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WM18 Should have been Hogan vs Austin...

7K views 55 replies 33 participants last post by  Choke2Death 
#1 · (Edited)


that's Rock vs Hogan promo but doesn't give that vibe or chill as this fan made promo..





Austin vs Hogan match might not be that great but the built up could be epic over 1M buys guarantee...This isn't Icon vs Icon but The Battle of Greatest who have impact on Wrestling Austin 3:16 vs Hulkamania. as great as the Rock but he's not that on Level of Austin/Hulk...Hulk nearly kill WWF and Austin save WWF, plus these two have history at backstage do work shoot.

when Hogan mention no one bigger than Hulkamania only one guy could walk out that is Austin, Austin gave Hogan middle finger and gave a stunner.


too bad Austin have good reason refuse working with Hogan for Holding Austin back in WCW. the day Hogan walk in WCW is the end of Stunning Steve Austin.
 
#43 ·
It's not. Rock was the Top star in the business for years at this point and the biggest since Hogan's 80s peak in and out of the industry. The match was planned to be Hogan/Andre of that generation like Rock/Cena is the Rock/Hogan for this generation. The biggest overall attractions in the business and the media against each other in a fight between two eras. Rock and Vince talked about a Rock vs Hogan match main eventing WM18 since November 2001. It was always the plan, confirmed by Rock/Vince/Austin/Hall/Nash etc on DVDs and shoot interviews. Rock wanted to create a special match because he felt that he already accomplished everything there is to accomplish in wrestling. And Rock/Hogan in the biggest match of all time was the perfect fit.
 
#44 ·
Rock was the Top star in the business for years at this point and the biggest since Hogan's 80s peak in and out of the industry.
Not according to Meltzer.

Dave has said many times that Austin was bigger than Rock in wrestling. Rock obviously has the bigger career in Hollywood and is more famous now.

But Dave has specifically said more than once that Austin at his peak was the biggest draw in the history of the industry.
 
#45 ·
I don't get what you're saying and how it's relevant here because I didn't talk about that. People said that Austin should have been in Rock's spot, which is not true and was never in discussion because Rock was the Top guy in the business since late 99. Almost 3 years by the time he wrestled Hogan in the Icon vs Icon match. Dave can say things and then put on numbers that say otherwise. Rock was bigger in wrestling, Rock was bigger in Hollywood which is why he main evented WM18 with Hogan in wrestling, why he main evented Summerslam with Lesnar in wrestling and why he got a record breaking offer for his first role in Hollywood. Like I said, Rock confirmed that he and Vince had multiple conversations at the end of the Invasion on Rock's future in the industry, and Rock/Hogan at WM was at the Top of that list.
 
#47 · (Edited)
I don't get what you're saying and how it's relevant here because I didn't talk about that.


You did talk about it here because I took the quote from your last post in this thread.

Anyway I was just making the point that Dave Meltzer doesn't agree with you that Rock was the biggest in the wrestling industry.

Dave has said it consistently ever since the Attitude Era that Austin was bigger in wrestling than Rock.

Even as recently as this summer, around the time of Raw 1000, Dave said Austin has to be considered the biggest star in the history of the show.
 
#48 ·
Dave can agree or not. Doesn't really matter with real life evidences in this situation. If Austin was bigger, which he wasn't since the summer of 99. He would wrestle Hogan at WM18, and would wrestle Lesnar at Summerslam instead of a random RAW match. Of course that wasn't the case. Austin himself said on his new DVD that with all due respect to Scott Hall, he wanted to headline the PPV with Hogan.

The only real time Hogan/Austin was a possibility was in the 2005-2007 period, a lot of talk about a match at WM22 with Hogan even teasing it on TV in a RAW in October 2005, along with the chants at the HOF 2006, but Austin refused to work with him for some reason. Now he regrets and saying that the main thing he wanted to do was work a program with Hogan.
 
#49 · (Edited)
According to Meltzer, Austin was the biggest draw in the business between 1998-2001, in other words up until the point of the botched heel turn that hurt his drawing power. Dave says that no one before or since has matched Austin's peak drawing power during those years.

Dont get me wrong, Rock is one of the biggest draws in history, but at no point did Rock surpass Austin's peak drawing ability. Rock never had the impact on the business that Austin did. The most he ever did, even in 2000 was take over the reins of an incredibly hot company and keep it going (with a lot of help and good fortune of there being no strong competition from WCW). Austin took over a cold company and made it white hot. Rock just had to keep things going.

To thrive in an extremely hot company with no competition, takes less individual drawing power than it takes to make a cold company white hot in the first place, particularly in the face of huge competition from WCW.

Rock never matched the increases Austin brought in terms of ppv, ratings,merchandise, etc.

Also, it has been widely reported and accepted that the Austin-Lesnar situation in 2002 was because Austin publicly criticised the creative team, which Steph was part of, and they booked him to do the Lesnar job out of vindictiveness, not good business sense.

Dave also said that Rock's effect at the wrestling box office when he returned in 2001 was a big disappointment.

In 2002 Rock headlined Mania with Hogan and lost hundreds of thousands of buys from the year before despite an unprecedented amount of money being spent on advertising in 2002.

After Mania, Rock left, and the first show without him increased business from the year before. When Rock came back, every show he appeared on lost business from the year before.

In 2003, Rock came back and created the Hollywood Rock character, but as entertaining as many found it to be, the character never gained traction with the ppv buying public, as every show Hollywood Rock wrestled on lost business from the same show the year before.

So, basically if the Rock is your favourite, that's cool. Just don't portray your preference for Rock as meaning that he was factually the biggest draw of all time. If you want to believe that, fine.

But realise, there are many people like Meltzer and Keller who have researched extensively into the matter who don't agree with you.
 
#51 ·
I think the original plans for WM-18 was for Austin to wrestle HHH in the main event as a heel and drop the undisputed title, but Austin refused to lose to HHH. And so HHH wrestled Jericho instead and Austin had to settle for Scott hall. A former writer once noted in his blog, WM-21 origianl plans were HHH vs Lesnar and Austin vs Hogan as the two top matches. Obviously it didnt happen since Lesnar quit and Austin refused to work with hogan.
 
#54 ·
I was always a little surprised at the lack of pop when Austin and Hogan actually squared off for the first and only time during that RAW tag match. Nobody seemed to give a shit.
 
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