Ranking Wrestling's Most Shocking Surprise Every Year 1990-2020

28. 1993 - Hulk Hogan Ends WrestleMania IX As WWE Champion

Hulk Hogan John Cena nwo
WWE.com

Hulk Hogan's 1993 return to pay-per-view for WWE was supposed to be as one half of WrestleMania IX's double main event. Instead, he took the whole shebang.

Failing in his efforts to claim tag team gold earlier in the show, 'The Hulkster's white knight bullsh*t at the end of the show popped enough of that Las Vegas car park to assure Vince McMahon that he'd made the right call to turn around his ailing business. B*llocks, obviously, which Hogan himself seemed to be aware of - he was everywhere but WWE between the 'Show Of Shows' and his loss to Yokozuna at June's King Of The Ring.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett