Examining Parallels Between Current WWE Product and Hulkamania Era

Credit: WWE.com

Friedrich Nietzsche (and Rust Cohle) seems to be right that time is a flat circle, as we've seen with how WWE has circled back to the days of Hulkamania in many ways.

It's been 30 years since Hulk Hogan first won the WWE world title and launched the sports-entertainment giant into a new orbit. Even with all the changes fans have witnessed WWE go through since then, one can't help but notice what remains the same, what feels like an echo of the past.

WWE's central hero, its nationalistic dynamic and the family-friendly nature of the product all remind one of 1984.

Perhaps those parallels speak to how much wrestling relies on tropes and what has worked in the past. Maybe it's a testament to how little things change, how we continue to tell the same stories.

Either way, to watch a crowd erupt for John Cena is to flash back to when Hogan was king.

Reprise of a Hero 

The biggest babyface in today's WWE is most certainly Hoganesque.

The Hulkster was a straight-laced, infallible hero with bulging muscles. He told kids to say their prayers and eat their vitamins. His charisma made up for subpar ring skills. 

That description could just as well be about Cena. Replace the prayers and vitamins with a mantra of hustle, loyalty and respect, switch out a bandana for a ball cap and the similarities are even more obvious.

Hogan often infused a touch of goofiness in his intense promos

That's a a tradition Cena has continued today.

The two eras also share the fact that a singular presence held on to the top spot. Looking through WWE Championship history on WWE.com bears that out.

Hogan won the WWE title five times from '84-'94. Cena has been WWE champ 12 times in the last 10 years. Hogan held that belt for over 2,000 days in a decade; Cena is up to over 1,200 days.

TheHistoryofWWE.com reminds us that Hogan was in the main event seven of the first 10 WrestleManias (eight if you count his impromptu match with Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX). Cena has had top billing five times at that marquee event in 10 years.

Their popularity is comparable, although Hogan never experienced the mix of boos and cheers that Cena does.

Still, even with promising stars coming up to bat, Cena has been the consistent element atop the company. WWE has leaned on him, many would say to a fault, just as it did with Hogan. They are both the lovable powerhouses who take a beating during every match but somehow eventually fight back and win. 

In those ways, it feels sometimes as if Cena is a remix of the Hogan song.

One could also draw line between the aging Andre the Giant of the Hulkamania era and Big Show closing in on the end of his career. The two giants serve as attractions and as intimidating obstacles for Hogan and Cena, respectively. 

The pure-of-heart hero and the singlet-wearing behemoth aren't the only repeats from the '80s, though. The story of Russia invading is being told once again as well.

Russia vs. USA

In the '80s, WWE siphoned heat for its heels from the Cold War. Today, Russia is still providing enemies for the company's patriots.

A furry hat atop his head, a hammer and sickle stitched into his jacket and a snarl smeared across his mouth, Nikolai Volkoff inspired loud, passionate boos. He was a brute in the ring, stomping and punching his way to victory.

His enemies were the men who stood up for America, Hogan, Jim Duggan, Sgt. Slaughter or Corp. Kirchner.

There has been a similar narrative surrounding Rusev.

He and Lana have spent the bulk of their time with WWE insulting and degrading the United States. Eventually, someone will grow tired of it and take a stand. Big E, Jack Swagger and Mark Henry have played those parts today.

Like Volkoff before him, Rusev has used the Russian flag and national anthem as a way to vex fans. Volkoff would demand that the national anthem play before his matches. He would sing along with his hand across his chest.

Rusev, some 30 years later, would take the same road, having that song be a means to having the crowd boo him.

WWE has reached into the past to further this present storyline. Rusev cornered Duggan, one of Volkoff's biggest rivals, and in September, met with Volkoff backstage.

Should Cena face Rusev at some point, the sensation of deja vu will be overpowering. The American hero and the Soviet bruiser would be clashing in what would feel like a remake of Hogan and Volkoff's Flag match in '85.

The Second PG Era

Beyond the individual parallels, today's WWE and the one fans watched 30 years ago share a common goal of appealing to families.

Think of Hulkamania and the present as the bread surrounding the Attitude and Ruthless Aggression Eras, making an irreverence sandwich. It wasn't until D-Generation X, Steve Austin and company took hold of WWE in the late '90s that sexual references picked up, violent escalated, language got raunchier.

Blood wasn't common in Hogan's time either, just as it is a rarity today. 

The peak of WWE pushing the proverbial envelope has come and gone. Today's WWE is trying to appeal the same audience that the Hulk-centered WWE was.

Sillier gimmicks were commonplace. A man in a bow tie went around cutting people's hair, as odd as that sounds.

That idea seems as if it came from the same mind that created Fandango or Los Matadores.

There's a corniness that links the two eras, especially during the holidays. Dressing up Damien Sandow up like Santa Claus and getting him to be ornery wasn't a new concept.

WWE was goofing around the same way back in '85, Capt. Lou Albano playing the part of Mr. Claus.

The names and faces have changed, but it sometimes feels as if history is repeating. Styles come back into fashion. Trends resurface.

If the end of Hulkamania is any indication of what to expect next, someone will lead WWE into a new era, charging toward a new frontier. Austin did that nearly 20 years ago. Who cuts the path this time out?

Who will have us looking back at 1997 with the same sense of deja vu that we are experiencing today?