I'm actually pretty on board with Sheamus' 2012 reign. The fact that he provided the 2/3 Falls Match against Bryan and the Big Show match at HiaC that same year is enough for me to classify it as pretty damn good.

 

More currently, Miz's 5th IC run was actually one of the best title reigns. He made DOLPH ZIGGLER seem relevant in 2016. That is impressive.

I'm always amazed by the fact that the AWA had ONE world title change from 1968 to 1980. Gagne held it from 68-75 and Bockwinkel from 75-80. And strangely enough the title was a total hot potato upto 1968 (Gagne's title win that year was the 24th change in 8 years).

 

 

I'm a huge believer in Hogan's first title run. He proved that overwhelming charisma could overcome underwhelming ring work and make a shitload of money.

 

Dude, There wasn't anything underwhelming about Hogan's ring work during that first reign, especially the first year.

I would say his ringwork was good until you hit 87 and he got really formula. I know when I watched a lot of house shows from this era he was in the best or the second best match of the night. There were good matches with Muraco, Savage, Orndorff, Bundy, Orton and even random TV stuff with Johnny Rodz. The Piper matches always disappointed but I put that on Piper more than I do Hogan.

 

I guess "underwhelming" was the wrong word. It's just that I've always felt that Hogan, even before he got settled into the formula, was a little to kick-punch for my liking. I've seen a tiny bit of his early 80's Japan stuff, and he was just so much better there. (I know everyone says that, I just felt the need to point it out again, because maybe that horse is still breathing a little.) He definitely worked to the level of his opponent when he was there with Muraco, Savage, Orndorff, and the rest. Piper had a tendency to drag him down, but the charisma was able to overcome the sub-par in-ring product. It was the same with Studd, Bundy, and even Andre. I don't think Hogan was bad in the ring by any stretch, I just will never be blown away by his technical prowess. He told great stories in the ring, at least until he started constantly telling the same one over and over again, and to me, that's what made his first title reign probably the best ever.

Hogan was very much like how the Undertaker was the early 90s. Not the greatest worker, but was stuck with so many lumps of shit there wasn't going to be much he could do.

I suspect Hogan was working such an insane schedule that if he didn't adapt to working a simple formula, he would crash and burn. They were literally flying him to multiple time zones in the same day.

As is my tendency, I dug a little deeper and looked at Hogan's defenses during the first reign. He had a steady diet of really solid opponents from 1984 through mid '87, then it became a parade of stiffs.

 

In 1984, he had defenses against Masked Superstar, Iron Sheik, Paul Orndorff, David Shultz, John Studd, Tiger Chung Lee, Afa, Sika, Greg Valentine, Moondog Rex, George Steele, Bob Orton, Kamala, El Canek, Jesse Ventura, Mr. Fuji, Roddy Piper, Nikolai Volkoff, Terry Gibbs, and Brutus Beefcake

 

1985: Johnny Rodz, Tatsumi Fujinami, Beefcake, Piper, Orndorff, Ken Patera, Orton, Don Muraco, Studd, Volkoff, King Kong Bundy, Valentine, Randy Savage, Rusty Brooks, and Terry Funk

 

1986: Orton, Bundy, Savage, Muraco, Moondog Spot, Adrian Adonis, Orndorff, Hercules, and Kamala (most of this year was split between Savage and Orndorff)

 

in 1987, it starts okay, with Hercules, Kamala, Orndorff, Bundy, Andre the Giant, Harley Race, Orton, and Savage, through August, then in the middle of the year, it just falls off the table with One Man Gang, Killer Khan, and Sika.

 

There's more matches with Bundy, and a few with Ted DiBiase and a one-off with Butch Reed, but it really looks like they were just totally out of guys for Hogan to go up against by the time he lost the title. They had Rick Rude, who wasn't ready, Bigelow wasn't ready, and Hogan had beaten everyone else in the company. What were they going to do, turn Hillbilly Jim heel?

Hogan was very much like how the Undertaker was the early 90s. Not the greatest worker, but was stuck with so many lumps of shit there wasn't going to be much he could do.

Substitute Hogan with early 80s Andre in that statement and it's a fair comparison, but if you're comparing early 90s Taker to first reign Hogan I really don't see it. He actually faced a who's who of great performers during that time, more than held up his end of things, and was in several awesome matches

Are Gang, Khan and Sika really stiffs? Certainly not the Gang who was actually a good worker.

Sika is. Khan was getting old at this point and OMG seemed content to cash his paycheck and nothing more in the WWF.

The Gang matches are fine (albeit on the lower end in comparison to the ones vs Kamala, Bossman, Earthquake, and Bundy for big guys), and Hogan always lists him as one of his favorite opponents and best big guy workers ever. I remember their short Nitro match was decent, have to go back and watch their WWF stuff. I may have only seen the Paul Boesch show and after he'd switched to Akeem. I really enjoy the Sika SNME match quite a bit. Khan was basically selling the mist by that point, which Hogan certainly did his part to get over on the Snake Pit even if the matches themselves weren't great.

Great points on Hogan. He definitely slows down a lot through the summer of 87 in terms of match quality but I would argue it's not until he comes back from filming NHB that he really goes into uber formula mode. But a great deal of even that is not on Hogan it's due to a much more standardized house show card from 88 on.

Honestly, at that point what motivation would Hogan have to work any harder than the minimum?

The best that I've seen in my lifetime were Kobashi's NOAH run where he put a dying industry on his back and carried it for 2 and a half years and RVD's TV title run where he put a dying company on his back and carried it for 2 and a half years. Those were reigns that carried a company. I don't think its any coincidence that right after Kobashi dropped the belt to Rikio wrestling in Japan turned to shit and hasn't really bounced back. And as soon as RVD got hurt ECW fell apart. Right now it feels like Okada is keeping New Japan propped up and as soon as he drops it to Omega the bottom might fall out.

Sika is. Khan was getting old at this point and OMG seemed content to cash his paycheck and nothing more in the WWF.

I was driving around today at work thinking this exact thing. Gang was a great monster heel in World Class and Mid-South, but he was content to squash jobbers and lay down for Hogan by the time he got the to the WWF. I imagine that he would have been an HUGE draw as an opponent if he'd been there in 85 or 86. Sika was in his early 40's and was slowing down pretty quickly; Killer Khan was also 40 in 1987, and 40 back then was a lot older for a wrestler than it is now. Khan retired right after his run with Hogan, so at least he went out on top.