[The XL 2]

i wish i could slap you for saying something so fucking stupid... this may be the dumbest wrestling opinion ive ever seen, and i used to post on R/SquaredCircle!

I was trolling, shit posting, making fun of the idiots who think that those vanilla midgets are any better than even the Kaz Hayashis and Jerry Lynns of 20 years ago, let alone real stars.

 

[The XL 2]

can you imagine a guy like Daniel Bryan winning the WWE title in the 80s?

Would have made a good TV jobber on wrestling challenge for credible name enhancement guys like Iron Mike Sharp and Tiger Chun Lee.

 

[jroc72191]

I was trolling, shit posting, making fun of the idiots who think that those vanilla midgets are any better than even the Kaz Hayashis and Jerry Lynns of 20 years ago, let alone real stars.

i would give you an apology, but we shouldnt even joke about such things! lol

 

[HugoCortez]

Reasons why Hogan was over:


Looks: He had a good look. Yeah, he was balding and wasn't clean cut chiseled with tremendous definition, but he had a recognizable physique and was massive with his huge arms. He also wore that bandana, which coupled with his moustache and skullet, gave him a pretty iconic look everyone could recognize from a mile away. In wrestling, having a good look is all about standing out on a first immediate glance, no matter how you do it. He was a superhero and he looked like it. Being pretty, handsome or whatever doesn't mean crap if you don't stand out or your look doesn't reflect your character. If you portray an slimeball, chances are you going to be more over if you got a lean or lanky physique and a creepy mean face than if you are some cool muscled pretty guy.

Body language and mannerisms: When it comes to body language, Hogan is really good. Is he a good actor? No, but wrestling is mainly a visual body performance more akin to mummery than proper serious acting. He basically knew how to convey whatever was happening in the match to everyone in a venue in a way even a dumb moron with 2 IQ points could understand. Was it nuanced? No, but I don't think people seating 10-30 meters away from you are going to appreciate nuance. Hogan was a good mummer, and mummers get over in wrestling.


His promo style: Yeah, there are better promos than him, but his thunderous voice and nonstop cadence made it so that you could recognize him, follow everything he said and had trouble paying attention to anything else. That's called scenery chewing, and it got even more accentuated on TV where Hogan could also complement them with his facial expressions, which where intense and easy to understand. Being a good mic worker means being able to stand out and create a character, not being an eloquent person. Lots of articulate people out there who didn't stand out because their mic work didn't have anything to set them apart from the rest, no matter how technically good the promos were.


Also, Hogan was actually a pretty decent ring worker. Yeah, he rarely got out of his beyond simple and traditional shine-heat-comeback structure and almost never spiced it up during his run on top of the wwf, but the stuff he did, he did well, and during the first half of the 80s, he could actually go out of his comfort zone. Having a recognizable moveset is important when it comes to geting over, because then your matches have a certain idiosyncrasy to them. Hogan moved the way one expected him to move. Yeah, he could've been more creative with the match structuring and layout of the spots, but he knew what to do.

 

[Ozell Gray]

His charisma and his ability to captivate an audience and get them engaged in whatever he was doing, plus his physic was unmatched in wrestling with him being 300 pounds and having lots of muscles which made people flock to him in droves. WWF saw this and pushed him for 9 straight years as the guy.

 

[FelixTheStonerCat]

Never been a Hogan fan. I thought he was trash. Loved how undertaker demolished him though.

 

[RubberbandGoat]

It’s obvious, look at everyone from that era. Nobody looked like they even went to the gym. They had fat bellies or no muscle definition at all. Then here comes this buff dude with charisma and people are in awe.

 

[gillbergisback]

Boomers suck and have terrible taste, what else do you need to know?

Lol. There's a reason no one watches your sh wrestling product.

But as everyone else said wrestling imitates it's era. Hogan was popular because people liked action stars with huge charisma back then. Today nobody is popular because how do you market a bunch of counter culture geeks with no charisma and are only popular because they can flip or kick.

 

[HugoCortez]

It’s obvious, look at everyone from that era. Nobody looked like they even went to the gym. They had fat bellies or no muscle definition at all.

Bob Backlund (the wwf champ during the 6 years prior to Hogan) in 1983:

Jimmy Snuka in the early 80s:

Billy jack Haynes in 84-86:

Superstar Billy Graham in 77-78:

Randy Savage in 87-88:

Curt Hennig in AWA in 86 and 87 (with Scott Hall cameo):

Ricky Steamboat in the 80s:

Paul Ellering in 80-82:

Rick Rude in 84-89:

Kerry and Kevin Von Erich in 83-88:

Magnum T.A in 84-85 (Road Warrior Animal cameo):

Paul Orndorff in 85-88

Rocky Johnson in the early and mid 80s:

And then there are names like Ultimate Warrior, Ken Patera, Nikita Koloff, Masa Saito, Butch Reed, Tony Atlas, the Road Warriors, Hercules Hernandez, Sting or Lex Luger.



But sure, people in the 70s and 80s didn't know what a gym was.

 

[Jets4Life2]

Bob Backlund (the wwf champ during the 6 years prior to Hogan) in 1983:

Jimmy Snuka in the early 80s:

Billy jack Haynes in 84-86:

Superstar Billy Graham in 77-78:

Randy Savage in 87-88:

Curt Hennig in AWA in 86 and 87 (with Scott Hall cameo):

Ricky Steamboat in the 80s:

Paul Ellering in 80-82:

Rick Rude in 84-89:

Kerry and Kevin Von Erich in 83-88:

Magnum T.A in 84-85 (Road Warrior Animal cameo):

Paul Orndorff in 85-88

Rocky Johnson in the early and mid 80s:

And then there are names like Ultimate Warrior, Ken Patera, Nikita Koloff, Masa Saito, Butch Reed, Tony Atlas, the Road Warriors, Hercules Hernandez, Sting or Lex Luger.



