Well ya know something Mean Gene…”
#7: Hulk Hogan
480 Points (25 of 43 lists)
Highest Rating: #1 by HRHomer, YourRealDad, Juices World, Osiris
Real Name: Terry Gene Bollea
When Terry Bollea debuted in wrestling in 1977 as a masked wrestler called “The Super Destroyer”, who would think that 32 years later he would still be making headlines? Yet in just two weeks time, we’ll see the return of Hulk Hogan as he debuts in TNA wrestling, trying to take down the house he built in World Wrestling Entertainment.
And if there’s one thing we’ve learnt from the career of Hulk Hogan, it’s that you can never count him out – he usually always finds a way to get what he wants.
Hogans first step to stardom was when he joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1979, and had matches against the likes of Bob Backlund and Andre The Giant, with Freddie Blassie as his manager. Hogan also wrestled in New Japan Pro Wrestling, doing tours over there and becoming a huge fan favourite, mainly due to his size, looks and wrestling style. As an example of Hogans popularity, he became the first International Wrestling Grand Prix tournament winner, and alongside Antonio Inoki won the MSG Tag League tournament two years in a row.
Hulk Hogan played a short role in the hot movie franchise Rocky III, as Thunderlips taking on Rocky in an exhibition match, where he proceeded to suplex and slam Stallone all over the ring. Video footage below:
Hogan then left the WWF to appear for the competing promotion the American Wrestling Association, where he became a huge star. However the AWA never gave Hogan the World Title, and with Vincent K. McMahon planning on turning the WWF into a national promotion, he told Hogan he wanted to be the face of the promotion, and Hogan made the jump back to WWF.
It didn’t take long for Hogan to win his first world championship, defeating The Iron Shiek on January 23rd, 1984. Gorilla Monsoon just happened to exclaim “Hulkamania is here!” and just like that – Hulkamania was born. Of course the phrase “Hulkamania” was originally coined in the AWA, but let’s not let the facts get in the way of a good story. This IS the WWE and Hulk Hogan we’re talking about, after all.
Hulk Hogan as expected became the face of the promotion, feuding with all the main heels, and was the main attraction at the very first Wrestlemania, teaming with Mr. T to defeat Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff.
The next few years of the WWF would follow a standard formula: super evil heel would win matches and move up the midcard(or be quickly thrown into the main event), but would ultimately lose to Hulk Hogan. These included King Kong Bundy, Hercules and Nikolai Volkoff.
Then there was Andre the Giant.
Hogan was presented with a trophy for being the WWF champion for 3 years in a row. Andre the Giant, Hogans friend, was also presented with a trophy for being undefeated for 15 years – a much smaller trophy. Andre was furious, and Bobby Heenan took him under his wing and challenged Hogan to a match at Wrestlemania III.
You can have your AJ Styles vs Christopher Daniels Ultimate X on a Pole matches – THIS is fucking wrestling right here:
Hogan would eventually lose the title to Andre the Giant thanks to a scam involving Ted Dibiase and twin brother referees. The belt would be vacated due to Andre trying to hand the title over to Dibiase, then Hogan and Andrew met in the quarter final tournament for the title at Wrestlemania 4, only for a double DQ.
Hogan helped Randy Savage beat Ted Dibiase for the title later that night, and a new alliance was born. The Mega Powers Hogan and Savage, with Miss Elizabeth as their manager. Unfortunately like all friendships in wrestling it wouldn’t last, and they eventually wrestled at Wrestlemania V, with Hogan regaining the title.
Hogans next notable feud was against the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania 6, in the ultimate dream match. They planted the seeds for this match at the 1990 Royal Rumble which Hogan eventually won:
That criss-cross spot NEVER fails to make me laugh. You can see the full Hogan vs Warrior match at Wrestlemania below:
Hogan lost the match, but managed to remain the bigger star, first by the way he handled himself at the end of the match, then be a possible retirement due to injuries from his ribs being crushed by Earthquake. Hogan managed to make a miraculous return, defeat Earthquake, win the NEXT Royal Rumble, and then regain the title for the third time at Wrestlemania 7 by defeating Sgt Slaughter.
