I've said this about Heenan but it applies to Okerlund just as much, but that the WWF lost way more in the both of them in 1993 than almost any other wrestler leaving except Hogan.

Even when he was in WCW, getting long in the tooth and maybe a little inebriated, he was still miles ahead of anybody else suited for the job. 

Unlike Hogan, wasn't it the WWE's decision to let Gene and Bobby go? I've always wondered what the hell Vince was thinking. 

Vince thought they were too old and their salaries were too high. Also, the WWF wanted both of them to move to Connecticut to save on travel expenses and they both refused.

I'm reading Guy Evans' Nitro book now (though I suppose this means I'm a typical PWO-ite, living in the past), and there's a chapter about WCW's internet ventures. Gene isn't interviewed, but he is mentioned specifically by the internet producers as one of the old school guys who got on board with the live chats and such. Once he got on board, his opinion mattered quite a bit and many of the bigger stars started embracing the whole thing. Interesting stuff I've never heard before.

So, WWE announced that Hulk Hogan will appear on RAW this Monday to honor Mean Gene Okerlund.

30 minutes ago, SirEdger said:

So, WWE announced that Hulk Hogan will appear on RAW this Monday to honor Mean Gene Okerlund.

I'm sure people here will have a problem with it (for obvious reasons), but it's honestly the perfect way to use Hogan.

I hope Flair also shows up, as his "Mean BY GOD Gene" was a close second to Hogan's "Well, YA KNOW SOMETHING, Mean Gene!"

1 hour ago, SirEdger said:

So, WWE announced that Hulk Hogan will appear on RAW this Monday to honor Mean Gene Okerlund.

WWE making a strong play for Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic hot out of the gates in 2019

Playing devil's advocate here....given how close Gene and Hogan were, I don't see where's the problem. But, yeah, of course, he's a goddamn racist so let's avoid him like the bubonic plague, right?

3 minutes ago, SirEdger said:

Playing devil's advocate here....given how close Gene and Hogan were, I don't see where's the problem. But, yeah, of course, he's a goddamn racist so let's avoid him like the bubonic plague, right?

They avoided him for two years. For better or worse, he's back now. (I'm not defending racism - I'm just stating a fact about what the situation actually is now.) If they're going to use him anyway, this is the way to do it. 

And I absolutely agree with you, 100% on that. That's the way to bring him back. Because of how historically significant their pairing has been for years, you just can't shun Hogan because of his past. The least that had to be done was to allow Hogan to honor his late friend Gene and he'll have that opportunity on Monday. And that's the right thing to do.

The cynical view (which is usually the proper one when wrestling is concerned) is that it's a way to get Hogan back on TV while minimizing the risk he'll get booed.  How can you be mean to poor Hulkster when his dear friend passed away? 

 

Maybe "appear" means a pretaped sit down bit played during tributes that are played throughout the show. I'm as much "Fuck Hogan's racist ass" as the next guy, but I don't have a problem with him saying some nice things about his pal. How do you do a Mean Gene tribute without Hogan involved somehow?

As I wrote in my first post, I was saddened to hear about the passing of "Mean" Gene and can't say enough about what he brought to the table.

But count me as one of those cynical viewers that thinks bringing Hogan out for a special ceremony or whatever is super lame.

I'm willing to hear the argument, but to me, it does feel like the WWE shoe-horning a Hogan appearance into the show. Like, when Sherri died, maybe I missed it, but did they bring out DiBiase to honor her? Or HBK? Or Harlem Heat? Or Rick Martel to give a heartfelt speech about her? Did they? Or were the ratings not in a huge slump so they just played a respectful video package and went on with it?

I hate myself for saying it, but it does seem like opportunism. Like, if the ratings were high and they had a bunch of hot angles, they wouldn't bother...but because the ratings are in the shitter and they have 0 hot angles on RAW, any excuse they can to get the Hulkster in the ring is good enough for them even if I can't even imagine what kind of promo or speech Hulk Hogan would give in front of a live audience that would be better or more fitting than just airing Okerlund's HoF induction. (Which, I believe, Hogan also gave?)

Its like - if you want to honor the guy, devote 15 minutes to a well-made biography video about him. The WWE's production crew is perfectly capable of it. It would bring tears to many eyes and be heartfelt. But bringing in Hogan so he can pop the crowd seems like you're really just honoring Hogan, not "Mean" Gene.

I hate to be crass, but I hope when Ric Flair does, one day (hopefully a long time from now) pass away, they don't use it as an excuse to have Triple H do crotch chops and spit water in the air "out of respect."

