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Allow me to introduce myself; my name is Alex Beecher. I have been a fan of professional wrestling for over ten of those years, and a connoisseur of it for about two. If you would like to know anything else about me, e-mail me at the address posted at the end of this review.
What you are about to read is my review of the matches from disc once of Hulk Hogan: The Ultimate Anthology. There is no movie to speak of, save the little snippets in between the matches. There are also two extras entitled “Hulk Hogan talks about his early days in wrestling†and “Iron Sheik talks about his match against Hoganâ€ÂÂÂ. It should be obvious what these are about. I am only reviewing the matches, and not the little segments or the extras because no one will buy or not buy this DVD set because of those things. I hope to have reviews for the next three discs (I have the four disc Wal-Mart version) coming along soon. After that, I plan on writing a review for Pro Wrestling NOAH’s 2004 Tokyo Dome show. Until then, occupy yourself reading the following.
Andre the Giant vs. The Incredibal Hulk Hogan with Freddie Blassie 9/13/1980
This match is not their legendary Wrestlemania spectacle. This was about seven years earlier, while Hogan was still a fresh heel in the WWWF, and Andre was the top draw. It’s really interesting to hear Hogan get booed while not in nWo attire. It’s also interesting that Vince McMahon is the doing the play by play with Bruno Sammartino as the color man. I won’t bother explaining why. The match begins as one would expect it to, with both men locking up and testing each other’s strength with a shoving match.
Although Andre wins, Hogan comes out looking pretty good. Thus it is established that he is a heel who just might be strong enough to pose a threat to the undefeatable Andre. And if it wasn’t established before that, it was when, soon after, Hogan scoop slams Andre with no trouble at all. Once again, this is about seven years before the scoop slam you’re picturing in your mind right now. Andre is not to be outdone, however, as he hits Hogan with a scoop slam of his own, only he holds him up for a little bit. Thus it is established that Andre is still the man to beat. Andre proceeds to hit Hogan with a very Hogan-eque big boot, but Hogan rolls out of the ring before Andre can capitalize. Freddy Blassy then slips something in to Hogan’s right arm elbow pad. I sense some dastardly heel tactics coming on, and I like it. My senses (actually, I already watched the match, so I can’t claim in psychic abilities) turned out to be right. After Andre gets in a bit of offense, Hogan dodges another big boot and smacks Andre upside the head with the Axe Bomber (his finisher in
Apparently, Hogan decides that he’s done enough work for one night, so he and Blassie head to the back. Andre does not approve of this, however, as he is juicin’ courtesy of the Axe Bomber. He proceeds to yell menacing gibberish in to a young Vince McMahons mic.
Although this was entertaining, I can’t give it a high rating because it lasted for about a cup of coffee. The match did serve its purpose though. It made Hogan look like a threat and a cheat, and thus an effective top heel that could potentially be a foil to Andre and his dominant ways.
Nick Bockwinkel (C) with Bobby Heenan vs. The Incredible Hulk Hogan for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship 4/24/83
Hogan is anything but the heel in this match. The crowd is chanting “Hulk†before the bell even rings. Once it does, both men circle, and Bockwinkel bolts to the outside. The crowd hates it and I love it. A brilliant little piece of heel psychology to start the match. Once back in the ring, Bockwinkel proceeds to leave again. Great stuff. Bockwinkel finally decides to make contact with Hogan in the form of a Greco-Roman knuckle lock. Hogan promptly tugs the champ straight in to his shoulder, sending him to the ground. In the early stages of the match, the roles are already defined. Bockwinkel is the heel champ who knows he isn’t good enough, and Hogan is a strong face who is on his way to championship-land.
Once the action begins again, we get Hogan locking up with Bockwinkel and shoving him in to the corner, further establishing his physical dominance. Next, Bockwinkel shows that he’s not just a cowardly heel, he’s a smart one. When he and Hogan lock up once again, he is smart enough to quickly the stronger Hulk in a headlock. Unfortunately for Bockwinkel, Hogan still manages to throw him off the ropes and shoulderblocks him to the ground. Hogan Irish whips Bockwinkel once again, and once again meets that champ with is shoulder. Bockwinkel rolls out of the ring to regroup, realizing that he can’t go toe to toe with Hogan. So he takes a new strategy. They lock up once more, but this time Bockwinkel pulls the hair and rakes the eyes, allowing him to throw some knees to Hogan’s stomach. He makes a mistake, however, by telegraphing a back body drop, and Hogan capitalizes. He proceeds to exact revenge for the knees by hitting ten of his own. Hogan wisely keeps the focus on the torso, and goes for the cover. Bockwinkel gets his feet on the ropes to break the hold. Hogan forgot to hook the leg, perhaps a lesson learned?
Bockwinkel is able to get in a little bit of offense on Hogan’s torso as well, and he, in turn, goes for the pin. Hogan kicks out so hard it sends the champ out the ring apron. Bockwinkel gets back in the ring and decides to keep Hogan grounded with a front facelock, and he delivers a few for knees to the ribs. He goes for a pin and Hogan once again kicks out with authority. Bockwinkel is frustrated now. He’s tried using technique to his advantage, and it hasn’t worked. Hogan has just been too strong. So he decides to hit him with something big. Bockwinkel get Hogan in position for a piledriver, but Hogan is still just too strong, and he flips Bockwinkel on to his back.