But sure, people in the 70s and 80s didn't know what a gym was.

You have to keep in mind that until the WWE started gaining a monopoly on the pro wrestling market around 1986-87, most wrestlers did not have muscular bodies. Even Curt Henning looked nothing like the muscular specimen he would become in the WWE, when he wrestled in the AWA during the early/mid 1980s.

 

[HugoCortez]

You have to keep in mind that until the WWE started gaining a monopoly on the pro wrestling market around 1986-87, most wrestlers did not have muscular bodies. Even Curt Henning looked nothing like the muscular specimen he would become in the WWE, when he wrestled in the AWA during the early/mid 1980s.

But the pics of Hennig I posted are from AWA in mid 80s, not wwf. The pic of Billy Jack is from Florida in 84, the first Steamboat pic is from Mid Atlantic in the early 80s, the Von Erich pics are from WCCW in the early-mid 80s, the Rick Rude is from NWA pro in 86 (and he's always had that physique since he debuted), Magnum T.A pics are from Mid-South and JCP in 83 & 85 and Billy Graham pic is from the 70s (and he's always been built like a tank except from the 81-82 period). Ellering's pics are from CWA and Mid south in 79-82. As for the wwf guys pics, Randy Savage actually looked more defined in CWA than in wwf and Orndorff and Rocky Johnson were always that bulky.

I know big muscular guys weren't the norm (same way they aren't now) but I was just trying to point out how the whole belief that all wrestlers in the 70s and 80s were fat beer bellied dudes who hadn't stepped foot in a gym is false. Most of the guys who looked that way where veterans from the 60s and early 70s who were wrestling well past their physical prime and starting to make a good chunk of the rosters' ranks. I dare say 77-onwards is when the muscular guys started to pop up and invade the business, mainly because of the Billy Graham influence that spawned all of the Hogans, Venturas, Idols and Savages of the world.

Also, when posting all these pics I was trying to imply how Hogan's physique wasn't the only factor in his overness, since a bunch of the guys I posted had more defined and better looking physiques yet thye never went past midcard or even lowcard.

 

[ByTor]

Charisma
Booking
Look- He was believably billed at 6'7 303 pounds with 24 inch pythons and a good tan. Nobody cared about Hogan's receding hairline during his peak.
He fit the times

-I'll confess to being a Hogan hater. I was a heel fan during his heyday. Then I was a WWF fanatic during his WCW run. Then I became your typical know it all asshole smark. So Hogan was my least favorite wrestler of all time from like 1987-2013 and I refused to give him credit for anything.

But my appreciation for The Hulkster has skyrocketed in recent years. He did so many things I took for granted back in the day. We now live in an era where nobody really captivates crowds, and certainly not massive crowds for long periods of time. Then you have Hogan masterfully conducting crowds for decades. Absolute legend.

 

[Kentucky34]

The funny thing is that Gargano would be a massive draw today if he was given the Hogan treatment.

Hogan is what the fans wanted in the 80s. Workrate didn't matter as much.

Today, Gargano is what the fans want. Workrate matters more. Steroids and cheesy promos matter less.

 

[45768456856895689]

The dude looked like a Greek God, and had the charisma to match.

 

[justin waynes]

The funny thing is that Gargano would be a massive draw today if he was given the Hogan treatment.

Hogan is what the fans wanted in the 80s. Workrate didn't matter as much.

Today, Gargano is what the fans want. Workrate matters more. Steroids and cheesy promos matter less.

Kentucky you must stop this lol😂😂😂

 

[Lesnar Turtle]

People looked older in general back then tbh.

But the guy was like 6'7/6'8 and likely a legit 300lbs at his biggest, plus jacked and tanned, combine that with high energy, distinctive attire and an American patriot schtick and you know....remember this is the 1980s.

 

[Stephen90]

Can you imagine if a wrestler debuted today who was bald on top with dyed blonde horseshoe hair and a village people moustache? he'd probably end up a laughed at jobber. When I was younger Hogan was larger than life, almost super hero like but looking back he just looked like a guy with muscles having a mid life crisis... how was he so 'over' with every fan? his pure wrestling ability and mic skills ?
View attachment 95699 View attachment 95699

He was a larger than life comic book character that people fell in love with. Also Steve Austin was completely bald his whole time in the WWF.

 

[promoter2003]

Some really great answers in here about why Hogan was so popular.

One thing people did not mention is that Hulk Hogan knew how to WORK THE CAMERA and make fans emotionally invest into what the champion was doing.

Yes, there were guys like Flair in the NWA, but Hogan would know how to use his "24 inch pythons" and he had impeccable timing for promos and matches. He was also in there with all time pros like Piper and Andre.

Hogan could go old school kayfabe when needed in the 80's.

When showmanship was needed to pull in new fans of entertainment he knew how to work too. Watch how Hogan takes over a promo for the original WrestleMania from Mr. T on NBC.

Watch how Hulk Hogan blends in this NBC tv shows promo with other celebrities.

Hogan was the blueprint for what the business would be and he delivered the goods in multiple aspects that no one could do before him. He was a rock star which is why the cartoon was also a marketing success.

Hogan was RATINGS for a reason.

 

[cai1981]

He knew how to connect with the audience...that supercedes everything else (including in ring wrestling ability).

**** Foley ALWAYS looked old, BUT, his daredevil style and personality connected with the audience. He wasn't on Hogan's level (though 500,000+ people turned the channel from a show with Hogan in the Main Event before we knew it would be a fingerpoke job to watch him become champ), but he connected and was loved.