10 Best 'Meet The REAL Villain' Moments In Wrestling History

3. Hulk Hogan Is The Third Man

Shawn Michaels It's Him
WWE Network

The potentially disastrous nature of Bobby Heenan's "but whose side is he on?" call as Hulk Hogan arrived at the end of WCW's legendary Bash At The Beach 1996 main event has always been grossly overstated.

As noted elsewhere over the years, it was fairly in keeping with 'The Brain's lifetime hatred of 'The Hulkster' for one. But as well, Eric Bischoff later revealed that only a very select few were in on the deal anyway - Heenan was forced to work on the fly and stayed true to himself. Keeping the the talent in the dark can generate issues such as these, but maybe on this singular occasion the secret was just about worth keeping.

There were a million cool things about the shockwave caused by Scott Hall and Kevin Nash's arrivals (and millions more fans that suddenly wanted to see it for themselves), but nobody ever stopped to consider the enormous numerical disadvantage they had for so long. It was two (and then with Hogan, three) vs the world, but the world still felt disadvantaged because the angle was so good.

'The Hulkster' has spent years battling similar odds but now he was doing it for the bad guys, and the message was clear - WCW is f*cked.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett