No Gimmicks Podcast

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Yo.

What is up, everybody?

Welcome back to the No

Gimmicks podcast here on the DFPN.

We are outside the confines of Patreon.

We're going to follow a

little bit of the smoke pits thing.

They do this thing on a smoke pit.

I say they like I'm not a

part of the show.

Yeah, what the fuck?

We do this thing on the

Smoke Pit where the first

show of every month is

outside the walls of Patreon.

We let everybody tune in and

see what this show is like.

So you can come back, support the team,

support the home brand.

Well, I wanted to do that for no gimmicks.

and we got some we got some

new people in the group so

what better way to

introduce them than by

doing a live show so here

we are outside the walls of

patreon it is I bread like

a king made his kelvin

caley and my co-host frank

d the chosen one what's up

brother how you doing well

brother tonight we're going

to talk about the matches

that made hollywood

That is correct.

And you are decked out

tonight celebrating the occasion.

Now, for those who don't know,

we're doing this show as

part of the celebration of

40 years of Hulkamania,

which they are going to be

doing on WrestleMania.

So what better way to kick

off WrestleMania season by

doing this shit right here

on No Gimmicks.

So we got a good show planned.

Before we get into that, though.

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Now, before we jump into this top 10...

mix it would be remiss we'd

be remiss not to cover the

elephant in the room so

let's kick the show off by

saying player three has

entered the game and he

fucking Leroy Jenkins that

shit bro the rock go ahead

I was gonna say the rock

technically he didn't just enter the game

He had already been in it.

Yep.

And he decided now is the

time to pull the trigger on

the match with Roman.

But there are some things, you know,

we've been talking about

this since it happened.

And a lot of different

stories are starting to

come out here about maybe

there's more than what

meets the eye here.

What's going on with The

Rock and Cody and

potentially what The Rock is doing.

for Cody and what this may

be leading to for Cody Rhodes.

Now, here on No Gimmicks,

we have been speculating

for months as it relates to

Cody Rhodes and Cody

Rhodes' trajectory and

where we think he's going.

And I've been saying for a

while here on this show

that Cody is destined to be a heel.

I said Cody Rhodes is a heel.

He just don't know it yet.

And we're leading to that.

We are leading to Cody turning heel.

And The Rock is going to be

the person to do it.

Because here's the thing.

The ultimate goal is going

to be for Roman Reigns to be the guy.

Roman Reigns to be the head, you know,

the face of the WWE.

The baby face of WWE.

This is the reason why they

had to go down this route.

Because what happens is you

can become the biggest bad guy.

And they will love you when you turn.

Now, Cody has been the biggest good guy.

Okay.

And now when he turns,

I'm not saying that it's

going to be on the same

level of when this guy did it.

But being as how Cody has

all these people behind him

and all this support right now,

I cannot wait when he turns.

Oh, it's going to be glorious.

It's going to be magic.

Because he's basically telling you,

he sent a tweet out saying basically,

trust me.

And I remember Jake used to

say trust me a lot too.

So we're looking basically

here at Cody Rhodes being

the chosen one here.

And we're going to correlate

this once again as we do

here on No Gimmicks to Star Wars.

Cody Rhodes is Anakin Skywalker.

He is the chosen one.

He is destined to be the world champion.

Yep.

Roman Reigns and the

character Star Wars wise is Count Dooku.

He is the apprentice of Paul Heyman,

who is the wise man.

Correct.

So when it comes down to it,

the wise man needs a new apprentice.

So

So he is going to turn on Roman Reigns,

and he is going to side with Cody.

That will turn Cody heel.

Roman will then go babyface.

So then you say, well,

what does the family members do?

What does Solo do?

What does Jimmy do?

Well, they're going to turn on Roman.

That's what they're going to do.

They have to.

There is no more bloodline.

This is the nightmare family.

That's what it's going to be.

Or it could be something else.

It could be the Nightmare Family.

It could be the Nightmare Family,

but it wouldn't surprise me,

far-fetched as it sounds.

As I was talking to you earlier,

WWE owns this very popular

intellectual property.

It's three letters with a

logo somewhere to the shirt

you're wearing right now.

Yep.

They could do something with

that if they wanted to.

I'm sure Cody would get a

kick out of doing something.

I mean, his father was a part of that WCW,

and I'm talking about the NWO.

Mm-hmm.

I mean,

could you imagine here from a

storyline standpoint and

just booking Cody Rhodes

becomes a world champion

and spray paints that belt?

That would be absolutely amazing.

And it would be crazy

because it would go against

what he has been talking about.

Well,

I want to have the belt my dad never held,

but it's like,

you didn't really mean that.

Right.

But the same, you know,

you didn't mean that.

You wanted it for yourself,

not for the father, not for your brother.

You wanted it for yourself.

So there's a lot of

different ways that could

go with this story.

There is.

That would make sense.

That would turn Cody into

the ultimate douchebag,

pretty much the ultimate piece of shit.

So here's where I'm going to go with this.

And watching SmackDown,

I correlated two things, right?

Cody Rhodes in that promo

said he had been seeking counsel, right?

Right.

What do they mention on Star Wars?

A counsel.

A Jedi counsel.

A Jedi counsel.

He had been seeking counsel.

Now-

He wants that title.

He let it be known he wants that title.

He let it be known he's

coming for that title.

In Revenge of the Sith, on the council,

what did they tell Cody?

He's not going to be a master.

What did that, I mean,

what did they tell Anakin?

That he's not going to be a master.

