ROUND ONE: Ric Flair (3) vs. Hulk Hogan (6)

[Everlong]

The Ultimate Wrestler Tournament
ROUND ONE: Ric Flair (3) vs. Hulk Hogan (6)

Two of the biggest icons in the history of the business go head-to-head in an epic encounter. Which one will move on, the Nature Boy the man with the 24-Inch Pythons? Let's find out...



The Nature Boy, the Dirtiest Player in the Game, he's a man of many nicknames but known throughout the wrestling world for his 16 heavyweight championship reigns and his slew of classic matches. Flair is also renowned as one of the greatest talkers of all time, and his "WOO!" shout can be heard at wrestling shows across the country, even in promotions or buildings that Flair never set foot in. Truly a legend.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

*NWA World Heavyweight Championship (x10)
*NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Championship (x3)
*NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship (x3)
*NWA Television Championship (x2)
*WCW United States Championship (x6)
*NWA World Tag Team Championship (x3)
*WCW International World Heavyweight Championship (x2)
*WCW World Heavyweight Championship (x8)
*WCW Triple Crown Champion
*NWA Hall of Fame (Class of 2008)
*Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (Class of 2006)
*World Tag Team Championship (x3)
*WWE Intercontinental Championship (x1)
*WWF Championship (x2)
*Royal Rumble winner (1992)
*WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2008)
*WWE Hall of Fame: Four Horsemen (Class of 2012)
*WWE Triple Crown Champion
*5 Star Match vs. Barry Windham (1987) from The Wrestling Observer
*5 Star Match vs. Ricky Steamboat (1989) from The Wrestling Observer
*5 Star Match vs. Ricky Steamboat (1989) from The Wrestling Observer
*5 Star Match vs. Ricky Steamboat (1989) from The Wrestling Observer
*5 Star Match vs. Ricky Steamboat (1989) from The Wrestling Observer
*5 Star Match vs. Terry Funk (1989) from The Wrestling Observer
*5 Star Match w/ Barry Windham, Larry Zbyszko, and Sid Vicious vs. Brian Pillman, Sting, Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner (1991) from The Wrestling Observer

NOTABLE MATCH



NOTABLE SEGMENT





Arguably the biggest star in the history of professional wrestling, Hulk Hogan helped change the business forever in the 1980s with the WWF. He helped make WrestleMania into the biggest spectacle in sports entertainment, was an incredible crossover success in the mainsteam media and made Vincent K. McMahon a whole boatload of money. The Hulkster continues to be an icon today even into his 60s and has reached stratospheres of stardom that most up-and-coming wrestlers can only dream of.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

*WWF Championship (x6)
*WCW World Heavyweight Championship (x6)
*World Tag Team Championship (x1)
*Royal Rumble Winner (1990, 1991)
*WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2005)
*Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame Class of 2003

NOTABLE MATCH



NOTABLE SEGMENT



VOTE NOW!

[Daz]

This is the best possible pairing for Hogan as one of the few people who could conceivably beat him is Ric Flair. Hulk Hogan defined Rock N Wrestling and put WWE on the map. For that, he should almost be an automatic finalist. Flair however carried the rival as the multiple time World champion, travelling all over the world to defend the title, making a a whole host of challengers look better than they ever could themselves. That's almost equally important as without someone like Flair, those territories would have died out or been bereft of star power for Vince McMahon to later steal when he conquered the wrestling landscape.

I don't think anyone has a better back catalogue of matches than Ric Flair. Hogan to his credit has some good ones but Flair was definitely the superior in ring performer. I don't think Hogan can make the claim that he made guys through sheer in ring performance, in fact he likely held quite a few back. Flair wasn't afraid to show ass as they say, and allow himself to look weaker than his opponent, needing to cheat, needing dusty finishes and not to mention the help of the Horseman to retain his title. As far as promos go, both guys are obviously a cut above most.

I may have to sit on this one for a bit before making a decision.

