On the latest episode of Grilling JR, Jim Ross discussed the match at WrestleMania IX that saw Hulk Hogan defeat Yokozuna for the WWF title. The match came immediately following Yokozuna retaining the title against Bret “The Hitman” Hart.
Jim Ross on Hulk Hogan beating Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX: “It’s not anything new. Cowboy Bill Watts told me one time when he’d do something like that, he always gave the heel and the heel’s manager if he had one, an out and an excuse – I wasn’t ready, and this in case, he’d already had another match. The part about that was, Fuji would have a hard time language-wise explaining that. But that’s what the announcers are there for. The theory has been over the years in the territories, you have the big upset or a finish you didn’t perceive, but sometimes it’s better to beat your top heel – instead of having a match, it almost comes off like a fluke. Can it happen again? If they wrestle 10 times, is that the one time the babyface would go over? That was kind of the reason for it in that regard. If you only look at it from an isolation point of view, no, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. But understanding the quick loss – the fluke – was a way to protect the heel as good as you could in doing the honors at an event like WrestleMania……some people may not understand or agree, but I thought it worked really good.”
On how the storyline unfolded and Hogan taking credit for the idea: “To be for it, you’ve gotta be for Hogan being placed back into the rotation. And you have to be for Hogan becoming champion again. If you’re not for Hogan becoming champion again, you’re not gonna be for this angle. I didn’t know the long-term plans at that time for Hogan and WWE, but obviously, it didn’t last long because he was gone a few months later. I didn’t despise the angle. But here’s the thing – you’ll draw a different opinion of the angle once you get down the road a bit and see Hogan leave two or three months later after King of the Ring. If down the road you know Hogan’s gonna be gone, you wouldn’t like the angle as much. At the time, hell, I didn’t know what they were gonna do. Maybe it was gonna launch Hogan’s next run. His previous runs had been pretty damn good.”
(Transcript credit: 411mania.com)