Yeah, you can have,

we'll grant you a seat on the council,

but we do not recognize you as a master.

This is essentially what

happened to Cody Rhodes.

He won the Royal Rumble.

He did everything he was supposed to.

The right way.

The right way.

Only to be denied.

This is going to do something to him.

Correct.

You saw the look in his face.

Oh, he was dejected, bro.

Exactly.

It's like, yeah,

and this is what I was

saying in the No Gimmicks

group on Facebook.

Your World Rumble win meant nothing.

You're basically saying,

I can go out there and bust

my ass and throw out 29 other guys.

It's going to lead to nothing.

Stone Cold would say,

29 pieces of trash over the top rope.

And it doesn't mean shit

because all of a sudden,

The Rock could come out

there or Stone Cold Steve

Austin could come out there and say,

I'm taking this title shot.

So move along, Jabron.

Move along.

Move along.

Yeah, right.

That's essentially what happened to Cody.

Yep.

You can go.

You can challenge for this other title,

but it ain't going to be this one.

Oh,

and let me say something right quick

about that, too,

when you mentioned this title.

So something that made me

laugh my ass off on

SmackDown is when Cody was

cutting that promo.

I know you're about to go.

Yeah, I'm going there.

So Cody was cutting that promo.

And he says, that belt, you know,

it's a belt that my father didn't have.

Bullshit.

That championship has no

lineage to the WWF winged eagle.

The WWF championship has no,

it's not the belt that San

Martino had or Pedro

Morales or Bob Bagley.

or superstar Billy Graham, or Hulk Hogan,

or Bret Hart, or Macho Man, Warrior,

Sergeant Slaughter.

So many others.

So many others.

Shawn Michaels, Hunter, Austin.

It's not the same.

So, miss me with that bullshit.

And the thing about it that

I kind of find funny the most is, like,

on your own website,

it shows two different lineages, bruh.

it does it does and that's

what so I caught that I

caught that a long time ago

but I went back and look

because I was looking for

how long Roman had been the

champion I forgot I was

like oh yeah they don't

even they don't even

recognize that lineage

right they don't they have

him carrying the belt but

it's only for like 600

something days which would

make him like number seven

or some shit like that

Which isn't bad,

but you ain't creeping up on a record.

No,

it's like the only record that matters

is Gunther's record.

Yeah.

Which they got to fix that.

If that's the story you're

going to go with, you have to fix that.

You have to say, this is the title.

This is the lineage.

This belt now carries that.

They don't outright address that.

Yeah.

And just like Cody's belt,

it doesn't have any lineage

to the big gold belt.

So it's just like,

I don't know what the hell they're doing.

If you want to trace the

history back for the belt

Roman's carrying,

it goes back to SummerSlam,

and Finn Balor was the

first Undisputed Champion.

Correct.

That's what it goes down to.

Correct.

And you know what's crazy to

me is how when I think

about Finn Balor and when

he won the Undisputed title,

he's never gotten back close to that.

I think about the matches

that he could have had with

Seth Rollins being a heel.

I thought they were going that route,

and they ultimately didn't.

I really wanted them to go that route.

Yeah.

They just, for whatever reason,

they didn't.

But it would have made all

the sense in the world,

because I never lost this belt, man.

Yeah.

And it would have made sense,

because Seth is a babyface.

Finn is a heel,

and he's in control of a faction.

It would have made all the

sense in the world.

Actually,

he's not in control of the Judgment Day.

Not anymore, but at the time,

it was perceived that he was the guy.

Yeah.

I mean,

we already know Rhea Ripley is in

control of the Judgment Day.

Right, right.

So she is the leader of the Judgment Day.

Right.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

But yeah, man,

WrestleMania is going to be wild.

I think it's wild.

WrestleMania is going to be

interesting because The

Rock threw a ripple in the feather there,

but CM Punk did too when he came back.

And I'm going to tell you,

the CM Punk thing.

For all the wrong reasons.

It's horrible.

For all the wrong reasons.

Punk being hurt.

It messed up the plans,

but at the same time,

they're talking about right

now that they're going to

probably be moving punk to

commentary is what he's

going to be doing while

he's rehabbing his injury.

And that makes sense, though.

Yeah, it was pretty good.

Drew McIntyre is a monster.

Bro, savage.

Absolute savage.

Ever since Punk got hurt,

I don't know what it is.

I don't know who's giving

him the green light, but I love it.

I absolutely love it.

It was before that.

It was when they started with Jay.

And now Jay is going up

against Gunther for the IC belt now.

It's like,

I don't know what the hell they're doing.

It's like, they have direction for Jay,

but none for Jimmy.

I think...

I think that's the plan.

Have them go,

and which it makes sense for

Jay to challenge and

possibly win because if

you're going to bring him to prominence,

Gunther I'm talking about,

you can have him challenge for the title.

Whoever wins that, if it's Cody,

they had a banger at the

end of Royal Rumble last year,

so throw them in there.

What's up, Total of Time?

Total of times in the house.

What's up, buddy?

But, yeah,

you can have him challenged for

the title.

You know, I was going to say,

the ultimate thing with

Gunther that I would have done was, yeah,

no, man.

Another guy,

and I'm going to go back to Gunther,

but another guy that I

think they're wasting is

Damien Priest with that

money in the bank briefcase.

I would have much rather had

Gunther carrying that

briefcase and the

Intercontinental Championship.

Can you imagine the story

that he could have had there?

That's OP.

