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| source// wwe.com |
For the first nine years of its existence, WrestleMania was ruled by one man.
Hulk Hogan was involved in each of the first nine ‘Mania main events, and he came out on top all but once. Heck, even when he wasn’t in the official match that had been signed as the main event, he still came out the winner. From the very first WrestleMania until WrestleMania IX in 1993, Hulkamania did indeed run wild.
This is to be expected, as Hulk was by far the biggest star in the company in the late 80s and early 90s. If you think John Cena has been protected over the last few years, just take one look at Hogan’s streak during this time. He lost clean to the Ultimate Warrior (kicking out at 3.1 in the process) at WrestleMania VI, and off the top of my head this is the only truly clean loss I can remember him taking during this era.
Hogan was a guaranteed draw and really brought in the crowds during this time, but looking back there are a number of potential opponents that never truly got the spotlight match they deserved, the spotlight match that could have drawn large sums of money for the company.
When he returned to the WWF in 2002, a new crop of superstars were lined up in front of Hogan, and whilst his body pretty much given up on him at this time, there were a number of big time WrestleMania matches that were missed out on. Here are 10 Hogan ‘Mania matches that would have put eyes on the product, butts in the seats and dollars in his pocket.
10. Vs. Bruno Sammartino
Before Cena there was Hogan, and before Hogan there was Bruno Sammartino.
The Italian Superman still holds the record for the longest WWE (then WWWF) World Title reign of all-time, clocking in at a frankly astonishing 2,803 days. That record isn’t going to be beaten any time soon. Bruno was the number one man in North American professional wrestling for nigh on two decades.
Bruno made his wrestling debut in 1959, and by the time WrestleMania came into being his legal and personal issues with the WWF had soiled the relationship between the two. Bruno appeared at the first WrestleMania, standing in the corner of his son David as he took on Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake. Bruno would return to the ring soon after, but his career was obviously running down at this point.
This isn’t to say his physical condition was waning. Far from it; he was often in much better condition than his opponents.
Still, a ‘passing of the torch’ type of deal between Bruno and Hogan would have drawn big numbers in the mid-80s. Babyface versus Babyface matches were rare at this time, but a big time bout between The Living Legend and the Hulkster would have had the eyes of fans worldwide stretching wider than ever before.
Funnily enough, Bruno’s last WWF match was a tag match, where he teamed with Hogan to defeat King Kong Bundy and One Man Gang. No WrestleMania match between the pair, though.
9. Vs. Brock Lesnar
When Hogan returned to the company in 2002, Brock Lesnar had only just begun forging his path of destruction through the professional wrestling landscape. Lesnar’s rise to the top was (and still is) the fastest in history, going from rookie to WWE Champion within a few months of arriving on our screens.
Putting Brock Lesnar up against an ageing Hogan may have hastened the end of Hulk’s in-ring career, but the two did indeed come to blows around this time. Lesnar became only the second man (after Kurt Angle) to defeat Hogan by submission, and the first to actually have the ref call the match off.
Lesnar continued his assault after the match, leaving Hogan bloody and unconscious in the process. Hulk took time off, and there was no follow-up, meaning the angle never really reached any sort of satisfying payoff.
Brock Lesnar’s career has gone pretty alright since, but a big time match between Hogan and Lesnar at WrestleMania at this time would have did some serious numbers. Crowds would have been baying to see their hero get revenge on the man who caused his destruction, and Lesnar’s inevitable victory would have solidified him further as a major player in the new era of professional wrestling.
8. Vs. Mr. Perfect
For a while in the late 1980s, all the signs pointing to this main event match being an inevitability. ‘Mr Perfect’ Curt Hennig received a big push when he arrived in the WWF, going undefeated on television for almost two years. In many ways, Perfect was the top heel in the company, while Hogan was the top face. They were also the final two in the 1990 Royal Rumble.
Rumours have persisted that Hennig was going to take the WWE Title off of Hogan at this time, but the idea was eventually nixed. There simply weren’t enough big shows it seems, and having the title on a guaranteed babyface made better business sense than putting it on a relatively new (albeit over) heel.
The 1990 build came to nothing, and Hogan would go on to face Ultimate Warrior in the main event of WrestleMania VI instead.
