Review of WWE: The Hulk Hogan Anthology (4 discs)

Introduction

Perhaps moreso than any other single individual, the name Hulk Hogan is synonymous with professional wrestling. It`s also a household name, and even though Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson`s notoriety has escalated through his recent movie career, Hogan made his name in the ring. Believe it or not, in the mid-1980s, Hulk Hogan made professional wrestling cool.

Born Terry Bollea in August 1953, Hogan - who was given his ring name by Vince McMahon Snr. - did not have any easy start in the wrestling business. Originally approached about wrestling by Jack & Jerry Brisco in around 1976, Hogan agreed to attend a training session with Hiro Matsuda, where Matsuda deliberately broke Hogan`s ankle. Such an action was the sign of the times, where old-school wrestlers would injure muscular newcomers who thought that wrestling would be an easy pay-day. Matsuda, however, was impressed by Hogan`s endeavour when he returned to training immediately after the injury had healed, and agreed to train him in full for an in-ring career.

After being noticed by McMahon Snr., Hogan had his first WW(W)F match in 1979, ironically as a heel (bad-guy) managed by "Classy" Freddie Blassie. He feuded most notably with Andre The Giant, before a dispute with McMahon over his role in "Rocky III" put paid to his WWWF career. From there, now a recognisable star due to his role in Sylvester Stallone`s movie, Hogan worked in Minnesota for Verne Gagne`s American Wrestling Association. It was there that Hogan`s popularity soared (as a babyface, or good-guy), and by 1983, McMahon (who was in the midst of selling the company to his son, also named Vince) brought Hogan back to the WWF. A little over two weeks later, Hogan was World Wrestling Federation champion, and "Hulkamania" was born.

While derided by many as a showman with little wrestling ability, there is no question that without Hulk Hogan`s participation, wrestling would never have hit the mainstream map. Given that the WWF`s first UK boom period was in 1991, it is hard to conceive of how big a star Hogan was. But the figures do not lie, and the fact that Hogan vs Andre The Giant drew 93,000 fans to Wrestlemania III (1987), or that the re-match (1988) drew a 33m live television audience in America alone, proves that Hogan as a performer was able to capture the imagination of the public like no-one who proceeded him.

This four-disc set, then, is somewhat of a tribute to Hogan`s legacy. Weighing in at a remarkable ten hours, it contains a staggering 28 matches, and several interview segments.

I hope you`re ready for a long read, brother!

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL, and is excellent for a DVD of this genre. The source material varies in age, going back as far as 1980, to as recent as 2005. The further along the timeline you go, of course, the better things look, but even the 1980s footage has been superbly archived, as there is barely a scratch on it.

It should be noted that some of the matches on Disc Three use blurring to hide the WWF "scratch" logo, which they are not allowed to show due to a dispute with the World Wildlife Fund over the initials "WWF".

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0, and is also very good, again reflecting the quality of the source material. All of the original commentary is complete, unlike many other recent releases, which have removed the voice of Jesse Ventura, to use one example. One thing to note is that Hogan`s legendary theme "Real American" (penned by Rick Derringer) is overdubbed into all of his WWF/WWE introductions. Hogan began using that theme in around 1987, but prior to that he used Survivor`s "Eye of the Tiger".

There are other 2.0 tracks in German and French, as well as a Dutch subtitle track.

Features

The UK market is fortunate in that we have been treated to an exclusive 4th disc of material, which is not on general release in the USA. The disc begins with a match against Tito Santana (24/03/1980) from Madison Square Garden, which is a good match for the era.

Certainly the most interesting extra is the next one, from Hogan`s days as a heel in the aforementioned AWA, as he took on Sonny Rogers & Chuck Greenly (08/08/1981) in a preliminary-style handicap match. The bout is merely a showcase of Hogan`s size and strength, but its rarity makes it interesting viewing.

Two matches from the NBC Saturday Night`s Main Event show are next, the first against Terry Funk (04/01/1986), and the second against "King" Harley Race (12/03/1988). Neither match is anything spectacular (Race was ten years past his prime by 1988), but are nice additions to this set, as neither match has previously been seen in the UK.

We take a step of two years forward for the next match, a look at Hogan`s win at the 1990 Royal Rumble, before he takes on the late John "Earthquake" Tenta at Summerslam (27/08/1990). The latter is a entertaining match, although it does have a poor finish. By the way, it is no secret that wrestling is not a "real" sport, but take a look at Tenta`s back at the end of this match, and tell me that didn`t hurt!

The final extra is an interview segment with Okerlund from the RAW Homecoming show (03/10/2005).

Conclusion

Presented by "Mean" Gene Okerlund (who credits Hogan with making him a popular announcer) and "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart, the first bout on this mammoth retrospective is a contest against Andre The Giant (13/09/1980). Actually, it is less of a bout than it is an angle, as the match is extremely short, serving only really to fan the flames of their feud. Still, it is a rare piece of footage, especially considering Hogan bodyslams the Giant, something that was always claimed had never been done until Wrestlemania III in 1987.

