While browsing a wrestling forum, one of the posts asked a question of who should be on the Mt. Rushmore of the WWE. It was certainly an interesting thread, and the discussion was shockingly reasonable. The overall consensus was there were two locks, Hulk Hogan, and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. The debate centered on who should be the third and fourth on the mountain. Three names stood out. The Rock, The Undertaker, and John Cena. Who would I choose if I had to choose WWE's Mt. Rushmore?
My first selection would be Hulk Hogan. It's very difficult to discredit his contributions with assisting Vince McMahon on making the WWF a national product. Despite a limited skill set in the ring, he more than made up for it with his look and charisma. He made Vince, and himself, a lot of money during his peak in the 1980s. He was a huge draw, and one can debate whether or not Wrestlemania would have been as successful as it turned out to be in its early days if Hogan was not on the card. Hogan had universal appeal because, despite being a large man with exceptional strength, he still was the underdog in most of his feuds. Hogan was important in breaking the WWF into pop culture back in the mid-80s.
Next is "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. Much like Hogan, he was a face for his era, not only in wrestling, but pop culture too. Wresting during the Austin era experienced a surge in popularity that exceeded that of Hogan's era. The late 90s were a strange time in the pop culture landscape, very loud and crass with disregard of authority. Austin as a character played that to a hilt. Not only that, but he represented the everyman, wearing simply black trunks and boots, he didn't need flash to get his character across. He wasn't larger than life, which made him feel authentic. It was difficult to walk around back in those days and NOT see an Austin t-shirt. In the scheme of things, his stay on top in the WWE wasn't very long due to injuries, but it certainly made a huge impact.
My third choice is John Cena. Cena has been compared to Hogan, and perhaps those comparisons have some merit, but what puts Cena on the list is that he has been the biggest draw in the WWE for years now - approximately a decade. While many fans sit silently in their seats for most of the performers these days it seems, Cena gets a reaction. All one needs to get proof is the hear the dueling "let's go Cena" and "Cena sucks" chants. If you happen to attend a live WWE event, most of the shirts seem to be Cena ones. He makes money for the company, and more importantly, gets a reaction out of the fans.
For my final choice, and perhaps a surprise one, I'd put HHH up there. Yes, the future head of the company. There were several choices I felt were just as worthy, the Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, and The Rock all have a legit argument for being there. So why did I pick HHH? First, he is one of the best all-around wrestlers of the past twenty years. His ring style isn't flashy, but he can perform power moves in one sequence of the match, switch gears to a technical mat style the next, to brawling the next, and hardcore if necessary. He is also very versatile as a character. He can get over with the fans as a tough, rugged face, to his authority heel character he plays these days, which in fact, may be the best character work of his career.
Those are my choices for the WWE Mt. Rushmore. The first three, from a drawing standpoint, certainly deserve their places, while there's definitely room for debate in regards to the fourth spot. Too bad we couldn't place a 5th performer on there...
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