2. Hulk Hogans Convenient Vacations
Despite being the biggest name in WCW, Hulk Hogan took frequent leaves of absence from television in order to pursue his embarrassing Hollywood career. Some fans began to notice a trend: Hogan's absences always seemed to coincide with an event that might split the WCW target audience, like the NBA playoffs, and he'd make his return unopposed. The theory was that Hogan could then claim that the dip in ratings was caused by his absence, and the resurgence was because of his return. Hogan really did use the demographic split for years to make himself seem like a bigger draw than he was. The trick finally backfired in 1996, when filming for one of his box-office epics ran longer than anticipated and he missed the first few Nitros following the play-offs. The Hulk-less shows scored higher ratings than the episodes with him had garnered, and the revelation that he was no longer drawing may have been what finally convinced Hogan to turn heel.