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Mr. Keith, Longtime fan.  A while ago I asked you to plug a youth theater production of my plays and you were generous enough to comply even though it was rather irrelevant.  You couldn’t come to it because it was in a different country and you were busy getting married, but I don’t hold it against you.   So here I am, again, with a vlog that’s actually relevant, featuring a portrayal of the new World Heavyweight Champion.  If you could plug this as well, it would be greatly appreciated.   http://blip.tv/beardosblog/beardo-unboxes-episode-2-robot-chicken-candy-bear-5832949 Thank you for your time and I hope all is well with you.

All is indeed well.  Sorry for the delay in posting your plug.

Mr. Keith, Longtime fan.  A while ago I asked you to plug a youth theater production of my plays and you were generous enough to comply even though it was rather irrelevant.  You couldn’t come to it because it was in a different country and you were busy getting married, but I don’t hold it against you.   So here I am, again, with a vlog that’s actually relevant, featuring a portrayal of the new World Heavyweight Champion.  If you could plug this as well, it would be greatly appreciated.   http://blip.tv/beardosblog/beardo-unboxes-episode-2-robot-chicken-candy-bear-5832949 Thank you for your time and I hope all is well with you.

All is indeed well.  Sorry for the delay in posting your plug.

Mr. Keith, Longtime fan.  A while ago I asked you to plug a youth theater production of my plays and you were generous enough to comply even though it was rather irrelevant.  You couldn’t come to it because it was in a different country and you were busy getting married, but I don’t hold it against you.   So here I am, again, with a vlog that’s actually relevant, featuring a portrayal of the new World Heavyweight Champion.  If you could plug this as well, it would be greatly appreciated.   http://blip.tv/beardosblog/beardo-unboxes-episode-2-robot-chicken-candy-bear-5832949 Thank you for your time and I hope all is well with you.

All is indeed well.  Sorry for the delay in posting your plug.

Mr. Keith, Longtime fan.  A while ago I asked you to plug a youth theater production of my plays and you were generous enough to comply even though it was rather irrelevant.  You couldn’t come to it because it was in a different country and you were busy getting married, but I don’t hold it against you.   So here I am, again, with a vlog that’s actually relevant, featuring a portrayal of the new World Heavyweight Champion.  If you could plug this as well, it would be greatly appreciated.   http://blip.tv/beardosblog/beardo-unboxes-episode-2-robot-chicken-candy-bear-5832949 Thank you for your time and I hope all is well with you.

All is indeed well.  Sorry for the delay in posting your plug.

Scott, Saw your awards post on the blog, and I thought I’d use some of my connections (Eric Gargiulo, RD Reynolds, among others) to revive the awards. I’m doing a call for nominations as we speak, which I hope to collect by January 2 or 3. They’re listed here: http://justinsport.webs.com/noms.txt If you post this, the e-mail to reach me is [email protected]. I’m open to nominees from any promotion, just as Kunze and CRZ were, and I’m hoping for a big turnout.

Sounds good.  My own awards were going to consist mainly of a joke about the CM Punk Award For Excellence In Being CM Punk. 

Scott, Saw your awards post on the blog, and I thought I’d use some of my connections (Eric Gargiulo, RD Reynolds, among others) to revive the awards. I’m doing a call for nominations as we speak, which I hope to collect by January 2 or 3. They’re listed here: http://justinsport.webs.com/noms.txt If you post this, the e-mail to reach me is [email protected]. I’m open to nominees from any promotion, just as Kunze and CRZ were, and I’m hoping for a big turnout.

Sounds good.  My own awards were going to consist mainly of a joke about the CM Punk Award For Excellence In Being CM Punk. 

Scott, Saw your awards post on the blog, and I thought I’d use some of my connections (Eric Gargiulo, RD Reynolds, among others) to revive the awards. I’m doing a call for nominations as we speak, which I hope to collect by January 2 or 3. They’re listed here: http://justinsport.webs.com/noms.txt If you post this, the e-mail to reach me is [email protected]. I’m open to nominees from any promotion, just as Kunze and CRZ were, and I’m hoping for a big turnout.

