According to Hogan, which of course means don’t believe a word of it, he claimed they had gone to Chicago, Minneapolis and Milwaukee with Hogan vs. Flair matches and broke all the old records. He said they could have doubled the ticket prices at WrestleMania and still sold out. He said then everything changed and he never knew why.
Whether Hogan vs. Flair was scheduled for the Hoosier Dome at any point is something that only Vince McMahon would know for sure. What we do know is that Sid Eudy (Sycho Sid/Sid Vicious), who had a valid contract with WCW, was offered the WrestleMania main event against Hulk Hogan in March or April of 1991. Why WCW didn’t enforce its contract or go after WWF for tampering at that time is a question nobody could answer. Jim Herd, who was running WCW at the time, confirmed to me that Eudy was leaving because he was promised the WrestleMania main event. WCW upped its offer to him and at one point it was high enough that he indicated he was staying, but then changed his mind again. Again, he already had a valid contract and they were in a wrestling war, so there is an unanswered piece of this puzzle. And then, right after WrestleMania, when WWE went to suspend Eudy for failing a steroid test (a test that was before Mania), he quit and ended up back in WCW. The agreement was made that WCW would give Eudy his release provided he put over El Gigante in a stretcher match at SuperBrawl in May of that year. So then, he refused to go out on a stretcher and they still gave him his release. They had somebody else go out on a stretcher. But the point of all this was that in April of 1991, I was fully aware that Hogan vs. Sid was the main event for the next WrestleMania. Flair didn’t have his falling out with WCW and Jim Herd over contract issues until the end of June.
Flair started with WWF in September and worked all the weekend house shows with Hogan starting on October 25, 1991. They drew well, but didn’t set any records the first time in the market. Flair wanted to do 25 minute matches and Hogan wanted to do his usual 10, and they compromised at 11:35, with Hogan saying that we have to save the 25 minute match for Mania. I remember being told that in September and I thought it was weird since I knew what Sid was promised.
It really wasn’t promoted to its most effectiveness. The best houses were early on, before Flair had more than one or two appearances on WWE television. The reality of that program in WWF is that the more they promoted it, in ineffective manner, the weaker it was. It was a gigantic match with 14,900 fans in Oakland based on the idea of Flair vs. Hogan with no angles and just the Flair from WCW was coming. The rematch on November 15 did 5,000.
Business really got worse after the Survivor Series build. The idea of Flair standing with three WWE wrestlers in promos hurt Flair vs. Hogan because the whole draw was Hogan vs. an outsider, not Hogan vs. the WWE version of Flair. After some bad houses, notably 4,500 at the Omni in Atlanta, Vince McMahon switched the booking of main events from Hogan vs. Flair to Hogan & Roddy Piper vs. Flair & Sid Vicious starting in February. Houses went up and there was no doubt the big heat was Hogan vs. Sid, not Hogan vs. Flair. This is from someone who was not a fan of Sid Vicious.
I don’t know if that had anything to do with WrestleMania. I do know that a few weeks before Hogan vs. Flair was announced, I was told the angle was that Hogan vs. Flair would be announced, but it was Hogan vs. Sid and Flair vs. Savage and Hogan vs. Flair was just a one week or so thing to set up the Hogan-Sid angle. Hogan’s recollection of course wasn’t true, as Milwaukee (November 2, 1991) did 7,800 fans; Minneapolis did 9,000, and they never had a match in Chicago. They did good business, below Hogan’s peak levels but better than Hogan had been doing for some time. But there were no major arena sellouts.
Anyway, I know for sure in January it was Hogan vs. Sid. And it may have been that way continuously from April. As far as what Hogan knew, I don’t want to speculate, and the reality is, he may not remember at this point anyway.