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In professional wrestling, kayfabe (pronounced /ˈkeɪfeɪb/) is the portrayal of events within the industry as "real" or "true". Specifically, the portrayal of professional wrestling, in particular the competition and rivalries between participants, as being genuine or not of a worked nature. Referring to events or interviews as being a "chore" means that the event/interview has been "kayfabed" or staged, or is part of a wrestling angle while being passed off as legitimate. Kayfabe has also evolved to become a code word of sorts for maintaining this "reality" within the realm of the general public.

Kayfabe is often seen as the suspension of disbelief that is used to create the non-wrestling aspects of promotions, such as feuds, angles, and gimmicks, in a similar manner with other forms of entertainment such as soap opera or film. In relative terms, a wrestler breaking kayfabe during a show would be likened to an actor breaking character on camera. Also, since wrestling is performed in front of a live audience, whose interaction with the show is crucial to the show's success (see pop), one might compare kayfabe to the fourth wall, since there is hardly any conventional fourth wall to begin with.

In years past, one tool that promoters and wrestlers had in preserving kayfabe was in their ability to attract a loyal paying audience in spite of limited or nearly nonexistent exposure. Professional wrestling has long been shunned by mainstream media due to lingering doubts over its legitimacy, and its presentation on television was largely limited to self-produced programming, not unlike informercials of the present day. Scrutiny existed only in limited circumstances, where in certain U.S. states, promoters had to deal with activist athletic commissioners. It was commonplace for wrestlers to adhere to kayfabe in public, even when outside the ring and off-camera, in order to preserve the illusion that the competition in pro wrestling was not staged. This was due in no small part to feuds between wrestlers sometimes lasting for years, and which could be utterly destroyed in seconds if they were shown associating as friends in public, and thus potentially affect ticket revenue.

With the advent of the Internet wrestling community, as well as the sports entertainment movement, the pro wrestling industry has become less concerned with protecting so-called backstage secrets and typically maintains kayfabe only during performances. However, kayfabe is occasionally broken, including during performances, in order to achieve a number of goals, among them advancing the storylines, explaining prolonged absences (often due to legitimate injury), paying tribute to other wrestlers and sometimes for comedic effect or that of driving insider humor.

Etymology[link]

Look up kayfabe in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The origin of the term is uncertain. Professional wrestling can trace some of its stylistic origins back to carnivals and catch wrestling, in a world which was far less "connected" than the present. With money tight, a carny would call home collect, telling the operator their name was "Kay Fabian"^{[citation needed]}. This was a code for letting the people at home know that they had made it safely to the next town. The family would then deny the call. A carny could therefore communicate without paying for the cost of a phone call or telegram.

The term "kayfabe" is thought to have originated as carny slang for "protecting the secrets of the business".

Another tradition holds that "kay fabe" was merely Pig Latin for "be fake"^{[citation needed]}, and thus an instruction by one carny to another not to break character at the moment a "rube" or "mark" was close by.

This is, however, not proper Pig Latin, which would be "e-bay ake-fay".

Heels and faces[link]

The characters assumed by wrestlers can be distinguished into 2 alignments: faces and heels.

Faces, short for babyfaces, are hero-type characters whose personalities are crafted to elicit the support of the audience through traits such as humility, a hard working nature, determination and reciprocal love of the crowd. Faces usually win their matches on the basis of their technical skills and are sometimes portrayed as underdogs to enhance the story.

Heels are villainous or antagonistic characters, whose personalities are crafted to elicit a negative response from the audience. They often embrace traditionally negative traits such as narcissism, egomania, unprompted rage, sadism and general bitterness. Though not as prevalent today, xenophobic ethnic and racial stereotypes, in particular those inspired by the Axis Powers of World War II, were commonly utilized in North American wrestling as heel-defining traits. Heels typically inspire boos from the audience and often employ underhanded tactics, such as cheating and exploiting technicalities, in their fighting strategies.

Matches are usually organized between a heel and a face, but the distinction between the two types may be blurred as a given character's storyline reaches a peak or becomes more complicated.

Uses[link]

Relationships[link]

Many storylines make use of kayfabe romantic relationships between two performers. Very often, both participants have other real-life relationships, and the "relationship" between the two is simply a storyline. However, more than once, kayfabe romantic relationships have resulted either from a real-life relationship, such as between Matt Hardy and Lita, or ultimately developed into a real-life marriage (e.g., Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, who married in 2003, more than a year after their kayfabe marriage ended).^[1]

Randy Savage was a second-generation professional wrestler. Savage originally avoided using his real name as a wrestler due to his concurrent career in minor league baseball. During his wrestling career, he was rarely if ever known by his real name, though his relationship with father Angelo Poffo and brother Lanny Poffo was generally well-known to wrestling fans. In the U.S. states of Kentucky and Tennessee during the late 1970s and early 1980s, the real-life promotional war between the Poffos and their "outlaw" International Championship Wrestling promotion, competing against Jerry Jarrett's Continental Wrestling Association, was carried out in front of fans accustomed to the storyline continuity inherent in seeing only one wrestling promotion for many years.

It was during this time that Savage developed a reputation within the business akin to Brian Pillman's "Loose Cannon" gimmick fifteen years later (see below), mostly on account of his issuing shoot challenges to Jarrett's wrestlers while armed with a pistol.^[2] Savage even once threatened CWA television announcer Lance Russell during an encounter at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky, which was ICW's home city. This occurred after Russell was successful in negotiating ICW's television time slot in Lexington away from ICW in favor of the CWA.^[3] This real-life feud became another part of the wrestling storyline in December 1983, when the Poffos were convinced to abandon the war and join the CWA, the earliest American incarnation of what later became better known as an invasion storyline. Despite using the Savage surname, he appeared on the Memphis-based television program alongside his father and brother. His promos referred to "Poffo Mania" more often than "Macho Mania," which would become one of his trademark catchphrases.

While in ICW, Savage developed a (real-life) romantic relationship with Elizabeth Hulette. Hulette became one of ICW's television announcers during their waning days of television production, appearing on camera under her real name and mostly introducing CWA house show matches from the Mid-South Coliseum featuring former ICW wrestlers. Savage joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1985, with an introductory storyline of him being a "free agent" who takes on the heretofore-unknown "Miss Elizabeth" (Hulette) as his manager. For many years, the WWF portrayed Savage and Elizabeth strictly in a wrestler-manager (strictly professional) relationship, with no mention that they had been married for a year prior to their WWF debuts. In 1991, the two began a kayfabe romantic relationship, which culminated in a kayfabe wedding ceremony at that August's SummerSlam. The storyline ended a year later with the couple's real-life divorce and Miss Elizabeth's departure from the WWF.

Tag teams of wrestlers, who may or may not look alike, are often presented as relatives, though they are not actually related. Examples include The Brothers of Destruction (The Undertaker and Kane), the The Holly Cousins (Hardcore Holly, Crash Holly, and Molly Holly) and the Dudley family. "Brother" tag teams were commonly utilized in years past as a means to develop young talent, by pairing them with a veteran wrestler and giving the younger wrestler a "rub" by virtue of the association. In the case of the Andersons, this was used multiple times over, first with Lars Anderson, followed by Ole Anderson, then years later with Arn Anderson. In this specific instance, this also greatly enhanced the shelf life and future legacy of the tag team and its associated gimmick ("The Minnesota Wrecking Crew"). Arn Anderson, as he gained experience as a wrestler, was introduced to Georgia Championship Wrestling audiences as Ole Anderson's nephew (and later cousin to Ric Flair). Although Minnesota roots were central to the Anderson gimmick, Arn clearly spoke with a southern accent. He had also previously appeared on the same program as a television jobber, working under his real name.

Injuries[link]

Sometimes wrestlers will "sell" a kayfabe injury by not appearing at the following show, in order to demonstrate the severity of what happened to them the week before. In the years when information on the happenings of the business was limited, this was a common tactic for promoters when a wrestler was scheduled to tour Japan, or in more limited circumstances was dealing with a family emergency.

In other instances, if a wrestler (typically a babyface) needs surgery, a storyline will sometimes develop in which a heel will commit a kayfabe, on-screen act to the face wrestler to "injure" the wrestler, in order to give the impression that it was the heel's action that caused the face to need surgery. In these instances, the heel will continually flaunt the notion of taking their opponent out of action, in order to keep the storyline fresh in fans' minds until the face is able to return and "settle the score".

Other times, a real injury is sometimes used later on as a storyline. One way is for the injured to come back and blame someone else for injuring them, even when the feud was not initially planned out at all, to give a sort of closure to the injury time out.

Lastly, when a major injury sidelines a wrestler in such a way none of the above can be done (such as Kurt Angle's neck injury in 2003), the company will plan a sort of return angle that can be used to celebrate a wrestler's return to action. This has been made especially popular in the WWE with the use of their "Desire" video vignettes of wrestlers who returned from a major injury such as Triple H in 2001 or Kurt Angle, in order to show that the wrestler was able to overcome a major injury that could have ended their career indefinitely (which, in many cases, could truly, non-kayfabe, be career-threatening or worse). In many cases, this is done for faces, though these also give a promotion a reason to turn a heel into a face (as in Kurt Angle's case) if what the wrestler brought to the company was sorely missed during their absence. These returns are usually given a particular date in order to increase viewership and ticket sales, as they are promised a star they have wanted to return. Even more so, a wrestler's return will not even be advertised. It will just suddenly happen in order to get a huge pop out of the crowd, such as Edge's return at the 2010 Royal Rumble,where Edge was entrant 29 at the 2010 Rumble event and despite no prior public knowledge of him even being able to return to action.

"You're fired!" and "I quit!"[link]

Through kayfabe, wrestlers often quit or get fired, or are said to have been booked to lose a match where their jobs are on the line (e.g., a "loser leaves town match"), only to return at a future time. These types of matches are also used when a wrestler's contract is up or to give them some time off to recover from a legitimate injury (before expanding to national television, wrestlers often did leave town as they were booked on the next city in the pro-wrestling circuit, similar to the carnival days).

However, such "departures" may also be used to advance a feud between two wrestlers. A classic example is the "masked man", where the wrestler (usually a face) who has supposedly lost his job makes appearances at subsequent events while wearing a mask, and then interferes in his heel opponent's matches; eventually, the masked wrestler's identity is exposed by his foe and the feud intensifies. This storyline was used for the Dusty Rhodes/Kevin Sullivan feud during the 1980s and also for the feud between Vince McMahon and Hulk Hogan in 2003. Some more recent examples include William Regal losing a Loser Gets Fired match against Mr. Kennedy on the May 19, 2008 episode of Raw (Regal was actually suspended for sixty days due to violation of the WWE Wellness Policy), The Undertaker losing a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match to Edge at WWE One Night Stand later that year, (where the winner would get the vacant WWE World Heavyweight Championship) and At Survivor Series, where John Cena officiated a match for the WWE Championship between Wade Barrett and Randy Orton. As a part of a pre-match stipulation, if Barrett did not win the championship, Cena would be fired from the WWE. Orton defeated Barrett to retain the title, thus "ending" Cena's career in the WWE.^[4] The following day on Raw, Cena gave a farewell speech, before costing Wade Barrett the WWE Championship by interfering in his rematch with Randy Orton.^[5] A week later, Cena invaded Raw first as a spectator but then attacked members of Nexus, explaining that he would still take down Nexus one by one, despite not having a job in WWE anymore. Cena was eventually "rehired" by Wade Barrett a few weeks later in an attempt to prevent a mutiny by members of the Nexus.

The "you're fired" gimmick has also successfully been used to repackage a wrestler with a new gimmick.

On the August 22, 2005 edition of Raw, WWE Champion John Cena successfully defended his title by defeating Chris Jericho in a "You're Fired!" match. Eric Bischoff promptly fired Jericho, and ordered that he be taken from the arena by security. Jericho was not truly fired, however, as his release was a mutual arrangement. The match had been conceived to cover for Jericho's departure from the company, and he eventually returned to the WWE on the November 19, 2007 edition of Raw after an absence of just over two years, remaining with the company until his contract expired in September 2010 and then returned once more in 2012.

On the December 6, 2007 episode of TNA Impact!, Christopher Daniels was fired in the Feast or Fired match and due to the stipulations it was revealed that Daniels' briefcase contained the pink slip, immediately causing him to be released from TNA. He reappeared on January 24, 2008 under the guise of Curry Man, a masked character he has used in New Japan Pro Wrestling. He was then fired under this name in another Feast or Fired Match. He then returned to TNA in 2009 reverting back to Christopher Daniels, and was announced as just "Daniels" until his release in 2010.

In April 2001, Vince McMahon announced that The Rock was indefinitely suspended. This was a cover story to give The Rock time off to film The Scorpion King. The Rock returned on the July 30, 2001 episode of Raw to declare that he was taking the WWF's side in their feud with WCW/ECW Alliance.

Breaking kayfabe[link]

There have been several examples of breaking kayfabe throughout wrestling history. It should be pointed out that what exactly constitutes "breaking" is rather difficult to define. It is rare for kayfabe to be dispensed with totally and the events acknowledged as scripted. Often the "break" may be implied or through an allusion (for example calling a wrestler by his/her real name) and standards tend to vary as to what is a break. In the WWF during and after the Attitude Era, the line between kayfabe and reality was often blurred.

With the growth of the industry and its exposure on the Internet and DVD and videos, kayfabe may be broken more regularly. Whereas in the past it was extremely rare for a wrestler or other involved person to recognize the scripted nature of events even in outside press or media, WWE DVDs and WWE.com routinely give news and acknowledge real life. In the case of the former, it has ostensible adversaries and allies talking about each other, and the angles and storylines they worked and their opinions on them. On WWE.com, real life news is often given which may contradict storylines.

Prior to the Attitude Era and the advent of the Internet, publications such as WWF Magazine, and television programs broke kayfabe only to acknowledge major real-life events involving current or retired wrestlers, such as a death (for instance, the death of Ernie Roth, who was billed as "The Grand Wizard of Wrestling"), divorce (e.g., Randy "Macho Man" Savage and Miss Elizabeth) or life-threatening accident (such as the 1990 parasailing accident that seriously injured Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake), especially if said event received mass mainstream coverage. In addition, when WWF top officials and employees were facing allegations of anabolic steroid abuse and sexual harassment during the early 1990s, Vince McMahon responded via a series of videotaped comments defending his company and employees, and several full-page advertisements rebutting the allegations appeared in WWF Magazine.