But then again, at the same time,

if they had been pushing Drew as a heel,

then Drew McIntyre could

have had that briefcase as well.

And now he's talking about, well,

I want to go to

WrestleMania and challenge for a title.

So, hey, Cody, yeah,

go after Roman so I can go

to WrestleMania to face Seth Rollins.

That's what he tried to do Monday.

Right.

And I'm like,

this is the most sinister thing.

I've ever seen a Drew McIntyre.

I love it because the

villain Drew McIntyre is

better without the sword

and all that other goofy shit.

Just straight up savage.

I'm not a religious person,

but I prayed for this to happen.

And I was like, yes.

Wow.

I was like, yes.

I love this.

They're just hitting on all

cylinders right now with everything.

I was like,

WrestleMania is looking like crap.

I'm like, nah,

I'm interested in getting

what they're going to do in WrestleMania.

Here's the thing.

With all of this going on,

they've actually achieved something.

The Dirt Sheets don't know

what the fuck to do.

I love it.

Yeah, that's the part about it.

That's the funny part about

this is that they literally

don't know what's going on.

All it is, really,

is just all it is is

speculation from everybody.

Sean Ross, Sab, you got Meltzer.

Everybody's just speculating.

They don't know anything, and I love it.

No one knows a thing.

I want to be surprised this

time around because I'm

thinking I know what's

going to happen here.

But I don't know.

Even trying to predict it,

I'm okay being wrong.

Because that means it's not predictable.

If I can't tell you what's going on,

then yeah.

I like that.

I like being surprised.

And I like the prospect of,

I don't know what's going

to happen at Mania.

Right.

I actually don't know.

I like it.

Because...

Ever since Punk came back,

it's like this weird, you don't know.

Because there was a plan.

Punk screwed that up.

Then he got hurt.

So now you really don't know

what's going on.

Cody won the Rumble.

But then Rock came back.

And then now that's all out of control.

Yeah, we might get Rock Roman.

But what if we get a triple threat?

We don't know.

We actually don't know.

And I'm like, yes,

I've been needing this for a while.

Well,

essentially what's going on right now,

and I mentioned this once

again in the group,

was what you're seeing

right now with Cody and the

Cody movement is the yes movement.

It's what you're seeing right now.

Essentially.

And it worked to perfection.

Oh, it does.

Because basically what you

got here is you really have

The Rock playing the role of Batista.

Right.

Right.

Yeah.

Coming in and the crowd is

like that crowd Monday.

What a difference between

Friday and Monday.

Yeah.

And supposedly they weren't

expecting that.

That was like, no.

No.

Yeah, they were like,

that kind of took them back a little.

So I'm interested to see

what's going on here.

Exactly.

Controversy sells and

controversy creates cash,

as Eric Bischoff says.

So they're doing everything

they can right now to bank

on this situation and also

take the focus off of another situation.

Everybody knows what we're talking about,

so I'm going to mention here,

but you know what I'm talking about,

taking the focus off of that situation.

And speaking of that situation,

before we move on to the meat here.

So Brock Lesnar,

not going to be a part of

WrestleMania this year, obviously,

because of reasons.

And WWE and 2K have made the

decision to take him off

the WWE 2K24 WrestleMania edition cover.

They took him off and

replaced him with John Cena.

Now,

we don't know if he is going to be in

the game still and if Vince

McMahon is still going to be in the game.

They might pull both of them.

We don't know yet.

It's very hard to erase

Vince McMahon from WWE.

That's just what never happened.

It will never happen.

It is hard.

He will not get the Benoit treatment.

It's not going to happen.

So, in saying that...

We talked enough.

We've been saying this for weeks,

what we're going to do.

So, brother, let's do it.

Let's do it.

Let's get into our meat and

potatoes of tonight.

40 years of Hulkamania.

Tonight we're doing the top 10 matches.

Now,

we're going to do this a little

differently.

Frank D is going to give his five.

I'm going to give my five.

And then if you guys have

top 10 Hulk Hogan matches

you want to throw out in the chat,

throw them up there.

We'll talk about it.

So with that being said,

let's jump into it.

I'll let you go first.

I went first on the last top.

All right.

So for me,

I am going to go with WCW Bash

the Beach 94 Hulk Hogan's

debut match against Ric

Flair for the WCW World Championships.

And I thought that was one

of Hogan's best matches.

And they previously did this

match in the WWF.

And a lot of people thought

that it would have been the

main event of WrestleMania 8.

It didn't happen.

They supposedly didn't say, well,

it wasn't the attraction we

thought it was going to be, whatever.

They did it at WCW.

As a matter of fact,

they did it a couple of

times at WCW because they

did it at Bachelor of the Beach.

And then later on in the year,

they would do it at Halloween Havoc,

a retirement match in which

Mr. T was a referee, was a steel cage.

And then Brutus Beefcake

became the butcher.

Our brother Brutai became

the butcher and started to

feud with Hogan.

So I'm going to go with that match there.

Hogan versus Ric Flair, WCW championship.

Of course, Hogan wins the match.

Shaquille O'Neal with a ring,

raises his hand with the big gold belt.

Okay.

I like that.

I like that.

I'm going to go Hulk Hogan

versus Bill Goldberg Monday

Nitro in the Georgia Dome.

40,000 fans.

Should have been a pay-per-view match,

but we got it on a Monday Nitro.

It was during the ratings war, obviously.

But

The buzz that they built for

this match was absolutely insane.

Goldberg was on his incredible run.

He was undefeated.

