10 Wrestlers Who Were Insulted By WWE Roles They Were Offered
6. Bob Backlund
Look at the pic above; it shows larger-than-life walking cartoon Hulk Hogan standing alongside technical boots 'n singlet wrassler' Bob Backlund. Both represented differing sides of Vince McMahon's past and present WWF divide in the 1980s. One was old school, and the other was a 'WWF Superstar'.
That didn't mean ol' Bob had to like where wrestling was going.
Backlund didn't think much of the fact that Hulk lacked a legitimate wrestling background, and he wasn't about to drop the WWF Title to someone more concerned with biceps than backbreakers. He also told Ring Rust Radio in 2016 that he and several others didn't care for Hogan's "outside activities" away from the ring - they believed he could never be "a very good representation for the business".
Bob's frosty outlook on Hogan prompted McMahon to book a quick loss to The Iron Sheik in late-1983 so that he could act as a makeweight for his new 'Hulkamania' trend. Backlund, meanwhile, ended up leaving the WWF and wouldn't return until 1992.