Hulk Hogan was Vince McMahon's partner in crime during the eighties, systematically changing pro wrestling from an in-ring show to what more like resembled a circus event. NWA wrestlers would be working sixty minute matches, while Hogan would work six minute entrances and three minute matches. Hogan was the king of minimising his work and maximising his payout. He did plenty of dates in the eighties period, but it was for relatively little effort compared to the Ric Flair's of the era. But what really set Hogan apart, was the money he was pulling in. Fair enough, a lot of it trickled down to the entire WWF roster, everyone got sort of rich. But it was Hogan and Vince making the big bucks. Hogan was believed to be making in excess of ten million a year at his peak. He only ever cared about that money. He was never a huge wrestling fan growing up, and once in the business he never much cared about critical performance. He didn't care about Meltzer stars, he only cared about the steadily strong gate receipts. Then, as soon as his money dipped with Vince, off he went to WCW. Once in WCW, he structured his contract to be the top earning star, meaning that he was always pushed as the biggest wrestler... even when it didn't make sense for the company. Added to that, was creative control. The result? An old man who was making millions, way beyond his prime. He didn't care about the business, he just cared about his pay. He actually ended up being a contributing factor to WCW's demise. Even into the last decade, he kept going back to WWE, always on the look out for another pay day.
