Hulk Hogan is the most famous wrestler in history, but its hard to argue that he stuck on a bit too long. A bit is probably putting it nicely. You can only imagine how many casual fans over the years asked What? Hes still around? Even in 1996, when he joined the NWO, he had been on the national scene over a decade, and was into his 40s. Still, the man had drawing power, and helped WCW overcome his former employer for a brief time. While in the WWF, Hogan was never a great worker. He was in many classic matches, but it was more charisma than workrate that made them so well remembered. Due to a string of injuries and advancing age, he was a below average worker by the time he jumped ship to WCW. By the time he went back to WWE, he was largely immobile. And by the time he wrestled a couple matches in TNA...well he was basically incapable of doing anything resembling wrestling. When He Should Have Hung Up The Tights: After WrestleMania 18. Sure, we would have missed out on the awesomely ridiculous Shawn Michaels vs. Hulk Hogan match at SummerSlam 2004, but we would have been saved from the TNA matches. Hogan could have had that last great spectacle match, and avoided the ridiculous Mr. America nonsense too. Its also highly likely that his body would be in better shape today.
As Rust Cohle from True Detective said "Life's barely long enough to get good at one thing. So be careful what you're good at."
Sadly, I can't solve a murder like Rust...or change a tire, or even tie a tie. But I do know all the lyrics to Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme song and can easily name every Natural Born Thriller from the dying days of WCW. I was once ranked 21st in the United States in Tetris...on the Playstation 3 version...for about a week.
Follow along @AndrewSoucek and check out my podcast at wrestlingwithfriends.com
