Loki Posted October 17, 2023 Author Share Posted October 17, 2023 The greatest wrestlers really are those who use their charisma to work the crowd - Hogan, Flair, Dusty Rhodes being one of them.  Some acts are more universal than others though.  Son-of-a-plumber works in the Southern states but Hulkanania works in every town in the world.  Bright colours, big muscles, strong hero.  It also means that, a few decades removed from the zeitgeist, some gimmicks just don’t work anymore and the appeal is no longer obvious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members BomberPat Posted October 17, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 17, 2023 Just now, Loki said: Hulkanania works in every town in the world.  Bright colours, big muscles, strong hero.  It also means that, a few decades removed from the zeitgeist, some gimmicks just don’t work anymore and the appeal is no longer obvious. I think these two things need to be - and often aren't - seen together. Too often in wrestling the narrative is that if something worked, then it will always work and anyone doing anything different is Doing Wrestling Wrong, and the Hogan "larger than life superhero" thing is a major example of that. Even aside from the fact that you couldn't do it now because everyone saw it first time around and would know what you're doing, Hogan was the perfect kind of babyface for its time - he was the wrestling babyface for the age of Schwarzanegger movies and He-Man toys, where massive muscular heroes for the norm. I don't think that model of babyface works for the more cynical late '90s, or today when the big muscular action hero has largely been replaced by wise-cracking Marvel superheroes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted October 17, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 17, 2023 12 minutes ago, BomberPat said: Too often in wrestling the narrative is that if something worked, then it will always work and anyone doing anything different is Doing Wrestling Wrong, and the Hogan "larger than life superhero" thing is a major example of that. This is the funny thing. Vince likes to peddle a narrative that sometimes they made a mistake when thinking about their next top babyface - Made In The USA Lex Luger, smiling cheerful jokey Diesel - that in the booking meetings people would ask "What would we have done if it was Hogan?" and eventually they'd correct that with Steve Austin. Instead of trying to make Austin into the next Hulk Hogan, they booked him like he was Steve Austin. Fast forward however, and they decided that every top babyface should thus in turn be booked like they were Steve Austin. John Cena stood up to a myriad of authority figures like Eric Bischoff, Mr McMahon himself and John Laurinaitis, got booked in a variety of handicap matches and no-win situations and they recreated the famous Austin arrest angles. Fast forward to the end of 2013 and run-in to Mania XXX when they realized they could actually make a go of Daniel Bryan as next top hero, and as well as standing up to Triple H, Steph, Vince and their various foot soldiers, HE ended up in an angle where he got arrested too. The Austin Playbook has a lot to answer for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidB6937 Posted October 17, 2023 Share Posted October 17, 2023 It's often like if you watch back old movies. Some of them are timeless and will work whenever you watch them. Others are absolutely products of their time and that generation and the appeal is lost more the further away you get from that time period. I've enjoyed using the Network over the years to be able to watch wrestlers in their prime that I came along too late for. Ones you get told constantly are 'legends' but you've only ever seen in clips or towards the end of their careers. And a lot of them you just can't help but get caught up in the enthusiasm from the crowds and how over they were. And yeah maybe you don't watch them and get wowed by their performances based on what YOU like in a wrestler but I do think you can appreciate what they did at the time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members garynysmon Posted October 17, 2023 Paid Members Share Posted October 17, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, DavidB6937 said: It's often like if you watch back old movies. Some of them are timeless and will work whenever you watch them. Others are absolutely products of their time and that generation and the appeal is lost more the further away you get from that time period. Pretty much! To this day, even as someone who only caught the tail end of the proper Hulkamania run, my automatic reaction to anyone who runs down Hulk Hogan as a performer is to almost recoil in horror. "What do you mean Hulk Hogan isn't on your mount rushmore, show some fucking respect you cunt! Get those vanilla midgets down from there now!" Hulk Hogan holds some terrible views and can’t tell the truth for toffee. But he was really larger than wrestling to many in my generation and that above. Whereas, in reality, I can fully understand why anyone who started watching after would find his repetitive matches and one trick pony act to be old hat and can more easily dismiss him completely for his said terrible views. If a current day WWE wrestler said what Hogan said I'd happily cancel them. But embarassingly I still get a bit of a kick from seeing Hulk Hogan walk out on a WWE show even now, as ridiculous and hypocritical as it may be. Edited October 17, 2023 by garynysmon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronSheik Posted October 17, 2023 Share Posted October 17, 2023 Edge. He got to the main event as my interest weaned and I still see him as a great tag guy but my brain can't compute him as a heavyweight main event single star. Especially with that shitty spear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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