Hogan would enter in a brief feud with Undertaker, where he would lose the title and then win it back 6 days later, only for it to be declared vacant due to interference from Ric Flair. The winner of Royal Rumble 1992 would win the title, however Hogans friend Sid Vicious turned on him and eliminated him, and the two would ultimately meet up again at Wrestlemania 8. This was actually one of my biggest mark out moments in wrestling, when Papa Shango came down to interfere, and then a certain someones music hit…
Rumours started propping up about Hulk Hogan and steroids however, and so Hogan would leave the company for a few months. He made the return in January of 1993, to team up with Brutus Beefcake and take on Money-Inc at Wrestlemania 9. It was a lacklustre match but Hogan wasn’t done for the night – coming out after Yokozuna won the world title, challenging him and beating him for his 5th championship reign. Hogan lost the title at King of the Ring later that year however losing to Yokozuna.
Hogan left the WWF and took a brief break from wrestling to concentrate on movies and television. However it didn’t take him long to return – this time in World Championship Wrestling, where he won the title in his debut against Ric Flair, then went through cookie cutter storylines from the 80s, where he took on major heel after major heel after major heel – sometimes 8 at once. However this was a different time period and a different company, and eventually the fans grew tired of Hogan.
Hogan would appear less and less frequently on WCW television, eventually disappearing for a lengthy amount of time. Was this the end of Hulkamania? Was Hulk Hogan done with wrestling? Of course not:
Hogan joined the New World Order, and kickstarted the hottest storyline in wrestling, promptly regaining the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Hogan would feud with the likes of Lex Luger and the Giant, holding onto the title for the majority of the time, before losing to Sting at WCW Starrcade thanks to the delusional Bret Hart thinking he saw a fast count.
Hogan would have notable feuds with Randy Savage and Kevin Nash, as the nWo split into various factions. Hogan would then go on to lose the world title in one of the most memorable moments in the history of World Championship Wrestling, to rookie Bill Goldberg:
He would eventually win the title back in a method that depresses the hell out of me even thinking about it, so let’s quickly move on.
In 1999, Hogan returned as a face to WCW, and reignited his feud with Kevin Nash. New booker for WCW Vince Russo asked Hogan to take off, and there was an angle at Halloween Havoc where Hogan laid down for Sting, for Sting to win the title. Hogan was off for a few months, then returned at Bash at the Beach where he was scheduled to fight Jeff Jarrett – in a match that had just a little controversy to it – you may as well skip to the 6:00 mark for when the fun begins:
The generally accepted story from that ordeal is that it was all a work, however the aftermath of it was a shoot. WCW would not surprisingly fold soon thereafter.
Hogan wasn’t done with wrestling however, and returned to the WWE to restart the New World Order in February 2002. he would go on to have an amazing match at Wrestlemania 18(which I was at!) where the fans couldn’t help but cheer Hogan big time, causing an impromptu face turn:
Hogan would feud with the likes of Triple H, Kurt Angle, The Undertaker and Brock Lesnar, the fought against Vince mcMahon at Wrestlemania 19. Things went sour for Hulk Hogan however, as his WWF tenure ended when he wrestled under a mask as Mr. America, and quit the WWE due to frustration with the way he was being booked.
Hogan laid the groundwork to sign for TNA, however due to injuries did not actually sign. He returned to the WWE at Wrestlemania 21 to be inducted into the Hall of Fame:
Then returned to wrestling briefly to team with, and then feud with Shawn Michaels. Hogan defeated Michaels at Summerslam of that year, and would feud with Randy Orton the following year. Hogans final WWE appearance was on the 15th anniversary of WWE RAW.
Hulk Hogan recently announced his return to wrestling as he will debut for TNA on their January 4th television show, as they go head to head with WWE RAW.
There’s no doubt that Hulk Hogan is one of the most influential people in the history of wrestling, nor is there any doubt that he is one of the most controversial.
There is also no doubt that Hulk Hogan is one of the biggest legends in the history of wrestling, and easily deserves his place in history as one of NPPs Greatest Wrestlers.
You can relive the Hulk Hogan matches in DVD format, with WWE – Hulk Hogan: The Ultimate Anthology and WWE: Hulk Hogan’s Unreleased Collector’s Series and you pretty much owe it to yourself to pick up the awesome Hollywood Hulk Hogan book for a hilarious alternate look on history.
Writing that just reminded me of what a huge Hulkamaniac I was. My interest waned in him near the end of his WWE tenure(the tag team with Brutus was what killed me) and I never really liked him much since then - but man, those early years brought back some awesome childhood memories.
