10 INSANE Risks WWE Took With Their Biggest Stars
Stone Cold Steve Austin & Sable sitting in a tree, "Seth Freakin' Rollins", and Hulk Hogan: Crybaby.
Before WWE leveraged those very initials and the idiosyncratic product itself into unheard-of television rights fees deals in the 2010s, wrestling was strictly a star-driven industry.
Promoters needed rosters like coaches need teams, but wrestling shows always needed stars far more than squads need star players. The highest quality wrestling sadly hasn't always translated to drawing the most money, but much of the best stuff has been given breathing space thanks to a cash cow on top bringing the punters in.
Hulk Hogan absorbed Andre The Giant's chokes and punches then dropped a leg at WrestleMania III to etch his name in American pop culture history, even if the quality of his match was left for dead by Ricky Steamboat and Randy Savage on the undercard. Ric Flair somehow combined being a top draw and chief broomstick operative as the NWA's touring World Champion, but as territories faded so too did that particular art.
The big companies getting big numbers on big stations needed big deals in big matches, and all the rest would follow. It thus beggars belief then that any of the below box office behemoths were put in such sketchy situations...
10. Hulk Hogan
In all sports, winners win primarily because they simply hate the feeling of defeat, and the Hulk Hogan character won a lot.
But what an absolute pr*ck he was in defeat.
A weakness in his game even when he was at his absolute peak as monolithic megastar, 'The Hulkster' always looked like a petulant child if he was booked to lose, contradicting much of his pious messaging in the protest. This was especially prevalent in Royal Rumbles, where - likely much to Hogan's chagrin - he simply couldn't win them all.
Despite going back to back as winner in 1990 and 1991, his performances in 1989 and 1992 are just as memorable for how poorly he took the completely fair eliminations. In the first pay-per-view iteration of the classic battle royal, he illegally assaulted The Twin Towers after they'd teamed up to toss him, and to tee up Ric Flair's famous win he pulled Sid Justice to the arena floor having been fairly thrown over seconds earlier.
The second case was so egregious that WWE had to dub in cheers in reruns - the '92 live crowd had no patience for his pet lip and stood firmly behind big Sid when the behmoths stared each other down in the post-match.