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/wrestling /guests /Carlin |
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/wrestling /guests /Carlin |
| Guest Columns | Chuck Carlin |
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HULK HOGAN SHMULK HOGAN Hello, it's Chuck again. Pistachio cake is really good. Trust me. Fist, I Get Letters! Ok, never mind. I don't get that many letters. Well, not from readers of this column at least. Maybe my opinions just aren't harsh enough. Maybe nobody disagrees with me. Maybe my readers are really lazy. I know I am. Last Monday, I tried out my little drinking game during Raw, and found it very effective. Something occurred to me while watching RAW last Monday. Maybe if I was really really REALLY drunk, maybe then Nitro would be watchable. But I don't want to watch Nitro, so somebody else try this out and write back to me. During the first hour of Nitro (well I had to watch SOMETHING) I saw something that scared me. A kid that I can only assume is one of the kids that hangs around Hogan's house and tells him what is cool, offered him a red and yellow outfit to wear. Later on he (Hogan) wore it. Now keep in mind that back in the day, I was the stereotypical mid 80's Hulk fan. I got excited whenever WWF would show the end of the MSG match against the Iron Sheik. I got happy at the end of WM3, and sad at the end of the next year's Friday Night's Main Event on NBC, you know with Dave Hebner's evil twin, Earl. (Anyone else find it odd that the head referee at the WWF is Earl, and Dave isn't even an active ref any more? Hmmm...) So by all means of nostalgia, the kind of nostalgia that has me going to flea markets to buy things like a He-Man spoken word vinyl album and the Piledriver video, I SHOULD have had a reaction to the big return of Hulk, and the demise of Hollywood. But I didn't. Just "Oh look, the yellow and red. Is Raw on yet?" And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the big result of being a wrestling fan on today's internet. It's just that much harder to "mark out", especially to the likes of Hogan. The companies have to work harder to pull us in. We're a cynical bunch of cranky, bitter people that can't wait to crucify (oh I hope Bob Ryder doesn't read this) what we don't deem acceptable. Like Hogan. It turns out The British Bulldog just got signed by WWF. It's good to hear that, as I've been a fan of his for a long time, but I have some doubts about the whole situation. I hope WWF didn't just hire him as a ploy in their Hart lawsuit. Also, he was a solid power wrestler with a good fan following in his day, but now that WWF has a much more over the top attitude to it's characters, I'm not sure where a guy who's gimmick is "I'm British" fits in. I hope his physical condition is up to snuff, because when he's on he can really deliver some great matches. But that hasn't been for a while. In any case, good luck to him. He's got a lot of wrestling history backing him up, and it's good to see him back. I personally can't wait for the Rock/Jericho matches. Rock/HHH got real stale, and aside from Paul Wight, WWF hasn't made and real changes in their line up lately. So it will be good to see how Chris stirs things up. The only flaw that I saw in Monday's big debut was that while the Rock responded to Jericho's ramblings with the usual catch-phrases, Chris had no response other than to try to make his own head explode. But all in all it was a great intro for him that really established his character to everyone right off the bat. WWF saw that not everyone would instantly recognize Jericho, especially after his WCW de-push, so they built him back up. Take the hint, WCW. You can't just let Shane Douglas go in on his own ECW merits and expect the crowd to react. That approach worked for WWF when bringing in Paul Wight, because he was a headliner while WCW was on top, and people knew who he was. He WAS in The Waterboy, after all. Douglas, however, gained popularity in ECW, which is pretty obscure to the common wrestling fan. Speaking of Shane Douglas, doesn't it seem odd that they have Dusty Rhodes pushing a Flair/Douglas feud last Monday when all reports are that Ric Flair wants off TV for a while? Aw hell, doesn't it seem odd that Dusty Rhodes is just back? It looks like the boys down south are really grasping for straws. They're reverting back to mid-80's WWF worse now than ever. Way to bring in the new millennium guys. Whatever. That's all for now. Fell free to write me with questions/ concerns. And I'm still looking for a video tape of that Feb '88 NBC's Friday Night Main Event, so if anyone can help me out, PLEASE email me. Chuck Carlin Got really excited about finding a Mark Callaway autograph, and not just another Undertaker one. Mail the Author Visit my happy little funland |
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