Sorry, I've never bought the idea that Hogan had any part of building Vince's empire. It was the reverse. Vince McMahon took a balding, uncoordinated bodybuilder, hid his flaws, gave him logos/colors/catchphrases and made an entire generation of kids believe they were seeing something special. Hogan was Vince's greatest construct.
Uh...you don't buy it because you don't want to or refuse to. That doesn't mean its not true. This right here shows your pushing a biased view or you don't know what you're talking about. Vince Jr didn't even NAME Hogan fer christs sake. That happened well before he came back to the WWF in 1983. Vince Jr DIDN'T give him the gimmick. He was doing that before he left the AWA. Rocky III was a big part in getting Hogan even more national exposure early on. Again something Vince Jr had nothing to do with. If anything HOGANS efforts there only helpd Vince when he was pushing Hogan. He used that media exposure that Hogan got for himself as a springboard.
You point to stuff in the WWF but either forgot or ignored everything that happened before that. Vince Sr did more to lay the foundation for Hogans gimmick than Jr did and this was still before the WWWF/WWF became a national juggernaut. He got the "Hulk" moniker thanks to a talk show appearance long before Vince gave him the belt in 1984.
The Undertaker was Vince's greatest personal creation. He had far more to do with that than he did with Hogans entire persona and gimmick.
What Vince Jr. did do for Hogan was put the WWF machine behind him and accentuate what was already there. If it was so easy Vince's other attempts like Nash and Luger on top wouldn't have flopped. Hogan may be an a**hole but that doesn't mean he didn't have an innate something special. He had a charisma that a so called Adonis like Luger didn't. These other guys had far better looks but Hogan outdid them. If anything that goes against what you say about Hogan. Luger and Nash should have been EASIER for the WWE hype machine to push but they bombed as potential new top guys.
Hogan had the "Hulkamania" thing in the AWA for Gods sake. How the f***did Vince McMahon GIVE it to him then? Ideas like merchandise and stuff were things Hogan was coming up with first. That sone reason he left the AWA. Vince was just more willing to do things Hogan already wanted to than Gagne was. What Vince did was put his resources and the reach of cable tv behind Hogan.
Triple H had the same WWE marketing machine behind him and he never even sniffed Hogans kind of sucess despite all the perks he got and the politicking he did. If anything WWF had more to do with making Triple H "The Game" than the WWF did in making Hogan "The Hulkster." Triple H wasn't anywhere close to doing his most sucessful gimmick when he was in WCW. Hogan was when he was in the AWA.
And never belittled an opponent before a feud? Right. Remember, this is the same guy who went on Regis and Kathy Lee and repeatedly called his upcoming opponent "The Underweartaker".
Well first off I just want to ask why Triple H called Lillian Garcia of all people horse faced? For no other reason than to embaress someone. A woman who isn't even a wrestler at that. Foley called him out on this.
With Triple H's profile he's got no room to talk. That takes a real a**hole to attempt that. Now...
...Hogan was the face and Taker was the heel. What...did you expect them to play nice and hold hands during the feud? Triple H has done worse.
A juiced up wanna be like HHH has no right joking about how somebody failed a drug test on Smackdown.
Triple H last held a world title at the age of 39. Since then, he's accepted a reduced role in the company as it tries to reinvent itself. While it's fair to say he's won some matches in recent years which he shouldn't have, he hasn't been the company centerpiece in a long time.
You mean like when he DIDN'T go over the hottest guy in WWE at the time, CM Punk?
Riiiiight. Just like he didn't go over one of the top heels in Brock Lesnar at Mania. HHH has still made every attempt to hog the spotlight that he could. While taking that so called reduced role as an exec he's still inserted himself in high caliber matches where he was going over guys he didn't need to. Thats a shameless conflict of interest and yet he doesn't give a damn about that. If he's office be office. Thats his official job now and he should be worried about that instead of making talented rising stars who might be good draws job to him.
He never deserved to be the company centerpiece in the first place. Where was that huge period where he drew alone on top? Oh yeah it didn't happen.
Bringing up titles is a weak point because when you compare the number of world titles Triple H has to Hogans across eras and even companies Triple H STILL has more world title reigns than Hogan despite never being the draw Hogan was. At least Hogan racked his up in two different companies. The Nose of Noses has been so busy chasing Ric Flair he's hogged wins of two world titles like a mark every chance he got. Who as the first heel to win a world title match at Wrestlemania? Triple H. He made sure of that.
