What if #1: Hogan stays in the AWA
 

Kinda grabbed this idea from a couple websites. Thought it'd be interesting to look at what would have happened if certain major events didn't occur.

How do you think wrestling would look today if Hogan stayed in the AWA and didn't leave because Verne Gagne was a cheap promotor and didn't drop the ball on Hogan?

This website wouldn't exist.

Fuck did Verne ever drop the ball on so many guys. The talent raid that happened to Verne was incredible: The Road Warriors, Scott Hall, Curt Hennig, Hogan, Jesse Ventura, Bobby Heenan, The Rockers, Rick Martel, Gene Okerlund just to name a few. Verne chose to keep aging guys like The Crusher, Baron Von Raschke, Larry Hennig. I'd say Bockwinkel but the guy could friggen wrestle all the way to his retirement.

Gertner beat me to the post. What he said.

There's quite a few scenario's that happened, some really old, some new that you have to wonder what would have happened? I'll post another one that I have wondered about in a couple days.

I think it was more of Vince being a ruthless talent grabber than anything else, it would have been inevitable that Hogan joined WWWF.

If Verne wouldn't have been such a money grubber and didn't ask for the majority of the money Hogan made off his merchandise sales in Japan, Hogan would have stayed around, because rumours are that's why Hogan was Dusty finished when he won the title twice. Verne could have built his company around Hogan and made enough money that he could have kept Vince at bay. AWA did have a deal with ESPN starting in 85 I believe which would have allowed Verne to promote Hogan nationally if he had stayed around which Verne could have made the money to keep guys like The Road Warriors.

Question is who would fill the void if Hogan didn't go to WWE? Backlund?

I don't why people think wrestling wouldn't exist without Hogan (or even McMahon). Wrestling would still be around but maybe not on a national or global scale, so for sure, this website/forum would still exist.

Probably Andre or maybe even a young Warrior. :|

I absolutely believe that the Internet Wrestling Community would exist, but I don't know about TPWW itself.

What if Steve Blackman never happened?

Lets face it, as much as people, marks, smarks, fans, or clowns may hate Hulk Hogan.... if it weren't for the team of McMahon/Hogan... wrestling would still be territorial, and WWF would most likely have gone bankrupt... considering it was about to before WrestleMania 1.

Steve Blackman exists in every reality ever, since he has not only a time machine but also a reality machine, which allows him to cross between realities.

It really depends on if someone else would have stepped up at that point. Hogan being the WWF's centerpiece must have kept some guys from getting a huge push.

McMahon is more important to wrestling than Hogan was. It's just a matter of there being a Hogan analog at that point in the WWF.

The WWF didn't really have an alternative if Hogan didn't go. There was nobody who was remotely close to being as over as Hogan then. They did have a nice pool of heels, but not a lot of consistant faces to push if Hogan didn't switch over.

Randy Savage

Savage was not as big in the early 80's. Hogan made Wrestlemania 1 the huge success it was, and ensured we get a superb show each year. Savage barely made the starting card on Wrestlemania 2.

Not in 1985. As much I like Savage, his first title run was a failure, and he wasn't that over or even in the WWF I believe in the first couple years when Hogan debuted. I don't believe Savage could have done what Hogan did.

AWA would've eventually died because Verne refused to change with the times

I even heard he never even watched his tv product

plus pushing your 40 year old son Greg Gagne probably didn't help matters

AWA was one of the best territories in the 60's, 70's and early 80's

once Verne lost Hogan and the Road Warriors it was all over for that promotion

http://www.hollywoodsuccess.com/Nick...onshipBelt.jpg
is the man. Just saying.

LOL "Rambo" Greg Gagne hahaha that shit was ridiculous. The Eric Watts of AWA

Greg Gagne was good in his tag team "The High Flyers" with Jim Brunzell. His singles push was just horrible.

Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka would have been the top guy in the WWF, until the whole "killing a hooker" thing brought the company down.

AWA would be the Number one promotion or Number2. But, the WWE would use Macho Man as there Flagship Guy. If WWF still went number one then we would be arguing about Randy Savage holding people back but his awesome wrestling skill.

I watched the AWA, when I started watching wrestling in 1988. They had some tremendous tag teams at the time (Midnight Rockers, Badd Company, Destruction Crew).

However, Verne Gagne refused to change with the times. His son Greg knew times were changing and wanted to make those changes, but his father just held him back and said no.

Another thing about Verne Gagne is he always wanted to push his family. First he tried to push Greg, with no luck (although Greg knew he couldn't be as great as his father was, and was content with his own success), so the next best thing was his son-in-law Larry Zbyszko, who ended up being champion.

yea, this basically. It was inevitable that Hogan would of left because of who Vern was. The question for this should be more like "What if Verne Gange wasn't in charge of the AWA during the Hogan era"

He had everything on a silver platter and put on the same show he had always put on. To him, wreslting was just athletic competition and didn't have time for the entertainment side of it and that killed the AWA. I believe Greg once said they only ran 3 angles a year. haha.

well, you can't really blame Verne there. Most of the territory guys did that as they did not want thier champion to leave with the belt. Back in those days, wrestlers had a lot of options and a had a lot of voices in thier ears.

Savage was not in position to be the next leader of WWF. If anybody it would have been Andre or Snuka. Not Savage and Warrior

Paul Heyman would be the #1 promoter in the biz, and the shows would be more "Bloodssport" than soap opera.

Another interesting side effect question: Would Vince have pulled the "Spider Lady" incident on Wendi Richter if Hogan was in AWA?

I was never a fan or either Gagne I thought they were just too boring. I also thought neither one of them could cut a promo. But what do I know I am ROH fan so I don't know anything about old wrestling.