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The longest instalment of this series looks at someone outside of WWE. Technically, this guy does not actually a wrestler. But if you use AKI Man’s logic, he featured as a wrestler in a video game, so he counts. And he is actually a script writer. But as he is an OSR Legend, he deserves a tribute.
:vinnie
Hulk Hogan left the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWE) to take up a minor role in a major movie. WWWF founder Vincent J. McMahon, the current Vince’s father, refused to let Hogan do it. This was during a time when wrestling promoters were still trying to convince fans that professional wrestling was a real sport, and not scripted. McMahon, Sr. believed that if people saw a pro wrestler acting in a film or a television show, then they would assume that wrestlers were acting in the ring as well. Hogan could not see it this way and could not turn down the opportunity.
Hogan played Thunder Lips an over-blown professional wrestler who is beaten by boxer Rocky Balboa in a gimmick match in ‘Rocky III’. After his defeat, Hogan’s character admits that his aggressive wrestler bit was just for show. From that moment on, it confirmed for most people that professional wrestling was indeed scripted. Instead of boycotting the pseudo-sport, people flocked to this new kind of theatre. And they nominated Hogan to be their hero in this fantasy world. People across the Western world had caught “Hulkamaniaâ€, and there was no bigger Hulkamaniac than Vincent J. McMahon. McMahon had inherited the WWWF from his father, and had repackaged it as the World Wrestling Federation. McMahon wanted to re-launch the company as a “sports-entertainment†franchise, and he wanted Hulk Hogan to be the centrepiece of his new creation. Both Hogan and the Federation would become pop culture phenomena. However, the experience taught Hogan that he was the most marketable entity in entertainment, and the biggest marketing genius there is.
Ten years later, lightning struck twice. The itch to leave the Federation to make more movies had returned. Just like his father did, McMahon objected to the idea. But McMahon had a different concern. McMahon actually agreed with Hogan’s decision to make ‘Rocky III’, because Hogan was virtually unknown and was about to play a minor role in a major movie. But now Hogan was an icon, about to take on major roles in minor movies. Not only would Hogan no longer be with the WWE, he risked ruining his image.
In order to make his movies, Hogan practically lived at Universal Studios. This was the venue where World Championship Wrestling (WCW) taped episodes of ‘Monday Night Nitro’. It did not take much for Eric Bischoff to convince WCW owner Ted Turner that Hogan would be a positive addition to the company. For a while, the company was built around Hogan, but WCW did not see the success that they had anticipated with Hogan. But they still paid him millions, built the company around him and allowed him to follow his own movie career. And then then the “Hollywood Hogan†gimmick and the nWo storyline happened. Once again, Hogan was convinced that he was biggest marketing genius there is.
Hogan’s success gave him a lot of influence and power. This allowed him to negotiate the infamous ‘Creative Control’ stipulation into his contracts. The stipulation allowed him to change storylines and matches at a moment’s notice. Worse still, this extended to control over other people’s WCW careers too. One of his worst tricks was to bury Sting after building him for a year. The original plan was for the already established Sting to take an entire year to build up his new “Crow†character, and then would beat Hollywood Hogan for the WCW Championship. Just before the showdown, Hogan decided that he would look better if Sting DIDN’T beat him the first time. Sting did win, but it was a questionable finish, and Sting was stripped off the title a short time later. When Sting finally did legitimately win the title, he did not look nearly as strong as he did when he first challenged Hogan.
:vinnie
Vince Russo was a writer with the World Wrestling Federation. He had often been credited as the guy who really started the Federation’s ‘Attitude Era’. When he signed with WCW, many thought that the creative spine had been ripped out of the Federation. In reality, the Federation continued to get stronger while WCW rapidly sank. Those who originally praised Russo began questioning just how much involvement he actually had with the ‘Attitude Era’. Many of his ideas were so bad that some sceptics maintain that he was secretly sabotaging WCW.
Hogan was easily the most hated man in WCW due to the way he influenced management. The company had become stale as they had been promoting Hogan as their main star for almost a decade. Bischoff and Russo agreed that it was necessary to reboot the company and focus on rebuilding the brand, with an emphasis on promoting younger talent. The reboot had been a flop as the first 2 months saw the WCW Championship change hands 8 times, with one of the longest reigns going to actor David Arquette. Hogan decided that enough was enough, and it was time for some veteran talent (i.e. him) to return to the top tier. However, Hogan was about to take some time off to make some more movies. But he didn’t care, and booked himself in the WCW World Heavyweight Championship match against Jeff Jarrett.
Russo came up with the first of 2 great ideas. Hogan had feuded with just about every single major star and major mid-carder that WCW had. With his “Creative Controlâ€, he had won the majority of his matches. Russo figured that Hogan should lose the match to Jarrett. The loss would put Jarrett over as a true main-eventer. Jarrett could then elevate other stars to main-event level. When Hogan came back, he would have some new main-eventers to make money with. Jarrett would also be a bigger star by then, so Hogan could return and claim an even bigger revenge-victory over him. This was the plan in place for the Bash At The Beach 2000 pay-per-view.
