Bigger Douche – Hulk Hogan vs Shawn Michaels

It’s been a while since we’ve had one of our comparison columns where we look at promos, workrate, or in this case douchi-ness. It’s topical given the release of RAW’s biggest writing douche, Brian Gewertz, and hell I’m in a bad mood anyway so why not look at who the bigger prick has been in their career. This edition looks at Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels. I just finished watching their Summerslam match on YouTube and started to make these comparisons. There are plenty of stories on each man so let’s go have a look!

 

 Arrogance

 

With these two men where do I begin? Both of these men have pissed off their peers with their arrogant attitude backstage, and both are legendary when it comes to this aspect. Hogan is known for his private dressing room in WCW and having Brutus Beefcake carry his bags everywhere while Shawn is famous for his in-ring temper tantrums with Vader at Summerslam 1996 and Ken Shamrock at In Your House: Degeneration X in 1997. Shawn had the in ring ability to back up his claims while Hogan was/is the biggest star in North American wrestling history.

I look at the fact that while the Hulkster was looking down on everyone, the WWF was selling out 2-3 shows a night or WCW was on top of the wrestling world and while The Heartbreak Kid was being “holier than now” (ironic) it was in front of 2000 fans. It’s for this reason that I give the more arrogant nod to Shawn.

 

 Stupidity

 

This is another category that is very close in my opinion. Both men have done some very stupid things in their lives (and no I wasn’t talking about Linda…although now that you mention it…). Shawn was known as a very mouthy young man in the mid 1990’s and there is a nightclub in Syracuse New York that can vouch for that fact. Michaels would also lip off Bret Hart on numerous occasions which lead to Bret getting a handful of Shawn’s hair one night in the Summer of 1997. Mouth aside, Shawn’s stupidity came with his use of mixing pills and alcohol during his run with the clique (more on them later). There have been many stories told by Hall, Nash, and Waltman of Shawn “being in no condition” at late night restaurants as the guys travelled from town to town.

Hulk Hogan’s biggest stupid moment came in 1991 on the Arsenio Hall Show. It was there that Hogan stated that he only used steriods a few times in 1983 for an injury and that it was totally unfair that anyone ever has accused Hogan for steriod use. WOW. That alone gets him the nod for stupidity but it doesn’t just stop there. Hulk has also been caught on audio talking to his son Nick in jail about the accident Nick was in where his friend, John Graziano, was left in a coma. The Hulkster wondered out loud what Graziano did to have God laid down some heavy stuff on him.

Those two examples, plus the fact that We Talk Wrestling once had the “Hulk Hogan Bullshit of the Week (week….week…week)” means that Hulk Hogan gets the easy vote in the stupidity section.

 

 

 

 

Unprofessional

 

As the categories keep coming, the choices get more and more difficult. Hulk Hogan left the WWF in 1993 in a loss against Yokozuna. Hogan refused to put over Bret Hart, as the WWF wanted, in a passing of the torch moment. While in Japan Hogan referred to the WWF title, which he held at the time, as a peice of tin and that the IWGP title was the only belt that he wanted to hold. In WCW, Hogan arranged with referee Nick Patrick to slow down his fast count finish in order to make Sting look like a fool at Starcade ’97, after 15 months of build to, at the time, the hottest angle in wrestling. This move not only made Sting look foolish but also the newly debuting Bret Hart, fresh off the Survivor Series screw job, as Bret was to come down and complain about a fast count that now didn’t exist.

Shawn’s unprofessionalism is also way up on the list. Shawn was the first ever Grand Slam champion in WWF history, holding the WWF title, the Intercontinental title, Tag Team title, and European title.  The common thread here is that in each one of those reigns, he failed to drop the belt in a match. The infamous “I lost my smile” got him out of dropping the title back to Bret Hart at Wrestlemania 13. He had his first contract dispute which lead to vacating his first run with the Intercontinental title. The Syracuse nightclub beating got him out of losing the IC title to Dean Douglas.  A backstage temper tantrum got him out of losing the Tag Team titles (once again see Hart, Bret) and he lost the European title in a mock match to Triple H on RAW.  Oh and there was that tiny little match in Montreal which is known as the Screwjob. I won’t go into the details of it as those are readily available all over the Internet but suffice it to say that good old HBK was right in the thick of the incident and knew exactly what was happening. Shawn has said as much on WWE television since the fallout, albeit many years later. But then he became a Christian and changed his ways right? Fast forward to the Shawn Michaels and Hulk Hogan Summerslam match. The next night on RAW, Shawn was sure to let everyone know that wrestling is fake and, therefore, Hogan didn’t REALLY beat Shawn. A leopard never does change his spots.

Both men have done their fair share of unprofessional things. I’m not going to judge this based on using influence to hold guys down. Steve Austin kept Jeff Jarrett out of the main event picture in the height of the WWF Attitude Era and I wouldn’t consider Austin a douche (Debra might but not me). This came down to one man, Bret Hart. Both Hogan and Shawn were less than cordial to The Hitman over the years but it’s Michaels’ involvement in the Screwjob that gives him the win in this category.

