WWE History Volume 6: Hulkamania Running Wild

#5 Hulkamania goes mainstream

Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestling cartoon aired for several seasons in the 1980s

During the 1970s, pro wrestling had to compete with other 'low brow' forms of entertainment, such as grindhouse horror films and the emerging VHS market.

So wrestling became more extreme, with more frequent bleeding and lots of wild out of the ring brawling. Men like Abdullah the Butcher and Dusty Rhodes bore scarred foreheads for the rest of their lives due to the extreme environment.

But Vince McMahon saw pro wrestling as more mainstream entertainment. He sought to remove the blood and out and out violence and replace it with larger than life cartoon characters and a more kid friendly atmosphere.

To this end, HulkaMania was marketized. The classic red and yellow Hulkamania logo was born during this era, and was purchased by millions of fans.

There were also Hulk Hogan action figures, lunch boxes, and even a Saturday morning cartoon show, Hulk Hogan's Rock and Wrestling.

Hulkamania was running wild, but was about to hit a major snag in the one challenger that Hogan had yet to defeat--at least on WWE turf.