Hulk Hogan's WWE Run In 2002

The golden era of WWE is synonymous with one man, Hulk Hogan. Hogan was the key man in the World Wrestling Federation’s successful period, changing wrestling and integrating sports entertainment into mainstream media in the 80s. Hulk Hogan would headline Wrestlemania through its first 9 years before leaving for Hollywood in 1993 but ending up at rival wrestling promotion WCW. But after 9 years away from the WWF/E, Hogan would return to his spiritual home for an unforgettable run. 

In January of 2002, WWE was split between two co-owners, Vince McMahon and The Nature Boy Ric Flair. Both had fought each other at the Royal Rumble but the feud hadn’t stopped there, and Vince started to lose his mind, sharing his company with The Nature Boy. McMahon on an episode of SmackDown would announce that it was time to kill his greatest creation that is WWE and would inject it with a lethal dose of poison. He would say that he would be the one to kill the WWE because Ric Flair had given it cancer. McMahon announced his poison of choice was the New World Order. 

The NWO debut would consist of the original three members in Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and one Hulk Hogan. They would make their very first WWE appearance as a trio at No Way Out to begin that evening's show. The group would head down to the ring to a massive reaction from the crowd. Scott Hall would open his monologue with his famous catchphrase and the place would go crazy. When it was Hogan's turn to speak, the place went to another level and there was real emotion on the face of the Hulkster. The entire place wanted to see Hogan and they definitely showed it. There was a definite desire to see the three superstars return.

Backstage at No Way Out, the NWO would interact with Stone Cold Steve Austin, where they would present Austin with a case of beer. Austin would throw the beer away before moving on. They would also encounter The Rock, after a sly comment by Hogan, The Rock would insult all three of their past characters in a famous and comedic segment. The evening would end when the NWO would show their true intentions and interfere in the main event. Chris Jericho defended his WWE Undisputed Championship against Stone Cold Steve Austin. Jericho would walk out victorious thanks in part to the NWO, who would leave their mark on Austin by spray painting the NWO letters on his back. 

The next night on Raw, Hogan would ask Hall and Nash to let him go to the ring on his own as he had something he needed to do. Hulk would discuss being back in a WWE ring once again only to be interrupted by The Rock. In an electric segment, The Rock would ask Hogan if he wanted to headline Wrestlemania one more time. Hogan would accept the challenge and the match was set. Icon versus Icon, on the grandest stage of them all. Hogan went to leave the ring, but The Rock would pull him back in and deliver a rock bottom. 

The Rock challenging Hulk Hogan. [Pic: whatculture.com]

Hogan and the NWO would gain revenge later that evening. They would attack the Rock backstage and when medics would be attending to The Great One, they would attack again, locking him inside an ambulance. Whilst locked inside, Hogan would drive a semi-truck into the ambulance, squashing the vehicle and leaving The Rock badly injured inside. 

The Rock would be out for a couple of weeks but on the March 11th episode of Raw, there would be a huge, dream match scenario as the NWO would face the team of Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock in a 3 on 2 handicap match. Hogan would pick up the pin, defeating The Rock with the leg drop 6 days before the biggest event of the year. 

Their match at Wrestlemania is one of the biggest matches to ever take place, the crowd reaction in the building was electric. There is the iconic moment of Hogan and Rock standing in the middle of the ring listening to the crowd as they went wild. In the lead-up to the match, Hogan started receiving bigger reactions from the crowd and a plan was put in place before Wrestlemania that if the crowd was, as expected, to favour Hogan more than the Rock, they should go with it. 

The Rock would pick up the win and afterwards, both would embrace and Hogan would soak up the applause as Hulkamania was running wild once again in Toronto. But the only problem was that Hall and Nash did not take too kindly to Hogan and The Rock being friendly. Nash and Hall would attack Hogan and start beating on him until The Great One would return and clear house.

Hulk Hogan brought up his discussions with Vince McMahon regarding his match with The Rock on Corey Graves After The Bell podcast. 

“Vince McMahon said, 'You know, I want you to wrestle The Rock and things are different now, Terry. So if you're going to come back and wrestle The Rock, you better bring it.' I said, 'Okay, I'll bring it.' It was kind of weird because Pat Patterson, Vince McMahon, they hadn't seen me wrestle in so long that they set up a ring down in Miami.”

The NWO, consisting of the three original members, would only last a month. After Wrestlemania, Hogan riding on a high from nostalgia dawned the red and yellow tights once again and 8 days after Wrestlemania X-8, WWE held their first-ever draft in which Vince McMahon and Ric Flair split the roster up into two separate brands. Flair would run Raw and Vince McMahon would run Smackdown. McMahon would draft Hogan to Smackdown to his blue brand. 

As part of the draft, Vince McMahon would have the opportunity to name the number one contender for the WWE Undisputed Championship. The champion at the time, Triple H, defeated Chris Jericho at Wrestlemania X-8 to win the championship. Hogan was named the number one contender and was set for the main event of Backlash. Riding a wave of popularity through nostalgia as they went through cities and various states, discussions were held on whether or not to put the championship on Hogan to capitalize on his fandom. 

