Hulk Hogan Hype: Hulkamania Still Lives in the New Form of Hatred

For about a week now, I have written several articles pertaining to the Hulkster.

What I found was amazing, the man can still draw. Granted, he may not be the hero he was in the 80's. However, he has now turned into the man wrestling fans love to hate.

The articles averaged about 3,000 views a piece, all of which mentioned Hogan's name in the title. One could say that the fans still have some affinity for the aging wrestler.

There were about 60 comments left, and they were definitely not in favor of Hogan. Personally, as a former Hulkamaniac, I believe the anger and frustration comes from expecting more from him. Hogan, at one time, was looked at as a larger than life figure. He was super-hero to many fans in the 80's.

During that time, the wrestling world was extremely secretive, and only so much information was out there about the performers. Most of the time, fans actually thought what happened on TV was real and a lot of emotion was drawn as a result. This allowed for some amazing story-telling.

Sadly, that era has come and gone.

Now we live in an age where the curtain is almost completely open, unveiling the world backstage. Most of the time, we know the story-line and potential outcome before a match even happens. Many of the wrestlers from the past and present now have social media accounts, which has allowed them to reveal that they are friends with the people that they are supposedly "feuding" with.

Since Mick Foley's first book was released in 1999, we have also seen a plethora of books from various wrestlers. Each of these books have talked about previous story-lines and their feelings about that time. The books have also given a forum to each performer to talk about their personal lives. 

Lets not forget that Hogan had a reality TV show, which allowed millions of viewers into his house each week. It is these new mediums that have allowed us to really see the people for who they are.

In Hogans case, it has left a bad taste in the fans mouths. Hogan is looked at as one of the guys that ruined WCW. He had a brief love-fest with the fans in 2003-05, since then he has really fallen out of favor.

When he came to TNA, he was announced as a game-changer for the company. This never happened; he brought in an old-school mentality, which really changed the TNA revolution, turning it into a WWE ripoff. This obviously did not help his image.

Despite all of this, we as fans can't help but click on a story that has his name in the title. It's almost like we want to get angry and really let out emotion. Most people are hoping for the story titled: "Hulk Hogan Retires: This Time it's Real".

Unfortunately, this title may never happen.

Overall, Hogan is still in the hearts and minds of wrestling fans. Some hold on to the memories of Hulkamania and the original NWO, while others see that he has become a parody of his former self and are waiting for the bottom to drop.