Tna: Brooke Hogan, Garett Bischoff and the History of Nepotism in Pro Wrestling

When it was announced that Hulk Hogan's daughter, Brooke, would be joining Impact Wrestling as the new Executive in Charge of the Knockouts, there was a lot of strong opinions.

"This shows TNA is second rate."

"This is an insult to wrestlers that have busted their behinds for years."

"This is Nepotism at its finest."

All of this is a matter of opinion, but one thing is for certain—it's nothing new in the business of pro wrestling.

Nepotism is something that has been a part of pro wrestling for a long time.  It has resulted in failed careers and, in some cases, the destruction of a promotion.

One of the best known examples of nepotism was that of George Gulas, the son of promoter Nick Gulas, who owned the territory that stretched from Birmingham, Ala. to Memphis, Tenn.  Gulas ran the Birmingham side of the territory while Jerry Jarrett ran the Memphis side.

Nick Gulas wanted his son to be a star and pushed him as such.  Despite, his lack of talent, George Gulas got plenty of opportunities due to his father—including a title shot against then NWA World Champion Harley Race.

However, with George Gulas at the top of the card in the Birmingham territory, that side of the territory had a dramatic drop in business.  Nick Gulas then wanted to move George Gulas to the Memphis end of the territory, which was doing great business behind stars like Jerry "The King" Lawler.

Jarrett refused to book George Gulas.  This resulted in a split between Jarrett and Nick Gulas that ended with Jarrett starting his own promotion and taking most of his top talent with him.

Not surprisingly, Jarrett and his promotion continued to have success and Gulas went out of business.

If anything, you would think that if anyone would have learned from that experience, it would be Jarrett.  However, it wouldn't be long before Jarrett would do the same thing that led to the end of his partnership with Gulas and start to push his son Jeff Jarrett.

Bill Dundee, one of the top talents in Memphis and also one of the promotion's bookers, said in his autobiography If You Don't Want the Answer, Don't Ask the Question, that Jarrett's decision to push his son was partially to blame for the demise of the Memphis wrestling promotion.

"

Jerry Jarrett once told me that if he ever made the mistake with Jeff that Nick Gulas did with George to tell him to bend over and kick him in the ass.  Well, he did, and one day I told him to bend over and he never treated me the same after that.  People knew Jeff was the owner's son.  He was pushed like he was the second coming when he was still a skinny little kid just learning to work.  He could not talk, was pushed to the moon and never drew a damn dime.  He had no credibility with the fans and very little with the boys. Jerry tried to build the entire territory around Jeff and the fans did not buy it.  Jeff Jarrett was not a main event guy then, pure and simple.  Never was and never will be.  Jeff Jarrett becoming a wrestler was the beginning of the end of the Memphis territory.

"

Nepotism wasn't unique to the Memphis territory. It would also be a factor in World Championship.

While there were a number of things that Bill Watts was criticized for during his tenure booking WCW, one of which was the hiring and pushing of his son Erik. After making his debut in 1992, Erik Watts was hired by WCW three months later and quickly made the finals of the promotion's Television Title tournament.

Bill Watts would leave WCW and Erik Watts followed his father to WWE in 1995.

Another example of nepotism was "The Natural" Dustin Rhodes, son of Dusty Rhodes, who was a key part of the booking committee in WCW.

Dustin Rhodes received a significant push while in WCW, winning the tag team titles (with Barry Windham and Ricky Steamboat) and the United States Title. In Rhodes' defense, he proved to have a long career in wrestling in WCW and in WWE as Goldust

Now, you have Eric Bischoff's son Garrett and Brooke Hogan continuing the tradition of nepotism in wrestling.  Will people learn from the mistakes of those that came before them?

Unlikely.

One thing that is common with the practice of nepotism is that the wrestler pushed is always pushed as a baby face—ignoring the fact that most fans, even back in the day, knew the wrestler was the son of someone in power and were hard pressed to get behind them.

Fans are people and most people have been victims of nepotism.  Most people have been denied a job, or a promotion, because of who someone else knew or who their parents were.

Unfortunately, the money is in being the baby face, not the heel, and parents will always want to put their kids in the best situation.

However, as history shows, it's not always what's best for business.