Fall From Grace

Pakistan was not exactly a hot bed of pro wrestling in the early 90s. It really caught the attention of the Pakistani public during the Monday Night Wars with the introduction of cable and the plethora of extra international TV channels which were unheard of before. But this story is not of the Monday Night Wars. This is of a time before that when the only wrestler one had heard of was a big muscular guy donned in red and yellow. He would sport a big blond handle-bar moustache and would rip up his shirt when entered the ring. His name was Hulk Hogan. 

There was no doubt that Hogan was perhaps, the most charismatic and popular wrestler of the time. Sure, there were other wrestlers who were way better (Savage, Bret Hart come to mind) and there were others who were better as characters as well (Ric Flair, but he did not have the hype machine of the WWF). However, there was no doubt, Hogan was the man who put WWF on the map. 

I was really young at the time and would actually believe he was superhuman; especially when he would 'hulk' up in the ending stages of his match and suddenly become invincible. He would absorb a couple of punches, point at his opponent, and one big boot and leg drop later; would win the match. His mantra of saying your prayers and eating your vitamins was obviously targeted towards kids. However, a few years later, those same kids were beginning to grow up and started to resent him. That is when Bash at the Beach 1996 happened where the world experienced the greatest heel turn in pro wrestling history. Hulk Hogan became cool again. 

The point is that Hogan was one of the most important wrestling personalities in history. There was a time when there was absolutely no doubt that his face would be on the Mount Rushmore of wrestling. That has obviously changed. I will not be able to list down his controversies and lies (his audition for Metallica, him working for '400' days in a year, how he lost his height because of his surgeries, his political games within WWE and WCW, his racist rants) throughout the years but it is quite apparent that fans have not forgiven him. And that does not seem to be changing any time soon. His appearance on WWE Raw's debut on Netflix testified that fact. 

Another very obvious example is that of Ric Flair. He was untouchable. As Jim Ross stated in Vice's Dark Side of the Ring - Plane Ride of Hell: 'Flair was a made man'. It was no secret that he lived his character. The Plane Ride of Hell incident was played out in a comedic manner on one of the snippets on the WWE Network (I forget the name of the program). However, the same incident was presented by Vice in a more serious manner by one of the stewardesses who were affected by it. And it was not only Ric Flair who was ostracized but it was also Tommy Dreamer who tried defending him. 

This just shows that it does not take long for a person to lose their credibility. Maybe this is something for future stars to consider in their careers. It only takes a couple of bad decisions to reduce your decades long reputation to tatters. Maybe something to think about.....