Few have made such an impact on WrestleMania as the Hulkster.
We break down the importance of each of Hogan’s WrestleMania appearances.
WrestleManiais on the horizon and the fact that its hitting its 35th entry is nothing short of impressive.
Hell, it wasnt even going to be called WrestleMania in the beginning but Hulkamania.
While the quality of his in-ring work was sometimes questionable, he absolutely owned the first nine years.
He main-evented every show except one, where he was still standing tall and celebrating in the final moments.
Then, years later, he returned for a couple of more memorable appearances.
WRESTLEMANIA I
Hulk Hogan and Mr. T vs. Rowdy Roddy Piper and Mr. Roddy Piper hated rock music and antagonized Cyndi Lauper, leading to Hogan standing up for her.
The two battled as the main event ofThe War to Settle the Score, which was broadcast on MTV.
It was a DQ finish when Pipers buddies Bob Orton and Paul Orndorff attacked Hogan.
In the crowd wasA-Teamstar Mr. T, who entered the ring to defend his buddy, Hogan.
It wasnt super great, but it worked.
Then it was mostly Hogan taking abuse until Mr. T got tagged in and took abuse himself.
Hogan pinned Orndorff with ease, causing Piper to punch the ref and leave in disgust.
Orndorff battled Piper and Orton across the country with a variety of different tag team partners.
Bundy blindsided Hogan from behind and then annihilated him with two Avalanches and a splash.
Hogan started to get pumped and a second Avalanche was completely no-sold.
Hogan tore into the bloody Bundy, powerslammed him, and followed with a leg drop.
The Aftermath:This was the blow-off, so there wasnt really any aftermath.
With a heavy heart, Hogan accepted the challenge.
Notable Promos:The contract signing between the two was legendary.
The Match:Wrestling purists hate the match and to be fair, it was very slow at times.
It was pure spectacle and that opening staredown can never be topped.
Dazed, Andre got back up and Hogan caught him with a bodyslam.
One leg drop later and it was all she wrote.
Cocaine-fueled 1980s promos rule, man.
The Match:People hated this one, but I kind of dug it.
The glacial pace of theirWrestleMania IIImatch would no longer work because Hogan was no longer painted as the underdog.
The Ending:Theres no defending the ending, though.
With the ref not looking, Dibiase hit Hogan with a chair.
The ref ruled it a double disqualification.
Hogan took out his frustrations by suplexing Virgil onto the floor and then bodyslamming Andre in the ring.
Andre was in Dibiases corner, countered by Hogan showing up to back Savage.
Hogan took Elizabeth to the back for medical attention, leaving Savage to endure a beating on his own.
When Hogan returned, Savage smacked him in the face and left.
He had lost his patience with Hogan and wanted to annihilate him atWrestleMania.
All the while, Elizabeth was left in the middle, unsure of what to do.
Then came the clip where Hogan claimed that he loved Savage like a brother and loved Elizabeth.
Hogan claimed he loved him, but Savagehated Hogans guts.
Great chemistry between the two with Savage slowly getting more and more devious in his tactics throughout the match.
One of the better moments was Hogan throwing Savage out of the ring.
The Ending:Now without distractions, Savage attacked Hogans throat.
Things became predictable as Savage dropped the elbow off the top and Hogan kicked out, Hulking up.
The Aftermath:The rivalry continued and took a very bizarre turn.
Later on, Hogan accidentally-on-purpose eliminated Warrior, sending him into a frenzy.
The match was signed as champion vs. champion with both titles being on the line.
Notable Promos:Considering who was involved, the all-star here was most certainly Warrior.
The Match:Ultimate Warrior was a bad wrestler, but somehow he tended to have really greatWrestleManiamatches.
This one was pure superhero vs. superhero, like watching Superman trade blows with Shazam.
It was like a mirror match with Hogan going up against his younger, crazier self.
Like, pumping yourself up while no-selling your opponents offense?Thats not fair!
The Ending:There was a ref bump where neither could make the pin.
Warrior Gorilla Press Slammed Hogan, but Hogan kicked out and Hulked up.
Warrior pinned Hogan with Hogan kicking out an instant too late.
Hogan handed him the belts, hugged him, and rode off into the sunset on the ring cart.
It was decided that there would be no rematch between the two due to fear for each wrestlers well-being.
Warrior was stripped of the Intercontinental Championship and a new champion was decided via tournament.
It was famously bad.
Sergeant Slaughter for the WWF Championship
The Setup:Sgt.
Slaughter reappeared in WWF to badmouth the country for not being man enough to go to war with Iraq.
Thanks to Randy Savages interference, Slaughter won the title off the Ultimate Warrior atRoyal Rumble 1991.
Shortly after, Hogan won the Royal Rumble match, dedicating his victory to the armed forces.
Thats… thats not how that works, dude.
Getting into the moment, Hogan tore his shirt off and stormed to the ring.
