The professional wrestling industry is one that has faced a lot of change over the years. What worked in the 1950’s wouldn’t work in the 1980’s, and what worked in the 1980’s won’t work in the modern era.
There’s a constant evolution, and the industry has moved away from showcases of muscle men slamming into each other into something more athletic and focused on showmanship. However, not everyone thinks this is a good thing – especially not Hulk Hogan, one of the biggest names from the 1980’s.
Hulk Hogan Was Used To Wrestling Monster Sized Men, But Those Are Far And Few Between Now
While appearing on Full Send Podcast, Hogan would speak on the lack of size in modern professional wrestling rosters – stating the following.
“It wasn’t the WWE, it was the wrestling business. It was, when I got in, man, when I walked in a dressing room, there were like six guys sitting there. There all 300-pounders. I was a medium-sized guy, and I weighed 300-plus.
When I got in, if you wanted to be a wrestler, okay, there’s a guy there. He’s got two big cauliflower ears, his nose is broken, his teeth are knocked out, he’s got four kids at home. This next guy over here was an NCAA Champion. He’s got a steel plate in his forearm, his name’s Harley Race. Good luck with him. Then the other two guys, they look like serial killers, and if you wanted to be a wrestler, you gotta take their job and take the food out of their family’s mouth.
That’s the difference. Everybody I wrestled looked like monster-sized men. Nowadays, there’s a lot of guys that look like wrestlers, there’s a lot of guys that don’t. A lot of guys who look like wrestlers and a lot of guys who look like they should be bagging my groceries. So the difference is how athletic the guys are. Smaller guys can do all kinds of crazy stuff. They do so much stuff, so much impressive stuff in one match, I wouldn’t do that much in a year. What does it mean?”
Everyone Is Trained And Dressed The Same, Making It Harder To Be An Attraction
When asked about what the major change in professional wrestling in the modern era is beyond the bodies and styles – Hogan had the following insight.
“I think the main thing with the product is that it has had an attraction, like a Hulk Hogan, who you could put with this guy or that guy or him or you or One Man Gang or that guy, and just sell out anything. Instead of having that one attraction, like a Hulk Hogan or a Rock or an Andre the Giant or a Stone Cold Steve Austin, instead of having that one guy that’s really the attraction – I think the star now is the production of the show.
I see the guys wrestle, and if one guys is hurt, there’s another one from the Performance Center that slides right in and takes his place, and they’re all the same size and pretty much have the same color hair and their clothes are made by the same seamstress and they learn how to wrestle from the same group of trainers.
Do you agree with Hulk Hogan on the changes that have come to professional wrestling? Let us know what you think in the comment section down below.
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