10 Times Wrestling Finishers Passed The Torch

4. The Power Of The Universe - Hulk Hogan To Abyss

"This will give you the power of the universe. This will make you the strongest mortal man on this Earth. This will protect you. This will love you. This will guide you. And this *dramatic pause, brother* will make you the God of Wrestling. You will be, from this point forward, ten times the man, ten times the wrestler, ten times stronger than Hulk Hogan ever was."

Hulk Hogan wasn't content with merely offering Abyss the Leg Drop that squashed monster after monster. No, instead the Hulkster took things to a whole other insane level in 2010 by gifting Abyss with, well, "the power of the universe".

It's a truly tough task trying to single out the most outright nuts thing to take place in TNA's history - let's face it, there's just so many - but if put on the spot to name that one piece of insanity that tops the rest, many would point towards Hogan's bizarre passing of the torch to TNA's resident monster.

For context, this was at a time when the hulking, hardcore beast Abyss was having a wobble in confidence. So, Hogan's solution was to give the one-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion his WWE Hall of Fame ring - seemingly with the belief that said ring held the power of Hulkamania, brother.

And yes, Abyss became a whole new, confident, dominant figure when in possession of this ring. But without it? It was back to a shivering, snivelling bag of nerves for the behemoth.

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 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.