wrestling / Columns

411 Fact or Fiction Wrestling: Will Hogan Ever Return to WWE?

July 31, 2015 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome back to the latest edition of 411 Fact or Fiction, Wrestling Edition! Stuff happened, people loved/hated it and let everyone else know. I pick through the interesting/not so interesting tidbits and then make 411 staff members discuss them for your pleasure. Battling this week are Kevin Pantoja and Nick Marsico!

  • Questions were sent out Monday.
  • Participants were told to expect wrestling-related content, as well as possible statements on quantum physics, homemade pharmaceuticals, the Turtle Total Trip Theorem, pizza and hydroponics.

     photo hulk-hogan_zpsb1wvbfyx.jpg

    1. Hulk Hogan will be back in the WWE fold within the next three years.

    Kevin Pantoja: FACT – Outside of Chris Benoit, everybody has come back to the WWE. Yes, what Hulk Hogan said was bad and the same thing pretty much ruined Paul Deen’s career, but this is the WWE. They’ve forgiven worse and they’ll eventually bring Hogan back on board. Granted, I 100% agree with their decision to distance themselves from him. I know I missed out on discussing the Hogan situation with the rest of the staff but I am with the WWE. As a publicly traded company there was no way they could be connected to Hogan. I do think that removing Hulk Hogan’s Rock n’ Wrestling from the WWE Network was a bit excessive though. Regardless, Hogan messed up but once this blows over and people get tired of talking about it, Hogan will slowly be back. Maybe not in a prominent role, but we’ll see him in some shape or form in the next few years.

    Nick Marsico: FICTION – He’ll likely be back, but McMahon will definitely make sure to significantly distance himself and his company from the situation. We’ve seen in the past that he has no problem with parting ways with Hulk for years at a time for reasons far lesser than a possible PR nightmare. Since they are all about keeping the stockholders happy and trying to appear as community-friendly as possible, Hogan will be persona non grata for at least 5 years. Will there be talks behind the scene and off the record? Perhaps. At this point we’re more likely to see Scott Steiner back in WWE in three years than we are to see Mister Hogan. If Triple H gets full control of the company before Hogan comes back into the fold then I wouldn’t be shocked if we never saw Hulk again. I wouldn’t miss him and he’s a waste of time anyway. He’s in the Hall of Fame and he wasn’t part of a legendary tag team or stable so he’s not going to be getting in a second time like Ric Flair, so there isn’t much reason to trot him back out in front of the camera. Maybe he’ll make an appearance at the historic WrestleMania 40. As of now, the WrestleMania XXX spotlight he did with Rock and Austin is the best way to remember his last major appearance. Tough Enough will be forgotten before the series even ends.

     photo ROH_zpsp2utvu86.jpg

    2. ROH losing their 8PM airing on Destination America ensures that when their 26-episode deal is up with the network that they will not be back.

    Kevin Pantoja: FICTION – I went fiction due to the wording. I don’t think that the move ensures that the deal is up. It’s not a good sign at all, especially given the fact that the viewership has declined. I’ve seen some people blame Jay Lethal but I don’t think that’s the case. I think what kind of hurt their numbers is the fact that ROH never treated Destination America as their channel. DA gets the Sinclair network shows from earlier in the week. That can sometimes be a hindrance since I know a fair amount of torrenters who just download the show beforehand. Or, you can be like me and not get DA, so you use your ROH login information and see it online. Anyway, no I don’t think this ensures that the deal is up, but I don’t think it’s looking very good either, for multiple reasons.

