Numerous Hulk Hogan tributes have dropped the leg during the last day or so, however none have hit me more durable than what The Rock posted this morning. The most important film star on the planet simply posted a video and prolonged tribute to his WrestleMania X8 opponent, and as an enormous wrestling fan, it’s troublesome to get by means of with out getting emotional.
For these of you exterior the wrestling bubble, Hulk Hogan and The Rock had one of the vital well-known and beloved wrestling matches within the historical past of the enterprise all the way in which again in 2002. The Rock was the ascending star, in his prime and able to grow to be the face of your complete enterprise. Hulk Hogan was almost fifty and slowing down. The 2 placed on a basic that’s nonetheless cited because the WrestleMania customary for crowd response to this present day. You possibly can take a look at The Rock’s submit beneath…
Each time anybody asks me to clarify skilled wrestling and why I find it irresistible a lot, I exploit this match, Hulk Hogan and The Rock at WrestleMania X8, as the instance. In a single nook, you may have The Hulkster, the Eighties icon who made skilled wrestling cool however by 2002, was effectively previous his prime. Within the different nook, you may have The Rock, a mega-star very a lot in his prime however who hadn’t but reached the heights of Hogan.
Wrestling is at its finest when it offers you these clear contrasts, when it makes you select between two competing visions of the place issues are going to go. Do you need to see The Hulkster keep on prime just a little longer and relive the nostalgia, or do you need to see the torch handed to the following era and The Rock grow to be the face {of professional} wrestling?
You possibly can hear within the video how a lot followers care. You possibly can hear what number of in Toronto that day and tens of millions extra watching at residence needed to hold on to The Hulkster for just a bit bit longer as a result of they knew, in some small manner, if he misplaced, it could be over. He did lose, and whereas he wrestled for a lot of extra years, he by no means wrestled in a match that mattered that a lot on a stage that large. It was the tip of an period, and The Rock has incessantly referenced it as one of many moments that made him.
That’s skilled wrestling, and nobody will ever symbolize wrestling greater than Hulk Hogan. Ric Aptitude could have received extra world championships. The Rock and John Cena could have achieved much more in Hollywood. Many, many guys could have surpassed his technical in-ring talent, however nobody has ever made extra folks flip and have a look at skilled wrestling than Hulk Hogan. Nobody has ever been capable of get extra folks to tune in and care about what’s occurring. Greater than 30 million folks watched The Hulkster and Andre The Large on community TV within the late 80s as a result of he made folks care.
The Rock grew up within the wrestling enterprise, however you’ll be able to inform from his story about catching Hulk’s headband that, like tens of millions and tens of millions of youngsters within the 80s, he was in awe of Hulkamania. Hogan was on a unique degree. He was the primary occasion and the attraction folks got here to see, and he constructed a particular bond with a major share of youngsters of a sure age. He made them really feel one thing watching wrestling, and finally, that’s your complete level.
When you learn plenty of tributes from followers, so lots of them are the identical. They had been a child within the 80s, they went to a reside present and so they had some tiny interplay with Hogan that mattered a lot. They caught his headband or gave him a excessive 5 or noticed him on the grocery retailer and he took a second to be sort and work together. A long time later, they nonetheless keep in mind, and as wrestling followers, we’ll always remember how he made us really feel.
I can not wait to observe The Rock and Hogan at WrestleMania X8 and relive the glory later as we speak.