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[1993-02-22-WWF-Raw] Interview: Hulk Hogan, Brutus Beefcake & Jimmy Hart


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  • 4 weeks later...

Hogan gets a nice reaction, but not what you'd expect after being out for so long. He should have blown the roof off the place. You might say this was one of the first hints that Hulkamania was not what it once was. Hogan thanks Jimmy Hart (and God) for intervening last week when Beefcake was being attacked. Beefcake comes out to form the Mega Maniacs with Hogan. Then they bring out Jimmy Hart. Hogan with a manager was always sooooo awkward, especially Jimmy Hart. This was really a case of Hogan (and probably Vince) deep down knowing that the brightest days had passed, but they were trying to recapture whatever they could. Also interesting how this interview felt like it just kept going and going, despite being on the short side by post-1997 standards.

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You know if it wasn't Brutus Beefcake the story of a wrestler's downfall, injury, comeback, and redemption on a "Multi"-Millionaire is a simple story to get behind. But Brutus is just the goofy Hulkster sidekick, so whatever.

 

I also love how Hogan sells that he just thought up the name Mega Maniacs on the spot, that's what we'll be brother.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 8 months later...
  • 1 year later...

Hulkster making an appearance in a small venue. Not a big reaction to Hogan after being gone almost a year. No delayed milking to the crowd by Hulk. Hogan wants his best friend to join him and Beefcake comes out. Brutus is so void of charisma right now. They got themselves a new manager in Jimmy Hart. You sell out!

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  • 3 months later...

Hogan makes sure to milk fan reactions before getting to the near-murder of his best friend. Hogan's promo once he gets to brass tacks is very good, though. VERY tepid reaction for Beefcake--Hogan is still over, but Beefcake had been away for way too long and the Manhattan Center simply wasn't buying his story. Beefcake regurgitates Hogan's promo, and I'm wondering if "big man upstairs" is some designated, forced "medical facility"-esque euphemism. Jimmy Hart's babyface turn is cemented as he's introduced as a red-and-yellow-clad manager for Hogan. God knows why Jimmy was so gung-ho about ending Hogan's career in 1990 but is now so concerned over Beefcake and shamelessly kissing up to Hogan. "TODAY IS THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE!" That's a line designed to draw heel heat in the Memphis studio, dammit. So sad that Jimmy's first chance to cut loose on the stick in the WWF after 8 years of work is for this.

 

Bringing Hogan back and immediately sticking him in a feud over the tag titles seems to be almost a tacit admission that the glory days of Hulkamania were past--a hedging of bets.

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  • 1 year later...

I thought the Manhattan Center was pretty stoked for Hogan, at least given the heat for most of the roster at this time. He recaps Money Inc. attacking Beefcake with a briefcase last week and establishes Jimmy Hart as a face manager. Says he's back as Vince's eyes pop out of his head. Calls out Brutus who's nose is bandaged and eyes are bruised.

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Yeah this was a very tepid response for a major Hogan comeback. These seemed to have diminishing returns with every hiatus he took. Agree that the segment really dragged despite only being 10 minutes or so. No one cares about Beefcake in '93 and people aren't exactly clamouring to see Jimmy Hart as a babyface.

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  • 1 month later...

This looks awful watching this in order as you just saw a WCW PPV with plenty of highlights and then you get this shit. Everything looks like its a grasp at 1987 as even Vince's suit looks way out of style. I thought Hogan's promo was pretty generic and him giving credit to the "big man upstairs" always makes me smile. Him begging the Manhattan Center to cheer him on for the posedown at the end was a sad state of affairs.

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  • 1 year later...

I actually thought Hogan got a pretty good reaction under the circumstances, and his promo was very good, at least for what he's been so far in the nineties. I didn't mind Beefcake much either; it's not his fault that he couldn't wrestle for almost three years, and while the Barber gimmick was out of place by now, that was all he knew how to be as a face, so I can't blame him for that either. They laid on the "big man upstairs" stuff about ten layers too thick, though. It's not like He (or She) chose Beefcake especially to be behind when things got rough; that's pretty much His (or Her) entire job description when it comes to dealing with the human race.

 

What really ruined this segment was Jimmy. "I've always idolized Hulk Hogan"? No one who's followed wrestling for longer than a week or two could possibly believe that, even if they're marks. What's the matter with saying, "You know, I've done some terrible things to these guys over the last eight years, but last week, enough was enough"? He's useless to them and to the upcoming program with Money Inc., because he's trying not to be the person we know he's been since 1985, denying his identity........for what? Why should we believe that this is the greatest day of his life? If he's been a Hulkamaniac for so long, why only admit it now, when almost everyone over the age of twelve knows that Hogan's glory days in the WWF are dwindling to a precious few, that he's been surpassed by Bret, among others? It's almost like he knows Money Inc.'s after him for selling them out and are looking to hurt him, so he runs to the big, bad Hulkster for protection. That's not praiseworthy, that's just saving your own hide.

 

Can we have a team name without Maniacs in it for once, especially since the last team with that kind of name never even officially teamed on pay-per-view?

 

I wonder how Heenan, who had always wanted to manage Hogan by his own admission, would have handled an interview like this. If Jimmy hadn't been on Hogan's real-life payroll, this just might have been his spot, assuming the same type of angle was run.

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  • GSR changed the title to [1993-02-22-WWF-Raw] Interview: Hulk Hogan, Brutus Beefcake & Jimmy Hart
  • 1 year later...

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