Mid 20th Century
226-604: Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s The Monday Night War or the Monday Night Wars , was an era of mainstream televised American professional wrestling , from September 4, 1995 to March 26, 2001, in which the World Wrestling Federation 's (WWF; now WWE) Monday Night Raw (later Raw Is War ) and World Championship Wrestling 's (WCW) Monday Nitro were broadcast opposite each other in
452-443: A Banzai Drop . This was Hogan's last WWF pay-per-view appearance until 2002, as both he and Jimmy Hart were preparing to leave the promotion. Hogan continued his feud on the international house show circuit with Yokozuna until August 1993. After that, Hogan sat out the rest of his contract which expired later that year. On May 3, 1993, Hogan returned to NJPW as WWF Champion and defeated IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta in
678-435: A bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether the individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in
904-518: A heroic all-American helped usher in the 1980s professional wrestling boom , where he headlined eight of the first nine editions of the WWF's flagship annual event WrestleMania (a record which was broken by Roman Reigns ). Hogan also was a regular headliner of Saturday Night's Main Event and its spin-off The Main Event in which he headlined 31 editions of both shows combined. During his initial run, he
1130-415: A performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in the 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance
1356-415: A professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
1582-537: A quitclaim deal between Titan Sports, Marvel Comics and himself wherein Marvel obtained the trademarks "Hulk Hogan", "Hulkster" and "Hulkamania" for 20 years, and Titan agreed to no longer refer to him as "incredible" nor simply "Hulk" or ever dress him in purple or green. Marvel also subsequently received .9% of reportable gross merchandise revenue associated with Hogan, $ 100 for each of his matches and 10% of Titan's portion of his other earnings under this name (or 10% of
1808-481: A steel cage match at WrestleMania 2 ), Paul Orndorff, and Hercules Hernandez . In the fall of 1986, Hogan occasionally wrestled in tag team matches with The Machines as Hulk Machine under a mask copied from NJPW's gimmick " Super Strong Machine ". At WrestleMania III in 1987, Hogan was booked to defend the title against André the Giant, who had been the sport's premier star and was pushed as undefeated for
2034-472: A world heavyweight championship , calling it the only real world title left in professional wrestling. When recalling this event years later, Paul Heyman stated the following: The National Wrestling Alliance was old-school when old-school wasn't hip anymore. We wanted to set our mark, we wanted to breakaway from the pack, we wanted to let the world know that we weren't just some independent promotion. With this event, Eastern Championship Wrestling seceded from
2260-509: A "PG-13" level of sex appeal. Although the formula had been popular during the MTV -fueled "rock n' Wrestling" era of the 1980s, fans in the 1990s began to gravitate towards more morally ambiguous characters, wrestlers whose personas were more grounded in reality, and metafiction storylines that acknowledged their awareness of backstage politics via the use of the Internet. With the introduction of
2486-592: A 45-minute draw. The NWA repeated the practice again the following year, with a Clash coinciding with WWF's WrestleMania V . Although the main event of the Clash saw NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ricky Steamboat defeat Flair in a best-of-three-falls match that lasted for almost an hour, ratings and attendance for the event fell well below expectations compared to WrestleMania V. Thus, the practice of conflicting major events would cease for six years. By 1988, Crockett's acquisition spree had severely drained his coffers. As
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#17327733015942712-699: A Madison Square Garden house show before it was discarded altogether. The War Bonnet gimmick was revisited in the WWE's online comedy series Are You Serious? in 2012. The Mega Powers began to implode due to Savage's burgeoning jealousy of Hogan and his paranoid suspicions that Hogan and Elizabeth were more than friends. At the Royal Rumble in 1989, Hogan eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble match while eliminating Bad News Brown, which caused tension, only to be eliminated by The Twin Towers himself. In early 1989,
2938-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
3164-485: A battle for Nielsen ratings each week. It largely overlapped with the Attitude Era , a period in which the WWF used the term "WWF Attitude" to describe its programming from November 9, 1997 to May 6, 2002. The rating war was part of a larger overall struggle between the WWF and WCW, originating in personal animosity between respective owners Vince McMahon and Ted Turner . The rivalry steadily escalated throughout
3390-502: A bitch has got this coming! Let him go! I'm going to kill that son of a bitch! Get out of the fucking way!", with none of the profanity censored. The angle polarized fans and shocked the USA Network, which was not accustomed to airing a program with the profanity and level of violence presented in the vignettes. Although the WWF (and Pillman himself) were forced to issue apologies to avoid Raw being canceled for breach of contract,
3616-423: A bitter event-scheduling war broke out between McMahon and Jim Crockett, Jr. , the owner of JCP. Throughout the 1980s, Crockett had steadily bought out other NWA-affiliated promotions in an attempt to make his organization a national one similar to the WWF. As a result, the term "NWA" became virtually synonymous with JCP. On Thanksgiving night 1987, McMahon's WWF aired Survivor Series on pay-per-view (PPV) against
3842-526: A brief revival in popularity. The main event, a heavily promoted ironman match between Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart , lasted for more than an hour. In April 1996, two of the WWF's top performers, Kevin Nash (Diesel) and Scott Hall (Razor Ramon), signed contracts with WCW. Prior to their departure, the men had been part of The Kliq , a tight-knit affiliation of wrestlers in the WWF whose backstage influence allowed them to wield an enormous amount of power over
4068-532: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
4294-519: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
4520-585: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
4746-503: A championship match for the early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Hogan was the only challenger in the history of that title that didn't win the tournament to become the no. 1 contender to the championship. After accepting an offer to work on the film Rocky III (a decision Vincent J. McMahon disapproved of and subsequently chose to release Hogan from the promotion for), Hogan made his debut in
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#17327733015944972-663: A close, real-life friendship that would afford Hogan a degree of influence over the day-to-day operations of the company. WCW's first major pay-per-view event since Hogan's hiring, Bash at the Beach , saw Hogan defeat Ric Flair for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. The match was a reworking of a long-teased but never realized feud between the men while they were still working for the WWF: An intended main event match between them at WrestleMania VIII
5198-403: A convoluted scam involving "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Earl Hebner (who assumed the place of his twin brother Dave Hebner , the match's appointed referee ). After André delivered a belly to belly suplex on Hogan, Hebner counted the pin while Hogan's left shoulder was clearly off the mat. After the match, André handed the title over to DiBiase to complete their business deal. As
5424-463: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Hulk Hogan Terry Gene Bollea ( / b ə ˈ l eɪ ə / ; born August 11, 1953), better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan ,
5650-404: A distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by the broader public. In the United States, wrestling
5876-408: A double disqualification. Later that night in the main event, Hogan came to ringside to stop André interfering which helped "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeat Ted DiBiase to win the title. Together, Hogan, Savage, and manager Miss Elizabeth formed a partnership known as The Mega Powers . After Savage became WWF World Heavyweight Champion at WrestleMania IV, they feuded with The Mega Bucks (André
6102-553: A dream match at Wrestling Dontaku . Hogan wrestled against Muta again, this time under his real name (Keiji Mutoh), on September 26, 1993. Hogan also wrestled The Hell Raisers with Muta and Masahiro Chono as his tag team partners. His last match in Japan was on January 4, 1994, at Battlefield , when he defeated Tatsumi Fujinami. Starting in March 1994, Hogan began making appearances on WCW television, as interviewer Gene Okerlund —who
6328-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
6554-404: A format which became near-routine: He delivered steady offense, but eventually lose momentum, seemingly nearing defeat. After being hit with his opponent's finishing move, he got a sudden second wind , fighting back while "feeding" off the energy of the audience, becoming impervious to attack – a process described as "Hulking up". His signature maneuvers – pointing at
6780-461: A fourth demandment—believing in yourself—and he also became known as "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan. Hogan became the first wrestler to win two Royal Rumble matches in a row, as he won the 1991 Royal Rumble match . At WrestleMania VII , Hogan stood up for the United States against Sgt. Slaughter , defeating him for his third WWF Championship, and then defeating him again in the rematch at United Kingdom-only pay-per-view UK Rampage at London Arena. In