Can't wait for Jan 4. Gonna wear my Hulkamania t-shirt and I just ordered the DVD sets so will watch them all day. Fuck you Bret Hart.
Also fuck you Bobby Heenan, for ruining the nWo turn. I'm glad you got cancer.
They didn't tell Heenan ahead of time. He just guessed it. WCW at it's finest.
Fucking homos. Anyone that voted Hogan ahead of HBK is a dirty piece of shit. I hope Koko B. Ware is number 1. Fuck this list, shits for chumps.
If I redid my list now I would put him #1.
He didn't rank, brother, and he probably wouldn't if oops I did it again dude.
couldn't stand him
Was always a much bigger fan of Piper, Savage, Warrior, Perfect and his other rivals for some reason. I think because it's hard to get behind someone when you know they'll win in the end. Much more fun with the underdog. That, and the whole Real American thing didn't interest me.
and the cheating
Was just rocking out real american. What a chune.
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It is an amazing chune. The solo is <33333333333333333333333333333333
I don't think it's fair that Ossie got Juice to submit the same list so he got two votes in this. Bit of a poof in real life by all accounts, but you can't argue with what he did and rasslin would not be as big as it today without him.
I had Hogan at #9. His screwing over of Shawn Michaels on his return and not putting over Orton really dropped him from being in the top 5.
I was only winding you up. :gahlint:
Eh. Hogan's a guy where I can respect his impact and influence, but Hulkamania ended long before I became interested in wrestling, so I have no real affection for him. By the time I was watching, he was the bad guy from evil WCW and by the time he returned to the WWF, I was much more a smark and hated him for taking time and spotlight away from the guys I thought were more deserving. Can't argue with his stature in the business, but he'll never be on my favorite wrestler's list.
Kevin Nash puts it best in that Hogan is the best wrestler because he made the most money.
LOL at the people who didn't even rank him. only 25 out of 43 lists??? What a bunch of DUMBASS WORKRATE (life) SMARKS!!
Listen buddy, there's an old saying: That's why they make Chocolate AND Vanilla, because you like crappy ice cream.
There's room in the world for both kinds of fan.
I forgot about the cheating until Mousehole mentioned it. At least when Piper poked an eye it was like Bugs Bunny "ain't I a stinker?" schtick. Hogan was a hypocrite, fighting for truth and justice while breaking all the rules. Also didn't like him attacking Virgil all the time
So nothing to do with workrate, I didn't like him as a mark and I've never been a smark.
He was on Fallon a few weeks ago, says he was gonna kill himself a few months ago. But Jimmy hart saved him or something.
Never bought the Jimmy Hart face turn either. 1993 Hogan was painful.
Truth.
I was like that with Lex - how can the commentators allow the steel forearm when before it was DESPICABLE.
I liked Hogan, not for the matches but the pose down and music afterwards.
wrestlemania 9 must have been perfect for you.
Can't believe he wasn't higher
ITS FUCKING HULK HOGAN
Should have been at least top 5.
I flashback to when I got back into wrestling late 96. I absolutely hated Hogan for years. I was right on the Super-Smark bandwagon. Now I look back on that time and know that was the plan all along and see how great he was at it.
Fingerpoke of Doom is one of my top five moments in wrestling history.
oh dear
Best ever for pure entertainment. LOVED him as a kid as I had soooo much Hulk merchandise. Even watching all his old matches still makes me smile today.
ITS FUCKING HULK HOGAN
Billy Kidman is a wrestling...GAWD!!!
ITS FUCKING HULK HOGAN
Funny thing about Billy Kidman? You can't powerbomb him. Dunno if you were aware.
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKtnZWgTlLM[/ame]
Skip to 1:00
Lets be fair, anyone who's taken a Green Mist is gonna be out of it.
But Fine, let me amend. You can't powerbomb a Billy Kidman who has not taken a green mist immediately prior.
See only with Billy Kidman can a powerbomb be seen as able to stop him. Green mist or not, if a powerbomb is successful, he is done. That's why he has perfected the art of reversing it.
HOMER DO YOU REMEMBER MY AWESOME BILLY KIDMAN JOKE
DEAR GOD Ormberg has become an ANNOYING PEST lately, even more than usual... All puffy chested and confident for some reason... You get sick and tired of BITCHSLAPPING him around after a certain point, and I am now there. I'm as tired of it as you guys are of reading about it, so..... As a favor to EVERYONE (Myself mostly),
LIFE SMARK ORMBERG = IGNORE!!!
