I hate Hulk Hogan. Being only 16 years old, I missed the glory days of Hulkamania. I also started watching wrestling in early 2000, when the New World Order angle was light years past its peak. Therefore, perhaps I am biased. But I can't stand the man my elders call the Hulkster. He has done nothing in his recent stints in WWE to make me want to stand up and take notice, let alone bow down to him. Also, his behind the curtain antics and appearances on radio, tv, award shows, etc. have given me the impression that he is a total jerk. In case you've been under a rock for the past 30 years, you would know that Hulk Hogan is a man named Terry Bollea. A man whose rise to iconic status in the 80's, with his tanned physique, natural charisma and *snicker* flowing blond locks, is something dreams are made of. He first rose to prominence in the AWA, with a series of matches with then champion Nick Bockwinkel. It was only when he entered the WWF that his career took off. With a devastating legdrop to a prone Iron Sheik, on January 23rd 1984, Hulkamania was born.

He was the ultimate hero; foiling the evil ones while encouraging children to say their prayers and to take their vitamins, all while possessing a moveset that would rival the Blue Meanie's look. What he stood for was good and pure, he was the hero's hero. But something changed in the Hulkster. He now believed that HE was everything he was portrayed as. His ego had swelled as grossly as his 24-inch pythons. He used his backstage stroke with Vince McMahon to get the title shots he wanted, and to have his friends pushed into spots they didn't deserve. Flash forward to the year 1996. Hulkamania had all but been destroyed by the steroid trial earlier in the decade, and the Hulkster decided he wanted to be a "big" movie star with such classics as "Suburban Commando" and a smash-hit television series "Thunder In Paradise" (look for that to be released on DVD very soon.....after the release of "WWE's Best of John Tenta"). He wasted many of the WWF's and then WCW's precious money pushing this abortion of side-projects.

The nWo angle was the greatest gift handed to WCW in a long time. It made for gripping television, and made stars out of nobodies. But in came Hogan, and he wanted to steal the glory. Soon the nWo became his little army, and it ballooned to an entity as large as Hogan's head. But his backstage "shoots" only made the morale of the entire locker room an all-time low in any sport or profession. He was making a profit, and refused to job and rub off onto "lesser qualified" talent (meaning less exposed talent, eg. Benoit, Kanyon). But to show that he was a "team player", Hogan went on to have a forgettable series with Billy Kidman (including a "Viagara on a Pole" match). Instead of Kidman getting the rub, he jobbed twice to Hogan on consecutive Pay Per Views (Slamboree and Great American Bash 2000, respectively)!! While Kidman returned to the lower mid-card, Hogan went on to battle for the belt at Bash at The Beach 2000. Russo then cut a promo on Hogan that was so vicious, that he left WCW and wasn't seen until after the company shut down. Hogan's ego had been poked at, and he walked out.

Many people will attribute the backstage politics of Hogan, Nash and others to being a catalyst in the demise of WCW. Hogan couldn't let his ego bow down for a bit to elevate other stars to his status. Instead, he pushed himself into the main event, week after week. And we let him do it.

Flash forward to No Way Out 2002, the WWE debut of the nWo. Hogan was now in the big league, and knew that his backstage antics were not going to sit well. This was an entirely new playground. To his credit, he became a team player and jobbed to The Rock, and others. But something happened; the FANS broke kayfabe, and cheered Hogan, despite being the heel. It was worse after WrestleMania. We gave him a standing ovation. I'll be the first to admit, I was proud of him, he had returned home and still everyone loved him. The old WWF fans and new WWE fans came together for one brief moment to salute Hulkamania. We went too far the next week when we did it again, and subsequent weeks when we kept doing it.

Now Hogan was a "major" star in the eyes of Vince. "The people always cheer him, he'll be my 'Superstar in a Jar'; I'll break him out in case of emergency". Now we are facing the consequences of our actions. We know must sit through his 20 minute intros, and his half hour promos that consist of the same old shit, word for word, followed by his 15 minute posedown. Yes, nostalgia is a beautiful thing, but when it's taken too far it is just plain aggravating. The same fans who bombard Vince with jeers for pushing certain characters and/or wrestlers, are the same dolts who cheer 90 minutes straight for a man who wrestles like an old woman struggling with her girdle. The only reason Vince hastily pushes these guys is because Hogan's soaking up all the airtime FOR YOU!!!

I close with a summary of some quotes from an interview, the reason I decided to write this article, that Mr. Bollea did with the July/August edition of Sly magazine. In it, he is quoted as saying: "people probably thought I had a run of B movies that sucked. But those movies were cheap to make and they generated a lot of revenue. If you watch what my movies made against what The Rock's movies are doing now, taking into account changing ticket prices and how many more theaters his movies were shown in, I still generated more revenue than he did". Basically, he confirms my accusation that his ego is far too out of hand. He couldn't even "put over" The Rock having more success in Hollywood than he. Put down the Hulkamania signs, stop buying his T-Shirts and start chanting "Go-A-Way". Nostalgia is a great thing, and never forget about who he WAS. But stop cheering for who he IS.

Credit for the article summary goes to wrestlingplanet.com Credit for dates, events and results go to OnlineWorldofWrestling.com

by Chris C. ..