As of late, WWE.com has included an "Industry News" section to their website, which regularly breaks kayfabe to deliver news about current and former WWE superstars, and even going beyond their former policy of not acknowledging their competition, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, by posting TNA Impact! and pay-per-view results on their site. Live events for virtually every wrestling company around the world are also listed on a regular basis, as are tidbits regarding wrestlers, such as Nick Hogan's arrest and subsequent incarceration, the Ultimate Warrior's return to wrestling and challenging Vince McMahon to a match, etc.

Kayfabe has been broken many times, though it may not always be apparent to fans as seen below. The following is a list of some of the more notable examples.

The Von Erichs[link]

Jack Adkisson, better known as Fritz Von Erich, and his sons provided decades worth of examples, discussion and debate of which would become more of a focal point of World Class Championship Wrestling during its decline in the mid to late 1980s than any of its matches or storylines. The examples begin with Fritz himself. Adkisson, who had been a football star at Southern Methodist University, began wrestling in Texas under his real name. He then spent years touring North America as Fritz Von Erich, utilizing a Nazi gimmick. Adkisson later returned to Texas, retaining the Von Erich name and aspects of the Nazi gimmick while promoting himself as a conquering local hero. The 1984 death of son David Von Erich, which was announced as due to enteritis but continues to be highly disputed to this day, provided much fodder for discussion as business slowly dwindled in World Class following the conclusion of the Von Erich vs. Freebird feud. The most minor of contradictions in story would be seized upon by critics, most notably by Dave Meltzer, who lived in Denton, Texas at the time of David's death and originally reported the death in his Wrestling Observer Newsletter as due to enteritis.

The most egregious examples would actually follow David's death. During his years away from Texas, Jack Adkisson was part of a "brother tag team" (see above) with Waldo Von Erich, who was actually Canadian. As his sons began self-destructing, Fritz had a spot to fill in the roster, so he introduced Lance Von Erich, the son of Waldo. The problem was that in real life, Lance was Kevin Vaughn, a native of the Dallas area who was well-known locally under his real name as an athlete. Gary Hart, in an interview conducted for the WWE Home Video DVD release The Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling, stated that he returned to the promotion as booker shortly afterward. When he entered the Dallas Sportatorium, fans began asking him about Kevin Vaughn, to which he responded that he didn't know the name. Hart mentioned that these loyal fans were quick to point out that Kevin Vaughn was Lance Von Erich, and that "the Von Erichs lie," whereas they were content to believe in what they were seeing prior to this episode.

About a year after that, Fritz collapsed on the floor of Reunion Arena as he was leaving the ringside area. The suggestion that Fritz had faked a heart attack for cheap heat, with both kayfabe and real-life denials, would prove to be one of the final nails in the coffin for the promotion, which closed down within a year after this angle was shot.

Andy Kaufman, Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion of the World[link]

Actor and comedian Andy Kaufman has become known in the years following his death for his lifelong obsession with professional wrestling. In what would sound more familiar when several modern-day wrestlers spoke of being in the audience for the Don Muraco vs. Jimmy Snuka cage match as a life-changing event, Kaufman claimed to have been in attendance at Madison Square Garden twenty years prior when Bruno Sammartino defeated Buddy Rogers for the WWWF championship. Too small to be a wrestler and too successful in his career for any promoter to afford his services as a manager, Kaufman nonetheless spent years looking for a way to be involved in the business.

Kaufman developed a bit for his standup routine of being the "Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion of the World," challenging females from the audience. It has been reported multiple times over the years that Kaufman created this bit with the intention of shopping it to wrestling promoters as a storyline, and that he was turned down by numerous promoters, most famously by Vincent J. McMahon. He finally found a willing promoter in Jerry Jarrett, whose flagship arena the Mid-South Coliseum was considerably larger than most other venues in the United States which ran weekly wrestling shows, and therefore had a need to create enough interest to sell tickets. Kaufman appeared briefly in the promotion in the spring of 1982 to challenge Jerry Lawler, followed by a famous joint appearance with Lawler on Late Night with David Letterman and other appearances throughout the following year.

During this same time period, Kaufman also worked with Freddie Blassie, whose ability to maintain kayfabe in public was so strong, it more resembled an obliviousness to reality at times. Kaufman and Blassie filmed the movie My Breakfast with Blassie, in which both men performed in character. Kaufman and Blassie appeared together on the February 23, 1983 episode of Letterman's show to promote the movie. This appearance, which was also performed in character, culminated with Blassie proclaiming that he was now Kaufman's (kayfabe) manager and physically pushing Kaufman towards the band stage to perform "Jambalaya". Letterman, in the early years of Late Night, featured both professional wrestlers and ordinary people as guests, which in both cases was rare on network television. At one point during the appearance, Letterman and Blassie were discussing the latter's wrestling career, and Letterman frequently goaded his other guest (the ordinary person) to denounce Blassie's claims, albeit with the hint that it was being done tongue-in-cheek. The studio audience erupted in laughter when Blassie, in discussing being Kaufman's manager, stated that Kaufman was a talent of the caliber of Big John Studd and Crippler Stevens.

A decade and a half after Kaufman's death, Lawler starred as himself in Man on the Moon, a film that, in part portrays the kayfabe feud between the pair. The movie shows highlights from the work and then reveals that Kaufman and Lawler were friends. Kaufman was only an amateur wrestler, and his initial attempts to enter the pro wrestling business were met with scorn by promoters, many of whom viewed Kaufman as someone who was eager to use his celebrity to expose the business once he was given an entry. His work with wrestlers demonstrated that he was a quick study of kayfabe. His devotion to the kayfabe would last his whole life, eventually affecting his reputation with fans of his acting and comic careers.^[6]

Pre-attitude era WWF[link]

Montreal Screwjob[link]

The most widely-discussed example is the Montreal Screwjob (also called the Montreal Incident), centered around a match in which then-WWF Champion Bret Hart wrestled challenger Shawn Michaels for the championship at the Survivor Series pay-per-view event in Montreal on November 9, 1997. Hart had previously signed a contract with rival World Championship Wrestling and still had three weeks after this match before his first appearance on WCW Monday Nitro. The agreed-upon finish was to have Hart retain the title that night and appear on Monday Night Raw the following night to give up the championship. WWF head Vince McMahon had, months before, informed Hart that he could not financially guarantee the terms of his contract with Hart, encouraging him to make another deal if he was able to. As events transpired leading up to Survivor Series with Hart still champion and booked to remain champion following the event, McMahon feared that his championship would appear on his rival's television program. This led to McMahon making the decision to change the planned finish without telling Hart. McMahon's feelings on this matter were still fresh after WWF Women's Champion Debra Miceli (also known as Madusa and Alundra Blayze), following her release from the WWF, appeared on Nitro in December 1995 and threw her championship belt into a trash can.^[7] History proved that McMahon also held no reservations about such a matter. At least one account of the events of the WWF's expansion in late 1983 and early 1984 states that Bob Backlund was also not told by McMahon that he would lose the WWF Championship to the Iron Shiek, as well as losing his spot in the roster to Hulk Hogan.^[8]

During the Hart vs. Michaels match, Michaels put Hart in the sharpshooter, Hart's finisher. This in and of itself constitutes an act of breaking kayfabe, as one of the cardinal rules made clear to aspiring wrestlers, always unwritten and often unspoken, is for a wrestler to never use another wrestler's signature or finishing hold or move.^[9][10] Referee Earl Hebner signaled that Hart submitted, even though he clearly had not. At the same time, McMahon came to the ringside area and directed the ring crew to ring the bell and announce that Michaels had won the match. Hart, very upset, spat on McMahon and began trashing equipment around the ring, later punching McMahon in the dressing room. It was long believed that Michaels was also not informed of the events which transpired, yet later it was revealed that he was in fact in on it. The incident was recreated over the years in various angles and storylines. Examples include a "screwing" of Mankind at the following year's Survivor Series. The same finish was recreated on the March 18, 2006 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event. In this instance, McMahon "screwed" Michaels in a match where Michaels faced his son Shane, in order to build up the feud between the two leading up to their match at WrestleMania 22.

The incident occurred during a storyline feud between the United States and Canada. While Canadian nationalism certainly exists, the storyline was often panned for portraying relations between the two countries in a light which is far removed from reality. Hart played a vital role in the feud, doing promos in which he extolled the advantages of Canada in front of hostile American audiences. Numerous accounts of the screwjob have stated that Hart was asked to drop the title in Montreal, with Hart refusing to lose a match on Canadian soil due to his stature (whether real or self-imagined) in Canada. Following Hart's departure from the WWF, one of his chief rivals, Stone Cold Steve Austin, began being cheered by Canadian fans. Michaels, however, continued to receive jeers from Canadian audiences for many years afterward, no matter his babyface or heel status within a particular storyline. In response, numerous television announcers would refer to Canada in their commentary as "bizzaro land" due to their differing reactions to wrestlers, Michaels in particular, as opposed to anywhere else on the planet the WWF appeared. Such a statement is believed to be a cover-up on the part of the promotion, and that this scenario can be attributed to the fact that the screwjob was brought up verbally in some form or another every time the WWF/WWE returned to Montreal for a televised event for many years afterward, inflaming fans by not letting it die. The incident has also been cited for starting the "Mr. McMahon" character in earnest. McMahon, who had appeared on WWF television programs since 1971 (when it was known as the WWWF), had been portrayed on television almost exclusively to that point as the announcer and program host, rather than as the owner (or originally, the son of the owner) of the WWF. A series of angles during 1997 mostly involving Hart and McMahon, which ended with the screwjob, was the beginning stage of McMahon's on-camera appearances in a role other than announcing.

In a shoot interview with RFvideo.com, Kevin Nash doubted the legitimacy of the Montreal Screwjob. He believes the whole thing was a "work". He claims that it was too much of a coincidence that all of the cameras were in the right place at the right time during the Screwjob itself. Nash went on to say that McMahon was staggering a little too much after being punched, as he knew Vince as a man who would never sell a real punch the way he did. Nash also claimed that if McMahon didn't want something to be videotaped, it wouldn't be videotaped, referring to the video footage of the backstage aftermath, including being punched. Contradicting this view, Hart, in his book Hitman: My Real Life in the Cartoon World of Wrestling, noted that McMahon looked visibly concerned that the crew following him for the documentary film Hitman Hart: Wrestling with Shadows was present, but that McMahon never made objection. According to Hart, it was a matter of sheer luck that the crew captured footage of all of the events which transpired. On the January 4, 2010 edition of Raw, Hart was the guest host for the episode. Hart and Michaels had made previous claims that they were ready to "bury the hatchet." The two met in the ring, admitted their faults and embraced in the ring. Despite Hart and McMahon mending their differences much earlier, a kayfabe feud began between the two when McMahon attacked Hart to end the program. This began the storyline that led to their match at Wrestlemania 26. The timing of Hart's guest host appearance, as well as the ensuing happenings, appears to have been scheduled and booked for the non-kayfabe reason of serving as a competitive retaliation to a special edition of TNA Impact!, airing live on a Monday opposite Raw and featuring the TNA debut of Hulk Hogan.

1996 MSG Incident[link]

In the 1996 MSG Incident, real-life friends Shawn Michaels, Hunter Hearst Hemsley, Diesel (Kevin Nash), and Razor Ramon (Scott Hall) broke kayfabe by embracing in the ring at the end of a match between Michaels and Nash. Nash and Hall were on their way to rival promotion World Championship Wrestling, and the incident was a farewell from Michaels and Triple H. Because of Nash & Hall's departure and the fact that Michaels was champion at the time, Triple H was the sole person punished for the incident. He was thus relegated to working lower card matches and was booked to lose to Jake "The Snake" Roberts in the King of the Ring 1996 tournament, having previously been booked to win it. The event had a profound impact on the company overall in later years, as Stone Cold Steve Austin was booked in Triple H's place to win the tournament overall, thus setting the stage for Austin's meteoric rise to prominence in the late '90s.

Hogan/Savage/Miss Elizabeth[link]

Sometimes a real life issue that a wrestler is involved in outside of kayfabe will be used as a storyline.

The end of The Mega Powers, the alliance between Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage, was inspired by real-life tension between the two men over Randy's valet (and real-life wife at the time) Miss Elizabeth.

Lita/Edge/Matt Hardy[link]

In early 2005, Lita and Matt Hardy had been a legitimate couple for nearly six years, but around February of that year, Lita cheated on Hardy with fellow wrestler, Edge. Hardy made the situation public, and was fired from the WWE soon after, but the WWE hired Hardy back after only two months. They then put the real-life incident into a storyline with Edge and Lita facing Hardy. The WWE was forced to do this because by the time Hardy was fired, the majority of the fans were already aware of the incident and booed Lita (who was a face at the time). The live crowd would often chant "you screwed Matt" toward Lita.

McMahon Steroid Trial[link]

In the build up to Hulk Hogan's match with Vince McMahon at WrestleMania XIX, real life tension between the two men following McMahon's steroid trial was added to the storyline to generate interest in their match.

Sid/Scott Steiner[link]

Shoot comments were a popular tactic of Vince Russo, who would often blur the line between kayfabe and reality. WCW, in its declining years of the Monday Night Wars, would use real life incidents the wrestlers had as material for storylines, even though they could be seen as tasteless at times. A prime example of this is when Sid Vicious suffered a severe leg break in a match against Scott Steiner from a botched second turnbuckle kick in January 2001.

Mick Foley/Ric Flair[link]

Ric Flair and Mick Foley's real life issues were also built into a storyline, which used the real criticisms of each man against the other in their respective books as fuel for the storyline. This escalated to the point that on an edition of Raw, a diatribe from Foley saw Flair aim a punch at him which he did not pull and made full contact in Foley's ear.

Special and Tribute shows[link]

In specials and tribute shows, kayfabe is often broken. In the tribute shows for Brian Pillman, Owen Hart, Eddie Guerrero, and Chris Benoit, many wrestlers and officials, including those who had kayfabe feuds with them, spoke in their honor. In Owen's case, the show has garnered a reputation as one of the most memorable Raw episodes in history, and has even been labeled "Raw is Owen" by several wrestling fans.

Kayfabe and real life came into serious conflict on June 25, 2007, when the actual death of Chris Benoit necessitated an appearance by WWE chairman Vince McMahon on his Raw program which aired that same day, even though the character of Mr. McMahon had been "killed" in an automobile explosion on a previous episode. The death angle was scrapped, as was the regularly scheduled Raw program. Instead, a tribute to Benoit was broadcast. However, the circumstances surrounding the deaths of Benoit and his family led McMahon to also appear in person on the ECW broadcast the following night as well, making the last mention of Benoit's name on WWE television.

