Question About Summerslam '05

[Bob-O]

I was reading an article yesterday, "10 Major WWE Superstars That Hated Shawn Michaels" (I know, right!?) and one of the guys listed as "hating" Shawn Michaels was Hulk Hogan. The article cited that Hogan took offence to Shawn "overselling and flopping around like a goof" during their Summerslam '05 main event along with Shawn's sarcastic promo congratulating Hogan the next night on Raw.

This is a story I hadn't heard before, and basically missing any and all wrestling between '01 and '08 I thought I'd fire up The Network and watch Shawn Michaels flop around like a goof... which he did, and Hogan had every right to be pissed about it.

My question though, has to do with the undercard. Like I said, this would be smack dab in the middle of the window of which I didn't watch. Kurt Angle took on Eugene. From the bumper vid and context clues from the announcers, I gathered that Kurt had lost his Gold Medal to Eugene in a match where Kurt couldn't beat Eugene in a set amount of time and this match was taking place as an opportunity for Kurt to win back his prize. I'm assuming Kurt's the heel here, as the crowd did the 'You Suck' thing along with his entrance and the announcers played it off as such. My question is what was up with the crowd!?

From what I remember anyway, Kurt was always a strait babyface or cocky heel - never an anti-hero, but that crowd went ballistic every time Kurt went on offence! He was working stiff, too... like, stiff even for Angle. Kurt was beating the holy hell of a mentally handicapped guy and this crowd was going apeshit for it! Like a lot of things with Eugene, it was awkward, and I'm wondering what the real story here was. Did people not like Eugene or something, or was it like a CM Punk thing where Angle was going to get support no matter what?

[Earth Child]

I think around this time people were getting sick of Eugene and were enjoying seeing him get beat up. In ECW One Night Stand 2006 Eugene got beat up by Sandman and the crowd cheered that too. But then again, it was an ECW crowd,

Or was this PPV in Canada? Bizarro world? Where they boo Divas and cheer bag guys. That's the only other reason I can think of.

[Big Red Machine]

I was reading an article yesterday, "10 Major WWE Superstars That Hated Shawn Michaels" (I know, right!?) and one of the guys listed as "hating" Shawn Michaels was Hulk Hogan. The article cited that Hogan took offence to Shawn "overselling and flopping around like a goof" during their Summerslam '05 main event along with Shawn's sarcastic promo congratulating Hogan the next night on Raw.

This is a story I hadn't heard before, and basically missing any and all wrestling between '01 and '08 I thought I'd fire up The Network and watch Shawn Michaels flop around like a goof... which he did, and Hogan had every right to be pissed about it.

My question though, has to do with the undercard. Like I said, this would be smack dab in the middle of the window of which I didn't watch. Kurt Angle took on Eugene. From the bumper vid and context clues from the announcers, I gathered that Kurt had lost his Gold Medal to Eugene in a match where Kurt couldn't beat Eugene in a set amount of time and this match was taking place as an opportunity for Kurt to win back his prize. I'm assuming Kurt's the heel here, as the crowd did the 'You Suck' thing along with his entrance and the announcers played it off as such. My question is what was up with the crowd!?

From what I remember anyway, Kurt was always a strait babyface or cocky heel - never an anti-hero, but that crowd went ballistic every time Kurt went on offence! He was working stiff, too... like, stiff even for Angle. Kurt was beating the holy hell of a mentally handicapped guy and this crowd was going apeshit for it! Like a lot of things with Eugene, it was awkward, and I'm wondering what the real story here was. Did people not like Eugene or something, or was it like a CM Punk thing where Angle was going to get support no matter what?

Don't know about the second part, but about Shawn and Hogan, the reason the Shawn did what he did was because Shawn wanted to do a program where each guy got one win, but Hogan completely refused to lose.

[Bob-O]

I think around this time people were getting sick of Eugene and were enjoying seeing him get beat up. In ECW One Night Stand 2006 Eugene got beat up by Sandman and the crowd cheered that too. But then again, it was an ECW crowd,

Or was this PPV in Canada? Bizarro world? Where they boo Divas and cheer bag guys. That's the only other reason I can think of.

They were in Washington DC :-\

But the more I look into this, I think you're right about people just being sick of Eugene. While the crowd was acting like a 'Bizarro World' one, I've never heard a Heel Angle get support like that! He's usually REALLY good at getting heat! But shit man, Eugene tried to shake his hand before that match, it looked like Angle legit tried to break his jaw, and the place exploded like Austin had just stunned McMahon! To me anyway, it looked like Angle was beating Eugene like Hardcore Holly beats Tough Enough contestants, and this crowd was actually booing any time Eugene tried to defend himself. I can't think of a babyface in today's landscape that the general paying fanbase resents that much, not even Cena. This crowd wanted Eugene's head paraded around the parking lot on a stick, and I don't understand.

Handshake!? How 'bout an autograph!


Best screen grab I could get to illustrate my point. Angle just
attempted to behead his mentally handicapped opponent. Look
beyond the drunk guys up front, the Asian family back there
is absolutely delighted.

Don't know about the second part, but about Shawn and Hogan, the reason the Shawn did what he did was because Shawn wanted to do a program where each guy got one win, but Hogan completely refused to lose.

But... the second part was the important part...

But yeah, that first part is pretty fascinating! I didn't know the two had ever worked a program together, two of the biggest backstage egos facing off!? It makes my smarky mouth water! From what I've read, apparently they were supposed to do a Best Of 3 type thing. Shawn wanted to have good matches and put the focus on who the better man was, Hogan was set on Hulkamania running wild over that backstabbing villain Shawn Micheals. Hogan got his way for Summerslam, causing Shawn to react the only way he knows how when he doesn't get his way. Even though Hogan was getting his way and was set to win the series and the feud, he became "injured" (the only way Hogan knows how) before giving up the win in the rubber match.

Such a great piece of wrestling lore I can't believe I'm only learning about now!