Once the biggest star in professional wrestling, Hulk Hogans star had begun to fade after his involvement in the steroid scandal of the early nineties. Hed left the WWF in late 1993, sitting out the remainder of his contract, and in June 1994 had signed with WCW for a vast amount of money, winning the WCW world heavyweight championship from Ric Flair in his first match back. It was a dream feud that WCW wasted by hotshotting a heel turn for Flair so that they could get a singles match for the title as soon as possible. The match itself was pretty horrible, Hogan no-selling most of Flairs offense and doing his own tired Hulking up schtick to win at the end. Hed remain WCW champion for fifteen months, until Halloween Havoc the following year. Hogans appearances for the company became more sporadic after that his vast salary wasnt really being reflected in his value to the company. Ratings remained the same after he dropped the title to The Giant at the end of October 1995. Something needed to change The Outsiders, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, were the catalysts for that change. The pair of recruits from the WWF came in on the takeover angle, roughing people up and causing mayhem. The storyline was gathering steam, leading up to the Bash At The Beach pay-per-view in July 1996 where Sting, Randy Savage and Lex Luger represented WCW against The Outsiders and their mystery partner. At the event, that partner was revealed to be Hulk Hogan himself, when he performed the big leg drop on Savage and turned heel for the first time in fifteen years, leaving Hulkamania behind. It was a risk for Hogan, alienating what was left of his fanbase, but it paid off like gangbusters, and the NWO angle became the hottest thing in wrestling for a while afterwards. WCW began to bear the WWF in the ratings, show attendance soared, and for a while Hogan was on top of the business once more.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.
