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Pro Wrestling had enjoyed a long history of success prior to the 1980s and the rise of what was then referred to as the World Wrestling Federation to global prominence.
The idea of sports entertainment rose from the carnival side shows and legitimate wrestling contests alike.
Professional wrestling matches in the early days were shoots, real athletic contests which pitted expert grapplers against one another. Matches could take up to two hours to complete, and often involved both participants spending long amounts of time resting on the mat.
In the carnivals, wrestling involved strongmen and trained amateur wrestlers who would accept challenges from the crowd. In order to draw attention to themselves, the wrestlers often had larger than life names and characters.
Eventually the two worlds combined, and pro wrestling benefitted greatly from the emerging television medium. Early stars involved men like Gorgeous George and Bobo Brazil.
Pro wrestling had a boom period after World War II, but by the late 1970s had descended somewhat into fringe entertainment. While wrestling was still big business, the regional system often prevented major stars from traveling too far from their territory.
Despite this, there were still major wrestling Superstars, like Roddy Piper or Nature Boy Ric Flair. But even these august personages cannot compare to the popularity, the charisma, and sheer mass media appeal of one man: Hulk Hogan.
But Hulkamania didn't just fall from the sky. It was deliberately created, cultivated, and allowed to flourish in the then-WWF thanks to one part marketing, one part a larger than life man in the Hulkster himself, and more than a little bit of great timing and luck.
Here is the story of the phenomenon which swept America, then the world, in the 1980s. This is the story of Hulkamania.
#1 Hogan the Villain?
Hulkamania would get its start in 1983, but many fans may not realize that Hulk Hogan had already had a run with the company once before.
From 1979-1980, Hulk Hogan wrestled for the then-WWF. However, he did so as a hated heel.
Hogan was assigned Freddy Blassie as his manager, and proceeded to run roughshod on the babyfaces of the WWE mid-card. He challenged for the world title but was unsuccessful.
Hogan's biggest feud during his first WWE run was against Andre The Giant, which culminated in a show down at Madison Square Garden.
The Hulkster would go on in search of greener pastures, but would return to the WWE a few years later. Only this time, he would be pushed as the company's top star--as a baby face.
#2 The Birth of Hulkamania
In the intervening years between Hulk Hogan's first and second WWE run, several changes occurred which altered the pro wrestling landscape.
One was that Vince McMahon Jr. bought the then-WWF off of his father, Vince Sr. Not content with the lucrative North East territory, Vince McMahon Jr. sought nothing less than national dominance.
He invaded the territories of regional promotions, causing a lot of turmoil in the industry. While the various regional promoters were quite angry, there were no laws being broken and they had no legal recourse.
This gave the WWE a bigger footprint on the national stage than any other promotion.
The other major event was the release of Rocky III. While many decry the third entry in Sylvester Stallone's boxing franchise as an example of 1980s excess, the fact remains that it was a blockbuster film and drew a lot of mass media attention.
This was good news for wrestling and Hulk Hogan, since the Hulkster had a brief, but memorable cameo in the film as Thunderlips.
Vince McMahon Jr. knew he need a well known star to build the WWE into a global titan, and he had found it in Hulk Hogan.
Hogan would make his return saving Bob Backlund from a three way assault by the Wild Samoans.
This cemented his new babyface status, which was a good thing since in less than a month he would capture his first WWE World Championship.
#3 Hulkamania reigns as world champion
After Hogan's triumphant return, he was quickly booked into a world title match against champion Iron Sheik at Madison Square Garden.
The United States of America was experiencing major throes of embarrassment during the early 1980s. Firstly, they had by all accounts lost the Vietnam War, having thrown hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollars at overthrowing the communist government of a country where most of the population didn't have electricity or running water.
Second, the Iran Hostage crisis still loomed large in the minds of many Americans. Iron Sheik was set up as the villain because of lingering resentment in the minds of Americans.
Hogan faced the Iron Sheik in a brief, but satisfying bout which saw Hogan crowned champion and birthed the Hulkamania movement. Hogan had arrived on the scene, and wrestling would never be the same.
