10 WWE Wrestlers Vince McMahon Was RIGHT About
1. Hulk Hogan
Looking back on the history of WWE under Vince McMahon's stewardship, Hulk Hogan is the single most important signing McMahon ever made.
Back in 1983, with Vince making bold, unheard-of plans to expand his recently-obtained federation, he needed somebody to pitch his wagon to and spearhead his bonkers plans of national and international domination. Pick a dud horse, and who knows whether the WWF of the time would've become what it became.
For McMahon, he managed to lure Hulk Hogan away from the AWA at the end of that year.
Having turned babyface after his appearance as Thunderlips in Rocky III, Hogan had spent the past two years as the most popular star in Verne Gagne's promotion, with charisma dripping out of the Hulkster's mammoth bodybuilding frame.
Formally returning to the WWF on the 1 January 1984 episode of Wrestling at the Chase - a match that was taped five days prior - Hogan would defeat the Iron Sheik for the WWF Championship just 22 days later, putting Shieky Baby away in barely five minutes in front of a 22,000-strong Madison Square Garden crowd.
Storyline-wise, Hulk was a replacement for Bob Backlund - whom Shiek had beaten to win the WWF Title - and in a very real sense, Hogan was the hand-picked replacement for Backlund as the poster boy of the promotion as McMahon looked to move his company in a new direction.
These days, Hulk Hogan's career has been tarnished by his own horrendous actions, but back in 1983, Vince McMahon was proven extremely right by choosing Hogan as the person tasked with driving the WWF to a new level of global popularity.