According to The Wrestling Observer at the time, Vince McMahon was unsure in the lead-up to the event if he should put the title on Hogan. According to Dave Meltzer, Triple H was actively lobbying for Hogan to defeat him and was happy to take the loss to Hogan. The build for the match was built around Triple H being a Hulkamaniac as a child and Triple H showing respect for Hogan. Some fans may have seen this as a dream match if a longer, more impactful build was allowed to take place. If we had the villainous Triple H in 2000 or the Triple H persona that everyone is more familiar with in 2002, we could have had a great, memorable match. But instead, we received Triple H on his first full run as a babyface since 1998 and Hulk Hogan, who had become the most over wrestler in the world almost overnight overshadowing Triple H. The Undertaker would interfere in the match which would help Hogan win the championship. The crowd reaction to Hogan winning the WWE Undisputed Championship was deafening and showcased his popularity. 

After Backlash, Hogan, as champion, was able to appear on both Raw and Smackdown. Whilst his new challenger, The Undertaker was on Raw. Smackdown saw him get tangled in Triple H’s feud with Chris Jericho leading to another memorable match on Hogan's run, this time against Chris Jericho on an episode of Smackdown. Hogan would also team with Triple H in the weeks leading up to Judgement Day on the blue brand.

At Judgement Day, The Undertaker had vowed to be the judge, jury and executioner on Hulkamania in their WWE Undisputed Championship Match. The storyline for the matchup would see The Undertaker attack Hogan and tie him to his motorbike. He would then drag Hulk Hogan around the backstage area as he rode his motorbike. The Immortal One would appear on Raw in a scooter with a helmet to make fun of the American Badass which would infuriate the Deadman. 

Judgement Day would see The Undertaker defeat Hulk Hogan to end his comeback reign as WWE Undisputed Champion and afterwards, The Undertaker would add insult to Hogan's defeat by beating him down. Putting a chair in the throat of the Immortal One and slamming the chair down against the floor, blood would start to pour out of the mouth of the agony that struck Hogan.

The Immortal One would be out of action for a few weeks and upon his return, would try and gain a rematch for the WWE Undisputed Championship. He would face Triple H in the main event of SmackDown but with interference from The Undertaker and Kurt Angle, this allowed Triple H to pick up the win. Kurt Angle had become a thorn in Hogan's side, whilst confronting Mr. McMahon on SmackDown, Angle would assault Hulk. The Olympic Hero would attack Hogan with a steel pipe. 

A match between the two was booked for King of the Ring. Kurt was at this point was wearing a headpiece after having his head shaved bald by Edge. Hogan would take Kurt's headpiece and wear it showcasing Angle’s bald head. Kurt would snap and lock on the Ankle Lock, making Hogan tap out for the first time in his career. 

Kurt Angle spoke about facing Hulk Hogan and how the finish came about a few years ago on a Reddit AMA.

“I didn't think he was going to do it! You know, I remember meeting with Vince McMahon and Hogan came into the room. Vince had us together and we were staring each other in the eyes - it was a pretty intense meeting. Hogan and I were sitting where our knees were touching. Vince was just off to the side. He basically just said, we were looking at each other and I hear Vince say, 'Alright Terry, you're going to tap out to Kurt tonight. Terry paused for about five seconds and he looked me in the eyes and he said, 'Okay. Let's do this.'”

After King of the Ring, Hogan would end up teaming with Edge. Growing up, Edge was a huge Hulk Hogan fanatic and even attended Wrestlemania 6. Edge has credited Hogan as being the one person who inspired him to become a wrestler. So, on the July 4th episode of SmackDown, a dream came true for Edge as he and his childhood hero defeated Billy and Chuck to win the WWE Tag Team Championship. A second title reign for Hogan on his comeback, they would defend their championships at Vengeance against the Un-Americans who consisted of Lance Storm and Christian. At Vengeance, following interference from Chris Jericho, The Un-Americans would win the WWE Tag Team Championships. 

After Vengeance, Hogan would team with The Rock against The Un-Americans but The Rock's opponent for Summerslam, Brock Lesnar, would get involved and hit a brutal F5 to Hogan. This would lead to a match between the two on August 8th. After kicking out of a leg drop, Lesnar would deliver an F5 to Hogan. A bleeding Hogan would pass out in a bear hug with Lesnar's arms wrapped around him. The next big thing would then lay out Hogan with a steel chair and smear his blood over his chest whilst standing over him. 

Brock Lesnar standing over the body of Hulk Hogan. [Pic: whatculture.com]

This would be Hulk Hogan's final appearance on WWE television for 6 months. Reportedly fatigued and disillusioned as to why he was always losing, Hogan had lost to The Rock, The Undertaker, Triple H, Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar in the last few months whilst also solidifying Chris Jericho and Edge as main event stars. The 6 months that Hulkamania ran wild in 2002 was a hugely successful run featuring big-time matches with a nostalgia run as champion. More importantly, it brought us one of the greatest moments in Wrestlemania history with The Rock.