They say history is written by the victors: the idea being that its only the last man standing whos left to tell the tale of what happened. Well, the history of professional wrestling in the US isnt really any different. The majority of casual Western wrestling fans in todays market are, for better or worse, WWE fans, whove grown up with WWEs subtle revisionist history as the truth, despite the efforts of genuine wrestling historians to correct matters. Now, Vince McMahon is many things: a self-made man, a self-promoter par excellence but a genius he is not, and he never has been. This isnt one of those articles that decries the current state of the WWE product and bemoans that the Vincent Kennedy McMahon of old isnt still here to save it. Im saying there was never a Vincent Kennedy McMahon of old at least not in the way weve all been told there was. Sceptical? Let me explain.
8. He Didnt Create Hulk Hogan Or Hulkamania
To begin with: everybody knows that eighties and nineties wrestling phenomenon Hulk Hogan hit it big in the World Wrestling Federation in 1984, leading to a massive boom in wrestlings mainstream popularity. Vince McMahon was responsible for making Hogan a star and ushering in Hulkamania. Thats a lovely story, but its a complete fiction. Hulk Hogan was a massive babyface star in Verne Gagnes American Wrestling Association from around 1982, having left his heel run in Vince McMahon Snrs WWF in 1981 when the old man wouldnt give him permission to film a small role in Rocky III. When the Rocky sequel was released in May 1982, the scene featuring Balboas exhibition charity bout with Thunderlips the wrestler made an almost instant star of Hogan, a status he capitalised on to create Hulkamania. The name, the ripping off of the shirts in the ring, the cupped ear, the playing to the crowd all were staples of Hogans babyface act in the AWA, along with national magazine covers and appearances on chat shows like this appearance on the massively successful Tonight Show with Johnny Carson on 15th June 1982, where he discusses the success of Hulkamania a full eighteen months before his WWF debut: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyGc-rJ2Vpg Verne Gagne, a man convinced that the way forward for the AWA was convincing technical showcases and traditional professional wrestling matches and feuds the old school refused to properly put over Hogan as the face of the promotion, despite the fact that he was clearly a huge star. Vince McMahon, on the other hand, did see the face of his new WWF in Hogans act, and signed it up wholesale in 1984 but none of it was his idea. Like the other wrestlers he cherry-picked and headhunted from rival promotions, Hulk Hogan was already a star.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
