Saturday, December 6, 2014: Hulk Hogan was a Smiling Zeus.
I claimed that "No Holds Barred" was a manifesto of what Vince McMahon wanted to do with pro wrestling, but the audience wasn't ready for it. This film could have been an inspiration for how Eric Bischoff successfully started the Monday Night War. Turner had purchased the film's distributor, New Line, only six months prior to Hogan signing with WCW. And Bischoff had just received the promotion to executive producer. This also shows that Hogan is a complete work of fiction. Rip wouldn't sell out.
"The New Generation" in the WWE wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but the business wasn't ready for it. With the lengthiness of careers (Viva Funk), it occurred 20 years ahead of schedule. And it's also evidence that history repeats itself after Vince McMahon's claims of a lack of ambition being what's driving his sports entertainment entity to the point where he may want to purchase it off the NYSE. It's hard to be ambitious when the boss says carrying around a trash can or a bunny tag team partner is "making it."
It can be argued that all of the controversies about the WWF required a turnover of talent, but Bischoff realized like Brell...(Damn, do I need to watch this film again to nail the quote...has IMDB left any of you readers down in a similar fashion?)...WHAT RATINGS ARE (no I didn't rewatch NHB). He knew, as indicated by drug user Nelson Cruz's contract with the Mariners and the continued viewership of American football as their stars who are building resumes to match Bill Cosby, fans do not care about the conditions that do not directly involve the business they've always watched. WCW got noticed by using the ratings that were lost to in the name of Ahmed Johnson. When the circumstances were right, they performed the helicopter at the NHB's charity event scene at Bash at the Beach. Ironically, the Hulk Hogan character let all his little fans down.
As I mentioned earlier, history is currently repeating itself. To make things better, we just need someone with money and comically evil aspirations. Except this time, we don't have to wait three-years for a Steve Austin to fill the role of Rip Thomas.
Chris Hardwick can be Kurt Fuller and CM Punk is the Cool Protagonist that McMahon wanted Rip to be.
Check out the rest of the blog at the "Rip'Em System" Tumblr.
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