There would be no WrestleMania without Hulkamania, period. Regardless of anyones personal bias against Hulk Hogan, that much has to be acknowledged as fact. We can argue about whether Andre the Giant weighed 500, 600 or 700 pounds and debate how many muscles Hogan tore when he press Andre above his head at WrestleMania III, but Hogans influence in the early years of WrestleMania cannot be overstated. Hogan of course was a central figure in the first nine WrestleManias, competing in the main event of seven of them, eight if you count the Yokozuna title match at IX. Hogan was the biggest wrestler on the planet in the 80s wrestling on the biggest show the industry ever had known. His won-loss record was terrific in those nine years (7-2-1), but thats secondary to his standing as WrestleMania grew. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwbaywz8QO0 The Hulkster returned to WWE after a nine-year absence in 2002 and would lose to the Rock in a dream match at WrestleMania X-8 before ending his WrestleMania career (for now at least) at XIX with a victory over Vince McMahon.
Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.