He had ran through pretty

much the entire NWO to get to Hulk Hogan.

And finally got to Hulk Hogan,

setting up a showdown on Monday Nitro.

The commentary,

the only person I remember

on the commentary, oddly enough,

was Bobby the Brain Heenan.

Because he was talking so

much shit on commentary.

But just remembering...

The spear and the crowd going crazy.

And they did a very nice

thing during that match too.

They zoomed out,

showed the crowd how

everybody was reacting.

People already throwing

stuff in the ring because

they know Jack Hammer's coming.

And...

Bobby the Brain said when he gets him up,

this place is going to explode.

And it absolutely did.

That night, I believe,

I think Goldberg was pretty

much made before that night,

but that night solidified

the stardom that was Goldberg.

So it's one of mine.

Yeah.

Yeah, I mean,

they were right in the middle

of the Monday Night War,

and at this point, WCW had been losing,

and that's the reason why

they pulled the trigger on

Goldberg and Hogan.

It was actually Hogan's idea to do it.

So, if you remember earlier in the night,

he wrestled Scott Hall to

get the match with Hogan

later on in the night.

So, yeah, I mean,

it was a great moment in the war.

I think it was probably the

last time WCW actually beat the WWF,

if I remember correctly, in the ratings.

Yeah, I think so.

So my next match,

we're going to go all the

way back to 1990 at SummerSlam.

It's Hulk Hogan versus The Earthquake.

with Dino Bravo in

Earthquake's corner and the

Big Boss Man in Hogan's corner.

So I thought that was a great match,

very good storytelling.

They did a whole campaign of

everybody sitting there, you know,

writing for, you know,

cards and shit for Hulk Hogan, basically,

because he had got the Earthquakes,

you know, drops, the Earthquakes,

you know, splashes on, what was it,

the Brother Love Show or

something like that.

Yeah.

So,

This was just a great angle.

Originally,

I believe Tugboat was supposed

to be in Hogan's Corner,

but that got changed,

and then it became the Big Boss Man.

So I saw it.

I mean, Tenta, John Tenta,

God rest his soul.

Tenta was just a beast.

So underrated.

Yeah, so underrated.

Was a beast, you know?

And from what I hear from people...

One of the nicest guys.

I was just about to say that.

I was just about to say that.

Hated being a heel.

Yeah.

That's crazy.

But that's what made it so good.

It made it so good.

And he actually loved it.

You know, and Bret Hart said this story.

He's like, Tenta hated being a heel,

and he loved it when he became Faces.

Really?

Because he got to interact.

Yeah,

he got to interact with the kids and

all that.

That's what he liked to do.

He was just like a teddy bear.

He was like a real nice guy.

Mm-hmm.

I heard that too.

He was a great guy.

Good one.

I'm going to go a little bit left field.

I had this one in my top 10.

I almost didn't want to talk about it,

but I'm going to because

it's absolutely hilarious.

Hulk Hogan versus Shawn Michaels.

Oh, jeez.

You're talking about SummerSlam, right?

Yes.

Ah.

Jeez.

I almost didn't talk about this,

but I'm going to talk about it.

Hulk Hogan versus Shawn Michaels.

The selling in this match by

Shawn Michaels.

Yeah.

It's an absolute master class in selling.

It's an absolute master

class of being a prick.

Yeah, it's a prick move.

It was a prick move.

But it made Hogan look like

every move was just, oh,

he's killing him.

He's killing him.

Yeah.

It was good.

It was good, man.

That promo segment they did

before that with Michaels

dressed up as Hogan, that was good.

That was good stuff.

They don't do stuff like that anymore.

No, they don't.

They don't.

They don't.

But, yeah.

One of my favorite – I don't

know if it's actually a top

match because of how, you know,

the selling was,

but I think for me it's one

of my favorite matches watching him in.

Because it was supposed to

be like this grand.

It was supposed to be like

Hogan and the Rock.

Right.

It was supposed to be like that,

but it ended up being.

What it was.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So my next one on the list

is going to go back to WCW.

And I'm going to go with

Hulk Hogan versus Sting, starting 97.

Now, people will be thinking like,

why the hell would you pick that match?

Well, it's very simple.

If you actually go back and

watch the match for what it was,

it was actually a pretty good match.

It told the story,

but it didn't do any favors

for Sting because Hogan

dominated the entire match.

And had they not did, the finish they did,

because, I mean, legitimately,

Hogan won the match.

I mean, there was no fast count.

Hogan legitimately won the match.

He beat Sting.

Right, right.

And you can tell by the crowd.

The crowd was like, what?

Right.

We waited a year for this?

Right.

So I'm going to pick that one.

Okay.

All right.

I am going to go to the

beginning of Hulkamania.

Hulk Hogan versus the Iron Sheik.

40 years ago.

And we got a comment here.

I'll get to it in a second.

But that match, that match,

a lot of people don't give

it enough credit, I don't think.

Because the Iron Sheik was

the guy to beat Bob

Backlund into one of the

longest streaks in WWE history.

WWF, you know what I mean.

But he had like lava heat on him.

And that set him up

perfectly for Hulk Hogan.

And not a long match at all, man.

That match was maybe five minutes.

Right.

And for that to be the

testament of a generation of

of people and their fandom.

Like, it's crazy.

It's crazy.

Storytelling in that amount

of time is nuts, bro.

It's nuts.

Five minutes.

And we're talking about the

legacy of the next 40 years of this man.

We're celebrating 40 years

based off five minutes.

Well, let me tell you this.

