The WCW Invasion was a flop. It seemed that after the end of this horrible angle, in light of heel turn after ridiculous heel turn, that nothing could bring the WWF back to its former glory, that it'd just have to wait it out until something phenomenal happened.
Enter the nWo. Although ify at first, and rumors of Hall and Nash working poorly, controlling the locker room and otherwise squashing all other wrestlers backstage like their characters did on TV abound, it was something.
But the building of feuds into Wrestlemania was weak. Jericho and Triple H's heat was eaten by Hall versus Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hogan's "legendary" match against The Rock.
When the day came, however, things took a turn that I think few saw coming. The crowd in Toronto was thrilled just to have Hogan in the ring again. He had been getting his share of cheers during Raw and Smackdown, but when the two went toe to toe, Hogan had all the pop, and Rocky took heat like never before. With The Rock's movie coming up in April, a heel turn was not option, so the creative did the next best thing . . .
They teamed to two up. Again, with the release of The Scorpion King on the horizon, and Hogan still using the heel extension Hollywood on his name, the two should enter the tag team division under the name The Hollywoods. Someone – anyone – should rid Billy and Chuck of the tag titles, and I'm routing for The Hollywoods.
Now, let's be realistic. Hogan signed a one-year contract for like million bucks, as I understand it. At his age, though, in his condition, he's not likely to make it a year without injuring himself. And if he does, it'd only be by taking it slow and not pushing himself in his matches. What that means is every match The Hollywoods fight will be mostly Rock carrying the match. Granted The Rock has carried larger things on his back – like the WWF as lead face for most of 2000 before Stone Cold's return. Which is why The Hollywoods need to take the belts and run with it while they can. The fans were thrilled to see Hogan, but eventually their going to miss seeing the fast-paced emotionally charged matches that Rock does best on his own. He and Hogan as a team will die out just as he and Mick Foley as Mankind did. The Rock and Sock Connection was great, but got old. And so is Hogan.
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