Who is the guy who has kept on flip flopping for years on the WWE title match going on last (like arguing over the order of Rock/Hogan and HHH/Jericho) when it suited his purposes (and his ego)? Triple H.
Let's contrast that to Hogan at the same age. He returned to the WWF in '93 (age 39), where he squashed the WWF champion in less than a minute at WM 9. He then went to Japan where he insulted the WWF belt (calling it "a toy") and proceeded to beat the IWGP champion.
Didn't say it was right but again even then Hogan was still a bigger name and draw than Triple H ever was. At least Hogan was more justified than The Son In Law, who has stayed at or near the main event for years past his expiration date because he was sticking it to the head writer/booker in the sack. Shouldn't that alone be a confict of interests?
Triple H is the guy who was so afraid of looking weak in a gaming magazine that WWE sent a letter asking them "
not to put Triple H in weak or compromising positions" in the screen captures for the article.
At the age of 40, Hogan headed to WCW where he won the world title in his FIRST MATCH and jobbed Ric Flair, the then-company centerpiece, into retirement after a few months. He held the belt for over a year and only lost it by a DQ stip. He also pushed aside young talents like Steve Austin to push his over-the-hill friends like Duggan, Honky Tonk, and the Nasty Boys.
Kinda like Triple H brought back his over the hill buddies like Kevin Nash to make a fool of Punk then the two of them got to work together instead of Punk of all people getting the rub? Nash was one of the guys who helped Hogan KILL WCW and who could barely walk. Yet he got to cost Punk the WWE title? All this after Nash and HHH's last feud in the early 2000's was a total dud?
Again WCW offered big money for Hogan to come in and while he was a politicing slimeball who was past his prime in hindsight Hogan CAN say he was part of another wrestling boom. Hogan could still be a big draw back then. Triple can't make that claim nearly as strongly. Hogan was lucky enough to hook up with Hall and Nash in WCW but again so was Triple H in WWF. And he was even more lucky to ride Shawn Michaels coattails. The Kliq is the group who thumbed their nose at tradition with the curtain call just to pat themselves on the back. In Triple H's case he needed a giant novelty thumb.
Hogan then won 4 more WCW titles after the age of 40 (not to mention the WWF title at 48), and was one of the key factors in killing WCW as he convinced Bischoff to keep bringing in high-priced talent with no ideas about what to do with them other than feed them to Hulk. Hogan only did something like 4 jobs in his entire 6 years with WCW.
Again he could at least claim SOME justification even if he did all that. Where is HHH's excuse?
He returned to the WWF where he continued his legacy of being about Hulk and only Hulk. He went on record say that Rock "passed the torch back to (him)" at Wrestlemania. He left the company because Vince "wouldn't treat him like the star he was". Evidently, one world title reign wasn't enough.
Hogan also had a brief period of being red hot again. Again when was the last time Triple H got the kind of response that Hogan got aroung that period that justified a lot of quality talent jobbing to him? Jericho got what he did in 02 just to be a sacrificial lamb at the alter of HHH's ego. And HHH still got overshadowed by old man Hogan that night despite the fact that Hogan LOST his match. HHH went over and he still couldn't touch Hogan.
Speaking of Jericho how many times has HHH made sure Jericho jobbed to him?
When Hulk returned the company at the age of 52, he refused to job for HBK, who was still a top performer on the full-time roster. A year later, Randy Orton, an up-and-coming main eventer, was fed to Hogan.
Triple H has been f***ing Randy Orton over for most of his career. Its way worse than what even Hogan did to him. If this is one of your examples its piss poor because he's screwed Orton when he had the biggest shots of his career at becoming something more. This is the guy who had to wrestle three times in one night to lose the belt to Orton AND somehow felt it was ok to hold the title for one 3 hour PPV when there was no point in it other than to bump up his number of reigns like the mark he is. Sh** like that only devalues the belt.
In short, I don't think any political posturing that HHH has done is anywhere close to Hogan. Hulk Hogan is, without a doubt, the biggest egomaniac and CANCER the wrestling business has ever seen or ever will see.
In short, just because you say it to pimp your own narrative of events it doesn't make it true.
If Hogan is the biggest egomaniac the business has ever seen then WHY did a long time WWF booker like Pat Patterson openly criticize HHH's hogging of the spotlight and say it was hurting the company? Which it did. HHH stayed in the main event if Raw for a couple of years while ratings eroded.
The same HHH who sat in on creative and executive meetings while not even "officially" being one at the time. Thats why Booker T left last time. HHH got to do stuff like this but most others didn't. The same HHH who sabotages MICK FREAKIN FOLEY of all people backstage when he should be down on his KNEES kissing Foleys ass for helping make him a star.
