Hulkamania ran wild over everyone when the wrestler claimed the WWF championship in “the world’s most famous arena.”
by Rich Watson
[The news of Hulk Hogan’s death has prompted me to push this piece up, even though I had it scheduled for late September. I’m keeping everything as is since the emphasis is on a period in his career, not his whole life. Please note that I’m not interested in discussing his politics.]
When World Wrestling Entertainment was still known as the World Wrestling Federation, the eighties was their time to shine. There were other wrestling leagues, with varying levels of recognition and popularity, but the organization, under the leadership of Vince McMahon, experienced unprecedented growth to the point where it’s a household name today.
The turning point was the ascension of its greatest champion, Hulk Hogan.
Let’s get ready to rumble!
Of course I was a wrestling fan in the eighties. A friend in fifth grade made me aware of it. At some point I noticed the WWF on TV and the matches, the storylines and the competitors sucked me in.
The wrestlers, managers, even the commentators were like comic book heroes and villains. Their confrontations were not unlike the Avengers battling the Masters of Evil, with the fate of, if not the world, then at least the championship belts, at stake. Favorites of mine included many of the familiar names: Randy “Macho Man” Savage, Junkyard Dog, the British Bulldogs, Jake “The Snake” Roberts.
I really liked Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat. Don’t know what in particular drew me to him. Perhaps he seemed more down-to-earth than a demigod like the Hulkster? Bottom line, he was a good guy and he had style. Simple. He’s probably best remembered for winning the Intercontinental Championship at Wrestlemania 3 in an epic match against Savage.
I’d watch WWF middays on Saturday, after cartoons. Never made it to a live match, partially because as a child, I never knew where and when they were held. I suppose I could’ve picked up a wrestling magazine and found out that way, but I wasn’t enough of a fan to make that move. Maybe because I knew wrestling wasn’t a sport like baseball was a sport, so seeing it live or on TV made no difference to me? I dunno.
You can’t imagine how larger than life the Hulkster was back then. One part Babe Ruth, one part John Wayne, one part Superman, he was the perfect hero for the eighties: a physique like Schwarzenegger or Stallone, the pro-America jingoism, the family-friendly appeal. He was the right celebrity at the right time.
He was what the WWF created him to be.
Hulk Hogan and the WWF
The former Terry Gene Bollea was born in Augusta, Georgia (no matter what the ring announcers may have said when introducing him) and moved to Tampa. In high school he played bass in a band and watched stars like Dusty Rhodes and Superstar Billy Graham live.
He also worked out.
A local tag team duo knew Hogan from his band and encouraged him to take up wrestling. He underwent training and toured throughout the southeast under various stage names.
At one point, when he was Terry Boulder, he appeared on a Memphis talk show with Lou Ferrigno. The host noticed how TV’s Incredible Hulk was small compared to the 6’7”, 295-pound wrestler. That was when he first referred to himself as “Hulk.”
In 1979 he joined the WWF, the organization begun by the McMahon family in 1953 as the Capital Wrestling Corporation. Head honcho Vince McMahon Sr. gave him the last name Hogan. In December of that year, Hogan first fought in MSG, as a bad guy, beating Ted DiBiase, before he became the “Million Dollar Man.” His rivalry with Andre the Giant began (they had a bout at Shea Stadium in 1980). Hogan also wrestled in Japan during the early eighties, and “Ichiban” was, indeed, big in Japan.
When Hogan appeared in the movie Rocky III in 1982, it was without McMahon Sr.’s approval. He released Hogan. He went to the American Wrestling Association and briefly won the championship there until use of a foreign object in the title match disqualified him.
McMahon Jr. bought the WWF from his father in 1982 and brought Hogan back a year later, as a good guy.
McMahon Jr. had plans for him.
In a January 7, 1984 bout, Hogan saved Bob Backlund from a triple-team by the Wild Samoans. The former champion endorsed Hogan and quickly, the stage was set for a title match, to be fought at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Madison Square Garden and wrestling
All four incarnations of MSG have held wrestling matches, throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
The modern version opened at its current location, at Eighth Avenue and 33rd Street, in 1968. The above-ground sections of the original Penn Station had to be demolished, an act that even today is remembered by New Yorkers with outrage and regret at the loss of such a monumental architectural landmark.
In 1971, in the first hundred-thousand-dollar gate in New York, Bruno Sammartino beat Blackjack Mulligan, plus Gorilla Monsoon and Pedro Morales beat Luke Graham and Tarzan Tyler in a tag-team match. Others who have competed at 33rd Street include Backlund, Andre, and Superstar Billy Graham.
Here is a highly-recommended article about wrestling at MSG during the seventies and early eighties, written by a fan.
Also in 1984, the four streets surrounding MSG were renamed Joe Lewis Plaza, after the legendary boxer who fought at the old MSG.
Hogan’s title match and the WWF’s future
The heavyweight champion in the WWF at the time was the Iron Sheik, an Iranian whose career dated back to the early seventies. He had beaten Backlund at MSG in December.
Over a decade ago, McMahon Sr. had Sammartino’s championship reign end to a foreigner, the Russian Ivan Koloff, only to lose a month later to Pedro Morales during a time of Cold War tensions. The Hogan-Sheik match came after the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-81, the presidential election of Ronald Reagan, and an increase in American patriotism. Thus McMahon Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps by employing the same strategy to usher in his appointed new champion.
Ironically, the Sheik was a coach on the 1972 US Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling team.
The Hogan-Sheik match on January 23 didn’t take very long in the end.
A rumor that the Sheik was offered $100,000 to break Hogan’s leg has been disavowed.
You know what followed: the movies, the Saturday morning cartoon, the theme song, the MTV connection, and the rise in popularity of wrestling in general. In 1985, Hogan returned to MSG with mainstream celebrities such as Mr. T, Muhammad Ali, Cyndi Lauper, baseball manager Billy Martin, even Liberace, to hold an event that has become a annual tradition nationwide called WrestleMania.
The Iron Sheik was there too.
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Also in 1984:
- The US wins 174 medals, 83 gold, at the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
- The Detroit Tigers win the World Series in five games.
- The Chicago Bulls draft Michael Jordan, from the University of North Carolina.
- Martina Navratilova wins the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open.
- Swale wins the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes.
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Were you at MSG when Hulk Hogan won the WWF championship? Leave a comment and let me know!
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