[Everlong]

Ok. Before I begin my tirade, let me just say I have utter respect for the contributions these two made to the industry.

That being said, I fucking hate both of them.

Hulk Hogan has ring talent approaching zero. No agility, no flexibility, even in his prime he lumbered clumsily around the ring. He's the king of the no-sell, and for as much crap as Triple H gets for refusing to put people over, there's no one in the history of the business who is as self-important and full of himself as Hulk Hogan. You'll never find a greater disparity in professional wrestling between talent and success. To the man's credit, he knew how to play his character and he made the absolute most of it, and Hulkamania ran wild for a long time, but I was never a fan and found a lot of his stuff to be cringeworthy. His NWO years provided some great moments but in the end this guy is a walking ball of hype and spray tan.

Ric Flair is maybe only slightly less arrogant than Hulk Hogan, but much more of a douchebag in terms of the way he lives his life. His promos are incredibly obnoxious. I have never once found this man to be entertaining on the microphone and it seems to be one of those cases where if you yell a lot of stuff really loudly people will actually listen to you. At least unlike Hogan he was, at one time, a good wrestler, but even then you could expect the same routine out of most of his matches every time he stepped in the ring.

I cannot bring myself to vote for either of these guys, but if I had to it'd be Flair based on the fact that he was at least somewhat talented when it came to actually wrestling matches. But as far as I'm concerned, these two can fuck right off.

[Daz]

Ok. Before I begin my tirade, let me just say I have utter respect for the contributions these two made to the industry.

That being said, I fucking hate both of them.

Hulk Hogan has ring talent approaching zero. No agility, no flexibility, even in his prime he lumbered clumsily around the ring. He's the king of the no-sell, and for as much crap as Triple H gets for refusing to put people over, there's no one in the history of the business who is as self-important and full of himself as Hulk Hogan. You'll never find a greater disparity in professional wrestling between talent and success. To the man's credit, he knew how to play his character and he made the absolute most of it, and Hulkamania ran wild for a long time, but I was never a fan and found a lot of his stuff to be cringeworthy. His NWO years provided some great moments but in the end this guy is a walking ball of hype and spray tan.

Ric Flair is maybe only slightly less arrogant than Hulk Hogan, but much more of a douchebag in terms of the way he lives his life. His promos are incredibly obnoxious. I have never once found this man to be entertaining on the microphone and it seems to be one of those cases where if you yell a lot of stuff really loudly people will actually listen to you. At least unlike Hogan he was, at one time, a good wrestler, but even then you could expect the same routine out of most of his matches every time he stepped in the ring.

I cannot bring myself to vote for either of these guys, but if I had to it'd be Flair based on the fact that he was at least somewhat talented when it came to actually wrestling matches. But as far as I'm concerned, these two can fuck right off.

I never knew you had such anger in you sir.

[ShaneOfan]

Ok. Before I begin my tirade, let me just say I have utter respect for the contributions these two made to the industry.

That being said, I fucking hate both of them.

Hulk Hogan has ring talent approaching zero. No agility, no flexibility, even in his prime he lumbered clumsily around the ring. He's the king of the no-sell, and for as much crap as Triple H gets for refusing to put people over, there's no one in the history of the business who is as self-important and full of himself as Hulk Hogan. You'll never find a greater disparity in professional wrestling between talent and success. To the man's credit, he knew how to play his character and he made the absolute most of it, and Hulkamania ran wild for a long time, but I was never a fan and found a lot of his stuff to be cringeworthy. His NWO years provided some great moments but in the end this guy is a walking ball of hype and spray tan.

Ric Flair is maybe only slightly less arrogant than Hulk Hogan, but much more of a douchebag in terms of the way he lives his life. His promos are incredibly obnoxious. I have never once found this man to be entertaining on the microphone and it seems to be one of those cases where if you yell a lot of stuff really loudly people will actually listen to you. At least unlike Hogan he was, at one time, a good wrestler, but even then you could expect the same routine out of most of his matches every time he stepped in the ring.

