Hulk Hogan makes me ashamed to be in wrestling - She Digressed #2
Welcome to my newsletter/blog where I ponder some of the hottest topics from the week in wrestling. This week I'm digressing on Hulk Hogan and Ring of Honor.
Running wild on Hogan
As wrestling fans I’m guessing the vast majority, if not all of us, have had to ‘defend’ wrestling at some point in our lives.
Defend it as an art form, an athletic feat, or even just as entertainment that is anywhere above the bottom of the barrel.
I’ve been doing it my whole life, though as an adult I care way less about other people’s opinions.
Then the 2024 Republican National Convention happened.
On Thursday evening I found myself feeling like a little kid again as I watched Hulk Hogan at the RNC.
And I don’t mean I was filled with the spirit of Hulkamania, Hogan never got me with that one.
I mean that I felt embarrassed and ashamed that, to a large number of people, Hulk Hogan is not just a wrestler, he is wrestling.
Nobody was watching Kid Rock at the RNC and thinking he was emblematic of music and all musicians. But Hogan is undoubtedly still, for many, the most iconic figure wrestling has ever produced.
Since the 1980s Hogan has been more cartoon character than human being and honestly, that was a smart move for him.
Reducing himself to a costume and catchphrases means many people can ignore who Terry Bollea the man is and instead remember and celebrate what Hulk Hogan the character represents.
Seeing Hulk Hogan at the RNC made me sad and angry and ashamed and embarrassed. It even left me wondering; am I somehow culpable for this?
Do I share the blame because I have spent my life propping up and supporting the industry that does the same for Hogan?
Following Hogan’s appearance at the RNC pro wrestler Hyan shared on X: “Hulk Hogan makes me ashamed to be a pro wrestler.”
The responses to Hyan’s post ranged from: “Who are you?” to men saying that, without Hogan, Hyan wouldn’t have a job, to much worse.
Firstly, Hyan is an internationally recognised wrestler who is truly one of the kindest and hardest-working people I’ve met in this business. If you don’t know her, it’s your loss.
Secondly, without Hogan, Hyan would still have a job because pro wrestling existed before Hogan and it would have carried on regardless of his involvement.
Anyone who’s ever spoken honestly about Hogan knows that unfortunately, he is a name still sacred to many in pro wrestling and reminding people he is a racist leaves you at the mercy of those who, not only support him but probably share his views.
Earlier this year I also encountered some of the worst people on the app formerly known as Twitter.
I had posted about the popular wrestling interviewer Chris Van Vliet and the questionable selection of guests1 he’d had in quick succession on his YouTube channel.
One of the guests was Hulk Hogan.
Among the many personal attacks in my replies and, of course, the ones asking: ‘Who are you?’ were a large number of people defending Hogan and some outright telling me he wasn’t a racist.
That’s a wild statement to make. Hogan did a better job of putting over how racist he is than he ever did at putting over his opponents.
Hogan was even fired by WWE in 2015 after the audio featuring his racist tirade became public.
That was the point where he should have faded into obscurity and been buried like the old relic he is.
But instead WWE chose to bring him back in 2018 when he gave the locker room a speech about being careful not to get caught on camera.
Hogan is an icon but the thing about icons is, they only keep their status if we allow them to.
Hogan appears on TV and in YouTube interviews, not as a racist, but as an iconic figure and a reminder of many people’s childhoods.
He is Mickey Mouse or Bart Simpson.
Donald Trump does not care that Hulk Hogan is a racist, he is one too. Trump brought Hogan out at the RNC as a symbol of 80’s Americana, of the Regan years when everything was bigger and better and when America was ‘great’.
But WE should all care that Hulk Hogan is a racist and make it clear that wrestling does not want nor need him anymore.
We should never shy away from calling out his platforming and those who hold up his status as an icon of this business.
And if you’re wondering, no I do not regret my tweet about Van Vliet, it was the right thing to do and taught me a lot about how the wrestling media space works and who can get away with what.
In January (before I made that tweet), on an episode of my soon-to-be resurrected podcast, I spoke about how I had considered quitting the wrestling business at the end of 2023.
I had wanted to walk away because of personal obstacles I felt I couldn’t overcome and because of an internal crisis I was having.