The same HHH who tried to cut Kurt Angles legs out from under him by saying
"how is it believable that a guy that small can beat me?" ...Until Jerry Brisco stood up for Angle and asked which one of them would beat the others a** in a real match that is.
This is the same HHH who has been so desperate to show he's on his buddy Shawn Michaels level he also had to have back to back Wrestlemania matches with the Undertaker. This is the same guy who who so wants to be on the level of superior performers like Flair and Michaels that he tried to work people into sympathy by putting his career ont he line a few times and when he didn't get the desired reaction from the crowd who saw through his bullsh** he came out blubbering the next night on Raw in a whole show dedicated to his career and what his future might hold. All the while the WWE hype machine pushing this image of him as a great icon.
The difference in all of this is Hogan WAS the man. He drew big money. He was part of getting the highest rated wrestling segment in modern wrestling history. His drawing power was a big part in getting the WWF PPV model off the ground. Like Jim Cornette said HHH was nothing more than the guy the top guy works with to draw money. He's the kind of guy who JOBS to Hogan at the end to draw money and thats exactly what he ended up doing at one point. He was never truly the man even though he acted like he was entitled to the same kind of perks and protection. He thinks he's on the Undertakers level when in reality Taker was taking a world title off one of the biggest stars of all time while HHH was probably mopping up piss aroung the toilets at Killer Kowalskis training camp.
Haitch is a two faced goon who couldn't even bother to put his own pet project Sheamus over clean even AFTER Sheamus had already lost to him before at Wrestlemania. Shouldn't that have been enough for Haitch's ego? Nope.
He's been a B level star that WWE revisionist history has tried to paint as one of the pillars of the company and one of the all time greats. He carried The Kliqs bags to get his nose in the door. Hogan screwed Bret Hart? Triple H made sure he screwed him worse. He helped screw him right out of the company and later shed his crocodile tears when Julie Hart point blank asked him if he had anything to do with the screwjob. Then when Bret was gone they kept Brets little brother locked up in a contract as an insurance policy and let HHH go over him to build him up from being just Shawn Michaels errand boy.
Then after the senior member of DX couldn't go anymore HHH rode the gravy train of DX (the group SHAWN had more to do with legitamizing early on) some more until he was finally ready to do his own thing and took the training wheels off his career. Once he'd used Chyna to accentuate his own image he was on to humping the bosses daughter and dumping Chyna.
This is the same guy who complained about how Warrior treated him but even Warrior called him out for essentially learning the lesson and doing the exact same thing. Particularly with CM Punk.
Triple H is the guy who shortchanged Sting of all people in an attempt to stick his nose right up Ric Flairs ass. When the FACT is Sting was a bigger draw and more sucessful as a true top guy than Triple H ever was. If Sting
"never did quite as well for himself," Haitch what does that make your career? Triple H couldn't carry Stings jock. It terms of business Sting did just as well after his first big runs with Flair. Its a lie and HHH knows it. WCW was whipping WWF's ass for a reason for part of the mid 90s and in '96 and '97 Sting was a large part of that reason.
Hogans a liar and a shameless self promoter but he never had to use his wifes family name to hang on near the top. He was able to get the stroke he did because he was OVER. He drew MONEY. He put asses in seats. More than HHH ever did as the top guy. You say Hogan got where he did because of the WWF machine? Triple H has had the exact same WWF machine behind him but he NEVER reached the heights Hogan did as a top star.
The fact is Hogan did end up being a mainstream name. Triple H's "greatness" is mostly smoke and mirrors. A bunch of hype cooked up by WWE marketing. You don't need to tell people who Hogan is. They know.
And when someone DARES try to get bigger than HHH ever was like Jeff Hardy or Cm Punk did Triple H hooks his beak into them like a vampire vulture to keep himself in a state of stardom and relevancy that he NEVER even had in the FIRST PLACE.
Like I said before at least with Hogan he was lying and cheating to keep a spot he had achieved. Triple H never even HAD that spot in the first place. By 2003 there was no WCW in WWE's way as it was when Austin led the WWF back to glory. But Triple H still dropped the ball. Even Hogans WWF faced more competition from the Crocketts than the WWE did when they essentially had a national level monopoly during the HHH championship regime of the early 2000s. There's nothing to justifiy what he's done over the years. Nothing.
Jo-Jo looks like a 14 year old dressed up as Hilary Banks.
