Terry Gene Bollea, Hulk Hogan: Why was he so popular?

Emperoreddy

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As others have noted... Hogan has boatloads of charisma. Like him or not, his charisma is undeniable. As far as why Hogan was so popular, I do think that part of it was timing. Entertainment in the 80s was bigger than life and cartoony, and Hogan fit in perfectly. If he came out today as a new wrestler I would expect a very Cena-esque mixed face reaction, which isn't really unlike his early 90s reactions.

To Hogan's credit, the guy did get over big wherever he was in the early days even before WWF. He got over massively very quickly in the AWA, and that was as straightlaced as any promotion in the 80s. He was over massively with the Japanese audience, which was obviously much more conservative than the typical WWF audience. He was even great in Rocky III. I am convinced that Thunderlips would have been one of the best heels of the 1980s.

Thunder lips is pretty much a proto-genetic freak Steiner gimmick.
 

Emperoreddy

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This is still one of my most favorite matches to watch.



This is such a great example on why Hogan was Hogan. Also why the Rock was so over too. Just two super charismatic guys who know how to work a crowd for maximum heat with minimum effort.

As no frills a match as you can fine but they had the crowd eating out of their hands.
 

Jonas1235

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Hulk Hogan to wrestling is the same as Gordie Howe to hockey. Theres better technical guys and faster etc. But they just had that 'it' factor and were larger than life.

Just on a side note, how many guys had an amazing baby face run and an amazing heel run in their careers?
 
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Jonas1235

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there was a saturday nights main event on NBC with Hogan vs. Andre and it had 30m viewers. This guy was a god in the 80's
 

Loosie

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THe thing with Hogan matches is that they are not technical masterpieces, but rather 'events' to watch. Think of those '5 star matches' as Academy Award worthy films, and Hogan matches like Hogan-Andre at WM III, Hogan-Warrior at VI and Hogan-Rock at X-8 are the summer blockbusters that you watch for the pure fun of it.
 

Masked

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Another main reason for Hogan's huge popularity during his first WWF title run was the opponents he had. Started with Piper, who was a fantastic heel for drawing heat. Then the enormous Bundy was next. After that it was the legendary Andre. From there he went on to the super talented Savage. Three of those four are true legends.
 

scrubadam

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Because it was the 80's, different time.

Wrestling was different back then, people somewhat actually bought it was real. It was still "fake" but there was enough of a blur that people questioned it. I remember 20/20 or John Staussel did an expose on Wrestling and how it was "fake" on a major network. That's like CNN running a news report today exposing wrestling.

Hogan wasn't a bad worker per say for back then. If you watch his older matches he was great at involving the crowed and timeing. And wrestling back then could be bought as real and an actual sport/fight unlike today where wrestlers are doing insane moves and jumping all over the place things that would never happen in a real fight where you are actually competing against someone to win.

He had an amazing look that made him look like a champ and someone you could buy as a WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION. He could talk and you would hang on his every word. And then just add in the 80's factor where good and evil were clearly defined. Being a good guy was as easy as being pro America, pro family, pro kids, while being the bad guy you were just had to be a big jerk. Today the jerks are the ones the fans cheer for.

Hogan would have no chance of being over today. Fans are to into the business and what happens behind the scenes. If the office gets behind you then you are an instant heel. If you cant dive all over the place and have a ton of MOVEZ you aren't over with the crowd. Fans would burn out on Hogan's formula after seeing it at 12 PPV's and 52 Raws a year. He would not have his same promo style as he would tone it down like everyone else and talk like Terry Bollea and not HULK HOGAN.
 
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scrubadam

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there was a saturday nights main event on NBC with Hogan vs. Andre and it had 30m viewers. This guy was a god in the 80's

I think that plays to how different of an entertainment landscape things were in the 80's. No internet, no DVR, no 500 channel cable/satellite dish package's. Things remained in the cultural zeitgeist a lot longer back then as opposed to today.

Keep in mind during Hogans big run there wasn't a weekly RAW that was giving out premiere matches for 3 hours a night. There weren't monthly PPV's. If you wanted to see Hogan and the rest it was either at a house show 1 of 4 PPV's or a SNME. Maybe just maybe he shows up on one of WWE's syndicated shows, but it would never be against another big name just a squash or an interview.

