@russman738 Like all live shows at Broadway, yet people still watch them. Like all TV shows, Movies and music concerts---yet people still watch them 🤡
I was at WM 18. That match doesn't translate enough on TV. The energy in that building was beyond incredible. I felt instantly transported back to the peak 1984-87 Hulk Hogan era from when I was a kid. It was easily 90 percent in favour of Hogan at the start of the match.
And Triple H politiced with the Owner’s Daughter to go last 🤦 HHH is bad for business. You know in his mind he says “I main Evented over the Two of Wrestling’s Mount Rushmore figures” 🤦
I was there too! I was 12 at the time, I was sitting nosebleeds by the entrance, it was cool as hell I got to see the wrestlers warm up before their music hit
That crowd was unhinged during that match. It was like witnessing a Stone Cold Steve Austin entrance pop but never ending, dipping and peaking with the action in the ring. When Hogan hits his finisher, everything comes together. The crowd, JR on commentary calling back to Hogan defeating Andre the Giant, even the ref pulling off one of the closest 2.9 counts, that moment was magic and intense unlike anything you'd ever see.
Still gives me chills watching that crowd, everyone captivated, 2 of the most iconic wrestlers going blow for blow. It also gave rise to Rock's heel turn into his Hollywood ego (which was hilarious).
A real man loved him and he tells the truth about wrestling sadest documentary I've seen about wrestler was jake the snake Roberts sad and the movie the wrestler based on it brilliant movie
@@americanpancakelive The problem with Hogan seemed to be that he was obsessed with winning people's approval. Now he's mellowed out and seems more secure in himself, which is a great place to be.
I have never been into wrestling and always thought it was kind of silly but I have to say listening to Hogan talk about it and the crazy history of it makes me interested to learn more about the history. Side note, I live in Tampa and 20 years ago I was in the military and was on leave. My father dropped me off at the airport to head back to my base after my leave because I was about to go on deployment for 6 months. I was feeling down and nervous. As I got out off the escalator in the airport I just happened to see Hulk Hogan. He was unmistakable. He was walking through the airport and happened to look over and see me in my uniform and came over just to shake my hand and thank me for my service. It really made my day. I was never a wrestling fan but since that day I’ve been a big Hulk Hogan fan.
Wow , cool story , that's really great . I used to live in the Tampa area ... Westchase from 2009 to 2913 and I really miss all the rain we used to get there ... and it was so incredibly beautiful . You are so lucky he came up to you especially when you were feeling down about having to leave for deployment ... I'll bet that made you feel very blessed ... and you were .
@@benwiseman3051 I started watching The Dark Side of the Ring series last night. I saw the one about Bruiser Brody. What a crazy story. I didn’t know about the different wrestling territories they had back then and how protective the different organizations were of their territory. I don’t know what he has lied or exaggerated about but when he talked about that incident and how WWF expanded into other territories it seems like he was telling the truth.
I can listen to Hulk telling these stories till I am blue in the face. Thanks Joe for having him on, one of your best interviews yet. That WM match between Hulk and The Rock, it really doesn't get much bigger than that, two of the biggest names in wrestling history at the biggest wrestling stage on the planet. It was that era's Hulk vs. Andre The Giant or Hulk vs. Ultimate Warrior.
Watching WWF now WWE and going fishing with my Dad as a little girl are some of the best memories i have of growing up, the shouting at the TV, when "your guy" was taken down. I'll never forget the excitment of going to a live match with him, the adrinilen rush you get from watching wrestlers and booing the bad guys while cheering the good guys. Those were awesome times. My Dad passed in 2020, and I find it hard to watch these days with out feeling kinda sad.
I lost my dad in 2020 as well and while we didn’t share the love of wrestling, we had our own passions and I feel the same way when I encounter them these days. Stay well.
Hulk Hogan, Mankind, Triple H, The Rock, Chris Jericho, Stone Cold, The Undertaker, Kane. Growing up loved those guys. Smackdown and Raw were always on in my house good memories.
Their match is proof of how the energy of a crowd can make a match 1000% better. Watch it with the volume off and it's a pretty limited match, but the crowd made it something special. Wrestling is such an insane realm.
Compared to today when you watch it, the fans are sitting on their hands the whole match! I feel bad for the fans that didn't get to experience the attitude era.