Bockwinkel then decides that maybe he should just be patient, so he once again focuses on the mid-section with some head butts. He gets overzealous, however, and tries to charge straight at the Hulkster. For his error he receives a knee to the head. Hogan capitalizes with a series of punches to the head, an Axe Bomber, and a running elbow drop, but it’s not enough to get the three. A shoulder breaker is enough to merit a pin attempt, but Bockwinkel once again gets his leg on the bottome rope to break the cover.
Bockwinkel goes back to the area he’s been working the whole match: Hogan’s torso. The problem is, the punches aren’t having an effect. What could be happening? Uh oh… he’s Hulking up. Hogan goes on a little offensive splurge with punches, a knee, and a running powerslam, but he still can’t keep the champ down for the three. Hogan then goes for the move that always gets the three (well not really), the leg drop. Bockwinkel isn’t about to get caught with it, however, and he rolls out of the way. Both men are selling fatigue pretty heavily at this point. So much so that Bockwinkel actually wiffs with a punch. Bockwinkel then goes after Hogan’s torso again, and is having some success doing so. He then makes a critical mistake when he tries to lift Hogan up for a scoop slam, as he simply isn’t strong enough. Hogan thus lands on him in a pinning position, but Bockwinkel kicks out. Hogan hits another Axe Bomber and another running elbow drop, and once again goes for the pin.
Bockwinkel has something of a Chris Masters moment here, and forgets to kick out. The ref has to hold his hand up after counting two for about a second. It looks awful and the crowd hates it. Hogan doesn’t waste time whining, however. Instead he gets back on the offensive, throwing Bockwinkel in to the corner and charger for him. Bockwinkel, being the savvy veteran/smart heel that he is, moves. He then proceeds to lock in one of the worst sleeper holds I’ve ever seen while piggybacking on Hogan. Hulk clearly doesn’t like this, so he tosses Bockwinkel off (get your head out of the gutter perve) and in to the ref. Hooray for ref bumps.
Bockwinkel locks in the same God-awful sleeper/piggyback combo just as the ref is using the turnbuckle to get up. Hogan runs backwards, smashing Bockwinkel straight in to the ref. Bockwinkel breaks the smart heel code however, by not cheating while the ref is out. Instead, he simply tries the sleeper again, only to be thrown over the ropes and on to the floor. Once he manages to climb on to the apron, Hogan grabs him and delivers a suplex in to the ring. By this time the ref is back up. Hogan goes off the ropes and hits the leg drop for the 1…2…3. Your winner and new AWA World Heavyweight Champion; Hulk Hogan.
This was a pretty solid match that told a simple story fairly well. Nick Bockwinkel was the heel champ who simply wasn’t good enough to beat the face challenger, Hulk Hogan. The problem I have with this match is that Bockwinkel never looks like he has a chance of winning. For this type of match to be at its best, there needed to be at least a couple moments where Hulk Hogan looked like he was in danger of losing. Instead, Bockwinkel only managed to look like he was delaying the inevitable. Bockwinkel and his manager, Bobby Heenan, had a great opportunity to cheat during the two times the ref was out. Both times, they neglected to do so, so we got two pointless ref bumps in one match. The only other quibble I have is that both men used most of their offense to attack their opponent’s torsos, but nothing really came of it. Still, the point of this match was clearly to make Hogan the dominant face champion, and that was achieved. It just didn’t have to be at the expense of creating drama.
The Incredible Hulk Hogan vs. Iron Shiek (C) for the WWF Heavyweight Championship 1/23/84
By this time Hulk Hogan is back in the WWF, only now, he’s a face. Having brought “Hulkamania†and his “real American†gimmick from his AWA days, Hulk’s looking to dethrone the evil Iranian the Iron Sheik (who is, needless to say, the heel). Hogan wastes no time in attempting to do so, as he attacks the Iron Sheik the moment the bell rings, and begins mercilessly pummeling him. Hogan isn’t just out to win the title, he’s going to kick Sheik’s ass for
Hogan finally goes for a pin after hitting just a big boot, but the dastardly heel the Iron Sheik won’t even stay down for two. Hogan hits him with an elbow upside the head and then an elbow drop, but that still isn’t enough to get the win. Thus far, the Iron Sheik looks like a man who is completely outmatched and doomed to lose any second now. This is where he needs to cheat to get something of an advantage. Or maybe not. Sheik simply uses Hulk’s own aggressiveness to his advantage, as he moves out of the way of a charging Hogan, and lets him slam in to the turnbuckle. This is the opening the evil champ needed, and he takes advantage by stomping Hogan’s back. Perhaps he’s trying to soften up Hogan’s back for the Camel Clutch? Either way, he continues to work that area over with more stomps and a backbreaker. Instead of locking in the Camel Clutch, however, he goes for the pin.
To nobody’s surprise and the crowd’s glee, Hogan kicks out easily. Hogan used all of his energy on the kick out though, so the Sheik is able to stay on offense. He wisely continues his assault on the back with even more stomps and a
The crowd is deafening, trying to will Hogan to his feat, and it seems to work. He manages to stand up and drive the Sheik in to the turnbuckle, breaking the champ’s hold. The Iron Sheik is down in the middle of the ring, and the revitalized Hulk Hogan sees his opportunity. He runs off the ropes, drops the leg, and he hooks the leg for the 1…2…3. Your winner and new WWF Heavyweight Champion; Hulk Hogan. The crowd goes absolutely insane.
