Season 2 of this show debuted tonight and this episode is right in my wheelhouse. As I have mentioned countless times, I grew up on the WWF in the 80s. Hulk Hogan is still my favorite wrestler of all time, and his rivalry with Andre The Giant is the first major wrestling feud that I have vivid memories of when I was a kid. This is going to be a winner for me just due to nostalgia and making me feel like a kid again. Let’s get to it!
-Freddie Prinze Jr is our host and he is joined at the table by Booker T, Devon Dudley, JBL, and Natalya.
-Freddie calls it the first great rivalry in the WWF and quite possibly the greatest rivalry of all time. Their rivalry is the foundation of what the WWE became and what WWE Superstars became.
-Hulk Hogan puts Andre over huge and calls him the greatest and biggest Superstar this business has ever known or will ever know. He says Andre laid the groundwork for him, Austin, Rock, or anyone else that comes down the line.
-Hogan says he remembers seeing Andre for the first time and he was the largest human being he had ever seen. We see the famous footage from the AWA where Gene Okerlund would interview Andre and trade coats with him or have Andre engulf Gene’s head with his hand.
-Sean Mooney pops up as a talking heads and mentions that Andre was a great wrestler. Andre’s greatness in the ring as far as a worker was before I became a fan, but thanks to the WWE Network I have learned he was pretty awesome.
-Now to Hulk Hogan who was playing in a Rock N Roll in 1976 and he quit to become a wrestler. He was set up by Mike Graham to train with Hiro Matsuda. We get the famous story of Matsuda breaking Hogan’s leg to force him out of the business. JBL puts Hogan over for breaking into the business in a tough way. He came back for more and made it to the WWF as a villain managed by Freddie Blassie. Oh man, those early Hogan interviews sound just like what we got from Thunderlips in Rocky III.
-In the Summer of 1980 Vince Sr runs Hogan vs. Andre for the first time (which was ignored in the build to WrestleMania III). In their first match, Hogan had a loaded elbow band and split open The Giant. Andre is terrifying as blood pours down his head and he screams for Hogan. This sets up their match at Shea Stadium on the undercard of Bruno/Larry. Hogan says he wasn’t Andre’s favorite person at the time. He says Andre was in great shape at the time and was faster than you would think. He was The Boss! Andre gets the win and it does so well they let them continue to feud. Hogan mentions he earned Andre’s respect after getting his ass beat night after night.
