So here's the thing: Hogan was undoubtedly THE face of pro wrestling during the 80's and early 90's. The phrase regarding most popular american wrestlers goes something like this: Steve Austin might have had a higher peak business-wise, but Hulk Hogan had a longer lasting peak.
(I'm gonna try to cover stuff that isn't in the fluff articles flying around at the moment)
The problem was always what you were to do with Hogan if you wanted to move on from him. NOTHING lasts forever.
Like, yeah, he jumped to WCW after the movie career didn't quite pan out, and the heel turn with the NWO was great. For a few years. Then what?
Okay, the AOL merger and all that was the real killer of WCW, but there were issues well beyond that. Like the goddamned Creative Control clause. As Kevin Sullivan revealed in a shoot interview, that clause determined not only the result of the matches, but also how the match would go down, and WHERE it would go on a card. Completely ridiculous. Hogan could literally make it so his opponent would tap out to a handshake if he wanted.
In a sense, WWE got lucky that Hogan left in 1993, then came back in 2002. Naturally, though, Vince McMahon and Hogan had a break-up over the direction of the Mr. America storyline. Someone else can fill in the blanks on details.
Given how stupid early 2000s WWE could be, I can't really blame the Hulkster on that one. The only way to make Vince change sometimes is to force him into change. Hogan would return again in '05, and shades of "that doesn't work for me, brother!" came back during the feud with Shawn Michaels. I saw how that Summerslam match went between the two, Michaels flopped like a fish overselling for him. Never saw the Orton vs Hogan match, I hear that was Orton trying his hardest to have a match with an immobile Hogan.
Around the mid 00s, I remember he had that reality show: Hogan Knows Best. 4 seasons of that, crazy.
Back to rasslin, though, there was that Hulkamania tour in australia during 2009. Do yourself a favor and look through the videos related to it on this account:
Ric Flair and Hogan a few fun promos.
Then, I remember Hogan in TNA...oh, poor Dixie Carter. She got taken for a ride by WCW hacks like Russo and Bischoff. I did eventually find out that the "jabroni marks" tweet was kayfabe, referring to some storyline they were doing in TNA with AJ Styles. Skimming through wikipedia, I'm astounded to read that he was with them from 2009 to 2013. Get the fuck out of here! This shit was never going to mix well, TNA was at its best when it functioned like a real alternative to WWE.
Then Hogan went back to WWE in 2014, got kicked out during the scandal with the audio leaking, then went back in during 2018. Oh, and I remember 4chan celebrating big time when Hogan dropped the leg on Gawker. To this day, some journos are still eating shit for willingly working at Gawker. Some dumbass journo on twitter even got called out last year for defending Gawker. Now's a good time for some of you go take a trip down memory lane, regarding that lawsuit.
EDIT: A reddit thread shortly before Hogan's death was reported. A user claimed to live a block away from Hogan, and saw Hogan being placed in an ambulance. I guess the user lived in Clearwater, Florida.
