ropjhk wrote:dhsilv2 wrote:ropjhk wrote:71 is not a young age to pass for a wrestler.
His reputation was shot in his later years as stories came out about his politicking and some things he had said.
He's still a wrestling icon and that can never be taken away. I'd say that no other wrestler managed to achieve the same level of cultural significance during the time they were the #1 guy carrying the WWE. Not Austin, Cena, Reigns or Rhodes. Someone like the Rock has attained a higher level of cultural significance but not during the time he was the face of the WWE.
I dunno about Stone Cold. That era of WWF was so much more popular than Hulk's era.
The Attitude era is certainly more beloved and it was the era that saved the WWE from bankruptcy but in terms of cultural awareness and fan draw I think the Golden era of the 80s still tops it. As popular as he was in the late 90's/early 2000s Austin was not mainstream popular like Hogan was.
Austin is more highly regarded than Hogan but I'm confident in saying that he was not as big as Hogan was during the latter half of the 80's.
Hogan appealed to kids and parents were fine with buying their sons Hulk Hogan lunch boxes. Austin appealed to those same kids in their teenage years but he wasn't marketed to little kids to the same degree as Hogan.
I posted the rating numbers after. I mean...the rates were more than double.