Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, prior to his part in the unharmonious end of the DC film franchise, was asked about the difficulties of navigating Hollywood while keeping his A-list star status.
Johnson said navigating Hollywood was easy after his years in the highly-political backstage of World Wrestling Entertainment. Thus preparing him for his entrance into movies. Maybe that’s why so many from Glenn “Kane” Jacobs to Jesse “The Body” Ventura found themselves in office after their careers in wrestling ended.
Johnson gave passing consideration to a presidential run a couple years ago. When he was at his early peak as a wrestler he appeared at the 2000 Republican National Convention. Despite the bonafides, Johnson isn’t in the same realm of politician of Hulk Hogan.
Hogan, who died from a cardiac arrest on Thursday at age 71, exploded as a pop culture figure in 1983 after his appearance in Rocky III. He led the World Wrestling Federation to a national monopoly, the dream of former owner a Vince McMahon.
He protected his spot thanks to his ability to draw and his ruthless locker room tactics.
But as his career extended further from his prime, the more his reputation began to hurt his imagine. Former peers spoke unfavorably, younger wrestlers seemed to despite him unilaterally and then came the racist comments he made, which were captured on audio.
Hogan was best drawing good guy in the history of the business. Then later became its greatest drawing bad guy as part of the most successful stable in wrestling in history, the New World Order. The story of Hogan, the eternal babyface becoming the “bad guy” made headlines in mainstream media the world over.
Thanks to an evolving wrestling business with innovators all around, Hogan broke many of his own records in WCW. The company became the most profitable in history for a short time. Two years later it was out of business, Hogan’s ability was a large part of WCW’s success. His relentless politicking one reason it died.
Hogan’s politicking was an issue for fellow wrestlers throughout the 1980s, but as the top draw of the era, he made those same wrestlers millions of dollars. When fewer bucks were coming in and the business was changing, wrestlers took notice as well as fans took notice, who were becoming better informed thanks to the internet and wrestling newsletters.
His biggest mistake was lying to Bret Hart in 1993. Hogan seemingly came to Hart’s rescue after the main event of a Las Vegas WrestleMania crowd when Hart lost the title to Yokozuna. Hart, who was the victim of cheating from manager Mr. Fuji. Fellow good guy Hogan came to the ring and got a spontaneous match for the title, beating Yokozuna in 22 seconds. Hogan managed to bury four wrestlers in one night – earlier he helped Brutus Beefcake beat Ted DiBiase and Mike Rotunda in seconds.
Hogan and Hart were supposed to wrestle for the title at SummerSlam, but that match fell apart when Hogan refused to lose to the Hitman, which went against promises Hogan made to McMahon and Hart.
Hogan gets creative control clause in WCW contract
Hogan went full Charles Foster Kane in WCW, bringing in many of his personal friends and having creative control in his contract. The result was past-their-prime pals of Hogan, like Jim Duggan, Ed Leslie and the Nasty Boys, were getting wins over younger up-and-coming wrestlers like Steve Austin.
Not fond of WCW’s more serious heels, Kevin Sullivan developed the Dungeon of Doom, a stable of cartoony villains, many of which were friends of Hogan, who was always afraid of opponents making him look bad in matches.
Hogan and Flair feuded constantly while the two were in WCW and Flair later reunited a revamped Four Horsemen with Arn Anderson, Chris Benoit and Brian Pillman. Pillman became the hottest character in the business thanks to his worked-shoot angles that made him seem deranged. He would openly talk about backstage drama in his promos and his I quit match with Kevin Sullivan was staged to look like a real fight that got out of control.
Pillman, whose goal was to build a character that would get him is star making mega contract, got the attention of Hogan, who saw how crowds reacted to his random appearances.
Hogan saw the up and coming Pillman, a future star and someone who was showing himself as a draw – and wanted to beat him in the end of a squash multi-man cage match. Pillman didn’t rise to the bait and later signed with the WWF.
Hogan’s creative control clause made chaos for its Monday Nitro show with constantly changing the at the last minute as the show was going on air, leaving wrestlers and announcers confused.
WCW’s Cruiserweight division was a hot commodity, causing the WWF to counter with its own Lt. Heavyweight title when the ratings and fan support poured in. Hogan was among bigger wrestlers, and older ones, who wanted the cruiserweight style “dialed down” because it made it him look slow.
This led to an exodus of younger wrestlers from WCW to the WWF by 1999.
WCW’s big baby faces weren’t immune either. After nearly two years without a match, Sting – the most popular wrestler in the busines at the time – returned to wrestle Hulk Hogan at Starrcade in 1997. It was easily the most anticipated match since Hogan’s match with Andre the Giant at WrestleMania.
The overbooked mess turned worse thanks to Hogan’s politicking and Eric Bischoff’s reluctance to tell him no. It was also a blow that hurt the company. Veterans believe it was a turning point in the company going out of business.
The match was a rehash of the Montreal Screwjob which happened just a few more the prior.
“NWO referee” Nick Patrick was supposed to give a quick count for Hogan, cheating Sting, and fans who waited years for Sting to beat Hogan for the belt, Bret Hart would demand the match restarted and Sting would submit Hogan and win fair with Hart putting a stop to the cheating NWO.
This didn’t happen. Patrick, who said in interviews “he knew who to listen to”, never gave an upfront explanation for why he didn’t do the fast count as planned. Instead, Hogan looked like he won in a legit finish, making Hart’s interference look nonsensical later. Hogan again found a way to bury two wrestlers and a company at once.
Hogan’s most memoral match in the company was his loss to Bill Goldberg in front of 40,000 in the Georgia Dome, cementing Goldberg as a star after only a year and a half in wrestling.