I cannot bring myself to vote for either of these guys, but if I had to it'd be Flair based on the fact that he was at least somewhat talented when it came to actually wrestling matches. But as far as I'm concerned, these two can fuck right off.

I actually kind of agree with you, Hogan has done a lot for this business but he has three moves, shaking his finger at someone, pumping his arms, and the leg drop yet people bitch about Cena's five moves. And Flair is such a piece of shit that he is barely human. But at least he can wrestle somewhat.

[prophet]

Flair was a great wrestler and a great heel. Hogan was the man who put wrestling on the map. They're both colossal attention seekers and I still hate the way both of them invaded TNA and ruined the company (Hogan more for ruining the company, Flair more for soiling his retirement horrendously) but at the end of the day this is the ultimate wrestler tournament and Hogan is the furthest thing from the ultimate wrestler in the entire bracket. Flair as I've said was a wonderful heel in my eyes and this one is another no-brainer so The Nature Boy gets my vote.

[The Legend]

This is so remarkably easy for me. Hulk Hogan wins this war hands down and here's why.

First, you can't deny the fact that if it weren't for Hulk Hogan chances are WWF/E doesn't exist as a global entity today. He put wrestling on the map and without him there's a large chance that most of our American users on here wouldn't even be wrestling fans. And that's whether you love him or hate him, whether you did love or hate him he was the face of an entire industry, forget just one company, and he was largely responsible for the lengths that industry grew.

Second, neither of these guys were great in the ring, but I could easily make the argument that Hogan was better because he was less of a slap in the face of professional wrestling than Flair was. Every time I watch Ric Flair wrestle I feel like he's making fun of professional wrestling. Whether it's climbing the top rope to undoubtedly be thrown off the top rope or strutting halfway across the ring before falling from an opponent's punch, to anything else he was doing in the ring Flair's ring style has always prevented me from suspending disbelief in any form or fashion, where as I've never quite felt the same way about Hogan. Sure he Hulks Up, but that can be explained through an adrenaline rush, nothing Flair does can be explained.

As for promo work, the two men both brought the same style to their promos and for my money were pretty even, with both doing better work than the other at various points in their career.

[VaderBomb]

Ric Flair by a giant margin. Hogan was a huge name and a huge draw in his prime, but he was never better than Flair at any point. Flair is one of the top 5 greatest of all time. Hogan isn't even in the top 50.

[Str8Shooter]

This match up is almost fitting, as both of these guys lives and careers really seem to mirror each other, both inside and outside the ring.

Hogan is one of the biggest stars ever, he revolutionized pro wrestling and likely it wouldn't be close to what it is today without his star power carrying the WWF in it's early years of expansion. People rip his in-ring skill, and surely he wasn't spectacular, but he knew how to play to the crowd and have them eating out of the palm of his hand, as a face or heel. Hell, every time he comes back he still has the crowd like putty in his hands. His promos may have been the same note, but he hit those notes like few people in history could, he has a charisma about him that few have ever been able to match.

Flair is one of the greatest of all time, there are those who criticize his in-ring skill for doing the same thing in every match (cough*BretHart*cough). They may have a slight complaint, but even if he did do the same thing, he did it better than pretty much everyone else. There's a reason pretty much everybody in the industry puts over Flair, especially in the 80's, making stars of of people who might not have been on without him, he was a massive star in the south for the NWA, carrying the company on it's back for years as champion. He was the leader of the most influential faction in history which has influenced every faction since then.

Both men also came back and had final runs past their prime that were quite successful. Flair came back to WWE thanks to his buddy Triple H and and went on to become a member of probably the best faction of the past 10 years in Evolution, helping get over both Orton and Batista. Then went on to have a good run culminating in a memorable Mania match with HBK to "retire" him. Hogan came back in 2002 and had a solid run against the current stars throughout 02-03.

I'm going with Flair simply because to me, he was a total package in more ways than Hogan was. But in my opinion this is the closest matchup yet.

