Sweet Sixteen Voting Is Now Open In The Hogan And Flair Regions of The Greatest Wrestler of All Time Tourney
(Hogan and Flair Regions)
This, my friends, is where the rubber meets the road. The Hogan Region is absolutely loaded, the Flair Region is packed with Hall of Famers. Everything is going to get a lot tougher from here on out. We will vote today on the Hogan and Flair Regions and we'll handle the Austin and Sammartino Regions tomorrow. Let's get down to business.
(1) Hulk Hogan v. (4) Undertaker
What a matchup. Two of wrestlings most legendary characters going head to head in the Sweet Sixteen. Also fitting, since the Undertaker won his first ever WWF Championship by defeating Hulk Hogan at Survivor Series. The wrestling business likely wouldn't be where it is today without Hulk Hogan. He catapulted the industry into the mainstream, not once, but twice. But the Undertaker was a steadying force for the WWE when talent was defecting to WCW and they were losing in the ratings. The Dead Man is the WWE. He has had some of the most legendary matches in the company's history.
(3) Chris Jericho v. (2) The Rock
I suppose this matchup gets determined by how you view this competition as a whole. If it was who was hottest at their peak, it's The Rock. If, on the other hand, you value longevity, character development or in ring work over heat, I'm supposing you'd lean Jericho. Both are incredible talents. Both have gotten over with audiences across the globe and both have interests and pursuits outside the ring. This one might be the tightest matchup in the entire round of sixteen.
(1) Ric Flair v. (5) Sting
Man, is this matchup appropriate. These two were chief rivals during their time in WCW and, in fact, they were the last match ever in WCW history. These competitors brought out the best in one another and most of the people the worked with. Flair's legacy is widely known and virtually unmatched. Sting was the WCW version of the Undertaker in that he never left and was the mainstay for the company through good times and bad. One more time, it's Sting and Flair.
(3) Bret Hart v. (7) Triple H
This is a very curious matchup to me because these guys have so much history but very little of it is in the ring. Triple H obviously was a strong ally of Shawn Michaels during Hart and Michaels' rivalry. I think it is undisputed that Triple H had a hand in planning the "Montreal Screwjob", but again, they were on different levels in their careers and didn't do a ton of in ring work together. Hart might have been the most realistic worker of the era. Also, he was somehow able to thread the needle of being a heel in America and a baby face everywhere else in the world. That's not easy to do. Triple H has been able to bounce back and forth from baby face to heel as well throughout his career. He has had some great matches in his career to be sure, but is he on the same level as "The Excellence of Execution"?