Hogan and Flair in Australia

I have to give Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair some kudos for working the Australian press in the way they did yesterday. For those who have not heard the news, here is how the Herald Sun, Australia’s #1 newspaper reported it…

“The Hulk, Hulk Hogan injured in bloody Sydney brawl with Ric Flair and media

WRESTLER Hulk Hogan has been badly injured after a violent bloody brawl broke out at The Hulkamania promotional press conference at Star City today.

The press conference veered violently out of control today as Hulk Hogan and ring rival Ric Flair let their animosity break into a full scale bloody brawl.

Newspaper Sydney Central’s photographer Phil Rogers had his flash broken when Ric Flair threw a table off the stage and into the press gathering before diving on photographers.

Media were stunned as the Hulk’s head began bleeding profusely and confusion broke out when the veteran wrestling star was unable to get to his feet.

This reporter narrowly missed being struck with the table and photographers ducked and weaved as Ric Flair took off his trouser belt and began to whip anyone within range.

The press conference began well with the stars of the tour speaking professionally about their careers and the business.

Hulk Hogan was excited to be touring Australia for the first time.

He said promoters in the past had billed him to tour Australia without his knowledge only to tell the fans that he could not make it.

The Hulkamania tour hits Melbourne on Saturday night.”

The ABC were not to be sucked in by all this though…

“Hulk Hogan ‘attacked’ at press event

Posted Wed Nov 18, 2009 3:55pm AEDT
Updated Wed Nov 18, 2009 4:01pm AEDT

Hulk Hogan was bleeding profusely from the head. (Getty Images: Brendon Thorne)

Hulk Hogan was apparently left battered and bruised after a bloody brawl with rival Ric Flair at a media conference in Sydney today.

The event, to promote a wrestling tour later this month, veered violently out of control when Hogan and Flair let their animosity break into what appeared to be a full-scale brawl.

Media were shocked when Hogan began bleeding profusely from the head and was unable to get to his feet.

Flair used his belt to whip anyone within range.

The Daily Telegraph reports one photographer had their equipment broken when Flair threw a table off the stage and into the press.

It was a dramatic twist, as the event had started well with the professional wrestlers discussing their careers.

Pro-wrestling has a long history of orchestrating rivalries between crowd favourites and villains.

Bouts are often staged with the outcome preordained.

This track record has led to speculation that today’s events are nothing more than a promotional event.

- ABC/AAP”

Bouts are often staged with a predetermined outcome. Next the ABC will tell me that there is no Santa Claus or Easter Bunny.

Despite the main stream press that this story has picked up, there is no way that I am going to shell out any money to see the Hulkamania tour this weekend. I am saying this as both a wrestling fan and a Ric Flair fan.

Firstly the main even consists of Hulk Hogan who is 55, and Ric Flair who I believe is 63. We all know that Hogan has creative control of this tour and that Flair will have to do the JOB all week long. In fact I could pretty much say I know exactly how the match will go, as I suspect it will just be each wrestler’s signature spots strung together. We know at one point Flair will put the figure four on Hogan and he will no sell it, before hulking up. We also know that Hogan will end up giving Flair the big boot, run off the ropes and drop the leg drop of doom, 1, 2, 3, Hogan wins.

While I could perhaps tolerate that as a main event the undercard is really uninspired. Lots of Hogan’s flunkys like Ed Leslie (Brutus Beefcake) and the Nasty Boys and Jimmy Hart are on the tour. Nothing that I would really like to see.

Ric Flair Shoot Interview

I post these clips with a brief word of warning. Firstly I admit that I am a Ric Flair fan and think that he was one of the top five wrestlers that I have seen… but he has become a bitter old fart in recent times. Not only that but I think that he has become a bit pathetic and that now that he’s over 60 years of age he should retire from the ring.

Still, I didn’t expect that there would be more wrestling fans willing to defend Hulk Hogan than Mick Foley. Some Youtube comments even went as far as to say that Hogan was the greatest wrestler ever, which is rubbish, since all he could do was kick, punch, big boot, leg drop of doom, 1, 2, 3… Hogan only really got to the top because of his charisma and looks and stayed on top because he made money and then played politics. Maybe those Hulk Hogan vitamins that all the Hulkamaniacs have been taking are a little stronger than I thought!

I would have thought that there’d be more defence of Mick since he’s a nice guy and got to the top through lots of hard work and determination against the odds and prejudices of guys like Ric Flair.

As for the comments he makes about Bret Hart, technically he is right and wrong about Hart being a draw. When Hart was champion in the WWF he was not a huge draw in the US, but that could be more due to the way he was booked by the WWF than to anything Bret was doing. You can also say that Bret was a bigger name than Flair outside of America, not just in Canada but the UK and Australia too. (But this was probably due to us Aussies only having access to the WWF and not the NWA/WCW!)

I think that part of Flair’s problem is that he is a complete suck up, especially to his best friends HHH and HBK, as well as Vince, but that is probably a story for another time.