But WWE and Hogan needed each other at that time. WWE with savage or Ordorf or Piper would never have reached those heights, but if Hogan stayed in the AWA I don't think the AWA would be WWE. Hogan needed Vince and his genius, while Vince needed Hogan and his charisma. Both together created the beast that became the WWE.
 
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Jonas1235

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couldnt stand him. thought he was overrated as hell and could not wrestle out of a wet paper bag.
he was over with the kiddies and the parents with the kids.

pro wrestling actually isn't much about wrestling. The idea is to make money. Nobody made more money than Hogan. In WCW he was making a million a month. Gotta give the guy props on creating his image and maintaining it for almost 40 years. He is still over.
 
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Ozz

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Another note is that back then, the titles meant something. The wins meant something. The PPVs meant something. As stated, there were FOUR throughout the year, and I'm not even certain the Rumble & Survivor Series had surefire title matches most of the time.

You didn't get burnt out on the top stars (or anyone, really) by seeing them every week, and the gravity of each PPV was raised because there were so few.
 

These Are The Days

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I have always been of the lasting impression that not having a crappy gimmick in an age where so many bad gimmicks were prevalent and being booked in a way that rarely displeased the fans had a lot to do with his success.

Make no mistake he was good at what he did but like Stone Cold he was given a role that could not possibly fail.

If Roman could go back in time in Austins place and gave the finger, drank beer, speared HHH on the regular, swore about raising hell and drove vehicles through the arena he'd be the most beloved wrestler of all time all the same.

Giving the fans what they want usually works out very well and to stick to the point of Hogan he was the embodiment of that concept
 
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JackSlater

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I have always been of the lasting impression that not having a crappy gimmick in an age where so many bad gimmicks were prevalent and being booked in a way that rarely displeased the fans had a lot to do with his success.

Make no mistake he was good at what he did but like Stone Cold he was given a role that could not possibly fail.

If Roman could go back in time in Austins place and gave the finger, drank beer, speared HHH on the regular, swore about raising hell and drove vehicles through the arena he'd be the most beloved wrestler of all time all the same.

Giving the fans what they want usually works out very well and to stick to the point of Hogan he was the embodiment of that concept

Can't see that at all. You don't just stumble into becoming as huge as Hogan was because Vince McMahon puts you in that role. Hogan was big wherever he went. As for Reigns being able to replicate Austin there is just no chance. Austin made his own push due to charisma that Reigns could never match and promos that Reigns could never hope to deliver.
 
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sabremike

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THe thing with Hogan matches is that they are not technical masterpieces, but rather 'events' to watch. Think of those '5 star matches' as Academy Award worthy films, and Hogan matches like Hogan-Andre at WM III, Hogan-Warrior at VI and Hogan-Rock at X-8 are the summer blockbusters that you watch for the pure fun of it.
The two Toronto matches were actually surprisingly good (although they don't hold up) and examples of how Hogan was a master manipulator. They were both supposed to get the other guy over but in the end Hogan turned it on it's head and got himself over instead. His acting and mannerisms after the Warrior match changed the story from Warrior's coronation to people feeling sympathy for Hogan losing after a valiant effort. The Andre match was one of the worst main events in the history of the business, but history and nostalgia has been very kind to it.
 

Loosie

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The two Toronto matches were actually surprisingly good (although they don't hold up) and examples of how Hogan was a master manipulator. They were both supposed to get the other guy over but in the end Hogan turned it on it's head and got himself over instead. His acting and mannerisms after the Warrior match changed the story from Warrior's coronation to people feeling sympathy for Hogan losing after a valiant effort. The Andre match was one of the worst main events in the history of the business, but history and nostalgia has been very kind to it.

Somewhat hyperbolic, but I don't disagree and that's half my point. The match itself is not the greatest quality but it was amazing for the spectacle. The whole match was about whether or not Hogan could bodyslam Andre, and when he did it was an amazing visual and crowd popper.

Hogan-Warrior again is not a high quality match but the sheer spectacle of the two hottest draws at the time, not to mention a novelty face vs. face main event for the title. Agreed on the post match antics of Hogan taking away from Warrior's win though.