Once Goldberg got the title it was a bit different. Hogan was a guest on CNN’s Larry King Live. He criticized Goldberg for taking time off a few months into his title run.
Goldberg heard the comment and was outraged. Shortly after Hogan’s Larry King Live appearance. ): appeared on the Wrestling Guys Radio Show, which was broadcast from Dayrton, Ohio and uploaded to the web for an international audience.
An angry Goldberg said he was taking time off for knee surgery. He had wrestled for months with a torn knee ligament which occurred months earlier. He said when he returned to action he planned an unfriendly confrontation with Hogan.
As were the times, Hogan wasn’t disciplined but Goldberg was in big trouble with the WCW office.
Hogan’s return to WWE in the early 2000s
Hogan returned with NWO stablemates Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to WWE, hoping to catch fire after the botched WCW invasion angle. The dream matchups were too good of possible box office for McMahon to ignore.
The WWE backstage, much of which was former WCW talent, was wary of all three. Nash and Hall wanted to debut much like they did in WCW, in surprising unannounced appearances to build mystery, before finally getting to Hogan. McMahon had other plans in mind, placing them in as any other WWE stable. Worse, gone was the spontaneity that made the NWO angle work, as all three participated in on-camera backstage “sports entertainment” packages were far from pro wrestling.
Austin refused to wrestle Hogan, knowing it would likely end up in a loss for him, and for his work saving the company, a loss he didn’t deserve to take. Hall wrestle Austin instead at WrestleMania, in an excellent match that was Hall’s best big show work in years.
The main event took on a different life. While Hogan was getting steady heel reactions leading to WrestleMania, the crowd was different. They wanted the old Hulkster. Johnson was slated to face Hogan, which elated fans became one of the events defining moments. It was also a political coup for Hogan, who buried his NWO teammates while elevating himself back to WWE superhero status.
Hogan did a cartoonish feud as Mr. America with McMahon. Then came the feuds that put a depressing epitaph on his career as a star.
Shawn Michaels was supposed to trade wins with Hogan in big matches. Michaels, who was around for Hogan’s issues with Hart in 1993, knew the deal. He’d lose the first and Hogan would refuse a second match, despite any problems. What occurred was the biggest exposure of a top star in the history of wrestling.
Michaels oversold Hogan’s offense to a ridiculous extent. At one point Hogan seems to take a swipe or throw a fist at Michaels in annoyance, as Michaels insane overselling made the match and showed he could have a better match with himself than with a 50-year-old Hogan.
The Michael’s match should have been a humiliating reminder that the talent and fandom were fully onto him, even though this had been the case since the late 90s. It wasn’t.
Randy Orton was part of WWE’s future. A second-generation wrestler, who had picked the business up fast enough to make the main roster from OVW in his early 20s, he was quickly given a legend-killer gimmick. With wins over Mick Foley and Ric Flair, next came Hogan. Hogan wasn’t going to be the next on the list, as he dispatched Orton in true Hulkster style, again throwing a roadblock to a younger talent. This was his last match on a major WWE show.
Hogan would resurface with Bischoff in TNA in the early 2010s, but failed to bring the company the success it sought. TNA was sold to Anthem a few years later.
Hogan’s life after wrestling left a dark shadow over his legacy
Hogan cashed in with a popular reality show, “Hogan Knows Best,” featuring his wife, son Nick (a motorhead) and daughter Brooke, an aspiring singer. The show became a dark mark on his personal life. Shortly after it was cancelled, Nick was involved in multiple car crashes, one a DUI that left a passenger with serious brain injuries. He served time in jail and was given a year probation.
His wife, Linda, left him in a contentious divorce that left Hogan’s bank account stripped.
In 2015, audio of Hogan confronting his daughter about a boyfriend, using repeated racial slurs, was made public and ended his legends deal with WWE. He was also involved in a lawsuit with Gawker over a sex tape they published. His suit was backed by controversial venture capitalist Peter Thiel. Not that he needed Thiel’s help. Gawker’s own staff testified horribly in depositions, including staff member A.J. Daulerio’s admission his age at which he wouldn’t publish a sex tape would be “4 years old.” Hogan won his suit.
Hogan took his politicking to actual politics in 2024. A born-again Christian and a Donald Trump supporter, Hogan’s last grand performance was in a surreal Republican National Convention celebrating the nomination of Trump.
Hogan tried appearing in WWE again, but was met with loud boos. He tried saving face to the WWE locker room with a non-apology-apology where he said his words were taken out of context. The roster wasn’t buying it.
His last business ventures was an American freestyle wrestling company with Bischoff, and his own line of American beer. The marketing was directly focused on Hogan.
Hogan’s legacy defined by what happened outside the ring
Hogan is a complicated figure to examine in the totality of his life and career. He was a massive draw who drove a business in many ways, not as substantial as many think.
After his death, Hogan’s legacy is shadowed by his racist comments and the actions backstage in the business. He was, at one time, the greatest drawing babyface in the history of pro wrestling, and its greatest drawing heel. His ability as a draw lifted the companies he worked, allowing for better pay for those under him on the card.
His history as a backstage politician, his role in the death of WCW were things that out-lived his in-ring career. He could have rebuilt that easily with effort, but the racial expletives he unleashed at his daughter showed an ugly side of him he was never going to recover.
Many of today’s wrestlers see Hogan as an example of what not to be. John Cena, once he got older, was willing to put over younger talent. The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega were always willing to do jobs, much to their detriment, because of the problems they dealt with in the old system and because of Hogan’s legacy of holding back young talent. Hogan had worked with Chris Jericho, who now remembers him fondly, but Jericho has spent his entire time in AEW working with younger talent either in stables to get them over or in big time matches, trading wins and losses and putting them over.
That’s his one great legacy – as an example of what not to be.