7006-567: A great man. He's told me he's not gonna have Blassie around". The storyline shortcut was necessary because less than three weeks later on January 23, Hogan won his first WWF World Heavyweight Championship, pinning The Iron Sheik (who had Blassie in his corner ) in Madison Square Garden . The storyline accompanying the victory was that Hogan was a "last minute" replacement for the Sheik's original opponent Bob Backlund, and became
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7232-448: A group of thugs in a failed attempt to take Hogan out before WrestleMania. Later that night, Hogan won his fifth WWF Championship by pinning Yokozuna in an impromptu match only moments after Yokozuna had defeated Bret Hart for the championship. Hogan reportedly used his influence to have the finish of WrestleMania changed the weekend of the event so he would be champion during an upcoming international and de facto farewell tour. At
7458-498: A hiring binge in the early and middle part of the decade, which had been aimed at acquiring large portions of the WWF's talent roster. Behind the scenes, executives who had longed to see WCW removed from the Turner organization were eventually able to see that desire come to fruition after Turner Broadcasting 's merger with Time Warner and their merger with America Online (AOL). With Turner no longer in control, corporate executives of
7684-422: A huge toll on his fighting spirit that he wanted to retire. Viewers were asked to write letters to Hogan and send postcards asking for his return (they got a postcard-sized picture in return, autographed by Hogan, as a "thank you"). Hogan returned by SummerSlam , and he dominated Earthquake for several months in a series of matches across the country. His defeat of this overwhelmingly large foe prompted Hogan to add
7910-427: A job wrestling outside of Florida; Graham agreed and Hogan soon joined Louie Tillet's Alabama territory. Hogan also convinced Leslie, who had yet to become a wrestler, to come with him and promised to teach him everything he knew about the sport. In Alabama, Hogan and Leslie wrestled as Terry and Ed Boulder, known as The Boulder Brothers. These early matches prompted a rumor among wrestling fans (who were not aware of
8136-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
8362-799: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
8588-495: A more aggressive stance in his capacity as vice president. He declared open war on the WWF and aggressively recruited high-profile former WWF wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage , using Turner's funds. Because of their high profiles, Hogan and Savage were able to demand – and get – several concessions not usually allowed to wrestlers at the time. Notably, the men negotiated total creative control over their characters, in addition to multiyear, multimillion-dollar contracts at
8814-424: A more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for the purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise
9040-431: A neutral/ babyface position and Heenan unashamedly cheering on the heels . The chemistry between Monsoon and Heenan made this show popular with fans for many years despite the fact it was not considered one of the WWF's "primary" shows for most of its history, and many other wrestling programs attempted to copy this formula, with varying degrees of success. During a span of five months between November 1987 and March 1988,
9266-426: A new challenge. In contrast to professional wrestling of the time, which was marketed more towards families, Eastern Championship Wrestling was geared more toward adults and fans who craved a more athletic and violent wrestling product. Its eventual successor, Extreme Championship Wrestling, aimed its product at males between 18 and 35, breaking a few taboos in professional wrestling such as blading . Heyman saw ECW as
Monday Night War - Misplaced Pages Continue
9492-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
9718-690: A non-title handicap match in the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois . Hogan went on to repeatedly challenge Bockwinkel for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship , with the matches generally ending in disqualifications (a decision wherein the Championship does not change hands). In April 1982, Hogan defeated Bockwinkel and was declared the new AWA World Heavyweight Champion, only for
9944-615: A pair of wrestling boots and informed him that he was scheduled to wrestle his first match the following week. In his professional wrestling debut, Eddie Graham booked him against Brian Blair in Fort Myers, Florida , on August 10, 1977, in CWF. A short time later, Hogan donned a mask and assumed the persona of "The Super Destroyer", a hooded character first played by Don Jardine and subsequently used by other wrestlers. Hogan eventually could no longer work with Hiro Matsuda , whom he felt
10170-400: A result, he became a major figure during the " Monday Night War ", another boom of mainstream professional wrestling . He headlined WCW's annual flagship event Starrcade three times ( 1994 , 1996 and 1997 ) in which Starrcade 1997 was the most profitable WCW pay-per-view in the company's history. Hogan returned to the WWF in 2002 following its acquisition of WCW the prior year, winning
10396-635: A result, he was forced to sell his company to Turner, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, who wanted to retain the steady, strong ratings of the JCP wrestling programs. Turner named the company World Championship Wrestling (WCW) after the flagship television show; it remained affiliated with the NWA until 1993. As 1993 began, PTW was struggling in the ratings and was canceled by USA Network. The show that succeeded it, Monday Night Raw , changed how wrestling on cable television would be presented. The WWF decided that it should use its cable time as
10622-512: A result, the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was vacated for the first time in its 25-year history because then WWF President Jack Tunney decreed the championship could not be sold from one wrestler to another. At WrestleMania IV , Hogan participated in a tournament for the vacant WWF World Heavyweight Championship to regain it; he and André were given a bye into quarter-finals, but their match resulted in
10848-508: A series of matches across the country during late 1989, beginning with a tag team match at SummerSlam , in which Hogan and Brutus Beefcake topped Zeus and Savage. Hogan and Zeus met at the Survivor Series , where the "Hulkamaniacs" faced the "Million Dollar Team"; in the early part of the match, Hogan put Zeus over by hitting him with everything to no effect. Zeus then manhandled Hogan and shoved referee Dave Hebner down twice, with
11074-429: A short presented before WrestleMania XII , which killed off all the characters. WrestleMania XII also began a brief turning point for the WWF, after which Raw would overtake Nitro for two consecutive months. The event saw the return of 1980s fan favorite "Rowdy" Roddy Piper , who made a face turn to fight Goldust . Another 1980s fan favorite returning that evening was The Ultimate Warrior , who would go on to enjoy
11300-454: A showcase for original matches and storylines that would serve as the major build-up to the quarterly pay-per-view broadcasts. The original Raw broke new ground in televised professional wrestling. Traditionally, wrestling shows were taped on sound stages with small audiences or at large arena shows. The Raw formula was very different than that of Prime Time Wrestling : instead of taped matches, with studio voice overs and taped chat, Raw
11526-505: A small live, in-studio audience, as were most professional wrestling television shows of the period. They featured wrestling matches, plus melodramatic monologues and inter-character confrontations, similar to the programming offered by other territories, including the Northeast -based WWF. GCW's show, which aired on Saturday evenings, was complemented by a Sunday evening edition. Jim Barnett , Jack and Gerald Brisco had major stakes in
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#173277330159411752-606: A steel cage match on the Saturday Night's Main Event XXI , which was aired on May 27. In May on WWF on NESN , Hogan retained the title by losing once again by count-out against Savage. This was also the last time the WWF World Heavyweight Championship was referred to as such during a televised title defense, as Hogan's next successful title defense against The Honky Tonk Man on Saturday Night's Main Event XXII saw
11978-424: A story in 1988's Marvel Comics Presents #45 , a wrestler resembling Hogan was tossed through an arena roof by The Incredible Hulk, because he "picked the wrong name." Over the next year, Hogan became the face of professional wrestling as McMahon pushed the WWF into a pop culture enterprise with The Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection on MTV , drawing record houses, pay-per-view buyrates, and television ratings in
12204-415: A successful acting career, while Mick Foley published a New York Times -bestselling autobiography; Stone Cold Steve Austin quickly became the company's most popular star and its flagship performer, and would be featured in mainstream media all over the U.S., from Nash Bridges to Dilbert . The heightened profiles of WWF wrestlers helped to draw the attention of both new and casual wrestling fans to
12430-607: A talk show segment on its programming called A Flair for the Gold . At Slamboree 1993 , WCW reunited the Four Horsemen with Flair, Arn Anderson and Paul Roma . Ole Anderson was part of the group as an advisor but made only one appearance on A Flair for the Gold . A Flair for Gold would eventually play host to one of the most infamous incidents of 1990s wrestling: On a live Clash of the Champions XXIV building up
12656-611: A telephone survey asking if people wanted to see Hogan in WCW. On June 11, 1994, Hogan officially signed with Ted Turner 's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in a ceremony that was held at Disney-MGM Studios . The next month, with Jimmy Hart as his manager, Hogan won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in his debut match, defeating Ric Flair in a "dream match" at Bash at the Beach . Hogan continued his feud with Flair (who defeated him by count-out on
