The events of WrestleMania IX have been poked at a lot over the years, and with good reason. Hogan went from working the midcard and winning tag gold to binning that off with a cheap loss and flattening Yokozuna and Bret Hart to end the night as the first ever five-time WWE Champion.
Hogan was thinking in the super-short term but made a super-panicked Vince McMahon super-nervous about his financial future with Hart on top. 'The Hitman's houses and buyrates weren't taking the aforementioned scandal-ridden organisation back to the promised land, brother, so McMahon went back to what he knew.
As a thank you, Hogan went back to Japan.
Taking the WWE Championship with him to increase his drawing power in NJPW (Hogan called the belt a "trinket" and a "toy" in comparison to the IWGP Title) 'The Hulkster' returned only to lose to Yokozuna before knocking out a few half-a*sed house show rematches.
Hulkamania really was dead after this. WWE Magazine told us so, crediting the sumo star as being the one to finally end the era. That WCW presented him fit as a fiddle on the other side made a mockery of that, until Hogan's sprawling vanity started making a mockery of WCW.
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
