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jynxthechicken

I'm gonna go with Hogan turning Heel. It is just such a perfect moment. The only thing that went bad was Heenan foreshadowing which made sense but hurt it. The Austin thing was an insanely good moment too but at the time Austin was just firing off. He used it to grow into an unstoppable juggernaut in wrestling but Hogan was already there and that moment lead WCW into the future of wrestling. It took WWE and Austin a bit to catch up.


BrotherAnanse

People say Heenan hurt it only because they know what happens next. If you watched WCW at the time, you knew that was Heenan being Heenan and thought nothing of it.


iwearoddsockz

It’s totally in character for Heenan too. He always thought the worst of Hogan, so it made total sense for him to say it.


Randym1982

Heenan was a heel long before the NWO so him hating on the ultimate baby face wasn't something new.


harveydent526

Heenan didn’t hurt it at all. It would have been obvious if he hadn’t said what he said.


CloudCityPasta

What did Heenan say? My old ass can’t remember.


Fun_Performer_7930

He asked whose side is Hogan on when he walked down to the ring. Not a total spoiler, in my opinion, especially since Bobby Heenan never liked Hulk Hogan.


PickleInDaButt

If anything, I love Heenan’s consistency of always hating Hogan and even when Hogan turned heel, Heenan supported WCW more.


Fun_Performer_7930

Truly a master at his craft.


jynxthechicken

Yeah to me he's the best announcer.


MrTylerwpg

plus that was the whole thing leading up to it. there was a wcw guy joining them but nobody knew who.


Deep_Ad_1874

I saw a podcast with bischoff and he basically said exactly that. Heenan always hated Hogan and he was playing that angle.


CloudCityPasta

Oh yeah. Thanks.


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jynxthechicken

Yeah that is a good moment.


Remarkable_Brief_368

Respectfully disagree. Austin 3:16 catapulted Stone Cold into undeniable superstardom. Check out the Austin 3:16 signs the Monday after King of the Ring.


ThePizzaGhoul

Austin 3:16 was the start but he didn't really do much for like 6 months afterwards. He lost a bunch of number 1 contender matches and sort of had a feud with the Undertaker but it wasn't really until he won the Royal Rumble and then his feud with Bret Hart that really put him over the top.


Ryleeger73

I agree with others that Heenan didn't hurt a thing. It was totally in character for him to question Hogan. The thing that tipped it off for me was something I've never seen anyone mention. Ever since the day he started in WCW, except when he was dressed in all black, he always had the WCW logo on his bandana and/or his t-shirt. When he came out on this night, it was the first time he was in his usual red and yellow with no WCW logo anywhere.


MrBump01

Heenan was always derogatory towards the babyfaces though so I wouldn't say it was particularly revealing if you'd heard his commentary a lot.


TheTucsonTarmac

It's the trash being thrown into the ring that sells it. Nothing is gonna top that moment if you saw it live


jynxthechicken

For sure. The boos raining down when Hogan is in the ring and the garbage and how good Hogan sales it. It's mostly in his body language the promo wasn't that good. I think Scotts promo when he first showed up was more iconic but the whole heel turn moment was just epic.


Anthrogynous

NWO. The 3:16 promo was nice, but Austin wasn’t a superstar until Bret Hart worked with him and made him one.


Acceptable-Reach-694

I agree


shingaladaz

Austin could have worked with anyone at that time and become a star, he was absolutely on point with everything, but Bret certainly made Austin a star faster and harder.


Ordinary-Drop-6152

That’s bullshit.


shingaladaz

Which part?


Ordinary-Drop-6152

That Austin would have gotten over as big or as easily if he worked with anybody besides Hart.


shingaladaz

TIL that the only wrestler that can get other wrestlers over is Bret Hart. Behave.


Ordinary-Drop-6152

lol yeah alright Austin powers. Good argument.


Doctor_Cowboy

As great as “Austin 3:16 says” was, they never mention the part where he spent the next six months farting around before they realised what a star they had on their hands.


shingaladaz

Yeah, and that was down to Vince’s genuine ignorance to Austin. He just didn’t get it at first. Thank god he eventually saw it.


