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

4. Refusing To Lose, Holding Others Back

There has been a lot of discussion among their wrestling illiterate about “creative control,” alleging that several wrestlers, such as AEW’s Mercedes Mone’, have that provision written into their contracts.

In reality, very few wrestlers have influence over their character quite like Hulk Hogan. There’s a reason “That doesn’t work for me, brother,” is a popular phrase among wrestling fans.

Throughout Hogan’s career, stories have followed him about refusing to lose matches or work with certain wrestlers, resulting in changes to storylines. We’ll get into probably the biggest one later, but there are others to mention here.

Hulk tried to suggest that Undertaker injured him during their 1991 feud over the WWF Championship. It might sound crazy to say today, but Taker was far from the vaunted veteran he is today. A complaint from the biggest star in the company could have derailed Undertaker before he really took off.

Bret Hart should have been put over in 1993 before Hogan left the WWF – especially given how WrestleMania IX ended, but he never got that rub. In WCW, Jeff Jarrett and Billy Kidman both fell victim to Hulk’s control over his character.

But the most memorable of this bunch has to be Shawn Michaels in 2005 WWE. Originally, Hogan and HBK were set for a three-match program, but Hulk tried to pull a fast one, refusing to lose. In response, Michaels (who turned heel specifically for this program) bumped around like a cartoonish madman at SummerSlam, adding an extra somersault for every bump and flailing about. Whenever that video shows up in someone’s social media feeds, they should remember that HBK did that because Hogan backed out of their original plan for the program.