Return to the WWF/E (2002–2003)

Hollywood Hogan and Undisputed Champion (2002)

At No Way Out in 2002, Hogan returned to the company that had made him a pop culture icon. Returning as leader of the original nWo with Scott Hall and Kevin Nash, the three got into a confrontation with The Rock and cost Stone Cold Steve Austin a chance at becoming the WWF Undisputed Champion against Chris Jericho in the main event. 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 favored Hogan throughout it; this effectively turned him face. The Rock cleanly won the contest 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. 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 '80s was redone with the text "Hulk Still Rules." Hulk wore the original "Hulk Rules" attire 12 years earlier, when he headlined WrestleMania 6 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. At Backlash, he defeated Triple H for his sixth and final WWF "Undisputed" Championship. He lost the belt to The Undertaker at Judgment Day. On the July 4, 2002 edition of SmackDown, Hogan teamed with Edge to defeat Billy and Chuck and capture the WWE Tag Team Championship for the first time.[129] 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. After an angle with Brock Lesnar, which saw Lesnar hand Hogan a defeat in August 2002, Hogan went on hiatus. He returned in early 2003 to battle The Rock (who had turned heel) once again at No Way Out and defeated Vince McMahon at WrestleMania XIX in a match billed as "20 years in the making." He then had another run as Hulk Hogan, shaving off the black Hollywood beard and dropping "Hollywood" from his name.

X Wrestling Federation (2000–2001)

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 X 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.

Conflicts with Vince Russo and departure (1999–2000)

He then lost the title to Ric Flair at Uncensored in a Steel Cage First Blood match. A heavily bleeding Flair won via pinfall thanks to biased referee Charles Robinson. 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. 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. Thanks to interference from Nash, who had lost the title to Savage, Hogan defeated Savage to win his sixth and final WCW World Heavyweight Championship. 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. 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 booker 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). Hogan, however, came to the ring in street clothes, laid down for the pin, and left the ring. Soon after his return in February 2000, at Bash at the Beach, Hogan was involved in a controversial, real-life incident with Vince Russo. Hogan was scheduled to wrestle Jeff Jarrett for the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. 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 saying that "From day one, that I've been in WCW, I've done nothing... nothing... but deal with the bullshit of the politics behind that curtain." 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. Whether or not the whole incident was a shoot or a work is still a hot debate. As a result, Hogan filed a defamation of character lawsuit against Russo soon after, which was eventually dismissed in 2002. Russo claims the whole thing was a work, and Hogan claims that Russo made it a shoot. 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.

New World Order (1996–1998)

Main article: New World Order (nWo) This would come to fruition, as the stable, known officially as the New World Order (nWo), would gain prominence in the coming weeks and months. Hogan grew a beard alongside his famous mustache and dyed it black, traded his red and yellow garb in for black clothing, renamed himself Hollywood Hogan, and returned to WCW programming eight days after his heel turn.Around this time, he began to use his celebrity status and wrestling clout to bring in various celebrities, such as Karl Malone and Dennis Rodman into wrestling.A lot of people don’t consider wrestlers real athletes, you know, and we’ve had people like Bill Kazmaier and John Matuszak, and Lyle Alzado, Kevin Green - and everybody else. Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone, all try to get in the wrestling business. And... for some reason or not, decided that it was a little too hard or too many injuries, or it wasn’t for them. So I don’t know what you would classify as a real athlete just because of the genre that you’re in. ” Hogan won his second WCW World Heavyweight Championship at Hog Wild, defeating The Giant for the title. He spray painted a black "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. 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.[89] On the August 4, 1997 edition of Nitro, Hogan lost the WCW title to Luger by submission via Luger's Torture Rack submission finisher. Five days later, at Road Wild, Hogan defeated Luger to regain the WCW title and begin his third WCW World Heavyweight Championship.[52][98][99] Hogan then lost the belt to Sting in a hugely-hyped, eighteen-months-in-the-making 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. Sting later won by submission. After a rematch the following night, where Sting controversially retained the title, the WCW Championship became vacant.[10] Sting then went on to win the vacant title against Hogan at SuperBrawl VIII.[101] 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. The heat culminated in a steel cage match at Uncensored, which ended in a no contest. 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.[103] Marking the breakup of the original nWo, Hogan betrayed Nash by hitting him with the bat and then challenged Savage the following night for his championship. 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, and Bret Hart turned heel by jumping in to attack Savage and preserve the victory for Hogan, who regained his fourth WCW World Heavyweight Championship.[104][105] 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, who delivered a Diamond Cutter to nWo member Curt Hennig, the latter of whom was approaching the ring to assist Hogan. A spear and a Jackhammer from Goldberg then followed, and the rookie pinned Hogan to win his first and only WCW World Heavyweight Championship.[106] 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 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. Hogan also had a highly hyped rematch with the Ultimate Warrior at Halloween Havoc, where his nephew Horace aided his victory. 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.[110] 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. After some time off from WCW, a still "retired" Hogan returned on the January 4, 1999 edition of Nitro to challenge Kevin Nash for the WCW title. He controversially regained his fifth WCW World Heavyweight Championship in what was later dubbed the Fingerpoke of Doom. This reformed the divided nWo branches—nWo Hollywood and nWo Wolfpac—which began feuding with Bill Goldberg and The Four Horsemen.