There is precious little that can be called wrong about this match. Really, only the quality (or lack thereof) of the Iron Sheiks’s strikes, the length, and the simplicity of the both men’s offense keeps this match down. That said both men have a definite plan going in, both men stick to it, and the action goes logically (save the finish). Hogan begins the match aggressively, simply beating the Sheik down. Given that he is defending the honor of his country against that of an enemy, this makes perfect sense. The Iron Sheik is not in as much trouble as it initially looks, however. He really hasn’t sustained all that much damage from Hogan’s initial flurry, and he waits for his opportunity while Hogan continues to tire himself out. Finally, he gets it when Hogan runs himself in to the turnbuckle. The Sheik is very intelligent in how he goes about attacking Hogan, targeting his back. He does a good job of getting Hogan both tired and hurt, and so he puts him in the Camel Clutch. He had every right to think this would have done the job, but alas, he was the one destined to job tonight. Despite all conventional logic saying otherwise, Hogan manages to power out of the hold and get the win with the leg drop. Overall, a short and simple match with precise and effective storytelling by both men. Good stuff, for the most part.
Hulk Hogan (C) vs. Big John Studd with Bobby Heenan for the WWF Heavyweight Championship 9/22/84
Hogan is still defending the title he won for the Iron Sheik in the last match (on the DVD). This defense is against a man who is best known for losing to Andre the Giant in a body slam match, Big John Studd. The interesting dynamic here is seeing Hogan wrestle someone bigger than he is, who may be able to match his power… or maybe not, I guess we’ll see. The match is just underway when Studd does something very nice. He steps over the top rope to conference with his manager, Heenan. Now it’s doubtful that, since nothing had actually happened yet, Heenan would have had much to say. Given that, the ring exit was good for showing Hogan and the Madison Square Garden crowd that he is a big man (hence the name, I’m sure), maybe even too big for the Hulkster.
Studd continues to mock Hogan by flexing before the two lock up. Once they actually do, it’s Studd who gets the advantage by clubbing Hogan’s back. Studd, intent on showing that he’s bigger and stronger than a man named hulk, doesn’t attack the grounded Hogan. Instead, he engages Hogan in a Greco-Roman knuckle lock, while the champ is on his knees of course. The fans get behind Hogan, and he jumps to his feet and is gaining the advantage. But before he can take it, Studd knees him in the gut and breaks the hold. Studd can’t maintain the advanatage, however, as Hogan is just too strong. He tries to smash Hulk’s head in to the top turnbuckle post, but Hogan will have none of it, instead smashing Studd’s skull against the padding. Now on offense, Hogan takes advantage by throwing some of the worst looking left jabs in the history of the world, and an even sillier right.
Hogan continues to dominate until Studd wisely rolls out of the ring to regroup. It’s clear that, on this night, Hogan is the better man. If Studd wants to win, he’ll have to think of something. Or more likely Heenan will have to think of something, as he proceeds to instruct the big man while Hogan hyperventilates in the middle of the ring. The match picks up pretty much where it left off, with Hogan dominating the action. Almost immediately after reentering the ring, Studd is dropped with a big boot. He only falls to his knees, however, so Hogan can’t drop the leg quite yet. Instead, Hogan decides he’d like to show how strong he is by body slamming the big man. Studd grabs the ropes, however, and thus takes the advantage, driving a knee in to Hogan’s torso. Studd then decides to show Hogan how to properly body slam someone, and so he does, rendering Hogan motionless on the mat.
Studd continues the beat down with a chop to the neck, some stomps, and a back breaker. He then decides to go for a cover, but waits too long, and Hogan kicks out. Since he can’t pin Hogan, Studd decides he’ll try and submit him with a bearhug. He’s just asking for Hogan to Hulk up, and so he does. But, in an interesting turn of events, a simple shoulder block kills Hogan’s momentum. Studd decided that, since Hogan has already Hulked up once, one more bearhug should do the trick. Smart money says it won’t, and smart money would be correct, as Hogan breaks the hold and smashes Studd in to the turnbuckle. The Hulking up must have taken a lot out of Hogan though, because he’s selling the damage a lot more than Studd is. A forearm from Studd to the back sends Hogan out of the ring, where Studd makes sure he stays for a bit by kicking him in the head. The kicks appear to have done more than that, however, as Hogan is juicin’. Maybe it’s that blood, or maybe it’s the fans, but Hogan is suddenly compelled to Hulk up for a third time! That’s just not fair. Hogan climbs back in the ring and proceeds to beat the holy hell out of Studd with even more sloppy punches. He keeps the offense going with an Axe Bomber and an elbow drop. But instead of going for the pin or the leg drop, Hogan just keeps punching Studd. I guess he figures it will take more to keep the big man down.
