Hulk Hogan.

Question
Hi James,

Do you think that the wrestling industry will ever see a true superstar surpass the popularity that Hulk Hogan has?
It seems that in a age where communication and promotion are as easy as ever we are still yet to witness a true star eclipse his fame?  
I recently watched Summerslam 05 and the crowd went absolutly beserk when his music rang out, granted this was 5 years ago but the point i'm trying to make is people were still hungry for him 25 years plus into his career and this was wrestling Shawn Michaels who was at the pinnacle of his career.

Obviously sports legends never die but I feel even to this day the wrestling industry is still struggling to replace him!!?

Answer
Hello Damien,

I wouldn't say there would never be someone in pro wrestling exceeding Hogan's popularity. I cannot see it occuring in the immediate future, but never say never with pro wrestling.

I don't feel pro wrestling is struggling to replace him. Pro wrestling certainly wants popular wrestlers- as they have had, in names like The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker and in more recent times, names like Jeff Hardy. They may or may not have been as popular as Hogan has been when Hulkamania was really running wild- not to take away from the responses he is still able to get today. Hogan has had greater longeviety and exposure over time compared to what others have had, but the popularity of other wrestlers has been enough for the business to do well.

Pro wrestling today definitely has its problems and some of them have helped to prevent stars from becoming as popular as they could have been. Also, some circumstances/problems around today have prevented pro wrestling from providing great entertainment and wrestling as consistently as in the past. It could be that pro wrestling is looking to find or replace something. More likely, it could several things before it can be as it as good, if not better, as it has been, though in a different way suitable for a different era. It might be something Hogan represents/represented, or something more general from past times, or something related to the development of talent, etc.

It seems unlikely that the whole business is trying to replace Hogan specificially, however, considering some of the very popular stars there have been. Just because they aren't as popular as Hogan, or El Santo, or The Crush Gals or any of the handful of others that reached the pinnacle of popularity where they were known (no reason for you to have heard of the other names here), doesn't meant that pro wrestling is struggling today. Greatness doesn't come about every day.  

Pro wrestling is in a different era now. Society has changed and that means pro wrestling has had to change as well, not to mention the changes in pro wrestling due to events in the pro wrestling business itself. Pro wrestling is not doing as well, overall, as in the past, but a host of reasons may be behind this. It is more likely that rather than just trying to replace one man, pro wrestling has some things it needs to fix, obstacles to get around and needs to have suitable talent getting a proper opportunity for more popular wrestlers for today's audience.