#4 The Rock N Wrestling connection joins forces with Hulkamania
Vince McMahon Jr. had no intentions of being satisfied with just being the biggest wrestling promotion in the United States. He wanted to have the biggest promotion in the entire world.
To this end, he sought to increase Pro Wrestling's mainstream, mass market appeal. He did so by linking the WWE to the burgeoning cable network Mtv.
By connecting popular musicians with pro wrestlers, McMahon successfully got over the idea that pro wrestling was legitimate and just as valid as other forms of entertainment.
MTV even aired a wrestling special, the "War to settle the Score" which pitted Rowdy Roddy Piper against Hulk Hogan for the world championship.
The bout not only increased the footprint of the WWE, it set the stage for WrestleMania, a pay per view event which would become a yearly tradition.
#5 Hulkamania goes mainstream
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.
#6 Hulkamania faces a Giant challenge and breaks records
Wrestlemania I and II had been huge successes, though the second one had some technical issues due to being held at three venues.
Vince McMahon knew that they needed a huge main event to sell the biggest WrestleMania yet, WrestleMania III. To that end he enlisted Andre The Giant, and turned the biggest baby face in wrestling into a villainous heel.
Aligning himself with Bobby Heenan, Andre would tear asunder the classic Hulkamania shirt on Piper's Pit, and demand a world title opportunity. Hogan, tearful over the betrayal of his best friend, accepted.
Even though Andre was in terrible condition following a recent back surgery, the match was such a big deal that Wreslemania III is an out and out financial success.
Hulkamania did the impossible, and defeated Andre the Giant. But soon enough, Andre would have his revenge.
#7 Hulkamania loses the championship
Hulk Hogan was unquestionably the greatest, most famous pro wrestler in the world during his 1980s run with the WWE.
The Hulkster had turned back every challenger put in his path. Roddy Piper. Harley Race. King Kong Bundy. Even Andre The Giant.
But it was believed that Hulk Hogan's years long title run had grown a bit stale. Also, the Hulkster and Vince McMahon were setting their sights on conquering Hollywood, with Hogan as the star of their films.
However, even though the WWE wanted to take the belt off of Hogan, they didn't want to risk damaging the franchise that was Hulkamania. So a serpentine scheme was concocted, involving Bobby Heenan, Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase, Andre the Giant, and one senior WWE referee--and his twin brother.
After failing to buy the WWE championship from Hogan, Dibiase used his money to bribe official Dave Hebner. The results were Hogan losing the title through treachery rather than a clean loss. Hulkamania was preserved, and the title could now be passed on to Hogan's successor, Macho Man Randy Savage.
#8 The Mega Powers Form
At Wrestlemania IV, Macho Man Randy Savage won the one day tournament to crown a new champion. Hogan featured heavily in his victory, having prevented interference from Andre The Giant and Virgil.
Hogan took a sabbatical from the WWE to film and promote his movie, No Holds Barred.
The idea was Hogan would spend most of his time making movies, while appearing on WWE as a special attraction.
No Holds Barred enjoyed a strong debut for the era, with four million in domestic gross, and was the number two film behind the third Indiana Jones movie. However, the movie dropped off severely after the opening week, and barely broke even.
Also, ticket sales were down with Macho Man as champion. While Savage was a popular wrestler, he could not compete with Hogan's massive charisma and mainstream appeal.
Hogan was brought back to wrestling as an ally to Savage, and the two soon formed the Mega Powers tag team in response to the Dibiase/Andre alliance.
The strategy worked, allowing Hogan to appear at major events while still keeping Savage as the champion.
But soon, the Mega Powers would explode in one of the most personal and dramatic story lines in WWE history.
#9 The Mega Powers Explode
There were many factors which led up to the dissolution of the Mega Powers tag team between Macho Man Randy Savage and Hulk Hogan.
One was the fact that Hogan's Hollywood career wasn't off to a very good start. While he would continue to make movies, they were always low budget affairs which barely made a profit.