So

None of that would never

have happened had Hogan not

gone to New York first to

work for Vince Singer.

Yep.

And then did the Rocky movie,

which got him to the AWA.

Started Hulkamania in AWA.

Yep.

Then went on to the WWF and

had to match with The Sheik

and then went on.

And, uh, hell yeah.

Rocky.

Absolutely.

Thunder lips, brother.

Yeah.

Yeah.

That was just, yeah, that,

that was just great there.

See Hogan with a full head of hair.

My God.

But, uh, um, yeah, man, it's just, it's,

it's just crazy how it

exploded after that.

And Hogan was grinding.

He was hustling.

You know what I'm saying?

Like big time.

Yeah.

But Hogan did some heel work before that.

I remember seeing a match with Hogan was,

um,

The Incredible Hulk Hogan

managed by classy Freddie

Blassie versus Andre the

Giant at Shea Stadium.

And he slammed Andre like it

wasn't nothing.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So the next match on my list,

which I thought was a good Hogan match,

and it actually-

made somebody it was some

controversy there for a

little while because hogan

said you know this guy did

something to him which

turned out to be bs and

this guy carried guilt for

years about it until he

watched the tape and saw

that he didn't do anything

wrong he was protected I'm

talking about hogan versus

the undertaker survivor

series 91 wwf championship in which

Hulk Hogan lost the belt to the Undertaker,

did the favors.

Taker tombstoned Hogan on a steel chair.

But if you watch the tape,

Hogan's neck never hit the chair.

He was in Taker's knees, okay,

in between his legs, his thighs.

So Hogan's on the mat

selling this and holding his neck,

whatever, and he's like, oh, brother,

you know, you really hurt.

So Taker felt like shit for

a while because he thought he hurt Hogan.

And so he actually went back

and watched the tape and said,

wait a minute.

I had that dude like that.

They had some heat for that for years.

So, yeah, but that's better for me.

Young kid.

Watch that match.

Yeah.

Taker is a young kid, man.

Yeah.

Got to make him feel bad.

Right.

But I like that one.

So we have a comment here that says,

no bigger reaction to a

title win I ever saw.

I'm going to go one real quick.

It's not my number one choice,

but I'm going to say this one.

I'm going to put a bonus one

in real quick.

Okay.

So it was Hogan.

Once again,

it's another Hollywood-Hogan match.

Hollywood-Hogan versus Lex

Luger from Monday Nitro, Detroit.

When Luger beat Hogan for the belt,

that place went crazy.

Banana.

Oh, hell yeah.

That was crazy.

We talk about reactions,

just good reactions.

Go back and watch that.

You can find it on YouTube.

You can find it on WWE Network,

on Peacock.

That episode of Nitro, Hogan versus Luger.

It's probably one of Luger's

best matches he ever had.

That place exploded.

And then it all went to shit

because Hogan won the belt

a couple days later at Road Wild.

Yep.

It sure did.

That doesn't work for me, brother.

So I'm going to go.

My next one's going to be

Hulk Hogan versus The Rock.

Of course.

Listen, man, this is me in my teen years.

This is two of the biggest

wrestlers of that generation.

Right.

And the way they built that was like,

you're never going to see

Ali Tyson again.

But you're going to see Hogan Rock.

And that shit... Because I was a boxer.

I'm still a boxing fan.

But that shit hit me like a ton of bricks.

Like, yeah, man.

That was a what if.

Tyson versus Ali is the biggest what if.

And what if they fought?

What that fight would look like?

I don't know.

But I do know that I get to

see The Rock versus Hulk

Hogan at WrestleMania in Toronto.

And...

That crowd, legendary.

Legendary.

So let me ask you this question.

So when you go back to that

match between Hogan and The Rock,

remember Hogan came in that

year in February as part of the NWO.

He was back to being Hollywood Hogan.

Right.

So do you think that the

reaction would have been

bigger if Hogan had came

back in the red and yellow?

Oh,

that's such a tough question to answer.

I don't know.

I don't know.

But I do know... I do know

you needed... You kind of

needed Hogan to be the heel.

Yeah.

Because the whole thing is like,

he had to be... So when

Hogan's last appearance...

In WCW, at Bastion Beach 2000,

he was Hollywood Hulk Hogan.

Right.

He had reverted back to that gimmick.

So that's the last time you saw him.

Right.

You know, before, you know,

and the little stuff he did after.

Because remember,

after Bastion Beach controversy,

he never went back to work for WCW.

Right.

He showed up with Jimmy Hart with the XWF,

which he was back in the red and yellow.

But then when they got the call, they said,

okay, we're going to do the NWO angle.

They brought him back as

Hollywood or whatever.

But you're right.

Hogan had to come back as a heel.

It only made sense because

Rock was just too popular.

But once again,

they kind of misjudged the crowd.

Bro, once they got in that ring,

all the bets were off.

No one knew that was going to happen.

All the bets were off.

And that's what made it a great match,

honestly.

And that spoke a lot to The Rock, too.

At the time, I didn't realize this.

Actually, I realized it,

but I didn't really grasp

it like I do now.

For The Rock to flip on the

drop of a dime is some of

the most legendary shit ever, bro.

Ever.

He turned at the drop of a hat.

Once he figured out, oh,

they're really with Hulk Hogan.

Okay.

Well, you be the good guy.

I'll be the bad guy.

They did this shit mid-match, man.

Mid-match.

No talking to nobody.

No nothing.

Just, all right, you're the good guy now.

