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Now, think about it. There is a lot of similarities in the two.
Hulk Hogan:
- 3rd Longest reigning WWE Champion ever with a reign which lasted 1,474 days.
That's over FOUR years!
- Won 6 WWE titles with a combined reign of 2,185 days. 2nd highest combined
reign behind just Bruno Sammartino. Bruno is 1,855 days infront of Hogan with
just 2 reigns.
- Real American gimmick. Told kids to say their prayers, take their vitamins and
be good kids.
- Mediocre wrestler. Usual Hogan match showed Hogan getting beaten up,
"Hulk up", 3 punches, Big Boot, Legdrop.
- Starred in Mr Nanny
- Finishing move is a leg drop. A very basic wrestling move.
John Cena:
- 6th Longest reigning WWE Champion ever with a reign which lasted 380 days.
That is just over one year.
- Won 3 WWE titles with a combined reign of 793 days. 5th highest combined
reign. Behind Pedro Morales by 234 days. He leads Bret Hart's 5 reigns by 125
days and Stone Cold's 6 reigns by 264 days.
- Marine All-American gimmick. Role model for the kids, always does the right
thing.
- Decent wrestler but nothing special. Similar match type to Hogan, until he
comes back with a shoulder tackle, spinning backbomb, 5 knuckle shuffle, F-U and
sometimes the STFU.
- Starred in The Marine.
- Finishing move is the F-U. A very basic Fireman's carry take-over with move
impact.
Now.. how can one of those be one of the most, if not the most, popular
wrestlers of all time and the other one be one of the most hated faces in
history.
I honestly don't know, I'm not a Cena fan. But I don't hate him either.
One possibility is just that times have simply changed and being an all out good
guy isn't 'cool' anymore and you are just viewed as more a dorky loser than
anything.
The most popular faces in recent times have had a bad guy side too, like Austin
and Rock and it was Cena's bad ass cocky side which got him the pop which
eventually turned him face anyway. Since turning face he has lost the cocky edge
and this is what I believe is the main reason for the fans turning on him.
Another possibility which isn't looked at as much is that back in Hogan's reign,
we weren't 'treated' to him destroying his main nemesis every week and at a
monthly PPV like we get with Cena.
Back then there was only Wrestlemania... then a few more PPVs were added,
bringing the yearly total to four. And that's where the main matches happened.
Seeing Hogan beat Andre, Slaughter, Warrior were all feuds that were built up
for a long, long time. Now we are lucky if we get a feud that lasts 3/4 weeks.
Back to the original question, if Hogan was running wild now... I think he'd get
booed out of the building. Understand I'm not saying if he magically became
really healthy, because fans would cheer him just for being Hulk Hogan. But if
Hogan was to debut next week and the exact same thing happened in 2008 as it did
20 years ago, I, for one, think he would get the Cena treatment.
Ben Phoenix - paragon-of-virtue@hotmail.co.uk
