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GUEST EDITORIAL
By Nick of Round Rock, Tex.
PWTorch.com Reader

I found the recent editorial about Hogan-bashing very interesting.

If we're going to be truthful, yes there has been a fair deal of bashing of Hulk Hogan and his family lately. Not that some of it isn't warranted: Nick Bollea came off as a spoiled, dopey son of a celebrity who made a terrible mistake and is now paying for it. Brooke has proven to have a knack for saying the stupidest things at the absolutely worst times. And even our hero The Hulkster has shown poor judgment, if indeed he had Nick and his friends on the boat drinking beers the day of the wreck.

Of course, the divorce between Hulk and Linda only adds fuel to the fire, as a very public family finds itself going through tough times, all in the glare of the media spotlight.

To borrow from an old saying, it's easy to kick a man when he's down. And it seems like many who weren't particularly fond of Hogan for whatever reason are now enjoying the opportunity to get a dig in here and there while he's suffering.

It's hard to watch a superstar like Hogan age, and even harder to have to acknowledge the fact that this guy is human and therefore not perfect. We want to remember the pop culture icon who slammed Andre, beat up the Iron Sheik, and founded the N.W.O., but all we see today is a fifty-something bald guy limping around from one courtroom to the other.

It's always sad when we learn that the guys we cheer in the ring are sometimes not the greatest of people in real life - like when we learned that "Stone Cold" Steve Austin was allegedly abusive toward his wife.

But if we're going to put the scrutiny on Hogan and any of his personal failings as a dad or a human being, then it's only fair to do the same with the man with whom Hogan is so often compared: Ric Flair. You could argue that, frankly, Flair's personal and family life was a bigger catastrophe than Hogan's.

My problem here is I don't really want to bash either Hogan or Flair. While I don't like some of their choices in their personal lives, I don't feel like comparing them side-by-side.

I'm even growing tired of comparing them as wrestling icons. I tend to think there's enough room to give both of them credit for being the biggest star in the history of the business, for different reasons.

Sure, Hogan put more asses in seats and sold out more arenas, but Flair's career outlasted Hulkamania, and over 36 years more fans in more cities around the world probably saw a Ric Flair match. Hogan may have put wrestling on the map in the 1980s, but Flair was the guy who was helping to keep it going, by putting over dozens upon dozens of past, present, and future stars in hundreds of storylines, feuds, rivalries, and title matches.

Hogan has proven he's pretty savvy at reinventing himself and keeping himself a relevant, marketable media property for all these years, but then again it was Flair who brought the house down to an arena full of misty-eyed fans and colleagues, as he was honored for nearly four decades of entertainment.

How about we give this topic a rest, and get on to more important issues, like whether Mickie James and Melina will ever make out with each other during a match.

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