The ending of the Raw fifteenth anniversary special featured both heels and faces enjoying a beer together with many WWE alumni. When Ric Flair retired the night following WrestleMania XXIV on Raw, the entire roster of all three brands honored him, as did former wrestlers such as the Four Horsemen and Ricky Steamboat. Most notably, however, this included The Undertaker and Vince McMahon (who, as part of the storyline for Flair's retirement, made the stipulation in which if Flair lost a single match, he would be forced to retire).^[11]

On the April 11, 2011 edition of Raw, after Edge announced his retirement due to a legitimate spinal condition, Edge, being a face superstar was seen shaking many heel superstars' hands, most notably Dolph Ziggler, whom Edge had recently been in a relatively long feud with. On the following edition of Smackdown he also announced that he and Kane were best of friends despite the two also recently being involved in a relatively long feud which included Edge causing Kane to push his father Paul Bearer off of a balcony to his (kayfabe) death.

On the September 16, 2011 edition of Smackdown, Edge returned to host the "Cutting Edge". Christian and Edge had formerly feuded about whether or not Edge cost Christian the World Heavyweight Championship at Summerslam and they appeared to reconcile backstage. Still, both appeared slightly uncomfortable to see each other. The feud started again after Christian got angry at Edge for not helping him to convince Teddy Long that he deserves one more match for the title. After the taping of the show, they hosted Edge Appreciation Night where Christian told Edge that he loves him and that whether or not he's in the WWE he will always be his biggest fan, breaking kayfabe. They embraced as lifelong friends.

Chris Masters real name[link]

During the (kayfabe) trial of Eric Bischoff in December 2005, Chris Masters was brought in to defend Bischoff. Judge Vince McMahon asked Masters for his name, to which he answered "Chris Masters," but McMahon replied "It says here his real name is Chris Mordetzky," and then disqualified Masters from the trial.

Trump buys WWE Raw[link]

On June 15, 2009, Vince McMahon announced on a special three-hour edition of WWE Monday Night Raw that he had sold the show to Donald Trump, who appeared on-screen to confirm it and declared he would be at the following commercial-free episode in person. However, it was not revealed that the "sale" to Trump was not an actual sale, but a kayfabe as part of the WWE's storyline. Executives for WWE and USA Network treated the "sale" as an actual sale, and it was picked up as a real event by many industry sources.^[12] The day following the announcement, WWE's stock on the New York Stock Exchange fell, leading USA Network to admit that the "sale" was indeed nothing more than part of a storyline.^[13][14]

Linda McMahon's United States Senate campaign[link]

Not long after the Trump incident, in the fall of 2009, WWE CEO Linda McMahon (Vince McMahon's spouse) announced her candidacy for the United States Senate. The announcement was initially thought by some to be kayfabe, but it turned out that Linda McMahon was in fact a candidate for the Connecticut Senate seat held at the time by Christopher Dodd, who months later announced his retirement from the Senate. McMahon won the Republican nomination in the primary election before losing in the general election to Democrat Richard Blumenthal. Video clips depicting WWE storylines, in particular clips featuring Eugene, were used in anti-McMahon advertising during the campaign.

Following Linda McMahon's departure, Vince McMahon took over as CEO of WWE. Their son, Shane McMahon, also left WWE around the same time, to pursue a career in creating a MMA company.

Ric Flair's retirement[link]

At WrestleMania XXIV, Ric Flair lost his match against Shawn Michaels and he was forced to retire. The next night, on the March 31, 2008 edition of Raw, Flair delivered his farewell address. An emotional night followed during which Flair was reunited with many of the wrestlers he had worked with in the past. Then all the WWE Superstars, faces and heels, came out to bid farewell to Flair, breaking kayfabe.

Michael Cole[link]

Michael Cole, who is generally a heel commentator on both Raw and Smackdown, broke kayfabe on the February 14, 2011 edition of Raw to acknowledge the passing of Jerry Lawler's mother, saying that he talked to Lawler earlier in the day and that he assured Cole that despite what happened, he would be at the Elimination Chamber pay per view to wrestle The Miz for the WWE Championship that week, a match he ultimately lost. This was worked into their feud throughout 2011 by Cole insulting Lawler's mother in promos building up to their matches at Wrestlemania 27, Extreme Rules, and Over the Limit.

Kurt Angle/Jeff Jarrett[link]

While in TNA, Kurt Angle's wife Karen had an affair with widower Jeff Jarrett that led to the Angles' divorce after about ten years of marriage, Jarrett would marry Karen in August 2010 and their relationship started an onscreen feud between the two wrestlers also involving Angle's children.

Triple H bidding Shawn Michaels farewell[link]

On March 29, 2010, Triple H was attacked by Sheamus with a steel pipe as he was trying to tell his real life best friend Shawn Michaels something he apparently had never told him before. At the end of Raw, Michaels gave a farewell address as he had lost a career vs streak match to the Undertaker the previous night at WrestleMania XXVI. Following the speech, Michaels left the ring. As he waved to the crowd, he was met at the top of the entrance ramp by Triple H who came from behind and embraced him, breaking kayfabe by showing no effects from the earlier attack by Sheamus. After another embrace, Triple H placed a DX glow stick on the top of the ramp before the two went backstage.

A break which is apparent but not acknowledged[link]

In the ring as in theater many scripted things can easily go wrong, either due to wrestler or equipment error. Like theater, these are often covered-up and not apparent to fans. On some occasions mishaps have been brought into sharp relief due to the circumstances or actions of individuals, making the mistakes obvious.

• Bret Hart once talked about a match against Dino Bravo he was meant to win; during the match, Bravo threw Hart into a barrier outside of the ring and broke Hart's sternum. Without letting Bravo know, Hart battled on and was in severe pain. When he was thrown back into the ring, he rolled himself back outside the ring and was counted out without giving away his injury.

• In the 1995 Summerslam ladder match for the Intercontinental Championship, Shawn Michaels twice fumbled in his attempt to retrieve the belt, the second time very obviously, forcing his opponent Razor Ramon to lie down for a lengthy period of time, far greater than what is normally associated with the bump that he took. It's generally believed, however, that this mistake actually made the match better than what it would have been with the scripted ending. It's often ranked as one of the best WWE matches of all time.

• At SummerSlam 1997, in another Intercontinental Title Match, a botched reverse piledriver administered by Owen Hart to Steve Austin resulted in a (real life) serious injury for Austin. He was clearly unable to move for several minutes and eventually only did so with great difficulty. Owen Hart's concern was apparent to all. Austin was booked to win, and Owen taunted him and the crowd for a while until Austin rolled him up for a weak pin and the win.

• On March 12, 2000 New Jack (legitimately) suffered brain damage and was temporarily blinded in his right eye, when he and his opponent, Vic Grimes, fell off a balcony, missed the tables that were supposed to absorb the force of their fall and landed on the concrete floor (with Grimes landing on New Jack's head) at Living Dangerously 2000.

• At SummerSlam 2000, in the three-way match for the WWF Championship between The Rock, Triple H & Kurt Angle, Triple H attempted to give Angle a Pedigree, his finishing move on the announce table. The table legitimately collapsed and Angle was rendered unconscious. The microphones from the collapsed announcers table picked up and broadcast Triple H whispering 'Are you ok mate?' to the injured Kurt Angle. The other two participants improvised until Angle was able to regain consciousness so the match could go on to its scripted finish. However, Angle would later claim in his autobiography that while his injury was real, everything that led up to it as well as the aftermath was scripted.

• On February 25, 2001 at No Way Out, the Rock wrestled WWF Champion Kurt Angle. As noted in Angle's autobiography It's True! It's True! the finish to the match was supposed to be the Rock giving Angle a Rock Bottom to win the match and the title. He did so, but referee Earl Hebner stopped his count at two by mistake by almost counting three but stopping short, apparently forgetting the original finish. Ringside announcers Jim Ross and Tazz covered for Hebner's mistake by saying that Angle had kicked out despite the fact that Angle made no visible effort to do so. The Rock then gave Angle a second Rock Bottom and Hebner made a three count to finally end the match.

• On May 21, 2001, Triple H tore his quadriceps during a tag team title match. The injury happened as Triple H was breaking up Chris Jericho's Walls of Jericho while Stone Cold Steve Austin was in the hold. Although he was visibly in pain, the fact that he was apparently injured was not mentioned by Jim Ross or Paul Heyman, and Triple H managed to continue the match, taking the Walls of Jericho on the announce table at one point. Following the match, which Jericho and Chris Benoit won, Triple H would be out of action until the 2002 Royal Rumble.

• At Armageddon 2006, Jeff Hardy and Matt Hardy wrestled Johnny Nitro and Joey Mercury, Paul London and Brian Kendrick and William Regal and Dave Taylor. Mercury was struck in the face by a ladder, he was then rushed to the emergency room where he received five stitches to the inside of his nose, and fifteen to the outside. The WWE worked his legitimate injury into an angle, in which Mercury looked for revenge against the Hardy Boyz.

• At New Years Revolution 2007, Triple H tore his quadriceps again (the same injury as in 2001 but in the other leg) while performing a Spinebuster to Randy Orton in a Tag Team Title Match. The match then ended with Triple H (and tag partner Shawn Michaels) getting intentionally disqualified.

• In October 2007, John Cena battled Mr. Kennedy on an edition of Raw. During the match, Cena tore his pectoral muscle while executing a hip toss on Kennedy. For the duration of the match, Cena visibly favored his shoulder and arm. After the match, Randy Orton (then in the middle of a feud with Cena), attacked Cena, eventually performing his finisher, the RKO on him while on top of an announcing table. WWE worked Cena's real life injury into the Orton/Cena feud, stating that Cena's shoulder was injured due to the RKO. Though, Mr. Kennedy in his promos following that match, claimed he had put Cena out of action.

• On October 22, 2007, Candice Michelle battled Beth Phoenix on Raw for the WWE Women's Championship in a two out of three falls match. At the end of the match, Candice Michelle went for a diving crossbody off the top turnbuckle, where Phoenix had pushed the top rope causing Candice to fall on the mat, causing her to hit her head and neck. It was later reported that she had legitimately broken her collarbone.

• In June 2008, at the One Night Stand PPV, Triple H battled Randy Orton in a Last Man Standing match for the WWE Championship. At one point during the match, Orton was supposed to attempt an RKO on Triple H, which was then supposed to be countered, resulting in Orton being thrown over the top rope to the floor. Yet as Orton hit the floor, he suffered a legitimate broken collarbone, and as he was writhing in agony, Triple H could be seen discussing with the referee and the EMTs whether or not to continue the match. In the recorded broadcast it can clearly be seen and heard as the referee advises Triple H to conclude the match early by saying "get the sledgehammer, the sledgehammer" and continuously telling him to "be careful". Triple H then took out his signature sledgehammer, and proceeded to hit Orton in the head with it, thus finishing the match.

• On the September 12, 2011 edition of WWE Raw, CM Punk referred to both himself and Triple H by their respective real names of Phil Brooks and Paul Levesque.^[15]

• On the February 27, 2012 edition of WWE Raw, Dwayne Johnson (The Rock) described his earliest days in WWE when he used to get booed by fans in the arena, despite being presented by WWE as a babyface.

Other[link]

Real life information being mentioned on the show[link]

• Several incidents over the years involved Roddy Piper. After appearing as the leading star in Don Owen's Pacific Northwest Wrestling during 1979 and 1980, Piper would return to the territory for special appearances, particularly after establishing permanent residence in Oregon. In one such instance in 1983, Piper appeared on Portland Wrestling to give an interview addressing Steve Duin, a columnist and reporter for The Oregonian newspaper who was frequently critical of Owen and his wrestling promotion over many years. Duin wrote an article entitled "Delineated morality play delights pro wrestling fans," which was published in The Oregonian on May 12, 1983. In the article, Duin described Owen's fan base as "a strange mix of people you never see shopping at Washington Square," and also insinuated that Curt Hennig was perhaps homosexual. In defending the business, his profession and the Oregon wrestling fans against Duin, Piper cut a promo which was essentially a shoot though conducted in character. Portland Wrestling color commentator Dutch Savage, who conducted the interview, was visibly unable to maintain his composure and keep from laughing. On the February 3rd, 1997 edition of WCW Monday Nitro, during the NWO storyline, Piper referred to Hulk Hogan as "Terry," his real name. On the May 5th, 2008 edition of WWE Raw, Piper appeared on Carlito's Cabana and mentioned Santino Marella's recent DUI arrest.

• During the early 1980s run of The Moondogs in the WWF, Gorilla Monsoon announced a match of theirs at the Spectrum in Philadelphia in which he referred to Moondog Rex on-air as "Randy," his real name. Lance Russell addressed this very subject in the course of his post-retirement (and post-kayfabe) discussions on his career. Russell mentioned that he preferred not to know the real names of the wrestlers he worked with. As an example, he mentioned becoming friends with Frank Morrell, who mostly wrestled under a mask as The Spoiler, then referring to him by his real name rather than his wrestling name on a live broadcast.

• During a televised show run by Memphis independent promotion Power Pro Wrestling on October 23, 1999, Doug Gilbert turned a scripted interview intended to further a feud with Brian Christopher into a shoot that soon led to the demise of the promotion. Gilbert blatantly broke kayfabe by publicly revealing the fact that Jerry Lawler, previously the owner of another significant Memphis-based promotion, was Brian's father. He also made disparaging remarks about both Lawlers, as well as the promotion's booker Randy Hales.^[16]

• During the storyline end to "McMahon's Millions", which saw the Raw stage collapse on Mr. McMahon, Vince was heard referring to Triple H by his real name (Paul).

• During the promo of getting Shawn Michaels to join Triple H in DX again in 2009, at the end of the promo Shawn Michaels new boss refers to him by his real last name, Hickenbottom.

• During their feud Paul Burchill revealed the mugshot of Gregory Helms, who had been arrested in Cleveland a few days prior to the event.

• During The Undertaker's stint of "American Badass", his then-wife Sara appeared on a few episodes of Raw. She would refer to Undertaker as "Mark" (his real name being Mark Calaway). Ken Shamrock also once referred to Undertaker as "Mark" during the "Ministry of Darkness" storyline (where Undertaker was the central wrestler).

• During the Royal Rumble in 2009, after Goldust's entrance, he attacked Ted DiBiase, Jr. before being stopped by Cody Rhodes. Jim Ross mentioned that Goldust and Cody Rhodes were brothers (in fact half-brothers), since the men are the sons of Dusty Rhodes, even leading Jerry Lawler to say, I Love a good sibling rivalry.