Then on the night, the plan changed. Hogan decided that Jarrett was not a big star yet, so losing to him would be damaging to his image. Hogan decided that it would be better to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Jarrett. Bischoff and Hogan came up with a new storyline to compensate. Hogan would win the title. But he would immediately cut a promo discussing how it was worthless and would “leave the company†with it. In his absence, there would be a tournament to determine a new champion. Once this tournament reached a conclusion, Hogan would return and remind everyone that he was the real champion, and then would feud with the tournament winner to become the undisputed champion. They ran the plan past Russo, and he agreed.
Did I forget to mention that Russo’s plans for the next 3 months were scrapped because Hogan inserted himself into the title match? Russo had 2 weeks to completely write everything anew to fit in Hogan’s return. Now these plans were scrapped, and Russo had 24 hours to write new storylines to fit in the tournament angle. He also had to do it knowing that his biggest heel was about to get buried.
When it was time for the match, Russo went to the ring and ordered Jarrett to lie down and let Hogan pin him for the title. When they complied, Russo threw the title belt down at Hogan’s feet and stormed off. Hogan grabbed a microphone, and instead of giving the scripted promo, he slated Russo’s writing. He said it was “because of stuff like this that this company was going down the crapper!â€. Hogan left with the title belt and Bischoff chased after him to close the show, as had been planned. It was not until the next day that Bischoff found out how the show really ended.
Russo returned to the ring and vented his frustrations over Hogan always manipulating the company. Russo claimed that we would never see “that piece of sh*t†in WCW again, and he was right. Hogan was so angry that he refused to return. As Hogan and Jarrett did not do their planned match, there was plenty of time left on the show. So Russo booked the final match of the upcoming tournament right away. While the fans were confused by what happened, they were upset to see the Booker T replace Hogan in the second main event. Their frustration turned to joy when Booker T picked up the win and the championship.
Less than a year, WCW finally closed down. You may be wondering how Russo’s actions were any good. For one thing, Russo became WCW champion for a week. But we are missing many of the good things that came out of this. Booker T started a new phase of his career which led to him becoming a main eventer. Jarrett had more control backstage, and would learn many of the skills and information that he would need for TNA. Scott Steiner got his temper under control and made more of an effort when he was in the ring with younger talent. Some of the younger guys got a better showcasing, which helped them to get hired by the WWE. Many of these guys had little experience and the WWE became the only option with a national television deal. The extra time that they did get on WCW programming proved instrumental in getting them hired by McMahon.
And Russo became the only man since Andre the Giant to successfully stand up to Hulk Hogan.
:vinnie
Hulk Hogan left the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWE) to take up a minor role in a major movie. WWWF founder Vincent J. McMahon, the current Vince’s father, refused to let Hogan do it. This was during a time when wrestling promoters were still trying to convince fans that professional wrestling was a real sport, and not scripted. McMahon, Sr. believed that if people saw a pro wrestler acting in a film or a television show, then they would assume that wrestlers were acting in the ring as well. Hogan could not see it this way and could not turn down the opportunity.
Hogan played Thunder Lips an over-blown professional wrestler who is beaten by boxer Rocky Balboa in a gimmick match in ‘Rocky III’. After his defeat, Hogan’s character admits that his aggressive wrestler bit was just for show. From that moment on, it confirmed for most people that professional wrestling was indeed scripted. Instead of boycotting the pseudo-sport, people flocked to this new kind of theatre. And they nominated Hogan to be their hero in this fantasy world. People across the Western world had caught “Hulkamaniaâ€, and there was no bigger Hulkamaniac than Vincent J. McMahon. McMahon had inherited the WWWF from his father, and had repackaged it as the World Wrestling Federation. McMahon wanted to re-launch the company as a “sports-entertainment†franchise, and he wanted Hulk Hogan to be the centrepiece of his new creation. Both Hogan and the Federation would become pop culture phenomena. However, the experience taught Hogan that he was the most marketable entity in entertainment, and the biggest marketing genius there is.
Ten years later, lightning struck twice. The itch to leave the Federation to make more movies had returned. Just like his father did, McMahon objected to the idea. But McMahon had a different concern. McMahon actually agreed with Hogan’s decision to make ‘Rocky III’, because Hogan was virtually unknown and was about to play a minor role in a major movie. But now Hogan was an icon, about to take on major roles in minor movies. Not only would Hogan no longer be with the WWE, he risked ruining his image.
In order to make his movies, Hogan practically lived at Universal Studios. This was the venue where World Championship Wrestling (WCW) taped episodes of ‘Monday Night Nitro’. It did not take much for Eric Bischoff to convince WCW owner Ted Turner that Hogan would be a positive addition to the company. For a while, the company was built around Hogan, but WCW did not see the success that they had anticipated with Hogan. But they still paid him millions, built the company around him and allowed him to follow his own movie career. And then then the “Hollywood Hogan†gimmick and the nWo storyline happened. Once again, Hogan was convinced that he was biggest marketing genius there is.
