The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Of Hulk Hogan's Wrestling Career

3. Banking It All On WrestleMania

Today, WrestleMania is the pinnacle of WWE and professional wrestling events. While other companies have boasted wildly successful mega-shows, WrestleMania remains the standard against which all others are measured.

But while WWE’s signature show these days is measured by record gates and attendances, it all stemmed from one show 40 years ago. The McMahons have told the story several times: how they mortgaged their lives to finance the original WrestleMania, and had it flopped, that might have been the end of the WWF’s plans for national expansion.

At the center of the star-studded extravaganza was Hulk Hogan, teaming with one of the biggest stars on television at the time, Mr. T. The two not only headlined Mania, but they went everywhere promoting the show. Hogan’s charisma and presence helped put WWF on the national map, and his star power generated enough wattage for WrestleMania to succeed.

While you can’t give Hulk all the credit, he was the world champion and easily the most identifiable wrestler in the company – and likely the country – at that point, so he deserves the lion’s share.

Just two years later, Hogan would again take center stage at WrestleMania III, this time opposite Andre the Giant for the WWF Championship in the biggest show in the company’s history. Even taking the more accurate 78,000 attendance, that number would not be eclipsed until SummerSlam 1992. Hogan slamming Andre remains one of the biggest moments in wrestling history.

And three years after that, Hogan would pass the torch (somewhat) to the Ultimate Warrior in a title-versus-title match that saw Warrior walk out of WrestleMania VI with the World Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships, an iconic showdown between the two biggest stars in the company at the time.