Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling
A lot of Nope.
Ep. 010 is live!
Being transparent at the top, this write up will likely be quite short. I made it very clear in our first episode, The HIstory of MASK, that we will be covering properties I do not care for at all. True, we have touched upon properties that weren’t exactly great, but I managed to find things overall that led me to give some sort of praise. I was not expecting to arrive at such a harsh grade of a property so early, but alas here we are. Hulk Hogan’s Rock-N-Wrestling is my first F, which is sad because at least two factors could have turned this around.
The first huge drawback to this series is its animation. Produced by DiC, the animation suffers greatly. DiC unfortunately came to be known for their highs and lows with their animation, and Rock-N-Wrestling really showcases the lows. Sadly, when looking at the original production art and character models, the designs were not bad at all. It’s unfortunate, because just a little extra effort and production value into the show itself really could have made this pop.
A great detriment to this line, especially given the era it was released, was the lack of toys. Again, these original designs really had a great look to them that
would have made for great toys. There were even vehicles that would have translated nicely to the toy aisle. Unfortunately, the only thing even remotely resembling a toy or figure was the line of eraser ‘figures” by Winston Toys. We were, however, privy to bed sheets.
The 80’s was all about cross promotion, vertical integration, and expanding properties and franchises, there’s no doubt about that. There were swings, and oh boy were there some misses. Hulk Hogan’s Rock-N-Wrestling was most definitely a miss, and it certainly won’t be the last we discuss.
That is about all I really have to say about Rock-N-Wrestling. It was a fun episode to record, and it has me really looking forward to covering WWF down the road.
That said, welcome to November, we are officially in the holiday gauntlet. I hope we are able to help you start each week on the right foot.
Thanks, and enjoy!
-Derek
