Fantasy-book-a-mania #1: Incredible Sulk

[Carbomb]

12 hours ago, BomberPat said:

fuck me, the thought of Hogan in the headband and Fuji in mock-Hogan gear has absolutely creased me. Incredible.

1993, you're looking at the same year as the movie Rising Sun (and the book the previous year), and the tail end of a lot of anxiety around Japanese interests buying into American corporations, and Japan becoming the new economic superpower (the same reason that WCW had Hiro Matsuda turn the Four Horsemen into the Yamazaki Corporation). The big patriotic champion selling out to Japan would be very much in keeping with the pop culture of the time, I can definitely picture it. 

 

12 hours ago, mim731 said:

100%. They were already doing that rhetoric on commentary too with The Steiners being from Detroit and going on about Japanese made cars etc, so it was very much in the orbit of WWF talking points at the time beyond just the Yokozuna push. A massive missed opportunity. 

Also, Robocop III was that year. Same sentiment.

[Gus Mears]

While Rick's post about turning Hogan Japanese is compelling, he's missing the important point that you could more readily adapt Hulk's theme music to fit with a Gulf War theme:

I am a real Arabian
Fight for the rights of just Sadam
I am a real Arabian 
Fight for what's right
George Bush is shite.

[Merzbow]

7 minutes ago, Gus Mears said:

While Rick's post about turning Hogan Japanese is compelling, he's missing the important point that you could more readily adapt Hulk's theme music to fit with a Gulf War theme:

I am a real Arabian
Fight for the rights of just Sadam
I am a real Arabian 
Fight for what's right
George Bush is shite.

[Jazzy G]

Do you run a proto summer of Punk?

Hogan wins the belt at Mania IX in the same circumstances, then announces that he's leaving to head "down south" for the money and is taking the belt with him?

Babyfaces line up to try and take the belt off him, but he finds ways to win. Jimmy Hart is still in his corner, but it's much more like the old heel Mouth Of The South type characterisation.

He's still doing the whole USA USA thing, but it's really half hearted and he looks really disinterested.

The stubble is starting to come in under the moustache. Meanwhile Luger is starting to see that the fans need somebody to look up to now that Hogan has abandoned them, and starts rallying them to get behind him, and Bret is talking about how he never got his rematch. 

The 94 Rumble goes the same way, but instead of the coin toss and the Bret/Owen match Hogan says he's so good he can beat both of them and take the belt down to Billionaire Ted so we get a triple threat for the title at Mania X. 

Owen and Anvil interfere, knocking Luger out and then grabbing Hogan or brawling to the back with him while Bret, confused, covers Lex for the win and the title. This way you can get the belt off of Hogan without him having to lose it, and if he ever comes back there's that immediate "I never lost the belt, brother" situation. 

You could have Bret and Lex in a match for the title at King Of The Ring, with maybe Davey Boy helping him retain, or a clean win for Bret while Owen wins the tournament then feuds with Bret going into that year's Summerslam. 

[Cod Eye]

So, just thinking about opponents for a newly heel Hogan(supported by Cornette and Fuji)? Yoko is an obvious choice if you can turn him, but I think that would be a tough job at this point, so Id set up a stable with him and Hogan, with maybe Beefcake to keep Terry happy and have someone carry his weed. But the main team would be the Hulk/Yoko combo(with subtle seeds of unhappiness and mistrust on Yoko's part.

My big fresh challenger though wouldn't be Lex though. I always thought they had the perfect man there ready to step into the all American hero role Hogan vacated, and that was College wrestler era Scott Steiner. The big, good looking, muscular, charasmatic face who could also back it all up in the ring would get a rocket strapped to him. 

Start with giving the Steiners the belt, and Hogan/Yoko deciding a singles world title wasnt enough, and going after the tag belts. Hogan/Yoko win after shenanigans, which ends with both Steiners out cold. Hogan keeps dropping the leg on them both, and Yoko pulls a prone Rick to the corner and gives the Bonzai drop. But thats not it, Hogan tells the big guy to do it again, and again, and again until there is obvious"internal damage" to the Dog Faced Gremlin, and we see him taken to the Local Medical Facility(tm).

Next week, we find out Rick is on the shelf, with no return date but little bother Scott is not going to let it go! He wants Revenge. He knows it was that "big bald bastard" that was the brains behind the attack on his big brother and he wants a match to take that title from him to dedicate it to his brother!

From here, he's have to go through Beefer, Yoko, then Hogan throws another twist in etc etc etc before Steiner eventually wins the Rumble against all odds to mean Hogan no longer can run from him!

From here, Ive not thought about it that much, but you'd have to put Steiner over or you're Lugering him.

[Merzbow]

Apologies but I had to so a Sheik Hogan edit in this new WWF Wrestlemania 2000 mod that just came out.

[Chico Torres]

I am fully supportive of Ayatollah Hogan or Mr. Hogan-san. I actually think the template is already there so the out having to think of any new scenario, I would repurpose the Crush heel turn but replace Crush with the Hulkster.

Ive mentioned it before but I always appreciated Crush’s commitment to change when he turned heel, even though bless him Our Brian may not have been fully up to the job. New darker bodysuit outfit, face paint, dropped the theme music, evil goatee, sinister Japanese manager, got rid of his finishing move, added more lethal martial arts moves and claimed in WWF magazine that his ancestors were from the Fujisaki family.

