Question re Hogan in 1993....

Not sure if anyone can give any insight into this....

Why did Hogan get such a cheap win over Yokozuna at Wrestlemania 9? If the WWE didnt want Yokozuna to be champion, why didnt they just let Bret retain? After beating Yoko, Hogan didnt defend the title until JUNE at King of the Ring where he dropped it against Yoko. Apparantly he was due to drop the belt to Bret Hart at Summerslam in a big face vs face match but Hogan refused to drop the title to another face. He also didnt want to lose clean to a heel which is why Yokozuna beat him with the screwy finish at KOTR with the dust in the eyes.

So why the cheap run for Hogan? And why no title defence until KOTR? And do you think Bret dropped the strap at Mania on the understanding he would get it back against Hogan at Summerslam, and is this the reason him and Hogan have such beef because Hogan refused to drop the title to him?

Hogan also had a cheap run after beating HHH soon after Mania 19. So considering Hogan is a 6 time WWF Champion, 2 of them reigns were shocking in my opinion, and he should only be a 4 time champion!

Hopefully someone can shed some light for me.

Vince had given Bret his chance with the belt and while it went down well Vince wanted to get the fans truly behind a Bret 'quest for the title' and when Hogan returned to the WWF McMahon felt they could use him to put Bret over at SummerSlam or WM10 (which would have been more fitting IMO) the very first plan was for Hogan to go over Yoko at SummerSlam93 but days before WM9 Hogan and Vince decided that it would be the wrong time to let the heel walk out of WM as champ, so they went ahead with the Bret plans but nixed Yokos.

Hogan had already signed a deal to tour Japan April-June so thats why he didn't appear during that time, Hogan apparently wanted to go over Bret at SummerSlam and Survivor Series before dropping the title to Rumble winner Bret at WM10 (He also wanted Bret to turn heel and cheat to win) and he couldn't work anywhere near the dates required as Champion, when this was discovered it was decided Hogan should drop the belt at SummerSlam he refused point blank as he felt face Bret beating him clean in a one time only match would hurt his character

Why the hell would they put the strap on Hogan knowing he wouldnt be around for 3 months?

Thanks for the info anyway gaffer, it just furthers my growing lack of respect for the Hulkster. Is this a big factor as to why Bret has beef with Hogan then?

I've not got a clue what Vince was thinking to be honest, he knew as well as Hulk did that the fans where bored of him from late 91, they had so many options in early 93, they had Flair, Perfect, Luger, Savage, Taker and Bret along with Yoko, I think Brets problem with Hogan started at this point

According to Bret in his book when Hogan came back for that stint he didn't say a word to Bret but as soon as the finish was agreed for wm 9 Hogan was suddenly best mates and was "hey brother" this and "hey brother" that and Bret remembers Hogan getting backstage after his win and saying I promise to return the favour!

By the time king of the ring came around Hogan was flat-out refusing to lay down for Bret saying he was out of his league, so Hart had to work with lawler at summerslam.

However down the line a few months later Bret confronted Hogan and Hogan said it wasn't true and charged into Vince's office where vince looked at Bret and said "well it was never going to be for the title" Bret explains that was a bare faced lie.

Who knows what the truth was

Good topic... One of the truely awful moments in wrestling history & it's always good to get an insight from those in the know.

What I don't understand is why Hogan still had so much power in the company? He'd been missing for a year & his act was 2 years past it's sell by date, had news of the steriod scandal also broke?

I'm a massive Bret Hart fan but I thought his account of what happened was probably a little biased.

Just as a detail Mr H, Yoko won when a camera exploded in Hogans face rather than a salt in the eye spot

Well the fans did turn on Hogan he was still by a distance the grandest name in Pro Wrestling so it doesn't surprise me that he still had Vinces ear, I doubt he was ever really to far away, I believe the plan was always to get him out the spotlight, go to Hollywood and return a prodigal son, it worked to an extent at the time tho it backfired when he wasn't available to do TVs

The Steroid Scandel did hit by then, that was the reason Bulldog and Warrior got their matching orders in late 92 you could also see how much Hogan had shrunk in his 10/11 months away

I'm also sure that the WCW rumours where doing the rounds in 93 so I wouldn't be surprised if McMahon was bending over backwards to stop that from happening

Mr H, I can only recommend reading Bret's book. I know it is only one side of the argument, but it is almost certainly the most reliable.