 

EDIT - If it just a sit-down interview interspliced with other tributes, that's fine. Just read the post above. That sounds perfectly classy. I just don't want "Real American" blaring and a posedown.

It's how they've been doing this kind of thing lately. Three hours is a lot to fill. And announcing it ahead of time does two things. First, of course it's meant to draw viewers. And it also gets ahead of the initial outrage. In this day and age Hulk Hogan eulogizing Mean Gene really will be a story that dies in a week. 

6 hours ago, ...TG said:

I'm reading Guy Evans' Nitro book now (though I suppose this means I'm a typical PWO-ite, living in the past), and there's a chapter about WCW's internet ventures. Gene isn't interviewed, but he is mentioned specifically by the internet producers as one of the old school guys who got on board with the live chats and such. Once he got on board, his opinion mattered quite a bit and many of the bigger stars started embracing the whole thing. Interesting stuff I've never heard before.

perhaps that's how Hogan learned about the Internet having all the scoops by 1995.

55 minutes ago, Johnny Sorrow said:

It's how they've been doing this kind of thing lately. Three hours is a lot to fill. And announcing it ahead of time does two things. First, of course it's meant to draw viewers. And it also gets ahead of the initial outrage. In this day and age Hulk Hogan eulogizing Mean Gene really will be a story that dies in a week. 

In this day and age, the outrage will be forgotten before we even get to Monday.

In the name of the Most High, 

May God accept Gene Okerlund's deeds and have mercy upon his soul. 

Mean Gene is a TV personality that I truly appreciated.

I loved when he would say, "my long-time, close, personal, friend " or something similar. 

Gene was and will always be one of the few wrestling personalities that "everybody(over 25)" remembers.

I spent the 1st week of The New Year at my mother's home and played the Sean Mooney podcast interview with Gene, for her before I left. The next time we spoke she told me how much she enjoyed it!  And my mother is not a fan of pro wrestling.  

1 thing that separates Gene from the rest, is his facial expressions. Especially his eyebrows and lips.

RIP to my long-time, close, personal, friend. 

8 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

Vince thought they were too old and their salaries were too high. Also, the WWF wanted both of them to move to Connecticut to save on travel expenses and they both refused.

Heenan really didn't want to leave.  He was more than willing to stay if he was allowed to live closer to his family as you had said, but Vince insisted on him staying in or near Stamford.  WCW gave him an out by allowing him to live close to home, as well as give him health insurance.  If Heenan was allowed to live with his family he would have been more than happy to stay.  Okerlund however was ready and willing to tell Vince to fuck right off.  It didn't matter if he had to live in Connecticut or not, he was flat out done for awhile by then and was appalled that Vince wouldn't give him a raise for all the work he had done once Sean Mooney had left and they hadn't found a decent replacement for him yet (they still weren't ready to name Pettengill as Mooney's heir apparent at that point).  Okerlund and Vince often had tiffs like this and would get back to being friends a few months later.  This time though Okerlund was flat out done.

17 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

Vince thought they were too old and their salaries were too high. Also, the WWF wanted both of them to move to Connecticut to save on travel expenses and they both refused.

That's crazy. So what if they are older, they are announcers not wrestlers.

I used to love watching wwf all American wrestling as a kid with mean gene and hillbilly jim on a Friday night. Then after a while tuning into a Sunday afternoon in 93 it was back with okerlund and the brain. Loved those days.

Prichard's version of Heenan leaving is that his terms could have been met if he requested to be paid as an employee of the company as opposed to an "independent contractor", to which Vince probably would have agreed but Bobby was set on leaving regardless. 

On 1/4/2019 at 6:16 PM, SirEdger said:

And I absolutely agree with you, 100% on that. That's the way to bring him back. Because of how historically significant their pairing has been for years, you just can't shun Hogan because of his past. The least that had to be done was to allow Hogan to honor his late friend Gene and he'll have that opportunity on Monday. And that's the right thing to do.

Nah, they can shun him.  They don’t owe him a platform to honor anyone.  That’s what funerals are for.

Well, YA KNOW SOMETHING, Mean Gene... Buy my t-shirt, BROTHER!
 

 

Call 1-900-909-9900, Mean Gene has the scoop about what Hulk Hogan said on that private video of his. Now can you dig that, n... sucka !!!!

In all seriousness though. Wow. These people will exploit anything...

Viva La Savings!

The tribute was actually very heartfelt and you could tell he got legit emotional from watching the video before doing his promo.