When he came out for the match, his shirt was back on.
The Match:Ugh.
Heenan and Monsoon tried to ignore that question.
Slaughter spread the Iraqi flag over Hogans body and went for the pin.
The usual ending, only with more MERCA!
Sid had to carry the angle and carry it he did.
Hogan kept the advantage for the opening couple minutes until Sid challenged him to a test of strength.
The Ending:Hogan Hulked up after taking a powerbomb.
He beat on Sid, gave him the boot, bodyslammed him, and followed with the leg drop.
Instead, Harvey Whippleman got in the ring and shoved the ref, causing the DQ.
Papa Shango showed up late and helped Sid beat down Hogan.
The Ultimate Warrior himself not having appeared in six months came to the rescue and helped defend Hogan.
The two celebrated in the ring as the show came to a close.
The Aftermath:Hogan left for a year, so that was the end of him for a while.
The two beat him down and prepared to smash his face in a second time via IRS briefcase.
Their manager Jimmy Hart thought they were going too far and begged them to stop.
They ditched Jimmy and moved on.
Hogan returned from semi-retirement to help out his #1 Hulkamaniac.
Beefcake wore a very, very goofy metal mask to protect himself from any possible face-related injuries.
Hogan told the tale of how he reacted when he saw Beefcake assaulted.
He ran outside in horror, accidentally (?)
I didnt make up any of that.
It was probably the most unHoganWrestleManiamatch of all because he seemed to really want to get Beefcake over.
This time, the ref claimed that if they did, theyd forfeit the titles.
The Ending:With the ref knocked out, IRS tried using Beefcakes mask as a weapon.
Hogan stole it away and used it on IRS and Dibiase instead.
With both members of Money Inc. knocked out, Hogan and Beefcake each made the cover.
Hogan and Beefcake celebrated for a long while to the point that Real American looped aboutthree times.
The Aftermath:Brutus Beefcake wrestled a handful of house shows, but never another televised match in WWF.
He was gone a couple months later.
Bret needed to be legitimized as a champion, but he was looking golden at the time.
Then Hogan asked for a title shot against the winner.
When doing so, he referred to Yokozuna as, the Jap.
Thats not so good.
Fuji challenged Hogan on the spot and put the title on the line.
With Bret giving Hogan his blessing, the Hulkster marched into the ring.
The Ending:Immediately, Yokozuna held Hogan back as Fuji threw salt at his face.
Hogan moved out of the way, meaning Yokozuna got hit instead.
Unfortunately, that didnt happen.
WRESTLEMANIA X-8
Hollywood Hogan vs. Hogan got his revenge when they put him in an ambulance and drove a semi into it.
Without a doubt, one of Hogans most entertaining matches.
The Ending:It took three Rock Bottoms and a Peoples Elbow to finally fell Hogan.
The two hugged and Rock left.
Then Hall and Nash stepped in, angry at Hogans behavior.
They beat him down until Rock helped fend them off.
Then Rock insisted that Hogan pose to the crowd for a few minutes.
Rocks exaggerated mannerisms when trying to get Hogan to pose will forever be engraved in my mind.
He looked like Bugs Bunny having a fit.
McMahon revealed that he hated Hogan and believed himself to be the one behind Hulkamania and its success.
The two agreed to a Street Fight atWrestleManiawhere if Hogan lost, hed have to retire.
Youre not beating that.
The Match:Still mind-boggling to watch and in a good way.
Here, McMahon came off as Hogans equal, dominating much of the match with no problem.
chant, something I never, ever thought Id see in a Hogan match.
McMahon ejected him from the ring and called in his own personal ref.
Another ref showed up as Hogan delivered three leg drops to keep McMahon down for good.
Obviously, it was because this was the 20th anniversary of that very first show.
Ah, the days when WWE understood what the term anniversary really meant.
This is most memorable for him referring to the Superdome as the Silverdome and getting continually razzed for it.
Hogans promo led to Steve Austin storming out and confronting him.
Then The Rock showed up.
The three talked up the new generation of wrestlers and celebrated the future by drinking down beers and celebrating.
WRESTLEMANIA 31
Oh man, I dont even know.
So, Sting showed up to help oust Triple H from power in WWE, which lasted mere weeks.
A match was signed forWrestleMania.
Sting explained, no, it was not.
Triple H ignored that and said it was.
As in their main nemesis.
The elderly nWo and the over-the-hill DX awkwardly brawled until Triple H won.
That would be Hogans last bigWrestleManiaappearance.
WWE scrubbed him from their website overnight and didnt touch him for years.
), and brought him back for the already-too-controversial Saudi Arabia PPVCrown Jewel.
Hogan showed up in the beginning and got zero response.
On American TV, he returned to eulogize Mean Gene Okerland onRaw.
The crowd gave him an overwhelmingly positive response.
Word is that hes supposed to show up atWrestleMania 35in some fashion.
Well see if the audience will be so forgiving.
