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Hulk Hogan has given his thoughts on why the Mr. America character did not last longer on WWE programming.
In storyline, Hogan was forced to sit out the rest of his contract after defeating then-WWE Chairman Vince McMahon at WrestleMania 19 in 2003. After weeks of vignettes, The Hulkster returned as the masked Mr. America persona.
In a Ringside Collectibles video, Hogan recalled how Mr. America's first Madison Square Garden (MSG) appearance surprisingly ended in defeat. From that moment on, he knew WWE's decision-makers did not plan to keep his character on television:
"I thought Mr. America was gonna rock on and be a huge angle, and they said, 'Hey, brother, you're doing the job [losing] tonight,'" Hogan said. "And I went, 'Hmm, I guess this isn't going very far.' So, I mean if you're gonna do something like that, they didn't need to test me because I'd been around so long, so I just figured they didn't like the gimmick, so at the end of the match I kinda pulled the mask up, if you guys remember, and showed everybody it was me!" [3:20 – 3:45]
The match in question saw Mr. America, Brock Lesnar, and Kurt Angle lose to The Big Show, Charlie Haas, and Shelton Benjamin. The six-man tag team encounter aired on the June 26, 2003, episode of SmackDown.
Hulk Hogan had different expectations for Mr. America
In 1983, WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes portrayed a similar character to Mr. America in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). Rhodes was known as The Midnight Rider and wore a mask to protect his identity.
Hulk Hogan initially hoped that his Mr. America run would be as successful as Rhodes' stint as a masked wrestler:
"I thought that Mr. America was gonna kinda do the Midnight Rider thing that Dusty Rhodes did in Florida, be around for two or three years, messing up all the main events, having all the bad guys going crazy, trying to chase him down figuring up who's spoiling the night." [3:01 – 3:15]
Hogan also spoke in the interview about a big mistake he made during one of the most iconic moments of his career.
Do you have any memories of Hulk Hogan as Mr. America? Let us know in the comments section below.
Please credit Ringside Collectibles and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.
