure they did talk about him, and about how Yokozuna was gunning for him, etc. That stuff took a lot longer to develop in 1993, so it wouldn't have been weird for Hogan not to appear and respond.

[Crappler El 0 M]

Randy Savage took shots at him on Raw commentary. That's about it.

Edit: I should have read the topic more clearly. Savage taking shots at Hogan was after he left WWE, not when Hogan was champion.

[molson5]

Dec 28, 2014 16:04:09 GMT -5 @benji said:

And why didn't Jack Tunney strip Hogan of the WWF title, when he did the EXACT THING to Shawn Michaels later in 1993 for not defending his IC title in 30 days?

This has never been a rule in the WWF. They've used this logic to occasionally strip champions that they wanted to strip, but it's never been a company rule that if a champion doesn't defend his title for a certain period of time, then they just have to strip him. They booked Hogan to win the title at Mania, do some Japan dates, and then lose it at King of the Ring, so they didn't strip him.

[jmule]

Jack tunney: "ladies n gentlemen of the world wrestling federation, Hulk Hogan has gone out for a pack of smokes"

[Hit Girl]

Jack Tunney came out at the start of RAW, cut a 20 minute promo where he said "Quite frankly, Mr Hogan is just a B+ player. Sports entertainment superstars must defend the championship title every 30 days in this very ring. We owe it to the WWF Universe and dis business. So if he doesn't defend his championship title at King of the Ring, he will, quite frankly, be stripped of the WWF World Heavyweight Championship title in this very ring."

[Deleted]

Dec 28, 2014 16:55:56 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

Jack Tunney came out at the start of RAW, cut a 20 minute promo where he said "Quite frankly, Mr Hogan is just a B+ player. Sports entertainment superstars must defend the championship title every 30 days in this very ring. We owe it to the WWF Universe and dis business. So if he doesn't defend his championship title at King of the Ring, he will, quite frankly, be stripped of the WWF World Heavyweight Championship title in this very ring."

That's what I loved about Jack Tunney... He stuck to himself and minded his own business never really bothering anyone.

[cjh]

Dec 28, 2014 16:04:09 GMT -5 @benji said:

And why didn't Jack Tunney strip Hogan of the WWF title, when he did the EXACT THING to Shawn Michaels later in 1993 for not defending his IC title in 30 days?

Tunney said Shawn had either refused certain title defenses or no-showed them (can't remember which).  That is completely different than not booking someone to wrestle and punishing him for it by taking the championship from him.

Same deal applies to Lesnar. It's WWE responsibility to make title matches, not Lesnar's, so if they choose to not book a WWE title match at a PPV, that's not his problem.

[Capt Lunatic]

Dec 28, 2014 16:55:56 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

Jack Tunney came out at the start of RAW, cut a 20 minute promo where he said "Quite frankly, Mr Hogan is just a B+ player. Sports entertainment superstars must defend the championship title every 30 days in this very ring. We owe it to the WWF Universe and dis business. So if he doesn't defend his championship title at King of the Ring, he will, quite frankly, be stripped of the WWF World Heavyweight Championship title in this very ring."

Those were the days...

[WWHHHD]

I watched all WWE programming back in those days. As being a huge mark of Hogan to this day this is how they explained it from all accounts of my memory.

He wins title at WM9
Nothing mentioned
Rematch at KOTR
He loses rematch
Nothing mentioned

[lildude8218]

they had 2 segments in May with Gene Okerlund interviewing Hogan, Beefcake, and Jimmy Hart on the set of Thunder in Paradise. so I guess it could be argued that they explained his absence by saying he was filming a TV show.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

They didn't explain it because the champion didn't main event every last f***ing show the company put on. The champ wrestling all the time doesn't really start until Bret Hart and that's because they needed to bill him as a fighting champion to give him credibility.

Champs need to fight worthy contenders not just fight for the sake of fighting.

[auph10imitated]

It was different back then anyways, Hogan rarely appeared on normal TV anyways just SNME and PPV so it wasnt much different to his previous run (84-92) he was mentioned and I think there was the odd promo (like mentioned they were interviewed on TIP) but it really was only 2 months, I doubt that many people particularly noticed.

I cant remember how much promo there was leading up to King of the Ring though.

I just watched a random post KOTR Challenge last night and a siloutte of him is used to promote the UK summer tour and hes mentioned by name etc.

[Deleted]

Dec 28, 2014 18:12:36 GMT -5 cjh said:

Dec 28, 2014 16:04:09 GMT -5 @benji said:

And why didn't Jack Tunney strip Hogan of the WWF title, when he did the EXACT THING to Shawn Michaels later in 1993 for not defending his IC title in 30 days?

Tunney said Shawn had either refused certain title defenses or no-showed them (can't remember which).  That is completely different than not booking someone to wrestle and punishing him for it by taking the championship from him.

Same deal applies to Lesnar. It's WWE responsibility to make title matches, not Lesnar's, so if they choose to not book a WWE title match at a PPV, that's not his problem.

Jack Tunney actually came out recently and denounced Brock Lesnar's lack of title defenses.


So Brock Lesnar went back in time to 2004 and murdered him.

[auph10imitated]

Silly little things like this really does make me miss kayfabe, because if this was 1989 or something the WWE could kayfabe that Brock has been defending the World Title all around the globe against some of the toughest wrestlers the world has to offer haha people would be none the wiser

[jmule]

Dec 28, 2014 16:55:56 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

Jack Tunney came out at the start of RAW, cut a 20 minute promo where he said "Quite frankly, Mr Hogan is just a B+ player. Sports entertainment superstars must defend the championship title every 30 days in this very ring. We owe it to the WWF Universe and dis business. So if he doesn't defend his championship title at King of the Ring, he will, quite frankly, be stripped of the WWF World Heavyweight Championship title in this very ring."

Your sayin jack tunney used the phrase "universe" back in 1993?

[A Platypus Rave]

Dec 29, 2014 10:36:29 GMT -5 auph10imitated said:

Silly little things like this really does make me miss kayfabe, because if this was 1989 or something the WWE could kayfabe that Brock has been defending the World Title all around the globe against some of the toughest wrestlers the world has to offer haha people would be none the wiser

I am assuming in this universe the internet is not a thing... because yeah people would know it's bullshit immediately.

But even then things like The IC Tournament being BS was well known before the internet too so even then it wouldn't be a secret forever.

[DjZonk]

Dec 28, 2014 16:49:47 GMT -5 jmule said:

Jack tunney: "ladies n gentlemen of the world wrestling federation, Hulk Hogan has gone out for a pack of smokes"

And a gram of cocaine which he will be taking a long time with, but compensating with enough alcohol to long out his night, Brother. 

[tigermaskxxxvii]

Jack Tunney began a speech announcing that he was stripping Hogan of the WWF Title. But the speech was so long by him padding it with all the "hence to/whence firths" that he likes to pepper his pronouncements with, that by the time he finished Hogan was on his way to the ring at KOTR '93 and by then it was a moot point.

[Mid-Carder]

He was lost in a cave