They then tease again that Hogan will body slam Studd, thus collecting the ten-thousand dollar prize (as mentioned earlier, Andre the Giant would eventually collect on that), but Studd gets tangled in the ropes, so Hogan simply punches him to the floor. Hogan still wants that ten grand though, so he follows Studd and tries to slam him on the floor. That turns out to be a mistake though, as he can’t quite get him up, and Studd retakes that advantage in the match. He tries to slam Hogan’s head in to the apron but, in one of the silliest spots I’ve ever seen, Hogan grabs Studd’s head and they both slam their opponents heads in to the apron. I don’t know if it’s the damage or the stupidity of that spot that they’re selling, but both men are hurt. Just as the ref is about to count to ten, Bobby Heenan pushes Studd back in to the ring (God Heenan must be jacked up), and Hogan gets counted out. Your winner by count out; Big John Studd. Despite the fact that the title can’t change hands on a count out, Studd takes the belt.
The only good thing I can say about this match is that it told the big guy vs. big guy story well enough. The work itself was bad. I know I know, it’s a Hulk Hogan match, it’s not going to be even remotely technical. But is it too much to ask that the punches look half way decent? Really, all the offense both men got in was bland and rather pointless. When Studd was on offense, he had no focus, other than showing that he’s stronger than Hogan. After that failed miserably, he didn’t alter his game plan at all. He just kept trying to outmuscle Hulk. Hogan was worse. He was over the top, even by Hulk Hogan standards. His punches were awful looking, his offense couldn’t have had less of a focus, and he Hulked up three friggin’ times in one match. So, we here have a match with no focus, no logic, and a bad finish (Hogan was hurt that bad by such a weak move, c’mon). All of that equals a bad match.
Hulk Hogan (C) vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper with Bob Orton for the WWF Heavyweight Championship 2/18/85
I am expecting a lot more from this match than I got from the last. We’ve got one of the best heels ever in Piper facing off against Hogan this time around. Oh, and the two happen to hate each other. If all that wasn’t enough, Piper comes out to live bagpipe music, while wearing a Hulk Hogan shirt and holding a guitar, which he smashes. Piper rules already. Hogan, on the other hand, comes out with Cindy Lauper, Piper: 1, Hogan: 0. Before the match can even start, both men start brawling. The crowd is on fire and so are both competitors. This feels like a big match (probably because it is). They continue to fight back and forth for a little bit, with no man able to gain a clear advantage. Finally, Hogan’s rights begin to have an effect, and he sends Piper in to the turnbuckle, following up with an elbow.
Two body slams and one elbow drop later, Hogan has a clear advantage. Hogan makes a mistake though, when he tries to whip Piper in to the turnbuckle again, and it gets reversed. This time it’s Piper following Hogan in, and Piper delivers a clothesline, flooring the champ. Piper goes for a pin, but it’s far too early, and Hogan kicks out with authority. Piper wisely stays on Hogan though, delivering a series of boots to the head. Obviously he knows that he has the advantage so long as the match stays on the ground, while Hogan could better use his strength and striking ability on his feet. Another pin attempt by Piper only gets two, but the attempt was still smart, because it forced Hogan to exert more energy. If Hogan gets tired, then he’ll need more oxygen, and Pipers sleeper hold would be all the more effective.
Piper continues with the smart offense, targeting Hogan’s neck with a sort of Mongolian chop, softening it up for the sleeper, which is exactly what Piper goes for next. While it’s probably too early to expect this one to get the win, it could wear down Hogan enough to make sure the next one would. The sleeper looks to be working, until Hogan does the inevitable and Hulk’s up. Hogan drops Piper’s head on the top turnbuckle, thus breaking the hold. Piper’s goal has been accomplished though. The pin attempts tired Hogan out a bit, the neck chop weakened the target area, the sleeper drained him, and the inevitable Hulking up put him at empty. Piper makes a mistake though.
He gets Hogan up and abandons his neck work, opting instead to simply hit him in the head. This lets Hogan catch his breath, and thus regain his energy. The revitalized Hogan begins clocking Piper with punches that look every bit as bad as they did in the last match. Hogan continues to dominate, while Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff makes his way to the ring to “cheer on†Piper. When Hogan makes the mistake of going for a second atomic drop, Piper clocks him. On his way down, Hogan slightly bumps in to the ref, which of course knocks him out cold. Now Orndorff has a chance to make his presence felt, and so he does, hitting a top rope knee drop on Hogan.
Both heels now put the boots to Hogan, who looks to be in trouble. But wait, Cindy Lauper is coming to his aid! Mr. T thinks that he may be better suited for the role of hero, and so he hops up on to the apron and proceeds to get in the ring, where Piper levels him while he’s looking at Orndorff. Finally, Hogan is back on his feet, and he’s Hulking up. The heels decide discretion is the better part of valor, and they hop out of the ring, only to be joined by Orton. Security and police apparently decide that they’ve seen enough, so they get in the mix and try and keep the men separated. I guess that’s it.
