Hogan vs Taker Wrestlemania 20

[Gavschenko]

The slogan of the ppv was were it all begins again so what better than to have the man that main evented the 1st wrestemania Hulk Hogan vs Mr wrestlemania the deadman himself. As we all know taker fights kane at this years mania but i believe hogan v taker is the big blockbuster match that this mania needed and with this match I believe this mania would have had the biggest buy rate in history.

The only other person hogan could face is Austin to have a match as big but as we all know Austin didn't want to fight hogan. Imagine if it was Hogan that cost Taker the buried alive match at survivor series, due to a reason that Vince is the boss and pays him money and he didn't want to see the man that pays him money to be buried alive or something along the lines of that. The questions I want to ask are.

:Is Taker a big enough star at this point and is the streak important for this to be a blockbuster match.

: How would you book the match and do you think it would be as good as it looks on paper?

: Since this leaves kane with no opponent who do you think he could face?

 

[Pay Per Ghost]

How will we justify Hogan burying Taker at Vince's beckon? We can't.


The Taker vs Kane build up was fine. Yes, the match sucked and personally, Kane was the only opponent you could've used best to bring back the Deadman gimmick.

 

[The Butcher]

PaperGhostopolis is right. The build was fine, and personally I enjoyed it a lot. It would have been odd to have Hogan working with/for Vince after they mauled each other at WrestleMania XIX and then antagonized each other during the whole Mr. America fiasco. Babyface Hulk Hogan made it quite clear to Ted DiBiase that he valued some things more than money, so his concern over a paycheck would be weak justification.

It may have spiked buys, there's no way to know. Sure 'Taker was a plenty big enough star, and they could have advertised The Streak, but Undertaker and Hogan were both at the previous year's WrestleMania and had been on TV throughout most of '03, so it's not as if fans were longing for either of them.

As for the match itself, I was at Judgement Day 2002 in Nashville, headlined by Hogan vs. Undertaker. As much as a mark as I was, am, and always will be for both guys, the match was shitty. I ate it up, but it was no better than Taker vs. Kane at WrestleMania XX.

Plus, the tagline for the event being, "Where It All Begins... Again," Kane vs. Taker made sense, and it made sense for the show to keep the focus on up-and-comers and talents such as Benoit and Guerrero.

 

[kris8524]

This is why we will see and should see Cena vs Taker. If hogan and taker had run into each other at Mannia at least until the attitude era the streak doesnt exsist. By this time it would have been good for taker to kill hulkamania at wrestlemania. There was no logical build up but one could have been created. During the badsss stage of taker he fought hogan for the undisputed title and his pretense was he was gonna finish what he started decade ago when he (one of the only and i think the only man during that period) pinned hogan even if it was after a tombstone on a chair. I was as shocked as when he turned heel if he didnt get the title back so quick. So hogan could have used that as why he wanted the DEADMAN back to avenge his loss during hulkamania. I think can should have maybe had a timeframe off and could have returned at the match to save taker from vince and hogan and it would have fell with where it all begins again. This is why Cena vs Taker is so important cause if you were a chuld when taker debuted it was the apitimy of the it factor and you knew he was gonna be big and wanfor him to hit Cenamania at Mania over 20 years after hulkamania would be our ccomplete justifacation and if they want to make Cena win it would be vinces ultimate slap in the face but you have to remeber vince created or his guys did taker so he will never be as abused as say polkadotted rhodes.

 

[kris8524]

Sorry about grammar and punc. Usin my phone

 

[MCMG]

Never actually thought of Hogan as someone who the streak is missing. The obvious names are The Rock, Bret Hart, Austin, Angle, Cena, Lesnar (one of which will be crossed out this year).

Hogan would be a good choice because he is the biggest name in the history of wrestling. The Undertaker had already faced Kane and has defeated some very average names in his WM career -most notably the year before this. If you are going to re-book any of his WM matches, 19 is the way to go.

If we were to re-book Kane for WM20 than I would personally put him in the handicap match between evolution and Foley/The Rock. It could have easily been Flair/Orton/Batista v Kane, The Rock and Mankind. (Kane and Mankind have the history and it would have made even numbers)

Apparently, Taker wanted his last match to be against Kane so if this particular match hadn't happened they could have used Kane/Taker at a later date. However, I do think that the Taker/Kane build up and match were both very good. I loved the tease for Undertaker's return as the deadman. It was really well done. Moreover, Hogan as the guy to cost Taker the Buried Alive match would have been difficult. I don't think he could have been a heel at that stage of his career.

 

[zhaff2004]

How will we justify Hogan burying Taker at Vince's beckon? We can't.


The Taker vs Kane build up was fine. Yes, the match sucked and personally, Kane was the only opponent you could've used best to bring back the Deadman gimmick.

The idea of Hogan burying the undertaker at both survivor series and Mania XX is a scary thought, haha.

Realistically, it would have been too difficult to actually turn Hogan heel. People will still cheer him and thats not what you want...

 

[Headman]

Hogan may be missing from the WM streak, but the two men had two memorable ppv matches in 1991. It's not like it's a match that fans never got to see. If Hogan was to be used it would have to be against someone who wasn't around back in his day.