    Nick Marsico: FACT – It has less to do with ROH’s underperformance in the ratings (and to a lesser extent the same goes for TNA, who I doubt will make it a full year on Destination America) and more with Destination America having no idea what they were getting into. They got both shows because they could air them on the cheap (or so I’ve read) and figured that both would give them a bump in the viewership of other shows on the channel. That appears to not be the case, so the lower priority goes first. I doubt ROH will be kicking themselves for losing the slight extra exposure. It was a very low risk transaction for Joe Koff and company, which gave them TV in some of the markets that they aren’t in syndication yet, but it wasn’t going to do much for business.

     photo Summerslam_zpszlehtcic.jpg

    3. WWE making Summerslam a four-hour event is not a good idea.

    Kevin Pantoja: FACT – I know that a lot of people will use the “why would a wrestling fan be against more wrestling” line but I don’t think that’s going to be the case here. Adding an extra hour to SummerSlam more than likely means that it will be taken up by a either a celebrity cameo, musical performance that nobody wants to see or an overly long in ring segment, like the Rock’s from this past WrestleMania. To me, it also kind of lessens WrestleMania. WrestleMania being four hours was special. Also, with the addition of long pre-shows to these events, it’s a potential five to six hour affair. Unfortunately, I have to work until 730PM on most Sundays so that cuts out a lot of the show for me. Lastly, there are rumors that the NXT TakeOver event the night before will be three hours. That is a ton of wrestling to make time for and it might not make the event any better.

    Nick Marsico: FICTION – In the end it doesn’t really matter because it’s one show. If they were going to be switching RAW to four hours then you would see me running up and down the streets flailing my arms everywhere like one of Bailey’s wacky waving inflatable arm-flailing tube men. Likely while screaming profanities in a language I don’t even know. I just wrote an article about this very subject, actually, essentially attempting to make the point that adding 60 minutes to turn SummerSlam into a four hour event and using that as the gateway to make it feel like a mid-year version of WrestleMania is a fine idea. They already do a mini version of Axxess (although that could have just been a Los Angeles thing) and they are moving it away from LA for the first time in 6 years. That makes it something of a destination event. It’s in New York City on the outskirts of Manhattan and it’s the first time the show is running in the high-profile new Barclays Center. All of the pieces are there, especially with Brock vs. The Undertaker on top. The last time ‘Taker wrestled on a PPV that wasn’t WrestleMania was all the way back at Bragging Rights in October 2010. That’s a long time. It’s also been over 2 years since he last wrestled on a non-WrestleMania show when he took on Dean Ambrose on SmackDown in April 2013. Put all of those pieces together along with what appears to be shaping up to be a good card from a wrestling standpoint and I think going four hours has the chance to be very successful. I’m actually looking forward to seeing what they do and how they pull it off.

    SWITCH!

     photo Rollins_zpsirksrdmf.jpg

    4. Seth Rollins has been horribly booked as the WWE Champion.

    Nick Marsico: FACT – It’s been a mess. The only time he looked competent was the incredibly short period of time when he denounced the entire Authority and came away from a ladder match still the WWE Champion. I was really hoping that him telling them all that he could do it on his own was going to lead to a push similar to what Triple H got in 2000 — instead it’s just more of the same. Triple H and Stephanie say they are 100% behind him but it’s obviously not the case as they take advantage of him and undermine him constantly. When reality struck and Brock Lesnar became his next challenger, suddenly all of the people who apparently hated his guts are sacrificing themselves for him. It doesn’t make sense and it also makes him look like a far bigger chickenshit than the prototypical chickenshit heel. He almost literally begged The Authority, one by one, to take him back. They ran a Dusty finish for his second title defense, giving Dean Ambrose a clean victory over him that he was only able to get overturned because mommy and daddy are in charge. May was way, way, way too early to run that type of angle with a guy who is already perceived to be a paper champion. And then on the next show he didn’t even get a fully clear victory, since both men fell off the ladder holding the belt! I have no freakin’ clue what their intentions are, but unless they are going for ‘make Seth Rollins look like a complete tool whenever and however possible’, they are failing miserably. He’s like Edge just without the cool factor or the pronounced true vicious side.

