How Good Was Hulk Hogan Actually?

Hulk Hogan is arguably the biggest box office attraction in wrestling history. WWE likes to say that about Roman Reigns because of inflation and the arsenal of ways TKO has found to extract money from fans and corporate sponsors, but for getting people to part with their hard-earned cash to come to venues and buy events on PPV? 

Hogan is hard to beat.

The key argument against Reigns is that WWE now books events based on every match having its own unique story and part to play in the show’s success. WWE sells itself as a sports team in 2026, but for much of the 1980s, WrestleMania was 'The Hulk Hogan Show. The sad truth is that, whilst 'Mania III’s match between Randy Savage and Ricky Steamboat is a bout from the gods, Hogan slamming Andre is what drew the big bucks.

WWE’s 'New Generation' struggled to replicate wrestling’s success after Hogan’s golden era, and it was Hulk turning heel in WCW that started pro wrestling’s next boom period with the 'Monday Night Wars'. That's how box office he was. Hogan’s biggest WWE PPV buy rate was at 'Mania X8 (880,000 buys), and 'Mania 3 drew 78,000 fans, which stood as a WrestleMania attendance record for nearly 30 years.

WWE had greater success in PPV buys without Hogan, but there’s a real “chicken and egg” argument to be had that there may not have been a PPV model for Vince McMahon to sell without the weight of Hulk star appeal in the first place.

8/10