10 Most Influential Wrestlers Ever
2. Hulk Hogan
Contrary to the prevailing narrative that WWE puts forward, Vince McMahon did not invent Hulkamania, or the Hulk Hogan character. No, that was all Terry Bollea: he was running that gimmick, almost exactly as he would later in the WWF, in Verne Gagne's AWA from around 1982.
Massively over as a babyface star in the AWA, Hogan grew frustrated with Gagne's refusal to make him the promotions top star, and left for pastures greener when Vince came knocking. McMahon and the WWF gave Hogan the platform and the opportunity to take his act national, and in doing so, he made himself and the WWF into household names.
Because the WWF under Hogan was the only US promotion to make it to that level, their names became synonymous in the USA with professional wrestling as a whole, and on a mainstream level. That level of association continues today, with newspaper and magazine articles constantly misrepresenting various different wrestlers as WWF stars: it's just the default option.
Hogan was, in his day, the biggest wrestling star of all time, achieving worldwide and mainstream celebrity. He sold out arenas everywhere he went, and was instrumental in making WrestleMania the success that it was. Hulkamania elevated Vince McMahon's company into a behemoth of an organisation, a cultural phenomenon. Hogan was the franchise - a merchandising and licensing goldmine.
Ever since his heyday, it's become normal practice for top guys in the WWF/E to make themselves available for commercial opportunities. Hogan was the larger-than-life touchstone upon which an entire industry built itself. Even to this day, quarter of a century after his prime, Hogan remains a household name in a ridiculous number of countries worldwide.
One of the most charismatic wrestlers anywhere in the 1980s, Hogan was never a technical marvel like the Dynamite Kid or Bret the Hitman Hart, and his star slipped a little in the 1990s: but by this point his place in professional wrestling history was assured. Rikidozan and El Santo may have been culturally more important in Japan and Mexico, respectively, but the Hulkster's fame was worldwide.
In the Attitude Era, Stone Cold Steve Austin may have been a bigger draw for the WWF, at least monetarily, but he wasn't then and isnt now the name that Hogan is, and Bollea set the table that Austin ate at. Inoki and Flair may have headlined the biggest show in wrestling history, but Hulk Hogan was the biggest show in wrestling history.