As I’ve stated in previous theories, not every character has something under the surface of their story that can be exposed. These are usually the comic relief characters, like El Fuerte and Rufus, but this extends to a character like Ken Masters, who, despite being a core character, really isn’t hiding anything. This includes his brief, non-canon stint as Violent Ken in Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers since Bison was manipulating him the whole time. He may have some darkness in his heart, but he has been shown to be focused on his family at all times and fights purely because he can these days. In other words, Ken is an open book. Outside of Bison, and perhaps G’s, manipulations, Ken has no hidden threads, no secrets that need to be exposed, and is nearly impossible to write a theory on because of it.
This, of course, didn’t stop the producers of Street Fighter: Psychosis from making a fan film around Violent Ken. It ended up being a good production and holds a lot of promise for future Street Fighter-themed projects from Eunoia and director Stanton Chong. If you haven’t seen it, go watch it on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/-pkMi9nUd8g
Everyone likes the idea of Ken having a dark side in the games, especially considering he had one in the Street Fighter II animated movie. However, this is fanservice, and has less to do with the games and more with how they’re actually seen by the people who play them. If Capcom does not or cannot present a story, it is then up to the fans to follow through with headcanon.
As I’ve been on Twitter reading random posts, there is one particular moment in the series that continues to stir up headcanon in the fans, a huge fan-favorite moment that was based on something that happened in real life.
This pose between Alex and Hugo is one of the high points of the Street Fighter III series of games, and one that fans still remember to this day. For those who don’t know, it was based on the famous stare-down between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania III.
While it would be interesting to see Capcom expand Alex’s and Hugo’s stories through this pose, there’s an elephant in the room: where could they possibly take it? Neither one of their stories are what could be considered deep. Alex keeps to himself, and it’s his friend Tom who has more relevance to the lore than Alex.
I’ve mentioned Tom twice in my theories. The first was in my now somewhat-debunked theory The Alex and Tom Hyper Bomb, where I say that Tom was the one who shot Nash in his Street Fighter Alpha 2 ending. While there are holes in my logic in this one, the possibility of Tom being the one who shot Nash could still pan out. https://manestreetblog.com/2019/02/20/the-alex-and-tom-hyper-bomb/
The second was in The Street Fighter Code, where I discuss the identity of Street Fighter’s Holy Grail. This is a very interesting read and has a shocking, though coincidental conclusion at the end. https://manestreetblog.com/2020/11/17/the-street-fighter-code/
After reading these two theories, though, you’ll realize that neither one talk about Alex very much nor Hugo at all. So, what possible story could come out of these two characters?
Alex’s story is vague at the moment. Gill finds Alex to be intriguing, and in Gill’s Third Strike ending, Gill transforms Alex into someone like him – half-red and half-blue, a person in perfect balance.
This is expanded on in the Udon Comics, where it’s revealed that Alex’s parents, who died when he was a child, were members of the Illuminati, and Alex was seen as a potential choice for the Illuminati’s prophesized messiah. https://streetfighter.fandom.com/wiki/Alex#UDON_comics
Canonically, it appears Alex beat Gill, as revenge for Gill beating Tom, and then decided to seek out Ryu to know the true meaning of fighting. The thing is, though, that none of these stories really led anywhere for Alex, so his story’s pretty much a blank slate.
The same can be said for Hugo, who was once a Mad Gear member, then worked as a pro wrestler with Poison as his manager, seeking to form a tag team with someone in his ending in Second Impact. While Hugo ends up forming a tag team with one of four characters (Ryu, Necro, Gill, or Elena) depending on what you, as the player, did, Alex isn’t one of them. However, it isn’t clear if any of these endings are canon at all, and because of this, Hugo’s story is also a blank slate.
Alex and Hugo are two characters with unknown futures ahead of them. So, what’s the best option? “Easy!”, you say. “Have them team up!”
Well, yeah.
Alex is looking for his identity while Hugo wants to be known as the world’s greatest wrestler to make his mother proud. By forming a duo, each of them could bring to the table something the other lacks. Alex could learn from Hugo what it means to be ambitious, and Hugo could learn from Alex both humility and what it means to be part of a family (since Alex has strong familial bonds with Tom and Patricia, and Hugo only has Poison left in his life).
However, if they do form a tag team, then what? What would be the point of it, and moreso, how would this affect the overall story? As it turns out, there is something else we could look at: Hugo’s ending in Third Strike. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VUY9EbWiUA
The HWA, Huge Wrestling Army, is a faction led by Poison that seeks to be the best wrestling promotion in the world. As seen in the picture above, several characters from Third Strike, including Ryu, Ken, Ibuki, and Twelve, had joined up, apparently because they all lost in one-on-one matches against Hugo.
At this point, there were over 50 members in the HWA, and if you closely enough, you’ll see a certain New York wrestler among their ranks.
Yep, that’s Alex.
In other words, seeing Alex and Hugo team up wouldn’t be completely out of the blue and in fact makes perfect sense within the story of Street Fighter. However, there’s one issue with the HWA: most of the fighters they’ve collected aren’t wrestlers. This doesn’t mean much in the long run, since there are plenty of wrestlers in the world of Street Fighter who all want to be the best and could potentially join them – Zangief, Rainbow Mika, Yamato Nadeshiko, El Fuerte, Alex, Hugo, Laura, Mike Haggar, Edmond Honda, Hakan, Birdie to an extent, the playable characters of Saturday Night Slam Masters and the non-playable female characters of Iwashigahama Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling.
Interestingly enough, a few of these characters wrestled each other in Udon Comics’ one-shot, Street Fighter: Wrestlepalooza.
It makes sense that they would fight each other, but what about teaming up? Would there be any reason why they should all band together in the first place?
Yes!
I’ve stated before that I believe Street Fighter 6 will be a game of factions, the winning group being the one who ultimately controls the fate of the world. There are many factions that have a stake: the Illuminati, the remnants of Shadaloo and S.I.N., Neo Shadaloo, the Kanzuki Zaibatsu, etc. The Huge Wrestling Army would be yet another group seeking to take over the world, although their intentions are far clearer and more positive than some of the other groups who want to do the same thing. In fact, they would likely be one of only two groups, the other being the Kanzuki Zaibatsu, that would be benevolent.
However, if they’re going to have all of the wrestlers in the world, this also means bringing in those who may be compromised. As I stated in a previous theory, there’s a chance that E. Honda and Hakan already have been. https://manestreetblog.com/2019/08/06/the-truth-about-e-hondas-arcade-mode-ending/
In other words, the Huge Wrestling Army already belongs to G.
Street Fighter Game Lore Theories 
This is huGe.
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