• On the November 22, 2010 edition of Raw, The Miz announced that Alex Riley would be taking his place in his match. Before the match started CM Punk, who was the new commentator, clearly said "Are you sure he's not under the influence". This was referring to Riley being arrested for DUI.

• On the June 28, 2011, CM Punk, after his match with John Cena, talks about McMahon, he mentioned that he broke the fourth when he mentions Dwayne (the real name of the Rock).

• During the CM Punk-John Cena storyline in July 2011 on Raw, a scene in which CM Punk and Vince McMahon negotiated the match contract featured McMahon referring to Punk by his real first name of Phil.

• During the 2011 SummerSlam CM Punk vs John Cena match contract signing, CM Punk talked about the release of DH Smith to Triple H who was standing in the ring. Punk referred to DH Smith as Harry Smith (his real-life name) by saying "and by the way his name is Harry Smith not DH Smith."

• At the TNA pay-per-view No Surrender, Jeremy Borash interviewed Thea Trinidad a.k.a. Rosita out of character about losing her father in the September 11 attacks.

Storylines becoming real life[link]

Some efforts to promote kayfabe have resulted in real-life consequences.

While working as a booker for WCW, Kevin Sullivan conceived an angle where Woman (Nancy Daus Sullivan, Sullivan's wife both on-screen and off), would leave his character for Chris Benoit's. Sullivan insisted that the two should travel together to preserve kayfabe for the general public. This resulted in Sullivan's wife legitimately leaving him for Benoit when the two developed a real-life romantic relationship during their time together. Nancy ultimately married Benoit in 2000.

Brian Pillman developed the "Loose Cannon" persona for himself while in WCW in 1996, conspiring with Vice President Eric Bischoff and booker Kevin Sullivan. Pillman's gimmick was based entirely on straddling the fine line of kayfabe. He would engage in on-camera actions that seemed to be unscripted, even to the other performers, and even breached kayfabe protocol when he addressed Sullivan on air as "bookerman". In the ultimate act of turning fiction into fact, Pillman convinced Sullivan and Bischoff that their storyline "firing" of him would seem more legitimate with the physical evidence of a release form. They faxed an actual WCW contract termination notice to him, complete with his name and the proper signatures, in order to preserve kayfabe. This allowed Pillman to leave WCW for the ECW and WWF.

See also[link]

• Glossary of professional wrestling terms
• Fourth wall
• Trade secret
• Shoot

References[link]

General[link]

• Word Origin Citations

Specific[link]

Hulk Hogan
Hulk Hogan at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. (August 21, 2005)
Ring name(s)	The Super Destroyer[1] Hulk Hogan[1] Hollywood Hulk Hogan[1] Hollywood Hogan[2] Terry Boulder[1] Mr. America Sterling Golden
Billed height	6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)[3]
Billed weight	302 lb (137 kg)[1]
Born	(1953-08-11) August 11, 1953 (age 58)[1] Augusta, GA[1]
Resides	Tampa, Florida[1]
Billed from	Venice Beach, California[3] Washington, D.C. (as Mr. America)[4] Hollywood, California (as Hollywood Hogan)
Trained by	Hiro Matsuda[1]
Debut	August 10, 1977[1]
Website	hulkhogan.com

Terry Gene Bollea^[5] (born August 11, 1953),^[1] better known by his ring name Hulk Hogan, is an American professional wrestler, actor, television personality, and musician signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).^[6]

Hogan enjoyed mainstream popularity in the mid 1980s through the early 1990s as the all-American character Hulk Hogan in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF—now WWE), and was notable in the mid-to-late 1990s as Hollywood Hogan, the villainous nWo leader, in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). Following the closure of WCW, he made a brief return to WWE in the early 2000s before revising his heroic character by combining elements of his two most famous personas.

Hogan was later inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2005. He is a 12-time world champion being a six-time WWF/WWE Champion, six-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion, as well as a former WWE World Tag Team Champion with Edge. He won the Royal Rumble in 1990 and 1991, making him the first to win two consecutive Royal Rumbles. He was also the first WWE wrestler to win the WWE Championship three times. In his first reign as WCW World Heavyweight Champion, Hogan held the title for 469 days from July 17, 1994 to October 29, 1995—the longest ever reign for this championship.

Early life[link]

Hogan, born Terry Gene Bollea, was born in Augusta, Georgia, the son of Peter Bollea, a construction foreman, and Ruth, a homemaker and dance teacher. He is of Italian, French, and Panamanian heritage.^[7]

When he was one and a half years old, his family moved to Port Tampa, Florida.^[8]

As a boy, he was a pitcher in Little League Baseball. He began watching professional wrestling at 16 years old. While in high school, he revered Dusty Rhodes,^[9] and he regularly attended cards at the Tampa Sportatorium. It was at one of those wrestling cards where he first turned his attention towards "Superstar" Billy Graham and looked to him for inspiration;^[9] since he first saw Graham on TV,^[9] Hogan wanted to match his "inhuman" look.^[9] Hogan was also a skilled musician, spending ten years playing bass guitar in several Florida-based rock bands.^[2]

He went on to study at Hillsborough Community College and the University of South Florida. After music gigs began to get in the way of his time in college, Hogan decided to drop out of the University of South Florida before receiving any degree.^[10] Eventually, Hogan and two local musicians formed a band called Ruckus in 1976.^[11] The band soon became a local sensation in the Tampa Bay region.^[11]

During his spare time, Hogan would work out at Hector's Gym in the Tampa Bay area and eventually became strong enough to do big lifting.^[12] Many of the wrestlers who were competing in the Florida region visited the bars where Ruckus was performing.^[9] Among those attending his performances were Jack and Gerald Brisco,^[9] two brothers who wrestled together as a tag team in the Florida region. Impressed by Hogan's physical stature, the Brisco brothers asked Hiro Matsuda—the man who trained wrestlers working for Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF)—to make him a potential trainee.^[13] In 1976, the two brothers asked Hogan to try wrestling. Having been a wrestling fan since childhood,^[9] Hogan eventually agreed.^[14] At first, however, Mike Graham, the son of CWF promoter Eddie Graham, refused to put Hogan in the ring;^[15] according to Hogan, he met Graham while in high school and the two didn't get along.^[15] However, after Hogan quit Ruckus and started telling people in town that he was going to be a wrestler,^[15] Mike Graham finally agreed to accept the Brisco Brothers' request.

Professional wrestling career[link]

Early years (1977–1979)[link]

In the summer of 1977, after over a year of training with Matsuda,^[16] the Brisco brothers dropped by Matsuda's gym to see Hogan.^[16] During this visit, Jack Brisco handed Hogan a pair of wrestling boots and informed him that he was scheduled to wrestle his first match the following week.^[16] In his professional wrestling debut, Eddie Graham booked him against Brian Blair in Fort Myers, Florida on August 10, 1977 in Championship Wrestling from Florida.^[17][18] A short time later, Bollea donned a mask and assumed the persona of "The Super Destroyer," a hooded character first played by Don Jardine and subsequently used by other wrestlers. Hogan, however, eventually could no longer work with Hiro Matsuda,^[19] whom he felt was an overbearing trainer,^[19] and left Championship Wrestling From Florida.^[20] After declining an offer to wrestle for the Kansas City circuit,^[20] Hogan took a hiatus from wrestling and managed a private club in Cocoa Beach, Florida-known as the Anchor Club-.^[20] for a man named Whitey Bridges.^[20] Eventually, Whitey and Hogan became close friends, and decided to open a gym together;^[20] the gym would be known as Whitey and Terry's Olympic gym.^[20] Soon after, Hogan's friend Ed Leslie (later known as Brutus Beefcake) came down to Cocoa Beach to help Hogan and Bridges manage both the Anchor Club and the Whitey and Terry's Olympic Gym.^[20] On his spare time, he and Beefcake would work out in the gym together,^[20] and eventually, Beefcake developed a muscular physique;^[21] Hogan was impressed by Beefcake's physical stature and became convinced that the two of them should wrestle together as tag team partners.^[21] Depressed and yearning to return to wrestling,^[21] Hogan called Superstar Billy Graham in 1978 with hopes that Graham could find him a job wrestling outside of Florida;^[21] Graham agreed and Hogan soon joined Louie Tillet's Alabama territory.^[21] Hogan also convinced Beefcake, who had yet to become a wrestler,^[21] to come with him and promised to teach him everything he knew about the sport.^[21]

In Alabama, he and Beefcake wrestled as Terry and Ed Boulder, known as the Boulder Brothers.^[22] These early matches as a tag team with the surname Boulder being used by both men prompted a rumor among wrestling fans unaware of the inner workings of the sport that Hogan and Beefcake were brothers,^[22] as few people actually knew their real names outside of immediate friends, family, and of course the various promoters the two worked for. After wrestling a show for Continental Wrestling Association (CWA) in Memphis,^[23] Jerry Jarrett, the promoter for the (CWA), approached Hogan and Beefcake and offered them a job in his promotion for $800.00 a week;^[23] this was far more than the $175.00 a week they would make working for Tillet.^[23] Hogan and Beefcake accepted this offer and left Tillet's territory.^[23]

During his time in Memphis, Hogan appeared on a local talk show, where he sat beside Lou Ferrigno, star of the television series The Incredible Hulk.^[24] The host commented on how Terry, who stood 6 ft 7 in (201 cm) and weighed 295 pounds with 24 inch biceps, actually dwarfed "The Hulk." Watching the show backstage, Jerry Jarrett noticed that Hogan was actually bigger than Ferrigno, who was well known at the time for having large muscles.^[25] As a result, Bollea began performing as Terry "The Hulk" Boulder^[25] and sometimes wrestled as Sterling Golden.^[2]

In May 1979, Bollea had an early shot at the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, which at the time was generally recognized as the highest honor in wrestling. In June 1979, Bollea won his first wrestling championship, the NWA Southeast Heavyweight Championship, recognized in Alabama and Tennessee when he defeated Ox Baker.

World Wrestling Federation (1979–1980)[link]

Later that year, former NWA World Champion Terry Funk introduced Bollea to the company head Vincent J. McMahon, who was impressed with his charisma and physical stature. McMahon, who wanted to use an Irish name, gave Bollea the last name Hogan, and also wanted him to dye his hair red. Hogan who said his hair was already beginning to fall out, refused to dye it and simply said "I'll be a blond irish.^[26] At this time, Hogan wrestled Bob Backlund for the World Championship,^[27] and he started his first big feud with André the Giant, which culminated in a match with André at Shea Stadium in August 1980.^[28] Hulk Hogan claims in his autobiography that he and André the Giant were the reason for the Shea gate. However, Sammartino/Zbyszko sold out everywhere they wrestled leading up the show. Hogan and Andre wrestled in White Plains, New York, drawing 1,200 in a building that held 3,500 as the main event before they wrestled at Shea. During his initial heel run in the WWF, Hogan was paired with "Classy" Freddie Blassie, a wrestler-turned-manager.

New Japan Pro Wrestling (1980–1985)[link]

A great deal of Hogan's early success was achieved in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Japanese wrestling fans were in awe of the gargantuan blond American and nicknamed him "Ichiban" (which translates to "Number One"). Hogan first appeared in Japan on May 13, 1980, while he was still with the WWF. He occasionally toured the country over the next few years, facing a wide variety of opponents ranging from Tatsumi Fujinami to Abdullah the Butcher. When competing in Japan, Hogan used a vastly different repertoire of wrestling moves, relying on more technical, traditional wrestling holds and maneuvers as opposed to the power-based, brawling style American fans became accustomed to seeing from him. Another difference is that Hogan used a running forearm lariat (called the "Axe Bomber") as his finisher in Japan instead of the running leg drop that has been his traditional finisher in America. On June 2, 1983, Hogan became the first International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) tournament winner (although he held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt, this was not the beginning of the actual championship), defeating Japanese wrestling icon Antonio Inoki by knockout in the finals of a 10-man tournament featuring top talent from throughout the world.^[29] Hogan and Inoki also worked as partners in Japan, winning the prestigious MSG Tag League tournament two years in a row: in 1982 and 1983. Hogan's popularity in Japan was so great, he even recorded an album there—a forerunner to the World Wrestling Federation's "Rock 'n' Wrestling" of the mid 1980s.

In 1984, Hogan returned to New Japan, to wrestle Antonio Inoki in the finals of the IWGP League, in which he lost the belt by countout, thanks to interference from Riki Choshu. Hogan would also defend his WWF World title against various stars in New Japan including Inoki, Seiji Sakaguchi, and Tatsumi Fujinami among others, until the WWF ended their relationship with New Japan in October 1985.

American Wrestling Association (1981–1983)[link]

After filming his scene for Rocky III against the elder McMahon's wishes, Hogan made his debut in the American Wrestling Association, owned by Verne Gagne. Hogan started his AWA run as a heel, taking on "Luscious" Johnny Valiant as his manager, before handing the AWA title over to him. Hogan, unwilling to give up his life as a bachelor for the world title of the AWA, continued to turn down the belt. Shortly after these attempts to woo Hogan into giving Gagne more of a share of his profits and booking in Japan and attempts to bring him into the Gagne family, Hogan was lured back to the Northeast by Vincent K. McMahon, who had just recently purchased the WWF from his ailing father.

Over twenty years later, just prior to Hulk Hogan's WWE Hall of Fame induction in 2005, the revived American Wrestling Association, under the authority of owner Dale Gagner, retroactively acknowledged Hogan's two previously-overturned title wins over Nick Bockwinkel making Hogan a two-time AWA World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion.^[30] This resolution, however, has been regarded as apocryphal to most as the resurrected AWA is generally regarded as a different body than the Verne Gagne–owned AWA of old. As recently as the release of the DVD The Spectacular Legacy of the AWA, interviews between Hogan and the Gagnes show that there is still animosity between both parties indicating the unlikelihood that Hogan's AWA title reign would have been retroactively instated under the original ownership. The WWE won a lawsuit against Dale Gagner, due to trademark infringement, which declared Gagner's claims to ownership of the AWA false and as such rendered the resolution moot as WWE only recognizes twelve American world championships being attributed to Hulk Hogan, and, the AWA World Championship is not among that number.^{[citation needed]}

Return to World Wrestling Federation (1983-1993)[link]

The Birth of Hulkamania (1983–1984)[link]

Hogan as the Heavyweight Champion with Brutus Beefcake.

