Hulk Hogan is arguably the most iconic wrestler of all time. When most people who don’t know a thing about professional wrestling hear that term, Hogan’s name is one of the first to come up. After all, the man was once a true pop culture icon and is credited with ushering the first golden age of professional wrestling in the United States.
Without Hogan, there wouldn’t have been a Hulkamania, nor would there have been the pop culture crossover appeal needed to launch the then-WWF from the status of just another regional promotion into a national -– and then international -– sports entertainment juggernaut.
But as much as WWE has marketed Hulk Hogan as the ultimate role model for children and the wider public, the man behind the gimmick hasn’t enjoyed as much happiness and success as one might’ve expected. Hogan has been through many controversies throughout his life, many of which have ended up costing him dearly.
Within the wrestling industry, Hogan is well-known for being one of the most notorious backstage politicians of all time. He was believed to have possessed enough power to change entire matches and storylines to fit his character and desires, often at the expense of his co-workers’ careers.
But Hogan has made as many faux-pas outside of wrestling as he has within it. Here we’ll look at the five stupidest mistakes Hulk Hogan ever made.
#5 Going to TNA with Eric Bischoff
After a very brief run in the mid-2000s that did nothing for him, Hogan returned to TNA in late 2009 and began appearing on-screen in January 2010. As soon as he arrived (alongside Eric Bischoff), there were many changes started being made to TNA’s product, many of which cost the company dearly.
It was during Hogan’s time that TNA got rid of their iconic six-sided ring, replacing it with a traditional four-sided one. Opposition to this decision was heard during Hogan’s opening promo, with fans chanting ‘We Want Six Sides’ very loudly. Then the subsequent storylines for TNA seemed to be centred even more on the ageing stars of yesteryear –- including both Hogan and Bischoff themselves – as opposed to the newer stars.
Ultimately, Hogan’s time in TNA proved to be completely insignificant. Despite considerable attention being given towards Hogan’s TNA debut, it did nothing for him and even less for TNA.
#4 The Mr America gimmick
In 2003, Hulk Hogan’s creative direction took a drastic turn, when he started appearing as a masked character named ‘Mr America’. It was obvious to absolutely everyone that Mr America was Hulk Hogan in disguise, and WWE didn’t even try to conceal this fact. Mr America used Hogan’s trademark entrance music and catchphrases and even feuded with Hogan’s old rival, ‘Rowdy’ Roddy Piper.
The entire storyline surrounding Mr America wasted valuable time on SmackDown, as nobody wanted to see Hogan in a mask, much less one that looked like the most blatant Captain America rip-off imaginable.
It was bad enough that this storyline was even allowed to be shown on TV for several months; it was worse that one of the feud’s unintended victims was none other than Sean O’Haire, whose own character took a backseat to the 2000s version of Hogan-Piper.
#3 His acting career
Vince McMahon has always been obsessed with ‘crossover appeal’. He has always wanted his biggest stars to make it big in Hollywood or in some other venture, to prove that he had the know-how to make a genuine star. While some former WWE Champions have indeed managed to achieve success in feature films (Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson, Batista), others have not. Case in point: Hulk Hogan’s acting career.
While no one can deny that Hogan could cut a promo and rile up any wrestling audience, his screen acting skills left a lot to be desired. Hogan’s acting career has been disappointing, with him appearing in only a few films that were truly successful. The greatest film to feature Hogan in any way was Rocky III, but he wasn’t the lead actor in that film, but a supporting one. Films in which Hogan was the star, like Suburban Commando, Mr Nanny and No Holds Barred, were all commercial and critical flops.
Few of these films did much to elevate Hogan’s reputation among non-wrestling fans, and in some ways damaged his reputation among actual wrestling fans by exposing his flaws in an environment in which he wasn’t in his element. Clearly, Hogan should’ve stayed in the squared circle.
#2 His role in WrestleMania IX
WrestleMania IX is widely considered one of the worst editions of that annual spectacle. It featured many problems and poorly-executed decisions that left fans with bad tastes in their mouths: Jim Ross wearing a toga, that abysmal Undertaker-Giant Gonzalez match…and a conclusion featuring Hulk Hogan and backstage politics.
The scheduled main-event for that show was Bret Hart defending his WWE Championship against challenger Yokozuna. After lots of ‘big-guy-vs-small-guy’ wrestling, that match ended via shenanigans thanks to Yokozuna’s manager Mr Fuji throwing salt in Hart’s eyes. Once this ended, out came Hogan to ‘check on Hart’, before being challenged to a WWE Championship match right then and there by Yokozuna himself.
Hogan then proceeded to dodge another attempt at salt-based shenanigans before pinning Yokozuna after a 22-second match. Many people that watched this were angry, and rightfully so. Hogan had basically walked down and gotten himself a free world title shot and victory, completely demolishing the credibility of both Bret Hart and Yokozuna in the process.
This was one of the first moments that led to fans speculating that Hogan had some kind of power to change match results to his benefit, which would eventually become a calling card of his, according to many of his now-ex colleagues.
#1 The racist remarks recorded on his sex tape
Nothing has damaged Hulk Hogan’s personal and private life more than this shocking revelation. Hogan was recorded saying some extremely disparaging remarks towards African Americans, and used a particularly offensive racial slur when describing them as well.
These remarks were all recorded and published online, which caused Hogan’s public perception to be damaged to the point of being irreparable. Shortly after this was all made public, Hogan was fired from WWE and became persona non-grata in the company.
Despite some of his former colleagues coming to his defence against a widely-scathing public reaction, Hogan’s reputation as a role model and respectable public figure has been almost washed away completely.
While he did win his lawsuit against the website that first leaked that incriminating tape, that won’t be enough to absolve him of the horrible mistake he made on that fateful day.
Send us news tips at [email protected]