Now imagine all that but instead of our Crush it’s Hogan, and he comes back and we have the Hogan-Macho summit and he turns on Macho who never called to check up on him and the Megapowers feud is revived but this time with Hogan-san as the heel aligned with the evil Master Fuji and the deadly Yokozuna. And since it’s Hogan Macho it’s a proper main event for Wrestlemania X, Bret can still feud with Owen, Shawn still has his ladder match with Razor and Yoko can still face Lex but instead Burt Reynolds gets to hang out with proper stars in the main event and poor Yoko doesn’t have to work twice.

[tiger_rick]

1 hour ago, Merzbow said:

That was made by someone who has never seen a Hogan chairshot.

[gmoney]

1 hour ago, Chico Torres said:

Ive mentioned it before but I always appreciated Crush’s commitment to change when he turned heel, even though bless him Our Brian may not have been fully up to the job. New darker bodysuit outfit, face paint, dropped the theme music, evil goatee, sinister Japanese manager, got rid of his finishing move, added more lethal martial arts moves and claimed in WWF magazine that his ancestors were from the Fujisaki family.

 

I find Crush's ability to morph with his gimmick uncanny, I think he looks so distinct in each gimmick, that I think he genuinely doesn't look like the same person a lot of the time. Kona Crush, Japanese Crush, BIker Crush, Bryan Adams and Kronik all feasibly look like different people.  

[Jazzy G]

54 minutes ago, gmoney said:

I find Crush's ability to morph with his gimmick uncanny, I think he looks so distinct in each gimmick, that I think he genuinely doesn't look like the same person a lot of the time. Kona Crush, Japanese Crush, BIker Crush, Bryan Adams and Kronik all feasibly look like different people.  

None of whom you'd think was the guy from Demolition. 

[Chico Torres]

I also believe that in WWF canon, Demolition, Kona, Japanese, Criminal and NOD/Biker crush are all evolutions of the same character. Trying to recall if when Kona Crush appeared that they explicitly referenced him as being the same guy as Demolition?

I’m a big proponent of a heel turn should result in a meaningful change of look.

[mim731]

3 hours ago, Chico Torres said:

Ive mentioned it before but I always appreciated Crush’s commitment to change when he turned heel, even though bless him Our Brian may not have been fully up to the job. New darker bodysuit outfit, face paint, dropped the theme music, evil goatee, sinister Japanese manager, got rid of his finishing move, added more lethal martial arts moves and claimed in WWF magazine that his ancestors were from the Fujisaki family.

Obviously WWF would never have mentioned it to any great degree for reasons, but I always thought it was cool that there was a logical thought process to why Adams specifically might have more ties to Japan having come up through the New Japan dojo. A small thing, but always struck me as a fun little wrinkle of implied storytelling, something the WWF/WWE has so rarely managed to do. 

[Jazzy G]

2 minutes ago, Chico Torres said:

I also believe that in WWF canon, Demolition, Kona, Japanese, Criminal and NOD/Biker crush are all evolutions of the same character. Trying to recall if when Kona Crush appeared that they explicitly referenced him as being the same guy as Demolition?

I’m a big proponent of a heel turn should result in a meaningful change of look.

There was a really brief spell where he tagged with Animal while Hawk was in Japan teaming with Kensuke Sasake as well, but it was just Kona Crush and Animal from LOD. Looked weird. 

[BarryOVega]

As interesting and fun as the Japanese and Sheikh Hogan ideas are, the obvious one for that time would be a Hollywood Rock version of Hollywood Hogan

Have him win at Mania 9 the same way then never appear on Raw, just sending in pre tapes from Mr Nanny premieres and the set of Thunder in Paradise

See what the reaction is at KOTR when he comes back for the Yoko rematch, if he gets heavily booed have him win cheaply by DQ then set Luger up with the Lex Express to beat him at Summerslam (another payday) or he just loses to Yoko as it happened in reality 

Nowhere near as interesting or potentially hilarious as him dressing up with a Japanese headband with Fuji and declaring Japs are alright now but something he probably would’ve found more agreeable (pulls his eyes to look Japanese, sticks front teeth out ‘that work for me blother’)

[Statto]

Love the idea of Hogan with Heenan or Fuji by his side but if a heel turn had have happened... it would have been Jimmy Hart, wouldn't it? Terry would have seen to that.

Maybe you invert the Mega-Maniacs angle - have Brutus Beefcake hyping the return of his good buddy Hulk in early 93, and when he does come back... he's got Jimmy Hart with him,  a la the Andre/Heenan "What are you doing with him?" moment in 87. Hulk then caves in Bruti's surgically repaired face with the megaphone and drops the leg on him half a dozen times while Jimmy shrieks in the background.

I guess you then do Brutus (with facemask) against Hulk as the "co-main event" of Mania. Hulk would probably win handily save for bit of shine for Beefer, but he'd be happy working his mates (enough to forget about the whole steroid scandal, I imagine...) and it establishes him as still a force to be reckoned with in the ring.

Then at Summerslam - it's heel Hogan challenging Bret for the belt. Can't see either party having a problem with that...