I thought you couldn't put mods on ignore.
TTG can, just like he can make pasta bread bowls better than Dominos. The man is a magician! (Just don't ask him to prove it tho)
HE WAS CHINDIGGED!
I like that Ormberg only has to point out completely obvious things, like this is a favourites list, or pics or at least a receipe for bread bowls or it never happened, to cause TTG to go mental and act like a complete loon. What a maroon. Excellent work.
I never was really a huge Hogan mark as a kid. Main reason that he was never on the weekly programming other than an appearance for an interview, not including SNME's.
At least you heard from Flair every week doing an interview pushing the storyline, or just cutting a promo for no real reason.
Adding the fact I never saw any PPV as a kid made me less interested about what was going on.
:thumbsup:
Hogan jumping to WCW was awful.
Yeah, it's funny, I remember still being a 100% mark at the time, and watching passionately... IN THE HOPES OF SEEING HIM LOSE... It's like he had LEGIT HONKY TONK MAN HEAT with me! Go figure!
I'd have a hard time go figuring anything when it comes to you.
Four month celebration!
NPP's best wrestler list is destined to go the way of the south park list. Which reminds me where are the new entries? How are we going to get posters if we don't have a vibrant and lively main page? How are people going to know how we feel unless someone writes up an eloquent write up full of excessive verbiage and grandious proclamations? I call shananigans on thie front page for ruining my NPP experience.
Hey, shanon want to contribute to the front page on how to properly deal with a murder?
I would love to contribute to the front page, however I am not creative enough nor am I verbose enough to pen an article that people would want to read. Besides, an article telling you how to deal with murder is ludicrous. If you're going to do something like that, it all depends on personal preference. Are you willing to torture the victim? Why are you committing murder in the first place?
Fucking hell, give the rest of the list to me and I'll finish it.
whinge night tonight on NPP
Whinge?
Same as whining.
Bullshit Fatty McMan Tits. This is important, and I'm not complaining in a whining way. Instead I'm voicing my opinion and respectfully asking the establishment to finish these articles
for osiris: If you say that someone is whingeing, you mean that they are complaining in an annoying way about something unimportant.
Whinge is to complain. You don't have that word?
I'll seriously do the wrestling list... it won't be as comprehensive as this entry though.
I'm also planning on doing an article of my favourite South Park eps, and my favourite UK sitcoms, and come to think of it my fave US sitcoms, just to bring closure to all the things never finished here.
If you do this you'll be my favorite poster ever.
We don't have whinge. We just call it quaoping.
for osiris: If you say that someone is whingeing, you mean that they are complaining in an annoying way about something unimportant.
Then I didn't upload a article once and Taff got very mad.
In short, it will always be this way. Just go with it.
Go with what? Damn the broken promises and constant lies! NPP has been decieving us, claiming its a forum for the people to do.... what? Troll each other incessantly? Create lists that never get finished so you can dangle articles in front of the populace like a carrot on the stick. Does the donkey ever get the carrot? No, but Bender is giving us a chance to see these things through to fruition and for that you should show him respect.
oooookay then
Support the site mousehole, don't try to bring it down with your constant complaints and failed attempts at banter. Instead, brighten NPP up with a positive attitude and posts that are both beauteous and a pleasure for everyone to read.
just wait until i start writing for the front page.... it'll be stunning.
Unfortunately I am so excruciatingly busy at the moment, that I have just not had a chance to sit down and write. I didn't realize it had been a whole 4 months since the last article - my bad, time just flies when you're as busy as I am. My schedule should allow me to continue and hopefully finish this list by the end of May/beginning of June.
What if I say each article is worth 0.02% to get on the front page. You should get at least one done every week then which will have it done before June.
It would be one of the greaest chives of your life.
wow trolling round the forums, really got under benders skin
My favourite was when he trolled the Gorilla Monsoon macro.
This wrestlers list has been fantastic.
I believe it was around the end of 08 when YRD proposed this idea.
Gua-POOOOOOOOOO
It's Guapooh? All these years I've been reading it Guapau. Goddammit.
I sent my list 11-23-2007, 01:08 PM
Jesus, Mike Awesome was on my list.
Can I change mine and put Sheamus on, thx.
Mike Awesome lol. His death must've been fresh. I only had two active wrestlers on mine. Jericho and Flair. Unless you count Lawler and Dusty.