I was looking at everything that had recently happened in wrestling from Vince McMahon returning to WWE, to things like Ric Flair going to AEW, and wrestling promotions bending over backwards to book men with serious allegations against them.
I was thinking about young me, the little girl, who always defended wrestling to anyone and everyone.
I asked myself, was the thing she was defending truly worthy of her advocacy?
But at the very end of December, the universe conspired to show me why I couldn’t leave. It blew apart my personal obstacles and by the end of January the Janel Grant lawsuit was public and Vince McMahon was finally gone from WWE for good.
It was then I realised I couldn’t leave, what I actually had to do was advocate for wrestling harder, to try to make some little dent in the business that could push it towards being better and more equal for all. That is my mission.
Instead of defending wrestling against those who look down on it, I will now defend it against Hulk Hogan. I will defend it against all the racists, the abusers, those who spread homophobia and transphobia, and the misogynists. All these people who continue to stain the business.
So yes, I hated seeing Hulk Hogan at the RNC, not because I was surprised, but because I saw some of the people I respect the most outside of wrestling talking about him as if he IS wrestling.
And wrestling is so much more and so much better than Hulk Hogan.
Wrestling has no place for Hulk Hogan but it does have a place for someone like Hyan, someone with passion, talent, kindness, and courage.
Is Ric Flair still under AEW contract?
Who knows? I still haven’t heard back on that one
Ring of Honor - what Khan be done?
Ring of Honor has a PPV this Friday, July 26.
That’s news that some of you might be hearing for the first time.
You see Ring of Honor has occupied a strange place in the wrestling landscape over the past few years, a landscape that changed drastically in 2019 thanks to an event that owes a great debt to ROH.
Tony Khan purchased Ring of Honor in March 2022, with the sale being finalised that May.
Khan announced his acquisition of ROH on the Dynamite before Revolution at AEW’s spiritual home of Daily’s Place, where I happened to be in attendance.
Days later, at the media scrum that followed Revolution, Khan said: “There should be a Ring of Honor, and I think I’ve got the resources to present a better version than anybody else can.”
CM Punk also spoke about Khan’s ROH purchase, saying: “It was either Tony was going to buy it or Vince [McMahon] was going to buy it. I don’t want Vince to own any of my footage. He owns enough of it and owns enough of it that I don’t get paid off. “
I wonder how Phil feels now.
Over two years on from Khan’s purchase, Ring of Honor is now in this weird place where it’s not a part of AEW but uses AEW talent.
It’s its own brand but will be featured on AEW television and is, more awkwardly, stuck on Honor Club behind a paywall, meaning fewer fans get the opportunity to sample the product.
Some may call it a sister promotion to AEW but it feels like more like a spin-off show. The main characters of AEW are, of course, less likely to appear than the supporting ones. Unless they’re looking for a TV deal then Chris Jericho can be champion and wrestle one PPV match.
There are also characters from Ring of Honor that crossover and ones we see on Dynamite every week.
But annoyingly, not Athena. Athena, for some reason, cannot be a special guest star on Dynamite.
Athena has been Ring of Honor Women’s Champion since December 2022 and has wrestled on Dynamite ZERO times since winning the title2.
Just for comparison, Mark Briscoe became the ROH World Champion in April, he is featured on Dynamite weekly as a character and has wrestled on there three times since becoming champion.
Eddie Kingston had five Dynamite matches during his 198-day title reign.
Last week Cary Silkin, ROH’s former owner, appeared on the Mat Memories from Madison Square Garden podcast with John Arezzi.
Speaking about the current state of ROH, Silkin said: “Right now, Ring of Honor it’s like no one cares at all. I don’tcare how much money Tony Khan has. It’s not being treated very well.”
Days later a report came out from Fightful Select saying that fans can expect more care to be taken with the promotion soon as it heads into a residency in Arlington where it will have dedicated tapings.
The tapings will mean that fans can expect ‘more creative consistency in the brand’s storylines.’
These tapings will also hopefully improve the atmosphere as ROH matches usually take place at the beginning and end of one of Tony Khan’s marathon arena sit-ins.
While trying to assess the current state of Ring of Honor, I spoke to Kyle Sparks of Bodyslam.net3 who has been watching and covering ROH for years.
Kyle described ROH since Khan’s purchase as a “story of missed opportunities,” and I have to agree.
