My mom took me to see the match above. We also went to Hara Arena to see the Closed Circuit of WM III, where Hogan first body slammed Andre the Giant. I didn’t exactly know it was fake, but I was starting to suspect it was due to the fact that this happened and seemed almost the same as WWF TV:
Hulk Hogan was the man.
I know that since the time that I was a kid he went from the hot draw to the career wrestling politician, wore his own act stale, reinvented himself as the leader of the nWo in a moment that much like his first surge (when he beat the Iron Sheik to become WWF champion) led to major media attention to refresh wrestling.
All of the things I love about wrestling are owed to Hulk Hogan, even though in the time since I first swore my adoration to the Hulkster he’s had sex tape scandals and his son did horrible things. Hogan is a flawed person. I will not defend that. But Hulk Hogan is a character– Terry Bollea is not someone I suppose I’d consider a role model or someone to look up to.
Hulk Hogan had “it.” If ever there’s been an entertainer in any media that had “it” (*cough* Dwayne Johnson *cough*) Hogan was the prototype. He looked larger than life. He was emotive and energetic. He was a master of the sell (though, ironically, not in the wrestling sense of the word). His “Hulk up” comeback became such a staple that people still use that phrase to describe the moment where the face starts to no-sell the heel’s offense and blast back into action like a whirlwind of unstoppable Hulkamania.
I had Hulk Hogan toys. I had Hulk Hogan shirts. I had posters. I loved some Hulk Hogan.
Then, like 99% of the wrestling public, I started to move on. I favored people like Bret Hart and hated that Hogan was overshadowing them. I was excited when Hogan left the WWF, but I also moved to watching WCW and saw Hogan quickly crushing talent there.
Then Hogan vanished. And Kevin “Diesel” Nash and Scott “Razor Ramon” Hall came to WCW as the nWo. They ran roughshod over the WCW while Hogan and Sting — WCW’s bubblegum faces– were gone. This led to a moment where the Outsiders (Hall and Nash) told the WCW that their third member was coming. And a match was set for Bash at the Beach. WCW vs. the nWo. Time to rescue the company from the lethal Outsiders.
Sting, Luger and Randy Savage made up team WCW. They faced the nWo duo of Hall and Nash as the match started. Slowly it started to look like the third member was a lie, a clever trick. Some suspected it might be Sting, who had just returned and was acting… darker.
The Outsiders were winning, though, even a man down. Then the moment came. Phill– who hadn’t been paying attention to wrestling for a few years because it wasn’t cool to like wrestling in high school and I was too busy anyway– saw his old hero coming onto the screen. Hulkamania came to save WCW.
Only that’s not what *I* wanted. I liked the nWo. So did… a number of fans. The nWo was cool, they were irreverent, and they were playing with the fourth wall. It was my friend’s little brother telling me about Hall and Nash was what got me back into wrestling. I sensed their comeuppance, though, and I figured “well, people want a happy ending.”
Then:
Hulk Hogan became the most relevant figure in wrestling again by doing what was unthinkable, the thing that WWE won’t do now with John Cena. He turned on the fans because the fans turned on him. And what resulted was the most entertaining era of chicken heel as a legit powerhouse. Hogan’s reinvention led to a final act in WWF where the Rock convinced him to be a good guy again, but for years, he ran roughshod over WCW, losing and regaining the title until he finally dropped it to Goldberg, cementing Goldberg’s legacy.
Hogan’s whole demeanor changed as a heel, and it was flat out a joy to watch.
I had a friend online who sent me a postcard of Hollywood Hogan from a random bar in Chicago; I still have it somewhere (it was on the wall of my grad assistant office in Michigan). It was amazing to see Hulk Hogan undergo the transformation to anti-hero and come back.
I wish Terry was a better person, but I will always love the Hulkster.