Born-Throat-7863

I remember Austin saying later that when creative was trying to figure out his image, he suggested Stone Cokd and they immediately started trying to make it ‘better’ by coming up with names like Chilly McFreeze (I swear Austin said this). The truth of the matter is that the best wrestlers in the Attitude Era largely generated their own gimmicks. McMahon may have approved them and Russo may have written for them, but it was wrestlers like Austin & the Rock that made their characters. Unfortunately, Vince eventually realized his hatred for all things not under his control and stopped letting wrestlers cut their own promos, much less dictate what their characters would be. There would be no “Austin 3:16” style promos.


Gidd1985

Exactly!! Austin worked Marc Mero in the opener of the next PPV, Yokozuna in the Pre Show for SummerSlam, left off Mind Games, and worked HHH in the opener of Buried Alive in a heel vs. heel match during the we are still mad at HHH period after the curtin call. It was the Pillman Gun angle and Bret hand picking Austin for his return program that made WWE realize what they had.


CraneStyleNJ

Both are iconic but Hogan's heel turn and nWo formation legitimately made the world STOP. Came out of complete nowhere, children who grew up with Hulkamania were in tears that day and people who didn't follow pro wrestling were talking about it.


Shotintoawork

>people who didn't follow pro wrestling were talking about it. Yeah as insane as it was for wrestling fans, even people who didn't follow it were shocked to hear Hulk Hogan was "a bad guy now". Anyone that didn't grow up during peak Hulkamania can't begin to imagine how unbelievable that was.


pillkrush

wondering if a Cena heel turn would eclipse that


ThunderlipsOHoulihan

Maybe not to the same extent, but it would have definitely done big business.


Lorddale04

It definitely wouldn't. Cena is big in the WWE universe but as the comments above mentioned, Hogan's heel turn made national news. Imo I don't think it will ever be topped.


StarWolf478

Definitely the nWo formation. That moment instantly had a huge impact on professional wrestling. The Austin 3:16 promo was a cool promo, but the WWE has created a revisionist history about the importance of that moment. Despite what the WWE produced documentaries say, Austin did not instantly become a mega-star after that moment. He continued in the mid-card not doing much for the next few months and was even just in the pre-show instead of the main show of Summer Slam that year. It wasn’t until his feud with Bret Hart started months later heading into Survivor Series that his career really started to rocket up.


savage_inuit

apples and oranges man....but hogan turning lol


Spac92

The forever babyface, Hulk Hogan, turning heel broke several people. Both moments are iconic but Hulk Hogan was still the man at the time so his moment had a much bigger effect on the wrestling world.


roguetroilus

Does anyone else remember Hogan saying “ New World Organization?” in that promo, or am I insane.


TheAceAlwaysComes

He did


TweeKINGKev

I don’t think he had wrestling boots on either, I think they’re cowboy boots or something like that.


asmeile

He said New World Order at the start and New World Organisation at the end, with the cadence of the delivery of the second it was clear he was trying to find it and fucked up


roguetroilus

Thank you.


pillkrush

silverdome vs Superdome


Quuen2queenslevel3

Nwo. Its not even close. WWE had cartoon characters. The Undertaker, Tatanka, The Bushwackers. Even when Hall and Nash were there………Razor Ramon, and Diesel. Oh brother. They move to WCW, Hogan turns heel, and the face of pro wrestling changed. No longer was it cartton character wrestlers, Ultimate Warrior, Sparky Plug…..aka Bob Holly. It became badass dudes beating the crap out of each other. Hall and Nash. The lame shit of gee lets get a crazy dentist and call em Issac Yankem, Lets have a tuff government guy called IRS. Lets have a clown wrestler…….literally. That stuff ran its course. You had a audience that grew up watching the Honky Tonk Man when they were 12-13. Then they were college kids and cartoon wrestling didn’t cut it anymore. And WWE had to change to keep up. All of a sudden the Undertaker is a biker. Its no contest. NWO.


TheDogsPaw

Hogan and the neo that was a rocket ship from day one


Quick_Kick

Formation of the NWO.


Puzzleheaded-Pass532

Austin 3:16 was better. It played out more natural and off the cuff than the nWO being formed.


TheCashmanWins

Hogan. When you were watching it, you knew it was something. It was a very big deal. I think you realized that Austin's promo was something after the fact when Austin became the Austin we now think of.