Sounds good.  My own awards were going to consist mainly of a joke about the CM Punk Award For Excellence In Being CM Punk. 

Scott, Saw your awards post on the blog, and I thought I’d use some of my connections (Eric Gargiulo, RD Reynolds, among others) to revive the awards. I’m doing a call for nominations as we speak, which I hope to collect by January 2 or 3. They’re listed here: http://justinsport.webs.com/noms.txt If you post this, the e-mail to reach me is [email protected]. I’m open to nominees from any promotion, just as Kunze and CRZ were, and I’m hoping for a big turnout.

Sounds good.  My own awards were going to consist mainly of a joke about the CM Punk Award For Excellence In Being CM Punk. 

Scott,
For years there has been talk of Hogan (and others’) “creative control” clauses.  How exactly are these structured?  Obviously he was allowed to veto doing jobs, but have you seen the language of these contracts?  How much ‘control’ does the performer really have?  If Bischoff was to have said, “Hulk, you’re tapping clean to Sting’s Deathlock at Starrcade ’97”, what is it specifically that allows Hogan to veto that?  Is it in his contract or just an instance of Bischoff thinking it’s more trouble than it’s worth to argue about?  Is it the same idea with Vince re: Hart-Hogan in ’93?
In the same vein, how did Hogan have the ‘creative control’ to put himself over Yokozuna at Wrestlemania 9?  Shawn Michaels refusing to drop the title?  Bret vetoing the Montreal job?

Bret Hart week continues here at the blog!With Hogan’s WCW contract, he pretty much had the final say-so over anything he was going to be asked to do.  Like, they literally couldn’t even get him to come on TV and wave to the crowd without getting his approval.  So did Flair during his Crockett heyday (although not to the same crazy degree), which is one reason why Jim Herd wanted to get rid of him so badly or at least restructure the contract.  Hence the neverending Flair-Dusty war where Dusty would book Luger to go over and Flair would veto it.  With WM9 I don’t think that was Hogan’s creative control so much as Vince deciding it would be a good idea.  Shawn definitely didn’t have that kind of contract, he was just a dick and faked a knee injury, although by his 2002 comeback he might have learned from Bret and upgraded his contract, I don’t know.  And Bret absolutely could say no to doing a job, although I would like to point out that he was never ASKED to do a job to Shawn Michaels.  People on the anti-Bret side act like someone came to him and told him to lay down and he said no, but that never happened.  Vince told him that they’d do a DQ finish, and then screwed him out of the title.

Scott,
For years there has been talk of Hogan (and others’) “creative control” clauses.  How exactly are these structured?  Obviously he was allowed to veto doing jobs, but have you seen the language of these contracts?  How much ‘control’ does the performer really have?  If Bischoff was to have said, “Hulk, you’re tapping clean to Sting’s Deathlock at Starrcade ’97”, what is it specifically that allows Hogan to veto that?  Is it in his contract or just an instance of Bischoff thinking it’s more trouble than it’s worth to argue about?  Is it the same idea with Vince re: Hart-Hogan in ’93?
In the same vein, how did Hogan have the ‘creative control’ to put himself over Yokozuna at Wrestlemania 9?  Shawn Michaels refusing to drop the title?  Bret vetoing the Montreal job?

Bret Hart week continues here at the blog!With Hogan’s WCW contract, he pretty much had the final say-so over anything he was going to be asked to do.  Like, they literally couldn’t even get him to come on TV and wave to the crowd without getting his approval.  So did Flair during his Crockett heyday (although not to the same crazy degree), which is one reason why Jim Herd wanted to get rid of him so badly or at least restructure the contract.  Hence the neverending Flair-Dusty war where Dusty would book Luger to go over and Flair would veto it.  With WM9 I don’t think that was Hogan’s creative control so much as Vince deciding it would be a good idea.  Shawn definitely didn’t have that kind of contract, he was just a dick and faked a knee injury, although by his 2002 comeback he might have learned from Bret and upgraded his contract, I don’t know.  And Bret absolutely could say no to doing a job, although I would like to point out that he was never ASKED to do a job to Shawn Michaels.  People on the anti-Bret side act like someone came to him and told him to lay down and he said no, but that never happened.  Vince told him that they’d do a DQ finish, and then screwed him out of the title.

