At Their Peak, Who Was Hottest/Most Popular?

[Amoo316]

Re: At Their Peak, Who Was Hottest/Most Popular?

93,173...Hogan.

[King_B_Mack]

Re: At Their Peak, Who Was Hottest/Most Popular?

I think guys are getting a little too out of hand with the Hogan love at this point. If you're going to lay things out on the table, lay all the chips out there. For one thing, Hogan had the benefit of the majority of the world still not privy to the fact that pro wrestling was staged at the time in the 80's, at least, the WWF didn't actually acknowledge what they were then so it was a lot easier to get people in as simple marks back then.

There's also the amount of business that was lost for Vince and wrestling as a whole with the whole steroid scandal that put him and Hogan on bad terms back in the early 90's that knocked the business down. Austin, Rock and Shawn brought the company back from that and yeah, during the begining of the Era Vince didn't take the chance to take Wrestlemania into any big buildings but Austin/Rock did put about 68,000 in Reliant stadium when they finally got a chance at a big venue on the tail end of the Attitude era. No doubt if they had given them the chance with 14-16 with a big venue during the height of the Attitude Era, they could've done bigger numbers than that.

At the height of the their popularity Austin and Rock were household names as well. They're mannerism and catchprhases were EVERYWHERE. I'm gonna say Hogan wins out, but it's not nearly as big a gap as it's being portrayed.

[rangerrick012]

They seem to mention every year that Wrestlemania tickets sell out within hours on the Monday after they go on sale. Now maybe they have multiple releases now so that isn't entirely true, just that they sell out the first release.

Tickets are available online now, so its not impossible.

[mcseven]

Re: At Their Peak, Who Was Hottest/Most Popular?

Obvious answer is Hogan, Austin, and the Rock. I just want to throw Ultimate Warrior's name on the poll because at his peak even though it was short his popularity was up there with Hogans.

[Seymour Scagnetti]

Re: At Their Peak, Who Was Hottest/Most Popular?

Obvious answer is Hogan, Austin, and the Rock. I just want to throw Ultimate Warrior's name on the poll because at his peak even though it was short his popularity was up there with Hogans.

Warrior is like Russell Brand, he was good in small doses. Once he got the title and was put in place as the new face of the WWE, his one dimensional character (even for a wrestler) got old quick. Business went down so quick with him as WWE champion that they ended up having him lose to a geriatric SGT Slaughter 7 or 8 months later just so they could give back the title to Hogan at WM.

[stlstudios189]

Re: At Their Peak, Who Was Hottest/Most Popular?

Hulk Hogan headlined 7 strait Wrestlemanias had a cartoon. Was the reason PPV's took off, was the reason shirts started to sell period.

[King_B_Mack]

Re: At Their Peak, Who Was Hottest/Most Popular?

Hulk Hogan headlined 7 strait Wrestlemanias had a cartoon. Was the reason PPV's took off, was the reason shirts started to sell period.

Cena headlined 8. Does that make him better automatically?

Other facts I'd like to point out for context in this discussion. During Hogan's run only THREE ppvs did abnormal numbers above 30,000 people. Those being Wrestlemanias III, VI and VIII, every other ppv held did under 25,000. Austin/Rock era ppvs were doing comparable numbers to the numbers of the Hogan years. Going to WCW in Hogan's debut ppv, they did 14,000 in attendance, the following ppv? 6,500. Hogan's first Starrcade, WCW's Wrestlemania? 8,200. Also can't forget that WWE's second biggest attendance number of 80,335 came at Summerslam when Hogan wasn't anywhere near the WWF at the time because of the steroid scandal.

Definitely appreciate what the guy has meant for the business and the drawing ability he has, but I think he gets waaaay too much credit and the legend of his drawing is overblown.

[OSUFan_88]

Re: At Their Peak, Who Was Hottest/Most Popular?

Using Hogan's WCW numbers are unfair.

WCW couldn't market themselves at any point. Even during their run from 96-98, they couldn't do a damn thing right in marketing and promoting their PPVs. Most of the time, the booking was so poor that people felt like the WCW PPVs were just expensive Nitro's.

Either way, drawing numbers mean nothing. I haven't been behind the "90,000 people went to see Hogan!" movement from the beginning. That discredits everyone else on the card.

Hogan's popularity both in and out of the ring is something you won't see from another wrestler. I'd imagine if you asked the random person on the street, more people would know Hogan over Austin or any other wrestler.

[King_B_Mack]

Re: At Their Peak, Who Was Hottest/Most Popular?

The Rock has reached that level. The Rock and Hulk Hogan are the two guys that you can ask a random person on the street and they'd know who they are. Austin to an extent too. People are really downplaying how big Austin and Rock really were in their heyday though.

I brought up Hogan's WCW numbers because of the "90,000" crowd though which a lot of people go to when talking about this. If you listened to a lot of folks talk about it, they act like the WWF was doing huge numbers like that for every ppv back in the day when it wasn't the case. Like I said before, I'm going Hogan myself, I'm just trying to close this gap that everyone likes to make it seem exists between him and everyone else.

[rangerrick012]

Re: At Their Peak, Who Was Hottest/Most Popular?

Cena headlined 8. Does that make him better automatically?

Other facts I'd like to point out for context in this discussion. During Hogan's run only THREE ppvs did abnormal numbers above 30,000 people. Those being Wrestlemanias III, VI and VIII, every other ppv held did under 25,000. Austin/Rock era ppvs were doing comparable numbers to the numbers of the Hogan years. Going to WCW in Hogan's debut ppv, they did 14,000 in attendance, the following ppv? 6,500. Hogan's first Starrcade, WCW's Wrestlemania? 8,200. Also can't forget that WWE's second biggest attendance number of 80,335 came at Summerslam when Hogan wasn't anywhere near the WWF at the time because of the steroid scandal.