For Hogan-Rock it was nothing Hogan did, it was pure crowd. The crowd just simply would not boo Hogan, and props to both Hogan and Rock for recognizing that and working with the crowd rather than against it.
 

KIRK

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1. The charisma and the way he was marketed to kids.

2. The crossover stuff with celebrities . . . not just the whole rock and wrestling thing, but things like Rocky 3 and then subsequent television and movie appearances.

EDIT: You really had to see him in the mid 80's to understand the appeal (whether you personally agreed with it or not). By the 90's, the late WWE/early WCW Hogan was a cliche of himself.
 

These Are The Days

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Can't see that at all. You don't just stumble into becoming as huge as Hogan was because Vince McMahon puts you in that role. Hogan was big wherever he went. As for Reigns being able to replicate Austin there is just no chance. Austin made his own push due to charisma that Reigns could never match and promos that Reigns could never hope to deliver.

Make no mistake guys like Hogan and Austin were solid on the mic but the thing to keep in mind is that Hogan in particular used a lot of baseline material i.e: 26 inch pythons, "Whatcha gonna do...", brother every other words, vitamins and prayers, "All the little Hulksters" etc while Austin had "What?" "EH EH!" "And that's the bottom line cuz Stone Cold said so" "can of whoop ass" and any "3:16" references that he used. But he could deliver borderline great stuff mic because he had the liberty to say whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. Hogan on the other hand lived in a day where could talk about saving Donald Trump and all the Hulkamaniacs from drowning by putting them on his back and swimming to safety. A lot of what he had to say was already put on a tee for him.

Meanwhile Austin's day had a liberty we will never... .EVVVAAARRRRR see again. A line like "I brought a little sign language to help you out" while delivering a middle finger or "You call yourself the Gorilla but all you do is hee haw around here like a jackass" isn't some transcendent novelty on the mic. Any of us could think of those things but we don't hear them because we live in a day where the stuff that came out of Austin's mouth is no longer kosher with WWE management but it would still bring down the house.

Roman struggles because he's expected to deliver new, organic material without any baseline material to fall back on. The Rock might've been the most transcendent talent on the mic in history but he still had "If you smell with the Rock is cookin" and the "Stick it straight up your candy ass" line. And yet the moment we realize Roman goes off script he starts doing a little better.

And as for booking... beating up the monster heel of the day or beating up your boss, drinking beer and driving loud vehicles into the arena are the most pleasing things fans can experience. It's not a wonder that Austin remains the most popular icon in WWE history but yet it's no surprise he got the longest leash above ANYONE in history. And to make one last remark about mic work. Guys like Cena, Jericho, Rock and Punk are the most transcendent mic workers in history.

Austin and Hogan are nothing compared to them but none of those guys who rocked the mic had even a fraction of the booking Austin and Hogan did.
 

These Are The Days

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The biggest problem is that WWE is too strict with the mic work

I'll show you how easy it is to think of organic one-liner material but it would never be allowed

"Sister Abigail's just mad that I didn't call her back"

"Let me guess Roman... big dog, your yard, don't care? Guess what? Neither do I or anyone else here in this arena. Go to the back and let the adults finish talking"

"Roman the only time you act like a big dog is when you whine like a bitch"

"Hang on let me get comfortable" *take off shirt, roll it up and put it in the corner of the ring and lay head down on it* "Alright keep going. I'm sure I'll fall asleep in a minute"

"You know HHH you built your entire career on the fact that no one around here has a very long memory. Yet no one forgets that you don't deserve any sympathy for what happens to you."

"TURRRRNNNN IT DOWN!!!!!!!!!" -when speaking to Seth Rollins in reference to turning down the volume of their TV because he's talking

"I gotta tell you man you really are great as a hype man. You manage to get people truly excited over a guy who has 2 suplexes and an F5 and only wrestles on pay per view"-When speaking to Paul Heyman

"I remember when I was a kid Brock Lesnar was actually a great wrestler. Too bad that was a long time ago"

"Mr. Clean" -when speaking to Kurt Angle

*Pulling out golf balls from my pocket and handing them to another wrestler* "I got you a present. Unfortunately it's the best I could do since the real ones come natural.

