Haven't I Seen This Before?

There’s an old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The WWF has clearly adhered to this way of thinking in the WrestleMania era (1985-present). As I have collected past WWF DVDs over the past year or so and watched the recent episodes of RAW I have noticed so many similarities between the biggest Superstar from back then, Hulk Hogan, and the biggest Superstar of today, John Cena. Some of the similarities are obvious to even the most casual fan, but others are somewhat tougher to notice.

First and foremost, both Hogan and Cena are the faces of the company. That isn’t debatable at all. From the early 1980’s to the early 1990’s Hulk Hogan was the most marketable Superstar the WWF had. In a span of 7 and a half years, Hogan held the WWF Heavyweight Title 4 times over a span of 2,087 days. It seemed as though whenever Hogan was about to fade out of view and give way to someone else he would win the title again and be back in the spotlight. A lot of this had to do with the fact that Hogan was notorious for being selfish, egotistical prick in the locker room and would make sure he got the title and the spotlight whenever he wanted it. John Cena has been a main eventer in the WWF since 2004. In that time he has been WWF Heavyweight Champion 8 times (including his current reign) and WWF World Heavyweight Champion twice. Cena is different from Hogan in the fact that, by all accounts, he is all about the furthering of the WWF brand and not about his own popularity or legacy. He is purely a company guy and if him being the champion is for the good of the company he’ll be the champ and if the company wants him to drop the title to someone the WWF is looking to give a push (The Miz) he’s glad to do it.

Another similarity I noticed between Hogan and Cena is their overwhelming appeal to the younger fans of the WWF. Now, I will admit that when I was a kid I was a fan of Hulk Hogan and his persona. Hogan was known for his character, not his wrestling prowess. He had three “demandments” for all his Hulkamaniacs to follow. If you were a kid in the early 1990’s like I was you knew that they were: 1. Train 2. Say your prayers and 3. Eat your vitamins. Kids of the time ate all this junk that Hogan spewed up like it was Kool-Aid. Now I was a fan of Hogan but he was gone from the WWF by 1993 and I was only 6 so I was able to forget about Hogan altogether and move on to someone better. John Cena burst onto the scene as a brash, obnoxious white rapper who would antagonize the top stars of the day, like Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar. Soon the WWF saw a potential star and they quickly turned him to a face, keeping the “hip-hop” style but losing the freestyle raps and obnoxiousness. Soon he became an inspiration for young fans with his motto “Hustle, Loyalty, Respect.” His fans became known as CeNation and they became the most vocal fans in the crowds. Like Hogan, Cena is not known for his in-ring prowess, but for his work on the microphone. Nevertheless, both Cena and Hogan became gigantic Superstars for the WWF because of their marketability to the younger fans.

Because of the vast popularity of both men, Hogan and Cena both have tried, and failed, to crossover into the field of movie making. Hogan made duds like 1989’s No Holds Barred, 1991’s Suburban Commando (with an appearance by a young Undertaker), and 1996’s Santa With Muscles. Hogan would have the WWF do loads upon loads of promotion for his movies while he was with the company. I feel like this was Hogan’s way of trying to get out of the company. He would use the resources of the WWF to get his popularity in movies to the point that he could leave the wrestling business in the dust. But with every box office failure, came more and more of Hogan on WWF television, including a title reign in between movies in 1991. Cena has also made his fair share of box office flops. 2006’s The Marine did nothing at the box office, despite an incredible amount of promotion by the WWF. Then he went on to put out movies like 2009’s 12 Rounds and 2010’s Legendary which both did very little at the box office. Both men quickly found out that The Rock is a rare case of a wrestler that could crossover and be a big time movie star and leave wrestling in his past.

The true measure of a wrestler’s star power is their performance at the grand daddy of them all, WrestleMania. In the first nine WrestleMania events, Hulk Hogan was involved in the main event of 8 of them and was at ringside during the main event of WrestleMania IV between Ted DIBiase and “Macho Man” Randy Savage. His WrestleMania record during that time was 7 wins, 2 losses, and one double disqualification (Hogan was involved in 2 matches at WrestleMania IX, winning one and losing the other by disqualification). He would wrestle at four more WrestleMania events and go on to have a record of 8-4. John Cena has had a similar record at the big show (not Paul Wight). Cena currently holds a WrestleMania record of 6 wins and 2 losses. In numerous cases Cena is involved in the last match of the night, usually bringing the show to a uninspiring end, due to his lack of ability, same as Hogan.

It is plain to see that both John Cena and Hulk Hogan have led similar paths to greatness in the WWF. Vince McMahon rarely reuses a story for wrestlers, but in this case he saw his formula work to perfection with Hulk Hogan so he used it again with John Cena. It just goes to show that in the wrestling business, specifically the WWF, you don’t always have to be the best wrestler you just have to have marketability.