Growing up when I was a kid I used to watch Superstars of Wrestling every week and looking back Hulk Hogan never wrestled on show. Sure he made appearances on talk shows or interview segments to enhance an angle or feud but her very rarely actually had a match on TV.
The only one I can remember is when he teamed with Orndorff against Bundy & Studd and Orndorff turned on him leading to there match at Saturday Nights Main Event. Sure Hogan wrestled at all the PPV's and Saturday Nights Main Event but never on Superstars, Challenge, or All American Wrestling just clips of matches.
So I decided to take a look and see just how many matches he had starting from when he won the Championship. Turns out the match I remember wasn't even on Superstars, it was on Championship Wrestling the precursor to Superstars of Wrestling.
This list does not contain matches on shows taped at MSG, Boston Garden, The Spectrum, or Maple Leaf Gardens because I did not get those channels in my area, or Prime Time Wrestling because it was a compilation of everything.
Championship Wrestling
January 14, 1984 Allentown, PA Agricultural Hall, taped 1/3/84
Hulk Hogan & Bob Backlund defeated Mr. Fuji & Tiger Chung Lee when Hogan pinned Lee with the leg drop
April 14, 1984 Allentown, PA Agricultural Hall, taped 3/6/84
World Champion: Hulk Hogan pinned Tiger Chung Lee with the leg drop
August 5, 1984 Brantford, Ontario the Civic Center, taped 7/10/84
World Champion: Hulk Hogan pinned Jerry Valiant with a leg drop
January 19, 1985 Poughkeepsie, NY Mid-Hudson Civic Center, taped 12/17/84
World Champion: Hulk Hogan pinned Johnny Rodz with the leg drop
June 1, 1985 Poughkeepsie, NY Mid-Hudson Civic Center, taped 5/7/85
World Champion: Hulk Hogan defeated Ken Patera with Bobby Heenan & Big John Studd by disqualification when Studd and Heenan interfered, Paul Orndorff made the save preventing them from cutting Hogan's hair
November 9, 1985 Poughkeepsie, NY Mid-Hudson Civic Center, taped 10/22/85
World Champion: Hulk Hogan pinned Rusty Brooks with a leg drop in 36 seconds, Randy Savage attacked Hogan after the match but Hogan cleared the ring
March 29, 1986 Poughkeepsie, NY Mid-Hudson Civic Center, taped 3/11/86
World Champion: Hulk Hogan pinned Moondog Spot with a leg drop
July 12, 1986 Poughkeepsie, NY Mid-Hudson Civic Center, taped 6/24/86
World Champion: Hulk Hogan & "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff defeated The Moondogs when Orndorff pinned Rex with a piledriver, Orndorff refused to tag in Hogan during the match
July 19, 1986 Poughkeepsie, NY Mid-Hudson Civic Center, taped 6/24/86
World Champion: Hulk Hogan & "Mr. Wonderful" Paul Orndorff defeated King Kong Bundy & Big John Studd with Bobby Heenan by disqualification when Bundy & Studd wouldn't stop double teaming Hogan. After the match Orndorff attacked Hogan with a clothesline and a piledriver
All Star Wrestling
April 14, 1984 Hamburg, PA the Fieldhouse, taped 3/7/84
World Champion: Hulk Hogan pinned Afa with Captain Lou Albano & Sika
January 5, 1985 London, Ontario London Gardens, taped 12/16/84
World Champion: Hulk Hogan pinned Terry Gibbs with the leg drop
August 17, 1985 Brantford, Ontario the Civic Center, taped 8/5/85
World Champion: Hulk Hogan pinned Tiger Chung Lee with the leg drop, this match was also re-aired on a best of show on December 28, 1985
Superstars of Wrestling
May 23, 1987 Anaheim, CA Convention Center, taped 5/12/87
World Champion: Hulk Hogan pinned "Cowboy" Bob Orton Jr. with Mr. Fuji with a leg drop, the top rope broke during the match
May 14, 1988 New Haven, CT The Coliseum, taped 4/21/88
Hulk Hogan pinned Boris Zhukov with Slick & Nikolai Volkoff with the leg drop, post match Volkoff and Slick entered the ring, Volkoff was slammed and leg dropped while slick was given an atomic drop to the outside.
March 10, 1990 Phoenix, AZ, Veterans Memorial Coliseum taped 2/13/90
World Champion: Hulk Hogan pinned Dino Bravo with Jimmy Hart and Earthquake with a leg drop, after the match Earthquake attacked Hogan with Warrior making the save.
He had no matches on Wrestling Challenge and only 15 matches on these three primary shows in the 9 years he was in the promotion since his first championship. That's not a lot of matches because back then you had to go to the house shows to see Hogan live. TV was used to build the house shows unlike now where TV is the primary and house shows are just an opportunity to see the wrestlers live.
Let's put this in perspective, "Nature Boy" Ric Flair who wrestled in the WWF for 17 months had 15 matches on Superstars and Challenge during that time.
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Later Readers!
This is a fantastic list. I wonder how many of those matches were squash matches? It's wild to think someone like Hogan could become such a huge star without wrestling on TV weekly. Times certainty have changed.
ReplyDeleteAgree. But not with brock.
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