Scott,
For years there has been talk of Hogan (and others’) “creative control” clauses.  How exactly are these structured?  Obviously he was allowed to veto doing jobs, but have you seen the language of these contracts?  How much ‘control’ does the performer really have?  If Bischoff was to have said, “Hulk, you’re tapping clean to Sting’s Deathlock at Starrcade ’97”, what is it specifically that allows Hogan to veto that?  Is it in his contract or just an instance of Bischoff thinking it’s more trouble than it’s worth to argue about?  Is it the same idea with Vince re: Hart-Hogan in ’93?
In the same vein, how did Hogan have the ‘creative control’ to put himself over Yokozuna at Wrestlemania 9?  Shawn Michaels refusing to drop the title?  Bret vetoing the Montreal job?

Bret Hart week continues here at the blog!With Hogan’s WCW contract, he pretty much had the final say-so over anything he was going to be asked to do.  Like, they literally couldn’t even get him to come on TV and wave to the crowd without getting his approval.  So did Flair during his Crockett heyday (although not to the same crazy degree), which is one reason why Jim Herd wanted to get rid of him so badly or at least restructure the contract.  Hence the neverending Flair-Dusty war where Dusty would book Luger to go over and Flair would veto it.  With WM9 I don’t think that was Hogan’s creative control so much as Vince deciding it would be a good idea.  Shawn definitely didn’t have that kind of contract, he was just a dick and faked a knee injury, although by his 2002 comeback he might have learned from Bret and upgraded his contract, I don’t know.  And Bret absolutely could say no to doing a job, although I would like to point out that he was never ASKED to do a job to Shawn Michaels.  People on the anti-Bret side act like someone came to him and told him to lay down and he said no, but that never happened.  Vince told him that they’d do a DQ finish, and then screwed him out of the title.

Scott,
For years there has been talk of Hogan (and others’) “creative control” clauses.  How exactly are these structured?  Obviously he was allowed to veto doing jobs, but have you seen the language of these contracts?  How much ‘control’ does the performer really have?  If Bischoff was to have said, “Hulk, you’re tapping clean to Sting’s Deathlock at Starrcade ’97”, what is it specifically that allows Hogan to veto that?  Is it in his contract or just an instance of Bischoff thinking it’s more trouble than it’s worth to argue about?  Is it the same idea with Vince re: Hart-Hogan in ’93?
In the same vein, how did Hogan have the ‘creative control’ to put himself over Yokozuna at Wrestlemania 9?  Shawn Michaels refusing to drop the title?  Bret vetoing the Montreal job?

Bret Hart week continues here at the blog!With Hogan’s WCW contract, he pretty much had the final say-so over anything he was going to be asked to do.  Like, they literally couldn’t even get him to come on TV and wave to the crowd without getting his approval.  So did Flair during his Crockett heyday (although not to the same crazy degree), which is one reason why Jim Herd wanted to get rid of him so badly or at least restructure the contract.  Hence the neverending Flair-Dusty war where Dusty would book Luger to go over and Flair would veto it.  With WM9 I don’t think that was Hogan’s creative control so much as Vince deciding it would be a good idea.  Shawn definitely didn’t have that kind of contract, he was just a dick and faked a knee injury, although by his 2002 comeback he might have learned from Bret and upgraded his contract, I don’t know.  And Bret absolutely could say no to doing a job, although I would like to point out that he was never ASKED to do a job to Shawn Michaels.  People on the anti-Bret side act like someone came to him and told him to lay down and he said no, but that never happened.  Vince told him that they’d do a DQ finish, and then screwed him out of the title.