12882-508: A television taping in St. Louis, Missouri , on December 27, 1983, defeating Bill Dixon. On the January 7, 1984, episode of Championship Wrestling , Hogan confirmed his fan favorite status (for any WWF fans unaware of his late 1981 babyface turn) by saving Bob Backlund from a three-way assault by the Wild Samoans . Hogan's turn was explained simply by Backlund: "He's changed his ways. He's
13108-507: A time when many top wrestlers were only receiving around $ 1 million a year. Bischoff's concessions to Hogan and Savage would set a precedent for WCW's hiring process that would prove problematic in later years: As Bischoff began to aggressively pursue rival talent for jobs with WCW, performers—aware of the deals Hogan and Savage had been given—began to demand similar contracts, ultimately causing wrestlers' salaries to soar out of control. Concurrent with Hogan's arrival in WCW, he and Bischoff formed
13334-503: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
13560-586: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
13786-518: A week; this was far more than the $ 175 a week they would make working for Tillet. Hogan and Leslie accepted this offer and left Tillet's territory. During his time in Memphis, Hogan appeared on a local talk show, where he sat beside Lou Ferrigno , star of the television series The Incredible Hulk . The host commented on how Hogan, who stood 6 ft 7 in (201 cm) and weighed 295 pounds with 24-inch biceps, actually dwarfed "The Hulk". Watching
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#173277330159414012-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
14238-434: Is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain a " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are
14464-473: Is an American retired professional wrestler . He is widely regarded as the most recognized wrestling star worldwide, the most popular wrestler of the 1980s and one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Hogan began his professional wrestling career in 1977, but gained worldwide recognition after signing with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE ) in December 1983. There, his persona as
14690-427: Is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as a genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has
14916-719: Is of Italian , Panamanian , Scottish , and French descent; his paternal grandfather also named Pietro was born in 1886 in Cigliano , Province of Vercelli . Bollea had an older brother named Allan (1947–1986) who died at the age of 38 from a drug overdose. When he was one and a half years old, his family moved to Port Tampa, Florida . As a boy, he was a pitcher in Little League Baseball . Hogan attended Robinson High School . He began watching professional wrestling at 16 years old. While in high school, he revered Dusty Rhodes , and he regularly attended cards at
15142-405: Is the longest in the title's history) ended when he lost the WCW World Heavyweight Championship to The Giant at Halloween Havoc via disqualification. Following the controversial loss (which was due to a "contract clause"), the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant and a new champion was to be crowned in a 60-man three-ring battle royal at World War III , where The Giant cost Hogan
15368-526: The Clash of the Champions XXVIII , thus Hogan retained the title), which culminated in a steel cage match (with Flair's career on the line and Mr. T as the special guest referee ) that Hogan won. After Hogan headlined WCW's premier annual event Starrcade ( Starrcade: Triple Threat ) in December 1994 by defeating The Butcher for the title, his next feud was against Vader , who challenged him for
15594-498: The 1990 Royal Rumble match , before losing to Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior in a title versus title match at WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990. Hogan soon became embroiled in a heated feud with the 468-pound Earthquake, who had crushed Hogan's ribs in a sneak attack on The Brother Love Show in May 1990. On television, announcers explained that both Hogan's injuries and his WrestleMania VI loss to Warrior took such
15820-603: The American Wrestling Association (AWA), owned by Verne Gagne , in August 1981. Hogan started his AWA run as a villain, with "Luscious" Johnny Valiant as his manager. This did not last long, however, as the AWA fans fell in love with Hogan's presence and Hogan became the top fan favorite of the AWA, battling the Heenan Family and Nick Bockwinkel . Hogan's turn as a fan favorite came at
16046-600: The Axe Bomber , a crooked arm lariat , as his finisher in Japan instead of the running leg drop that has been his standard finisher in America. Hogan still made appearances for the WWF, even unsuccessfully challenging Pedro Morales for the Intercontinental Championship on March 26, 1981. On June 2, 1983, Hogan became the first International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) tournament winner and
16272-481: The Disney/MGM Studios which would become known as the " Disney tapings ". The Disney tapings would ultimately prove disastrous to the company's reputation, largely due to WCW's underestimation of growing internet culture: because the events were recorded weeks, and sometimes months, in advance, fans in attendance had time to disseminate the results not only to wrestling magazines but also online. Seating at
16498-712: The Fall Brawl pay-per-view, WCW decided to introduce a "mystery partner" for the babyfaces, a masked man known as The Shockmaster . The Shockmaster was supposed to crash through a fake wall and intimidate the heels. However, he tripped through the wall, fell on live television and briefly knocked off his helmet. The incident would be talked about for years to come in the burgeoning internet wrestling culture, and, along with WWF's Gobbledy Gooker , "Shockmaster" became wrestling parlance for an exceptionally poorly executed idea. That same year, WCW began taping matches months in advance for syndicated programming like WCW WorldWide at
16724-564: The Fingerpoke of Doom – effectively killed WCW's credibility in the eyes of many fans, and the company was never able to recreate the initial level of popularity that it had enjoyed in the middle of the decade. Simultaneously, WCW experienced financial woes due to the amount of money it had promised wrestlers in their contracts in the early and mid 1990s. The company was ultimately unable to sustain itself while paying wrestlers their contracted salaries, and it went up for sale. The war ended with
16950-558: The Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW) territory from September through December 1979 as Sterling Golden. In the fall of 1979, former NWA World Heavyweight Champion Terry Funk introduced Bollea to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) owner/promoter Vincent J. McMahon , who was impressed with his charisma and physical stature. McMahon, who wanted to use an Irish name, gave him the last name Hogan, and also wanted him to dye his hair red. Bollea claims his hair
17176-624: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
17402-562: The New World Order (nWo). Hogan's statements, which broke with his earlier face persona, inspired enough vitriol in the audience that they began to pelt the ring with debris: a wayward beer bottle broke Okerlund's nose, and one fan jumped the security railing and attempted to attack Hogan. The following evening on Nitro, most of WCW's top stars gave faux indignant interviews, expressing their feelings of betrayal and disappointment with Hogan's actions. The ensuing storyline, in which
17628-476: The Tampa Sportatorium . It was at one of those wrestling cards where he first noticed Superstar Billy Graham and began looking to him for inspiration; since he first saw Graham on TV, Hogan wanted to match his "inhuman" look. Hogan was also a musician, spending a decade playing fretless bass guitar in several Florida-based rock bands. He went on to study at Hillsborough Community College and
17854-608: The University of South Florida . After music gigs began to get in the way of his time in college, he dropped out of the University of South Florida. Eventually, Hogan and two local musicians formed a band called Ruckus in 1976. The band soon became popular in the Tampa Bay region. During his spare time, Hogan worked out at Hector's Gym in the Tampa Bay area, where he began lifting. Many of the wrestlers who were competing in
18080-557: The independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in the United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including
18306-431: The spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from the competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on
18532-584: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
18758-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
18984-457: The 1970s, local stations were often retransmitted to new markets as superstations . When Atlanta television station WTCG (later WTBS, then WPCH) became a superstation in the late 1970s, Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), an NWA member which aired on the station, reached a national audience. GCW's television show, hosted by Gordon Solie , was recorded in one of WTBS's studios at 1050 Techwood Drive in downtown Atlanta . Shows were taped before
19210-461: The 1990s to include the use of cutthroat tactics and the defections of employees between the two promotions. Throughout the war, the WWF and WCW would both adopt different concepts and narrative techniques. Meanwhile, both companies would establish both formal and informal partnerships with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), with ECW performers either appearing on WWF and WCW shows while still under contract, or outright leaving ECW to work for one of
19436-460: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
19662-559: The Anchor Club and the Whitey and Terry's Olympic Gym. In his spare time, he and Leslie worked out in the gym together, and eventually Beefcake developed a muscular physique. Hogan was impressed by Beefcake's physical stature and became convinced that the two of them should wrestle together as tag team partners. Depressed and yearning to return to wrestling, Hogan called Superstar Billy Graham in 1978 with hopes that Graham could find him
