10 WWE Nightmares That Thankfully Never Came True
9. The Next Big Thing, Brother
Hulk Hogan's 2002 resurgence was to some, the most satisfying period of his entire career.
By merely returning to work for Vince McMahon after a tumultuous nine year absence, Hogan represented a necessary shot of nostalgia injected into an audience struggling to stay in love with a product sagging after the golden days of the Attitude Era.
But when it became apparent how limited he looked in comparison to some of the company's best and brightest, his uncharacteristic unselfishness became an even more rewarding return from the company's initial reinvestment.
Hogan first put over The Undertaker to conclude his brief run with the WWE Title, then tapped out to Kurt Angle, and most notably took an unthinkable thrashing from Brock Lesnar on 'The Beast's road to SummerSlam.
It was Hogan's best ever torch pass. 'The Next Big Thing' annihilated 'The Hulkster', bloodying him up and forcing a submission through a simple bearhug. Such willingness to look weak had seemed unthinkable just two years earlier as Stone Cold Terry Bollea battered The New Blood in WCW, but this was clearly a new man.
Sort of, anyway.
As it turned out, Hogan thought, with penance served, he could comfortably get his win back on a much bigger stage. Suggesting that he end Brock's title reign and unbeaten streak at Madison Square Garden's Survivor Series, he was furious when the assertion was laughed off, and disappeared from the company entirely until the following year.
McMahon's Big Show solution wasn't much better in truth, but he was at least a literal giant, and briefly considered Lesnar's equal. Hogan then, as he is now, was a beatable relic.