Hi Scott,
Looking back at Hogan’s career, particularly in WWF he always seemed to refuse to work with guys significantly smaller than him. Henning, Hart, possibly Flair and god knows who else. When I’ve watched a few matches where he did face somebody smaller in him, you can see that people would actually start cheering for the heal. The main reason being was Hogan was so much bigger the heals became underdogs. Despite all the programming to make people love Hogan some fans would cheer the underdog, even accept them needing to cheat to win against him. Or at least some Hogan fans wouldn’t be that enthusiastic to see him beat up a not all that threatening smaller guy. I suspect he learned this when doing house shows with a then heal Jake the Snake.  

The main exception to this was Savage (or foreigners like the Iron Sheik). All Savage had to do was be a dick towards Elizabeth at the start and part way through the match everybody would want to see the much bigger Hogan beat the shit out of him. This worked for Roddy too when he “kicked” Cyndi Lauper.
I’m starting to think Hogan wasn’t always being an ass when refusing to work with smaller guys. He realized what didn’t work for him and stayed away from it, for which I can’t really blame him too much.

I would agree with that, to a certain point.  Bret Hart made the same point when talking about his match with Owen Hart at Wrestlemania, noting that he didn’t want to get too much offense on his smaller brother because he’d just come off as a bully then.  And in fact, you kind of made that point in your own e-mail:  Hogan’s biggest money programs in the 80s were with “smaller” guys.  Roddy Piper, Randy Savage and Paul Orndorff.  No one doubted for a second that Savage and Piper could kick the shit out of anyone they wanted, and Hogan put over Orndorff so strongly that they made $10,000 a night for a year and half off of it.  That’s the key.  Yeah, if Hogan is facing Mr. Perfect and takes all the offense until fans are giving the heel sympathy, it’s gonna backfire.  Just look at what happened with the infamous “flea market” program against Kidman in WCW.  But when Hogan was fighting Randy Savage, Savage would BRUTALIZE him, and Hogan was a master of the sympathetic beatdown selling, leading to the Popeye comeback and win.  The key was Hogan adjusting his formula to match the opponent’s strengths, not just ducking anyone who he didn’t consider in his league because of their size.  That being said, I absolutely do not blame Hogan in the 80s for having that mentality.  The guy drew millions of dollars so it’s hard to fault him for wanting to stick with doing an easy run against Killer Khan or Kamala and putting his kids through college off it.  My issue is that the business passed Hogan by in the early 90s and he was too stubborn to acknowledge it, basically brushing off guys like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels as “too small” when in fact the steroid trials meant that Hogan himself was in fact too big.  When he finally did adapt, as Hollywood Hogan the ultimate coward who would sell for a reflection in a mirror, he was able to draw millions of dollars again. 

Hi Scott,
Looking back at Hogan’s career, particularly in WWF he always seemed to refuse to work with guys significantly smaller than him. Henning, Hart, possibly Flair and god knows who else. When I’ve watched a few matches where he did face somebody smaller in him, you can see that people would actually start cheering for the heal. The main reason being was Hogan was so much bigger the heals became underdogs. Despite all the programming to make people love Hogan some fans would cheer the underdog, even accept them needing to cheat to win against him. Or at least some Hogan fans wouldn’t be that enthusiastic to see him beat up a not all that threatening smaller guy. I suspect he learned this when doing house shows with a then heal Jake the Snake.  

The main exception to this was Savage (or foreigners like the Iron Sheik). All Savage had to do was be a dick towards Elizabeth at the start and part way through the match everybody would want to see the much bigger Hogan beat the shit out of him. This worked for Roddy too when he “kicked” Cyndi Lauper.
I’m starting to think Hogan wasn’t always being an ass when refusing to work with smaller guys. He realized what didn’t work for him and stayed away from it, for which I can’t really blame him too much.

