10 Wrestlers Who Nearly Defected During The Monday Night Wars

4. Hulk Hogan

(This is where it gets tough to rank the wrestlers, but let€™s see how it goes€) When Sting finally faced and defeated Hollywood Hulk Hogan for the WCW World Championship in controversial fashion at Starrcade 1997, it turns out it could have been an exit strategy for the leader of the nWo. Hogan€™s WCW contract expired the following month, and rumors were running rampant that he was going to jump back to WWF, possibly in time for the 1998 Royal Rumble. The speculation, however, turned out to be just that, as Hogan opted to stay on in WCW into 2000. The very thought of Hogan returning to WWF a full four years before he actually did might make a lot of fans giddy and also wonder why he€™s ranked here. It€™s more the context of the situation. Hulk Hogan jumping to WWF just before WrestleMania XIV, right at the cusp of the Austin Era, the genesis of the evil Mr. McMahon and the rebirth of D-Generation X. Where would Hogan have fit in? And how would Hulk and his *ahem* protective nature of his character have detrimentally affected these developments? Sure, fans can salivate about Hogan-Austin, Hogan-HHH and Hogan-Rock when Hulk was much more than a nostalgia act, but how would he have handled this rumored run? It€™s easy to envision Hogan pushing for a top spot on the WrestleMania XIV card, then looking to work with new champ €œStone Cold€ Steve Austin. Remember, two weeks after Mania, Raw ended Nitro€™s streak of winning the ratings war for 84 consecutive weeks. Hogan in WWF definitely would have provided an even bigger ratings bump in the short term, but would his presence have had lasting negative effects on the Austin-McMahon feud that defined the Attitude Era, or on the DX faction that would dominate the scene? Or would Vince recognize he had bigger things going forward rather than looking backward with Hogan?