I so badly wanted to like this match, and I did, when it was still a match. Piper had a smart focus and Hogan didn’t screw it up. But oh God did it go downhill once the ref was knocked out (by the weakest of taps, I might add). We had interference left and right, Cindy Lauper trying to get herself killed, Mr. T in the ring, and ultimately, nothing resolved. This match was at an event called “War to Settle the Scoreâ€ÂÂÂ, and absolutely nothing was settled. Ultimately, all this match did was set up Piper and Orndorff vs Hogan and Mr. T for Wrestlemania I. And speaking of that match…
Hulk Hogan and Mr. T with Jimmy Snuka vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper and Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff with Cowboy bob Orton 3/31/85
As I said, oh, just a little bit ago, this match takes place at Wrestlemania I and was set up at “The War to Settle the Scoreâ€ÂÂÂ. My expectations are not high. But I suppose this match is supposed to be more of a spectacle than anything. I suppose the upside of this match is that I get to hear Piper’s awesome entrance music again. The crowd mistakenly cheers Hogan’s entrance, instead of Piper’s. After the entrances are done, we are told that Muhammad Ali will be the outside referee. As I’ve already said, this will be a spectacle, if nothing else.
Orndorff and Hogan start the match, which makes sense. Piper and Hogan is the big feud, so you want to make the crowd wait to see them in the ring together. Also, since Mr. T has no in ring experience, Hogan would want to get his team off to a good start before letting Mr. T get his shots in. Nevermind. After a little milking, and no offense, Orndorff tags in Piper. I would’ve liked a little more build than that.
Mr. T has now decided that he wants to start the match. This now makes no sense. Piper and Mr. T start the match exchanging slaps, but Piper wisely takes Mr. T down. He knows that Mr. T has no wrestling experience whatsoever, so grounding him is the best strategy. Mr. T does manage to escape, and Piper begrudgingly locks up with Mr. T. Mr. T, clearly the stronger of the two, gains the advantage and shoves Piper back. They lock up again, and this time Mr. T lifts Piper up in to a fireman’s carry position and simply dumps him.
Piper is now frustrated and embarrassed, so he drives Mr. T in to his corner so he and Orndorff can beat on him. Hogan rushes in to the corner to make the save and the four men brawl. Good God this is messy. Muhammad Ali punches Piper out of the ring, and the heels decide they’d rather retreat. After Hogan breaks up the ten count, the heel trio returns, and Orndorff and Piper get in the ring, only to be clobbered by Mr. T and Hulk Hogan, respectively. After two spots that involve Piper and Orndorff’s heads being slammed together, we finally have some semblance of order with Hogan and Piper in the ring. There’s only one problem: Hulk Hogan isn’t the legal man. I suppose, in the giant clusterfuck, ref Pat Patterson must’ve lost track. Hogan continues to dominate Piper until he tags in Mr. T. That makes more sense.
Hogan softened Piper up before he let Mr. T get in the ring with him again. A Mr. T body slam prompts Orndorff to run in, but for his troubles, he receives on of the best looking 80’s style hip tosses I’ve ever seen. Seriously, Mr. T just executed a professional wrestling maneuver well. Mr. T slams Piper again and head butts Orndorff before tagging the champ back in. A relatively wise move to limit Mr. T’s exposure. Piper tries to fight back, but a big boot from Hogan sends him out to the floor. While Hogan and the ref are distracted looking at Piper, Mr. Wonderful sneaks around and drills Hogan with a clothesline, sending him out to the floor, where Piper drills him with a chair. This is smart work on the part of the heels, taking Hogan out of the equation so they can focus on the inexperienced Mr. T. The problem is, they don’t do that. Orndorff makes the mistake of rolling Hogan back in the ring, instead of just leaving him motionless on the floor.
Mr. T shows his inexperience though. Instead of letting Hogan take Piper one on one, he tries to get in the ring, so the ref has to come over and deal with him. This allows the heel duo to double team Hogan. Rookie mistake. Paul Orndorff, despite never tagging in, is the one to stay in the ring and continue the beat down on Hogan. Now that Hogan is severely beaten down, Piper is eager to get the tag and put the hurt on his rival. Good cowardly heel philosophy on Piper’s part. Piper continues what Orndorff was doing; simply beating down Hogan with mostly punches. He then goes for the pin, but Hogan won’t job to that weak stuff. Piper then tags Orndorff, who goes to the top rope and brings an elbow down on Hogan’s head. The heel duo is doing a good job of staying fresh, all the while keeping Hogan in their corner. Orndorff thinks that his elbow could be enough to get the pin, but Hogan kicks out once again. Really though, the kick out is only making Hogan more tired so he’ll have a more difficult time moving across the ring and tagging in the fresh Mr. T. And that’s exactly what Hogan gets a chance to do, as he’s able to roll out of the way when Orndorff tries to drop a knee off the top rope. He is able to tag in Mr. T, who begins to pound Orndorff, until Piper has seen enough and
Orndorff and Piper stomp Mr. T until Piper finally exits the ring. Mr. T is now trying desperately to get to Hogan, who had given him the hot tag only moments ago. Orndorff simply won’t let that happen though, and he rides Mr. T all the way to the opposite side of the ring, where he tags Piper in. Once again, Piper is eager to get in on the action when his opponent is down already. Once in the ring, Piper does the smart thing and applies a front facelock on Mr. T before he can get up. He’s setting up Mr. T for the sleeper, who logically wouldn’t be as adept at getting out of it as Hogan. But by sheer strength, Mr. T is able to escape and tag in Hogan. Piper is in trouble now. It’s already been established that he wants nothing to do with a conscious Hogan, and that’s exactly what he has to deal with now. Orndorff knows this, and thus tries to make the save. Hogan won’t let that happen though, as he forces both men to head butt each other yet again.
