The Impossible Persona of Hulk Hogan

About this episode

The episode explores the cultural impact of Hulk Hogan and the evolution of wrestling as a mainstream entertainment phenomenon.

Thanks to MAINGEAR for speeding up everything for us. Check out the VYBE line that’s making up the core of Matt’s new studio -- and use code CREATE for a free additional year of warranty on desktops: https://maingear.com/ref/656/ Join Our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/thecreateunknown This week we’re diving deep into a pop cultural figurehead, and the strange evolution of the medium that propelled him to stardom from a niche sideshow into one of the biggest entertainment machines on Earth. Of course, we’re talking Hulk Hogan, and the incomparable spectacle of WrestleMania. This one gets pretty wild, so buckle up. We start with a trip down memory lane as we reflect on our own introductions to the world of wrestling. We wonder, how did something so openly “fake” become more culturally powerful than many “real” sports? And what exactly was wrestling tapping into that made its stars so recognizable to almost everybody? From there, we break down how WrestleMania completely changed the business, and how Vince McMahon’s impossible gamble paid off so spectacularly. With wrestling turning into such a mainstream event, we wonder how much of modern entertainment owes something to it? Was…

Topics covered

• Hulk Hogan
• WrestleMania
• wrestling culture
• entertainment evolution
• 1980s pop culture

Keywords

• Hulk Hogan
• WrestleMania
• wrestling
• pop culture
• Vince McMahon
• 1980s
• entertainment

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Mentioned in this episode

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