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

2. The Third Man

By 1996, Hulk Hogan’s star was fading. The red-and-yellow had run out of steam, as fans were tiring of the perennial good guy. Jumping to WCW buoyed him for a bit, but Hogan wasn’t going to remain a top “over” act for much longer.

Then came the New World Order.

Kevin Nash and Scott Hall wreaked havoc on WCW throughout the summer of 1996, culminating in the infamous six-man tag at Bash at the Beach, with the invaders promising to reveal their “third man” that night.

If you don’t know what happened, you really should just Google it and watch the video. It’s kind of required viewing for any wrestling fan to be taken seriously. Bottom line: Hulk dropped the leg, told the fans to stick it, and Hollywood Hogan was off to the race with the nWo.

Hogan’s run in the black-and-white vaulted him back to the top of the company for another three years and another five world title reigns.

While the nWo undoubtedly was beneficial for Hogan’s career, his presence and impact on the success of the New World Order itself can’t be understated: the ultimate babyface turning heel and joining a stable of invaders trying to take over WCW became the biggest angle in wrestling, propelling the company past WWF and nearly putting their competitor out of business.

It’s highly doubtful that the nWo would have succeeded to this level had, say, Sting been the third man. Hogan was needed to launch this industry-changing angle into the stratosphere.