5. He Always Leaves On Bad Terms
Never mind the fact that Hogan was less than mediocre between the ropes, he unfortunately also let the fame and success go to his head. In fact when it comes to the end of his WWE tenures in particular, it always seems that Hogan is a lot more trouble than he's worth. He's been in and out of the WWE almost as many times as he's been in and out of the courtroom and every time is a new story. It all started long before the WrestleMania era when Hogan worked for Vince McMahon Senior. Hogan had joined the WWF and become quite a star, including his first huge feud with Andre the Giant that led to a match at Shea Stadium. Hogan has since claimed that the enormous crowd at Shea was down to he and the Giant but looking back, the Sammartino/Zbyszko feud that also featured had been selling out everywhere it went in the buildup. This new fame offered Hogan a chance to appear in Rocky 3 as "Thunderlips," though McMahon Sr asked him not to do it. McMahon didn't want a "Hollywood" star as his champion and Hogan soon left to join the AWA. Most still aren't sure whether Hogan left or was fired but it didn't last long anyway. Strangely, a few years later McMahon Jr. hired Hogan back to the WWF for the same reasons his father fell out with him intending to turn him into a huge "Hollywood" star. Fast forward a few years later and Hogan had dominated the late eighties. Into the early 90s there were more eyes on the WWF than ever. Along with the new attention came further scrutiny. In 1992, a doctor was accused of illegally selling steroids to WWF stars with Hogan being accused in particular. As a result, he was forced to take some time off and took a leave of absence from the WWF. He returned for a short spell in 1993 but ending up sitting out the rest of his contract as the steroid scandal had not yet fully gone away. It only got worse. Vince McMahon stood accused of knowingly distributing steroids to his stars and the prosecution targeted the company's biggest star. Awarded immunity from prosecution, Hogan testified at the trial against Vince McMahon and admitted that he had used anabolic steroids since 1976 but that Vince didn't sell or force him to use them. The testimony was detrimental to the WWF's case and though McMahon was found not guilty, it was the first of many fallings out between Vince Junior and Hulk Hogan. Hogan took a break then joined WCW. After a while he latched onto the N.W.O and WCW became the biggest thing in wrestling. When the WWF rallied and knocked WCW back, things got a bit desperate. Vince Russo had jumped to WCW and brought with him a book full of loony angles. One of said angles was a baffling exchange with Hogan that to this day is still confusing to most fans. Russo and Hogan came up with a "worked shoot" that they intended to blur the lines between reality and storyline for the fans watching. Unfortunately both of them also seemed to forget what was real or fake. Hogan took the title from Jeff Jarrett in a screwy fashion, then took to the microphone to run down Vince Russo. Later, Russo came to the ring and berated Hogan, bringing to light his very real "creative control" clause in his contract and promising that it would be "the last time we saw that piece of s**t in a WCW stadium." Hogan ended up filing a very real defamation of character lawsuit against Russo, which was thrown out in 2002 under the grounds that the insults were made against Hulk Hogan the character, not Terry Bollea the real person. For what it's worth Eric Bischoff later corroborated Hogan's story, but it is no secret that both were friends behind the scenes. WWE acquired WCW and eventually brought back Hulk Hogan. This led to a feud with Vince McMahon in 2003 where in the storyline, Hogan was banished from WWE but came back under a mask as "Mr. America." Vince "fired" Hogan after he revealed his face, though in reality Hogan had quit for real, claiming that he had grown frustrated with the creative team. Later, it came to light that in reality Hogan was not happy with his payoffs leading to his contract termination. Still not learning anything from the past, WWE continued to bring Hogan back. First in a feud with Shawn Michaels in 2005, which resulted in his first decent match in years (but not without controversy) then later for a match against Randy Orton. Soon after the match with Orton, Hogan again left on bad terms and complained about how he was treated after returning to the company. Despite his advancing age, Hogan was yet again upset with the money he received and his placement on the card. A card he shared with a returning DX and a great main event between Edge and John Cena. Hogan later claimed that the fans didn't care about any other match apart from his. While it's true they were loud for his match, his claim that the fans were dead otherwise is baseless. Additionally, a win for Orton would have cemented one of the biggest names possible in his "Legend Killer," run but it came as no surprise when Hogan didn't lose to the young up and comer. Thankfully, it seemed in 2007 that McMahon had grown tired of Hogan's antics and didn't bend to let him have his way. If he does return, we can only hope that he is again not afforded the luxury of throwing his weight around. If not, we might be reading about fallout with the McMahon family yet again come April. My advice, don't even bother with his diva ways and save the money for a returning or future star that deserves the time and effort. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPwrhGtwfwI