2013 Pro Wrestling Thread

I don't know about you guys, but will all this talk about bullying in Sports and News I kind of blame Ryback.

 

DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?

 

Rock vs. Hogan, Wrestlemania X8
Folks in Toronto went wild over Hulk's homecoming and turned him face without him doing anything. It's not a classic match by any means, but the atmosphere of the live crowd made it special.

 

Since you bring this match up, which one was bigger; Hogan vs Andre The Giant, Hogan vs. Ultimate Warrior or Hogan vs. The Rock?

 

I throw Hogan v. Rock out immediately. That was awesome for the atmosphere, but it really didn't have much lasting impact.

Hogan v. Warrior could have been the answer, but Warrior ultimately flopped as face of the company.

Hogan v. Giant created the franchise that is Wrestlemania. It was the final step in establishing Hulkamania. The match ain't no great shakes, but it is the answer to your question.

 

I'm 32, so I only remember watching Rock/Hogan. But from a historical standpoint, ucacm is right: Andre/Hogan made Wrestlemania.

 

Although the Warrior match is a personal favorite because I was a mark for him at the time, I would also say Hogan/Andre at WM as the biggest, because if it had flopped, there wouldn't have been the others.

One thing that I think is interesting is, with the technology we have today (i.e. YouTube), if Hogan/Andre had happened today, would it have had the big impact on the industry that it ended up having?

Think of it this way: They sold the public on it being the first time ever that the two had faced, even though they had met just 7 years earlier and basically ignored those who pointed out that fact as trying to go back to the dark ages. Back then,anybody who wanted to see those old matches had to be a tape trader or maybe have an early Coliseum video of the Shea match. If YouTube was around back then, where anyone could look up multiple Hogan/Andre matches, would people care about a rematch seven years later?

 

As most of you guys know, I like posting wrestling reviews. Starting in December, I will have a lot more time to do some. Curious if you guys would be interested in reading them if I posted more than usual?

 

The Masked Man / David Shoemaker talked about this on a podcast with Simmons this week, but he mentioned how radically easier YouTube made his book writing, as opposed to even 2006, when Simmons was doing The Book of Basketball. Almost any prominent match is now available on YouTube, excluding the early territories stuff that was taped over. (Similar to how NBC lost some of Carson's most early Tonight Shows.)

I think nowadays, Andre vs. Hogan would be comparable and framed to something like Undertaker vs. Sting. Like, I bet they have faced off against one another, like as Mean Mark Callous vs. Sting. It would still be a really big deal though.

 

Yeah, but that was a bit different, in that 'Taker didn't have the gimmick yet and it was over 20 years ago. I think a lot of the Hulk/Andre significance is that WM was a relatively brand-new concept, which gave the match the historical significance that is has today.

With WM an established brand today, I would think something like Hulk/Andre today would be comparable to a Cena/Orton match where Orton is the face and Cena is the heel. Yeah, there'd be intrigue for the heel Cena persona to make the match a bigger deal than what it should be, just like with a heel Andre, but ultimately, it's the same matchup that anybody saw a few years ago.

But on the other hand, another comparison would be HBK/Taker. They had only a short program in '97, albeit with one of the greatest matches ever. It took them 10 years to work together again, so that, even though anyone can Youtube their matches from the past, it still had a renewed freshness because both of their personas had grown and Undertaker has the streak. Today, if the E tried to claim that Andre was unbeaten, they'd be looked at as fools because somebody would find a tape of him losing (such as in Japan), and post it.

It's an interesting thing to debate.

 

I was at WM6 and the atmosphere in the SkyDome during the main event was unreal. (Rest of the card was meh as I recall.) I haven't watched Hogan-Warrior since I saw it live as I don't want to spoil what I remember as a great match.

 

Up and down Raw so far tonight. The good stuff has been very, very good, but there have been parts that have nearly put me to sleep.

Oh, and Heyman was masterful again.