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WWE held a special Hulk Hogan Appreciation Night last night at Madison Square Garden as part of their "Road to Wrestlemania" live event.
As they set up for the ceremony, there was a loud "Hogan" chant in the Garden.
The Hogan Appreciation ceremony began with the introduction of WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Hart, who was a surprise. Hart came out to his classic tune "Eat Your Heart Out Rick Springfield" and welcomed everyone. He said it meant a lot that when he and Hogan arrived, they saw red and yellow lights, that the ring ropes were red and yellow and that he could see a lot of red and yellow shirts. Hart said that he and Hogan have been friends for 30 years and he'll never forget the first night he was in MSG and said that all of this means the world to him and thanked the fans.
The NWO's music hit and out came Scott Hall and Kevin Nash. It was the first time Hall was in Madison Square Garden since losing to Triple H in May 1996 and having the mic cut off on him as he tried to say, "Say Goodbye to the Bad Guy" on his last night before returning for the Kliq curtain call that became infamous. Hall took the mic and said that when they went down to WCW (which the crowd booed), they ran with Hulk Hogan and did the old WCW survey. The crowd booed the mention of WCW and gave a huge ovation for the NWO. Hall said it was, "One more for the good guys."
Nash took the mic and said that when they left and went down South, "the angle was that they were invading" and no one knew who the third man was. He said that the third man could only be Hulk Hogan and that Hogan made the NWO, then introduced him.
Hogan came out to a huge ovation and posed on the stage before coming to the ring. He thanked everyone but as he was about to continue, out came Ric Flair to a thunderous ovation. Flair entered the ring and went nose to nose with Hogan, smiling. MSG loudly chanted, "This is awesome."
Flair then cut a long promo, saying that he and Hogan ran in different parts of the world, and that when Flair finally had the courage to leave "The NWA, WCW" and come to the WWF and faced Hogan, it was like nothing he had ever seen. Flair said he faced Ricky Steamboat, Sting, The Rock N' Roll Express and others, but no one had the charisma that Hogan did. It should be noted there was a sizable "Randy Savage" chant in response to that.
Flair said that Hogan was the most charismatic and the best of all time. He talked about the first time he wrestled Hogan in MSG and how afterwards, he and Hogan took The China Club (a landmark New York nightclub of that era) "to the next level", which Hogan then tried to "sssh" Flair about.
Flair then said that when his son died, Hogan called and was there for him and he said that what he's learned in life is that he can always count on Hulk Hogan and he can count on Vince McMahon. They hugged and it was obvious Flair was crying.
Flair then sent it to a special video package which featured comments from The Rock, Shawn Michaels, The New Age Outlaws, Bret Hart and others about Hogan. Some were new interviews and some were from WWE archival footage, interspeced with classic Hogan clips.
Out came Triple H accompanied by one of the Senior Vice Presidents of Madison Square Garden and one of the building's long-time photographers. HHH said that he brought them out so the fans wouldn't boo the guys they didn't know. He said that he wasn't out here as the COO or The Authority or The Game or even HHH, but as the little kid that saw Hulk Hogan wrestle. He praised Hogan for being the best champion ever in The Garden and put him over for all he's done for WWE.
MSG then presented Hogan with a portrait of a shot that was taken of Hogan in the ring at the first Wrestlemania, which Hogan seemed genuinely taken aback about.
Hogan said that when he would come to MSG, he always knew what was going down but tonight he didn't know anything and was so touched and shocked at everyone and everything tonight. He thanked all the fans and WWE and said he wanted to make it clear that HHH was the reason he came back home. He said HHH reached out to him and held the doors open for him and he wanted everyone to know how much he appreciates it and appreciates being home.
Hogan said he debuted here in 1979 against Ted DiBiase and Vince McMahon Sr. gave him the Hulk Hogan name and that day in 1979, he never could have guessed all these years later, how much NYC would mean to him.
They aired the Hogan video set to "Forever Young" from the Hulk Hogan birthday celebration a few months ago on Raw.
BREAKING: #WWE AND @TheGarden raise banner celebrating 30 years of @HulkHogan. Photo by @realbobhasley #PWInsider pic.twitter.com/sl1zvPo7oS
— PWInsider.com (@PWInsidercom) February 28, 2015Triple H then said they had one more surprise and that was that since they are in Madison Square Garden and Hogan is the greatest champion ever, he should be celebrated like the other champions. They then raised a banner celebrating 30 years in MSG of Hulkamania. The crowd went nuts for this.
The fans chanted for "One More Match." Flair took off his jacket and acted like he wanted to fight Hogan. Hogan joked that he and Flair could do that and then said about one more match, "I guess I'm going to have to talk to the boss."
They closed out the ceremony with a Hogan posedown and then Hogan and everyone took photos with the artwork. All of this was filmed with multiple cameras, so one would assume it will be released and/or utilized by WWE down the line.
A really classy, special moment and something was really nice.
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