Wrestling With the Past: Hogan, Vince and a Vision

[soup23]

http://placetobenation.com/wrestling-with-the-past-hogan-vince-and-a-vision/

 

Will and Charles are joined by Parv (Titans of Wrestling, Where the Big Boys Play) to discuss Hulk Hogan, Vince McMahon and 1980s wrestling. They discuss the pros and cons of Hogan the wrestler and pop culture phenomenon. They discuss Vince’s vision of wrestling and if he could have been successful without Hogan? Finally, the guys discuss whether or not the NWA product promoted by Vince McMahon would have been amazing. Tune in to this awesome discussion!!!!

 

[Jesse Ewiak]

I'm only half way through this to the presentation part, so if this comes up, forgive me. But, here's my elevator pitch.

 

"Instead of aiming for the people (or 9 year olds) watching Knight Rider & The A-Team, this Vince'd NWA would target the people (or 12 year olds) watching Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, & Dallas."

[goodhelmet]

I like it!!!!

[soup23]

I thought this was a fantastic show and one where I am vague on how much credit or how genius each person was for the overall success. The NWA idea with the promotion of WWF is a fun proposition to think about.

[overbooked]

Great stuff guys, really enjoyed this show.

 

It seems like at the heart of this debate is the question "How important is quality wrestling to the success of pro wrestling?" - Hogan/Vince showed that you can go pretty far with a hugely charismatic figure, a promotional juggernault and some great production values, and that these will often yield far more success, financially at least, than lots of 35 minute ***** matches.

 

I can't think of anyone else during the period who could have had as much mainstream crossover as Hogan - here was a larger than life character who you could trust to do the right thing on talk shows, MTV, the A Team etc, as well as regularly put on a cartoon-y simple, popular, face main event each night. But I do think the production values helped immeasurably too. WWF looked so slick that to the untrained eye it seemed more professional, legitimate and current than the more low-rent offers elsewhere.

 

I enjoyed the NWA/Vince fantasy booking - my take is that a Vince-owned NWA would just be Attitude-era WWF, but 15 years early and with generally better workers.

 

It does make me wonder - was Vince's national expansion successful because he was in New York? If he had been from any other territory could he have made it work, or did being where he was make it much easier than if he was based, say, in the South West?

[shoe]

I thought this was some fascinating stuff.

 

1. I take exception to be put in the Johnny Sorrow age bracket. That was dirty pool.

 

2. On a show with a lot of great points I thought it was hilarious how Will put over Parv's Kerry Von Erich looks like He-Man point.

 

This is a must listen.