7 WWE Good Guys The Fans Hated

When Vince McMahon purchased the World Wrestling Federation from his father, Vincent J. McMahon, his first decision was to bring in Hulk Hogan and base the company around him. It was the correct decision. Hogan was charismatic, one of the best promos in wrestling during a time when the business was changing and had a great connection to the audiences.

The AWA and owner Verne Gagne had failed to take advantage of this opportunity and constantly stopped Hogan from ascending to the throne in that promotion, often booking him to win title matches but not win the championship itself. Vince knew what he had with Hogan and Hulkamania became a legitimate crossover success in the 1980s.

Hulk Hogan is arguably the biggest star wrestling has ever seen. Ask a non-wrestling fan to name a wrestler and almost inevitably Hogan is the name on their lips. That’s how big he was in the 1980s. He transcended professional wrestling and became an iconic figure around the world.

The McMahon’s based their company around long, significant babyface title reigns. The likes of Bruno Sammartino, Pedro Morales and Bob Backlund had enjoyed multiple years as WWF Heavyweight Champion. Vince Jr. believed in this mentality and had Hogan as his champion for four years and the company did great business during that time. The Rock N’ Wrestling Era is one of the most successful in WWF/E history and Hogan was the biggest draw.

During his run as champion shows where the Hulkster appeared routinely outdrew shows without him and by a significant margin. There is no doubt that Vince struck while the iron was hot and did sensational business as a result. However this approach working as it did has had the knock-on effect that every big star WWE wants to get over gets booked the same way as Hogan, regardless of whether that’s the right thing to do.

When the time came for Hogan to drop the title, in early 1988, his star continued to shine brightly. While Randy Savage ruled as champion, Hogan was still drawing big numbers on the B show while Macho Man headlined the A show. As a result WWE cash flow was sky high. The clash between the duo at WrestleMania V in 1989, was the highest drawing wrestling PPV, ever, to that point with 650,000 buys.

Hogan’s second run with the belt was fairly successful but when he passed the torch to the Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI the signs were appearing that the WWF’s fanbase was starting to tire of Hogan. Changing champions was the right thing to do and if Vince had left it at that Hogan would remembered fondly as a great champion who drew huge money and didn’t overstay his welcome. Not only that he did the right thing and went out on his back.

However Warrior didn’t do the numbers that Vince was expecting and he went back to his more reliable toy; Hulkamania. At WrestleMania VII, a year after Hogan passed the torch, he was back on top of the business as WWF Champion and business was not good. WrestleMania VII was supposed to be the WWF’s biggest pay per view event, ever. They aimed to shatter their attendance record, the massive WrestleMania III crowd of 93,173, and ended up moving to a much smaller venue because of a “bomb threat”.

The idea being that Sgt. Slaughter’s Iraqi sympathiser gimmick had so many people legitimately riled up that something bad might happen in a big open arena. The reality of the situation is that in 1991 Hulk Hogan wasn’t the draw he once was. Although house show attendances will testify differently, which is part of the reason why Vince persisted with Hogan, WrestleMania VII flopped. The attempt at 100,000 people in attendance came in a paltry 16,158.

The rot had set in but instead of listening to the critics, who openly blasted McMahon’s xenophobic attitude to foreigners, Vince persisted on his path. The only thing that stopped Hulkamania ruling the roost for much longer was the business exposing steroid scandal, which almost saw McMahon sent to prison for his part in distributing anabolic steroids to his grapplers. If that didn’t happen, McMahon would never have switched gears like he did, when he did.

The proof being Wrestlemania IX, two years later, when McMahon once again put the title on Hogan. 1993, two years after the time was right to ring changes. Hogan even headlined the WrestleMania in between, against another of Vince’s hand-picked giants; Sid Justice. Vince was simply unable to see the writing on the wall until it was too late.

McMahon may have created a dynasty with his sterling run-on booking and monster heels in the 1980s but as soon as the 90s rolled around he looked out of touch with modern society. The fans were quite happy to tell him he was wrong, loudly cheering when Sid dumped Hogan out of the 1992 Royal Rumble. They were bored with saying their prayers and eating their vitamins and wanted someone new, anyone different to take that top spot in the promotion. What was Vince’s solution to losing his tall patriotic blonde American?