10 Things You Learn Binge Watching Every WWE SmackDown From 2002
2. Early Hollywood Hogan On SmackDown Ruled
Things went off the rails for Hulk Hogan in 2003 during his feud with Vince McMahon (Mr. America?!), but he had such a strong 2002 after returning to the company. His WrestleMania X8 match with The Rock was ace, his drop back into the classic red and yellow post-nWo had fans eating out of his hands, Hulk's tag-team stuff with Edge was gold, the way he put Brock Lesnar over on the 8 August SmackDown was classy, and he just generally seemed to be having the best time.
Hogan could appear on both Raw and SmackDown whilst Undisputed Champ for a month between April-May, but then he became firm SmackDown property after dropping the belt. What a credit he was to the roster back then. Fans craved more red and yellow Hulkamania goodness, and the old politician was willing to do business like never before.
He seemed legit happy to be around an emerging generation of talent.
The Lesnar stuff sticks out as one of his strongest jobs ever. Hulk made sure to sell, sell, sell so WWE's 'Next Big Thing' looked as dominant and powerful as possible. This was the sell job Rocky Balboa probably should've done for Ivan Drago. Not that anyone's still mad about that! Ahem.
Seriously, there was nothing to dislike about Hogan in '02. He seemed healthy enough, he was having some cracking matches, the pops were loud, and he wasn't as self-serving as he had been during the WCW days. It's easy to forget just how tidy his comeback loop was.