After purchasing the company from his father in 1982, Vincent K. McMahon had plans to expand the territory into a nationwide promotion, and he handpicked Hulk Hogan to be the company's showpiece attraction due to his charisma and name recognition. Hogan made his return at a television taping in St. Louis, Missouri on December 27, 1983 defeating Bill Dixon.^[31]

On the January 7, 1984 edition of Championship Wrestling, Hogan confirmed his face status for the WWF fans by saving Bob Backlund from a three-way assault.^[32] Hogan's turn was explained simply by Backlund: "He's changed his ways. He's a great man. He's told me he's not gonna have Blassie around." The storyline shortcut was necessary because less than three weeks later on January 23, Hogan won his first WWF Championship, pinning The Iron Sheik (who had Blassie in his corner) in Madison Square Garden.^[2][33] The storyline accompanying the victory was that Hogan was a "last minute" replacement for the Sheik's original opponent Bob Backlund,^[3] and became the champion by way of being the first man to escape the camel clutch (the Iron Sheik's finishing move).^[34] The backstage story was that the WWF Champion Bob Backlund had refused to let Hogan win the title from him, demanding that any wrestler to whom he lost the belt have a legitimate wrestling background. As a consequence, The Iron Sheik won the title from Backlund first and then dropped it to Hogan.

Immediately after the title win, commentator Gorilla Monsoon proclaimed "Hulkamania is here!" Hogan frequently referred to his fans as "Hulkamaniacs" in his interviews and introduced his three "demandments": training, saying prayers, and eating vitamins. Eventually, a fourth demandment (believing in oneself) was added during his feud with Earthquake in 1990. Hogan's ring gear developed a characteristic yellow-and-red color scheme; his ring entrances involved him ritualistically ripping his shirt off his body, flexing, and listening for audience cheers in an exaggerated manner. The majority of Hogan's matches during this time involved him wrestling heels who had been booked as unstoppable monsters, using a format which became near-routine: Hogan would deliver steady offense, but eventually lose momentum, seemingly nearing defeat. He would then experience a sudden second wind, fighting back while "feeding" off the energy of the audience, becoming impervious to attack—a process described as "Hulking up". His signature maneuvers—pointing at the opponent (which would later be accompanied by a loud "YOU!" from the audience), shaking his finger to scold him, three punches, an Irish Whip, the big boot and running leg drop—would follow and ensure him a victory. That finishing sequence would occasionally change depending on the storyline and opponent; for instance, with "Giant" wrestlers, the sequence might involve a body slam.

Over the next year, Hulk Hogan became the face of pro wrestling as McMahon pushed the WWF into a pop culture enterprise with The Rock 'n' Wrestling Connection on MTV, drawing record houses, pay-per-view buyrates, and television ratings in the process. The centerpiece attraction for the first WrestleMania on March 31, 1985, Hogan teamed with legit friend Mr. T to defeat his archrival "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff.^[2][35] On the first edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, Hogan successfully defended the WWF title against Cowboy Bob Orton in a match which Hogan won by a disqualification.^[36]

Hogan was named the most requested celebrity of the 1980s for the Make-a-Wish Foundation children's charity. He was featured on the covers of Sports Illustrated, TV Guide, and People magazines, while also appearing on The Tonight Show and having his own CBS Saturday morning cartoon titled Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling. Hogan, as the premier WWF icon, headlined eight of the first nine WrestleMania events. He also co-hosted Saturday Night Live on March 30, 1985 during this lucrative run. AT&T reported that his 900 number information line was the single biggest 900 number from 1991 to 1993. Hogan operated the 900 number through his stint in WWF and then recreated it when he joined World Championship Wrestling.^[37]

WWF Champion (1984–1988)[link]

On the October 5, 1985 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, he successfully defended the title against Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match.^[38] He met long-time rival Roddy Piper in a WWF title match at the Wrestling Classic pay-per-view (PPV) event. Hogan retained the title by disqualification after Bob Orton interfered and hit Hogan with his cast.^[39] Hogan had many challengers in the way as the new year began. Throughout 1986, Hogan made successful title defenses against challengers such as Terry Funk,^[40] "The Magnificent" Don Muraco,^[41] King Kong Bundy (in a steel cage match at WrestleMania 2),^[42] Paul Orndorff,^[43] and Hercules Hernandez.^[44]

In the fall of 1986, Hogan occasionally wrestled in tag matches with The Machines as Hulk Machine under a mask copied from New Japan Pro Wrestling gimmick "Super Strong Machine."^[1][45] At WrestleMania III in 1987, Hogan was booked to defend the title against André the Giant, who had been the sport's premier star and was pushed as undefeated for the previous two decades. A new storyline was introduced in early 1987; Hogan was presented a trophy for being the WWF Champion for three consecutive years.^[46] André the Giant, a good friend came out to congratulate him.^[47] Shortly afterward, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years."^[46] Hogan came out to congratulate André, who walked out in the midst of Hogan's speech. Then, on an edition of Piper's Pit, Hogan was confronted by Bobby Heenan, who announced that André was his new protégé, and Andre challenged Hogan to a title match at WrestleMania III.^{[47][48][49][50]} At WrestleMania III, Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant. During the match, Hogan bodyslammed the 520-pound Frenchman (which was dubbed "the bodyslam heard around the world") and won the match after a leg drop.^[48][51]

Hogan remained WWF Champion for four years (1,474 days).^[52] In front of 33 million viewers, however, Hogan finally lost the belt to André on the February 5 edition of The Main Event after a convoluted scam involving "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Earl Hebner (who assumed the place of his twin brother Dave Hebner, the match's appointed referee).^[53] After André delivered a belly to belly suplex on Hogan, Hebner counted the pin while Hogan's left shoulder was clearly off the mat.^[3] After the match, André handed the title over to DiBiase to complete their business deal.^[53] As a result, the WWF Championship was vacated for the first time in its 25-year history.^[53] At WrestleMania IV, Hogan participated in a tournament for the vacant WWF title to regain it and faced André in the tournament quarter-finals but their match resulted in a double disqualification.^[54] Later that night in the main event, Hogan interfered and helped "Macho Man" Randy Savage defeat Ted DiBiase to win the title.^[55]

The Mega Powers (1988–1989)[link]

Together, Hogan, Savage, and manager Miss Elizabeth formed a partnership known as The Mega Powers.^[56] After Savage became WWF Champion at WrestleMania IV, they feuded with The Mega Bucks (Ted DiBiase and André the Giant) and defeated them at the main event of the first SummerSlam.^[57] The Mega Powers, however, soon imploded from within in 1989, due to Savage's burgeoning jealousy of Hogan and his paranoid suspicions that Hogan and Elizabeth were "more than friends". Dissension was furthered at the Royal Rumble, when Hogan eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble match.^[58] The duo broke up while wrestling The Twin Towers on the February 3, 1989 edition of The Main Event. During the match, Savage accidentally collided with Miss Elizabeth. Hogan took her backstage to receive medical attention, while temporarily abandoning Savage. When he returned to the ring, Savage slapped Hogan and left the ring, where Hogan eventually won the match by himself.^[59] After the match, Savage attacked Hogan backstage, which started a feud between the two.^[56] Their feud culminated in Hogan beating Savage for his second WWF Championship at WrestleMania V.^[3][56]

Later WWF Championship reigns (1989–1992)[link]

Hogan making his way to the ring in 1989.

Hogan's second run lasted a year, during which time he starred in the movie No Holds Barred. The film was the inspiration of a feud with Hogan's co-star Tom Lister, Jr., who appeared at wrestling events as his movie character, Zeus. Zeus was a monster heel who was "jealous" over Hogan's higher billing and wanted revenge. Hogan, however, was easily able to defeat Zeus in a series of matches across the country during late 1989, beginning with a tag team match at SummerSlam, in which Hogan and Brutus Beefcake topped Zeus and Savage.^[60] Hogan and Beefcake defeated Zeus and Savage in a rematch at the No Holds Barred pay-per-view to end the feud.^[61][62]

Hogan's second title run was briefly interrupted in January 1989 when he was defeated via submission by Dino Bravo after Hogan couldn't break Bravo's bearhug hold. Hogan attempted to "Hulk Up" and turn the match around, but Bravo wouldn't release the hold, and Hogan became unconscious, forcing the ref to call the match. A silenced crowd watched Bravo grab the championship belt no sooner than an announcement was made that Hogan was determined the winner, by way of disqualification, therefore retaining his title and championship. An infuriated Bravo was quoted, "Last I checked, a bearhug was a legal move. The better and stronger wrestler just got cheated." The Wrestler magazine covered the story in their February 1989 issue with Bravo's hold on Hogan on the front cover with the title, "The Man That Hulk Hogan Cannot Beat." Also during his second run, Hogan won the 1990 Royal Rumble match.^[3][63] He dropped the title to Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior in a title versus title match at WrestleMania VI on April 1, 1990.^[64]

Hogan soon became embroiled in a heated feud with the 470-pound Earthquake, who had crushed Hogan's ribs in a sneak attack on The Brother Love Show in May 1990. On television, announcers explained that Hogan's injuries and his WrestleMania VI loss to Warrior both took such a huge toll on his fighting spirit that he wanted to retire. Viewers were asked to write letters to Hogan and send postcards asking for his return (they got a postcard-sized picture in return, autographed by Hogan, as a "thank-you"). Hogan returned by SummerSlam 1990 and for several months, dominated Earthquake in a series of matches across the country.^[65] His defeat of this overwhelmingly large foe caused Hogan to add a fourth demandment: believing in yourself. He would also be known as "The Immortal" Hulk Hogan. Hogan then became the first wrestler to win two Royal Rumble matches in a row,^[66] as he won the 1991 Royal Rumble match.^[3][63][66]

At WrestleMania VII, Hogan stood up for the USA against Sgt. Slaughter, defeating him for his third WWF Championship.^[67] In the fall of 1991, Hogan was challenged by Ric Flair, the former NWA champion who recently arrived in the WWF. The feud remained unresolved, as Hogan lost the WWF title to The Undertaker at Survivor Series,^[68] and he won it back at This Tuesday in Texas six days later.^[69] Flair had interfered in both matches and due to the resulting controversy, the title was again declared vacant.^[69]

The WWF Championship was decided at the 1992 Royal Rumble in the Royal Rumble match. Hogan failed to regain the championship as he was eliminated by friend Sid Justice and in turn caused Sid to be eliminated, leaving Ric Flair the winner and new champion.^[70] Hogan and Sid patched things up and teamed together on the February 8, 1992 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event against Flair and Undertaker but during the match Sid abandoned Hogan,^[71] starting their feud. At WrestleMania VIII, Hogan defeated Sid via disqualification due to interference by Sid's manager Harvey Wippleman.^[72] Hogan was then attacked by Papa Shango and was saved by the returning Ultimate Warrior.^[72]

At this time, news sources began to allege that Dr. George Zahorian, a doctor for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, had been selling steroids illegally to wrestlers in general and Hogan in particular. Hogan appeared on an episode of The Arsenio Hall Show to deny the allegations. Due to intense public scrutiny, Hogan took a leave of absence from the company.^[73]

Return and departure (1993–1994)[link]

Hogan returned to the WWF in February 1993, helping out his friend Brutus Beefcake in his feud with Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster), and officially renaming themselves The Mega-Maniacs.^[61] At WrestleMania IX, Hogan and Beefcake took on Money Inc. for the WWF Tag Team Championship. However, Hogan thought he was too big of a star to be a tag champion and instead wanted the world title. So Hogan and Vince McMahon came up with the plan that Hogan and Brutus would be disqualified in their match.^[61][74] Later that night, Hogan won his fifth WWF Championship by pinning Yokozuna only moments after Yokozuna had defeated Bret Hart.^[74][75] McMahon then planned that Hogan and Bret Hart would eventually fight in a big match at Summerslam 1993 in which Hogan would drop the title to Hart, Hogan didn't want to drop the title in a clean victory to Hart, due to Hart's size and doubts over whether he could draw, and opted to lose the title to the heel Yokozuna instead. At the first annual King of the Ring pay-per-view on June 13, 1993, Hogan defended the championship against the former champion, Yokozuna, in his first title defense since defeating Yokozuna at WrestleMania IX. Yokozuna kicked out of Hogan's signature leg drop and scored the pinfall after Hogan was blinded by a fireball shot by a "Japanese photographer" (actually a disguised Harvey Wippleman), this was Hogan's idea as he did not want Yokozuna to gain a clean victory over him. The victorious Yokozuna proceeded to give Hogan a Banzai Drop.^[58][76] This would be Hogan's last WWF pay-per-view appearance until 2002, as both he and Jimmy Hart were preparing to leave the promotion. Hogan would continue his feud on the international house show circuit with Yokozuna until August 1993. After that, Hogan would sit out the rest of his contract which expired later that year.

In 1994, Hogan, having received immunity from prosecution, testified in the trial of Vince McMahon relating to shipments of steroids received from Dr. Zahorian by both parties. Under oath, Hogan admitted that he had used anabolic steroids since 1976 to gain size and weight, but that Vince McMahon had neither sold him the drugs, nor ordered him to take them. The evidence given by Hogan proved extremely costly to the government's case against McMahon. Due to this and jurisdictional issues, McMahon was found not guilty.^[77]

Return to New Japan (1993–1994)[link]

On May 3, 1993, Hulk Hogan returned to NJPW as WWF Champion, defeating IWGP Heavyweight Champion The Great Muta in a dream match at Wrestling Dontaku. Hogan would wrestle against Muta again, under his real name, Keiji Mutoh on September 26, 1993. Hogan would also wrestle The Hell Raisers with Muta and Masahiro Chono as his partners. His last match in Japan was on January 4, 1994 at Battlefield, when he defeated Tatsumi Fujinami.

World Championship Wrestling (1994-2000)[link]

Early run (1994–1996)[link]

After Hogan left the WWF in the summer of 1993, he split his time working on movies, television, wrestling in Japan, and spending time with his family. In June 1994, Hogan signed with Ted Turner's World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and began appearing on television the next month. Hogan won the WCW World Heavyweight Championship in his debut match, defeating Ric Flair in a 'dream' match at Bash at the Beach.^[78] After overcoming the likes of Flair,^[79] The Butcher (former partner Brutus Beefcake),^[80] Vader,^[81][82][83] and the Dungeon of Doom^[84] for the next fifteen months (the longest reign of all time for this championship), Hogan dropped the belt to The Giant at Halloween Havoc 1995 via DQ.^[85] Following the controversial loss (which was due to a "contract clause"), the WCW title became vacant.

In early 1996, Hogan continued his feud with The Giant,^[86] before teaming with Randy Savage in a feud with the Alliance to End Hulkamania.^[87] After coming out victorious from his feuds, Hogan began to only appear occasionally on WCW programming.