 

[GameOver]

Hogan had his fued with the newly debuing Undertaker and what happened? Undertaker beat him and then beat him again several years later becoming one of few men to have multiple victories over the Hulkster and of beating Hogan in there first attempt. pretty sure only 4 men have that honor (im probably wrong) but that would be Goldberg, Ultimate Warrior, Undertaker and The Big Show.

as for the proposed idea, why would Hogan care if Vince got beaten? Hogan and Vince were at loggerheads for most of the previous year and it was common knowledge they really didn't like each other, no.... Hogan was limited by that point, it would've sucked, as for if Hogan could've ended the streak, well yeah he probably would've tho he wasnt on a full time contract so maybe they wouldn't have let him win only to have him leave again

 

[GameOver]

The idea of Hogan burying the undertaker at both survivor series and Mania XX is a scary thought, haha.

Realistically, it would have been too difficult to actually turn Hogan heel. People will still cheer him and thats not what you want...

except when WCW did it when Hogan was still a major babyface and it worked then.
I do agree tho i don't think it would've worked in the WWF world, even when he returned as a heel from WCW the crowd cheered the nWo for the most part and Hogan got more pop then The Rock in there encounter and that was him as a heel.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

Realistically, there is a good reason for them not going there. They had done the match twice in 91 and it sucked balls both times. Indeed that was the time Hogan had really begun to decline in the ring while his ego still insisted he go over or the matches ended in clusterfucks. Sure they were almost "tucked away" at Survivor Series and Tuesday in Texas but they were there, and no one who saw them wanted to see another one.

Moving forward to WM20, you have Hogan having had his mini-renaissance but worse than ever in the ring and Taker now the alpha male in that locker room. He had also seen enough of how Hogan operated to know that he was not going to roll over and just take a loss, indeed Hogan would be out for himself (as Shawn discovered later) or he could work with Kane, in a match that was going to work for both guys and the fans would enjoy more.

The streak isn't diminished by not having Hogan in it, nor is it diminished by not beating Savage, Warrior, Goldberg or Sting. It is what it is, a unique achievement, that didn't require Hogan to get started, continue or indeed end it.

If it was going to happen, it needed to happen at Wrestlemania 8 - Hogan could have easily jobbed to Taker on the way out or faced him rather than Sid, hell he could have even done it at Mania 9 rather than go the route he chose. Then the match would have meant something but by20 it was not worth even seeing. It's why I hope they aren't signing Sting (if they do) just for that match, cos it's at least 10 years too late.

 

[thebarber]

If there was a way for Vince to have had Hogan return at Mania 20 for a match, he would not have been there to get pinned. The 20th anniversary of Mania, he would have won his match against whomever he was pitted against. As the 2004 HOF ceremony was the first to be the night before Mania and part of the festivities, Hogan from memory wasnt on good terms with Vince following the Mr America gimmick and subsequent leaving in mid 2003.

 

[zhaff2004]

except when WCW did it when Hogan was still a major babyface and it worked then.
I do agree tho i don't think it would've worked in the WWF world, even when he returned as a heel from WCW the crowd cheered the nWo for the most part and Hogan got more pop then The Rock in there encounter and that was him as a heel.

thats what i mean, Hogan was full time when he turned in WCW, coming back in 2003/4 and being a heel, it wouldn't have convinced the fans... the same what that if he came back as a heel today, no one would buy it. Guys like taker, rock, austin, HBK and even HHH have little to no chance being boo'd now and by 2004, Hogan was in a similar position

 

[FlairFan2003]

I dont think The Streak needed Hogan anymore than it needs Sting. Fact is Hogan was in WCW through most of The Streak anyway and when he returned to WWE he was a part time player, even more so than Flair & HBK, where as Taker was still wrestling full time, main eventing, and getting title runs. People didnt even start noticing The Streak as major event until WM 18 when he had beaten HHH (top of his game, in his prime, major star in the company) and Flair (all time legend, just recently returned to WWE, hugely popular) in back to back Mania's.

They could have built something here if they had wanted but by WM 20 The Streak was really just very recently a big deal and Taker had already beaten Hogan TWICE on PPV for the championship in his career, something no one else ever did (Warrior was 1-1 vs Hogan on PPV, Goldberg only wrestled him once, Big Show had a non title win over him on Nitro, Flair had a non title win to get a title shot on Nitro and a title win in 99 to go with some losses). Would Hogan have even agreed to put over The Streak at WM, especially after he already put over The Rock in their 80s Icon vs 90s Icon Match two years earlier ? This very well could have been the end of The Streak, just when it was becoming a big deal storyline wise.

I doubt The Streak will ever end, and in fact there are only maybe two guys (Cena & Rock) big enough left who could legitimately end it without it seeming absurd. HHH has failed 3 times, HBK is retired and failed twice, Austin isnt coming back, Hogan is way too old, Flair is retired and way too old and he already failed once. Brett Hart isnt coming back either. Even with The Rock since he is at best a part time performer, and truly part time, like one feud per year, I cant even see them letting him end it, not when guys who wrestled a lot longer and made significantly more contributions to WWE and wrestling as a whole didnt end it. I really think Cena is the only one left big enough to end The Streak but I doubt he will, though I wouldnt be surprised if they milk a match out of those two before Taker retires.