Who REALLY Carried WWE Every Year (1985-2026)

42. 1985 (Hulk Hogan)

Say hello to the biggest star in the biz throughout the 1980s. Ric Flair was deemed the best worker, but he wasn't a bigger star than Hulk Hogan. Anyone on the NWA side claiming that was frankly full of it and blinded by match quality over sheer mass appeal. Vince McMahon hitched his wagon to Hulk for a reason.

The fledgling WrestleMania brand owed a ton to celebrity and the mainstream coverage which came with the likes of Muhammad Ali, Cyndi Lauper and others, but the wrestling side of things needed Hogan's influence. He teamed with Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff in a heated main event tag bout that reflected the coming slogan: "The WWF - What The Wooooooooorld Is Watching".

God bless 'Mean' Gene Okerlund's voiceover.

It really wouldn't have mattered had Vince gone with someone better bell to bell than Hulk as WWF Champion. He would've been viewed as the main man in the promotion anyway. This was not a case of the belt making the man. In fact, it was the other way around. That top WWF prize meant more around Hogan's waist than it had around Bob Backlund's. Technical acumen, be damned!

Nobody will be stunned to see the Hulkster dominate these early spots. His charisma was unmatched (those hyped up promos were something else), and he knew how to maximise his skills inside the ring too. Don't get it twisted: Hogan wasn't a shoddy worker. He wasn't Flair, but he wasn't exactly crap either.