    Kevin Pantoja: FICTION – There goes that wording again. Has Seth Rollins been booked good as WWE Champion? Nope. Has it been horrible? Not quite. I don’t mind him being the guy who needs help but takes all of the credit for the wins. He’s fantastic as the scumbag heel. My main issues with his booking has been him looking like a bitch against Kane and him tapping out cleanly against John Cena on Raw. Bad moves both times. Besides that he’s been on and off. Against Randy Orton, he didn’t look very good, but against Dean Ambrose, he was much better. Not only were the matches better but he even won relatively cleanly at Money in the Bank. It’s as if the company isn’t sure how they want to portray him. He goes from running from Kane to beating Ambrose and one night he has Triple H by his side then a week later, Triple H is acting like a face and telling him to man up. It’s hasn’t been horrible, but it hasn’t been good either.

     photo Jeff Jarrett_zpszriz44vm.jpg

    5. Considering the lack of buzz for their debut TV taping and the fact that no distribution deal has been announced, Global Force Wrestling will never actually develop into any kind of significant wrestling promotion.

    Nick Marsico: FICTION – This is a tough one to answer, but I’m going with fiction because I still believe that the smart money (or at least the most money) is in having TNA become Global Force after losing the invasion angle. The entire angle is hurt by the fact that GFW already has multiple weeks of TV in the can and TNA is taping so far in advance that by the time this week is over none of the non-local wrestlers will have to show up in Orlando until 2016. Is Jarrett going to run his show on the Global Force website? Does he have a deal but for some ass backwards reason he’s sitting on it and waiting for who knows when to announce it? I think Jarrett is going to buy out TNA; they will go throt then they can start fresh with most of the TNA stink off of them. I don’t know what they are going to do and how they plan to get there, but it promises to be an entertaining journey whether it’s on screen, backstage or both.

    Kevin Pantoja: FACT – I simply cannot see Global Force Wrestling becoming anything of note. The last time Jeff Jarrett started a promotion, it actually managed to have a long shelf life but there’s a big difference between TNA and GFW. One of the main things is money. TNA has, for the most part, been backed financially, despite how poor it has done. GFW doesn’t have that safety net. Now, I’m not saying that it won’t last, because it’s possible the company could stick around for more than a few years. I just don’t expect it to make a significant mark on the wrestling industry. More than likely GFW will kind of just be there.

     photo Triplemania_zpszqq6aogw.jpg

    6. You are excited that AAA’s TripleMania event will be available on traditional US PPV with English commentary.

    Nick Marsico: FACT – It’s always good for non-US promotions to get exposure in the United States. New Japan has the deal on AXS TV with English commentary from the great Mauro Ranallo and it’s fantastic. Lucha Underground is a show based in the US but features a ton of wrestlers from Mexico and it is easily the most consistent wrestling show on television. Now we get AAA’s version of WrestleMania not only available, but available with English commentary to help those unfamiliar with the luchadores get some background information so they aren’t completely lost. There will be some familiar faces, with Rey Mysterio taking on Mysteziz, formerly known as Sin Cara formerly known as Mistico. Alberto El Patron will be there against Brian Cage in a match that will likely be surprising to people unfamiliar with Cage and for me the main draw is the triple threat trios match for the Trios Tag Team Titles. That’s a 9-man tag match. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do with this event and I’m curious to find out if Matt Striker and Hugo Savinovich will have any chemistry in the booth. It will be weird to hear Hugo calling a match in English, too.

    Kevin Pantoja: FICTION – Yea, I probably should be excited for this but honestly I’m not. At the start of 2015, I made it a point to get back into watching more promotions other than the WWE. I’ve gotten into or back into watching NJPW, ROH, TNA and Lucha Underground to name a few. I just don’t have the time for TripleMania. I won’t be ordering it but if I hear good things about it, I’ll do my best to find a way to see it. It’s just not something I would consider myself pumped for. Despite my lack of excitement, I will admit that some of the card looks good. The Mysterio dream match could be really good or really bad, while I always like seeing Alberto El Patron and La Parka. I’m much more interested in Ultima Lucha.