Definitely appreciate what the guy has meant for the business and the drawing ability he has, but I think he gets waaaay too much credit and the legend of his drawing is overblown.

Could also be due to PPV not being as readily available during those days.

To me it's Hogan bc the man's still relevant 30 years after his peak and pretty much 10 years after he stopped competing regularly as a pop culture figure. Hell even this week he's in the news for something that probably can't be mentioned here. I just think that Hogan's far more well known than Austin is and his persona is more synonymous with wrestling than Austin is. Rock is close but more of that may be from what he's done since leaving then from what he did while he was there.

I see you agree w/ Hogan so I'm not going at you lol. Just think that Austin even at his peak isn't close to what Hogan was at his peak.

[kingkilla56]

Re: At Their Peak, Who Was Hottest/Most Popular?

Hogan is still relevant?

[rangerrick012]

Re: At Their Peak, Who Was Hottest/Most Popular?

Hogan is still relevant?

Relevant in terms of people still knowing who 'Hulk Hogan' is when the name is brought up. Something that isn't the case for 99% of professional wrestlers past and present. Relevant in terms of people watching TNA to see him? No. Doesn't mean that Hulk in his day wasn't a phenomenon.

I really don't think that Rock during his time with the WWE (which is I think what the OP was asking) was as well known or popular as Hulk was during the 80s. Rock is the rare (and arguably only) case of a wrestler who went on to have greater success AFTER leaving the business.

Realistically, I feel that Hogan and Austin are the only ones that can be brought up in this discussion if you're talking fame based solely on their wrestling characters. Flair would be third IMO, with Rock 1998-2003 in 4th. Macho Man deserves an honorable mention, the outpouring of admiration after his death from mainstream media was pretty surprising and showed how well known he really was.

[kingkilla56]

Re: At Their Peak, Who Was Hottest/Most Popular?

Im not arguing that Hulk wasn't the truth when he was the face of the entire business as I didnt experience it. From what everyone says and the few clips and matches Ive seen from the time I can't say otherwise.

But he isn't still relevant. His relevancy ended with that Shawn Michaels match and now you'd be hard pressed to find anybody who even cares about the man anymore. He is a shell of his former self and almost an embarrassment to his own name at this point in his life and Im not even talking about TNA. But that doesnt really matter either.

Id still argue that The Rock was big ****, maybe the bigger guy between him and Austin from what I experienced in my golden age of wrestling as a 22 year old today. This guy had women watching wrestling to she his oiled up *** run down the ramp to save somebody. All of us had our arms in the air smelling absolutely nothing in honor of the guy. Catch phrases galore, I cant imagine how many kids got in trouble for spouting out the things he said. When his music hit crowds went wild, panties fell off, balls dropped, and every other type of exaggerated action went down. He had a series of games named after him and his catchphrases, and had a show take one of his taglines, and the show still runs over ten years later. He made a living off of clowning all the guys in the back and was the first in line to put any man over. he'd put over a broom stick if they asked him to. And when he took a loss on any given night people were upset over it. And his ability to seemlessly transition from heel to face and back again while still having the love of the fanbase is remarkable.

And his popularity beyond wrestling was only proven more by his seemless transition into film; not that he has become an Oscar worthy performer. He is somewhere around the 4th highest paid actor today based on his fame alone which isnt something he got from movies like the tooth fairy and the Mummy. He did all that while in wrestling.

Im sure you could make a convincing argument for SCSA too but he didnt excite me all that much to be honest. Other than hearing his music cue he didnt do much for me. His stuff with the Invasion and trolling everybody was hilarious though.

So yeah, Hogan may be getting the consensus pick here for reasons beyond my understanding. But for me, The Rock is the most popular wrestler Ive ever witnessed during his hay day. I mean the guy came back and blew the roof off the entire business.

[Seymour Scagnetti]

Re: At Their Peak, Who Was Hottest/Most Popular?

If we're talking worldwide popularity here over a # of years then Hogan is still #1 but a very close 2nd is Andre the Giant IMO. Andre is the only wrestler who was a independent contractor because he was so much in demand. He travelled the world and visited different territories to give them a financial boost for years although technically he was contracted with the WWF. The WWF basically loaned him to any federation in the world during the 1970's and early 80's and his popularity was far and above everyone else during his prime in the 70's.

Any show around the world he was on was pretty much a sellout prior to the emergence of Hogan in the 80's. Andre's health forced him to travel less and the WWF started monopolizing the industry and taking over territories with Hogan in the mid 80's. Whenever Andre showed up in any wrestling region for a month or 2 it was a major event when he appeared on the card.

While Hogan may have been more popular, I would venture to say that Andre was the most recognizable wrestler of all time. During his prime he was bigger than wrestling much like Tiger Woods was bigger than golf. I remember as a little kid when Andre would do his NWA appearances (Toronto was part of the NWA territory in the 70's) He was a mythical figure and whenever he appeared on a house show in Toronto it was a major event.

He was also the 1st wrestler to really crossover into acting. He played Bigfoot in the 6 Million Dollar Man TV series (where the lead character went by the name Steve Austin strangely enough) and was also in a Hollywood movie called Micki and Maude with Dudley Moore and of course his more famous later role in The Princess Bride which before the Rock's success was the only major Hollywood movie where a wrestler had a big role. I never considered the cheezy Hogan movies of the 80's to be big Hollywood movies.

[Redacted01]

Re: At Their Peak, Who Was Hottest/Most Popular?

I still stand by the fact it is Hogan. Remove Hogan from history, you don't have Austin, you don't have the Rock, at least as the stars they become. Wrestling doesn't end up where it did years later. It is possible there is no nWo, which was huge for WCW at one point.