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  1. One of the posters that has regularly posted here for years, Matt D I believe, often makes an argument that you can tell a lot about the quality of worker that someone is by seeing what they do when they lose their physical tools and have to rely on other things to work a strong match. I have always been intrigued by this argument because I think there is a lot of merit in seeing what elements beyond physical work that wrestlers bring to the table in order to see who was very good and who was really great in the ring. I thought about typing this in a few places, but I figured that it might deserve its own thread. In this thread, I want to look at matches from different wrestlers that are out of their physical prime and try to evaluate them to get a sense of how great wrestlers compensate for a loss of physical talent. I will try to come back to this thread with some looks at different wrestlers that I feel comfortable evaluating in terms of their post-prime work. I of course invite others to share their thoughts, as I'm really intrigued by the idea. I'm going to try to source most matches through the Network as it is easier for me to type and watch on my television, but if there are any matches that people think I should consider that are not viewable on the Network, I can always find them elsewhere. We'll see how this goes. Hollywood Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock (WrestleMania X8, April 2002) I have decided to start here and look at the Hulkster because I truly loved his 2002-2003 run in WWE, and he was the first person that I really thought of when contemplating this topic. I think Hogan doesn't get enough credit for engaging the audience in whatever he's doing, and of course he got tons of crap for not working matches like Ric Flair back in the '80s. At this point in 2002, he's in his late-forties and has clearly physically broken down quite a bit. However, this match is great, and not just because of the molten crowd. In fact, both Hogan and The Rock do a fine job of provoking the audience even further. The two start with a face-off. I like that Hogan is pointing and talking some smack while the Rock just stares. They do that great shot where they look at the crowd going bananas before looking back at one another. The crowd goes even NUTTIER somehow with that acknowledgement. Then, Hogan starts talking shit just as the bell rings and the crowd loses it. Hogan and Rock lock-up and match power. Hogan wins the lock up, poses, and tells Rock to bring it. Just through trash talking and mockery, you know Hogan doesn't care how old he is; he really believes he's winning this one. Hogan poses again after a shoulderblock and really fires up the crowd, then beckons the Rock to keep fighting. For his part, Rocky has these great facials where you can tell he's figuring out just what the hell he walked into with a re-vitalized Hogan and a crowd that's nuts for him. I also want to give the Rock credit for his selling here. He does his sort of wacky selling bordering on over-selling, but it works here when he's selling getting a beat-down from an icon in this moment. Rock finally hits an offensive move, a clothesline, and tells Hogan to bring it. Hogan, for his part, sells not only pain but surprise that Rock hit him so hard. Now, both these guys are taking one another more seriously than they were before this first sequence. In frustration, Hogan shoves Rock, and he has this great look of DID YOU JUST TOUCH ME, THE GREAT HULK HOGAN?! disgust on his face when Rock shoves him back. Rock takes control here and eventually goes for a Rock Bottom, but Hogan escapes and takes control. Love his double-elbowdrop followed by feigning a third elbowdrop and then raking the face with the boot, just to remind you that he's still a cocky douche. Hogan throws a terrible looking kick in the corner and then loses control back to the Rock, who is fired up and punches Hogan before firing up and celebrating toward the crowd, which draws boos. He then turns around, immediately whiffs a punch, and gets suplexed. Hogan, in control, tries a rollup and only gets two, then stares down the ref for a bit. Hogan punches and then bites The Rock to the joy of the crowd, and Rock takes control, punches Hogan, and mock holds his hand to his ear, clearly deciding that he's just going to roll with provoking the crowd here. Hogan gets control again and just starts choking Rock with some tape before the two trade punches to the crowds delight. Hogan sidesteps a Rock clothesline and dishes him outside. Every time Rock gets some momentum going, Hogan uses his wily veteran-ness to get the advantage back. Experience is trumping youth so far. After some brawling outside, The Rock, who can't get momentum going, totally loses his cool and goes for a chair, but Hogan cuts him off. Then, inside the ring, Hogan clubs the Rock right into the ref. Again, Hogan is doing whatever he can to keep an advantage, pulling out every veteran trick he can, especially since Rock hit him with that clothesline and he realized he was in for a fight. His experience is what is keeping him just in front of the Rock. I also like that the one time so far Rock has tried to cheat, with the chair, he stupidly did so right in front of the ref - not a mistake Hogan would make, and Rock pays for it. While the ref is out, Rock eventually hits Hogan with a spinebuster to get out of trouble, then goes for a Sharpshooter. For the first time, The Rock takes advantage of the ref being out to pull Hogan off the ropes, but the ref is still out when Hogan taps - The Rock has ultimately made another tactical error. While Rock tries to get the ref up - and then is distracted by the crowd - Hogan thinks up another way out of trouble - a low blow, that he follows with a Rock Bottom and a cover as the ref crawls over, but it only gets two. The ref is still mostly out, so Hogan decides to take advantage. He gets this GREAT look of evil ideas brewing over his face and takes off his weight belt. The crowd absolutely LOVES it. However, even after nailing The Rock, eventually Rock's youth takes over, and he gets a reversal and then uses the belt himself. Rock is feeling it, but he's underestimated Hogan, who is still HULK FUCKING HOGAN, and thus gives no fucks about Rock's Rock Bottom, kicking out and beginning to hulk up. Hogan at this point works this gimmick where he still finds it in him to be 1986 Hogan at some point during the match, and you have to weather that storm to beat him. Rock has a great OH SHIT face as Hogan points at him. Big boot, leg drop, but the leg drop doesn't have the same power when 48-year-old Hogan does it as when 28-year-old Hogan does it, and The Rock is still The Rock, so he kicks out. Hogan is shocked at the kickout and wanders around a bit, selling that he has to figure out how to follow up. He sets up for another big boot-legdrop, but he misses the second one, and The Rock, who now fully respects the veteran wiliness and inner-Hulkupiness of Hogan, hits a Rock Bottom and immediately goes for and hits another one before then also hitting Hogan with a People's Elbow juuuuuuust to make sure for the three count. After the match, Hogan slumps over, selling his ribs and looking humbled. Hogan underestimated The Rock's ability and paid for it. At the same time, The Rock shows respect to Hogan. What I like is that the finish shows how Rock learned first-hand why Hogan was so great back in the day and he makes damn well sure Hogan stays down by using three straight finishers on him before going for a pinfall. As for Hogan's performance, he had AWESOME facial expressions to sell surprise and his look on his face after he gets beat and asks for a handshake is wonderful. His eyes are cast down and he has a truly humbled look on his face, like a dog that's trying to apologize for getting into the trash can while you were gone. Everything he did made sense. He was cocky at first like old school Hogan, but Rock hitting him with that explosive jumping clothesline let him know that he was in for a fight with a younger, hungrier lion. From then on, everything he did was designed to use every trick he had in his bag to keep Rock off guard and stifle the younger man's athleticism and explosiveness. Eventually, however, the youth of the Rock overcame Hogan's veteran knowledge. As a match with MOVEZ, this was nothing, but in telling a story, Hogan was great, especially in what he chose to do and when and also in terms of his great facial expressions. This is a match that, every time I see it, really is the one that cements how truly great a worker Hulk Hogan was. This is just an incredible performance on his part. I'm hoping to re-watch Hogan/Brock from Smackdown! next to see Hogan in a bigger, more obvious underdog role where the explicitly-stated story is that Hogan is over-the-hill and the younger guy is just a monster as we come into the match. I would like to compare that match to this one.
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