15 Things We Learned From Vince McMahon's Docuseries On Netflix
13. Dusty Rhodes Could’ve Been “Hulk Hogan”
This is fascinating on a wrestling level.
Vince knew he wanted to replace Bob Backlund as his top guy after assuming total control of the WWF, but he didn't land directly on smash hit Hulk Hogan. Almost unbelievably given the body-obsessed era to come, it was Dusty Rhodes who caught Jr's eye first, but Cody chimes in to say his dad didn’t properly believe in what the fed was trying to do.
So, Vince moved on and that’s when Hulk came into the frame. The rest is history, but it's bloody crazy to hear Vince admit on camera that he didn't have everything figured out and actually thought an NWA centrepiece would be the one. Imagine how different things would've been had the 'American Dream' been handed the ball instead of Hogan?!
It seems inevitable that this would've failed long term. McMahon quickly married his love of larger than life physiques from the bodybuilding world with pro wrestling to create what he called "sports entertainment". Cool to know Dusty was definitely on the cards as a possible replacement for Backlund, at least.