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The Rise of Hulkamania was simply standing on the shoulders of giants. The whole Rock 'n Wrestling bit was more or less invented by the Freebirds (which is part of the reason why they were among wrestling's biggest names in the late '70s, early '80s.), The whole Superhero bit was taken from Billy Graham, and the whole celebrity aspect of it was inspired by Jerry Lawler's work with Andy Kaufman.
All of that being said, he could pull it off. I don't think someone the likes of One Man Gang, Paul Orndorf, Honky Tonk Man, or even Randy Savage could pull it off as well as Hogan did. I intentionally mentioned mainly secondary stars for a reason: You couldn't put just take any schmuck off the street, put him in Red and Yellow, have him ramble on about "Training, Prayers, and Vitamins," and expect it to work. Hogan did as much to put himself over as McMahon did to make him a star.
Does "Hulk Still Rule?" The little kid in me still thinks so. But he was basically a gateway to open our eyes to some of the better folks in the business.
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