Not all of what I said is even good. But it was to demonstrate that even I can think of ways to be spontaneous then SURELY these mic-foresaken talents we have today can too
 

JackSlater

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Make no mistake guys like Hogan and Austin were solid on the mic but the thing to keep in mind is that Hogan in particular used a lot of baseline material i.e: 26 inch pythons, "Whatcha gonna do...", brother every other words, vitamins and prayers, "All the little Hulksters" etc while Austin had "What?" "EH EH!" "And that's the bottom line cuz Stone Cold said so" "can of whoop ass" and any "3:16" references that he used. But he could deliver borderline great stuff mic because he had the liberty to say whatever he wanted whenever he wanted. Hogan on the other hand lived in a day where could talk about saving Donald Trump and all the Hulkamaniacs from drowning by putting them on his back and swimming to safety. A lot of what he had to say was already put on a tee for him.

Meanwhile Austin's day had a liberty we will never... .EVVVAAARRRRR see again. A line like "I brought a little sign language to help you out" while delivering a middle finger or "You call yourself the Gorilla but all you do is hee haw around here like a jackass" isn't some transcendent novelty on the mic. Any of us could think of those things but we don't hear them because we live in a day where the stuff that came out of Austin's mouth is no longer kosher with WWE management but it would still bring down the house.

Roman struggles because he's expected to deliver new, organic material without any baseline material to fall back on. The Rock might've been the most transcendent talent on the mic in history but he still had "If you smell with the Rock is cookin" and the "Stick it straight up your candy ass" line. And yet the moment we realize Roman goes off script he starts doing a little better.

And as for booking... beating up the monster heel of the day or beating up your boss, drinking beer and driving loud vehicles into the arena are the most pleasing things fans can experience. It's not a wonder that Austin remains the most popular icon in WWE history but yet it's no surprise he got the longest leash above ANYONE in history. And to make one last remark about mic work. Guys like Cena, Jericho, Rock and Punk are the most transcendent mic workers in history.

Austin and Hogan are nothing compared to them but none of those guys who rocked the mic had even a fraction of the booking Austin and Hogan did.

This is really a huge reach. I'll mostly ignore the Hogan part, as I don't think that Hogan was great on the mic but had loads of charisma that Reigns is lacking. Austin is absolutely one of the greatest on the mic ever. Better than all of the guys you listed near the ed of your post other than maybe Rock, and that's just a maybe. If you think that it's due to booking then go look at Austin's best ECW promos or his promos from 1997 before he got his mega push. Austin was tremendous on the mic, far FAR beyond anything that Reigns has shown. The reason that Austin was allowed to say what he wanted is the same reason that Jericho has more freedom than Reigns - he showed a skill that Reigns has never remotely demonstrated. As for Reigns lacking catchphrases, the issue is Reigns. "If you smell what the Rock is cooking" is not a stroke of genius. It's a corny phrase that Rock got over because he was wildly charismatic. Rock had that ability, as did Austin. Reigns doesn't have the charisma to get it over. It's on him.

Hogan and Austin made themselves stars before WWF ever really pushed them. They even showed tremendous ability before ever working for Vince McMahon. Roman Reigns never did that. They were then given the top spot and thrived in that role, more so than anyone else in wrestling history. Reigns certainly hasn't done that. It isn't like Hogan has some ingenious gimmick and was the only guy pushed to the top. Austin's gimmick was better, but he is the one who made the gimmick and got it over through his ability. You're basically saying that Reigns could have replicated their success even though there is no evidence that Reigns is any good. You can say that Gretzky was in a great situation in Edmonton with Kurri and Coffey, or Lemieux had a great situation with Stevens, Coffey and young Jagr, but that doesn't mean that a mediocre centre from today like Johansen could replicate their accomplishments if he only had their supporting casts. It's on the individual unless their external environment is actively working against them. Reigns has been pushed on people for years and has consistently failed. He is given bad lines sometimes, true, but there is no indication that he could be an all time great on the mic like Austin if he just had some freedom. The guy isn't even a top 10 talker in the WWE right now and it isn't like this is some golden era of promos.
 