The other factor was that Randy Savage wasn't as popular a face as Hogan had been during his years long title run. A plan was put into motion to make the team split up and then face each other for the world title, in order to put it back around Hogan's waist.
The Mega Powers split after Hogan abandoned Savage during a tag team match in order to care for an unconscious Miss Elizabeth.
Though Hogan returned, Savage spurned his aid and in turn abandoned him. They wound up in a brawl post match in the locker room, with Savage knocking Hogan silly with the world title belt.
To their credit, the promos between Savage and Hogan during their feud are among the best of either man's career. Hogan and Savage settled the score at Wrestlemania V, where Hogan would cleanly beat the Macho Man.
#10 Hulkamania can't defeat the Ultimate Challenge
Hogan was splitting his time between Hollywood and wrestling, and he and Vince McMahon had begun to accept a sad truth.
Hulkamania was losing its luster.
The world was changing in the early 1990s, and global politics had become more complex and interwoven. The fans were no longer united behind Hogan just because he was an American hero and icon.
Also, Hogan's lengthy reigns and super human booking led to his character growing stale. Once again, Vince and Hogan searched for the successor to Hulkamania.
They believed their search was over in the Ultimate Warrior. The Intercontinental champion was popular, especially with young children.
Much like they had done with the Mega Powers, Hogan and Warrior started off as allies and soon became rivals. Their match at Wrestlemania VI marks two major events in pro wrestling history.
It was the first time that two faces had competed at a Wrestlemania main event, and it was the first time Hogan had been cleanly defeated since the beginning of his WWE run.
#11 Hulkamania, depleted, cannot save WCW
Hulk Hogan would have another WWE world title run before leaving WWE to film the series Thunder in Paradise. However, it was obvious that Hulkamania's glory had faded, and it was time for some new blood in the WWE title picture.
Hogan planned to be done with wrestling, but was heavily courted by World Championship Wrestling, the Ted Turner owned company which sought to compete directly with the WWE for fans and ratings.
The Hulkster joined WCW in 1995, and because of copyright agreements with the Marvel Comics Group was able to keep his trademark yellow and red tights as well as the Hulkamania brand name.
Hogan would quickly become world champion, dethroning WCW stalwart Ric Flair to capture the title. But Hulkamania had been depleted, and was no longer the force it once was. While Hogan's presence did increase ticket sales and PPV buyrates, it was not at the level which WCW hoped.
Hulkamania had faded from glory, and the final straw was when Sting and Hogan wrestled on Monday Nitro. Though the announce team tried to pretend otherwise, Hogan was booed heavily in favor of the home grown hero, Sting.
Fortunately for WCW, they realized that while Hulkamania may have been done for, they could still bank on Hogan.
He turned heel and formed the nWo, which not only made WCW the top company for almost three years, it extended Hogan's main event career by a similar amount.
#12 The Hulkamania aftermath
Hulk Hogan spent years as the villainous Hollywood Hogan. Though he made a brief return to the red and yellow in WCW's dying days, he would portray Hollywood when he made his return to WWE after the fall of WCW.
Hogan wrestled for WWE sporadically, sometimes jumping the fence to work for rival TNA/Impact. Hulkamania may have been good for a jolt of nostalgia, but it didn't result in the huge ticket sales and PPV buyrates during its heyday in the 1980s.
While Hulkamania may have run its course, the fact remains that the pro wrestling industry has been fundamentally altered by its mere presence. Hulk Hogan was pro wrestling's first mega star, gaining mainstream acceptance for himself and the industry as a whole.
The fact is, pro wrestling may never see another figure like Hogan. While The Rock was quite popular, and has enjoyed a much more successful Hollywood career than Hogan, Mr. Johnson will never be thought of as synonymous with sports entertainment. Hulkamania left an indelible stamp upon the world of pro wrestling, and the impact is still being felt today.
Hulk Hogan is a WWE Hall of Fame member, and has a legends contract with the company. While he may never recapture his past super stardom, he will always be instantly recognizable to wrestling fandom.
There you have it; The history of Hulkamania. Questions or comments? Please leave them after the article, and as always thanks for reading!
