WWE: Revisiting Hulk Hogan’s counterproductive 1993 WWE Run

Watching the recent WWE Icons episode that focused on Yokozuna made me want to look back on Hulk Hogan, more specifically, Hogan’s 1993 run in WWE. The bell rang in my head due to Hogan’s comments about the WrestleMania IX main event, where Hogan beat Yokozuna for the WWE Championship in less than 30 seconds, undercutting the former champion and then-up-and-coming babyface Bret Hart.

I groaned the second he mouthed the words “to the best of my recollection” regarding that infamous match; that made my head spin faster than a wrestler kicking out at two. So, let’s dive back into this weird period.

By late 1992, interest in the WWE product was waning. This was largely because of the steroid distribution among the WWE superstars by Dr. George Zahorian making headlines across the world. That was not great news, as WWE took the public blame for this major incident. Just as impactful, WWE’s big stars such as Ultimate Warrior and British Bulldog were gone from the company while Hogan took a brief hiatus.

Hulk Hogan’s 1993 run with WWE wasn’t particularly long, but the damage he caused with his political machinations lasted long after he bolted for WCW.

Hulk Hogan returned on Raw in February 1993 to partner with Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake to begin their feud against WWE Tag Team Champions Money Inc. (Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster). Hulk also looked much slimmer than he did years prior to his return. Hogan’s appearance on Raw is the only time he was on screen during the build to their WrestleMania match.

Outside of that, there was only one promo that took place a few days before WrestleMania IX and it went on for a whopping seven minutes. For this spot, I do not think anyone would have minded if Hogan and Beefcake won the Tag Team Championships at this show; only a small number of fans knew that Hulk Hogan’s time was coming to a close so he could film Thunder in Paradise. But that path took a sharp, dark turn.

When the match finally happened at Mania IX, it ended with DiBiase and IRS retaining the Tag Team Championships. Later on in the show, Bret Hart defended his WWE Championship against the 1993 Royal Rumble winner, Yokozuna. The match between Hart and Yokozuna was really good, as it was a competitive bout between a big wrestler and a relatively smaller wrestler. Ultimately, Yokozuna defeated Hart to become the WWE Champion.

Then, unfortunately, it was time for Hogan to save the day.

Hogan became the WWE Champion for the fifth time by coming to Hart’s rescue, and if you can’t tell in my writing, I am being very sarcastic because this is still one of the worst booking decisions from the 1990s. Did Hogan appear in-person on Raw, or even Superstars, after he won the title? No. He did appear on house shows, but those do not count in WWE’s canon. He appeared in some pre-taped promos between May to June, but that was it.

It is also worth noting that Hogan also wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling as the WWE Champion during this period. Yes, he took the belt to Japan — where he proceeded to bury the title as a “prop” in press conferences — but yet, he said that he would never do that. Hogan’s next and final match in WWE for nearly a decade was at the 1993 King of the Ring, where he dropped the WWE Championship to Yokozuna before leaving.

Everything about Hogan’s 1993 run was wrong. According to Hart (who will be the only person I will source for this since Hogan and Bruce Prichard’s comments about this time period are sketchy, at best), the plan was for Hogan and Bret to have a match at that year’s SummerSlam for the championship. The two even took part in a photoshoot to promote the match, which, as we all know, never ended up happening. This idea would have made more sense as Hogan was about to leave and Bret Hart could have instantly been positioned as the next face of WWE at the time. But Hogan did not want to put Hart over due to Hogan believing that Hart was not believable enough as a top star to the casual audience.

Hogan’s ego also got in the way at Wrestlemania IX as well. The weekend of the show, Hogan pulled a fast one and had Vince McMahon change the main event plans of the match. Whichever side you are on for that one, is up for debate. But we can all agree that this period should have not happened to begin with.