That's just how you feel the crowd,

you feel the energy, you go with it.

And that's what they did in that match.

And I guess my last one I'm going to pick,

and there's just so many Hogan matches,

you can't do it justice.

But this one here,

it's not so much the match,

but it's the story that's

in the match of what's going on here.

Because it was something cool they did.

So my final match is going to be

The WWF Championship is the

debut of the winged eagle belt.

It's Hulk Hogan defending

the championship against

the eighth wonder of the world,

Andre the Giant.

With the million dollar man,

Ted DiBiase and Virgil in his corner.

And if you remember,

they pulled the twin referee deal here.

They had Earl Hefner.

Yeah.

Earl Hefner made his debut

as the evil referee.

And then him and his brother

got into a big thing and

Hogan was like, oh,

they did the plastic surgery, brother.

So that's also when Andre

Giant did the bodge and says,

I want to give, you know,

present Mr. DiBiase with

the world tag team championship.

So you're talking about the

Saturday night one.

The main event.

The main event.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Correct.

Not WrestleMania 3.

Because that would be too cliche.

Everybody knows WrestleMania 3.

I'm talking about the match

that was the biggest

drawing match in television history.

Which was the main event.

Okay.

I like that.

I like that.

I'm not even mad at that.

And historical reference is

the debut of Wayne Deagle.

I like it.

The big one.

I just said that.

That's what I'm saying.

I'm...

I'm agreeing.

Yeah, I mentioned that.

Yes, sir.

I'm agreeing.

Yes, sir.

Yes, sir.

All right.

I am also.

I'm going to go cliche.

Go ahead.

Because if we don't get here.

So two matches that I stated,

we don't get Hulkamania

without these two matches.

And I know where you're going.

We get WrestleMania three.

Hulk Hogan versus Andre the Giant.

I'm not sure if we're

sitting here talking about

Hulk Hogan if it wasn't for that match.

Maybe we are, but- We are,

but that was a big one.

That was a big one.

Yeah.

That was a big one.

Yeah.

That match probably made

WrestleMania what it is.

Right.

The sheer spectacle.

Well, it was that match-

It was that match that made it what it is,

a spectacle, just what WrestleMania is.

But there was another match

on that show that from a

work rate rise that it surpassed.

Are you talking about Macho and Steamboat?

Absolutely.

That's one of my favorite matches ever,

bro.

Honorable mention here.

It's not even an honorable mention.

What the hell with it?

It's not a game.

We do what we want.

The mega powers explode.

WrestleMania 5.

Hogan versus Macho Man.

The match that was built in

a year to build.

Yep.

You know?

So that's another one.

Then you want to talk further.

Let's talk Ultimate Warrior

versus Hulk Hogan.

WrestleMania 6.

WrestleMania 6.

It was Warrior's best match he ever had.

Yep.

I was just about to say that.

Yep.

Get on the plane, Hulk Hogan.

Talk to the pilot, Hulk Hogan.

What the fuck is he saying?

I don't know,

but I want to see this match.

Yeah.

Look, Total of Time says,

he said the same thing.

Credit to Hogan.

He gave Warrior the best

match of his career.

Too bad that it could not be

duplicated in 1998.

Oh, my God.

Oh.

That match is terrible.

That match is terrible.

Yeah.

Another honorable mention is

Hollywood Hogan versus

Triple H. Back last 2002

for the WWF Undisputed Championship.

Why don't I remember that, Matt?

I was deployed a lot.

I don't remember that match.

Well, he beat him.

Hulkamania was born again.

This was after Mania?

Yeah, this was 2002.

Hogan was basically wearing

a red and yellow,

but he had the black beard,

so he was still Hollywood Hogan,

but he just wore a red and yellow.

Huh.

Yeah, Voodoo Child was his theme song,

which you cannot hear, obviously,

on the WWE Network.

Yeah.

I'm going to have to look for that.

I don't remember that.

Yeah, if you go on the WWE Network,

it's called Backlash 2002.

And it's the main event.

Huh, okay.

Oh, look at this.

This comment is, this is up there.

I actually agree with this one.

I actually agree with this one.

Any match Hogan wrestled in Japan.

Yep, yep.

So you can do Hogan versus Noki,

Hogan versus Buddha.

That's one of my favorite

matches I saw in Japan.

Hogan in Japan was different.

Yeah, hell yeah,

because he said he can go

over there and work.

He said it himself.

He doesn't have to.

He can go over there and actually wrestle.

He doesn't have to do any of

the bullshit he has to do here.

That's what he said.

Right.

Yeah.

Hogan in Japan.

Yeah.

And shout out to the tape

traders because I didn't catch this.

I didn't catch these until I

was older and knew about shit like that.

But I had one of my shout out to Tracy.

He was a tape trader.

from where I grew up.

And that's how I found out

about All Japan and all

that shit they had going on over there.

But yeah.

Shout out to Hogan.

I'm going to mention another

honorable mention match.

And it's going to go back to

No Way Out 2003.

The Rock Hogan 2.

Oh, yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Shout out to Total of Time.

He said he was a tape trader.

But yeah.

Yes,

the build-up to that match was amazing,

too.

Oh, it was Hollywood Rock?

Hollywood Rock, yes.

I think Hollywood Rock is

the best version of The Rock.

I do.

So Hollywood Rock was, yeah,

he was good there,

but I like Nation Rock.

Nation Rock was good, too.

Yeah, Nation Rock was good, too.

I'm not talking about Nation

or Domination.

