5 Former WWE Superstars who legitimately hated working with Hulk Hogan

“The Immortal” Hulk Hogan is essentially the Babe Ruth of pro wrestling. Both Hogan and former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon together made WWE into the global juggernaut it is today.

Hogan has had an amazing career and historic matchups. However, there is a dark side to The Hulkster that has come to light over the past decade that has tarnished Hogan’s legacy.

Today, we look at five WWE Superstars who legitimately hated working with Hulk Hogan.

#5 - Shawn Michaels

In the summer of 2005, a feud was created pitting Hulk Hogan (who at the time was wrestling part-time) and “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels, who was still at the top of his game. This was the first time ever that Hogan and Michaels worked together, which made this into a compelling and must-see match.

However, as the story goes, Hogan was accused of refusing to lose to Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam 2005. In retaliation, “HBK” decided to have some fun at Hogan’s expense during their match and comically oversell everything Hogan dished out. Their match concluded with Hogan going over with the big Leg Drop.

Michaels may have a great deal of respect for Hogan’s wrestling career but doesn’t seem to care much for him on a personal level.

#4 - Scott Steiner

“Big Poppa Pump” Scott Steiner, along with his brother Rick Steiner, formed one of the greatest tag teams of all time. Scott Steiner also had a pretty good singles career for himself, but is currently known for his ramblings and anger issues. Particularly, his anger towards Hulk Hogan.

The root of the bad blood between the two men could possibly be traced back to their stint together in WCW. However, Steiner's hatred of Hogan really reared its ugly head in TNA (IMPACT Wrestling).

Steiner went on a rant during a call to promote the company’s “Slammiversary” pay-per-view and called Hogan a “racist”, among other things. These issues caused Steiner to be banned from the 2015 WWE Hall of Fame Ceremony, where Hogan was inducting the late “Macho Man” Randy Savage.

Steiner at one point issued a $1 Million Dollar Body Slam challenge to Hogan, which he ultimately didn’t accept.

#3 - Ric Flair

Hogan and Ric Flair are no strangers and have had a host of memorable matchups together, mostly in WCW. However, back in 1992, Flair was penciled in to defend the WWE Championship against Hogan at WrestleMania VIII. This was slated to be the “Dream Match” that all wrestling fans were eager to see at the time.

However, the match never came to fruition due to several reasons. The primary reason was that WWE officials felt that Hogan and Flair didn’t quite gel together inside the ring following a few test matches on the WWE house show circuit. Secondly, when it came to their WrestleMania match, the two could not decide on a finish.

So the match was changed entirely, with Savage taking Hogan’s spot against Flair and Hogan moving on to face Sid Justice. This led to some animosity between Flair and Hogan over the years. However, Flair has gone on record recently to dismiss these claims and says that he and Hogan are friends.

#2 - Jesse “The Body” Ventura

Jesse Ventura worked with Hogan during their days in AWA prior to WWE. As both men made their transition to WWE, Ventura became a heel color commentator and often showed his disdain towards Hogan. While this was seen at one time as Ventura playing a character, he had some serious beef with The Hulkster.

The source of this bitter hatred with Hogan started when Ventura tried to form a wrestler’s union for better protection and health. Hogan didn’t support these ideas and told Vince McMahon what Ventura was up to, forcing Jesse to end his campaign.

To this very day, Ventura makes it crystal clear that he still despises Hulk Hogan for ruining his chances to bring about a positive change in the wrestling industry.

#1 - Bret “Hitman” Hart (WWE Championship Controversy)

Can you imagine what a match between The Excellence of Execution and The Hulkster would’ve been like in 1993? Hogan was in his prime while Bret Hart was starting to mature and take off as the company's next main event star. However, the showdown between these two Hall of Famers wasn’t meant to be.

Bret dropped the WWE Championship to Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX, only for Hulk Hogan to swoop in and defeat the big man seconds later to win the title. The idea was for Hogan and Bret to have a match for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam. Hogan, however, had second thoughts and didn’t do the job.

Instead, Hogan ended up dropping the title back to Yokozuna at King of the Ring, the same event where Bret Hart won the tournament. Hogan would go on to jump ship to WCW and the two men would not cross paths again until Bret made his way to Ted Turner's promotion in the late 90s.

Bret has openly admitted in recent Q&A sessions that he still doesn’t like Hogan and that’s not likely to change anytime soon.