WilkinsonRadio

Austin 3:16 was so pivotal that he won the WWF championship… 21 months later. Outside of this specific promo and “Pillman’s Got a Gun”, Austin’s ‘96 is pretty lacklustre. Guys, it’s the start of the NWO. WCW became the top dog because of it, and carried that momentum for almost two years.


jynxthechicken

The heel turn still gives me the feels every time I see it


WilkinsonRadio

Austin 3:16 is a great t-shirt, and by the time he was the champ, that thing was everywhere, signs included. NWO changed wrestling in one night. Anyone who says otherwise is refusing to give Hogan, Hall, Nash, and WCW their flowers.


hornyandwettt

you guys can STICK IT!!


Strict-Ad-1214

BROTHER!!


Big-Peak6191

NWO 4 LYFE


Illustrious-Lead-960

Austin gave the better *speech*, if that’s what you mean.


SouthBayPops

I was “tuned out” of wrestling during both times so I didn’t see either of them when they happened, but most everyone I know references Hogan turning heel as iconic. Most of my buds say they didn’t think Steve Austin’s speech was impactful until many months later, whereas with Hogan they knew right away it would be huge.


nwo4lifejc

I get the nwo was a big moment in wrestling but I love that 316 promo so Iconic and off the cuff


HORSEthedude619

Come on. This shouldn't be close.


FunInevitable5213

I am 100% an Austin fangirl since that moment and probably before. And that KotR moment meant tons for him and WWF. But nobody can deny the start of the NWO. The third man.


Park4Park

You can't ask that. Hogan has creative control and can literally take as much time as he wants and say whatever he wants. And stone cold was built from the ground up and nobody ever gave him anything. Stone cold is the example of knowing what to do and trying to gain power by doing it and Hogan is an example of having all the power and not knowing what to do with it.


YTFootie

Formation of the nWo. Hulk Hogan you can go to hell.....straight to hell...


shingaladaz

Both huge moments, but Hogan going heel is infamous and genuinely made people angry.


Strict-Ad-1214

The formation of the NWO because the impact was immediate.


TradReulo

I honestly don’t know if you have Austin 3:16 without the NWO forming. That leg drop on savage was the exclamation point on the end of 80s era wrestling. Some small changes had started, but this moment was the hinge point of moving into the Attitude Era. It forced WWE to blur the traditional lines of heel/face like WCW was doing and propelled the Monday Night Wars to must see tv.


Poetryisalive

Hogan turning hell. That’s a top 5 moment in wrestling history


harlok60

Austin post king of the ring interview turned the wwe back to popular Hogan turning heel turned ALL wrestling back to popular


iSawThatOnce

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!!!


Ok-Profession-3379

Stone cold by a mile!


Infamous_MVP1982

Austin 3:16. Anything with Hogan in it is overrated and just Hogan pushing his creative control card. You can’t believe a word he says. Plus he’s got his “fans” fooled with eyes of nostalgia.


Ok_Theory_4944

NWO


crushedpepsi88

Austin 3:16. That’s the bottoms line because stone cold said so…He created 2 catch phrases in the same promo off the top of his dome. The NWO thing took them months to plan and hogan weaseled his way in while talking to Bishoff during a taping of thunder in paradise.


wtb1000

The nwo thing exploded right away and they were instantly in the main event.. Austin won kotr and made that speech and went on to work the pre-show at summerslam and didn't get to the main event for a year and a half.


frankmurph66

NWO


Rortell

Nwo. It changed the business overnight. Austin's 316 was interesting but he was a mid card heel at the time.


terribletelenes

Heel turns face all the way


RDCK78

NWO and Hogans heel turn.


j3ffUrZ

Definitely the Hogan heel turn. WCW made the right move at the right time with the right person to set it up for success against its competition. While Austin's shoot was excellent, it was more the Mr. McMahon storyline that propelled Austin as the new face of WWE and helped lead the WWE into the Attitude era as we knew it.


cliffbot

I can't believe these events were a week apart. What an insane time.


Veggieleezy

The wildest thing for me is just how close together these two events were. Austin won the crown on June 23rd, Hogan turned on July 7th.


