The Post-Wrestlemania Raw Crowd Appreciation Thread

[James Steele]

Originally Posted by Gertner Did Austin have a cartoon? Was Austin a pop culture icon? Did Austin sell out the Silverdome? If you ask 100 random people to name a wrestler would Austin's name get mentioned more than Hogan? Hogan is the biggest star in history. Hogan's match with the Rock during Austins stint got a louder response than anything Austin ever did.

Hogan wrestled across 3 generations to Austin's 1, so many more people know of Hulk Hogan. Hogan has done a better job of marketing himself after his career. But, it is a fact, based on what Vince McMahon has said, that Austin shattered every box office and merch record Hogan set in the 80s.

Austin made people buy 12 ppvs a year instead of just watching a cartoon. I promise WWE made more money going from 4 ppvs to 12 ppvs under Austin than that cartoon ever made. Austin led the WWE from the abyss and let them start doing stadium shows again, and he sold out the AstroDome. Austin also led WWE to create SmackDown!, HeAT, and increase the demand for syndication.

I'd argue that crowd reaction has nothing to do with tangible monetary drawing power. Remember, you are the one who says CM Punk almost killed the WWE despite getting damn near riot level reactions when he faced Cena.

Originally Posted by Gertner Nothing could help TNA.

Touche.