8 Things We've Learned From The Hulk Hogan Racism Controversy

8. Hulk Hogan Was Expendable

Okay, so Hulk Hogan hasn't wrestled a match for WWE since 2006 (the year of his racist tirade), but he's been an important company ambassador since rejoining the company in 2014. The Hogan brand was still worth a lot to WWE. Hogan merchandise still outsold many current WWE superstars. Hulk helped promote the WWE brand during media appearances. It's not like Hogan works cheap or that WWE got will have got him on a cut-price deal: one of the smartest businessman in the business, Hogan has consistently negotiated himself big-money deals and as recently as 2005, his contract stipulated that he be the highest paid performer for any PPV he was wrestling on. Despite all this, Hogan was deemed expendable by WWE in the wake of the scandal. It wasted no time in severing ties with the WWE Hall of Famer, removing all trace of the disgraced star from their website as soon as they became aware of the racist tirade tape. Many figured that Hulk Hogan would be a WWE lifer, despite the past issues between wrestler and company. However, this recent scandal has put that notion in doubt. Hogan can no longer pass a WWE physical to wrestle in matches and WWE can employ other legends to promote the WWE Network and so forth in the press.