He might as well have been considering the list was submitted somewhere around his time
If someone sends me the top 6 I will get this done.
That would be too efficient.
Surely we don't need 3 years and 3 different people to write about 50 fake fighters.
Next entry coming day after august 19
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I don't have them anymore unfortunately as they were on my old cpu.
YRD has moved on, why can't the rest of you?
In all honestly, there will be exactly three entrants posted in May.
Jolly Joke.
Frank Gotch number 1
Fuck Gotch. I put Georg Hackenschmidt @ #24
Good call.. inventor of the Bear Hug... must've been a hoss.
im gonna powerbomb pete moss onto a chimney
^^^More homosexual double entendre out of Snac.
juicy juicy
Nac... no worries buddy.. you're a hoss too.
I put it for the lols at the time but just reading up on Wiki seems like the Hack was a standup guy and Gotch the original heel. Greased himself up to avoid the bearhug, illegal punches and other tactics, paid a trainer to injure the Hack before the rematch, agreed to lose the first fall then went all "it's a shoot brutha" to make Hack look like a chump. He died at 37, allegedly of syphilis.
I did enjoy how the 1st match went approx 2 hours. Must've been quite the battle for the bear hug.
You and your bear hugs.
He keeps pm'in me asking if I want one
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only if you oil yourself up Frank Gotch style.
I'm just waiting till Osiris is done his sabbatical to post them all. So blame him for the delay.
Clearly Bender just wants something up to distract from the achievement challenge.
FROM DOWNTOWN
[pic of nibbles dunking on bender from 3 pt range]
finally. Christ we were about to cancel the list.
I bet la parka is the rest of the list n
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This wrestler's list has died out more times than actual professional wrestling deaths
Still happy to assist in finishing it.
Still think you're a cunt.
Yet another thing you're wrong about.
Wow Skooch defending bender?????
Brilliant.
Need a tag team name for this serious team.
deadly serious
I like how their avs are looking at each other as well
Scots is shifting from one to the other.
Lol I knew skooch was seething at me after I called his toy story 3 alternate ending 'retarded'. Thought maybe he would be the bigger man and move on - nope.
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why do you want to finish the list anyway?
Shouldn't you be working on your gamerscore or whatever?
I like to see things done, and a few people want it finished.
No interest in gamerscores, you mustn't have followed that argument properly.
It doesn't even matter anymore because the list is completely outdated
No interest in gamerscores, you mustn't have followed that argument properly.
No interest in gamerscores, you mustn't have followed that argument properly.
Even writing mustn't seemed weird, don't know if I could've handled the triple.
Live the dream Deadly Serious.
Yahoo Serious would be if bender teamed with nibbles. Skootch is by no means a yahoo.
So I'm Deadly, then.
I wish you were Dead.
I wish you were serious
I wish you were both deadly serious.
This running joke is now dead. Seriously. (See what I did there?)
No I didn't- should have tried some bolding.
Now I see why nobody likes you.
BOOOOOMMMMM
Now I see why you're the DWIGHT SCHRUTE to my JIM HALPERT.
This new ttg character is perplexing.
Wow... He really does this to all new people, right? I remember how he kept harrassing Feisty, as if he was defending you all from the threat of a girl or something.
I guess he's now using me to come off as "cool". *sigh* lol
Didn't you say you've only been lurking for a year? Wasn't Feisty like a couple years ago now?
Dear god, now he's giving me the third degree... All he needs is a cell and one of those big interrogation lights. lol
You must lead a miserable, miserable life. Leave me alone please.
That wasn't a DENIAL, froopug. If you're not an old poster pretending to be a new one, it should be pretty easy to answer- you'd just tell the truth.
Give it a rest farmer andrew, stop trying to drive off posters.
Can you drive off that which has already left?
you manage to do it daily.
Either Heisenberg is TTG overplaying the gimmick or its just a complete idiot of a new poster
Indeed, ormberg ran intellectual rings around him here.
Ormberg!
Ormberg!
Just give it up TTG
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Ormberg!
Just give it up TTG
yeah he gets me so good that he left the boards after getting ZIMA'd by the boards and hasn't trolled me since he came back
posting through the tears right now
More like you haven't trolled me.
I'm willing to be e-buddies with you
traditionally you are the one that starts these issues
Incorrect.
hahahaha
Heisenberg's passiveness here is awesome. Good new addition to the boards.