10 Times Wrestlers Couldn’t Hide What They Were Doing
4. Hulk Hogan's Total WCW Domination
There were layers to Hulk Hogan's careful and controlled reimagining of WCW in his own image after signing for major money in 1994.
Justifying his worth on Night One after drawing a monster buyrate for his maiden match with Ric Flair, Hogan parlayed his influence into sorting contracts and major roles for several of his friends and it wasn't long before others were directly and indirectly damaged as a result.
Mr T's guest referee role at Halloween Havoc 1994 was prioritised over promoting most of the midcard, Steve Austin was flattened by Jim Duggan in just 35 seconds at Fall Brawl, and Ed 'Brutus Beefcake' Leslie was laughably cast as 'The Hulkster's Starrcade opponent. It continued well into 1995 and 1996 - Hogan popped right up from Vader's killer powerbomb, popped right up after his own partner Randy Savage hit his finish on him and even popped right up with an inside cradle on Ric Flair as he already had Arn Anderson in the figure four leglock.
By that point though, he'd stopped popping anything else. Ratings and buyrates were sagging and crowds were turning on his shlock at an alarming rate. The Ne World Order didn't just revolutionise business for WCW - it salvaged the company's top star.