New World Order (1996–1998)[link]

At Bash at the Beach in 1996, during a six man tag team match pitting The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall) against WCW loyalists, Hogan interfered on behalf of Nash and Hall, attacking Randy Savage, thereby turning heel for the first time in over ten years.^[1][58][88] After the match, Hogan delivered a promo, accosting the fans and WCW for underappreciating his talent and drawing power, and announcing the formation of the New World Order (nWo).^[88] The new stable gained prominence in the following weeks and months.^{[2][3][88][89]} Hogan grew a beard alongside his famous mustache and dyed it black, traded his red and yellow garb in for black and white clothing, often detailed with lightning bolts, and renamed himself Hollywood Hulk Hogan (often shortened to Hollywood Hogan). Hogan returned to WCW programming eight days after his heel turn.^[1][58]

Hogan won his second WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Hog Wild, defeating The Giant for the title.^[89][90] He spray painted "nWo" across the title belt, scribbled across the nameplate, and referred to the title as the "nWo title" during this and any other time he held the title while in the nWo.^[90] Hogan then started a feud with Lex Luger after Luger and The Giant defeated Hogan and Dennis Rodman in a tag team match at Bash at the Beach.^[85]

On the August 4, 1997 edition of Nitro, Hogan lost the WCW title to Luger by submission.^[91] Five days later, at Road Wild, Hogan defeated Luger to regain the WCW title and begin his third WCW World Heavyweight Championship.^[92] Hogan then lost the belt to Sting in a match at Starrcade. In the match, WCW's newly-contracted Bret Hart accused referee Nick Patrick of fast-counting a victory for Hogan and had the match restarted—with himself as referee.^[58] Sting later won by submission.^[58] After a rematch the following night, where Sting controversially retained the title, the WCW Championship became vacant.^[1] Sting then went on to win the vacant title against Hogan at SuperBrawl VIII.^[93]

Hogan then developed a rivalry with former friend (and recent nWo recruit) Randy Savage, who had just cost Hogan the title match at SuperBrawl by hitting him with a spray can.^[58] The heat culminated in a steel cage match at Uncensored, which ended in a no contest.^[94] Savage took the World Championship from Sting at Spring Stampede, while Hogan teamed with Kevin Nash to take on Roddy Piper and The Giant in the first-ever Bat match.^[95] Hogan betrayed Nash by hitting him with the bat and then challenged Savage the following night for his championship.^[89] In the no disqualification match for Savage's newly won title, Nash entered the ring and powerbombed Hogan as retribution for the attack the previous night. Bret Hart interfered moments later and turned heel by jumping in to attack Savage and preserve the victory for Hogan, who won his fourth WCW World Heavyweight Championship.^[96] However, Nash's attack on him signified a split of the nWo into two separate factions- Hogan's became nWo Hollywood and Nash's became nWo Wolfpac- that would feud with each other for the remainder of the year.

Hogan defended the title until July of that year, when WCW booked him in a match against newcomer and then WCW United States Champion Bill Goldberg, who had yet to lose a match in the company. Late in the match, Hogan was distracted by Karl Malone, and Goldberg pinned Hogan to win the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.^[97]

Hogan spent the rest of 1998 wrestling celebrity matches. His second tag team match with Dennis Rodman pitted them against Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone at Bash at the Beach^[98] and at Road Wild, he and Eric Bischoff lost to Page and Jay Leno thanks to interference from Kevin Eubanks, who leveled Bischoff with a Diamond Cutter.^[99] Hogan also had a rematch with the Ultimate Warrior at Halloween Havoc, where his nephew Horace aided his victory.^[100]

Return to WCW (1998-1999)[link]

On the Thanksgiving episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Hogan officially announced his retirement from professional wrestling, as well as his candidacy for President of the United States.^[101] Campaign footage aired on Nitro of Hogan and Bischoff holding a press conference, making it appear legitimate. In the long run, however, both announcements were false and merely done as a publicity stunt attempting to draw some of the hype of Jesse Ventura's Minnesota gubernatorial win back to him.^[101]

After some time off from WCW, Hogan returned on the January 4, 1999 edition of Nitro to challenge Kevin Nash for the WCW title. Hogan won the match for his fifth WCW World Heavyweight Championship, but many people found the change to be "scandalous".^[102] As a result, the warring factions of the nWo reunited into one group, which began feuding with Bill Goldberg and The Four Horsemen.

Conflicts with Vince Russo (1999–2000)[link]

He then lost the title to Ric Flair at Uncensored in a Steel Cage First Blood match. A heavily bleeding Flair won via pinfall in a match refereed by Charles Robinson.^[1][103] During that match, however, Hogan began to show some signs that a face turn was imminent, showing off some old tactics like his "Hulking up" no-sell.^[58] The turn would have to wait, however, as Hogan was severely injured in a Texas Tornado match for the world championship featuring him, Sting, Diamond Dallas Page, and Flair at Spring Stampede^[104]

On the July 12 edition of Nitro, Hogan made his grand return as a full-fledged face and accepted a challenge from Savage, who had gained the world title at Bash at the Beach the night before in a tag team match by pinning Kevin Nash. Thanks to interference from Nash, Hogan defeated Savage to win his sixth and final WCW World Heavyweight Championship.^[105] Nash turned on him the next week, however, and the two began a feud that would last until the next pay-per-view.

On August 9, 1999, he started the night dressed in the typical black and white, but after a backstage scene with his son, Hogan came out dressed in the traditional red and yellow for his main-event 6-man tag team match. He then defeated Nash in a retirement match at Road Wild to retain his title. Injuries and frustrations were mounting up however, and he was absent from television from October 1999 to February 2000. In his book Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Bollea said that he was asked to take time off by newly hired head of creative booking Vince Russo and was not told when he would be brought back at the time. Despite some reservations, he agreed to do so. On October 24 at Halloween Havoc, Hogan was to face Sting for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship (which he had lost to Sting at Fall Brawl the previous month, when Sting beat Hogan by cheating and had turned heel in the process).^[106] Hogan, however, came to the ring in street clothes, laid down for the pin, and left the ring.^[107]

Hogan in 2000

Soon after his return in February 2000, at Bash at the Beach on July 9, Hogan was involved in a controversial, legit incident with Vince Russo. Hogan was scheduled to wrestle Jeff Jarrett for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship.^[108] Before the match, there was a dispute between Hogan and Russo. Unbeknownst to Hogan, Russo told Jarrett to lie down in the middle of the ring and asked Hogan to pin him straight away. A visibly confused Hogan complied with a foot on Jarrett's chest after getting on the microphone and telling Russo, "Is this your idea, Russo...? That's why this company is in the damn shape it's in, because of bullshit like this!" Russo responded by coming out and angrily proclaiming "I can guarantee you that this is the last time you will ever see that piece of shit in a WCW stadium!" This is also when the public discovered, through Russo, the "creative control" clause that Hogan had, which meant that Hogan was able to control what would happen with his own character and be able to do so without anyone else being able to tell him no. This has been a common complaint about Hogan, since he has been known to request such clauses in his contracts (even in WWE) because it is believed by many that he uses them to be able to "bury" others that would prove to be a threat to his legacy (which also might lead to the belief that the on-air criticisms that Bobby Heenan and then later Mark Madden made about him were not kayfabe even though the two usually were heel commentators, with Madden saying "Amen!" when Russo said that Hogan would not be back in WCW after that night). In his Bash at the Beach shoot promo, Russo said that he was arguing with Hogan all day prior to the event in the back because he wanted to use the clause in the Jarrett match, saying, "That means that, in the middle of this ring, when [Hogan] knew it was bullshit, he beats Jeff Jarrett!"

Since Hogan refused to job to Jarrett, a new WCW World Heavyweight Championship was created, setting the stage for a title match between Booker T and Jeff Jarrett later that night.^[58] Whether or not the whole incident was a shoot or a work was hotly debated. As a result, Hogan filed a defamation of character lawsuit against Russo soon after,^[109] which was eventually dismissed in 2002. Russo claims the whole thing was a work, and Hogan claims that Russo made it a shoot.^[110] Eric Bischoff agreed with Hogan's side of the story when he wrote that Hogan winning and leaving with the title was a work, and that he and Hogan celebrated after the event over the success of the angle, but that Russo coming out to fire Hogan was an unplanned shoot which led to the lawsuit filed by Hogan.^[1][109]

In the months following the eventual demise of WCW in March 2001, Hogan underwent surgery on his knees in order for him to wrestle again. As a test, Hogan worked a match in Orlando, Florida for the Xcitement Wrestling Federation promotion run by his longtime handler Jimmy Hart. Hogan defeated Curt Hennig in this match and felt healthy enough to accept an offer to return to the WWF in February 2002.^[1]

Return to World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment[link]

Hollywood Hogan and Undisputed WWF Champion (2002)[link]

At No Way Out in 2002, Hogan returned to the company that had made him a pop culture icon.^[3] Returning as leader of the original nWo with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, the three got into a confrontation with The Rock^[111] and cost Stone Cold Steve Austin a chance at becoming the Undisputed WWF Champion against Chris Jericho in the main event.^[111] The nWo feuded with both Austin and The Rock, and Hogan accepted The Rock's challenge to a match at WrestleMania X8. At the event, Hogan asked Hall and Nash not to interfere, wanting to defeat The Rock by himself. Despite the fact that Hogan was supposed to be the heel in the match, the crowd cheered for him heavily. The Rock cleanly won the contest,^[112] but befriended Hogan at the end of the bout and helped him fight off Hall and Nash, who were upset by Hogan's conciliatory attitude.^[113] After the match, Hogan was a definite face again, siding with The Rock, though he continued wearing black and white tights for a few weeks after WrestleMania X8 until he resumed wearing his signature red and yellow tights. During this period, the "Hulk Rules" logo of the 1980s was redone with the text "Hulk Still Rules." Hulk wore the original "Hulk Rules" attire 12 years earlier, when he headlined WrestleMania VI at the same arena, in the SkyDome. For a time, he was still known as "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, notably keeping the Hollywood Hogan style blond mustache with black beard while wearing Hulkamania-like red and yellow tights and using the Voodoo Child theme music he used in WCW. On April 4, Hogan feuded with Triple H and defeated him for the Undisputed WWF Championship and sixth and final WWF Championship at Backlash,^[114][115] thus becoming the last ever WWF champion before the initials dispute against the World Wildlife Fund For Nature. On May 19 at Judgment Day, he lost the belt to The Undertaker.^[116] After losing a Number One Contenders match for the Undisputed Championship to Triple H on June 6, Hogan began feuding with Kurt Angle resulting in a match between the two at the King of the Ring, which Angle won by submission.

On the July 4, 2002 edition of SmackDown!, Hogan teamed with Edge to defeat Billy and Chuck and capture the WWE World Tag Team Championship for the first time.^[117] They celebrated by waving the American flag as the overjoyed audience sang along to Hogan's theme song "Real American." They later dropped the titles to The Un-Americans (Lance Storm and Christian), at Vengeance.^[118] In August 2002, Hogan was used in an angle with Brock Lesnar, culminating in a main event singles match. Lesnar won by submission (the match was called after Hogan became unconscious from a bear hug hold). Lesnar became only the second WWE Superstar to defeat Hogan by submission (after Kurt Angle), and the first to defeat Hogan by having the match called. Following the match, Lesnar continued to beat on Hogan, leaving him bloody and unconscious in the ring in what many fans recall as the worst beating Hogan ever received of his career. As a result of Lesnar's assault, Hogan went on hiatus and was not able to return until early 2003, shaving off his black beard and dropping "Hollywood" from his name in his return. He battled The Rock (who had turned heel) once again at No Way Out^[119] and defeated Vince McMahon at WrestleMania XIX in a match billed as "20 years in the making."^[120]

Mr. America and departure (2003)[link]

Hogan performing his signature entrance during the Hulkamania Tour

Later, he had a run as the masked Mr. America. The persona was supposed to be Hulk Hogan in disguise, wearing a mask. He used Hulk Hogan's "Real American" theme music and used all of Hogan's signature gestures, moves, and phrases. He was the subject of a storyline that took place after Hulk Hogan was forced by Vince McMahon to sit out the rest of his contract.^[1] After Hogan won at WrestleMania XIX, McMahon was frustrated with him and wanted Hulkamania to die.^[1] A WWE pre-debut push took place with mysterious Mr. America promos airing for weeks during SmackDown!.^[1] There was also on-screen discussion on SmackDown! between then General Manager Stephanie McMahon and other players concerning her hiring Mr. America "sight unseen."^[1] On May 1, Mr. America debuted on SmackDown! on a Piper's Pit segment. McMahon appeared and claimed that Mr. America was Hulk Hogan in disguise; Mr. America shot back by saying, "I am not Hulk Hogan, brother!" (lampooning Hogan's use of "brother" in his promos).^[1] The feud continued through the month of May, with a singles match between Mr. America and Hogan's old rival Roddy Piper at Judgment Day.^[121] McMahon tried desperately to prove that Mr. America was indeed Hulk Hogan but failed at all attempts. Mr. America even passed a lie detector test.^[58]

Mr. America's last WWE appearance was on the June 26 edition of SmackDown! when The Big Show and The World's Greatest Tag Team (Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas) defeated the team of Brock Lesnar, Kurt Angle, and Mr. America in a six-man tag team match when Show pinned Mr. America.^[122] After the show went off the air, Mr. America unmasked to show the fans that he was indeed Hulk Hogan, putting his finger to his lips telling the fans to keep quiet about his secret. The next week, Hogan quit WWE due to frustration with the creative team.^[123] On the July 3 edition of SmackDown!, Vince McMahon showed the footage of Mr. America unmasking as Hogan and "fired" him, although Hogan had already quit in real life.^[123] The Mr. America gimmick came under fire briefly from Marvel Comics, who anointed it a rip-off of Captain America, citing costume similarity; the single star on the mask was also a trademark on Captain America's chest piece. This was also adding fuel to the fire over the rights to use the Hulk Hogan name because of Marvel's ownership of the Incredible Hulk character. Because of these problems, WWE was forced to edit out all references to the "Hulk Hogan" name, including pictures which featured Hogan wearing memorabilia that said "Hulk" (a majority of them) and started to refer to Hogan under the "Hollywood Hogan" name he used in WCW. It was later revealed that Hogan was unhappy with the payoffs for his matches after his comeback under the Mr. America gimmick.^[123] Vince decided to terminate Hogan's contract, and Hogan left WWE in 2003.^[123]

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2003)[link]

Shortly after Hogan left WWE, TNA Wrestling began making overtures to Hogan, culminating in Jeff Jarrett, co-founder of TNA and then NWA World Heavyweight champion, launching an on-air attack on Hogan in Japan in October 2003. The attack was supposed to be a precursor to Hogan battling Jarrett for the NWA title at TNA's first three-hour pay-per-view. However, due to recurring knee and hip problems, Hogan did not appear in TNA. Still, the incident has been shown several times on TNA broadcasts, and was included in the TNA DVD TNA's Fifty Greatest Moments.

