At Their Peak, Who Was Hottest/Most Popular?

[King_B_Mack]

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

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.

It's all good, just a good, clean, fun discussion we're having.

To the point about ppv not being readily available, another point that needs to be made is the benefit that Hogan's character and a lot of guys from the '80s got by the reduction of ppvs and long title reigns. Storylines got a chance to really be built up when it was basically just Wrestlemania, Royal Rumble and Summerslam throughout the year for a few years before Survivor Series was added. Rock and Austin were doing Hogan numbers with the added hurdle of monthly ppvs, two tv shows and house shows to cover and again, with a crowd that is pretty much all in on the fact that what they're watching is pre-determined.

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.

I still think you're shortchanging just how over Rock and Austin were. Wrestling at the time was really knee deep in the 'entertainment for trailer trash people' sterotype during the '90s and yet Austin kicking Vince's *** week in and week out had people all over the world tuning in and going crazy.

With Rock what he was doing while with WWE is amazing. It's not like he's some Denzel Washington caliber actor and he only just went back to using "The Rock" moniker in the last two years so his stature in wrestling isn't simply about what he did after he left. Rock just had that IT factor that Hogan had about him, though his was different. The Rock was cool and everybody wanted a piece of him. Guys were trying to dress like Rock, act like him, talk like him and the way that Hollywood came after him is a testament to his true popularity. Hollywood deseperately wanted Rock and he was able to transition better than any other wrestler including Hogan, mostly because of how popular he had gotten in the WWF.

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.

How is that a fair point though? Basically it's Hogan because he was around first? By that logic Bruno Sammartino is the guy because if you remove him from history you don't have Hogan. Or better yet, Vince McMahon is the hottest/most popular because without him there is none of them. As for the nWo, if Bret Hart doesn't change his mind about staying with the WWF, Hogan wouldn't have even been in the nWo and he would've faded off into obscurity because he was killing his career in WCW.

[55]

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

Rock is the rare (and arguably only) case of a wrestler who went on to have greater success AFTER leaving the business.

Jesse Ventura is the only other guy I can think of that fits that criteria.

[rangerrick012]

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

I don't think anyone in this thread is saying or has said that Austin/Rock weren't popular. Hell I grew up during that era and lived through it. Just think that the length and breadth of Hulkamania is being far shortchanged here. I'll just leave it at this - Rock and Austin were legends, Hogan is an Icon.

It's hilarious for me to see people say he's not relevant anymore when you could still walk down the street and 9/10 people know who he is. I don't think Austin is as well known to the common person. Rock's the only one that comes close, but the fact that his time at the top wasn't as long makes me dock him points compared to Hogan.

[st0rmb11]

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

I'm not trying to say that anyone is wrong for saying Hogan.

BUT, I do see many people using the length of his popularity as a big reason....the question I posed was, AT THEIR PEAK.

For Hogan, that may have been 7 or 8 years. For Rock? Maybe 3 years. Austin? 2 years (until his neck injury).

So, I think we should probably set what each wrestler's "peak" was.

I don't know when Hulkamania really started. 1983? 1984?

I know Austin's peak probably started the second he won King of the Ring 1997, and continued until his neck injury in 1999.

The Rock's peak was probably right along that time, as well. Maybe...1998-2001 or 2002?

Flair's was probably the same time as Hogan's, but maybe not quite as long. (or maybe longer, depending on how you look at it).

Sting's was, arguably, 1991ish to 1995 or 1996?

Goldberg's was from..I guess, January 1998-September or October 1998.

Not sure on Andre.

John Cena, I would guess was probably from 2005/2006-2008 or 2009?

Triple H's would be tough to figure, I think. He was really big in DX from 1997-2000. But, as a singles competitor, and carrier of the brand, I would say maybe 2002-2004 or 2005?

Shawn Michaels' was probably from 1995-1998 (his retirement).

Bret Hart was, I guess, 1992-1995 or 1996?

I'm just kind of guessing these off the top of my head, without really putting much thought into it, but you get my point - I think if we can establish a peak for each guy, rather than just going on their entire career, it would be a better argument

If we go by longevity, yes, Hogan and Flair probably take the win. If we go by who was most relevant after their retirement, it's easily The Rock because he has an entire second career as an actor.

[Bellsprout]

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

I'm not even sure why Triple H is in the poll. Even when he was the guy, he wasn't all that popular relative to the other people on this list.

Hell, when he was the guy in the early to mid-2000's, he was insufferable, honestly. I get that he was a heel, so he was supposed to be, but with the constant winning and it seeming like he was the champion for like 3 years there, it was just annoying as ****.

[Seymour Scagnetti]

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

Flair is not even in the discussion for most popular. The guy spent the majority of his prime as a heel. I don't ever recall when he was over like Hogan, Rock or Austin. Obviously he had a cult following of support throughout his career but I don't remember a time when he was a huge draw. Most of the support from the fans during the big cards in the NWA was for his opponents like Steamboat and Kerry Von Erich. Even when he was give the title at the Royal Rumble he lost it pretty quick at WM to Savage because Vince knew he wouldn't be a huge draw if Vince decided to turn him as a face.

[OSUFan_88]

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

H isn't anywhere near the list. The guy was probably the most hated champion in quite some time. And there were multiple reasons for that:

He hogged the belt.

He married Steph.

He wasn't that good in the ring.

There is some serious questions about how he got his spot, and if he never married Steph, where would he have been?

In any case, I've always hated H both as a personality and as a politicking wrestler who never quit.

[Bellsprout]

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

I don't know about "not that good in the ring" during that time. He put on some pretty epic matches with HBK after he came back.

Although now that you mention it I can't really remember anything all that remarkable that didn't involve HBK during Triple H's time as the top guy, so maybe that was more HBK than him.

[King_B_Mack]

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

Triple H has been a shell of the worker he was before his first quad injury since the day he tore it. He's still a pretty solid worker as we've seen, but he's been coasting off the reputation he built back in '99 and 2000 for quite some time now.

[55]

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

HBK had multiple great matches with Sid Vicious and Van Vader though, too. He could carry anyone, a la Flair.

[stlstudios189]

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

The 93,000 number still has to stand out plus the 60,000 in Toronto for a non PPV in an era when there wasn't as big of a budget booking a large arena was a huge risk.

HHH has always been a company man who pushed others all the time.

[jvalverde88]

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

HBK had multiple great matches with Sid Vicious and Van Vader though, too. He could carry anyone, a la Flair.

Vader actually wasn't bad though, Vicious in the other hand. I'll just let this speak for itself.

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Also, I think people are over looking Bruno's reign in the 60's and 70's. Guy was super over big time. Selling out a big market arena like MSG 187 times is quite impressive.

[King_B_Mack]

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

The 93,000 number still has to stand out plus the 60,000 in Toronto for a non PPV in an era when there wasn't as big of a budget booking a large arena was a huge risk.

HHH has always been a company man who pushed others all the time.

Wait, what?

[rangerrick012]

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

The "HHH screwed his way to the top" thing has no merit. He was already a big star in Vince's eyes long before he got involved with Stephanie. You can say that him being in the Klik had something to do w/ his eventually push, but even then he took the brunt of the blame for the MSG incident and was in the doghouse. I believe he was originally slated to win KOTR but it went to Austin instead bc of the MSG incident.

That being said, he has no place in the discussion of most popular wrestler of all time. Just think he gets far too much crap from some people.

[King_B_Mack]

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

I definitely don't think he 'screwed his way to the top' because he'd already had two WWF title reigns under his belt before he and Stephanie started dating.

That said, he most certainly used his status with Stephanie to keep his spot much like Hogan did, much like Shawn did and so on.