These Are The Days

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This isn't a defense of Roman. He is hands down one of the most un-charismatic, boring, monotone and uninteresting characters in recent memory. Not to mention a god-awful moveset. I don't think I have once watched Roman so much as even attempt a basic submission maneuver. But again that's the Roman Reigns character and not Joe Anoai's execution of said character. Who the f*** gets behind a wrestler that says "suffering succotash?" How the hell would the Rock deliver that? They'd have looked at him like he was stupid if it was 1999

It's the booking and creation of the Hogan and Stone Cold character that had as much to do with its success as the man playing them. Stone Cold in particular is a product we do not see anymore. I'm not saying Roman himself could pull those gimmicks off with the same success. I'm saying that the Hogan/Stone Cold character were SO good that they could not possibly fail. As soon as Joe Anoai strays from the script we say "Oh wow that wasn't bad" that is why I feel like he could be made popular if he was given similar lines and booking.

And you are grossly overrating Stone Cold's mic ability. Out of a possible 100 he was about an 85. He could deliver profanity laden hellfire brimstone with clever catchphrases and the content of the speeches electrified the audience. He was given more liberty than ANYONE in WWE history save for John Cena circa 2002/2004 when he was rapping at people. He doesn't hold a candle guy like Chris Jericho who can make you laugh til you piss yourself, drive you insane with speeches about gelatinous parasites or electrify you about how he's gonna kick someone's ass. Dude made "List of Jericho" the most popular thing we've seen in probably 5 years. The Rock, Cena and CM Punk could do the same thing.

I'm not saying Austin was bad on the mic. I'm saying that the likes of Rock, Cena, Punk and Jericho are Gretzky, Lemieux and Orr while Austin was Hawerchuk.
 

JackSlater

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This isn't a defense of Roman. He is hands down one of the most un-charismatic, boring, monotone and uninteresting characters in recent memory. Not to mention a god-awful moveset. I don't think I have once watched Roman so much as even attempt a basic submission maneuver. But again that's the Roman Reigns character and not Joe Anoai's execution of said character. Who the **** gets behind a wrestler that says "suffering succotash?" How the hell would the Rock deliver that? They'd have looked at him like he was stupid if it was 1999

It's the booking and creation of the Hogan and Stone Cold character that had as much to do with its success as the man playing them. Stone Cold in particular is a product we do not see anymore. I'm not saying Roman himself could pull those gimmicks off with the same success. I'm saying that the Hogan/Stone Cold character were SO good that they could not possibly fail. As soon as Joe Anoai strays from the script we say "Oh wow that wasn't bad" that is why I feel like he could be made popular if he was given similar lines and booking.

And you are grossly overrating Stone Cold's mic ability. Out of a possible 100 he was about an 85. He could deliver profanity laden hellfire brimstone with clever catchphrases and the content of the speeches electrified the audience. He was given more liberty than ANYONE in WWE history save for John Cena circa 2002/2004 when he was rapping at people. He doesn't hold a candle guy like Chris Jericho who can make you laugh til you piss yourself, drive you insane with speeches about gelatinous parasites or electrify you about how he's gonna kick someone's ass. Dude made "List of Jericho" the most popular thing we've seen in probably 5 years. The Rock, Cena and CM Punk could do the same thing.

I'm not saying Austin was bad on the mic. I'm saying that the likes of Rock, Cena, Punk and Jericho are Gretzky, Lemieux and Orr while Austin was Hawerchuk.

This is grossly underrating Hogan and Austin as performers. Hogan got over huge before he was "Hulk Hogan" that we saw under Vince McMahon. His gimmick wasn't some golden gimmick. He was a cartoonish hero. It's a fine gimmick for the 1980s, but you don't automatically get over by wrapping yourself in red and yellow and acting like a goof. Hogan got over because of who he was, and Vince smartly pushed him accordingly.

This criticism of Austin doesn't match reality. The guy was golden in ECW and delivered some of the best promos of all time. Austin didn't get over because he was a huge anti-hero as you are suggesting - he got over well before that. Heel Austin of 1996-1997 was just a sadistic heel, not some golden can't miss gimmick. He played the part so well and gave such great promos that he got over as a face officially starting at Wrestlemania 13. Only after Austin forced the situation and became a face did he become the huge anti-hero. He wasn't just some catchphrase machine. I really recommend going back and watching 1996-1997 Austin promos, or some of his work from ECW. Everything you gave credit to Jericho with (and I agree) Austin could do as well, but he generally got even bigger reactions.
 

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