Essentially, Vince was desperate. Business had been in the toilet for the past year, following the steroid and sex scandals. One thing that had been missing for that past year was Hulk Hogan. He'd never succeeded without Hogan before. When Hogan politicked to get the belt at WM9, Vince saw a glimmer of opportunity to recreate the business the WWF had done previously.

Hogan can still pull the wool over people's eyes now in TNA in 2011 when his name is worthless; imagine how much easier it was for him in 1993 when he was still, by a long way, the biggest name in the industry. Add in that dangling carrot of Hogan offering to endorse Bret as the next big thing, and Vince thought it was worth the gamble.

Vince, while he felt a loyalty to Bret, knew that he'd never failed with Hogan before. He needed something huge to get the company out of the doldrums. He was there for the taking.

Brady, cheers for the info, the salt in the eyes was the match vs Bret at Mania wasnt it, i remember the camera explosion thing now you've said.

Crips, i havent read any recent wrestling autobiographies and have been meaning to try and pick one to get stuck into, is Bret's the best choice would you say?

My memory isnt great, i remember Mania 9 and i remember KOTR, but how did the WWF get by for 3 months without a World Champion? How was it booked?

Its unbelievable to think how much power Hogan must have had to be able to convince Vince that giving him the strap at Mania was good for the company, Vince must have been desperate and blinded if he thought that the fans still wanted to see Hogan's gimmick especially after Bret was red hot after winning his first WWF Title. Hogan makes Triple H look like Mary Poppins.

Yoko had his rematch with Hogan at KOTR won back the title & then they started the whole Luger push. With him slamming Yoko. Bret won KOTR & got involved in a fued with Lawler. Hogan disappeared the resurfaced in WCW

Bret's is definitely the wrestling autobiography I'd recommend, more than any of Foley's or Jericho's.

Re how they booked the three months Hogan was MIA as champ, you have to remember this was 1993. There were no PPVs and Raw was in its infancy; it was an hour-long show that revolved around squash matches and the occasional angle. The world champion wasn't expected to be on TV every week as he is now. The Intercontinental and tag titles also meant more. I didn't watch it at that time, but I imagine they maybe had the occasional taped Hogan promo and Yokozuna segment building up the match. They also built up King of the Ring as being a huge deal, specifically saying that it meant as much as the world title, so a lot of hype went into that. House shows probably did suffer, but they'd been suffering anyway.

Gary Harts is way better than Brets for me mainly because its ridiculously unbiased compared to Brets (which I also loved) but Gary just seemed to know everything about everyone and everything

I watched RAW at the time, Hogan did do so taped Promos, Yoko was being built as the monster and was putting 'real Americans' like Hacksaw on the shelf and Shawn Micheals/Marty Jannetty where the main angle on TV and at houses during May and June

the-gaffer wrote:Gary Harts is way better than Brets for me mainly because its ridiculously unbiased compared to Brets (which I also loved) but Gary just seemed to know everything about everyone and everything

Who's Gary Hart? He's not Brets brother is he?

Na mate he's nothing to do with Bret, Hart was just a ring name, he was a wrestler and manager and booker, his best time came in WCCW, who where possibly the hottest promotion in America when he was booking, he aslo worked for JCP and WCW, one of his best friends was George 'the Animal' Steele and thats where most of his WWF info came from, Steele was a pretty big influence backstage in the WWF well into the mid 90s

the-gaffer wrote:Na mate he's nothing to do with Bret, Hart was just a ring name, he was a wrestler and manager and booker, his best time came in WCCW, who where possibly the hottest promotion in America when he was booking, he aslo worked for JCP and WCW, one of his best friends was George 'the Animal' Steele and thats where most of his WWF info came from, Steele was a pretty big influence backstage in the WWF well into the mid 90s

There you go a personal History lesson from the-gaffer!