World Championship Wrestling (1994–2000)

Early run (1994–1996)

After Hogan left the WWF in the summer of 1993, he decided to take a few months off from wrestling to concentrate on movies, television, and 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. After overcoming the likes of Flair, The Butcher (former partner Brutus Beefcake), Vader, and the Dungeon of Doom for the next eighteen months, Hogan dropped the belt to The Giant at Halloween Havoc 1995 via DQ. Following the controversial loss (which was due to a "contract clause"), the WCW title became vacant. In early 1996, Hogan feuded with The Giant and with the Alliance to End Hulkamania.[91] After coming out victorious from his feuds, Hogan began to only appear occasionally on WCW programming. It was also around this time, WCW fans began to grow tired of seeing Hogan's "red-and-yellow good guy" persona they had seen for ten years in the WWF. This led to one of the most talked about moments in wrestling history in the summer of 1996. During a six man tag team match at Bash at the Beach, Hulk Hogan interfered on behalf of The Outsiders (Kevin Nash and Scott Hall), attacking babyface Randy Savage. This action caused Hogan to turn heel for the first time in over ten years. After the match, Hogan delivered a now-infamous promo, accosting the fans and WCW for underappreciating his talent and drawing power. This culminated with Hogan's announcement of the formation of a "New World Order of Wrestling" This statement gave the trio its iconic name: the New World Order (nWo).

Second reign as WWF Champion (1989–1993)

Main article: The Mega-Maniacs 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. Hogan and Beefcake defeated Zeus and Savage in a rematch at the No Holds Barred pay-per-view to end the feud. Also during his second run, Hogan won the 1990 Royal Rumble match. He dropped the title to Intercontinental Champion The Ultimate Warrior in a title vs. title match at WrestleMania VI. It was the first time in over seven years that Hogan suffered a defeat with a clean finish. This title match was unique because the two wrestlers were both faces, and Hogan graciously handed Warrior the belt and hugged him at the conclusion of the match. Hogan soon became embroiled in a heated feud with the 468-pound Earthquake, who gained infamy by crushing 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 The Ultimate 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. 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 became the first wrestler to win two Royal Rumble matches in a row, as he won the 1991 Royal Rumble match. At WrestleMania VII, Hogan stood up for the USA against Iraqi-sympathizer Sgt. Slaughter, defeating him for his third WWF Championship.[11][69][70] Hogan started a feud with The Undertaker in the fall of 1991 and lost the WWF title to Undertaker at Survivor Series due to interference from Ric Flair.[11][71][72] Just six days later, Hogan regained the title in a match held on a special pay-per-view named This Tuesday in Texas, beginning his fourth WWF Championship reign but due to the controversy surrounding the end of both matches, the title was again declared vacant. The WWF Championship was decided at the 1992 Royal Rumble in the Royal Rumble match. Hogan was eliminated by storyline friend Sid Justice and failed to regain the championship. The two patched things up and teamed up together on the February 8, 1992 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event against the new WWF Champion Ric Flair and The Undertaker. Sid turned heel by abandoning Hogan but Flair slapped the referee, which gave Hogan and Sid a disqualification victory. This began a feud between Hogan and Sid. In the ensuing months, Hulk Hogan announced he was contemplating retirement from wrestling and would "bow out" after his match against Sid at WrestleMania VIII. Hogan eventually won the match via disqualification due to interference by Sid's manager Harvey Wippleman. Hogan was then attacked by Papa Shango (who was scripted to cause the disqualification, but arrived too late) and was saved by the returning Ultimate Warrior. Hogan returned to the WWF in January 1993, helping out his friend Brutus Beefcake in his feud with Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster) and officially renamed themselves The Mega-Maniacs. At WrestleMania IX, Hogan and Beefcake took on Money Inc. for the WWF Tag Team Championship but ended up losing the match by disqualification. Later that night, Hogan won his fifth WWF Championship by pinning Yokozuna only moments after Yokozuna's defeat of Bret Hart. 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. During the course of the match, Yokozuna kicked out of Hogan's signature leg drop. The bout came to its close when a "Japanese photographer" (actually a disguised Harvey Wippleman) got on the apron and distracted Hogan, before shooting some sort of fireball out of the camera and into Hogan's face. This was followed by Yokozuna hitting a leg drop on Hogan for the pin. After his victory, Yokozuna proceeded to give Hogan a Banzai Drop. As Yokozuna celebrated, Hogan was helped back to the locker room by ringside officials as he clutched his face. Hulkamania had seemingly taken its final breath. 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 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, a steroids scandal threatened the WWF, and Hogan testified in court that he had used steroids over a period of 12 years "to get big" and had also introduced WWF Chairman Vince McMahon to steroids during the filming of No Holds Barred. Both men also had Pennsylvania doctor George Zahorian send steroids to WWF's corporate office via FedEx. Hogan, however, never accused McMahon of distributing steroids himself, but Hogan also testified that steroid use was rampant in the WWF. His testimony may have kept McMahon out of prison, but it hurt both Hogan and the WWF's public image.