Return to WWE (2005–2007)[link]

In 2005, weeks before WrestleMania 21, it was announced on all WWE programming that Hogan would be inducted into the Hall of Fame. On April 2, Hogan was inducted by actor and friend Sylvester Stallone.^[124] Hogan was applauded for several minutes before he was able to make a speech. When he paused during his speech, the crowd chanted "One More Match! One More Match!" The fans also chanted "Austin, Hogan" (referring to a Steve Austin vs. Hulk Hogan match); Hogan responded "that may be a good match someday". At WrestleMania 21 on April 3, Hogan came out to rescue Eugene, who was being attacked by Muhammad Hassan and Khosrow Daivari. Some of the build-up to Hogan's induction into the Hall of Fame and preparation for this angle were shown on the first season of Hogan Knows Best.

Hulk Hogan making his entrance at SummerSlam in 2005

The next night on Raw, Hassan and Daivari came out to confront and assault fan favorite Shawn Michaels. The following week, Michaels approached Raw General Manager Eric Bischoff demanding a handicap match with Hassan and Daivari. Bischoff refused but told Michaels if he found a partner he would be granted a tag team match. Michaels then made a plea for Hulk Hogan to come back and team with him. On the April 18 episode of Raw, Hassan again led an attack on Michaels until Hogan appeared, and saved Michaels and accepted his offer. At Backlash 2005, Hassan and Daivari lost to Hogan and Michaels.^[125]

Hogan then appeared on July 4 edition of Raw as the special guest of Carlito on his talk-show segment Carlito's Cabana. After being asked questions by Carlito concerning his daughter Brooke Hogan, Hogan proceeded to attack Carlito. This was then followed up by an appearance of Kurt Angle, who made comments about Brooke, which further upset Hogan. Hogan was eventually double teamed by Carlito and Angle but was saved by Shawn Michaels. Later that night, Michaels and Hogan defeated Carlito and Kurt Angle in a tag match. During the post match celebration, Michaels delivered Sweet Chin Music to Hogan and walked off.^[126] The following week on Raw, Michaels appeared on Piper's Pit and challenged Hogan to face him one-on-one for the first time.^[127] Hogan appeared on Raw one week later and accepted the challenge.^[128] The match took place at SummerSlam. The "Legend vs. Icon" storyline was the main event for the Raw brand going into SummerSlam. The match went back and forth, with two referees getting knocked out and Michaels using a steel chair to try to gain an advantage. Even after Michaels hit his Sweet Chin Music, Hogan still kicked out and mounted some offense against Michaels, finally hitting him with the legdrop and scoring the victory. Michaels extended his hand to him, telling him that he "had to find out for himself," and Hogan and Michaels shook hands. Michaels left the ring to allow Hogan to celebrate with the crowd.^[129]

Prior to WrestleMania 22, Hogan inducted friend and former announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund into the WWE Hall of Fame. Hogan returned on the July 15, 2006 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event with his daughter Brooke. During the show, Randy Orton flirted (kayfabe, as he was engaged with his girlfriend, now wife Sam Speno) with Hogan's daughter, and later attacked Hogan in the parking lot and hit the RKO onto the trunk of Hogan's car.^[130] He later challenged Hulk to a match at SummerSlam, which Hogan won.^[131] In regards to the public reaction to Summerslam, and his treatment as an employee, he said:

He also spoke extensively on his payment, and his concerns of not being a top priority to Vince McMahon, despite the fact that he felt he was the company's biggest draw:

Hogan's last WWE appearance to date occurred on December 10, 2007 on the WWE Raw 15th anniversary. He saved Hornswoggle from being attacked by The Great Khali.

Memphis Wrestling and PMG Clash of Legends (2007)[link]

Hogan facing Ric Flair before his match in Hulkamania Tour

After a brief fall out with McMahon and WWE,^[133] Hogan was lured to Memphis Wrestling with the proposal of wrestling Jerry "The King" Lawler.^[134] The match had been promoted on Memphis Wrestling Prime Time for several months. On April 12, 2007, however, Lawler announced in a news conference that WWE had barred him from wrestling Hogan on the basis that NBC performers (including Lawler, on the basis of co-hosting the NBC-owned USA Network's WWE Raw and his appearances on the biannual WWE Saturday Night's Main Event) are contractually prohibited from appearing on VH1, the channel on which Hogan Knows Best airs.^[134] The situation resulted in a lawsuit being filed against WWE by event promoter Corey Maclin.^[135] Lawler was replaced with Paul Wight.^[134] Hulk Hogan defeated Wight at PMG Clash of Legends on April 27, 2007 when he picked up and bodyslammed Wight and pinned him following his signature Leg Drop.

Return to TNA Wrestling[link]

Dixie Carter's business partner (2009–2010)[link]

On October 27, 2009 it was announced on TNAwrestling.com that Hulk Hogan had signed a contract to join TNA on a full time basis where, partnered with Eric Bischoff, he would partner with TNA President, Dixie Carter.^[6] The footage of his signing and the press conference in the Madison Square Garden following it were featured on the October 29 episode of TNA Impact!. His role remained uncertain.^[136]

Hogan during a match against Ric Flair in 2009.

On November 21, 24, 26, and 28, Hogan performed with a group of wrestlers including Spartan-3000, Heidenreich, Eugene, Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake and Orlando Jordan across Australia in a tour titled Hulkamania: Let the Battle Begin. The main event of each show was a rematch between Hogan and Ric Flair—the wrestler who defeated Hogan more times than any other. Hogan defeated Flair in all four matches, bringing his career record against Flair from 2–8 to 6–8.^[137] It was the first time Hogan had performed in Australia.^[138]

On December 5, 2009, Hogan announced on UFC's The Ultimate Fighter that he would be making his official TNA debut on January 4, 2010, in a special live three hour Monday night edition of TNA Impact! to compete with WWE's Monday Night Raw (which featured the return of Bret Hart^[139]) Carter revealed Hogan's role in the company in an interview with The UK Sun stating when his job came to question, "he is involved with everything from looking at the talent to how we shoot the show".^[140]

On the January 4, 2010 Impact!, Hogan debuted after a motorcade arrival reuniting briefly with former nWo partners Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, and Sean Waltman, the latter two of whom made their returns to the company. He, however, refused to join them for a full-fledged reunion of their group claiming, "it's a different time", and stuck to his business relations with Bischoff, who made his appearance to declare that, the two of them would "flip the company upside down" and everyone would have to earn their spot. Hogan also encountered TNA Founder, Jeff Jarrett on the broadcast, appearing via video wall and interrupting Jarrett's company success speech, stating that Carter was instrumental to the company's survival, and that just like the rest, Jarrett would have to (kayfabe) earn his spot in TNA.^[141]

At TNA Genesis on January 17, Hogan and Bischoff revealed a newly renovated TNA Impact! Zone, and reintroduced the traditional four sided ring, opposing the six sided ring TNA had in use.^[142] On the February 18 edition of Impact! Hogan took Abyss under his wing, and during this sequence, gave him his Hall of Fame ring and claimed it would make him a "god of wrestling".^[143] The following week Hogan announced that he would be making his in-ring TNA debut on the March 8 live Monday night edition of Impact! teaming with Abyss to face A.J. Styles and Ric Flair.^[144] That night, Hogan and Abyss defeated Styles and Flair, when Abyss scored a pinfall over Styles.^[145] Afterwards, the returning Jeff Hardy saved Hogan and Abyss from a beat down at the hands of Styles, Flair and Desmond Wolfe.^[145] This proceeded in later weeks to become a Team Flair versus Team Hogan situation, whereas Jarrett and the debuting Rob Van Dam joined Team Hogan and Beer Money and Sting, who rekindled his feud with Hogan with an attack, joined Team Flair. At Lockdown Team Hogan (Abyss, Jeff Jarrett, Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam) defeated Team Flair (Sting, Desmond Wolfe, Robert Roode and James Storm) in a Lethal Lockdown match.^[146]

Immortal (2010–2011)[link]

Hogan with the Immortal attire in July 2010.

On the June 17 edition of Impact! Hogan's alliance with Abyss came to an abrupt end, when Abyss turned heel.^[147] Abyss later claimed that he was controlled by some entity, that was coming to TNA.^[148] The next months Hogan worked with Bischoff, Jeff Jarrett and Samoa Joe against Sting and Kevin Nash, who claimed that they knew that Hogan and Bischoff were up to something.^[149] During this time Abyss went on a rampage, attacking Rob Van Dam to the point that he was forced to vacate the TNA World Heavyweight Championship and eventually put his hands on TNA president Dixie Carter, which led to her signing the paperwork, presented by Bischoff, that would have Abyss fired from TNA following his match with Van Dam at Bound for Glory.^{[150][151][152]} Hogan was set to wrestle with Jarrett and Joe against Sting, Nash and D'Angelo Dinero at Bound for Glory, but was forced to miss the event due to a back surgery. However, he would make a surprise appearance at the end of the event, turning heel, helping Jeff Hardy win the vacant TNA World Heavyweight Championship and aligning himself with Hardy, Bischoff, Abyss and Jarrett. This is also Hogan's first working as a heel since he reunited with the NWO in the WWE.^[153] On the following edition of Impact! it was revealed that Bischoff had tricked Carter and the paperwork she had signed a week earlier, were not to release Abyss, but to turn the company over to him and Hogan. Meanwhile, Bischoff's and Hogan's new stable, now known as Immortal, formed an alliance with Ric Flair's Fortune.^[154] Dixie Carter returned on the November 25 edition of Reaction, informing Hogan and Bischoff that a judge had filed an injunction against the two on her behalf over not having signatory authority, indefinitely suspending Hogan from TNA.^[155] During his absence, Hogan underwent a potentially career–ending spinal fusion surgery on December 21, 2010.^[156][157]

Hogan returned to TNA on the March 3, 2011, edition of Impact!, declaring himself as the new owner of TNA, having won the court battle against Dixie Carter.^[158] In April, he began hinting at a possible return to the ring to face the TNA World Heavyweight Champion, Sting.^[159] On the May 12 edition of the newly renamed Impact Wrestling, Hogan lost control of the program to Mick Foley, who revealed himself as the Network consultant, who had been causing problems for Immortal ever since Hogan and Bischoff took over the company; however, this angle was aborted just three weeks later, when Foley left the promotion.^[160][161] During the following months, Hogan continued to interfere in Sting's matches, costing him the TNA World Heavyweight Championship first at Hardcore Justice, recruiting Kurt Angle to Immortal in the process, then on the September 1 edition of Impact Wrestling and finally at No Surrender.^{[162][163][164]} On the September 15 edition of Impact Wrestling, Sting defeated Immortal member Ric Flair to earn the right to face Hogan at Bound for Glory.^[165][166] On October 4, it was reported that Hogan had signed a contract extension with TNA.^[167] After feigning retirement from professional wrestling, Hogan accepted the match at Bound for Glory on the October 6 edition of Impact Wrestling, while also agreeing to hand TNA back to Dixie Carter, should Sting manage to win the match.^[168]

Face turn and General Manager (2011–present)[link]

On October 16 at Bound For Glory, Hogan was defeated by Sting, ending his run as the storyline president of TNA. After the match, Immortal attacked Sting. Hogan then "Hulked up", tore his shirt, and helped Sting chase the stable out of the ring, turning face once again in the process.^[169] The following Impact Wrestling, Hogan, wearing his trademark yellow and red again, admitted to his mistakes, and put over Sting for winning, who ended up helping Hogan this time chase Immortal from the ring.^[170] After that, Hogan took a hiatus from TNA. On January 26, 2012, Hogan returned to the ring at a house show in Nottingham, England, where he, James Storm and Sting defeated Bobby Roode, Bully Ray and Kurt Angle in a six man tag team main event.^[171] Hogan returned to Impact Wrestling on February 2, when he was revealed as Garett Bischoff's trainer.^[172] On the March 29 edition of Impact Wrestling, Hogan returned and accepted Sting's offer to replace him as the new General Manager.^[173]

Endorsements and business ventures[link]

Food industry[link]

The Hulkamania ring, the tour promoted by Hogan

Hulk Hogan's Pastamania was a restaurant in the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.^[174] It was created and financed by Hogan. It opened on the Labor Day weekend of 1995 and was later heavily hyped on World Championship Wrestling's live flagship show WCW Monday Nitro, which actually premiered that September from the mall. The restaurant, which remained in operation for less than a year, featured such dishes as "Hulk-U's" and "Hulk-A-Roos".^[174]

In an interview on both the The Tonight Show and Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Bollea claimed that the George Foreman Grill was originally offered to him, but he failed to respond in time. George Foreman was called and he chose to endorse the grill instead of a blender which became the Hulk Hogan Thunder Mixer. This claim was validated on an episode of Hogan Knows Best, in which his wife Linda and the family are worried about Hogan's wrestling career and plead with him to take up a career in marketing.^[175] Hulk explains about turning down the Foreman grill, and his choice to invest in the shake-mixer instead, saying that whenever he thinks about investing in something "big," he thinks about what happened with the grill and the shake-mixer. However, he has since endorsed a similar product known as "The Hulk Hogan Ultimate Grill."

In 2006, Bollea unveiled his own energy drink, Hogan Energy, distributed by Socko Energy.^[176] It was featured in an episode of Hogan Knows Best. His name and likeness are also applied to a line of microwavable hamburgers, cheeseburgers, and chicken sandwiches sold at Wal-Mart called "Hulkster Burgers".^[177] On November 1, 2011 Bollea launched a new website called Hogan Nutrition www.hogannutrition.com which features many nutritional and dietary products.

