The WCW Conspiracy Iceberg EXPLAINED!
7. Hulk Hogan Sabotaged Kidman
By the late 1990s, hardcore fans were fed up with the ancient WCW headliners.
Hulk Hogan’s act only worked when he was really over, and in 1998 and beyond, his heel act had waned, and WCW fans never took to the red n’ yellow. Kevin Nash was visibly embarrassed by the idea of trying in such a failing laughing stock of a company. He wasn’t even trying to protect his aura or trying to look tough at the expense of another wrestler; he was simply too cool in his own mind to bother. Scott Hall was a mess. Randy Savage was an immobile muscle monster drained of his charisma. He performed, felt, and even looked like a member of the nWo B-team. Ric Flair’s act, no matter how familiar, was always popular - but he was the exception.
Even worse, WCW had morphed into a rinky-dink imitation of the WWE Attitude Era. The old wrestlers were even more boring, and there was less ring time than ever on Nitro - all of which ignited a fervent desire to see the cruiserweights propelled up the card. It was always a naive idea. That division was perfectly configured for the undercard. But times really were desperate, and it wasn’t unreasonable for paying fans to want to watch more of what they liked.
The WCW headliners were aware of the brewing sentiment, and naturally lashed out. Kevin Nash famously coined the line “vanilla midgets” in a bid to undermine the smaller, exciting wrestlers, and if one conspiracy theory is to be believed, Hulk Hogan went one step further. It is thought, in some circles, that he only agreed to work a meta programme with Billy Kidman in 2000 so that fans would realise that it would not work and shut them up for good. It didn’t work - the Slamboree match was just plain odd - and this was exactly the sort of thing that Hogan would do, wasn’t it? Also: the storyline only happened after Hogan had trashed Kidman on the radio countless times when asked about the cruisers and their brief TV time.
If you remember the match, though, Hogan did seem to try and make it work. It didn’t feel right or “credible”, but that was always going to be the case. Hogan took a hurricanrana, which looked shockingly good, and the man who specialised in making opponents look awful - see: his terrible non-attempt to go up for the Undertaker’s choke slam at WWE Judgment Day 2002 - was not up to his usual tricks.