Hogan’s success gave him a lot of influence and power. This allowed him to negotiate the infamous ‘Creative Control’ stipulation into his contracts. The stipulation allowed him to change storylines and matches at a moment’s notice. Worse still, this extended to control over other people’s WCW careers too. One of his worst tricks was to bury Sting after building him for a year. The original plan was for the already established Sting to take an entire year to build up his new “Crow†character, and then would beat Hollywood Hogan for the WCW Championship. Just before the showdown, Hogan decided that he would look better if Sting DIDN’T beat him the first time. Sting did win, but it was a questionable finish, and Sting was stripped off the title a short time later. When Sting finally did legitimately win the title, he did not look nearly as strong as he did when he first challenged Hogan.
:vinnie
Vince Russo was a writer with the World Wrestling Federation. He had often been credited as the guy who really started the Federation’s ‘Attitude Era’. When he signed with WCW, many thought that the creative spine had been ripped out of the Federation. In reality, the Federation continued to get stronger while WCW rapidly sank. Those who originally praised Russo began questioning just how much involvement he actually had with the ‘Attitude Era’. Many of his ideas were so bad that some sceptics maintain that he was secretly sabotaging WCW.
Hogan was easily the most hated man in WCW due to the way he influenced management. The company had become stale as they had been promoting Hogan as their main star for almost a decade. Bischoff and Russo agreed that it was necessary to reboot the company and focus on rebuilding the brand, with an emphasis on promoting younger talent. The reboot had been a flop as the first 2 months saw the WCW Championship change hands 8 times, with one of the longest reigns going to actor David Arquette. Hogan decided that enough was enough, and it was time for some veteran talent (i.e. him) to return to the top tier. However, Hogan was about to take some time off to make some more movies. But he didn’t care, and booked himself in the WCW World Heavyweight Championship match against Jeff Jarrett.
Russo came up with the first of 2 great ideas. Hogan had feuded with just about every single major star and major mid-carder that WCW had. With his “Creative Controlâ€, he had won the majority of his matches. Russo figured that Hogan should lose the match to Jarrett. The loss would put Jarrett over as a true main-eventer. Jarrett could then elevate other stars to main-event level. When Hogan came back, he would have some new main-eventers to make money with. Jarrett would also be a bigger star by then, so Hogan could return and claim an even bigger revenge-victory over him. This was the plan in place for the Bash At The Beach 2000 pay-per-view.
Then on the night, the plan changed. Hogan decided that Jarrett was not a big star yet, so losing to him would be damaging to his image. Hogan decided that it would be better to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship from Jarrett. Bischoff and Hogan came up with a new storyline to compensate. Hogan would win the title. But he would immediately cut a promo discussing how it was worthless and would “leave the company†with it. In his absence, there would be a tournament to determine a new champion. Once this tournament reached a conclusion, Hogan would return and remind everyone that he was the real champion, and then would feud with the tournament winner to become the undisputed champion. They ran the plan past Russo, and he agreed.
Did I forget to mention that Russo’s plans for the next 3 months were scrapped because Hogan inserted himself into the title match? Russo had 2 weeks to completely write everything anew to fit in Hogan’s return. Now these plans were scrapped, and Russo had 24 hours to write new storylines to fit in the tournament angle. He also had to do it knowing that his biggest heel was about to get buried.
When it was time for the match, Russo went to the ring and ordered Jarrett to lie down and let Hogan pin him for the title. When they complied, Russo threw the title belt down at Hogan’s feet and stormed off. Hogan grabbed a microphone, and instead of giving the scripted promo, he slated Russo’s writing. He said it was “because of stuff like this that this company was going down the crapper!â€. Hogan left with the title belt and Bischoff chased after him to close the show, as had been planned. It was not until the next day that Bischoff found out how the show really ended.
Russo returned to the ring and vented his frustrations over Hogan always manipulating the company. Russo claimed that we would never see “that piece of sh*t†in WCW again, and he was right. Hogan was so angry that he refused to return. As Hogan and Jarrett did not do their planned match, there was plenty of time left on the show. So Russo booked the final match of the upcoming tournament right away. While the fans were confused by what happened, they were upset to see the Booker T replace Hogan in the second main event. Their frustration turned to joy when Booker T picked up the win and the championship.
Less than a year, WCW finally closed down. You may be wondering how Russo’s actions were any good. For one thing, Russo became WCW champion for a week. But we are missing many of the good things that came out of this. Booker T started a new phase of his career which led to him becoming a main eventer. Jarrett had more control backstage, and would learn many of the skills and information that he would need for TNA. Scott Steiner got his temper under control and made more of an effort when he was in the ring with younger talent. Some of the younger guys got a better showcasing, which helped them to get hired by the WWE. Many of these guys had little experience and the WWE became the only option with a national television deal. The extra time that they did get on WCW programming proved instrumental in getting them hired by McMahon.
And Russo became the only man since Andre the Giant to successfully stand up to Hulk Hogan.
