Hogan vs Khali was close to happening in 07?

[bluebeach25]

They had plans of doing it like the 20 Year Anniversary of Hogan/Andre. There were even rumors about Hogan vs Big Show being planned at WM 23. Match would have been a nightmare.

[Feyrhausen]

I dont know if it was ever close to actually happening. But according to rumors it was at least discussed.

Hogan vs Big Show happened in Memphis that year.

[Jindrak Mark]

It could have worked as a segment with Hogan running Khali off to a big pop. Basically the exact segment they did on the Raw 15th anniversary show in late 2007. It would also be similar to Wrestlemania 21 with Hogan saving Eugene from Muhammad Hassan.

Doing an actual match though would have been a terrible idea. Apparently the whole point of doing it was to recreate the image of Hogan slamming Andre but I'm not sure if Hogan in 2007 would have been able to slam Khali. It would have looked horrible.

Look at the difference between Hogan's matches at Summerslam 2005 and 2006. He still looked pretty good in 2005 and could do basically all of his old stuff (and Shawn obviously sold everything like death). A year later though in his match with Orton he looked really rough. Age and injuries were catching up. He was struggling to do the legdrop and in fact the independent match with Big Show a few weeks after Wrestlemania 23 I believe was the last time he ever hit the move.

[XIII]

Hogan slamming Andre worked because it was Andre the Giant. No one cares about Hogan slamming Khali. lol

[Andee9001]

I remember reading some newz around the time that could have been a pairing for the Battle of the Billionares match.

Another possible option was apparently King Booker vs Shawn Michaels.

[Final Countdown Jones]

Nothing speaks to mid '00s WWE in quite the same way as them going "Hogan vs. Andre is when the American man slams a big guy" and Vince wanting Hogan to slam Khali.

[Johnny B. Decent]

Holy crap, we avoided a disaster.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

I’ve heard JR talk about the plans for Hogan-Big Show, and that the big issue was that Show didn’t want to job to Hogan at that point. Hogan-Khali would have been dog ass ugly.

[Nosnorb]

Oct 23, 2022 19:58:00 GMT -5 Johnny B. Decent said:

Holy crap, we avoided a disaster.

Hogan would have blown out what was left of his knees and slipped at least two discs if he had actually attempted to slam Khali. Thankfully it never came to pass.

[Jindrak Mark]

Oct 23, 2022 20:06:27 GMT -5 "Playboy" Don Douglas said:

I’ve heard JR talk about the plans for Hogan-Big Show, and that the big issue was that Show didn’t want to job to Hogan at that point. Hogan-Khali would have been dog ass ugly.

Big Show jobbed to Hogan a few weeks later on a random Memphis show for surely a much smaller payday than if he had been in a featured Wrestlemania match.

Show lost and let himself be humiliated all the time plus he was friends with Hogan so I'm not sure I buy JR's explanation there.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

Oct 23, 2022 20:31:33 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

Oct 23, 2022 20:06:27 GMT -5 "Playboy" Don Douglas said:

I’ve heard JR talk about the plans for Hogan-Big Show, and that the big issue was that Show didn’t want to job to Hogan at that point. Hogan-Khali would have been dog ass ugly.

Big Show jobbed to Hogan a few weeks later on a random Memphis show for surely a much smaller payday than if he had been in a featured Wrestlemania match.

Show lost and let himself be humiliated all the time plus he was friends with Hogan so I'm not sure I buy JR's explanation there.

At the same time, it could be argued that doing a job on a non-televised independent show in Memphis isn’t as big a deal as doing a job on PPV at Wrestlemania. A lot fewer people are going to see it. Plus, he may have been trying to get a bigger payoff for doing it at Wrestlemania and the office didn’t go for it.

In the end, we probably won’t know for sure.