WCW and Hulk Hogan have more than their fair share of this day in wrestling history moments, and this one is doubly fun because it also involves Ric Flair at Halloween Havoc on October 23, 1994.
Any match during this time between Flair and Hogan was the epitome of fantasy booking for fans as we wanted to see them face each other throughout the 1980s to prove who the best really was.
Their styles were complete opposites as Flair believed in a more realistic styles while Hogan was more entertainment based, but they were two of the top draws in history so what they did worked.
More differences of opinion
More than their styles, Hogan and Flair couldn’t agree on how to work their three match series as Flair explained in his To Be The Man book.
Special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for the following excerpt.
“We conceptualized a three-match series, with the title bouncing back and forth and the fans never certain about who would come out on top. Hogan would win the championship at the Bash at the Beach Pay-Per-View on July 17, 1994. Then I’d beat him at Clash of the Champions on August 24. We’d meet one last time at Halloween Havoc on October 23, and he’d capture the title again.
“The problem was, Hogan decided that he wanted to keep the title. ‘I’m not ready to lose it. The people aren’t ready for me to lose it, and it would hurt merchandise sales.’, he explained.
“This presented a problem…It was supposed to be our rubber match. After Hogan won the championship and I took it back, we’d settle our differences in a steel cage with Mr. T as the referee. But since Hogan hadn’t lost the title, was there really any point in even having a third match?
“At a television taping in Atlanta, Bischoff and Hogan called me aside to give me some ‘stunning’ news: Zane Bresloff, the promoter in charge of booking arenas for WCW, had reported that Halloween Havoc tickets weren’t moving. ‘What did you expect?’ I told them. Yet somehow, they couldn’t understand why people weren’t lining up to watch Hogan beat me again.”
Hulk Hogan has taken a good amount of lumps over the years for his exercising hit creative control clause, and it didn’t make Kevin Sullivan’s job easier as this was his first WCW pay-per-view as a booker.
While Hogan’s instincts were right a good portion of the time, there were times he missed the mark and this was one of them. In the end, this day in wrestling history is one that’s enjoyable even if it wasn’t as popular when it happened.
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