10 Great Wrestlers Who Totally Reinvented Themselves

Hulk Hogan was arguably bigger than wrestling for a spell in the '80s, revolutionising the level of superstardom a worker could reach. As the face of WWF's Cartoon Era, The Hulkster was the biggest draw US wrestling had ever seen.

By 1996, however, the air was very much out of the red and yellow balloon. Now in WCW, Hogan's cartoonish in-ring work and larger-than-life promos failed to resonate with the more southern wrasslin'-focused crowds.

In dire need of a change to stay relevant, Hogan cashed in on the nuclear hot Outsiders angle with fellow WWF exports Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. As the surprise leader of the group, the newly villainous Hogan cut an iconic promo deriding the fans for turning on him and burying Ted Turner for not making him a movie star (to be fair to Ted, one viewing of No Holds Barred confirms this would've been mission: impossible).

Ditching the garish red and yellow for the slick black and white, Hollywood Hogan revitalised Terry Bollea's wrestling career and took him back to the top. Now a greedy, rebellious supervillain, Hogan and his nWo crew (consisting of several great heels and then also Virgil for some reason) helped wrestling catch mainstream fire once more.

While the angle ultimately fizzled out due to a variety of bizarre booking misfires from Starrcade '97 onwards, Hogan's reinvention as a top dog bad guy remains a game-changing moment in wrestling history.