Long Live Hulkamania!

The screaming fans say it's great. The smarks proclaim it as a sham, or at least a rushed storyline. Whatever you think, Hulk Hogan is back, brother.

It's definitely been one good thing to come out of the WWF's purchase of WCW. With big guys like Hogan having nowhere else to turn, their only option is McMahon. Those who resist - Jeff Jarrett, Randy Savage, and others like them - end up in promotions that can't pay enough or don't have enough fan base to be worth the appearance. Those who cave, receive an ovation unlike any they've ever seen before.

The fans had been starved for big names and new storylines, unique matches and original promos. Bringing in Hall and Nash and Hogan (and hopefully soon, Steiner) has been a breath of fresh air to those who are sick of telling The Rock what we smell, sick of asking (or answering) "What?", sick of playing Games, sick of rolling, rolling, rolling. . .

That's not why they suddenly set wrestling back about fifteen years. You see, the fans needed fresh meat. Hogan was as close as they could get for now. Watching him in the ring, you can tell that his one-year contract is going to be his last. Not that he wasn't always slow, but now he's slower than ever. He can barely take Rock Bottoms and Pedigrees, let alone deliver his own moves. There simply isn't much life left in Hulkamania.

But there is some. And the WWF can't afford to waste what little wrestling time they have left in Hogan. He could very well stay on TV longer than a year, but he won't be wrestling much, if at all, after that amount of time.

So they rushed the red-and-yellow transformation. They rushed printing T-shirts proclaiming the Hulkster lives. They rushed two dream matches (Hogan-Rock, Hogan-Triple H) and cut short The Game's long-awaited return reign to hurriedly put the belt on Hogan as a sacrifice to getting as much quality Hulkamania out of it as possible.

A great idea? No. Has it sent the smarks into a tivvy? Absolutely. Was it practical? More so than taking the slow and dramatic route. If they didn't do this, we might not be able to look forward to Hogan versus Undertaker, Hogan versus Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hogan versus Chris Jericho, Hogan versus Kurt Angle (battle for who's the real real American?). Granted, a feud with Taker would best climax at Summerslam, where the Dead Man first dethroned the Hulkster way back when. That's taking a chance, though. He's already suffered broken rib, one more injury and he'll likely be out for good.

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