For the first nine years of its existence, WrestleMania was ruled by one man. Hulk Hogan was involved in each of the first nine 'Mania main events, and he came out on top all but once. Heck, even when he wasn't in the official match that had been signed as the main event, he still came out the winner. From the very first WrestleMania until WrestleMania IX in 1993, Hulkamania did indeed run wild. This is to be expected, as Hulk was by far the biggest star in the company in the late 80s and early 90s. If you think John Cena has been protected over the last few years, just take one look at Hogan's streak during this time. He lost clean to the Ultimate Warrior (kicking out at 3.1 in the process) at WrestleMania VI, and off the top of my head this is the only truly clean loss I can remember him taking during this era. Hogan was a guaranteed draw and really brought in the crowds during this time, but looking back there are a number of potential opponents that never truly got the spotlight match they deserved, the spotlight match that could have drawn large sums of money for the company. When he returned to the WWF in 2002, a new crop of superstars were lined up in front of Hogan, and whilst his body pretty much given up on him at this time, there were a number of big time WrestleMania matches that were missed out on. Here are 10 Hogan 'Mania matches that would have put eyes on the product, butts in the seats and dollars in his pocket.
Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.
