Hulking the A-Team

     Anyone around my age will surely remember two TV shows and experiences from our youth, at least the guys will. Today, Jan. 23, 1983, saw the introduction of the TV show the A-Team. Then a year later, in 1984, Hulk Hogan becomes the WWF heavyweight champion, by beating the Iron Sheik.
   
     Most remember the A-team as a pretty fun show, where the good guys came out on top and regardless of the types of destruction and violence, nobody ever seemed to get hurt or perish during an episode.  It was a fairly popular show and the cast was bolstered by the popularity of two individuals, George Peppard and the venerable Mr.T.  Peppard was an established actor who had been around hollywood for many years and Mr. T was a sparring partner to many boxers, who landed a huge break by being on the show.  The show ran for several years, until it finally jumped the shark when they introduced R Snyder's favorite characters, Amy and Franky, towards the end of the show's run.  It was this show that put black vans with red stripes and a haircut called the mohawk on the map.
   
     A year later, Hulk Hogan wins the WWF championship after squirming out of the Iron Sheik's signature, submission move, the Camel Clutch.  The sheik had taken down former champ, Bob Backlund, a few months prior, and looked to have Hogan bested before the Hulk went nuts, as he always did, dropped the elbow, then the big leg and in swift fashion turned the match around and ended it quickly with a pin.  Hogan would go on to have a very successful career in the world of wrestling as most people are aware, and even to this day still makes many public appearances for the WWE.
   

     I think a very interesting point to all this is that, even ignoring the link to the same day, they were still linked in another way. For instance, Mr. T, who would have a cereal named after him and a cartoon show about him (remember those?), would enter into the wrastling ring. That's right, Mr. T would team up with Hogan, during Wrestlemania I, for a tag team match against Piper and Orndorff. Mr.T would stick around wrestling for several years in various, entertaining capacities.

     Of course, everyone will remember Rocky III.  The movie starred Mr. T, as the tough, up and coming young boxer, Clubber Lang.  The Film also featured a cameo by Hogan as Thunderlips, where in a match for charity, fights Hogan. So, history has a strange way of trapping people, events and things together.  As we all know, Rocky goes on to win the fight over Lang setting up several more sequels.