Let's face it, had it not been for Hulk Hogan's influence on WWE, there's a fairly good chance WrestleMania wouldn't have grown to be as big as it has become. For the first nine years of the spectacle's existence, he was the main attraction, headlining eight events against elite competition. His successful pairing with Mr. T at the inaugural event led to WrestleMania becoming a global phenomenon and would see him do battle with a long list of legends in the years to come. His first of many iconic clashes on the grand stage came at WrestleMania 3 against Andre the Giant, bringing in a crowd of nearly 90,000 and breaking the all-time attendance record at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan. At WrestleMania 5, the year long build-up to his bout against Randy Savage grossed 767,000 pay-per-view buys, a record that wouldn't be broken for close to a decade. Regardless of who he was up again, Hogan carried those WrestleMania events to what they were and paved the way for the other mega draws to come.
Since 2008, Graham has been a diehard pro wrestling fan and, in 2010, he combined his passions for WWE and writing when he joined Bleacher Report. Equipped with a master's in journalism, Graham has contributed to WhatCulture, FanSided's Daily DDT, Sports Betting Dime, and GateHouse Media. Along the way, he has conducted interviews with wrestling superstars like Chris Jericho, Edge, Goldberg, Christian, Diamond Dallas Page, Jim Ross, Adam Cole, Tessa Blanchard, Ryback, and Nick Aldis among others.