I do believe Tony Khan cares about Ring of Honor; if he didn’t it wouldn’t still exist. It would have been so easy for him to shut down the promotion and just use the video library.
I also don’t think what we’re currently seeing is what Khan envisioned for ROH when he bought it. I believe he really thought he was getting a TV deal, hence making Jericho champion and when that didn’t work ROH, whether consciously or unconsciously, became something he was less creatively invested in.
“I've often written that it feels like a chicken-or-the-egg scenario,” Kyle told me. “Tony Khan makes important things happen *away* from ROH TV because no one is watching. But then no one is watching because important things don'thappen. It becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. There's an easy way to break it, but thus far, there doesn't seem to be the will to do so.”
So what should become of Ring of Honor in 2024? What changes should Khan implement?
When it comes to ROH having a dedicated roster, that feels like a bit of a Catch-22 situation. On the one hand, it would make ROH feel so much more like a separate promotion.
On the other hand, ROH’s existence is why I don’t see Athena on Dynamite, it’s why I don’t want Queen Aminita to win on Friday, there’s talent there that I want to see on TBS, not hidden away on Honor Club.
But while I’d love to see Athena on Dynamite she and other ROH champions probably shouldn’t be there especially if they’re going to just put over AEW talent.
As Kyle puts it “Stop having ROH talent (ESPECIALLY champions) go on AEW TV and lose.”
Kyle describes ROH right now as essentially becoming AEW's developmental territory, pointing out that it’s giving younger talent in-ring time and an opportunity to learn and work with key veterans.
I would argue that it’s been especially good for female talent.
Billie Starkz and Leyla Hirsch are surely getting a better shot at developing their in-ring work and characters by being used on ROH than they would have if they were just waiting to be called on for Dynamite’s one women’s match a week.
On the men’s side, Kyle puts over Lee Johnson and Shane Taylor as being given the chance to flourish.
I have very fond memories of some of the work Daniel Garcia and Wheeler Yuta were doing in ROH and have often wondered where they’d be if they had been used solely there for a year or so instead of being put in factions with AEW main eventers.
Maybe the problem with Ring of Honor is, like so many other issues related to AEW - Tony Khan can’t do everything, he needs to delegate more.
There must be some wrestling mind out there that could take on the responsibility of caring for Ring of Honor. Someone who won’t be otherwise engaged every Wednesday.
If Khan is serious about keeping ROH alive then it should be done in the original spirit of the promotion.
In its heyday Ring of Honor offered something unique for wrestling fans, wrestling fans who didn’t connect to WWE’s product.
These fans had a reason to watch Ring of Honor. They wanted to watch Ring of Honor. The Ring of Honor wrestlers were their stars and they were following their stories.
It wasn’t another promotion’s spin-off or little sister, it was a company that could stand on its own and inspired a whole generation.
While finishing this piece of writing the YouTube algorithm sent me to Novi’s excellent YouTube video, ‘Ring of Honor should be better.’
In it, he says: “The pay-per-view will come next week, we’ll all enjoy it and then we’ll go back to not caring about Ring of Honor.”
That is exactly the cycle ROH is in. They will produce a great PPV because they have the talent who can excel when given the time and the stage. But week-to-week that talent is consistently let down by how the company is managed.
Can Ring of Honor be fixed? Yes. Can Khan do it? Not in my estimation but that’s not because he doesn’t care.
It takes more than love to make something work, it also takes time, effort, and a bit of undivided attention.
Maybe it’s time to give Cary Silkin a call.
Best/worst of the week
Match of the week: MJF vs Will Ospreay, AEW Dynamite
Wrestler of the week: Will Ospreay
Sad moment of the week: Minoru Suzuki coming out on Dynamite to a whimper
Hair and make-up week: Mariah May for her too-good Toni Storm cosplay on Dynamite
Line of the week: "Why is Carlito in our clubhouse?" Rhea Ripley, WWE Raw
Stuff I did this week
Grappl Spotlight: AEW vs WWE, Cody Rhodes, All In Wembley, ROH, Slammiversary
The others were: Matt Riddle, Velveteen Dream, and Ric Flair
Yes I know she has worked Collision etc
Huge thanks to Kyle for his help, go follow him on X