Everything has to begin somewhere, and for Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan their biggest this day in wrestling history moment came on January 23, 1984.
After purchasing the WWE from his father Vince Jr. knew who he wanted to be his first face champion and the face of the company going forward.
It was for that reason and their shared vision of wrestling being entertainment and seeing the bigger picture of being in movies and other media that helped bring Hulk Hogan and Vince McMahon together.
Hogan quit the WWE when Vince’s father ran it because he wanted to be in Rocky 3 and Thunderlips. Vince Sr. told him no, so Hogan quit. When Vince Jr. bought the company he rehired Hogan.
Face of wrestling
The first couple of years Vince owned the WWE, he focused on their production values and distributed them nationwide, and that money allowed him to sign wrestlers like Hogan to be the company’s future.
But the time came to crown Vince McMahon’s first face champion and that meant it was Hogan’s time.
More than the match itself was the entrance, and the perfect some was Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger. It was one of the biggest parts of Rocky 3 and Hogan carried it over to the WWE.
Special thanks to @awrestlinghistorian for the excerpt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3bCq2y9R6I
“I knew it would work. I had played ‘Eye of the Tiger’ back in Minnesota and I knew it would make the crowd go wild. So I said to myself, ‘Screw it, I’m going to get this done…’ And at five in the afternoon, a few hours before we were supposed to go on, I slipped the music tech guy five hundred bucks.
“Then, right before show time, Vince Jr. decided to go along with me and play the entrance music. I didn’t have the balls to ask for my five hundred dollars back so I lost it, but it didn’t matter. The important thing is I had that music playing when I walked down the ramp.
“And it worked, just like I said it would. When the crowd heard that music, almost 20,000 people rose up like The Messiah had come back. It was like the roof of the Garden blew off. It was nuts.
“The whole match took five minutes and thirty seconds. Most fans had never seen anyone get out of The Sheik’s signature hold, the Camel Clutch. But I did. And then I backed him into the turnbuckle. He tried another hold. I broke it. I threw him into the ropes. When he came off them, I gave him the boot in the face. He fell in the middle of the ring. I gave him a leg drop, the referee started counting, and Hulkamania took off like never before.” – Hollywood Hulk Hogan book.
There were so many things that led to the beginning of Hogan’s run that he brought with him from the AWA, like Hulkamania and his Hulking up that Verne Gagne told him to do.
It all came together in the WWE, and there was no looking back for Hogan or Vince after this day in wrestling history.
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