19888-653: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
20114-410: The Beach on July 7, during a six-man tag team match pitting The Outsiders ( Kevin Nash and Scott Hall ) against WCW loyalists, Hogan interfered and attacked Randy Savage on behalf of Hall and Nash, thereby turning heel for the first time in nearly fifteen years. After the match, Hogan delivered a promo , accosting the fans and WCW for under-appreciating his talent and drawing power, and announcing
20340-534: The Beach , where Hogan won by escaping the cage. After successfully retaining the WCW World Heavyweight Championship against Big Bubba Rogers and Lex Luger in two separate matches on Nitro in September 1995. The October 9, 1995, broadcast of Nitro was Hogan's first appearance in an all-black attire. Hogan feuded with The Dungeon of Doom , which led to a WarGames match at Fall Brawl where Hogan's team (Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and Sting ) won. Hogan's reign as WCW World Heavyweight Champion (which, at 469 days,
20566-512: The Curtain Call incident by insinuating that Hall's departure from the WWF had been a ruse and that he was, in fact, staging an "invasion" of WCW on behalf of the WWF. Two weeks later, a second WWF defector, Kevin Nash (who had wrestled as Diesel), appeared on Nitro . Hall and Nash were dubbed " The Outsiders ", and would show up unexpectedly during Nitro broadcasts, usually jumping wrestlers backstage, distracting wrestlers by standing in
20792-529: The Florida region visited the bars where Ruckus was performing. Among those attending his performances were Jack and Gerald Brisco , two brothers who wrestled together as a tag team in the Florida region. Impressed by Hogan's physical stature, the Brisco brothers asked Hiro Matsuda —the man who trained wrestlers working for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF)—to make him a potential trainee. In 1976,
21018-504: The Giant , which culminated in a match with André at Shea Stadium in August 1980. During his initial run as a villain in the WWF, Hogan was paired with "Classy" Freddie Blassie , himself a villainous wrestler-turned- manager . In 1980, Hogan began appearing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where Japanese wrestling fans nicknamed him "Ichiban" ( 一番 , "Number One") . Hogan first appeared on May 13, 1980, while he
21244-400: The Giant and Ted DiBiase) and defeated them at the main event of the first SummerSlam . They then went on to feud with Slick's Twin Towers : Akeem and Big Boss Man . In mid-1988, Hogan wrestled at house shows in singles competition with his "War Bonnet", a red and yellow gladiator helmet with a fist-shaped crest. This was notably used to give Bad News Brown his first WWF loss at
21470-640: The Grand Ballroom at the Manhattan Center , a New York City theater, and aired live each week. The combination of an intimate venue and live action proved highly successful. However, the weekly live schedule became a financial drain on the WWF, and the company began taping shows; sometimes up to a month's worth of shows were taped at a time. In the same year as the premiere of Raw , WCW promoted former commentator and American Wrestling Association (AWA) announcer/sales associate Eric Bischoff to
21696-553: The Kliq's influence within the company, the WWF's official stance was that they could not match WCW's contract offer. On May 19, 1996, in their last WWF match before leaving for WCW, Nash and Hall were involved in a highly publicized incident at Madison Square Garden dubbed "The Curtain Call", in which four members of The Kliq (Nash, Hall, Michaels, Helmsley) broke character in the ring after their match to say goodbye to Nash and Hall (Waltman
21922-794: The MSG (Madison Square Garden) Tag League tournament two years in a row: in 1982 and 1983. In 1984, Hogan returned to NJPW to wrestle Inoki to defend the early version of the IWGP title after that Inoki won in the finals of the IWGP League, becoming the new no. 1 contender to the championship. Hogan lost the match and title belt by countout , thanks to interference from Riki Choshu . Hogan also defended his WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Seiji Sakaguchi and Fujinami, among others, until ending his tour in Nagoya on June 13 losing to Inoki via count-out in
22148-463: The NWA and became Extreme Championship Wrestling. The revamped promotion's unorthodox style and controversial storylines made it popular among fans in the 18- to 35-year-old male demographic. It showcased many different styles of professional wrestling, popularizing hardcore wrestling matches as well as lucha libre and Japanese wrestling styles. ECW was promoted as counterculture and a grittier alternative to multimillion-dollar organizations such as
22374-557: The NWA's Starrcade , which Crockett marketed as the NWA's answer to WrestleMania . However, many cable companies could only offer one live PPV event at a time. The WWF then threatened that any cable company that chose not to carry Survivor Series would not carry any WWF PPV events sixty days before and twenty-one days after the show. Therefore, the WWF PPV was cleared 10–1 over Starrcade, as only three cable companies opted to remain loyal to their contract with Crockett. After this incident,
22600-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
22826-488: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
23052-536: The PPV industry warned McMahon not to schedule PPV events simultaneously with the NWA again. However, McMahon was still not willing to fully cooperate with Crockett. On January 24, 1988, another scheduling conflict took place between the WWF and NWA: the NWA presented the Bunkhouse Stampede on PPV, while WWF aired the Royal Rumble for free on the USA Network. Later that year, with WWF's WrestleMania IV around
23278-435: The U.S. However, the WWF's show on WTBS was a ratings disaster, as GCW fans, disliking the cartoonish characters and storylines of the WWF, simply stopped watching. Two weeks after Black Saturday, WTBS debuted the show of a successor promotion to GCW created by holdout shareholders, Championship Wrestling from Georgia , albeit on early Saturday mornings. Moreover, despite originally promising to produce original programming for
23504-563: The Undisputed WWF Championship for his record equaling (for the time) sixth reign before departing in 2003. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005 , and inducted a second time in 2020 as a member of the nWo. Hogan also performed for the American Wrestling Association (AWA), where he headlined the inaugural AWA closed circuit supercard, Super Sunday in 1983, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) – where he
23730-442: The WCW World Heavyweight Championship at SuperBrawl V , where Hogan won by disqualification after the returning Flair's interference. Hogan then defeated Vader (who was managed part-time by Flair) in a non-title leather strap match at Uncensored . Because of the controversial ending caused once again by Flair at Uncensored, Hogan's feud with Vader culminated in a steel cage match for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Bash at
23956-406: The WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Hogan then lost the title to Sting in a match at Starrcade on December 28. In the match, WCW's newly contracted Bret Hart accused referee Nick Patrick of fast-counting a victory for Hogan and had the match restarted – with himself as referee. Sting later won by submission. After a rematch the following night on Nitro , where Sting controversially retained
24182-728: The WTBS time slot in Atlanta, McMahon chose instead to provide only a clip show for WTBS, featuring highlights from other WWF programming as well as matches from house shows at Madison Square Garden , Boston Garden and other major arenas. This format would eventually be the cornerstone of the WWF Prime Time Wrestling ( PTW ) program. In May 1985, McMahon sold the WTBS time slot to another Southern -based and NWA-affiliated wrestling company, Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), under heavy pressure from station owner Ted Turner , who
24408-666: The WWF Women's Championship belt on the December 18, 1995, edition of Nitro and insulted her former employers before throwing the belt in the garbage. Raw and Nitro traded wins in the "Monday Night War" early on, but WWE has conceded that by December 1995 "WCW had the advantage over WWE in the storied Monday Night War." Nitro began airing a weekly segment entitled Where the Big Boys Play! composed of stock footage of matches featuring current WWF wrestlers who had started their careers as jobbers in WCW, all of which ended in
24634-469: The WWF agreeing to drop the suit in exchange for the right to bid on WCW properties should they ever come up for liquidation. Raw , and the WWF in general, was considered to be at a creative nadir before Nitro started. Into the early 1990s, the WWF had continued the creative formula that had given the company success in the 1980s: clear-cut face vs. heel storylines, colorful wrestlers with themed gimmicks, and alluring female valets who nonetheless maintained
24860-638: The WWF and WCW. Monday Nitro premiered on September 4, 1995 as an hour-long weekly show, and Bischoff was instrumental in the launching of the show. During their mid-1995 meeting, Turner asked Bischoff how WCW could compete with the WWF. Bischoff, not expecting Turner to comply, said that the only way would be a prime-time slot on a weekday night, possibly up against the WWF's flagship show Monday Night Raw . Surprisingly for Bischoff, Turner granted him one live hour on TNT every Monday night, which specifically overlapped with Raw . This format expanded to two live hours in May 1996 and later three. Bischoff himself
25086-573: The WWF debuted a second cable show, also on USA, called Tuesday Night Titans ( TNT ), a late-night talk show spoof hosted by WWF owner Vince McMahon and Lord Alfred Hayes . While still running steadily, Barnett and the Briscos sold their entire stock in GCW (including the television deal) to McMahon, and on July 14, 1984 (otherwise known as " Black Saturday "), the WWF took over GCW. With this move, McMahon controlled all nationally televised wrestling in
