Disclaimer: As is probably going to become usual on these posts, these are just my opinion and may not be the opinion of anyone else. I post these for a couple of reasons. 1. To spark debate around the traps and 2. Because it amuses me and I like to do it. So please feel free to leave a comment on why you think I'm right or wrong at the end.
So Hulk Hogan is touring Australia soon huh? Bringing out a new show with Eric Bischoff to a nation starved of wrestling and a generation of Hulkamanics who've never seen him live and in living color. Naturally a lot of wrestling fans are going off, first TNA announced a tour now this. A lot of people are saying that this may be the one and only chance to see the man who made wrestling what it is today and to see the man who drew the first Wrestlemania on his back. I respectfully disagree
See whenever I hear "Hogan made wrestling, and made Wrestlemania" I always stop and think on that. Let me state first that I am NOT a Hulkamaniac, I never was so I admit there may be a little bias on my belhalf. And certainly there's no doubt Hogan is the biggest name in wrestling, and has the most mainstream appeal but to say he MADE wrestling what it is today? I don't think so. He got people intrested in wrestling and in wrestlers, but that's different. Guys like Ric Flair, Ricky Steamboat, Terry Funk, hell even guys like Randy Savage and Dusty Rhodes were definately better wrestlers than him, if you're looking from a pure wrestling sense any one of those people you could make a compelling argument for saying they "made" wrestling. Flair especially, his "Flair for the Gold" at Starrcade showed promoters around the US that Closed Circuit or Pay Per View could make your company huge amounts of cash and it pushed Mid-Atlantic Wrestling to the cusp of nationalisation before Vince McMahon.
As for Wrestlemania, well I always have a theory when it comes to things like that. It's more long winded but basically it boils down to this
Babyfaces sell MERCHANDISE
Heels sell TICKETS
Roddy Piper, love him or hate him made Wrestlemania, Hogan was no doubt the strongest name they had but without a strong heel Wrestlemania would've fallen flat and the WWE as we know it would've died before they began. Piper and Orndorff were those heels, Piper got the fans so incensed by beating on Cyndi Lauper and Mr T that the fans paid to see him get his ass kicked (Twice in fact, cause "The War to Settle the Score" rated through the roof) and that's what made Wrestlemania. Hogan had a huge part, he was the only babyface they had that could stand up to the juggernaut that was Piper, but he didn't make Wrestlemania.
Hogan was and still is a great babyface but he was made through the work of strong heels (Piper, Orndorff, Andre, Savage) and clever booking. Before he beat the Iron Sheik one could've argued Jimmy Snuka was more over and more deserving of the WWE title than he. It's classic booking 101, stack the odds to where it seems like the babyface has no chance in hell of winning then it will make the final victory all the more sweeter and make it mean a lot more to the fans. It worked with Hogan then, to a lesser extent it works with John Cena now.
Hogan is a legend, his tour will probably be very entertaining, but he's not the be all and end all of wrestling. He made wrestling POPULAR. But making wrestling popular and making wrestling are two entirely different things
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