This was quite obviously the right decision, but the fact that Hogan and Perfect never had the big feud their status demanded is another lost opportunity in the history of pro wrestling. The start was there, with Perfect stealing Hogan’s title belt and destroying it, but nothing ever came of it. Hennig’s perfect record did indeed come to an end at WrestleMania VI, but it wasn’t Hogan pinning him to the mat.
No, that honour went to Brutus ‘The Barber’ Beefcake (one of Hogan’s best mates). The mind boggles.
7. Vs. Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts
If Hogan’s lack of major feud with Mr Perfect is surprising, the fact that he never came up against Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts during the 1980s is truly mind-boggling. Jake was immediately plunged into big-time programmes when he got to the WWF, feuding with the likes of Ricky Steamboat.
His dark charisma wasn’t about to go unnoticed, however, and the fans eventually forced Jake to turn babyface.
It was this popularity that stopped this feud from happening. As the story goes, Jake was to give Hogan the DDT on an episode of the Snake Pit talk show, but when a confrontation between the two was teased, the crowd sided with Roberts.
Vince McMahon couldn’t risk his top babyface being the second most popular guy in a match, so the whole thing was shelved and Jake never got his ‘Hogan run’.
Roberts would refer to Hogan on numerous occasions in his promos, but this bout never came into being. In fact, the two only ever had four matches together in total, at house shows. Money left on the table, I’m sure you’ll agree.
6. Vs. Mick Foley
There aren’t many things in modern professional wrestling that haven’t happened. There are cross-generational dream matches, of course, but for those who performed at the same time pretty much everything has been done. Whether you were WWF or WCW, the eventual takeover and invasion ticked off a lot of dream matches.
One that didn’t happen, though, was Hulk Hogan vs. Mick Foley. What makes this shocking is that the two spent time in TNA, a company who seemed to thrive on presenting early 90s dream matches two decades late. Hogan vs. Foley never happened, and I’m not entirely sure why.
It’s difficult to find two more differing performers and although both were wildly successful, that is where the similarities end. Hogan was a bodybuilder with the superman physique, who found himself on top thanks to aesthetics and charisma. Foley was an awkward, pudgy guy who put his body through hell to get noticed.
Hogan was intensely protected, bumping very little and very rarely. Foley’s career was defined for a long time by the bumps he took. They are the professional wrestling chalk and cheese and it would have made for an interesting match, especially on a big show like WrestleMania but it was not to be.
The only time the match could have really happened was in WCW in the mid-90s or WWE in the mid-2000s.
5. Vs. The Undertaker
Hogan and The Deadman battled on many occasions at different points of their careers, and it was the Hulkster that ‘Taker defeated to win his very first World Title at the 1991 Survivor Series. Of course, it took the interference of Ric Flair and a steel chair to make it happen, but the result is the result.
Hogan and Undertaker never clashed at WrestleMania during their careers, but it is interesting to think of how different the landscape of modern professional wrestling would have been if they had.
Let’s put a hypothetical situation out there. Say ‘Taker doesn’t lose the strap just after winning it from Hogan, and holds it for months heading towards WrestleMania VIII. At the biggest show of the year he defends his title against the man who was screwed out of it in the first place – Mr. Hulk Hogan.
Undertaker vs. Hulk Hogan at WrestleMania VIII would have undoubtedly done better business than Hogan vs. Sid Justice, especially when you add in the story of Hogan looking for retribution. The most interesting point that this hypothetical situation throws up is, of course, the result.
Hogan would have had to have gone over ‘Taker at this point, because that is how professional wrestling worked at the time. The Streak would have ended before it even began, with The Phenom having a record of 1-1.
Things would look very different now, that is for sure.
4. Vs. Bret Hart
The very real rivalry between these two legends of the sport is oh so heavily documented. Hogan’s backstabbing and lack of business sense (not to mention his hold over Vince McMahon) led to the worst WrestleMania ending in history, the much-lamented WrestleMania IX.
Hart dropped the belt to Yokozuna on the night, after Mr. Fuji blinded the Hitman with a good old-fashioned salt in the eyes. Luckily for Hart, newly qualified eye doctor Hulk Hogan rushed to the ring, and Fuji and Yoko decided to reward Hogan for this impromptu opticians appointment with a title match there and then.
Hogan saw this opportunity very clearly (pun intended), and 22 seconds later we had ourselves a new WWE Champion.
