The passing of Hulk Hogan has sent shockwaves throughout the wrestling world and given the entire industry cause to look back on a career that was as legendary as it was controversial. Aside from Vince McMahon himself, there is perhaps no figure in wrestling history who has been more worshipped and more reviled throughout his career than Hogan, the biggest celebrity the industry ever produced whose final appearance saw him get booed during a cameo appearance. If it's important to remember Hogan's positive contributions to wrestling, it's equally impossible to ignore the negatives.
What parts of "The Hulkster's" supposedly immortal career will truly live forever, and which will the WINC staff try to forget? These are our favorite and least favorite moments from HulkHogan's career.
In 1987, at WWE WrestleMania 3, Hulk Hogan helped create one of the most iconic moments in pro wrestling history by body-slamming Andre the Giant, surrounded by tens of thousands of fans at Michigan's Pontiac Silverdome. Hogan and Andre wrestled a 12-minute main event that might not impress those looking for a "five-star" match. However, it featured a series of moments that ensured fans wouldn't forget it for the rest of their lives.
The match begins with the larger-than-life figures having a legendary staredown in the ring. Hogan then begins chirping at Andre before the two get physical, with Hogan making an initial attempt at lifting Andre for a body slam. He fails, however, and the fight goes on with Andre taking control.
After getting dominated for the next few minutes, Hogan starts his babyface comeback before Andre lands a boot in his face and regains the upper hand. After enduring an overlong bear hug from Andre, the two stumble for a couple of minutes around outside the ring. Andre throws his opponent back inside and whips him into the ropes, but Hogan counters with a clothesline, forcing Andre down off his feet for the first time at least, according to Jesse Ventura on commentary. Hogan then achieves arguably the biggest accomplishment of his career, picking Andre up off the ground and dropping him onto his back.
It may not have been pretty, but there's no denying the impact it made on the fans in attendance and watching at home, both live and in the years since. Though he'd later squander his reputation by sharing some abhorrent views, the damage was made all the worse because of the iconic moments he'd been a part of, with this at the top of many fans' lists.
Written byNickMiller
Cast your minds back to the end of 2009. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling had firmly established itself as the number two company in the world behind WWE, but were struggling to find a way to break through and become a legitimate competitor to WWE. Years of questionable booking by the likes of Vince Russo, where the car-crash TV of the late 1990s and virtually all of WCW in 2000, had not stuck the landing, but with the likes of AJ Styles as the TNA World Champion, workhorses like Samoa Joe, Desmond "Nigel McGuinness" Wolfe, and Christopher Daniels all moving up the card, and established veterans like Kurt Angle, Sting, and Team 3D, TNA looked like they were on the up for once.
Then it was announced in October of that year that Hulk Hogan would be joining the company, along with Eric Bischoff, with their official starting point being January 2010. It was seen as a move that would finally push TNA towards being on par with WWE, and maybe, just maybe, surpass Vince McMahon's empire, but that was not the case.
Hogan debuted on the January 4, 2010 episode of "TNA Impact," a special three-hour live episode that went head-to-head with "WWE Raw" in an attempt to relight the fire of the Monday Night Wars from the 1990s, but it was clear as day that this new relationship wouldn't be for the benefit of TNA as a company. Shortly after Hogan's debut, TNA's famous six-sided ring was scrapped in favor of a four-sided ring, a decision that was heavily booed by fans when they saw it for the first time. Wrestlers who had no business being in TNA at the age they were at, were favored over the TNA originals who had been cornerstones of the company. After all, why would you want to see Beer Money and the Motor City Machine Guns, when you could watch The Nasty Boys and a pensioner version of the New World Order instead?