The next bout takes us to the AWA - just as Hogan`s popularity is beginning to explode - for a match with Nick Bockwinkel (24/04/1983). This is a fine match, fought at Bockwinkle`s deliberate pace, and is a great example of building a tension within the audience, before sending them home happy.

The WWF championship match with the Iron Sheik is next (23/01/1984), in a match which does its job of ushering in a new wrestling era, before Big John Studd challenges the champion at Madison Square Garden (22/09/1984). This is a very average match, made to feel a lot better by the fantastic crowd reaction to Hogan.

The famous "War To Settle Score Match" with "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (18/02/1985), which aired on MTV, is another short match which built to the bigger confrontation (at Wrestlemania I). It isn`t much of a contest, but its aftermath is tremendous. The Wrestlemania main event quickly follows (31/03/1985), where Hogan & T tag to face Piper & "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff, in a match which is much more about story than it is action, which is probably just as well.

We skip a full year to the next contest, as Hogan faces King Kong Bundy inside a steel cage at Wrestlemania II (07/04/1986). This is an entertaining match, and feels like the main event that it originally was. An equally good match was the one with Paul Orndorff (28/08/1986), at the CNE Stadium in Toronto. And whilst things come down a notch in the Wrestlemania III match with Andre The Giant (29/03/1987), the bout comes across as the ultimate showdown between probably the two biggest names in 1980s wrestling.

The next three bouts all headlined their respective Wrestlemania events, as Hogan faced "Macho Man" Randy Savage (18/04/1989), The Ultimate Warrior (01/04/1990), and Sgt. Slaughter (24/03/1991). Of the three, the former bout is unquestionably the best, and is possibly the best WWF match of Hogan`s career. The trend of main-event-feel bouts is continued in the bout with the Warrior (which tops a lot of fans` all-time favourite match list), and even the match with Slaughter tells a good story, even if the Gulf War premise was rather lame.

Only one match remains from Hogan`s main WWF run, and that is his WWF title match with The Undertaker (03/12/1991), which was held just days after the Survivor Series pay-per-view. The match is probably the sloppiest I`ve ever seen The Undertaker, but is still a good bout.

The clock moves forward three years for the next bout, as Hogan challenges Ric Flair for the WCW Championship (17/07/1994). This is Hogan`s very first match for the Ted Turner-owned World Championship Wrestling, and it is much better than I anticipated. After a look at Hogan`s heel turn, he faces The Giant (now The Big Show, 10/08/1996), and then Sting (28/12/1997), in two bouts of no particular value. The latter ends confusingly without any real explanation as to what was going on.

The next bout is an interesting one, as it comes from Jimmy Hart`s ill-fated X Wrestling Federation promotion. The match is Hogan vs Curt Hennig (14/11/2001), and is reasonable, but would have been a lot better had it had a little more time.

The proceeding bout brings us back to the WWF, as Hogan faces The Rock at Wrestlemania XVIII (17/03/2002). This is an incredible match, not so much for the limited in-ring action, but for the response of the audience, who cheer the supposedly bad-guy Hogan like he was Wayne Rooney winning the 2010 World Cup.

That idolatry carries over somewhat into the next match, with Triple-H (21/04/2002), which is another match made to seem better by the crowd`s approval. Then, in the sole non-singles affair on this set, Hogan teams with Edge to face Billy & Chuck (a supposedly gay tag-team, which caused more than a little controversy, 04/07/2002). This was a good television match.

There were no-disqualification rules in the penultimate bout, as "The Hulkster" faced Vince McMahon at Wrestlemania XIX (30/03/2003). This is not a good match, as you might expect. The "Legend vs Icon" bout against Shawn Michaels (21/08/2005), however, is much better. The match features impeccable pacing, and both men telling a good story inside the ring.

Interspersed between this remarkable list of matches are comments by hosts Okerlund and Hart, as well as interview footage from Hogan, Roddy Piper, Edge, and Sgt. Slaughter, to name but a few. There is some interesting information here, such as the story of Slaughter`s refusal to burn the American flag as part of his 1991 Gulf War feud with Hogan. There is also footage of Hogan`s induction into the WWE Hall of Fame, which also makes for interesting viewing.

Overall, whilst none of the matches detailed are five-star classics (although Hogan vs Savage is excellent), Hogan thrived not on creating a spectacularly athletic match, but on telling a story inside the ring, and actively involving the crowd in his matches. No-one has ever done this better than Hogan, and it really shows here.

For all but a few, this set - at ten hours in length - is going to take a while to get through. But it is a fantastic set littered with a remarkable amount of main event matches, as well as some great rare footage. The inclusion of the 4th disc for the UK is a wonderful bonus, and completes an awesome package.

This set is an absolute must-have for fans of Hogan, and is also worth your interest if you remember WWF wrestling of the time.

Highly recommended.