I would agree with that, to a certain point.  Bret Hart made the same point when talking about his match with Owen Hart at Wrestlemania, noting that he didn’t want to get too much offense on his smaller brother because he’d just come off as a bully then.  And in fact, you kind of made that point in your own e-mail:  Hogan’s biggest money programs in the 80s were with “smaller” guys.  Roddy Piper, Randy Savage and Paul Orndorff.  No one doubted for a second that Savage and Piper could kick the shit out of anyone they wanted, and Hogan put over Orndorff so strongly that they made $10,000 a night for a year and half off of it.  That’s the key.  Yeah, if Hogan is facing Mr. Perfect and takes all the offense until fans are giving the heel sympathy, it’s gonna backfire.  Just look at what happened with the infamous “flea market” program against Kidman in WCW.  But when Hogan was fighting Randy Savage, Savage would BRUTALIZE him, and Hogan was a master of the sympathetic beatdown selling, leading to the Popeye comeback and win.  The key was Hogan adjusting his formula to match the opponent’s strengths, not just ducking anyone who he didn’t consider in his league because of their size.  That being said, I absolutely do not blame Hogan in the 80s for having that mentality.  The guy drew millions of dollars so it’s hard to fault him for wanting to stick with doing an easy run against Killer Khan or Kamala and putting his kids through college off it.  My issue is that the business passed Hogan by in the early 90s and he was too stubborn to acknowledge it, basically brushing off guys like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels as “too small” when in fact the steroid trials meant that Hogan himself was in fact too big.  When he finally did adapt, as Hollywood Hogan the ultimate coward who would sell for a reflection in a mirror, he was able to draw millions of dollars again. 

Hi Scott,
Looking back at Hogan’s career, particularly in WWF he always seemed to refuse to work with guys significantly smaller than him. Henning, Hart, possibly Flair and god knows who else. When I’ve watched a few matches where he did face somebody smaller in him, you can see that people would actually start cheering for the heal. The main reason being was Hogan was so much bigger the heals became underdogs. Despite all the programming to make people love Hogan some fans would cheer the underdog, even accept them needing to cheat to win against him. Or at least some Hogan fans wouldn’t be that enthusiastic to see him beat up a not all that threatening smaller guy. I suspect he learned this when doing house shows with a then heal Jake the Snake.  

The main exception to this was Savage (or foreigners like the Iron Sheik). All Savage had to do was be a dick towards Elizabeth at the start and part way through the match everybody would want to see the much bigger Hogan beat the shit out of him. This worked for Roddy too when he “kicked” Cyndi Lauper.
I’m starting to think Hogan wasn’t always being an ass when refusing to work with smaller guys. He realized what didn’t work for him and stayed away from it, for which I can’t really blame him too much.

I would agree with that, to a certain point.  Bret Hart made the same point when talking about his match with Owen Hart at Wrestlemania, noting that he didn’t want to get too much offense on his smaller brother because he’d just come off as a bully then.  And in fact, you kind of made that point in your own e-mail:  Hogan’s biggest money programs in the 80s were with “smaller” guys.  Roddy Piper, Randy Savage and Paul Orndorff.  No one doubted for a second that Savage and Piper could kick the shit out of anyone they wanted, and Hogan put over Orndorff so strongly that they made $10,000 a night for a year and half off of it.  That’s the key.  Yeah, if Hogan is facing Mr. Perfect and takes all the offense until fans are giving the heel sympathy, it’s gonna backfire.  Just look at what happened with the infamous “flea market” program against Kidman in WCW.  But when Hogan was fighting Randy Savage, Savage would BRUTALIZE him, and Hogan was a master of the sympathetic beatdown selling, leading to the Popeye comeback and win.  The key was Hogan adjusting his formula to match the opponent’s strengths, not just ducking anyone who he didn’t consider in his league because of their size.  That being said, I absolutely do not blame Hogan in the 80s for having that mentality.  The guy drew millions of dollars so it’s hard to fault him for wanting to stick with doing an easy run against Killer Khan or Kamala and putting his kids through college off it.  My issue is that the business passed Hogan by in the early 90s and he was too stubborn to acknowledge it, basically brushing off guys like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels as “too small” when in fact the steroid trials meant that Hogan himself was in fact too big.  When he finally did adapt, as Hollywood Hogan the ultimate coward who would sell for a reflection in a mirror, he was able to draw millions of dollars again. 