Piper then, despite being the legal man, leaves the ring, leaving Orndorff with Hogan. Orndorff seems to have no problem with this however, as he quickly gains the advantage with a backdrop suplex. Then things get ugly again. Piper, now seeing that Hogan is down, regains his confidence. The ref stops him this time, but Cowboy Bob sneaks in behind his back. Jimmy Snuka quickly deals with him, however, but only for a moment, as Orton is quickly perched on the top turnbuckle while Hogan is trapped in an Orndorff full nelson. Orton tries to bring his trademark cast down on Hogan, but the champ moves and it’s Orndorff who takes the blow. Oops. Hogan covers for the 1…2…3. Your winners; Hulk Hogan and Mr. T.
This match was so much better than it had any right to be, and you know what, Mr. T was a big reason why. He wasn’t in the ring that often (a good thing, given his limited experience and the fact that you want to make it a big deal when he does get in), but when he was, he executed his moves well and sold his opponents offense. Piper and Orndorff also worked well as a team, and all four men understood their rolls and played them well. That is not to say the match is without its problems. For one, the team of Hogan and Mr. T never seemed to have any direction when they were in control. They didn’t focus on any one opponent or any one body part. They just seemed to be holding off until the Dusty finish. Speaking of the finish, I didn’t care much for that either. It comes like the faces needed to get lucky to win. The finish wasn’t built to, and it had nothing to do with the work that had been done earlier on. I suppose it can be justified by saying that it was poetic justice for the cheating heels, but I don’t really buy that either. A clean face win puts the heels in their place much better. All of those criticisms aside, the match was what it wanted to be. It was a spectacle, and it helped make the WWE what it is today (for better or worse).
Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy with Bobby Heenan for the WWF Heavyweight Championship 4/7/86
This is a cage match from Wrestlemania II. Bundy is the monster heel trying to kill the babyface champ who has hurt ribs. Nothing groundbreaking, but let’s hope it’s executed well. The match begins with some sloppy brawling, and Hogan getting the advantage. He hits Bundy with a big boot, but Kong doesn’t fall down. Rather, he goes straight for the cage door. Hogan stops him by choking Bundy with his own strap, and continues to dominate. Thus far, Bundy hasn’t got a lick of offense in, but Hogan is unable to capitalize. His strikes don’t seem to be having much of an effect on the big man. Hogan soon realizes this and figures that the blue bars might have a little more effect, so he tries to introduce them to Bundy’s head.
Finally, Bundy goes for Hogan’s taped up ribs, and thus saves his beautiful face. About damn time. He doesn’t repeat his early mistakes, however, and he continues to focus on the injured ribs. With those softened up, he should have no problem hitting the big splash and getting the thre… I’m sorry, the FIVE! Bundy decides that he’s hurt Hogan enough, not to pin him, but to escape the cage. In desperation, Hogan manages to stop him. Bundy simply goes right back to the ribs, and, in a dastardly heel move, he removes the tape from them. Hell, he even chokes him with it and uses it to tie him to the ropes. Bundy seems more focused on winning the title than destroying his opponent (not a bad thing), so he goes for the exit one more time.
Once again, Hogan stops him just short. By this time, Bundy should realize that he’ll have to do significantly more damage if he hopes to win. But, he won’t get a chance to, because Hogan’s done selling his rib injury that was so debilitating only moments ago. Hogan goes back on offense with his basic punches and elbows. Once again, they don’t seem to be hurting Bundy all that badly, so Hogan seeks the blue bars out for help. This time, Bundy’s head connects, and he is grounded. Hogan could’ve exited the ring at this point, but he doesn’t. Now, it’s about getting revenge on the man who injured him. The bars opened Bundy’s bald head up, so he’s well on his way to fulfilling his desire for that revenge. Wisely, Hogan continues to focus on the cut, and he absolutely brutalizes Bundy. Then he makes a mistake. He has had success bashing the head of Bundy, so why try and body slam him? I don’t know, but that’s exactly what Hogan does, and it backfires, allowing Bundy to fall on to Hogan.
Given the Bundy is a very big man, and given that Hogan, just minutes ago, had injured ribs, you’d think Hogan would sell that his ribs were hurt. Wrong. He doesn’t have much time to sell, because Bundy’s heading for the exit, but he doesn’t sell his ribs at all, not one little bit. Instead, he gets up, is fine, and proceeds to choke Bundy with the tape that used to cover Hogan’s recently injured ribs. Bundy manages to make a comeback though, just not a logical one. Instead of going for the only region his hurt this entire match, he goes after Hogan’s head. One punch somehow kills Hogan’s momentum. Bundy then wakes up and realizes what he should be doing, and sends Hogan in to the turnbuckle, hits him with the avalanche, and then the big splash. Bundy had every right to think that would work, except Hogan still doesn’t feel like selling those ribs, and he stops Bundy from escaping the cage. But Hogan has not yet begun to no-sell. Bundy goes back to the ribs, and even hits Hogan with another avalanche in the corner. Hogan sells it like an ounce of cocaine and Hulks up. One body slam and one leg drop later, and Hogan is trying to climb the cage. Bundy has seen enough of Hulk’s no-selling at this point, and decided he’d like to try some of his own. Bundy goes after Hogan, but Hulk boots him from the turnbuckle, and climbs out. Your winner and still WWF Heavyweight Champion; Hulk Hogan.