Kalomika

Hogan. That wasn't the moment that made Austin. Put the bleeding face Bret match and we would have a good debate


Common-Physics-4568

Austin


Born-Throat-7863

Hogan’s switch to heel literally propelled wrestling into a new direction and boosted the industry to levels never seen before or since. Austin’s 3:16 speech is one of the great promos of that era. But it didn’t impact pro wrestling the way the birth of the NWO did.


xMataleo

nWo


maxhollywoody

Hogan was a nuke going off. Austin KoTR was the spark that lit the fuse for Austin's run.


SigmaColts

NWO Austin’s promo is absolute revisionist history. Austin truly didn’t take off until November 1996 against Bret. Austin floundered after KOTR


Character_Coyote8132

I'll go with stone colds speech because, the nwo thing while hot for a while eventually got old when they over did it it lasted too long then everybody on the wcw roster wanted to be in it that made it lose it's impact!


Any_Tangerine_7120

If we're talking about the promos irrespective of before and afters, I'm taking the Hogan promo.


W_4ca

Hogan being the 3rd member of the NWO. (I’m actually rewatching the Monday Night Wars on Peacock. Almost to this point in history actually) Taking the face of professional wrestling and turning him heel was crazy ballsy. It would be like if John Cena turned on team WWE and joined the Nexus in 2010. The typical wrestling storyline would have been for Hogan to be the hero who saved WCW from the NWO but they said “fuck that” and did the unthinkable instead.


Mattjordan85

Hogan's heel turn...it was much more of a shock than Stone Cold's promo because he was already in his Stone Cold gimmick before he gave that promo


Deepy99

Austin 316 promo is 🐐


HislersHero

Hogan turning heel. No one saw it coming.


Rolling_Beardo

They’re not even comparable. That was at the very beginning of Austin’s rise so it has a lot more significance looking back on it after his future accomplishments. The formation of the NWO and Hogan turning heel was a watershed moment in the history of wrestling. It changed the course of wrestling as it happened, the same simply is not true about Austin’s King of Ring 3:16 speech.


THEPEDROCOLLECTOR

Austin. I was the 80s kid who thought Hogan was too cheesy and silly. Laughed at the way he talked. Never took him seriously.


No-Honeydew9129

Austin was in the mid card until his feud with Bret. Hogan’s heel turn was a bigger deal.


HorrorIncorporated

N W O


vard_006

As a moment, the Hogan turn for sure. Austin 3:16 was a tremendous promo, but not at the same level as Hogan’s heel turn.


Steve_the_Samurai

Hogan turning was a moment. The KOTR speech is more akin to Archduke Ferdinands driver not knowing the updated schedule leading to Ferdinands assassination. Hindsight makes it a much bigger deal than in the moment.


Empty-Ingenuity-2590

The nwo formation was the single best event in wrestling history. Sure it over stayed it's welcome and had way too much fodder but that moment it self can't be topped. Mr say your prayers and eat your vitamins going off like that was just something else. It also just felt so real too. Nothing tops that moment not even Austin. It felt like every kid in school talked about wrestling at that point even kids who didn't really have an interest before.


Mrbobbitchin

Austin hands down


caleb0213

It’s Hogan turning heel and it’s not close


RaltarArianrhod

The formation of the N.W.O. was a much bigger single event, but Austin 3:16 had a bigger impact overall.


Yourappwontletme

Austin 3:16


Gnosis_Enjoyer

new new new new world order


ivyentre

One was the explosion of a dynamite stick. The other just lit the fuse.


Michath5403

The birth of 3:16 for the beginning the middle and the ending The nwo was great when it got started they added way to many people with way to many stories with no endings and no real payoff and the ending just fuzzal out With Austin u had the birth then u had his broken neck then u had his rise to wwe champion then u had the boss fueds the u had his lost and finally his last match a complete story


Remarkable_Brief_368

Cane Dewey.


ZakFellows

Hogan. I think people tend to forget a lot about the Austin thing because of the one line (why he said it, what was the deal, what he did etc) They also vastly overblow how much of an impact that it had on the industry and Austin himself. It wasn’t a “and the rest is history” moment. It still took the Bret feud for Austin to properly break out


sm_rollinger

I'd say Hall on Nitro the first time was even bigger and better. "You know who I am, but you don't know why I'm here"


foreputtscore

NWO because I was there


Rowbehr8

It’s not even close! Stone cold Steve Austin!


numerouswanderer5566

Stone cold kicking off the attitude era


TherighteyeofRa

“Fuck Hogan”


Puzzleheaded-Ice-434

Now let me tell you something my N WORD


Puzzleheaded_Gear_90

Hogan was bigger moment but Austin’s 3:16 promo was a better promo


[deleted]

In hindsight, it was the birth of Stone Cold. At the the time, Hogan turning heel.


r1char00

Definitely Bash. The Austin line is great and had a lot of impact over time but it wasn’t immediate. People lost their minds when Hogan did that leg drop, and the interview after was classic.


badbonz69

Austin 3:16


Just_Series5387

Nwo


Bllago

Less than 200,000 people saw that Austin promo. It's not memorable at all.