As the story goes, Hogan flat-out refused to put Hart over later in the year. This was the final straw and any vague friendship between the two was over. Within a year Hogan was gone. Hart would defeat Yokozuna for the strap at WrestleMania X (despite the best efforts of Vince to get his new pet project Lex Luger in that position), and the whole thing was a shambles.
We all know that real-life issues often lead to some wonderful professional wrestling moments, and a match between Hogan and Hart at this time would have been fascinating to say the least. Of course, the whole thing would have hinged on Hart going over, confirming the WWF’s commitment to the ‘New Generation’, but this was never going to happen as Hogan would have essentially been signing his own committal to the old folks home.
Still, a lot of money would have been made had Hogan said yes to a match and a job to The Hitman.
3. Vs. Ric Flair
After dominating their respective companies for the better part of a decade, Ric Flair’s signing with the World Wrestling Federation in 1991 led to many believing this dream match was finally to happen. Flair was referring to himself as the ‘Real World Champion’ after all, and frequently got involved in Hogan’s business, costing him his own WWE Title in the process.
WrestleMania VIII was to be the setting, and a match between the two was all but confirmed for the event. Jack Tunney even gave a press conference hyping the match and WWE presented the match graphic on television.
Nothing would have made more sense than the two biggest icons of the sport at the time going up against each other, in what would have been their last opportunity to put on a match worthy of their lofty reputations. Hogan was already breaking down and getting less mobile, and Flair’s ability to bump like a madman was diminishing with every failed leap off the top rope.
Inexplicably, the match at WrestleMania VIII never happened. Why? You can make your own rumour up for that. Egos, poor crowds for house shows in the build up… who knows? It seems strange in hindsight that Vince McMahon would leave such a match on the table. Although, judging by their so-so battles in WCW, this may have been for the best.
Still, those WCW matches just a couple of years later made big money, big money that Vince, Hogan and Flair could have made at WrestleMania VIII.
2. Vs. The British Bulldog
At this point, the attendance for WrestleMania III has been disputed so much that it borders on the unreliable. The next highest attendance WWE has pulled for a show can be found with WrestleMania 29 at MetLife Stadium, where John Cena and The Rock met for the second time in a lifetime. Third on the list? SummerSlam 1992.
SummerSlam 1992 took place at Wembley Stadium in London, and is widely regarded as one of the most successful events in company history. The attendance is the largest verified crowd in WWE history, and over two million dollars was made in revenue and the merchandise sales are said to have topped any other WWE show in history.
There were negatives, of course. The buyrate for the PPV was down significantly due to it not being shown live in North America, and the logistics of running a PPV abroad in 1992 leave one feeling punch-drunk. Still, if WWE had been braver then they could have built on the success of SummerSlam 1992 by taking WrestleMania to the UK the following year.
The obvious main event of this hypothetical show? Hulk Hogan vs. ‘The British Bulldog’ Davey Boy Smith.
Davey had headlined SummerSlam, winning the Intercontinental Title from Bret Hart in a classic main event. Now, Hart carried Smith to that great match, and a major main event between Davey and Hogan may have been dire, but the relative freshness of the match, added to the intrigue and financial implications of it being the main event of a UK WrestleMania justifies discussing it, and lamenting the fact it never happened.
1. Vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin
Well, who else did you expect?
Arguably the two biggest names in the history of the sport, the two biggest draws of their respective generations, Austin and Hogan never had a high-profile match against each other. When Hogan returned to the WWE in 2002 this match seemed almost an inevitability, as Hogan would slowly work against all of the superstars that had grown in his absence.
Hogan would go up against The Rock at WrestleMania X8, with Austin arguably getting the silver medal in a match against Scott Hall. You can’t really argue with WWE’s decision to go with Hogan versus Rock, especially in hindsight, but by booking Austin against Hall it could be said that any chance of putting on Austin vs. Hogan was gone. Egos play a huge part in professional wrestling after all.
The fans wanted it and they wanted it bad, and if the match came to be the audience would have shown their desires in the shape of dollars and cents. The hype and story for such a match would write itself, and the status of both men as genuine icons of pop culture would have garnered a huge amount of outside, mainstream attention.
For reasons we’ll never truly know, the match never happened. It never even came close to happening, with Austin apparently steadfastly refusing to work with master politician Hogan. It never will now, and Vince McMahon’s bank account might just cry itself to sleep every night just thinking about it.
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