10 Most Notorious Hulk Hogan Urban Legends

5. He Left WWE In 2005 Because He Wouldn't Put Over Shawn Michaels

Story: Hogan was in a major storyline in 2005 with Shawn Michaels. They had teamed up together with the crowd loving it as two of the best wrestlers working together, but then Michaels nailed him with a Superkick to set up a SummerSlam match. Michaels, who was a babyface during his 2002 to 2010 run in WWE, actually did some heel style promos for the month leading up to the match just to make Hogan look better. The story goes that they were originally scheduled to have a few matches with Hogan winning one and then Michaels getting a win back. Since Michaels is the younger guy and was in WWE regularly in those days it made sense. It would have been a way for Hogan to put over Michaels, which would have been a big deal although Michaels was 40 years old and really didn't need to be elevated much. It's just that in Michaels' mind he probably thinks he would have benefited from it greatly. The night after SummerSlam 2005, Michaels took some shots at Hogan in a promo and made references to Hogan complaining about money. You could see that Michaels was frustrated about things. Hogan has claimed over the years that it was a money issue and that's why he left.

Why People Believe It: Hogan has a history of refusing to do jobs or not doing them in the right way. See the Bret Hart point from earlier about that. Saying that he had a money issue is a convenient way of getting out of it. Should We Believe It: Yes. This goes back to the whole thing where Hogan didn't want to put over smaller wrestlers and rarely did in his career. It's an ego thing. Even though he was in his 50's and obviously at the end of his in ring career, his ego didn't allow him to put over Michaels. If it was a one shot thing then Michaels probably wouldn't have complained about it so much.