25312-438: The WWF to pursue a career in film and television. He was lured back to the ring when he signed with rival promotion World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1994. He won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship six times , and holds the record for the longest reign . In 1996, he underwent a career renaissance upon adopting the villainous persona of "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, leading the popular New World Order (nWo) stable . As
25538-534: The WWF wrestler suffering a humiliating loss. Bischoff also began to give away the results of Raw matches on Nitro , as Raw was usually taped a week prior to airing. These moves prompted retaliatory tactics by the WWF; in January 1996, Raw began airing skits before and after commercial breaks entitled Billionaire Ted's Wrasslin' Warroom , depicting parodies of Ted Turner ("Billionaire Ted"), Hulk Hogan ("The Huckster"), "Macho Man" Randy Savage ("The Nacho Man"), and "Mean" Gene Okerlund ("Scheme Gene"). While
25764-591: The allegations. Due to intense public scrutiny, Hogan took a leave of absence from the company. Hogan returned to the WWF in February 1993, helping out his friend Brutus Beefcake in his feud with Money Inc. ( Irwin R. Schyster and "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase), and officially renaming themselves The Mega-Maniacs , taking on Money Inc.'s former manager "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart (a long-time friend of Hogan's outside of wrestling) as their manager in what
25990-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
26216-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
26442-561: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
26668-508: The auspices of Eric Bischoff , WCW introduced a new, complex metastory involving the defection of multiple wrestlers to a rival organization called the New World Order (nWo). McMahon's controversial treatment of Bret Hart in an incident known as the Montreal Screwjob immediately precipitated Hart's departure from the WWF to WCW, alienating a large segment of the WWF's fanbase at the same time WCW came to employ virtually all of
26894-736: The back of the head with his arm cast in a shot meant for Hogan. On Saturday Night's Main Event I , Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against Orton in a match that Hogan won by disqualification . Hogan was named the most requested celebrity of the 1980s for the Make-a-Wish Foundation children's charity. He was featured on the covers of Sports Illustrated (the first and as of 2013 , only professional wrestler to do so), TV Guide , and People magazines, while also appearing on The Tonight Show and having his own CBS Saturday morning cartoon titled Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling . Hogan, as
27120-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
27346-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
27572-488: The champion by way of being the first man to escape the camel clutch (the Iron Sheik's finishing move). Immediately after the title win, commentator Gorilla Monsoon proclaimed: "Hulkamania is here!". Hogan frequently referred to his fans as "Hulkamaniacs" in his interviews and introduced his three "demandments": training , saying prayers , and eating vitamins . Eventually, a fourth demandment ( believing in oneself )
27798-603: The championship was again declared vacant. It was decided that the winner of the 1992 Royal Rumble match would also be declared the new WWF Champion. Hogan entered in the #26 spot, but failed to regain the championship as he was eliminated by friend Sid Justice . In turn, Hogan helped cause Sid's elimination, leaving Flair (who had entered the match as the 3rd entrant) as the winner and new WWF Champion. Hogan and Sid patched things up and teamed together on Saturday Night's Main Event XXX against Flair and Undertaker, but during
28024-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
28250-504: The combined AOL Time Warner sold WCW's assets. Despite efforts to salvage the company, it was ultimately sold to McMahon, ending the Monday Night War. In retrospect, wrestling commentators have come to see the Monday Night War as a golden age of professional wrestling, along with the 1940s–1950s and 1980s booms, with the competition between the WWF and WCW bringing out their best quality product both in terms of creativity and
28476-512: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
28702-402: The company from 1987 to 1992, when it was still affiliated with the NWA, before joining the WWF the following year. WCW's coup of obtaining Luger was significant for several reasons. Because Nitro was live at the time, premiering major stars on the show would signal to the fans the amount of excitement the broadcasts would contain. Secondly, Luger had just come off a successful run in the WWF and
28928-406: The company to his partner, Tod Gordon , who renamed the promotion Eastern Championship Wrestling. When Eastern Championship Wrestling was founded, it was a member of the NWA, and "Hot Stuff" Eddie Gilbert was its head booker. After a falling-out with Gordon, Gilbert was replaced in September 1993 by Paul Heyman (known on television as Paul E. Dangerously), who had just left WCW and was looking for
29154-444: The company's programming. In the late 1990s, WCW's ratings began to suffer as fans grew tired of the nWo storyline, which many viewers perceived as having been allowed to go on for too long. Fans also responded negatively to several gimmicks intended to reinvigorate interest in the promotion, including the introduction of actor David Arquette as WCW World Heavyweight Champion. The company was able to briefly reinvigorate itself after
29380-461: The corner, Crockett decided to use McMahon's own tactics against him, developing his own PPV-caliber event and airing it for free on WTBS opposite WrestleMania. The result was the Clash of the Champions I . On March 27, 1988 – the same night as WrestleMania IV – the first Clash of the Champions aired. This show made Sting a star after he wrestled NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair to
29606-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
29832-487: The decision to be overturned by AWA President Stanley Blackburn due to the use of a foreign object during the match. Hogan left the AWA in November 1983. After purchasing the company from his father in 1982, Vincent K. McMahon had plans to expand the territory into a nationwide promotion, and he handpicked Hogan to be the company's showpiece attraction due to his charisma and name recognition. Hogan made his return at
30058-476: The decision was made to fire Sid. Sid's departure resulted in a further problem for the company: As he had been scheduled to defeat Big Van Vader for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Starrcade 1993 , several weeks worth of Disney Tapings had been filmed with Sid as the champion, with the intention not to air it until the following year. Sid's departure from the company meant that hours worth of footage had suddenly become worthless. In 1994, Bischoff took
30284-476: The direction of the company. The group, composed of Nash, Hall, Shawn Michaels , Hunter Hearst Helmsley (later known as Triple H) and Sean Waltman (1-2-3 Kid), often used their influence to advance one another's careers, and in some instances harm or ruin the careers of performers who displeased them. Accounts varied as to the reason for Nash and Hall's departure: Whereas wrestling analysts speculated that their contracts had been allowed to expire in order to break
30510-483: The duo broke up while wrestling The Twin Towers on The Main Event II , when Savage accidentally collided with Miss Elizabeth during the match, and Hogan took her backstage to receive medical attention, temporarily abandoning Savage. After ensuring Elizabeth was all right, Hogan returned to the ring and begged Savage to tag him in. Savage, in a fury, grabbed Hogan's outstretched hand with one hand, and slapped him across
30736-408: The early 1990s, McMahon's World Wrestling Federation (WWF; now WWE) and Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) – and, as a result, their programming – became a venue through which the business feud could continue, with each company working to drive the other out of business. WCW dominated the ratings through much of the mid-1990s, as Turner's financial resources allowed the company to purchase
30962-431: The earnings, if Titan held no interest). This extended to WCW, whose parent company Turner Broadcasting System merged with Time Warner in 1996 and became sister companies with Marvel rival DC Comics . (As Hogan was well underway with the nWo storyline under the "Hollywood Hogan" ring name at the time, this avoided Time Warner the awkward situation of paying Marvel the rights to the name while owning its chief rival.) In
31188-519: The end of July 1981, when during a television taping that aired in August, Jerry Blackwell , after suffering a pinfall loss to Brad Rheingans , began beating down Rheingans and easily fighting off anyone who tried to run in for the save. Hogan ran in, got the upper hand and ran Blackwell from the ring. Hogan was eventually victorious in his feud with Blackwell and by the end of 1981, gained his first title matches against Bockwinkel. In March 1982, Hogan defeated Bockwinkel and his manager Bobby Heenan in
31414-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
31640-405: The ensuing discussion of the incident in the fan community generated the most attention the WWF had received since the beginning of the Monday Night War. This prompted the WWF creative team to begin looking into the idea of more adult-oriented storylines and characters and mimicking WCW's metafiction elements. On February 3, 1997, Monday Night Raw changed to a two-hour format. In an attempt to break
31866-462: The entranceways of arenas or walking around in the audience. A week later, they announced the forthcoming appearance of a mysterious third member of their group. At Bash at the Beach , Hall and Nash were scheduled to team with their mystery partner against Lex Luger, Randy Savage, and Sting. At the onset of the match, Hall and Nash came out without a third man, telling Okerlund that he was "in the building", but that they did not need him yet. Shortly into