This match was rife with gaps in logic. Bundy is the monster heel, yet he doesn’t have any interest in hurting Hogan. All he’s interested in is winning the title. It’s Hogan who seems less interested in defending his belt than beating the holy hell out of Bundy. It’s Hogan who comes in to the match injured, courtesy of Bundy, yet Kong takes far too long to focus on that area. When he finally does, Hogan only sells it for about the half the match, and Bundy’s comeback was initiated not by a shot to the ribs, but by a punch, a move Hogan hadn’t sold all match. Had Hogan sold the ribs more, the match would’ve been so much better, because it would have created the sense that Bundy had a chance of winning. As it was, it came across like Hogan could have won anytime he wanted to, he just wanted to prolong the beating.
Hulk Hogan (C) vs. Mr. Wonderful Paul Orndorff with Bobby Heenan for the WWF Heavyweight Championship 8/28/86
Not only was this a title match, it was a revenge match, as Orndorff had turned on Hogan earlier. It was also a continuation of the problems they had when Hogan was feuding with Roddy Piper. This is also a rare occasion Hogan is wrestling a guy more jacked than he is. Orndorff treats us to a wonderful heel move right off the bat. While the ref is checking Hogan’s boot for weapons and such (thus he’s standing on one foot, a weaker base), Orndorff levels him with a clothesline. A great way to get an early advantage by Orndorff, and great timing. The advantage doesn’t last very long though, as Hogan’s right hands eventually turn the tide. So Hogan has just negated Orndorff’s great opening move.
Hogan continues to make Orndorff look like a little bitch by clobbering him insider the ring, outside the ring, with punches, an Axe Bomber, an elbow drop, and finally, a clothesline in the corner. Hogan starts to get a bit cocky tough, and mocks Orndorff’s “look at how ripped I am while I take of my robe†motion. This earns him a punch to the stomach. Heenan knows that won’t be enough though, se he distracts Hogan while Orndorff can get his bearings in the ring. This is a smart move on the part of the heels, but Hogan, once again, needs to make Orndorff look bad. He blocks Orndorff’s first attempt at a punch, and proceeds to fire back and hit Mr. Wonderful with an atomic drop. So far this might as well be a squash. Hogan apparently thinks so little of Orndorff’s talents that he simply leaves to chase his manger, Bobby Heenan, who promptly does the smart heel thing and slides in the ring, allowing Orndorff to put his boot to Hogan’s head. Orndorff is finally able to get a significant amount of offense in, and he uses it to smack Hogan upside the head as much as possible.
A botched clothesline that ended up hitting Hogan right in the face (Hogan’s fault, he ducked kinda) sends the champ to the floor. Once he’s got him there, Orndorff takes advantage by suplexing Hogan on to the barely padded floor. Orndorff then turns his focus to the throat of Hogan, driving his elbows right in to the champ’s Adam’s apple. That’s a smart focus because, well, if you crush someone’s trachea they become a lot easier to beat up. Lo and behold, Hogan is selling his throat like it is crushed. Orndorff goes for the pin, but only gets two. Hogan is now the one who looks like a bitch, using Orndorffs leg to try and climb to his feat.
Orndorff simply body slams Hogan drives an elbow in to his throat. The challenger goes for another pin, and gets another two-count. Orndorff should have gone right back to the throat, but he doesn’t. Instead, he climbs to the top rope and casually bumps in to Hogan, somehow knocking him down. Now at least, Orndorff should go back to his targeted area, but he doesn’t. He tries to piledrive Hogan instead, but is flipped right on to his back. That was a desperation move on Hogan’s part though, and Orndorff is able to get right back on offense. At this point, it seems like Orndorff has completely forgetting that he had Hogan’s throat hurt. He is simply throwing out random moves, biting Hogan one moment, hitting him with a backdrop suplex the next; it’s as if Orndorff has no game plan at this point.
Orndorff makes another mistake next. He goes to pin Hogan, but opts for a cocky pin and doesn’t hook the leg. Because of this, Hulk is able to get his foot under the rope, and while Orndorff is celebrating a win he doesn’t have, Hulk up. Now back up and completely fine, Hogan knees Orndorff in the back, sending him in to the ref. While the ref is down, Hogan looks to extract some measure of revenge by piledriving Orndorff, but Heenan drill him with a wooden stool just before the ref starts to come to. Orndorff covers, and has the three (actually, a lot more than that), but the ref is still woozy. Once the ref manages to crawl in to position, he taps Orndorff on the shoulder three times, which Orndorff figures to be a count. The bell rings, and Orndorff is celebrating with the belt, what the hell is going on? As it turns out, your winner and still WWF Heavyweight Champion by disqualification; Hulk Hogan.
