How Wrestling Has Changed Since 9/11
4. Mr. America
Billed as a match "20 years in the making," Hulk Hogan vs. Vince McMahon at WrestleMania XIX came with the stipulation that the 'Hulkster' would have to "retire" if he lost.
Lose he did, and while Hulk Hogan disappeared from television, Terry Bollea did not. He quickly re-emerged as the masked Mr. America. The joke was that everyone knew it was Hogan in a mask as he retained "Real American" as an entrance track, did all of Hulk's moves, and, well... look at him. The disguise couldn't even fool McMahon, who called Mr. America out during his debut on an episode of Piper's Pit, thus continuing their feud, with Hogan wrestling Roddy Piper at Judgment Day and participating in an arm-wrestling match with McMahon for the benefit of Zach Gowen.
The gimmick ended when a June episode of SmackDown saw Mr. America finally unmasked and unveiled as Hogan. One week later, Bollea was gone from the company. Citing the Mr. America gimmick as one of the reasons, his long-held creative frustrations came to a head, so Vince made a song and dance about firing him on the 3 July SmackDown.