Yeah, wrestling has lost its mystique. It used to be like a live action comic book, larger than life characters and storylines that would have you glued to the TV. Now it's just watered down and too "reality-based". It's supposed to be the opposite of reality
And Hogan was a master at doing exactly what he needed, without injuring himself or his opponent. People blame him for lazy brawling in his peak years, but that was what the WWF crowd wanted - when he was in the AWA, Japan, or a WWF/WCW match that needed it, he could do chain wrestling etc. I have never been a Hogan fan, either in the ring or out of it, but I admire his talent. Thanks to ECW, risky, career-shortening moves have gone from being a way that little guys could use to stand out to being something expected of wrestlers, leading to them burning out so quickly. Yet crowds are numb from it all...
I was at that WrestleMania in Toronto. I have never experienced anything like it before or after. You could feel the electricity in the air. The crowd was like thunder for 20 mins when Hogan and The Rock entered the Sky Dome. The face off at the beginning was like nothing I've ever experienced being part of a crowd. I've been to NHL playoff games, MLB playoff games, UFC, soccer in Berlin Germany, Metallica concerts... nothing can come close to it.
Was there too, hard to describe to my friends or family that were not there to experience it first-hand. My brother and I went with a friend and this is a match that will go down in the books as absolutely deafening. Haven't watched wrestling much since those days, but I'd wager there aren't many wrestling moments these days like what we witnessed first hand that night.
JR and King really are engrained in my childhood and memory just from their commentary. I used to think as a kid that you’d miss out by being at the live show, because you can’t hear the commentary from JR and King.
Man, the Attitue Era changed everything. But this night, at WM 18, I was turned into a kid again when I seen him and the Rock go at it. Soon as the fans started cheering for him, I remember having the biggest smile on my face during the entire match hearing and watching the fans. I remember damn near tearing up when he dropped the Leg Drop on the Rock. Just seeing a character who had so much to do with your childhood be greeted like that after being "Hollywood" Hogan for years prior to this match, it was pretty amazing to witness. During the match, Hogan went from heel to face, and it was an absolute gem of a match and moment I know I'll never forget.
Hogan was always a WWF guy whether he was there or not . The fans know he belonged there and they showed it that night . Classic all time wrestling moment
It didnt matter for Hogan. Hogan is all about doing it Big and getting his money’s worth. And more power to him…whether it was WWE,WCW or TNA…Hogan was all about the Doller Doller. 😎
The hype and expectations lived up in every way possible… this was an amazing spectacle of a match.. how the crowd kept on changing was brilliant A match for the ages.. credit to the story writers… and talent
I've met a lot of famous people in my life but Hulk Hogan is my all time. He gravitated towards me like he knew I was a fan. Then Proceeded to tell me story after story until he got called away. One of the highlights of my life. Still a Hulkster baby!
As Cornette said one Time 'and if your fifty and a megastar you Can Do as Austin in his match with Owens when you Can wrestle and not leave your feet because the fans are so happy to see they wont give a damn'
I was there and it was epic. It was almost half cheering the rock and half cheering hogan and then switching up during the match. Rock wins and then if I can recall Nash and hall turned on hogan and then the rock did a double take and then ran back into the ring and defended hogan. Felt Bad for HHH as his wwe championship match was pale in comparison to this match.
@@Gman44324 That must have been so epic. I know ""epic"' is overused these days buy I remember watching this on TV and I couldn't imagine being there. That's so cool for you man. I'm so jealous. In a good way.
We were all exhausted after this match. Being there was unreal! I remember turning to the random guy beside me who was cheering for the rock and I was cheering for hogan 😂😂. What a night!
@@Gman44324buddy, me too!! Huge! Remember Trish coming out in her Canadiana?? She definitely got one of the biggest pops of the night 😂. Fully agreed with the main event. We were all exhausted after rock and hogan
@@christomorpho i said the timing, moves, crowd play, and improvisation...all of that is a performance and was not how it was planned...they did the majority of that on the fly based on what the crowd did ...taking the "who wins is fixed" out of it, they showed an expert level of performance for their craft
@@christomorpho Literally everybody knows that. It doesn't matter and it never has. Every comic book, movie, and TV show you've ever seen is ALSO fake and people enjoy the shit out of them as well. Clearly "fake" isn't an important metric in entertainment, if it was then you'd never be able to enjoy anything....