32092-546: The established wrestling stars then in competition. Throughout the late 1990s, the WWF began to rise in popularity after it rebranded itself as a more adult-themed, sexualized and violent product, a period in the company's history now referred to as the Attitude Era . The shift in programming helped lead the company to achieve mainstream success similar to the 1980s professional wrestling boom . Concurrently, many WWF performers became crossover successes: during this period The Rock would become very popular and then would embark on
32318-409: The events was also partially contingent upon wearing merchandise promoting different wrestlers, and audience members being made to respond on-cue to particular in-ring events. This was regarded as a major breach of kayfabe at the time and ultimately led to WCW's departure from the NWA in September 1993. By the end of the year, WCW decided to once again base the promotion around Ric Flair. The decision
32544-603: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
32770-604: The face with the other before leaving the ring. Hogan eventually won the match by himself. After the match, Savage attacked Hogan backstage, which started a feud between the two. Their feud culminated in Hogan beating Savage for his second WWF World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania V . Hogan's second run in 1989 lasted a year, during which he defended the title in two matches against Savage in April that he lost both times by count-out, before defeating The Big Boss Man in
32996-538: The fall of 1991, Hogan was challenged by Ric Flair , the former NWA World Heavyweight Champion who recently arrived in the WWF. The challenge went unmet, as Hogan lost the WWF Championship to The Undertaker at Survivor Series . Jack Tunney immediately granted Hogan a rematch at This Tuesday in Texas six days later, which Hogan won. Flair had interfered in both matches and due to the resulting controversy,
33222-511: The first annual King of the Ring pay-per-view on June 13, Hogan defended the WWF Championship in a rematch against Yokozuna. This was Hogan's first and only title defense since defeating Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX. Yokozuna kicked out of Hogan's signature leg drop and scored the pinfall win after Hogan was blinded by a fireball shot by a "Japanese photographer" (actually a disguised Harvey Wippleman). The victorious Yokozuna proceeded to give Hogan
33448-412: The first holder of an early version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship , defeating Antonio Inoki by knockout in the finals of a ten-man tournament. Since then, this championship was defended annually against the winner of the IWGP League of the year until it was replaced by current IWGP Heavyweight Championship , that is defended regularly. Hogan and Inoki also worked as partners in Japan, winning
33674-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
33900-443: The first session in training, Matsuda broke Hogan's leg. After 10 weeks of rehab, Hogan returned to train with Matsuda and blocked him when he tried to break his leg again. Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s In mid-1977, after training for more than a year with Matsuda, the Brisco brothers dropped by Matsuda's gym to see Hogan. During this visit, Jack Brisco handed Hogan
34126-545: The formation of the New World Order (nWo). The new stable gained prominence in the following weeks and months. Hogan grew a beard alongside his famous mustache and dyed it black, traded his red and yellow garb in for black and white clothing, often detailed with lightning bolts, and renamed himself "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan (often shortened to Hollywood Hogan). Hogan won his second WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Hog Wild on August 10 by defeating The Giant for
34352-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
34578-460: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
34804-461: The help of a group of friends should Austin appear. At the end of the evening, the final vignette depicted Austin breaking into Pillman's home, prompting Pillman to pull a gun on Austin , and the feed being "interrupted" in the ensuing chaos, with Vince McMahon (serving as a commentator) stating that he had been informed of "a couple explosions". When the feed resumed, Austin was shown being dragged out of Pillman's house as Pillman screamed, "That son of
35030-526: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
35256-480: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
35482-496: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
35708-462: The inner workings of the wrestling business) that the two really were brothers, as few people actually knew their real names outside of immediate friends, family, and the various promoters the two worked for. After wrestling a show for Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) in Memphis, Jerry Jarrett, the promoter for the CWA, approached Hogan and Leslie and offered them a job in his promotion for $ 800
35934-403: The internet. The incident marked one of the first times that pro wrestlers had so flagrantly broken character in front of an audience, and forced both the WWF and WCW to begin acknowledging fans' growing awareness of the backstage happenings of their respective companies. The Curtain Call would go on to influence the narrative course both companies took by encouraging WCW, and later the WWF, to blur
36160-512: The introduction of Bill Goldberg (known monymously as Goldberg), who was presented as an unbeatable force who won matches within a matter of minutes or even seconds. Goldberg quickly rose to stardom within the organization and became a crossover star similar to the WWF's performers, with appearances in commercials and music videos. However, a controversial backstage decision to end his winning streak, followed quickly by an anticlimactic match involving Kevin Nash and Hollywood Hogan – now known as
36386-480: The lines of fantasy and reality in wrestling, incorporating wrestlers' real names and details of their lives into their character's stories. On the Memorial Day 1996 edition of Nitro , Scott Hall interrupted a match and, apparently out of character, challenged the wrestlers of WCW to a fight against him and unnamed companions. Though Hall was employed by WCW, the storyline took advantage of fans' knowledge of
36612-644: The match Sid abandoned Hogan, starting their feud. At WrestleMania VIII , Hogan defeated Sid via disqualification due to interference by Sid's manager Harvey Wippleman . Hogan was then attacked by Papa Shango and was saved by the returning Ultimate Warrior. At this time, news sources began to allege that Dr. George Zahorian III, a doctor for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, had been selling steroids illegally to wrestlers in general and Hogan in particular. Hogan appeared on an episode of The Arsenio Hall Show to deny
36838-489: The match, Hogan thanked DiBiase for putting him over and told him that he "owed him one", a favor he repaid during DiBiase's second run with the company in the late 1980s and early 1990s as "The Million Dollar Man". McMahon gave Hogan former tag team champion Tony Altomare as chaperone and guide. At this time, Hogan wrestled Bob Backlund for the WWF Championship , and he started his first big feud with André
37064-565: The match, a Stinger Splash resulted in Luger being crushed behind Nash and being taken away on a stretcher, turning the match into The Outsiders vs. Sting and Savage. Hall and Nash were in control of the match when Hulk Hogan came to the ring. After standing off with them, he attacked Savage, showing himself to be the Outsiders' mysterious third man and thus turning heel. In a post-match interview, Hogan christened his alliance with Hall and Nash as
37290-405: The material involving Hogan and Savage usually poked fun at their old ages, the skits aimed at Turner were decidedly more inflammatory in nature and contained material that could have been considered slanderous . Although Turner himself reportedly found the sketches amusing, the sketches stopped airing on the USA Network at the request of network president Kay Koplovitz, and were ended permanently in
37516-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
37742-401: The midst of Hogan's speech. Then, on an edition of Piper's Pit , Hogan was confronted by Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, who announced that André was his new protégé, and Andre challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III, where Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant. During the match, Hogan hit a body slam on the 520-pound André (which
37968-428: The momentum of Nitro , WWF entered into a cross-promotional agreement with ECW. Raw commentator Jerry Lawler insulted and "challenged" ECW on the show's February 17 episode, and in the weeks to come, several ECW wrestlers appeared on Raw in a story arc similar to the nWo storyline playing out in WCW, with the WWF pursuing the "renegade" ECW. On March 10, 1997, Raw was officially renamed Raw Is War in reference to
38194-432: The nWo waged a campaign of anarchy against WCW, blurred the lines between reality and scripted entertainment, a unique presentation that acknowledged fans' growing awareness of backstage wrestling politics and kayfabe . WCW and the nWo continued to grow in popularity, and for the next 84 consecutive weeks Nitro beat Raw in the ratings. At the outset of the storyline, the WWF filed a lawsuit against WCW, alleging that WCW
38420-543: The nWo, the June 10, 1996, episode of Raw would be the last rating victory for the WWF for nearly two years. On the November 4, 1996, episode of Raw , the WWF aired a storyline involving Stone Cold Steve Austin and Brian Pillman , two former friends who were feuding with each other. In a series of vignettes broadcast from Pillman's real-life home in Newport, Kentucky , Pillman – supposedly debilitated following an attack by Austin – vowed to protect himself and his wife with
