Is it me o does Hogan become a better wrestler when in Japan? He actually attempts different kinds of moves. He did a flip over armbar in a match with Muta I have from 1993. Hogan also looks like he runs faster instead of his normal speed of a turtle in the U.S. Hogan is still a bad wrestler in both countries but he does seem to wrestle better in Japan.
I'm sure Hogan always has some crisp 1000 dollar bills ready to dry his tears when he's thinking about those dastardly internet pundits who think he can't wrestle.
'Inflammable means flammable? Oh, what a country!' - Dr. Nick Riveira, The Simpsons
Hogan isn't nearly as bad as a wrestler as the US smarks would try to make you believe.
His best "wrestling matches" are from the early 80's in Japan, before McMahon pushed him as a monster "face". He "had" to squash everyone...
Him "squashing" everyone in the States, however, led to money, money, money coming to the WWF that I'm sure neither Hogan, nor Vince, nor anyone else regretted having at the time.
Anyways, Hogan's not as bad a worker as people sometimes believe. In my opinion, if he was as bad as people believe, he wouldn't have had the longevity he's had.
"The character of a man is not defined how he acts on when on top, but how he picks himself up when he has been knocked down."
Someone had made the point (elsewhere) that Hogan wrestles (or wrestled) better in Japan because the fans expect more in the ring than his usual style.
Proud enough for you to call me arrogant
Greedy enough to be labeled a thief
Angry enough for me to go and hurt a man
Cruel enough for me to feel no grief...
I'm sure Vince and Hogan think it was all a great idea. After all, they got paid. I won't say that Hogan shouldn't have been the top star, because he surely belonged in that spot at the time, but it seems to me that he could have done better if he looked a little less invincible. Guys like Terry Funk, Paul Orndorff, Bruiser Brody (who certainly would have eaten the log drop for a payday) and Roddy Piper could have drawn on top while delaying the Hogan rematch, and then made Hogan even bigger when he regained the belt from any of them. Orndorff even earned the belt in kayfabe, the video shows and the Body knows he hit the floor at least 4 tenths of a second before Hogan did.
Hogan has money match presence and money match psychology. Hogan vs. Warrior and Hogan vs. Rock are not great wrestling matches in a wrestling sense, but are great matches in every other aspect. The first time I saw Hulk Hogan I didn't know who he was, but I also didn't need anyone to tell me that was a star. I could feel it through the TV.
Although I haven't seen it yet, I would find it easy to believe that the most recent Hogan vs. Chono match was at least as bad as it was said to be. If not worse.
In my mind Hogan was a good wrestler, but wrestling for him became just a soap opera. I have seen some of his matches with NJPW and I was not impressed with his preformance their much less here in the USA. Honestly some matches were slightly entertaining, but not in a wrestling sense. I say look away from Hogan if you want good wrestling.
XBL GT: Dark Strider Been a Puroresu Fan since 1995
Someone had made the point (elsewhere) that Hogan wrestles (or wrestled) better in Japan because the fans expect more in the ring than his usual style.
This is a very good point, and you can expand this to include a number of wrestlers. Many wrestle far differently in Japan because of what's expected and many focus on signature moves in the States because the audience enjoys responding them greatly. It's all a matter of knowing your audience.
"The character of a man is not defined how he acts on when on top, but how he picks himself up when he has been knocked down."
I'm new to this site but I have two questions about Hulk Hogan in Japan. I heard of an incident where he made a WWF title defense in Japan against Fujinami back in '85 about the time WWF cut their ties with New Japan. In the match, Fujinami did a complete shoot on Hogan. Also there was another situation back in April of 1990 where Terry Gordy was scheduled to wrestle Hogan in the Tokyo Dome but Gordy refused to job to Hogan so Stan Hansen wrestled in Gordy's place. Does anyone have any knowledge of these two incidents in Japan?
First one never happaned. It came from Hogan's comment on "Hulk Still Rules" where he said that he thought there might be possibility of Fujinami attempting to shoot on Hogan since WWF and New Japan were splitting. Hogan didn't even say it actually happened. Fujinami/New Japan was too professional to do something like that, and I'm sure Hogan was very aware of that.
The second story may be true. I think I read that on the Observer when the card took place.
I'm new to this site but I have two questions about Hulk Hogan in Japan. I heard of an incident where he made a WWF title defense in Japan against Fujinami back in '85 about the time WWF cut their ties with New Japan. In the match, Fujinami did a complete shoot on Hogan. Also there was another situation back in April of 1990 where Terry Gordy was scheduled to wrestle Hogan in the Tokyo Dome but Gordy refused to job to Hogan so Stan Hansen wrestled in Gordy's place. Does anyone have any knowledge of these two incidents in Japan?
I think Hulk may have had some paranoia about Fujinami would shoot on him. It got to the point of Andre offering to take care of Fujinami for him, from what I've heard. I honestly don't know if the shoot ever actually happened though. The two have wrestled numerous times, and I haven't heard about any of them ever going shoot.
The Gordy story is true. Looking back, I'm glad Gordy pulled out. Hogan vs. Hansen turned out to be one of the very best matches of Hulk's career.
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Luds