PDM_1969

It was a shock that Hogan turned heel, but Austin 3:16 created a superstar


asmeile

His WM match almost a year later created a superstar, the WWE propaganda machine went all in in the Austin 3:16 promo years later but at the time it weren't a big deal, it only became so after Austin had become a megastar and it was looked back upon as the genesis of that


rvdecw

Austin with doot doot doot was great 💀🍺


Then_Interview5168

Micheal is that you?


rvdecw

Who?


Then_Interview5168

Michael Hayes doot doot doot.


rvdecw

Ohhhh. I meant doc Hendrix. I guess that’s his real name u rite


theignorantcivilian

Austin 316 hands down.


hawkrew

Between these two it’s got to be Hogan turning heel. Still think it’s the biggest moment in wrestling. But Austin saying that just laid the groundwork for the best run overall.


43ddm

Austin. That was the coming out party for the man that led the charge to kill WCW.


Then_Interview5168

Austin didn’t kill WCW. WCW killed WCW


43ddm

True also.


RiFF_SHADY

nWo


boogeyman270

NWO all day.


CooperSkye

Hogan easy. That was the start of instant success for WCW whereas it took another 18 months for Austin to reach the sky high levels he did


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StarWolf478

Austin 3:16 was not a huge moment at the time that it occurred. That is just revisionist history that the WWE has created. Austin was still just a mid-carder not doing much for months after that moment until his feud with Bret Hart started months later.


Tomatoexpert

nWo was just Vinnie Mac's rejects tryin' to be edgy. Austin 3:16? That was pure wrasslin' gold! Hogan's heel turn was a sad midlife crisis, while Austin's promo was the birth of a legend. The past glory of Austin 3:16 reigns supreme.


Maleficent_Passage

NWO. Would have been better if there wouldn’t have been the “but whose side is he on?!?” but the shock of ole red and yellow turning heel was a sight to behold


dorkmanchu

Hogan turning his back on all the Hulkamaniacs was iconic and it changed pro wrestling cause he turned heel and turned his back on the fans. Granted, they turned on him first. Steve doing his "Austin 3:16" speech catapulted not only his career, but the attitude era. I feel his was authentic and filled with passion, while Hogans was planned out to cause a stir and it worked. That's why I say both. Pipebomb > Steiner Math


mwstd

Hogan’s heel turn was the most unexpected thing to ever happen in pro wrestling. Both are iconic turning points in the respective careers of both men, but Hogan’s heel turn was earth shattering. You had to have been there to appreciate the impact it had.


Mr_Intergalactic

Only 1 of these men abused multiple women


Grate_OKhan

But both are racist.


Mr_Intergalactic

And both took part in alcohol related accidents...but only 1 resulted in somebody becoming a vegetable


freebread

NWO creation was a better moment in time, Austin ended up creating more defining moments in his career though.


msp01986

Austin 3:16, considering he improvised the whole thing, it was the birth of a huge star and led to the attitude era which saved WWE


Puzzled_Try_6029

There’s only one answer: Austin 3:16. That phrase basically launched the WWE(F) into winning against WCW


jynxthechicken

It didn't though. Austin won the king of the ring in 1996. The WWE didn't beat WCW in the ratings war for the first time until 1998.


Puzzled_Try_6029

How doesn’t it? That moment created Stone Cold which launched Steve Austin into superstardom culminating in winning the title in March 1998. They started beating WCW in April 1998.


jynxthechicken

The Hogan thing catapulted WCW into first for a year in a half. It took the Austin thing that same year and a half to build up too winning. Austin's over all contribution obviously cannot be denied but the heel turn immediately changed the wrestling landscape. The Austin thing didn't.