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HULK HOGAN PROFILE |
Hulk Hogan profile written by Bruce
Bostwick
Hulk Hogan is perhaps the biggest name in all of
wrestling. Without him, would it have ever
gotten into the mainstream? It may be debatable
but his impact is felt without any question. He
is a six-time WWE Champion, six-time WCW
Champion though a seven-time WCW Champion
unofficially, a WWE Tag Team Champion with Edge,
and had won in the tournament in New Japan
called the IWGP tournament in 1983.
WWWF:
He would come in as a heel being managed by Fred
Blassie. He had faced some competition but would
later try to win the championship off of Bob
Backlund and not being very successful at
obtaining the gold in the first place. The most
memorable feud he had was with Andre the Giant
and this would happen years later though most
people may not have been aware of it at the
time. They had a feud and it would end up
happening at Shea Stadium with Andre coming out
on top but Hogan came out looking strong. Why he
left was because of a dispute over the idea of
the part of a Rocky film and Vince McMahon Sr.
did not wish for him to do the film as he was
going to be sent to the NWA.
New Japan:
He was a huge hit in Japan and would
actually wrestle Inoki in the finals to win the
IWGP tournament.
Because the wrestling
culture in Japan was very much different, he
wrestled a more technical style and used a
lariat as his finisher instead of the leg drop,
which US audiences are more accustomed to.
Acting: He had a role early in his career
with Rocky III playing the role of Thunderlips.
It wasn't a long part but it was for the boxer
vs. wrestler match set up for the movie and it
worked out. It did help him become more popular
in the long run.
AWA: He came in as a
heel and had Johnny Valient as his manager but
it didn't last long. He would later be turned to
a face officially and would have a major feud
with Nick Bockwinkle over the AWA Title. Because
of Verne's Gagne philosophy on how a promoter
should build around a champion, Hogan would not
get the title and would tease it for a while.
He was going to give him the belt but due to
a dispute over money, that never happened and
would eventually leave the promotion.
WWF: He came in this time as a face and would
eventually become the face of the company. His
first run came at defeating The Iron Sheik for
the title holding it for over four years, a
modern record that should never be broken. The
run would go on until being defeated by Andre
the Giant. It was part of the feud with Ted
Dibiase since he was trying to get the title and
couldn't win it on his own. His next would come
at defeating Randy Savage, WrestleMania 4
tournament winner and champion. Hogan would lose
the gold to The Ultimate Warrior. The next run
would come at defeating Sgt. Slaughter and would
lose the title to a newcomer being The
Undertaker. His fourth run was very short, as he
would get it from The Undertaker only for it to
be vacated.
His fifth run came in the
most bizarre time with WrestleMania defeating
Yokozuna only to lose the title to him a couple
months later at the King of the Ring. That would
be his last televised appearance.
WCW:
After a year off of being involved in the
wrestling world, he would be apart of WCW from
1994 all the way to 2000. His first match with
the company was with Ric Flair for the WCW Title
thus winning it. This was an attempt to actually
build up WCW up to become a major competitor.
He'd hold the title for over a year until
losing it to The Giant in rather controversial
fashion.
This would be the beginning of a
change in 1996, as he would become heel for the
first time in the mainstream and for the time
since his early days in the WWWF and even AWA
though that can be debatable since they cheered
him there. He would get the championship from
The Giant having a second run. He would trade
the title back and forth with Lex Luger losing
on Nitro and then would have a short run before
losing the gold to Sting. It was held up due to
controversy but Hogan would fail to get the gold
losing to Sting in the rematch.
In what
would be considered random trivia, Ted Dibiase
did manage Hogan once though they were rivals
back in the WWE over the top title. It is funny
on that though and very interesting to say the
least.
His next would come ending Randy
Savage's run just for a mere 24 hours after
defeating Sting for the championship. His run
would end by being defeated by the undefeated
Goldberg, whom was the United States Champion at
the time. Hulk would not be seen for a period
performing a publicity stunt of running for
President of the United States. He returned to
challenge Nash for the title and beat him with
the Finger Poke of Doom, one of the worst ideas
ever to be created. He lost the title to Ric
Flair in rather controversial fashion.
After being a heel for a while, it was time for
a change. Hulk changed and became a face once
again. He would win the WCW Title off of Randy
Savage just 24 hours after getting the title in
the first place. His run would come to an end
against Sting, whom turned for some reason. He
would last appear in WCW at Bash at the Beach
2000 with the infamous shoot that Vince Russo
pulled out. He won the match and thus having the
title giving him an unofficial run that was
stripped away changing the outcome and having it
become Jarrett and Booker for the title.
Return to WWE:
He came back in 2002 and was
mostly putting over talent. Hulk came in as a
heel but was getting some cheers and after
WrestleMania, he would become a full-fledged
face. He lost clean at WrestleMania 18 to The
Rock and would eventually become a contender for
the Undisputed title. Hogan would go on to
defeat Triple H for the championship and then
would lose it the following month to The
Undertaker. As for Hogan, he would get one more
title in the form of a tag title teaming with
Edge to defeat Billy and Chuck for the gold.
They would hold it until losing to Christian &
Lance Storm. He had a brief mini feud with
Lesnar and put him over. After a return in 2003,
he put over The Rock again and would get the
upper hand on Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 19
wrestling in his last WrestleMania to date
though that can change.
He was used as
Mr. America, which didn't last really long. The
story was Vince McMahon had sent Hogan home so
Hulkamania could die but it didn't happen. Vince
was determined to prove that Mr. America and
Hulk Hogan were one in the same.
Hall of
Fame:
In 2005, he would return but would be
inducted along with the likes of Roddy Piper,
Iron Sheik, Nikoali Volkoff, Paul Orndorff, and
Bob Orton. They would appear at WrestleMania 21
but Hogan would participate in an angle taking
out both Hassan and Davari having a mini feud
with them. Hulk would not lose a match at all
and had an encounter with Shawn Michaels for the
first time ever. After the bout, he talked about
maybe having a potential match with Stone Cold
Steve Austin since the fans were chanting for
it. Hogan won the match and would not wrestle
until one year later with Orton.
That one
however he moved a lot slower than normal but
still won the match. This would be his last WWE
match for now. He would be gone for a while
until just appearing to slam Khali protecting
Hornswoggle.
The fall:
Hogan's
personal life really became sad once his wife
filed for divorce and his son got arrested. It
seemed to be a real major hit taken on that on a
personal level. It is really hard to imagine
that happening and not something to wish upon
anyone. Hogan will probably recover from this
and most likely won't get involved as a wrestler
again.
Despite that, he's had a very
successful career in the wrestling world.
Without seeing all the movies he was apart of,
it wouldn't be fair to say anything about his
acting. Either way, he is a legend in the
business and will probably never be forgotten.
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