I'm talking about The Nation.

Yeah.

I'm talking about

You know, with Owen Hart on him,

that's what I'm talking about.

That version of The Rock, yeah.

He was good.

He was good there.

Damn.

Might have to come back to

that conversation.

What's the best version of The Rock?

Yeah, that'd be a whole show in itself.

Yeah, it would.

Yeah.

That's a good debate.

That's a great debate, actually.

And I'll mention another

match that was pretty good.

So I think it was the war to

sell the score.

Hogan versus Roddy Piper.

I got one.

Hogan versus Vader.

Yes.

Super Raw, 95, Baltimore.

Where Hogan no sold the Vader bomb.

Yes.

Killed Vader just like that.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Destroyed him.

What do you think about

Hogan versus Brock Lesnar?

I think for what it was,

and this is the thing that

kills me with people when they say, well,

Hogan didn't want to do the

favor or say anybody.

He did.

You remember how many people

Hogan put over in his return that year?

Hogan wasn't winning many matches.

Hogan was losing to Jericho.

He was losing to Angle, Lesnar.

I mean, The Rock.

I mean, dude, he lost to The Rock twice.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

So people can say, well,

Hogan didn't want to do business.

Whatever.

You know what?

That's kind of similar.

It's kind of similar to what

they're saying about CM Punk.

Yeah.

CM Punk doesn't want to do business.

But if you look at CM Punk in a rumble,

he was getting his ass whooped.

Handily.

He did business.

He did business.

So...

It just depends.

I guess if WWE is that kind of last stop,

I guess people, they do the favors.

Well,

Hogan had something to prove anyways.

Yeah, true.

Yeah, I mean, because McMahon told him,

you got to bring it.

You know what I mean?

I agree with that.

I will agree with that one too.

Worst match of all time is

the finger poke of doom.

We had that discussion.

We did.

It's in the archive.

But you notice when we're

talking here about Hogan and WCW,

we're only bringing up a few matches.

Because Hogan did not have

many memorable performances

during his run at WCW.

Yeah, yeah.

Any match he ever did with

the Giant was horrible.

Hogan was trying to be the

big match guy in WCW.

He was trying to do WWF

matches is pretty much what

he was trying to do.

Right.

He was trying to do that,

but it wasn't going over well.

Sting, great.

Flair, great.

But these are like all-time

great wrestlers that he's

going to the ring against.

Savage.

Yeah.

Like, if you put them in there,

you put them in there with

someone and it don't go well,

then whose fault is it really?

Well...

They'll say that it's a

person that's working with Hogan,

not Hogan.

Right.

Exactly.

Yeah.

But yeah,

the more memorable matches were in WWE.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Yeah, I think we all can agree with that.

Yeah.

I mean-

And I don't know what it is, man.

Maybe it's me as a fan

because I grew up watching him in WWF.

And going into my teen years,

he was in WCW.

And those are two completely

different products.

And if you're trying to do

the same thing that you did

during that time frame,

you're catering to a

different type of fan.

Right.

It's no different than now.

Like the majority of the

fans now grew up with John Cena.

So if they look at some of

this stuff going on now,

it's not going to be the same product.

It's just not.

Yeah.

It's just like it's the rock is here now.

Exactly.

Rock was from our era.

Right.

But the era now is the era of Cody.

Seth Rollins, so you have this last relic,

quote unquote,

from the that just showed

up because he's on the

board of directors now.

He's a big Hollywood actor,

and he just shows up and he says,

I'm gonna do whatever hell I want you.

Jabroni,

you get your monkey ass out of the

ring before the Rock lays a

smack down on you.

Right, now fans hate it.

Right.

But back then, it was like,

you got to be as piss and vinegar, bro.

Your spot is never secure.

Ever.

Yep.

Whatever.

It is what it is.

Four words, man.

Card subject to change.

Yeah.

I said this in a group the other day.

The card is subject to change, man.

You just... Fans nowadays...

I grew up in a rural area, which means...

The big stars didn't really

come out there that much.

So those four words meant a lot.

Because if they advertise

somebody and they don't come,

they ain't fucking coming.

You getting whatever they got.

Right.

And that's because we had a

WF with you shit.

So they would run the A-Town, the B-Town,

and your C-Town would be, you know.

You getting scraps, my guy.

Exactly.

You want a filet mignon,

we're giving you fish.

Yeah.

Take this and be happy.

Yeah, it's not even good fish either.

Right.

Right.

So, but yeah, it's like that, man.

All right, man.

Final shots and thoughts.

What do you got?

Well, basically,

I mentioned a couple weeks

ago on the show, been mentioning here,

plugging it,

but we are going to be

presenting another podcast here,

the one that's going to be

about Star Wars and all that.

And originally,

we were going to go Rogue Empire.

We're not calling it that anymore.

We are going to be

officially the Rogue

Scoundrels is what the show

is going to be called.

And we'll be debuting that in a few weeks.

We're just going to be fine

tuning some stuff and we're going to

Basically, we're talking about Star Wars,

Marvel, Disney, DC,

all the controversies going on.

So look forward to that

because the Rogue Scouts rolls.

It's on its way.

Correctamundo.

Correctamundo.

Very excited for that, too.

Very excited.

Yeah, so it'll be fun.

It's going to be fun.

It's going to be a good time.

So I do want to shout out.

