8. Sylvester Stallone
You can thank the man in this entry for helping to facilitate the friendship that led to the Mr. T/WWE relationship. During the 1980s Sylvester Stallone was easily one of Hollywoods biggest action stars, serving as the centerpiece of two huge franchises in Rocky and Rambo, plus standalone movies like Cobra and Over The Top. He was on the top of the world when he began work on the third installment in the Rocky series. And thats when he called upon Hulk Hogan. Stallone reached out to Hulk Hogan to portray Thunderlips in the 1982 hit. At the time The Hulkster had not yet become a household name as this was prior to his big run in WWE and the exposure was huge for both he and the wrestling business. The visibility the role granted him, giving viewers a taste of his charisma and larger than life personality, also probably went a long way in helping Vince McMahon decide that Hulk would be the man he built his company around and he geared up for his big takeover attempt. Not only did Rocky 3 increase the profile of the mind who would become the biggest star in the business pre-Steve Austin, but it also introduced that man to his co-star Mr. T. As Clubber Lang, T was the main antagonist of the film, and he and Hogan forged a bond that would be used to set up the main event of WrestleMania. Sly giving that pivotal role to Hogan changed the business for the better.
Brad Hamilton
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Brad Hamilton is a writer, musician and marketer/social media manager from Atlanta, Georgia. He's an undefeated freestyle rap battle champion, spends too little time being productive and defines himself as the literary version of Brock Lesnar.
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