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Post by Milkman Norm on Mar 27, 2020 16:50:46 GMT -5
In terms of drawing power? Was he the biggest draw in 1994-1996? I don't know. In terms of his Q Score? It's been high since the mid 80's & at the time may have been higher than Austin or Rock's. In terms of the perception of the general wrestling fan? For sure Austin & then Rock were bigger deals. But there are so many ways to qualify this it's nearly impossible to rate with any accuracy. You have to bear in mind that 94-96 were the years of WrestleMania X-XII, where they were still shaking off the over-the-top cartoon character gimmicks of the late 80s like Mantaur, Duke "The Dumpster" Droese, and Isaac Yankem DDS. I'm not saying that WCW was any better (Shockmaster, anyone?), but the acquisition of Hulk Hogan was a HUGE deal back then, and brought more eyes to WCW programming at a more national scale compared to the more regional eyes it was getting prior to this. Austin was still 'The Ringmaster' in '95, it wasn't until '96 when Stone Cold was born. Same with The Rock, who was merely "The Blue Chipper" Rocky Maivia until '97 when he joined the NoD. One could potentially argue that Bret Hart was their biggest star for WWF at the time, but Vince was still trying to get guys like Diesel and Sid main event pushes in contrast of Shawn Michaels during this same time, leading to record low buyrates for PPVs and popularity of the group. For all intents and purposes, it wasn't until Hogan joined the nWo in '96 that the WWF took the gloves off and let these stars they had truly shine like never before. Before then, Hogan was still the gold standard in 'faces of the company' when you are talking about asking any casual person on the street of the name of one pro wrestler. It actually wasn't really until the Spring of 1997 when the Austins vs Harts program took off. Yes the rise started with the Austin vs Bret program building in October of 1996 but it didn't really take off until after the double turn. Really one could easily argue it was later after that, in the summer of 97 when DX formed, Austin stunned Vince for the first time & the Undertaker's brother storyline was building that WWF really had it all together. But in 1996? No way. Pretty much everything from 1996-Wrestlemania 13 was crap. Also they weren't "shaking off" the cartoony characters. Vince believed that was the best way to draw fans & make money. He was dragged away from it when that taped Raw in the spring of 1997 did its worst ever ratings. As far as Hogan goes though he was probably a bigger draw than any WWF talent in 1994-1996. I think that's a safe bet to make.
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Post by Natural Born Farmer on Mar 27, 2020 20:22:16 GMT -5
Well brother, what you’ve gotta realize is the Hulkster still has another world title run in him, he’s as strong and as popular as he’s ever been, and if the CDC would just let him legdrop this virus the WWE could go back to running live shows this very night and he’d usher in a new boom period, brother!
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Post by flakeymcgill on Mar 28, 2020 4:05:44 GMT -5
I don't think Austin ever reached the stratosphere in terms of overness well into 1997. I think it's very difficult to argue he was there at Wrestlemania 13, I think that's very revisionist and it's probably in line with the WWE narrative. In fact the WWE story is that Austin became the megastar off the heels of KOTR 1996.
I love rewatching 1996-1999 on the Network and I don't think people's memories actually appreciate how much of a slow burn it really was between KOTR 1996 and WM14. Even by Survivor Series 1997 was Austin more 'over' than Bret or Shawn? I'd have my doubts to be perfectly honest. His stock was rising sharply but if it's debatable if you were the third most over guy in the company at the tail end of 1997 there's no way you are the biggest star in the industry at the same time.
The whole 'He said Austin 3:16 at KOTR and the next night he became the biggest start in the business and Vince a billionaire before Tuesday of that week' works as a narrative because we have Austin in our minds now as one of the greatest stars ever in the business. But for most of 1997 and certainly all of 1996 you could probably list several people who were more over than him in the same company let alone elsewhere.
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Post by mauled on Mar 28, 2020 4:46:02 GMT -5
For me its 1990 WM6 with Jesse saying he thinks Hulkamania wil live forever. Nothing tops that imo
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Post by The Thread Barbi on Mar 28, 2020 5:51:00 GMT -5
The little kid in me used to see WCW as the minor leagues anyhow.
A place where wrestlers went to get an easier life once they had finished with the big leagues.
1994 to 1996 Hogan to me was a has-been.
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