Have to admit I was totally forgetting the Genius era too. Maybe he wasn't doing as well as I thought on his own. He certainly always popped off the screen as a big star when I was a kid.

On the Raw before SummerSlam '95, British Bulldog turned heel and helped Mabel and Mo beat down Diesel. At SummerSlam '95, Bulldog's tag team partner Lex Luger came out during the Diesel-Mabel main event and helped Diesel. On the following Superstars, I remember them advertising a Luger interview the following week. Then, on the inaugural Nitro, Luger made a shocking appearance. Naturally Luger never showed up on WWF TV again. (I remember thinking it was funny when I mentioned to my friend that Luger had been on Nitro and had been advertised for Superstars, leading my friend to comment about how much money Lex would make by working for both companies.)

I had always been curious as to what was in the can when they advertised him for this upcoming interview.

Been so long since I watched SummerSlam '95 I didn't remember Luger interfering. But that attendance...holy moly!

It's odd to me that Hulk Hogan was a historic megastar who had a finisher that I don't think that most of the crowd actually cared about. The Stunner was obviously one of the most over parts about Steve Austin. The Rock Bottom was at least a very over move, and certainly people thirsted for the People's Elbow. The legdrop was just sort of a part of the hulk-up routine, but the hulk-up theatrics were what were actually over. It really feels like Hogan could have just up and changed finishers in the middle of his prime without losing anything, whereas that would be sacrilege to say about Steve Austin.

I never considered the leg drop the finisher by itself. I always thought it was the boot to the face + the body slam + the leg drop. The entire sequence was the finisher.


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Hogan did have the Ax Bomber in Japan.

Even under this interpretation, I don't think the sequence of moves was really what was over. Those moves themselves didn't tend to cause any additional pop above what the hulking up already did. Any popularity they had was simply due to the fact that they signaled a Hogan win IMO.

This pretty much. The hulk up was the crowd electrifier

Speaking of electrifying, JFC The Rock was OVER

Funny segment here with him and Bad Ass Billy Gunn, thoroughly enjoyed it

https://youtu.be/zNpNEG7bfDs

Awesome entry to the WWF for Y2J...

In his own book he says he regards that segment with embarrassment.

I loved it too.

Cool I look forward to reading that later on, will avoid till I see a few more years

Awesome that he got to go tit for tat with The Rock early on

Yeah, I understand his own self-critique, but to me the segment works even keeping in mind what he doesn’t like about it.

Out of curiosity, do you have a clear all-time favorite wrestler from what you’ve watched so far?

I've watched that segment so many times. I even watched it when ABD first posted it here a few hours ago. What does Jericho have against it?

I recall a Jericho documentary on netflix (which was super good btw) where he talks about hating this as well. Something about making "Popeye" like faces and acting like a cartoon character

Yeah, what PJ said, Jericho thinks his reactions to Rock’s insults were cartoonish and stupid.

Sure wish they would put out new Legends of Wrestling specials. Just rewatched the Heat Seekers so and it was great. Seems like plenty more material out there to mine.

I love that series. Even during my long hiatus from wrestling in the 00’s I watched a lot of these on YouTube back when it was a lot easier to put up stuff like this. When I got the Network back in 2014 this series was one of the first things I watched.

I did however hear somewhere that the Table for 3 series is what they are using as a replacement for this, and in my opinion it really lacks behind Legends in everyway

Is literally anyone else ITT watching the Mae Young Classic? The main event this week was one of the best matches I've seen all year.

I watched a little of the start and was enjoying it, but haven’t stuck with it. Let me see about possibly catching up.

I've watched an episode or two. Been seeing good reviews for that main event.

These women really go over the top with their terrible “OMG she kicked out” reactions.

Unfortunately this series isn’t doing it for me. Doesn’t help that Renee sucks on commentary. I’d like to think that won’t always be the case, but it is right now.

Sound forced and dry?

Just the facial reactions mostly. Everyone thinks they’re Undertaker during XXV. Really, the oversaturation of finisher kickouts and reactions has done a disservice to that match after the fact. It was a legit shock when HBK kicked out of that tombstone at the time. It would barely register during a WM match today.