Bruce Prichard wishes WWE would have turned Hulk Hogan heel before WCW.
Speaking on the latest episode of his Something To Wrestle podcast, the Executive Director of Raw and SmackDown commented on the formation of the nWo, WCW's presentation of them, and how it was the pivotal moment that cemented WCW's place ahead of WWE in the ratings for the next year and a half. He said the following:
"I think more than anything it was -- Personally, I wish we had done it. I wish we had done it a while ago. It was more of their positioning of it [being] WWE versus WCW with those talents. Finally, they had to come out and say, ‘Hey, you guys don’t represent WWE,’ even though the commentary tried to drive you that way all the time. So, you’re looking at it through business eyes and not necessarily a fan's eyes a lot of times. To the audience, it was Hulk Hogan. It was something they were familiar with. I dare say that a lot of people were ready for him to turn. They wanted to boo him and had been booing him. So, you had the perfect storm. No matter what anybody says, I think the pivotal moment was Hulk turning heel for WCW. I think that’s what made the turn. When they did that, they made the turn and didn’t look back for 83 weeks."
Prichard says it was an exciting time to be a fan and agrees that a Hogan heel turn prior to him joining WCW could have changed the course of wrestling history. There's nothing to say WCW explodes the way it did without Hogan in the nWo, and likewise, there is nothing to say WWE's product improves without the competition pushing them so hard.
"Sure, because as you said, iron sharpens iron and you’re being challenged now and that gets you on your toes. So yes, it was a completely different feeling, and as you say, thankful that we didn’t turn Hulk when we wanted to, or at least I wanted to, back in '93. I think it was an exciting time to be a fan of the product in general. Both," he said.
As for Vince McMahon's reaction to the heel turn, Prichard shared the following:
"Not a whole lot other than there was so much resistance from Hulk way back when. Hulk and Vince saw Hulk Hogan and the Real American character as beyond reproach and that you couldn’t f**k with that formula. That was proven wrong."
The full show can be heard below.
Hulk Hogan and the nWo were recently inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, class of 2020.
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