Improvisation is literally the core of old school wrestling. Thats why all matches were so good. They were unique. They didnt rehearse their cheerleading routines like nowadays
@@djt8870Both Wrestlemanias did 1.2 ppv buy, but the pops and crowd engagement of wrestlemania 18 is unmatched, i loved cena vs rock, but for you to say that shows that’s your bias of which one you favor, and now looking back, hogan vs rock was a one off at wrestlemania, cena and rock did it again the very next year which makes it not as special, you’ll never find a match with a more live crowd than at wrestlemania 18, and at the end of the day that’s what determines how good something is in the wrestling
@dealerlicenseops There was nothing at all great about that eyesore of a match. Hogan limping around with a messed up leg and way past his prime . Stop it LOL
@@christiansoldier77 You are smoking some good ish. That was the best match ever: Crowd reaction, interaction, story telling, and hogan was 54 and in insanely good shape and could go. Add the rock in and you can't name a better match that ever happened on U.S. soil. Yeah yeah japan etc boring i've lived in Japan their stuff is boring garbage
Hogan got the biggest ever pop as a heel in Montreal for a smackdown show which was right after Wrestlemania 18. The plan was for Hogan to be boo'd everywhere he went but when he went to Montreal, they gave him a standing ovation close to 70 thousands fans for close to 20 minutes, where he simply had to drop the act for a few seconds just to thank everyone. Simply a great moment.
Started watching WWE (WWF) back in 1990 when Hulkamania was “running wild”… and I was only a kid. I remember this WM18 moment and I was just like a kid again going crazy! Just amazing
People legit have no idea how huge this was in Toronto. I didn't get to go into the actual building but myself and friends went to a bar right near Skydome and the bar and the street outside were electric and just insane! I never felt anything like it before! I looked around the bar and it was like being in the actual arena! People were cheering and glued to the tv!!! Toronto was a buzz for one of the biggest things in pro wrestling history!
My favourite match of all time, it is probably impossible to get a crowd like that now because you still had that adult male attitude era crowd as the domimant demographic, essentially sports fans, whereas now it is more of a nerdy fanbase and most people are on their phone all night. Everyone was in the moment there. The noise for Hogan's entrance in this match still gives me chills.
Now that I'm older just realizing how historic moments like WM 18 was. Families have grown up watching wrestling (sports)that's why it's so impactful !
This was a fantastic podcast. I would say that Hulk Hogan is one of the 5 most recognizable people in the world. One of the few people you can genuinely call a legend.
I was a fan of the Hulkster in early early 80’a he wore blue trunks like 79-80 and have been still routing for him ever since , he was the reason I became a wrestling fan !! Thank you so much for the decades of entertainment sir true legend !!!
Guys like Hulk at the top top top, get shown the ratings and numbers, of course austin and rock had something to do with it, but he is speaking from a pure numbers on paper standpoint, and it was shown to everyone, the tyson moment is what turned it around for WWE , followed by 2 of the GOATS popping up on the scene as well
@@dan7291ableoh come on dude Tyson was there for wm 14. Dude wm 15 buildup that rock and stone cold rivalry with Vince as the perfect villain was the story line that did it
I was in the arena and never heard a crowd like that before in any event. At times, you could only hear the people close to you if that makes sense. There was this constant echo of cheers in the crowd. You could hear the echo bounce around the arena.
Man it's awesome to see hulk Hogan doing good in life and thriving. All the wrestlers that have came and went passed away thru the years. Hogan went thru his ups and downs and his story about being on the fentanyl that was crazy ASF..Keep it up Hogan yur the man we need you out here especially wrestling fans he's one of the goats.
There's only a few people who are this big in the world that can go anywhere and has a huge amount of fans that come out after then, Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson & Hulk Hogan! What a legend!!
I loved wrestling as a kid. My mom told me what wrestling was right away. My son discovered wrestling when he was in grade school and I had to give him the "it's not real" talk. At the end of the day wrestling is just a TV show. It's a mix of live stunts, comedy and drama.
Still the best Wrestlemania match of all time. The fact the Hogan came back after 10+ years as a heel, the crowd was not having it that they had to improvise!
It was pretty wild getting to experience that match (Rock vs Hogan WM18) as a kid. I couldn’t believe with how popular The Rock was at that point in time, that the crowd was actually booing him while cheering for the heel, Hogan. It really hammered home to me just how much love the fans had for the ol’ Hulkster and what he meant to them.
I've only been to 1 single Wrestling Event Live in person and it was back in the late 80s at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island and the Main Event was Hulk Hogan vs Bad News Brown. Omg every single person in the place was on their feet yelling and cheering as loud as they possibly could for Hulk Hogan as soon as the Real American theme music came on and he came out through those curtains the place went legit nuts. It was a moment in time I will not forget for the rest of my life. Louder than a Monster Truck Jam. Thousands of people screaming their heads off at the same time. The smile on my face went from ear to ear. Hulk Hogan was considered a real life Super Hero. 💪😎👍
Wrestling was the shiny star of many peoples childhood. I never got into it but I love how passionate adults are when they reminisce about stuff like that. It’s not for me but I’m glad it’s given joy to many people out there.
