Brian Damage
Love him or hate him there was no question that Hulk Hogan was one, if not the most successful wrestlers in the history of the business. During the WWF’s national expansion in the 1980’s, Hulk Hogan was at the forefront. Hulkamania was indeed running wild with attendance figures, merchandise sales and all around fandom for everything red and yellow. Hulk Hogan was a modern day superhero in the wrestling world.
As the 1990’s approached, the aura of Hulkamania was wearing thin. Fans wanted more realistic characters. They wanted to cheer for the anti-heroes rather than the white meat babyfaces of the last decade. Hulk was hearing more boos than he ever experienced as the ultimate good guy. It took Hogan to turn heel in WCW and form the New World Order to save his fading career as a wrestler. It was a rebirth for him.
Backstage politics and overexposure led to fans getting Hulk Hogan fatigue once again. After WCW folded, Hogan ventured more into acting roles and attempting to help a startup promotion called the XWF. It wasn’t until Vince McMahon and the WWF came calling back that Hogan had one more opportunity in a global spotlight. Sure, Hulk had played the heel role for a number of years in the rival WCW, but this was his first time returning to the WWF as that character. He, along with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash were all returning to the WWF as the heelish nWo.
The group debuted at the WWF’s No Way Out pay per view in 2002. The event was extremely successful, as fans tuned in to see the once hero among heroes return to the company he helped build. The entire nWo storyline in the WWF was considered a disappointment, with the exception of Hulk Hogan himself. WWF fans serenaded him with more cheers than boos, despite him playing the villain this go around.
At Wrestlemania 18 in Toronto, Hogan faced one of the company’s new top babyfaces in the Rock. It was labeled as a once in a lifetimes type of match. The company’s biggest star of the 1980’s squaring off with one of the biggest stars of the new millennium in the Rock. The match itself started off what appeared to be a split crowd. Some cheering for the Rock, while others were rooting for Hogan. As the match wore on, it was Hulk Hogan that was receiving the majority of cheers. While the match may not have been an all time classic style wise, it had one of the hottest crowd interactions of all time.
It was clear that fans were in full nostalgia mode, perhaps reminiscing about their childhoods and what Hulk Hogan meant to them growing up. The response that Hogan received that night, made Vince McMahon “hot shot” Hulk back to becoming a babyface with the nWo turning on him. McMahon almost immediately wanted Hogan to return to his classic old look of wearing red and yellow and shaving off his dark beard and just having his fu manchu stache. Hogan and others argued that the beard and wearing black was still cool and the two sides eventually compromised with Hulk mixing both his Hollywood Hogan persona with his classic Real American look from the ’80’s.
Despite being 48 years old and somewhat passed his prime, Hogan was clearly receiving most of the biggest reactions on Monday Night Raw. Hulkamania was seeing a renaissance as old and new fans alike were cheering him as if it were back to being 1984. With Hogan’s new popularity, a match was booked for the Hulkster to challenge then WWF champion Triple H for the title. While Triple H said he was willing to drop the title to Hogan, Stephanie McMahon and Paul Heyman (who were both members of the creative team) were dead set against Hogan winning the company’s top title.
Ultimately, it was Vince’s decision and it was reportedly a last minute call to have Hogan go over on Triple H and win the title in a sort of George Foreman type of comeback angle. Vince McMahon believed that he needed to strike while the iron was still hot with Hogan’s newfound popularity. So, Hogan became the oldest wrestler to become WWF champion at age 48. Sure, Vince McMahon was technically the oldest person to hold that title at 54 years old, but he was not a wrestler.
Hulk Hogan defeating Triple H also made history as he became the very last wrestler to hold the WWF title before it was rechristened the WWE title after losing a long drawn out court case with the World Wildlife Fund. With Hogan as champion, it was never planned to be a long reign. Just short term to capitalize on his nostalgia. Winning the top title, meant seeing more and more of Hogan. As champion, he was now used on both Raw and Smackdown. Vince had believed that Hulk was a special attraction now, much like Andre the Giant was in his final years. That meant that as a special attraction, you weren’t seen every week, just on special occasions to keep that attraction…special. Vince broke his own rule with Hogan as WWF champion.
Hogan was seen every week as the top guy and sure enough, fans began to grow a bit tired of Hogan. The cheers were becoming less and less. The nostalgia of Hulkamania was quickly fading. His feud with the Undertaker was not as hot as Vince expected it to be. Years later, Bruce Prichard said that they made a mistake overusing Hulk Hogan. He was a brand and should have been better protected for fans to still cheer him. A month later, Hogan lost the WWE championship to The Undertaker. He would win the tag team titles with Edge with the purpose of helping Edge become a bigger star. Hogan would then feud with his boss Vince McMahon.
That led to Hulk wearing a mask as Mr. America in a ridiculous storyline that was not really over. Ultimately, it led to a number of creative differences between Hogan and McMahon and he eventually quit the company. Thus ending one remarkable comeback tour of Hulk Hogan. It may have ended with a whimper, but for a few months in 2002, Hogan was gold once again.