I put this announcement out.

uh earlier today but I do

want to shout it out on the

show we do have an

interview series coming up

I do want to shout out

metroplex wrestling and uh

they do have an event

destiny march 16th here in

grand prairie texas they

will be uh they they were

going to be moving to a

bigger venue for this show

it's going to be the

biggest show they've done

They always do great shows

when Wrestling Revolver comes around.

Wrestling Revolver does

their they pick some of their talent,

put them in the shows,

give them a great experience.

They're in there with bigger

stars on another level.

It gives them great experience.

But we're a class

organization that they have over there.

Shout out to Matthew Palmer.

He's heading that whole thing up.

So shout out to him.

But he offered No Gimmicks a

chance to interview some talent.

And we took that opportunity.

We're going to be bringing

the series Path to Destiny.

So we'll be interviewing

guys here on the No Gimmicks podcast.

promoting this event.

Starting next Wednesday,

we have the former MPX champion,

Tatum Manning.

He's going to be stopping by.

We'll talk to him, promote the event.

He's just coming back to

Metroplex Wrestling,

so we'll catch up with him,

see what he's been doing,

and promote this event.

But

Um, shout out to everybody over at MPX,

man.

They're, they're just,

their fan base is awesome.

Uh,

they're really loyal to their fan base.

Uh, when those guys go out, uh,

AW came and, uh,

a bunch of those guys were on

ring of honor and uh

collision and the mpx

faithful came out supported

heavy so it's one of the

best fan bases here in

north texas um so show

those guys some love when

they come through get to

know some of these guys

because they've already

been doing big things on on

another level I expect a

lot of these guys to be

seen on another level

because they are just

They are awesome, man.

They really are.

They are the superstars of tomorrow.

And No Gimmicks Podcast, DFPN, we are very,

very friendly to the indie.

So,

if there's any independent organization

out there that wants to do

business with No Gimmicks,

we are always open.

Always.

Always.

Also, this Saturday, February 10th,

Mission Pro Wrestling.

They're gonna be doing their

Sleepless in San Antonio event.

I was gonna try to go down

there and check that show out.

Won't be able to.

I will be here for the MPX event.

MPX is doing an event here, so...

uh I'll be supporting that

but we are sponsoring that

mission pro wrestling show

so make sure you guys uh

catch that on

titlematch.com if you're

unable to go there's still

tickets remaining so go to

missionprowrestling.com and

get your tickets for that

if you're in the san

antonio area it's right by

lackland air force base so

Go check those girls out, the ladies.

They always have a great

show with a lot of those guys.

Wren Sinclair,

who was a former tag

champion over at Mission Pro.

She's in WWE now.

And she also did work with

Doll Pound Championship

Wrestling in San Antonio as well.

And that's headed up by

Rodney Mack and Jazz.

They are the trainers for Doll Pound.

So just, you know,

it's just basically what I'm saying.

Just go out there and support Doll Pound.

He says, once again,

these are the superstars of tomorrow.

These are the superstars

you're going to see in WWE

that you're going to see in TNA.

You're going to see AEW and

so forth and so on.

But, yeah, man, I mean,

it's popular right now,

and we are definitely on

the road to WrestleMania.

We're going to be checking

out the Elimination Chamber

that's coming up.

We got Singh's last match at Revolution.

So much.

There's so much stuff going on.

Then we have, once again,

we got our stuff going on here.

No gimmicks.

We got the Rogue Scoundrels

podcast coming up, like I said before.

We're going to do a deep dive here, people,

into Star Wars lore.

That's what we're doing here.

It's going to be off the chain.

Trust me.

You're going to want to

listen to the Rogue Scoundrels.

We pop it here on the DFPN.

And once again,

if you'd like to join us on Patreon,

he mentioned earlier we have a free tier.

But if you want to be down with the boys,

$3 will get you everything

from the Dad Filming Podcast catalog.

You've got the No Gimmicks Podcast.

You're going to have Make It Make Sense,

the Smoke Pit.

the Queen is a third of the USC.

And you're going to have the

rogue scoundrels podcast shortly.

All basically before anybody else.

So check us out.

Come check us out.

Support your boys.

Other than that.

Oh, put up that message there.

What's that?

Oh.

Shout out to Total Atom.

Total Atom, he's up on the East Coast.

I am going to be going there.

I'll be there for WrestleMania.

Total Atom, we got to meet up, man.

We definitely got to meet up.

But shout out to him.

Cool.

Appreciate the support.

Everybody that's joined us

tonight listening to No Gimmicks,

you know, outside of Patreon,

so I think we're going to

wrap it up and say, basically,

in order to help control

the pet population here, don't forget,

people,

have your pet spayed or neutered

because if you don't,

I'll force choke you.

Oh, yeah.

And also, remember, always remember

The dark side will be with you always.

May the force be with you, people.

Oh, fuck you.

Don't listen to this guy.

There is no dark side.

There's just the force.

Oh, bullshit.

You see Yoda behind me.

You're going to hit me with

that lightsaber.

There's only the force.

But thank you guys for tuning in.

We'll debate that on Rose Councils.

Okay, we can.

I'm going to win this debate.

Oh, bullshit.

I will.

All right, guys.

For us over on the No

Gimmicks podcast for

everybody over at DFPN.

Thank you guys for tuning in.

You guys have a wonderful time.

And until then,

enjoy what the fuck you want to enjoy.

Peace.

And I know it's all business, all business,

all business.

We give them no gimmicks.

Yeah.

And I know it's all business, all business,

all business.

We give them no gimmicks.

Yeah.

And I know it's all business, all business,

all business.

We give them no gimmicks.

Gimmicks.