Also, I don't get Tim's hate . Both of these guys are far from the perfect human being, but there's a freaking child murderer in this bracket, I mean come on, these guys may be selfish egomaniacs, with more than a few wives between them, but their contributions cannot be ignored. To not vote for either out of spite is foolish in my opinion.

[Everlong]

there's a freaking child murderer in this bracket,

Well yeah, I didn't vote for him and won't be voting for him. But I can't stand Hogan and Flair as performers just as much as I can't stand them outside of the ring. As I said, I understand and appreciate their place in history, I just have never liked them at all and I don't want to vote for anyone who I think sucks in what is an "ultimate wrestler" tournament.

[VaderBomb]

there's a freaking child murderer in this bracket

Still not proven.


It was Sullivan I tell ya! Kevin Sullivan!

[Daz]

there's a freaking child murderer in this bracket

Still not proven.


It was Sullivan I tell ya! Kevin Sullivan!

Nah, Sullivan would have just kidnapped them and made them Satanists.

[Str8Shooter]

there's a freaking child murderer in this bracket,

Well yeah, I didn't vote for him and won't be voting for him. But I can't stand Hogan and Flair as performers just as much as I can't stand them outside of the ring. As I said, I understand and appreciate their place in history, I just have never liked them at all and I don't want to vote for anyone who I think sucks in what is an "ultimate wrestler" tournament.

Fair enough, I just think Flair is really entertaining, especially on the microphone. The weirdest thing you said was actually that you've never been entertained by a Flair promo. I think entertaining promos are one of his biggest assets. I could listen to the guy talk all day, he's insane. I actually feel bad for the guy because he loves the wrestling business more than anything. You listen to Flair at that 2Kgames panel and in interviews, he could talk about wrestling stories all day long, he just has such a passion, to his own detriment.

[Everlong]

^^Yeah I dunno, I wish I could explain why I don't like Flair on the mic, but I can't even articulate it. It's not the over-the-topness in itself that turns me off, because I'm a big fan of guys like Rock and Savage. There's just something about Flair that grates on me, and I can't even describe what it is

[AkydefGoldberg]

I'd probably go with Hogan.

Flair may have laid the platform before Hogan by doing his work with NWA etc but Hogan really main-streamed wrestling on a wider level although in recent years, aren't fans of both of them so not bothered about 'em anymore.

[Everlong]

Tied at eight apiece right now!! This is the biggest battle of the tourney so far!

[Kirbi]

I voted for Hogan because he's so detached from reality that it's occasionally fucking hilarious. But I don't care for either.

Feeling a little bad that some great wrestlers wound up seeded against almost unbeatable opponents though! They might've had a better shot against one of these guys.

[Hanley!]

I voted for Hogan. I'm with Tim though, I don't like either of them. I guess I just felt like Flair needed more putting in his place than Hogan. Most people seem to be pretty down on Hogan these days, which is fair enough. But a lot of people still think Flair is the bees knees and I just don't see it. I think his in-ring style was silly and insulting to the fans. His promo style mostly consisted of him yelling stuff until he was red in the face. All in all, Flair's material has aged about as well as the man himself has.

Also, while both of these guys stuck around long past their prime, I think Flair comes off worse in that regard. The end of his WCW run was hardly amazing, his WWE run pretty much sucked with the exception of the odd moment in his role as Evolution's manager. And lets none of us even get started on his time in TNA. In the end, Flair was shit for almost as long as he was "good".

I've written quite a few essays already in round one, so I think i can leave this one relatively short and sweet. Tim & John have already made all my points for me and have been repped accordingly.

[Daz]

I feel as though someone is gonna have to explain to me how on earth Ric Flair's in-ring style was insulting to wrestling...

[Hanley!]

^^ Didn't John already do that? The Flair flop, the inevitable being thrown off the turnbuckle. He did very gimmicky, showboating stuff that hurt the psychology of a match.