10 Times Hulk Hogan Was The Worst Babyface Ever

3. Hulk Screwed Bret - WrestleMania IX

Hulk Hogan Miss Elizabeth
WWE.com

Having headlined the first eight WrestleManias, many fans of the time were a little surprised – many pleasantly so – to see Hulk Hogan positioned in a middle-of-the-card tag match at WrestleMania IX. Even more surprising, the Hulkster and Brutus Beefcake ultimately came up short in their quest to dethrone Money Inc. as the WWF Tag Team Champions.

For those who were tiring of Hogan’s overplayed, stale babyface shtick, WrestleMania IX seemed like a genuinely new direction for the company’s Showcase of the Immortals. Bret Hart was the loud ‘n’ proud WWF Champion, and it was he who was in the main event against the colossal figure of Mr. Fuji’s Yokozuna.

In Hart and Yoko, audiences had a fresh match-up closing out the biggest wrestling show on the planet.

But no, Hulk Hogan would somehow get the last laugh by the time all was said and done at Caesar’s Palace. After Fuji had screwed The Hitman out of his title, Hogan turned up at ringside to protest on Bret’s behalf, having issued a challenge earlier in the night.

Ever the opportunist, the 24-inch pythons were soon primed and ready to accept an impromptu title match against Yokozuna – with Bret Hart giving the reluctant okay for The Hulkster to battle Yoko. Just 22 seconds later, Hulk Hogan was once again the WWF Champion.

To add further salt to the wounds of Hart, Hogan reportedly refused to drop the belt back to Bret at their pencilled-in SummerSlam '93 match. Instead, Hogan would work just one more televised match - dropping the title back to Yokozuna at June's King of the Ring PPV - before departing the company for the green, green money pit of Ted Turner's WCW.

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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 dayjob, 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, Jamie Hayer, 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.