My son and his good friend were really heavy into those wrestling matches back around 1997 and 98 when my son was 16 and 17 . He would watch over at his friend's house and they had a blast ... I got invited to hang out and watch their and I regret that I never did go .
Man Summer 1998 was so fucking iconic! I remember school was out so I could sleep in till 11am every day, then man the Monday Night Wars on one end Stone Cold’s first run as the top guy on Raw and the red vs white war over at Nitro and then MJ and the Bulls’ last hurrah. The music was fucking 🔥 too during this time. Not to mention the N64 and PS1. That summer was a Golden Era in and of itself.
Single handedly one of the greatest moments in wrestling history. The Hulking up to the leg drop… the place was ready to EXPLODE!! I wish they would have given it to Hulk that night.
They gave him the choice to win and Vince came up to him at the last second before he went out and said "Are you sure" and Hogan said "let's put him over." Hulk talked about this in 2006, and said that Rock had a movie coming out and that this will skyrocket his career. Fast forward 17 years and he's one of the biggest action movie stars out there.
@@carinitolafountain5978 yeh thats how it went, Hulk already knew this kind of game from doing it for other wrestlers as part of story arks.... not many would have the composure or generosity for a move like that but how fukn great was it!!
@@Mountaineer87 im guessing youve seen it already, but that doco with Foley and Taker just chatting about hell in a cell is another HUGE high point in the game
That match had the pefecf mix of fans. 1. Canadians LOVE wrestling 2. Most of the adults there grew up in the sweet spot of WWE (mid Golden Era - full attitude Era!) ..... There's other moments that benefited from that sweet spot. 1. Takers Streak 2. Michaels vs Angle WM 21 match 3. Taker vs Michaels WM 25 4. WM 20 was probably most of our swan songs if we didn't leave at 17, 18, or 19. There's definitely more moments
Hulk Hogan will always be my goat for pro wrestling, no one can ever top what he did and how much he was able to make us kids in the 80's LOVE him. Thats why when he went "bad" it didnt matter, he was our guy.
Hogan was already a huge star and was returning "home" from WCW. So his arrival and some people excited to see him & others younger fans just seeing a legend was a special arrival as they toured cities. Hogan being a heel backfired. Regardless the heat that he was supposed to get was not important as he didn't need it either way. Everyone knew Rock vs Hogan was going to be one of the greatest matches of all time. And it was!!!
I'll never forget watching that match with a group of friends. For one night only, for one moment, it was just truly incredible. We had the volume cranked and it was just pure magic.
That match alone shows you how much of an icon Hogan is in wrestling. You had the rock who was over like rover but he got booed out of the building that night.
Man this brought chills . That match was one of thee loudest ever !!! In the dvd release they said the audio was altered to lower the crowd noise to better hear the action and the announcers!
Unless you know, you don’t know. Growing up with Red and Yellow Hulk, then a teen during the N.W.O. Era when rebellion was cool… then simultaneously watching Rock and Stone Cold during the attitude era…this was Avengers: Endgame of pro wrestling.
@@janelwilliams9144 More like the alpha gamma than the average human. It’s like Kant, he only had incredible ideas or horrible ideas, but never mediocre ideas 😉
Been with Hogan through it all since those early days in late 70’s early 80’s. He captured my imagination as a little kid and all these many years later is still just as interesting and entertaining. There was something so American and patriotic about the Hulk that I am still hooked. Such an iconic character that just seeing Terry brings me a smile on my face. I am so stoked to see that he is wearing a John 3:16 shirt and really hope that Terry has experienced the love of Christ.
"He beat Andre The Giant with that move!" One of JR'S most underrated calls of his career. Now that Hogan and Flair has been on it's time for Cornette on the JRE!
I was there live!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cheered for hogan the crowd was INSANE for him it was so crazy . Im so beyond stoked to be there for one of the best matches in history. Going to wrestlemania has always been one of the coolest things ive been too 😁
Till this day my fav WM of all time goosebumps! I remember how u can twll Rock and Hulk had no idea the crowd would respond like tht as they looked back and forth. Cause after this WM hulk came back in the red and yellow in wwe