38646-510: The ongoing rating battle. Professional wrestling 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling ) is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with the premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches
38872-456: The opponent (later accompanied by a loud "you!" from the audience), shaking his finger to scold him, three punches, an Irish whip, the big boot and running leg drop – followed, ensuring victory. That finishing sequence occasionally changed depending on the storyline and opponent; for instance, with "giant" wrestlers, the sequence might involve a body slam . In 1984, similarities between Hogan's character and that of The Incredible Hulk led to
39098-480: The organization, while Ole Anderson was head booker and was in charge of operations. In 1982, in order to appear less regional in scope, the television show was renamed World Championship Wrestling , a name Barnett had used for promoting shows in Australia in the 1970s. In 1983, the WWF started its own cable show called WWF All American Wrestling , airing Sunday mornings on the USA Network . Later that year,
39324-453: The other two companies. While WCW was the dominant promotion for much of the mid-1990s, a variety of factors coalesced to turn the tide in the WWF's favor at the end of the decade, including a radical rebranding of their formerly family-friendly product into highly sexualized and violent shows geared towards older teens and adults. WCW ultimately ran into financial difficulties as a result of the amount of money they had promised wrestlers during
39550-739: The performances of their wrestlers. The Monday Night War largely sprang from a rivalry between WWF owner Vince McMahon and WCW owner Ted Turner , dating back to an incident in the 1980s known as Black Saturday , when McMahon acquired a monopoly on all nationally televised wrestling broadcasts by purchasing a stake in Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), whose flagship show aired on WTBS , Turner's own superstation based in Atlanta , Georgia . Turner, displeased with McMahon's handling of programming on his network, pressured McMahon into selling his time slot to Jim Crockett Promotions , another wrestling promotion. As wrestling began to grow in popularity in
39776-773: The position of Executive Vice President. During Bischoff's first year at the top of WCW, bookers Ole Anderson and Dusty Rhodes concocted cartoonish, unbelievable and poorly built-up storylines that were poorly received by fans, such as "Lost in Cleveland," a storyline in which Cactus Jack developed amnesia and disappeared in Cleveland , Ohio ; the White Castle of Fear, a match between Sting and Vader themed around B movies meant to promote SuperBrawl III ; and tongue-in-cheek, short beach-party movies used as promotional videos for Beach Blast . Anderson and Rhodes' booking style
40002-464: The premier WWF icon, headlined seven of the first eight WrestleMania events. He also co-hosted Saturday Night Live on March 30, 1985, during this lucrative run. AT&T reported that the 900 number information line he ran while with the WWF was the single biggest 900 number from 1991 to 1993. Hogan continued to run a 900 number after joining World Championship Wrestling (WCW). On Saturday Night's Main Event II , he successfully defended
40228-510: The previous fifteen years. A new storyline was introduced in early 1987; Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF World Heavyweight Champion for three consecutive years. André the Giant, who was Hogan's good friend, came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterward, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years". Hogan came out to congratulate André, who walked out in
40454-625: The primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to the platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of the venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as
40680-423: The process. The centerpiece attraction for the first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985, Hogan teamed with legit friend, TV and movie star Mr. T to defeat his archrival "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff when "Cowboy" Bob Orton , who had been in the corner of Piper and Orndorff, accidentally caused his team's defeat by knocking out Orndorff after he jumped from the top turnbuckle and hit him in
40906-696: The professional wrestling equivalent to the grunge music movement of the early 1990s, and focused on taking the company in a new direction. In 1994, Jim Crockett Jr. 's non-compete agreement with Turner, to whom he had sold in 1988, expired and he decided to start promoting with the NWA again. Crockett went to Gordon and asked him to hold a tournament for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship , in ECW's home city of Philadelphia on August 27, 1994. NWA President Dennis Coralluzzo alleged that Crockett and Gordon were attempting to monopolize
41132-668: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
41358-399: The sale of WCW's assets by its parent company, AOL Time Warner , to the WWF. Television had been a significant part of professional wrestling presentation in the United States for decades, but after the 1950s it had been relegated to local stations as the national networks ceased airing it. Many local programmers turned to professional wrestling as a means to fill out their schedules, as it
41584-546: The second shove prompting Hebner to disqualify Zeus from the match. Hogan and Beefcake then defeated Zeus and Savage in a rematch at the No Holds Barred pay-per-view to end the feud. Hogan also had defeated Savage to retain the WWF Championship in their official WrestleMania rematch on October 10, at United Kingdom show First WWF UK Event at London Arena . During his second reign as the WWF Champion, Hogan won
41810-550: The services of numerous high-profile WWF performers, including Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage . The company also drew casual fans' attention by filming events at popular tourist venues such as Disney's Hollywood Studios , and reached out to Mexican and Japanese wrestling fans through its cruiserweight division, which featured wrestlers from a diverse array of ethnic and racial backgrounds competing in matches featuring styles of wrestling popular in Latin America and Asia. Under
42036-783: The show backstage, Mary Jarrett noticed that Hogan was actually bigger than Ferrigno, who was well known at the time for having large muscles. As a result, Hogan began performing as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder and sometimes wrestled as Sterling Golden. On December 1, 1979, Hogan won his first professional wrestling championship , the NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) , recognized in Alabama and Tennessee , when he defeated Bob Roop in Knoxville, Tennessee . He dropped it in January 1980 to Bob Armstrong . He briefly wrestled in
42262-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
42488-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
42714-530: The title against Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match . He met long-time rival Roddy Piper in a WWF title match at the Wrestling Classic pay-per-view (PPV) event. Hogan retained the title by disqualification after Bob Orton interfered and hit Hogan with his cast. Hogan had many challengers in the way as the new year began. Throughout 1986, Hogan made successful title defenses against challengers such as Terry Funk , Don Muraco , King Kong Bundy (in
42940-414: The title being renamed and referred simply as the WWF Championship. Also during Hogan's second reign as champion, he starred in the movie No Holds Barred , which was the inspiration of a feud with Hogan's co-star Tom Lister, Jr. , who appeared at wrestling events as his movie character, Zeus (an "unstoppable monster" who was jealous over Hogan's higher billing and wanted revenge). Hogan easily beat Zeus in
43166-468: The title, and stated Crockett did not have the NWA board's approval, which resulted in Coralluzzo personally overseeing the tournament. Gordon took offense at Coralluzzo for his power plays and began contemplating a plan to secede ECW from the NWA in a controversial and public manner that would attract attention to ECW and insult the NWA organization. Gordon and Heyman planned to have Shane Douglas , who
43392-428: The title, the WCW World Heavyweight Championship became vacant. Sting went on to win the vacant title against Hogan at SuperBrawl VIII on February 22, 1998, and Hogan then developed a rivalry with former friend (and recent nWo recruit) Randy Savage, who had just cost Hogan the title match at SuperBrawl by hitting him with a spray can. The feud culminated in a steel cage match at Uncensored on March 15, which ended in
43618-466: The title. He spray painted "nWo" across the title belt, scribbled across the nameplate, and referred to the title as the "nWo title". Hogan then started a feud with Lex Luger after Luger and The Giant defeated Hogan and Dennis Rodman in a tag team match at Bash at the Beach on July 13, 1997. On the August 4 episode of Nitro , Hogan lost the title to Lex Luger by submission . Five days later at Road Wild on August 9, Hogan defeated Luger to regain
43844-443: The title. This led to a steel cage match between Hogan and The Giant at SuperBrawl VI , where Hogan won to end their feud. In early 1996, Hogan reformed The Mega Powers with Randy Savage to feud with The Alliance to End Hulkamania, which culminated at Uncensored in a Doomsday Cage match that Hogan and Savage won. After coming out victorious from his feuds, Hogan began to only appear occasionally on WCW programming. At Bash at
44070-519: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
44296-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
44522-487: The two brothers asked Hogan to try wrestling. Hogan eventually agreed. At first, Mike Graham , the son of CWF promoter Eddie Graham , refused to put Hogan in the ring; according to Hogan, he met Graham while in high school and the two did not get along. After Hogan quit Ruckus and started telling people in town that he was going to be a wrestler, Graham finally agreed to accept the Brisco Brothers' request. During
