10 Times Wrestlers Had Incredibly Fragile Egos
5. Hulk Hogan Comes So Close To Getting It
It is early 1996.
Unlike now, the '80s are not fondly remembered for their fun aesthetic and the corny, earnest mass entertainment for which many of us are nostalgic. The decade has aged disgracefully, but pro wrestling is the last cultural powerhouse to move on. For just over five years of steady business decline, Hulk Hogan has played the cheeseball hero with only relative gains. He does very well by the standard of WCW's metrics, and he remains a household name, but he's somewhat of a joke figure within and beyond the industry.
"Train, say your prayers, and eat your vitamins" is no longer a maxim for the times; "Slack off, tell your parents to die, and eat whatever, who cares" is what the cool kids are doing.
Hope is out, angst is in.
WCW Nitro has launched successfully, helped by the WWF's slide in parallel, but wrestling isn't yet enormous again. The various anti-establishment ass-kickers are yet to clad themselves in black and white t-shirts. Shawn Michaels still hasn't acknowledged that he's a sh*thead.
Hulk Hogan meanwhile is so medically deluded that he thinks the solution to the problem, of his act being woefully passé, is to give the fans even more of it.
By virtue of teaming with Randy Savage to take on eight heels at Uncensored, Hogan is in effect quadrupling the strength of his character.
Is there a more narcissistic response to anything, ever, than that?
"The fans have had enough of you, Hulk."
"The fans can't get enough of me, you say? Well, I've just the solution...the Fi-Ultimate Solution!"