Hulk Hogan dead

[SixToe]

After enjoying Tojo Yamamoto, the Freebirds and Junkyard Dog, I never could really get into the later alphabet rasslin' shows. Fun to watch a snip here and there, of course.

Back in 1985 our little town had an exhibition featuring Arn Anderson as the headliner. He came out for the finale and did the thing, and at one point started after his guy around the ring amid the crowd.

A woman stabbed him in the forearm with a fork. She ran out before he could catch up with her. Not in the script, he said afterward, and he was monumentally pissed. Said he was so surprised that he froze, and that's why she got away. He had four puncture marks in his forearm.

Fun rasslin' night on the town!

 

[Jake from State Farm]

Dave Zirin’s obit

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/hulk-hogan-racist-liar-scab-obit/

 

[MileHigh]

Dave Zirin's obit

https://www.thenation.com/article/society/hulk-hogan-racist-liar-scab-obit/

Talk about a takedown.

What I did not know was that there was a real world at odds with this ecstatic experience. I did not know that the Iron Sheik, a former Olympic wrestler who was once a bodyguard for the shah of Iran, could have cracked Hogan in two. He even almost went off script to do so because he found Hogan to be, as the Sheik put it, "a jabroni." It was all 1980s fake, as fake as Reagan's jet-black hair.

Now that Hulk Hogan has died at 71, the media, top wrestling honchos, and particularly the Trump administration are verbosely mourning this leather-skinned mass of steroids and bile stuffed in spandex. The media is treating Hogan's death like they are in on a bit. They praise "Hulk Hogan" for being an American hero while ignoring that Terry Bollea led an ugly, amoral life; that he was accused of abuse by both one of his wives and a daughter; that he was broadly loathed by generations of wrestlers; and that his final act involved shilling full-time for Donald Trump. Hulk Hogan was a racist scab and a liar, which made him a natural fit for a prime-time appearance at Trump's Republican National Convention.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

I loved it as a preteen and early teen.

Lost interest as life took over. Then 20 years later, as a sportswriter, had an Executive Editor demand that we cover wrestling (as a sport, not as entertainment) when one of the fourth-rate shows came to town, "because a lot of people love wrestling."

That soured me on the EE.

“You only cover us when we hit our opponents with a steel chair!”

 

[Jake from State Farm]

https://www.thesportster.com/wwe-hu...ntura-plan-pro-wrestling-union-vince-mcmahon/

 

[Driftwood]

Brutus had about a dozen gimmicks, most of them well after his stint as the Barber. The last one I remember, the one I was referring to, was as the Disciple during the late 90s in WCW. I know he was part of the NWO entourage with that gimmick.

I had quit watching by then, and like I said, I more or less ignored WWF. My wrestling was JCP on Sunday nights ... from the Greensboro Coliseum or the Omni in Atlanta!

 

[Driftwood]

https://www.thesportster.com/wwe-hu...ntura-plan-pro-wrestling-union-vince-mcmahon/

It's truly amazing that after the union deal, one of the boys in the locker room didn't put an end to Hogan's career.

 

[Huggy]

Yes. I grew up watching the AWA, which always looked like the sets were in a garage somewhere. McMahon's flash-and-trash show never did much for me.

You youngsters should consider Lou Thesz as a candidate for your mountain. The guy wrestled in seven decades! Or his protege, Nick Bockwinkel.

Hulk is dead, but Baron Von Raschke lives!

My old man rarely spoke about his life growing up in Glasgow during and after the war. (I never knew what his parents did or even what their names were.) But one memory he talked about was seeing Lou Thesz in Glasgow when he came on a UK tour after the war. He'd seen Thesz on occasion in the newsreels at the local theatre or he saw his name in the paper having defending his title somewhere but he said it was unreal to see him (he called him, in his Glasgow brogue, "the GREAT Lou Thesz) in person in George Square. Throughout his life he was convinced he was the greatest wrestler who ever lived and that he'd "wipe the ****ing floor" with the guys my brothers and I watched on TV every weekend.

 

[Slacker]

https://awfulannouncing.com/wwe/hulk-hogan-sex-tape-scandal-gawker-trial-modern-media.html

Further perspective here, from a link within the Dave Zirin obit ...

Thiel's involvement raised concerns that the victory over Gawker could become a playbook for extremely wealthy individuals to silence media outlets—a First Amendment nightmare. The New Yorker, for instance, warned at the time that the verdict could pave the way for "a war against the press."

And those concerns have since proven to be well founded.

