After Saturday night's WWE Elimination Chamber event, a lot of people have been discussing the closing angle which saw John Cena turn heel on Cody Rhodes and align himself with The Rock.
It - without a doubt - is a huge story in professional wrestling right now because Cena had been a babyface character for over twenty-one years.
Some have compared the turn to the shocking turn which occurred at WCW Bash at the Beach 1996. At that event, Hulk Hogan joined forces with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to form the New World Order.
There is even a suggestion out there, from some, which believe Saturday's angle was bigger than the Hogan turn.
If they think so, then that's fair enough.
They're wrong, though.
In my opinion, of course.
Hulk Hogan's turn led to World Championship Wrestling's business increase to the point it was - for a period - the number one wrestling company in the US.
WCW was hot with the New World Order angle. Its success lead to Vince McMahon fighting back resulting in the Monday Night War.
The wrestling business was on fire back then. And it all started from Hulk Hogan leg-dropping Randy Savage that July '96 evening.
What John Cena's turn means for the long-term isn't known. Yet. I cannot see it doing anything like 1996 because it was entirely different business back then.
It was a different world, too.
Consider this - I watched Cena's turn play out live on streaming TV. Back in 1996, I first found out about Hulk Hogan's heel turn from reading the WCW news page on TNT Europe's teletext service because we didn't get WCW PPV events on cable (it was possible to catch them on Germany's DSF sports channel, but my family had switched from satellite by then).
So - to close - John Cena's turn was amazing.. but, I'd still consider Hogan's one the best for business.
Because there's proof to back it up.
No comments:
Post a Comment