The 10 Defining Moments of Hulk Hogan’s Career

8. WrestleMania 3

While WrestleMania is remembered as the biggest spectacle it didn’t get off to the best start. Mania 3 was the first time it truly felt like a spectacle. The look of the sliverdome compared was so much bigger than the previous two iterations. Inflated attendance numbers aside. A show this big needed a big main event and at that point there was no bigger main event than Hogan vs Andre.

Very much a one moment match but that’s what WWE’s always been about moments. When Hogan lifted Andre for that slam it gave WWE a moment they could play in highlight packages for years to come.

7. WrestleMania 6

After almost 6 years of Hogan on top WWE felt like they had to try someone they had to move onto someone else. Warrior felt like a natural successor as both he and Hogan were larger than life characters and were both over. One of the first instances of a face vs face main event.

It was supposed to be a passing of the torch but Hogan kicked out as soon as the ref counted 3. He also made sure he got to hand the belt to Warrior. Unfortunately, fans couldn’t buy into Warrior like they did Hogan and Hogan was back in the main event the following year.

6. WrestleMania 9

The stories of Hogan’s politics and stealing the spotlight are legendary one of the best examples being WrestleMania 9. As hard as Vince would try to push younger, smaller stars like Bret Hart it wasn’t selling tickets for Mania. Hogan had worked before, so Vince went to well one more time.

Hogan would team with Brutus Beefcake to take on Ted Dibiase and IRS but allegedly refused to unless he would end the show as the champion. Vince relented but didn’t tell champion Bret Hart until the day before the show. After Hart lost the title to Yokozua Hogan came out to “help”Hart when he would be challenged by Mr Fugi. He would then beat Yokozua in a matter of seconds.

This was Hogan saying that whoever WWE tried to push instead would never be as big as him. To add insult to injury he refused to drop the belt to Hart because he was too small.

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