Hi Scott,
Looking back at Hogan’s career, particularly in WWF he always seemed to refuse to work with guys significantly smaller than him. Henning, Hart, possibly Flair and god knows who else. When I’ve watched a few matches where he did face somebody smaller in him, you can see that people would actually start cheering for the heal. The main reason being was Hogan was so much bigger the heals became underdogs. Despite all the programming to make people love Hogan some fans would cheer the underdog, even accept them needing to cheat to win against him. Or at least some Hogan fans wouldn’t be that enthusiastic to see him beat up a not all that threatening smaller guy. I suspect he learned this when doing house shows with a then heal Jake the Snake.  

The main exception to this was Savage (or foreigners like the Iron Sheik). All Savage had to do was be a dick towards Elizabeth at the start and part way through the match everybody would want to see the much bigger Hogan beat the shit out of him. This worked for Roddy too when he “kicked” Cyndi Lauper.
I’m starting to think Hogan wasn’t always being an ass when refusing to work with smaller guys. He realized what didn’t work for him and stayed away from it, for which I can’t really blame him too much.

I would agree with that, to a certain point.  Bret Hart made the same point when talking about his match with Owen Hart at Wrestlemania, noting that he didn’t want to get too much offense on his smaller brother because he’d just come off as a bully then.  And in fact, you kind of made that point in your own e-mail:  Hogan’s biggest money programs in the 80s were with “smaller” guys.  Roddy Piper, Randy Savage and Paul Orndorff.  No one doubted for a second that Savage and Piper could kick the shit out of anyone they wanted, and Hogan put over Orndorff so strongly that they made $10,000 a night for a year and half off of it.  That’s the key.  Yeah, if Hogan is facing Mr. Perfect and takes all the offense until fans are giving the heel sympathy, it’s gonna backfire.  Just look at what happened with the infamous “flea market” program against Kidman in WCW.  But when Hogan was fighting Randy Savage, Savage would BRUTALIZE him, and Hogan was a master of the sympathetic beatdown selling, leading to the Popeye comeback and win.  The key was Hogan adjusting his formula to match the opponent’s strengths, not just ducking anyone who he didn’t consider in his league because of their size.  That being said, I absolutely do not blame Hogan in the 80s for having that mentality.  The guy drew millions of dollars so it’s hard to fault him for wanting to stick with doing an easy run against Killer Khan or Kamala and putting his kids through college off it.  My issue is that the business passed Hogan by in the early 90s and he was too stubborn to acknowledge it, basically brushing off guys like Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels as “too small” when in fact the steroid trials meant that Hogan himself was in fact too big.  When he finally did adapt, as Hollywood Hogan the ultimate coward who would sell for a reflection in a mirror, he was able to draw millions of dollars again. 

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/96-wwe/23543-orton-update

But what does this have to do with Bret Hart!?

Soon they’re gonna be forced to elevate people.  Might be good for them.  I’d check Zack’s bag for lead pipes just to be on the safe side, though.

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/96-wwe/23543-orton-update

But what does this have to do with Bret Hart!?

Soon they’re gonna be forced to elevate people.  Might be good for them.  I’d check Zack’s bag for lead pipes just to be on the safe side, though.

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/96-wwe/23543-orton-update

But what does this have to do with Bret Hart!?

Soon they’re gonna be forced to elevate people.  Might be good for them.  I’d check Zack’s bag for lead pipes just to be on the safe side, though.

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/96-wwe/23543-orton-update

But what does this have to do with Bret Hart!?

Soon they’re gonna be forced to elevate people.  Might be good for them.  I’d check Zack’s bag for lead pipes just to be on the safe side, though.