Retro Moment: Hulkamania
On January 23, 1984, Hulkamania was born in Madison Square Garden.
I was there to see it.
The dreaded Iron Sheik, who would do nasty things like wave the Iranian flag and pray to Allah during matches, was the World Wrestling Federation Heavyweight Champion. He had defeated and injured all-American white boy Bob Backlund the month prior, knocking him out of the hunt for the title.
Hogan, fresh off appearing in Rocky III, was deemed the #1 contender. Apparently, if you have a minor part in a major motion picture, it makes you the next in line for a title shot in wrestling.
The Sheik, managed by Classy Freddie Blassie, entered the ring first to a loud chorus of boos, save for an entire section of ethnic Iranians who had taken over a portion of the upper decks of MSG.
When that was over, Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" began playing, and Madison Square Garden exploded.
In just about twenty minutes, Hogan would give the Sheik the dreaded leg drop of doom, and Hulkamania was borm.
Whacha gonna do?
More Retro Moments.
Links of Interest:
Hogan beats the Sheik in pictures
It's TJ's birthday too. TJmania is running wild.
2 Comments:
Man, that's hilarious. What was that old tv show that he had going for a while? Something about him driving a speed boat around or something. Dang, I forget. He was definitely everywhere for a while.
When I was like 12 Kamala was a scary dude. When I was older, I just looked at the guy and figured that somewhere in his mind, he came to the conclusion that being a walking stereotype was better than driving a cab in Chicago.
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