In September 2008, Bollea's net worth was revealed to be over $30 million.^{[178][179][180]} In September 2011, Bollea revealed that his lavish lifestyle, and recent divorce had cost him hundreds of millions of dollars and nearly bankrupted him.^[181]

Other[link]

During an interview with The Sun in 2007, Bollea claimed to be planning his own federation to compete against Vince McMahon.^[182] Bollea says he has raised $40 million of the $80–$100 million goal and his venture is something that will eventually revolutionize the sport of professional wrestling.^[182]

In October 2007, Bollea transferred all trademarks referring to himself to his liability company named "Hogan Holdings Limited". The trademarks include Hulk Hogan, "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan, Hulkster, Hogan Knows Grillin, Hulkamania.com, and Hulkapedia.com.^[183]

In April 2008, Bollea announced that he would be lending his license to video game developer Gameloft to create "Hulkamania Wrestling" for mobile phones. Hogan stated in a press release that the game would be "true to [his] experiences in wrestling" and use his classic wrestling moves like the Doublehand Choke Lift and Strong Clothesline.^[184] As of 2010, Hogan stars alongside Troy Aikman in commercials for Rent-A-Center.^[185] On March 24, 2011, Hogan made a special appearance on American Idol, giving a big surprise to wrestling fans Paul McDonald and James Durbin.

On 15 October 2010, Endemol Games UK (a subsidiary of media production group Endemol UK) announced a partnership with Bischoff Hervey Entertainment to produce "Hulk Hogan's Hulkamania", an online gambling game featuring video footage of Hogan.^[186][187]

Other media[link]

Acting[link]

Hulk Hogan's crossover popularity led to several television and movie roles. Early in his career Bollea played the part of Thunderlips in Rocky III (1982). He also appeared in No Holds Barred (1989), before starring in the family films Suburban Commando (1991), Mr. Nanny (1993), Santa with Muscles (1996), and 3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain (1998).^[188] He starred in his own television series, Thunder in Paradise, in 1994. He is the star of The Ultimate Weapon (1997), in which Brutus Beefcake also appears in a cameo.^[189]

Bollea also starred in a pair of television movies, originally intended as a pilot for an ongoing series for TNT, produced by Eric Bischoff. The movies, Shadow Warriors: Assault on Devil's Island and Shadow Warriors: Hunt for The Death Merchant, starred Hogan alongside Carl Weathers and Shannon Tweed as a freelance mercenary team. In 1995, he appeared on TBN's Kids Against Crime.

Bollea made cameo appearances in Muppets from Space, Gremlins 2: The New Batch (the theatrical cut) and Spy Hard as himself. Hogan was offered the role of Zeus in Little Hercules in 3D on an episode of Hogan Knows Best and was shown during the filming of the movie. He also had a cameo at the end of the movie Little Monsters. Hogan also made two appearances on The A-Team (in 1985 and 1986), and along with Roddy Piper. Nick's favorite animated show, Captain Planet, was another popular stop for Hogan's recognizable voice. He was the voice of BP, Sly Sludge's evil sidekick. His famous catchphrase was "You're gonna pay at the pump, brother!" He also had a vital role in the two-part episode of Suddenly Susan in 1999. In 2001, Hogan guest-starred on an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger, playing a reformed criminal now operating a Christian Community Center and helping Walker steer teenagers away from gangs. Hogan also appeared in 1992 commercials for Right Guard deodorant dressed in fine clothing and painting and his line "anything less would be uncivilized".

Hogan has become a busy voice actor in recent years making guest voice spots on Robot Chicken and American Dad! and as a main actor in the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim series China, IL.

Reality television[link]

On July 10, 2005, VH1 premiered a new reality show titled Hogan Knows Best which centered around Hulk Hogan, his then-wife Linda, and their children Brooke and Nick. Set in their home in Clearwater, Florida, the show followed the family in their efforts to fulfill the dreams of their children while still maintaining their sense of closeness. At the show's onset, 16-year-old Brooke was trying to break into the music industry while younger brother Nick (age 14) went through a series of career aspirations including his failure to become a professional race car driver and following in his dad's footsteps as a pro wrestler.^[190]

As of July 2008, Hogan Knows Best transferred its focus into a new show called Brooke Knows Best which focuses on his daughter's move into a new apartment to continue her pursuit of a music career.^[191]

Bollea hosted the comeback series of American Gladiators on NBC in 2008.^[192] He also hosted and judged the short-lived reality show, Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling.^[193] Hogan had a special titled Finding Hulk Hogan on A&E on November 17, 2010.^[194]

Music and radio[link]

Bollea released a music CD, Hulk Rules, as Hulk Hogan and The Wrestling Boot Band. Also, Green Jellÿ released a single, a duet with Hogan, performing Gary Glitter's classic song "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)". He has also made cameos in several music videos. From her self-named show, Dolly the music video for Dolly Parton's wrestling-themed love song "Headlock on my Heart" features Hogan as "Starlight Starbright". On the show, Parton mentioned that the tabloid Weekly World News had "reported" that she had written a song about her love for a wrestler, and said "if you read in the Weekly World News, it must be true!" In the music video "Pressure" by Belly ft. Ginuwine, Bollea and his daughter Brooke both made brief cameo appearances.

Bollea is a regular guest on Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show. He also served as the best man at Bubba's January 2007 wedding.^[195] On March 12, 2010, Bollea hosted his own radio show, titled Hogan Uncensored, on Sirius Satellite Radio's Howard 101.^[196]

Video games[link]

Bollea did a video game voice acting on Saints Row: The Third as Angel De la Muerte a member of the Saints.^[197] In October 2011, Bollea released a video game called Hulk Hogan's Main Event.^[198]

Personal life[link]

Linda Hogan

On December 18, 1983, Bollea married Linda Claridge (born August 24, 1959). They have a daughter Brooke (born May 5, 1988) and a son Nick (born July 27, 1990). Bollea made his personal life the centerpiece of the television show Hogan Knows Best, which includes his wife and two children.

Bollea's 17 year old son Nick was indicted as an adult on November 7, 2007 on four criminal charges. The charges stemmed from an August car accident that seriously injured the passenger in Nick's car, John Graziano. Nick pleaded no contest and was sentenced to eight months in prison on May 9, 2008.^[199]

According to an interview in The National Enquirer, Christiane Plante claimed that she had an affair with Hogan in 2007 while the Hogan family was shooting Hogan Knows Best.^[200] Plante was 33 years old at the time and had worked with Brooke Hogan on her 2006 album.^[201] On November 20, 2007, Linda filed for divorce in Pinellas County, Florida.^[202] Hulk told St. Petersburg Times that he was unaware of the filing when the paper called for a comment. The Graziano family's lawyer believed the divorce might have been an attempt to divide the family's assets from a planned civil suit against the Bolleas regarding their son, Nick.^[203] After filing for divorce, Linda (48 at the time) began dating Charlie Hill (19 at the time). Hill was a student at Brooke and Nick's high school, one grade above Nick and one grade below Brooke.^[204][205] In November 2008, Linda claimed to the public that she made the decision to end her marriage after finding out about Hulk Hogan's affair.^[206][207] Hogan admitted at the time that he had considered committing suicide; however, he moved on and married his current wife Jennifer McDaniel.^[208] In his 2009 autobiography, however, Hogan acknowledged that Linda on numerous occasions suspected he was having infidelities whenever he developed friendships with other women,^[209] but denied allegations that he ever cheated on Linda.^[209]

Bollea lived with his daughter, Brooke, who starred in the now-cancelled VH1 reality series, Brooke Knows Best.^[210] Bollea has suffered numerous health problems, particularly with his back since retiring as a wrestler following the years of heavyweight training and jolting as a wrestler.^[211]

On October 27, 2009, St. Martin's Press released Bollea's autobiography, My Life Outside the Ring. Bollea has continued to stay in the news, due to his revelation that he considered suicide in 2007, shortly after his wife filed for divorce. Hogan credits Laila Ali, co-star on American Gladiators, with preventing him from committing suicide.^[212]

Bollea has been in a relationship with Jennifer McDaniel since early 2008.^[213] The two were engaged in November 2009 and married on December 14, 2010, in Clearwater, Florida.^{[213][214][215]}

Hogan became a distributor for multi-level marketing company ViSalus Sciences after looking for business opportunities outside of wrestling.^[216]

Hogan supports the American Diabetes Association.^[217]

Honors[link]

Bollea was honored as the 2008 King of the Krewe of Bacchus, a New Orleans carnival organization.^[218][219] Hogan visited the Children's Hospital of New Orleans and rode in the parade where he threw doubloons with his likeness. Hogan received the honor in part because meeting Hogan is one of the most requested "wishes" of the terminally ill children benefited by the Make-A-Wish Foundation.^[219]

Whenever Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin scores a goal at Consol Energy Center Hulk Hogan would appear on the Jumbotron and say "Whatcha gonna do when Malkamania runs wild on you" as well as Hulk Hogan impersonators.

Filmography[link]

Other media[link]

In wrestling[link]

Hogan hitting the Atomic Leg Drop (running leg drop) on Mr. McMahon at WrestleMania XIX

Hogan faces off against Ric Flair.

Hogan performing a top rope body slam on Ric Flair

Hogan listening to the crowd, one of his signature taunts

• Finishing moves
  • Atomic Leg Drop (Running leg drop)^[1][3]
  • Axe Bomber^[1] (Crooked arm lariat)^[220]

• Signature moves
  • Atomic drop^[221]
  • Big boot^[1]
  • Body slam^[1]
  • Clothesline^[1]
  • Multiple punches, sometimes with theatrics^[1]
  • Raking the opponent's eyes or back^[1]

• Managers
  • "Classy" Freddie Blassie^[2]
  • Miss Elizabeth^[221]
  • "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart^[222]

• Nicknames
  • "(The) Hulkster"^[1]
  • "The Hulk"^[1]
  • "The Immortal One"^[1]
  • "Hollywood"^[1]
  • "The Unstoppable Force"^[223]

• Entrance themes
  • American Wrestling Association
    • "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor
  • World Championship Wrestling
    • "American Made" by The Wrestling Boot Band (1994–1996, 1999–2000)
    • "Rockhouse" by Frank Shelley (used while a part of the New World Order; 1996–1999)
    • "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (1997–1999)
    • "Kevin Nash/Wolfpac Theme" (used while a part of the nWo wolfpac elite; 1999)
  • Xcitement Wrestling Federation
    • "American Made" by The Wrestling Boot Band (2001)
  • World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment
    • "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor (January 7, 1984–November 22, 1986)
    • "Hulk Hogan's Theme" by Jim Steinman (1985)
    • "Stars and Stripes Forever" by John Philip Sousa (1985)
    • "Real American" by Rick Derringer (November 29, 1986–June 13, 1993, July 4, 2002, May 22, 2003–July 3, 2003, March 21, 2005–December 10, 2007)
    • "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience (March 18, 2002–February 23, 2003)
  • Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
    • "nWo Original Theme" (Rockhouse Remix) by Frank Shelly (2010–present)
    • "Immortal Theme" by Dale Oliver (used while a part of Immortal; 2010–2011)^[224]
    • "Eye of the Tiger" by Survivor (used at house shows)^[171]

Championships and accomplishments[link]

• New Japan Pro Wrestling
  • IWGP League Tournament (1983)^[1][29]
  • MSG Tag League Tournament (1982, 1983) – with Antonio Inoki

• Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum
  • Class of 2003

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI Comeback of the Year (1994, 2002)
  • PWI Feud of the Year (1986) vs. Paul Orndorff
  • PWI Match of the Year (1985) with Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff at WrestleMania
  • PWI Match of the Year (1988) vs. André the Giant at The Main Event
  • PWI Match of the Year (1990) vs. The Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania VI
  • PWI Match of the Year (2002) vs. The Rock at WrestleMania X8
  • PWI Most Hated Wrestler of the Year (1996, 1998)
  • PWI Most Inspirational Wrestler of the Year (1983, 1999)^[225]
  • PWI Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (1985, 1989, 1990)
  • PWI Wrestler of the Year (1987, 1991, 1994)
  • PWI ranked him #1 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1991^[226]
  • PWI ranked him #1 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003^[227]
  • PWI ranked him #57 of the Top 100 Tag Teams of the "PWI Years" with Randy Savage in 2003^[228]

• Southeastern Championship Wrestling
  • NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Northern Division) (1 time)^[1]
  • NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship (Southern Division) (2 times)

• Tokyo Sports Grand Prix
  • Match of the Year (1991) vs. Genichiro Tenryu on December 12, 1991^[229]
  • Most Outstanding Foreigner (1983)^[230]

• World Championship Wrestling
  • WCW World Heavyweight Championship (6 times)^[1][231]

• World Wrestling Federation / World Wrestling Entertainment
  • WWE World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Edge^[1][232]
  • WWF/E Championship (6 times)^1[1][233]
  • Royal Rumble (1990, 1991)^[1][63]
  • WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2005)^[3]

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards
  • Feud of the Year (1986) vs. Paul Orndorff
  • Most Charismatic (1985–1987, 1989–1991)
  • Most Overrated (1985–1987, 1994–1998)
  • Worst Worked Match of the Year (1987) vs. André the Giant at WrestleMania III
  • Worst Worked Match of the Year (1996) with Randy Savage vs. Arn Anderson, Meng, The Barbarian, Ric Flair, Kevin Sullivan, Z-Gangsta, and The Ultimate Solution in a Towers of Doom match at Uncensored
  • Worst Worked Match of the Year (1997) vs. Roddy Piper at SuperBrawl VII
  • Worst Worked Match of the Year (1998) vs. The Warrior at Halloween Havoc
  • Worst Feud of the Year (1991) vs. Sgt. Slaughter
  • Worst Feud of the Year (1995) vs. The Dungeon of Doom
  • Worst Feud of the Year (1998) vs. The Warrior
  • Worst Feud of the Year (2000) vs. Billy Kidman
  • Best Babyface (1982–1991)
  • Least Favorite Wrestler (1985, 1986, 1991, 1994–1999)
  • Worst Wrestler (1997)
  • Most Embarrassing Wrestler (1995, 1996, 1998–2000)
  • Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame (Class of 1996)^[234]

1 ^ Hogan's last reign was as Undisputed WWF Champion. The title was renamed the WWE Undisputed Championship on May 6, 2002 after World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. settled a lawsuit with the World Wide Fund for Nature, and became simply World Wrestling Entertainment.

References[link]

• Bischoff, Eric (2006). Eric Bischoff: Controversy Creates Cash. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 1-4165-2729-X. 
• Hogan, Hulk (2002). Hollywood Hulk Hogan. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-7434-7556-9. 
• Loverro, Thom (2006). The Rise & Fall of ECW: Extreme Championship Wrestling. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 1-4165-1058-3. 
• Shields, Brian (2006). Main Event: WWE in the Raging 80s. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 1-4165-3257-9. 
• Hogan, Hulk and Dagostino, Mark (2009). My Life Outside the Ring. St. Martin's. ISBN 0-312-58889-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=-r8gB_j8a-UC&printsec=frontcover.