Let me first address that finish. The ref disqualified Orndorff for running in to him, despite the fact that Hogan pushed Orndorff. Wow, that is absolutely awful. But don’t think that that’s the only thing wrong with the match though. Once of the few good things was Orndorff’s initial cheap clothesline, which Hogan almost completely ignored. In fact, Hogan basically squashed Orndorff for the entire beginning segment. When the heel starts the match with a cheap shot, he’s supposed to get the advantage for more than five seconds. Orndorff isn’t without blame though. He had success working over Hogan’s throat, but he completely stopped working it over in the final stage of the match. Instead, he opted to hit random moves with no real focus. All this match really did was make both men look bad.
Hulk Hogan (C) vs. Andre the Giant with Bobby Heenan for the WWF Heavyweight Championship 3/29/87
This match is legendary. If you’ve seen any highlights of WWF/E footage, the clip of Hogan slamming Andre from this match is probably in it. We’ve all heard about the record setting crowd it drew. We’ve all heard all about, so now let’s get to it. Both men start off with a stare down. Hogan is hyped up, and Andre is collected. Hogan wins the punch battle to start off, and tries to body slam Andre (a big mistake caused by being over aggressive). He can’t quite manage to do it though, and thus we’ve got a good tease of what’s too come. Andre falls on Hogan and gets damn close to a three count just by laying on him. As if it needed to be put over, Andre’s size now has been.
Andre begins to focus on Hogan’s back, the area he sold after barely kicking out. Andre continues to target Hogan’s back with a scoop slam. He even holds Hogan up for a bit, as if to rub in the fact that he can slam Hogan with ease. As if that wasn’t enough, Andre slams him again and even walks right over Hogan’s back. The focus on the back continues until Andre traps Hogan in the corner and smashes his body in to that of Hogan’s and drills him with head butts. Andre should have stayed with the back though, as Hogan is able to go right through his legs and Hulk up. Now it’s Hogan with the advantage, landing right hands to Andre’s massive head. This time around, Hogan sticks with moves that don’t require him to lift Andre. Instead, he focuses on hitting the big man in the head as much as possible.
Despite all of this, Andre doesn’t really seem phased. Given that, Hogan should have known better than to run off the ropes. But, he didn’t, so he gets a boot to the face. He should have worked over Andre much more before going for something like that. Andre remembers where he had his success earlier, and goes right back to the back, locking in a bear hug on Hogan. Hogan refuses to give up, but Andre remains patient, choking the life out of Hogan. This appears to be working just fine, until Hogan’s arm starts to drop for the third time. As expected, he catches it halfway down and Hulks up, punching his way out of the hold. The punches still don’t seem to be doing that much though, and Hogan’s attempts at shoulder blocks don’t budge Andre. This sort of offense hadn’t worked all match, so Hogan really shouldn’t have expected it to here. He needed to find something different, but he just stuck with his guns. Andre finally takes advantage of Hogan’s foolishness by chopping him square in the chest, flooring the champ. Now, Andre realizes that attacking the back won’t get it done. He’s milked that for all it’s worth, and it’s time to find a new focus. Hoping to inflict some damage, Andre kicks Hogan out to the floor and starts to choke him up against the ring post. Hogan ducks though, and Andres head smacks the steel.
With the giant incapacitated for the time being, Hogan pulls the padding off of the floor. He knows that his regular offense just isn’t getting the job done, nor will it, so he needs to hit something big. That’s a good idea in theory, but in practice, Hogan messes up when he tries to piledrive Andre on to the exposed floor. He simply cannot lift the giant, and he gets dropped on to the floor himself for his mistake. Now back in the ring, Andre throws Hogan off the ropes and goes for a big boot, which Hogan sidesteps, and then knocks Andre down with a clothesline. Andre had hit that boot only minutes before, so it stands to reason that Hogan would be able to dodge it. Also, since Hogan had built up extra momentum by hitting two sets of ropes, the clothesline would be stronger, and thus more capable of having the effect it did. Hogan, looking a little surprised that he was finally able do some noticeable damage, Hulks up. Here comes the moment. A revitalized Hogan grabs on to a woozy Andre and scoop slams him. The crowd goes insane. Hogan goes off the ropes and hits the leg drop for the 1…2…3. Your winner and still WWF Heavyweight Champion; Hulk Hogan.
It is supremely difficult to score a match like that. It may very well be the biggest wrestling match ever, so from a spectacle standpoint, the match gets ten stars. Given Andre’s physical condition at the time, and Hogan’s non-existent ability to carry people, this match was much better than it had any right to be. Both men did a great job of making everyone watching think that Andre was going to win. For the entire match, even when Hogan was getting his offense in, Andre didn’t seem to be in much danger. When Hogan Hulked up, it actually made sense. Having just succeeded knocking down a mountain of a man, an adrenaline rush is to be expected. My problem thereafter though is with Andre being finished off with one scoop slam and one leg drop, I know it makes for an impressive sequence, but given that Hogan had barely hurt him at all up to that point, I think he should have kicked out. That would have made it even more impressive when Hogan eventually did win. Andre also had a problem finding a focus once it became clear that he had to target somewhere other than Hogan’s back. Really though, that’s a relatively minor gripe. Overall, this match did exactly what it was supposed to. It established Hogan as THE MAN. And while average from a “wrestling†standpoint, it was off the charts in just about every other aspect.
Questions? Comments? Critiques? If so, please send them to beech27@ku.edu. I promise that if you send something, I will respond to it. I look forward to hearing from many of you, even those who think I suck. Until next time, cheers.