WWF Champion (1984–1988)

See also: WrestleMania III and The Mega Powers On the October 5, 1985 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, he successfully defended the title against Nikolai Volkoff in a flag match. He met long-time rival Roddy Piper in a WWF title match at the historic Wrestling Classic pay-per-view (PPV) event. Hogan retained the title by disqualification after Bob Orton interfered and hit Hogan with his cast. 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, "The Magnificient" Don Muraco, King Kong Bundy (in a steel cage match at WrestleMania 2),Paul Orndorff, and Hercules Hernandez. 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." 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. André the Giant, a good friend came out to congratulate him. Shortly afterwards, André was presented a slightly smaller trophy for being "undefeated in the WWF for 15 years." 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. At WrestleMania III, Hogan successfully defended the WWF World Heavyweight Championship against André the Giant. During the match, Hogan bodyslammed the 520-pound Frenchman and won the match after executing a scoop slam and a leg drop. Hogan remained WWF Champion for four years and 13 days (1,474 days). He became the third longest reigning WWF Champion in the process, only after Bruno Sammartino and Bob Backlund. 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 "evil" twin referee Earl Hebner (in place of the match's appointed arbiter, his twin brother Dave Hebner). After André delivered a belly to belly suplex on Hogan, Hebner counted the pin while Hogan's left shoulder was clearly off the mat. After the match, André handed the title over to DiBiase to complete their storyline business deal. As a result, the WWF Championship was vacated for the first time in its 25-year history. 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.Later that night in the main event, Hogan interfered and helped his on/off friend "Macho Man" Randy Savage in beating Ted DiBiase to win the vacant WWF title. The relationship between the two would lead to the main event of the following WrestleMania. Together, Hogan, Savage, and manager Miss Elizabeth formed a partnership known as The Mega Powers. 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-ever SummerSlam. 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." This all started at Royal Rumble 1989, when Hogan accidentally eliminated Savage from the Royal Rumble match. They began a feud with The Twin Towers, and defeated them on the February 3, 1989 edition of The Main Event, but with controversy. During the match, Savage collided with Miss Elizabeth when he was thrown through the ropes to the floor. Hogan took her backstage to receive medical attention, thus abandoning Savage. He quickly returned to the ring but Savage slapped Hogan and turned on him by leaving the ring. Hogan later won the match by himself. After the match, Savage attacked Hogan backstage and the Mega Powers exploded, which started a feud between the two. Their feud culminated in Hogan beating Savage for his second WWF Championship at WrestleMania V