15 Biggest False Narratives In Wrestling History
2. Hulk Hogan Was Not A Great Wrestler
Hulk Hogan is a bad human being, but he was a superb professional wrestler.
The idea of what constitutes a great wrestler is warped in general. While there’s no such thing as an objective truth about an art form, the other extreme is easily reached. Bryan Danielson is for example obviously a better pro wrestler than Tom Magee.
Dave Meltzer often takes this viewpoint a tad too far, but the only true way of measuring a wrestler’s ability on anything approaching an objective level - while still flawed - is in how much noise they generate.
Hulk Hogan generated overwhelming noise and emotion. His stuff in the US looked basic and legitimate. He convinced crowds everywhere that he, despite being a physical monster, was in mortal danger in his matches. Many of those matches were against obvious foe-of-the-month style losers, and yet Hogan was still able to conjure overwhelming drama.
He was a bit awkward and janky in his movements and very, very corny with his theatrical approach to crowd psychology, but he was a master at the craft of working the crowd and, obviously, was a colossus of a drawing card.
Hogan just got it in a way very few other wrestlers did.