44748-564: The video game, Hulk Hogan's Main Event . He was the frontman for The Wrestling Boot Band, whose sole record, Hulk Rules , reached No. 12 on the Billboard Top Kid Audio chart in 1995. Hogan was born in Augusta, Georgia , on August 11, 1953, the son of construction foreman Pietro "Peter" Bollea (December 6, 1913 – December 18, 2001) and homemaker and dance teacher Ruth V. ( née Moody; 1922 – January 1, 2011). Bollea
44974-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
45200-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
45426-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
45652-486: Was a five-time WWF Champion , with his 1,474-day reign being the longest of the WrestleMania era ever. He is the first wrestler to win consecutive Royal Rumble matches, winning in 1990 and 1991 . His match with André the Giant on WWF The Main Event on February 5, 1988, still holds American television viewership records for wrestling with a 15.2 Nielsen rating and 33 million viewers. In 1993, Hogan departed
45878-626: Was a "bad risk" and had the tendency to not appear at shows he was scheduled to wrestle at. Douglas ultimately decided to go through with Gordon and Heyman's plan, inspired by his father's motto of "doing right by the people that do right by you". He threw down the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, stating that he did not want to be champion of a "dead promotion". He then raised the Eastern Championship Wrestling title and declared it to be
46104-486: Was a show shot to a live audience, with storylines unfolding as they happened. The first episode featured Sean Mooney reporting from the streets of New York City and interviews by Bobby Heenan, Yokozuna defeating Koko B. Ware , The Steiner Brothers defeating The Executioners; WWF Intercontinental Champion Shawn Michaels defeating Max Moon ; and The Undertaker defeating Damien Demento . The show also featured an interview with Razor Ramon . Raw originated from
46330-410: Was added during his feud with Earthquake in 1990. Hogan's ring gear developed a characteristic yellow-and-red color scheme; his ring entrances involved him ritualistically ripping his shirt off his body, flexing , and listening for audience cheers in an exaggerated manner. The majority of Hogan's matches during this time involved him wrestling heels who had been booked as unstoppable monsters , using
46556-405: Was already beginning to fall out by that time, and he refused to dye it, simply replying, "I'll be a blond Irish". Bollea wrestled his first match in the WWF under the ring name "Hulk Hogan" by defeating Harry Valdez on the November 17 episode of Championship Wrestling . He made his first appearance at Madison Square Garden on December 17, 1979, defeating Ted DiBiase after a bearhug . After
46782-630: Was an overbearing trainer, and left CWF. After declining an offer to wrestle for the Kansas City circuit, Hogan took a hiatus from wrestling and managed The Anchor club, a private club in Cocoa Beach, Florida , for a man named Whitey Bridges. Eventually, Whitey and Hogan became close friends, and opened a gym together; the gym became known as Whitey and Terry's Olympic gym. Soon after, Hogan's friend Ed Leslie (later known as Brutus Beefcake ) came to Cocoa Beach to help Hogan and Bridges manage both
47008-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
47234-492: Was changed to Hogan vs. Sid and Flair vs Savage, and the rivalry was never realized. Bischoff's attempt to deliver a "dream match" never produced by the WWF paid off, and the PPV drew a disproportionately high buy rate by the company's standards. Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) had its origins in 1991 as the Tri-State Wrestling Alliance, owned by Joel Goodhart. In 1992, Goodhart sold his share of
47460-473: Was dubbed "the bodyslam heard around the world") and won the match after a leg drop. Hulk Hogan vs Big Boss Man on March 7, 1989, at the El Paso Civic Center for a video-taping of a WWF "Superstars of Wrestling" event. Hogan remained WWF World Heavyweight Champion for four years (1,474 days) . In front of 33 million viewers, Hogan finally lost the title to André on The Main Event I after
47686-399: Was generally in line with the lighthearted, morally uncomplicated narrative that had been popular in 1980s wrestling, but which was generally looked upon with growing disdain by younger wrestling fans. In February 1993, longtime NWA stalwart Ric Flair returned to WCW after an eighteen-month WWF tenure, but since Flair was constrained by a no-compete clause from his WWF contract, WCW gave him
47912-503: Was illegally representing the nWo as a WWF affiliate and that Hall's persona was too close to his "Razor Ramon" character (itself a parody of Al Pacino 's character in Scarface ), to which the WWF retained the rights. WCW countered that in June, Hall and Nash had emphatically stated on-camera that they were no longer WWF employees, and that Hall's current persona was, in fact, a reworking of his previous WCW character, The Diamond Studd. The lawsuit dragged on for several years, culminating in
48138-408: Was in drug rehab and did not appear at the event). Michaels and Hall were playing babyface characters, while Nash and Helmsley were playing heel characters, and the four of them embracing saw an explicit breaking of kayfabe . Though the incident was not televised, it was nonetheless recorded by fans who had smuggled cameras and camcorders into the event, and photos and videos were widely disseminated on
48364-446: Was initially the host; he handled the second hour along with Bobby Heenan and former NFL football player Steve "Mongo" McMichael , with Tony Schiavone and Larry Zbyszko hosting the first. Other co-hosts included Mike Tenay (usually for matches involving cruiserweights or international stars), Scott Hudson, and Mark Madden . The initial broadcast of Nitro also featured the return of Lex Luger to WCW. Luger had worked for
48590-478: Was largely made out of necessity: The company had intended to place heavy emphasis on Sid Vicious , but he was involved in a legitimate altercation with fellow wrestler Arn Anderson while on tour in England . A heated argument between the men escalated into a physical altercation, which culminated in them stabbing one another with a pair of scissors. Because Sid's attack on Anderson was more violent, and because of Arn Anderson's close relationship with Ole Anderson,
48816-415: Was now a WCW employee—visited him on the set of Thunder in Paradise episodes. Hype then built over whether Hogan should remain with Thunder in Paradise or join WCW and have an opportunity to wrestle Ric Flair . On the May 28, 1994, episode of WCW Saturday Night , Hogan tore up his Thunder in Paradise contract and stated he was now willing to quit the show and return to wrestling, and Okerlund issued
49042-563: Was one of the company's top stars. In fact, he had been in line to get the WWF World Heavyweight Championship (he had had several previous title matches), and worked a WWF house show the night before. Since nobody but Bischoff and Luger's good friend Sting knew that Luger would return to WCW, the shock value generated by his appearance was great. Thirdly, Luger's defection created speculation among fans as to which other big-name stars would "jump ship". Notably, Luger would be followed by former WWF Women's Champion Alundra Blayze , who appeared with
49268-523: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
49494-454: Was relatively inexpensive to produce but drew high ratings. This reinforced the then-accepted organization of professional wrestling, which were consisted of a patchwork of territorial promotions aimed at – and broadcast to – local audiences, without a centralized, national promotion, though most territories were members of a common sanctioning body of championship titles , the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). As cable television arose in
49720-492: Was scheduled to face 2 Cold Scorpio in the tournament finals, throw down the NWA World Heavyweight Championship upon winning it as an act of defiance. Heyman pitched the plan to Douglas, noting that the only negative would be that NWA traditionalists would just see them as traitors to tradition. Additionally, there was animosity between Douglas and Coralluzzo, who had publicly criticized Douglas and advised NWA-affiliated bookers not to schedule him for shows, as he believed Douglas
49946-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
50172-456: Was still with the WWF. He occasionally toured the country over the next few years, facing a wide variety of opponents ranging from Tatsumi Fujinami to Abdullah the Butcher . When competing in Japan , Hogan used a vastly different repertoire of wrestling moves, relying on more technical, traditional wrestling holds and maneuvers as opposed to the power-based, brawling style American fans became accustomed to seeing from him. In addition, Hogan used
50398-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
50624-406: Was the first time WWF audiences had seen Hart as a fan favorite. At WrestleMania IX , Hogan and Beefcake took on Money Inc. for the WWF Tag Team Championship , a match the Mega-Maniacs lost via disqualification. Hogan went into the match injured (he had a cut above his left eyebrow, and the left eye itself was fully black). The WWF used Hogan's injury in a storyline that had DiBiase allegedly paying
50850-486: Was the inaugural winner of the original IWGP Heavyweight Championship – and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). During and after wrestling, Hogan had an extensive acting career, beginning with his 1982 cameo role in Rocky III . He has starred in several films (including No Holds Barred , Suburban Commando and Mr. Nanny ) and three television shows ( Hogan Knows Best , Thunder in Paradise , and China, IL ), as well as in Right Guard commercials and
51076-410: Was unhappy with the declining ratings. This set up a rivalry between McMahon and Turner that would continue for sixteen years. That same year, PTW replaced TNT on USA Network, which expanded to two hours the format of the WWF's WTBS program. The most-remembered Prime Time format featured Bobby Heenan and Gorilla Monsoon introducing taped matches and analyzing them afterward, with Monsoon taking
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