10 Superstars Who Burned WWE Bridges… But Still Returned

8. Hulk Hogan

Hulk Hogan WrestleMania 36
WWE.com

In the world of bridge-burning, making a bunch of racist comments should be enough to torch even the biggest of bridges to the ground. Hulk Hogan found that out the hard way, after he was privately recorded making some classless, disgusting, outright racist comments.

As a result of this, WWE made The Hulkster persona non grata and banished him from the company. Hogan’s Legends deal was ripped up, he was banished from the WWE Hall of Fame, and this multiple-time World Champion was kept well away from the wrestling world.

Not only did Hulk burn bridges with WWE, he also burnt bridges with the majority of wrestling fans. Even for those who idolised Hogan in the ‘80s and ‘90s, there was no way back for Hulkamania.

Only there was, for WWE slowly, slyly reintroduced Hogan back into the fold. Using the blood money-soaked Saudi Arabia shows to ease Hulk back into the WWE product, any notion of bridges being burned were tossed aside.

Making all of this worse, Hogan’s backstage apology to the WWE locker room wasn’t one where he was apologising for making racist comments. No, Hulk was basically warning WWE talents about the dangers of being caught on camera making offensive comments.

And here we are in 2019, with Hulk Hogan now well and truly back on the WWE payroll, brother.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.