Time Flies

It's been 20 years to the day since Hulk Hogan lost the World Title to Andre The Giant on NBC. Wow.

20 years.

I remember watching it on Prime Time on NBC. It was such a huge deal to get to watch wrestling on one of the major networks and it was completely unheard of to get to do it in Prime Time. This was the first of the WWF's "The Main Event" specials that ran for a few years.

The Hogan/Andre match, workratewise, was nothing special. But it was an electric atmosphere with the big Wrestlemania III rematch. Add in that Andre had promised to hand over... to sell the World Title to Ted Dibiase if he won [completely unimaginable to my young brain] and the stage was set. Hogan had held the belt for years but this was definitely his biggest challenge and the WWF did a masterful job of making you think the title just might change hands. They sewed controversy in the WMIII match by showing the nearfall at the beginning of the match and going so far as to ban Joey Marella from refereeing this match because of the controversy. They had the big Andre attack on Hogan on Saturday Night's Main Event a couple months earlier with the choke heard 'round the world. Hogan looked vulnerable... but there was no way he would lose, right? Damn that plastic surgery. Damn it to hell.

The undercard saw the Honky Tonk Man lose to Randy Savage by countout, a disappointing win when I was a kid as Savage didn't get the title back. As an adult, I found out that HTM actually refused to lose the title that night before going to the ring and Vince brokered the countout finish to keep everyone happy. You have to wonder how much different things would have turned out if Savage won the title there. Would he still have been in the tourney at WMIV? Would he have won?

In case you have no clue what I'm talking about...