It would only get worse, as "TNA Impact" was permanently moved to Monday nights in March 2010, with Hogan being a main focal point of the show, and even wrestling on the March 8 episode. This move would only last for two months, and "Impact" was moved back to Thursdays in May, but the damage was done. Outside of a few moments that still make the rounds on social media today, such as Ric Flair's "Woooo-Off" with Jay Lethal, and the excellent tag team rivalry between the aforementioned Motor City Machine Guns and Beer Money, interest in TNA was at an all-time low, and both Hogan and Bischoff were cited as the main reason for that low.
TNA might be in a good spot today having just broken their all-time North American attendance record with Slammiversary 2025, but Hogan's run in TNA was a big reason why the company entered the darkest of dark ages in the mid-2010s, and quite frankly, it's a miracle TNA Wrestling is still around today.
Written by Sam Palmer
Picture this: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn jump ship to AEW. For weeks they tease a third member of their outfit as they invade the show, proclaiming their desire to take over from the top of the card, and that third member winds up being a newly-heel Cody Rhodes. Sounds a little farfetched, right?
That's the closest comparison that can be made to modern day wrestling as it pertains to the moment Hulk Hogan was revealed to be the third Outsider, joining Kevin Nash and Scott Hall to form the NWO at WCW's Bash at the Beach in 1996. Sure, it's not a perfect example. But it should demonstrate what it meant to the wrestling landscape at the time, the sight of Hogan, a consummate babyface throughout the entirety of his mainstream wrestling career, breaking bad was as significant as it was shocking; a gamble made to pour kerosene onto the fire of the "Monday Night Wars."
It was also a huge opportunity to flip the bird at the competition, not only signing Nash and Hall from them, but effectively spray-painting over the Hogan that had been the face of WWE like DC taking the rights to Captain America and making him the villain, or the Lakers taking James Harden and making him a championship winner, it was an affront at a time when WWE really didn't need it. But there was also the fact that Hogan had found his popularity with the WCW faithful dipping, jaded by the red-and-yellow crusader, and this was a well-needed shot of adrenaline for his character.
Signing guys from WWE had been done and was not going to be enough for WCW to truly fight the promotional war they had arguably started, whereas the debut of the NWO has stood the test of time as one of the most pivotal moments in the sports-opera that is professional wrestling. And it will forever rank among the best moments in a career of almighty highs and seedy lows, a testament to the man and the performer, for better or for worse.
Written by Max Everett
I don't like Hulk Hogan's views on minorities, but the tricky thing about the First Amendment is that he's allowed to think and even say those things, just like I'm allowed to say that his documented words and actions make him a racist. Ultimately, like the thoughts and beliefs of most people, it's probably none of my business. I honestly could not care less that Hulk Hogan slept with his former best friend's wife. I'm pretty sure it too is none of my business. While his former friend Bubba The Love Sponge egregiously violated his privacy by recording the act without Hogan's knowledge, that also feels like it shouldn't really be my business either. And yet, it has been made the entire journalism profession's business or I should say, it irrevocably changed it.
Hulk Hogan's fall from grace can be traced back to the leak of said sex tape between Hogan real name Terry Bollea and Heather Clem. In the video, Hogan uses racial slurs and admits to being a racist. The tape, followed by conversations between Hogan and his son Nick, in which Hogan advises Nick to "work" the black inmates, has stained Hogan's legacy in ways that anyone with social media could see today. An excerpt was published by the site Gawker. Hogan, financially backed by ever-sweaty billionaire Peter Thiel, sued the website over the publishing of the tape. Hogan wanted revenge against Gawker for the obvious reasons, while Thiel was looking for revenge for unflattering coverage from years prior. Thiel even cheekily referred to funding Hogan's lawsuit as a "philanthropic" endeavor.
Hogan and Thiel won, and the results were disastrous for Gawker, which eventually declared bankruptcy due to the exorbitant legal penalties. The precedent also made public figures more aggressive in regards to suing over unflattering coverage in publications. Of all the low points in Hulk Hogan's career, this is the one that had the widest-reaching consequences for journalism as a whole.
Written byRoss Berman
