In this WWE Evil: Hollywood Hulk Hogan review, some thoughts on the first episode of the newest Peacock series from WWE.
Let’s jump in.
– Vince McMahon and Kevin Dunn are the executive producers, with John Cena doing the narration. So, just like with the Ruthless Aggression series (which we’ll also go back and review at some point), you’ll get WWE’s version of the story it wants to tell.
– We’re three minutes in, and the talking heads have included Hogan, Bruce Prichard, David Shoemaker (The Ringer), Mario Lopez, and Peter Rosenberg, so this is basically just a spin on the WWE on A&E series. And boy, a few of those were a mess (see: Randy Savage episode). I’ll stay optimistic since, again, we’re only three minutes in at this point.
– They do acknowledge that Hogan’s heel turn was a necessity based on dwindling crowd reactions and merchandise sales. Hogan recalls jumping to WCW, and Eric Bischoff details the same struggles he was having in getting Hogan over as a babyface. It just wasn’t happening at that point, as folks were tired of Hulkamania.
– It’s very clear that this series is built for WWE beginners, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Everything recounted in this Hogan episode thus far is common knowledge for hardcore wrestling fans, including Sting originally being considered for the “third man” role, Hogan going back and forth on accepting the challenge, etc.
– We get the full Bash at the Beach 1996 angle which, again, many fans have seen hundreds of times. But like I said, I get it, you’re trying to push an “evil” theme with the series. It was the most “evil” turn of all, so it makes sense.
– Corey Taylor of Slipknot makes an appearance and reflects on his reaction to Hogan turning on the kids. This is something people often forget about when it comes to wanting the top babyfaces to turn heel. There’s always a business side of it to go along with the wrestling side, and turning someone of Hogan’s stature was ballsy because of risk involved with merch sales.
– And now Dr. Phil is weighing in on Hogan being a bad guy. Because why not? Zombie Juice from the Flatbush Zombies also joins the cast. Yeah, this is WWE on A&E again. Nothing wrong with that, but this is a mainstream-focused series vs. a wrestling-focused series. Just putting that disclaimer out there so expectations are realistic going into this thing.
– We work to the downfall of WCW, including Bischoff’s exit, Hogan’s frustrations with the company, and more. Vince Russo is here after Bischoff just railed on him. Hogan starts railing on him as well. Then comes the infamous Bash at the Beach 2000 angle with Jeff Jarrett laying down for Hogan. It gets more brutal every time you watch it.
– It’s Vince buying WCW time, and we get a 2009 interview from Vince where he says he had no ego boost from defeating WCW. Reminder that this is a WWE-produced series, folks. Fast forward to the nWo coming back to WWE in 2002.
– Spotlight on Hogan facing off with The Rock at WrestleMania X8 and the fans wanting the old Hogan back. In that regard, things came full circle for the Hogan character, and that’s something that’s still pretty cool to think about given how many directions it went in from the mid-80s to his WWE return.
– Shoutout to Taylor, who pontificates on the audience realizing that Hogan could have Hollywood elements to his character and not be completely evil. That’s a great point. Hogan’s return to the red and yellow after WrestleMania X8 was quite a moment, and Cena narrates thoughts on everyone having a bit of Hollywood Hogan in them.
– Bischoff wraps it up by pointing out the realism of the Hollywood Hogan character and the motivations behind it. While I know he has his critics, I could listen to Bischoff talk about wrestling characters and storytelling for hours. He’s great at it.
BLAKE’S TAKE ON WWE EVIL: HOLLYWOOD HULK HOGAN
Thoughts on Hogan in 2022 aside, this was a fine character study on the biggest star in wrestling history. Admittedly, I’m always hesitant on what to expect from WWE-produced documentaries considering some of the A&E and Ruthless Aggression ones omitted important details. But you know going in to expect that, and this debut episode got better as it progressed.
The Hogan character had a journey unlike anyone else in wrestling, and this was an interesting way to tie it all together by diving into the motivations of the character versus just the wrestling storylines that drove things from point A to point B.
A lot of the stuff you’ve probably seen and heard before, but if you want something that’s mainly character-driven, this was surprisingly better than I thought it would be. However, like I said, just don’t expect much (if any) new historical information that you haven’t already seen in other WWE series.
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