How Good Was Hulk Hogan Actually?

Hogan’s formulaic matches would almost always go like this: He looks around at the crowd cartoonishly while circling the ring with his opponent. A test of strength occurs in which Hulk sells the might of the man he’s facing/about to pulverise. Then, he takes a beating for 5 or 6 minutes before 'Hulking Up'. Hogan shakes his head like a man possessed whilst no-selling punch after punch, before pointing at his adversary and wagging his finger at him. Hulkster lands some big right hands, whips his opponent to the rope, he puts his size 17 boot into their face, then hits the leg drop for the 1-2-3 and sends the crowd home happy, brother.

Like a lot of Hulk’s work, Hogan’s matches follow a formula that worked and stuck to it. You’d think that there would be some variation when he had over 20 years in wrestling’s main event scene, but his work in the ring was limited in the extreme.

This isn’t to be (too) reductive. It's worth mentioning that Hogan was revered in New Japan around the time he hit the WWF scene hard, working matches with Dusty Rhodes, Stan Hansen, and defeating Antonio Inoki in the final of the 1983 IWGP League to win the vacant IWGP Championship. Hogan’s formula was successful globally and even conquered lands where wrestling is a sacred art.

The next section reveals that there is a massive asterisk that comes with all of this success in the ring, but how effective it was in front of crowds through the 80s, 90s, and even into the 2000s cannot be entirely dismissed.

5/10