Within a year, the "Gawker Effect," as coined by journalist Margaret Sullivan, had cast a chilling pall over the media environment. Music reporter Jim DeRogatis said a number of publishers passed on his bombshell investigation into sexual abuse claims against singer R. Kelly, citing concerns over potential libel lawsuits. Reporter Kim Masters wrote in October 2017 about her difficulty trying to find an outlet that would touch her investigation into allegations that Amazon Studios executive Roy Price had made inappropriate sexual remarks. Even "the weakest of legal claims," she recalled, triggered genuine fear among editors and lawyers, and Price eventually hired Charles Harder, the attorney who defended Bollea. (The investigations eventually ran in BuzzFeed News and The Information, respectively.)

Many more blockbuster lawsuits against media outlets have followed in the years since. Blackwater founder Erik Prince has sued The Intercept multiple times over its coverage of his activities; while the cases were dismissed, they successfully drained the publication of time and money (and effectively diminished their capacity to expend resources on further investigations). In 2020, right-wing provocateur group Project Veritas sued The New York Times for defamation over publishing legal documents describing the group's deceptive practices, tying up the company in court for years.

More recently, Elon Musk's X filed a defamation lawsuit against the left-leaning Media Matters for America in 2023, claiming it "manufactured images" showing ads on X placed alongside neo‑Nazi content on the platform, with the aim of driving advertisers away. The publication countersued in March, accusing Musk and X of bringing "abusive," costly, and meritless lawsuits to punish Media Matters for the crime of doing journalism. (Those suits are currently still winding their way through courts; in the meantime, the organization has laid off at least a dozen staffers, citing legal costs.)

And of course, suing news organizations has become a cornerstone of Donald Trump's strategic response to unflattering coverage. Since last winter, Trump has sued ABC over George Stephanopoulos's on-air claim that Trump had been found liable for rape—rather than the more accurate term "sexual abuse"—settling for $15 million plus legal fees; he has successfully sued CBS for $16 million, alleging a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris was "unfairly" edited; and just last week, he filed a $10 billion defamation lawsuit against The Wall Street Journal and its parent company for a story linking him to Jeffrey Epstein.

Any outlet that can't afford to defend itself in court now knows not to break any unflattering news about Trump—or any other public figure who might be backed by wealthy benefactors with an ax to grind.

https://www.fastcompany.com/91374222/hulk-hogan-gawker-lawsuit-changed-media-forever

 

[tapintoamerica]

As others have suggested, there is considerable overlap between those who think WWE is real and those who believe the 2020 election was stolen.

 

[BYH 2: Electric Boogaloo]

As others have suggested, there is considerable overlap between those who think WWE is real and those who believe the 2020 election was stolen.

I'm realizing the considerable overlap exists in one of my groomsmen and it's a little depressing b/c he's one of my groomsmen.

 

[Bubbler]

Hulk Hogan is in the cosplay patriotism HOF.

 

[Machine Head]

https://www.thesportster.com/wwe-hu...ntura-plan-pro-wrestling-union-vince-mcmahon/

I'm no fan of James Janos, but he was right on this.

But then he worked for Vince and took his money after this, so yeah.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

It's truly amazing that after the union deal, one of the boys in the locker room didn't put an end to Hogan's career.

if they would have done that, they could kiss their careers goodbye and spend their prime years in high school gyms and used car parking lots.

Better to get a good run with the WWF, hope Vince would give you a push so you could work on top with Hogan for the big bucks and put some money aside that didn’t go for hookers and blow than pull a shoot on the industry’s top star.

 

[Driftwood]

if they would have done that, they could kiss their careers goodbye and spend their prime years in high school gyms and used car parking lots.

Better to get a good run with the WWF, hope Vince would give you a push so you could work on top with Hogan for the big bucks and put some money aside that didn't go for hookers and blow than pull a shoot on the industry's top star.

Alternative history either way.
Someone takes out Hogan's knee, the boys organize, and Vince is left with the option of the show going on or no show.

 

[Driftwood]

I like listening to Jim Cornette's YouTube channel and his insight. He finally dropped one today on Hogan.
It's 2 hours. Too dang long. Get to the point.

 

[dixiehack]

 

[Oggiedoggie]

View attachment 20240

Wow. He really was in a steep decline.

 

[Driftwood]

I’ll tell you a wrestling gimmick I grew up with but didn’t realize until recently was a gimmick:
Arn Anderson wasn’t really Arn Anderson, Ole’s brother.
Why? Because it wasn’t super stupid and gimmicky. I just always assumed that’s who he was because it sounded legit.

 

[MisterCreosote]

I didn't see that Dark Side episode, but didn't Hogan carry Brutus along for the ride at least through the WCW era?

Yes, he did.

He also inducted Beefcake into the Hall of Fame fairly recently, like within the past decade.

Their last falling-out evidently had something to do with the strumpet Brutus was with at the time. Depending on who you listen to, either Mr. and Ms. Beefcake robbed Hogan blind, or Hogan diddled Ms. Beefcake.

Not sure I want to know anything more.