 

Selfish

 

In 1996 Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were on their way to WCW. May of that year at Madison Square Garden Hunter Hurst Helmsly took on Razor Ramon and Shawn Michaels defended his WWF title against Diesel in a cage match. After the cage match was finished Razor, HHH, Shawn, and Diesel all celebrated together in the ring. Two heels and two babyfaces acknowledging a real life friendship was just not done in 1996 (nor should it in 2012 but I digress) and extremely selfish on all four men’s parts. “We just wanted to say goodbye with our friends”. Exactly: WE. Not the company, but WE. Another example of Shawn’s selfishness occurred in September of 1997 at One Night Only in England. It was Shawn Michaels vs Davey Boy Smith for the European title in the main event. Shawn was set to lose to the hometown boy in Davey Boy and that was the plan until the participants arrived in England. Davey Boy, knowing the finish (at least what he thought the finish was), dedicated his match to his sister, who was diagnosed with cancer. At the building, Shawn had the finish changed, which allowed him to win the European title, a belt that did not benefit him one bit. Selfishness also plays a role in Shawn’s previously mentioned lack of in-ring title loses.

Hogan has had some equally selfish moves in his career. In WCW, Hulk constantly was insecure enough to make sure that he was the focal point of the company at all costs. One such example of this was an elaborate plan that Hogan and Kevin Nash concocted to keep themselves on top and push down the company’s real top draw, Goldberg. In late fall of 1998 Hulk Hogan announced his retirement from wrestling and a plan to run for President of the United States on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Meanwhile, Kevin Nash beat Goldberg with help from Scott Hall and a tazer to win the WCW title and end Goldberg’s undefeated streak. This lead to the infamous “finger poke of doom” that reformed the nWo and put Hogan back as WCW Champion. Many other examples that I have listed in other categories, such as the Starcade ’97 match with Sting, also fall into the selfish section. The Hulkster was also known for wanting to “get his win back”, which lead to the return of The Ultimate Warrior and a very, very bad rematch.

After looking at both sides, I have to say that this one is too close to call. Both men had their cliques (Shawn with THE Clique and Hogan with Friends of Hogan) and they manipulated their way to stay on top and, coincidentally, keep Bret Hart (amoungst others) down.

 

Harmful

 

The interesting thing about this category is that, for a time, these two men were simultaneously doing harm to their respective companies.  Shawn, as part of the Clique, did their best to keep guys like Chris “Skip” Candido, Dean Douglas, and Bam Bam Bigelow from reaching or staying at the top of the card as they wanted it all for themselves. Now, I don’t have a problem with the cutthroat competition that is professional wrestling but the Clique’s burials came at a time when business was at an extreme low point and, especially in the case of the recently Wrestlemania main evented Bigelow, anything and anyone should have been tried to bring up the business. Shawn continued his harmful ways when it came to dealing with Bret Hart in 1997. Shawn would not put Bret Hart over, or even say backstage that he respected the Hitman. This precluded a rematch from happening any earlier than the Survivor Series and also came at a time when WCW was on top of the wrestling world, which meant that WWF could use a money match to help keep them a float.

Hulk Hogan’s harm, however, went a bit deeper than Shawn’s. Hogan’s harm was that he WAS the biggest name in wrestling. This is a harm as he was able to manipulate and fool Eric Bischoff and other Turner Executives into thinking that Hogan was still the star that he was in 1988. Eric Bischoff famously coined the phrase “Where goes Hogan, goes the money”. Outside of his wildly successful heel turn from 1996 to 1998, that just wasn’t the case. Hell, it’s happening in TNA right now. At least when Shawn Michaels was putting his thumb on guys, he himself was still performing in the ring and on the mic. By the time the nWo whimpered its way into extinction, Hogan’s mic work was tiresome and his in ring skills, which were questionable at their peak, had never been worse. Hogan reached the age and longevity where it was time to pass the torch to the next star, much like Andre the Giant did for him in 1987. The sad part was, that star was there in WCW in the form of Goldberg. While Hogan dropped the title to him in 1998 to a HUGE reaction, Hulk was still the focus of the company and it was only months before the finger poke would happen and derail Goldberg completely. Putting people over was something that Hulk Hogan just wasn’t capable of doing. He left the WWF without putting over Bret Hart and passing that torch. He lost to Yokozuna I’ll grant you but it was done in a way where Yokozuna didn’t get a lot of benefit from the win. Hogan also lost to Billy Kidman in 2000 an attempt to show us all wrong but I don’t know anyone who thinks that Hogan “put him over”, merely lost a match.

In this category, I have to go with The Hulkster. Hogan had the bigger star in Goldberg that he helped to keep down. Neither man is a saint by any means but Shawn never took a ready-made superstar and turned him into another top of the card guy. 

 

The Verdict

 

Looking at the categories, it’s tied 2-2-1 and, in the event of a tie or just if I feel like it, it’s up to me to pick the winner. So with that said, I have to go with Hulk Hogan. His manipulations came at a time when he should be looking to get the next generation of guys ready but his selfishness and ego prevented that from happening. Make no mistake, Hulk Hogan and the aura that he was able to create for himself is one of the reasons that WCW died. Shawn Michaels was a cocky little prick who ran amuck during the New Generation days of the WWF. Hulk Hogan left scorched earth in WWF and WCW. I guess it really all boiled down to this: When the time came to do business, Shawn Michaels put over Steve Austin at Wrestlemania 14 to usher in the WWF’s boom period. Sure, The Undertaker had to threaten him (a douche is a douche after-all) but I don’t think Hulk Hogan would have done what Shawn did and busted his ass in a losing effort the way Shawn did in that match. For that, Hulk Hogan is your “winner”.

  

Agree? Disagree? Did I miss something? I’d love to hear from you at addie@wetalkwrestling.com