Before I give my Maniac’s some behind the scene scoops on how my Run came to an end in 93 which made me truly believe my career was over. Before I say any more on the matter, I’ll just say that I wanted to stay on the top and believed Hulkamania had a lot more in its gas tank but sometimes our ego’s get the best of us. As I’ve said in prior interviews Vince & myself have always seen eye to eye on most things. Seldomly we had disagreements and even when I disagreed, I’d always remain professional about it and do what was asked and take up my complaint after the fact like professionals do. Some guys pulled no-shows and some even took their ball & went home while screwing the company that made them as well as the fans who loved them; all for their misperception of thinking “they” are their own bosses or some other delusional thought process
Becoming a Superstar takes thousands and sometimes even millions of dollars and hundreds of people behind the scenes to make you have your very own marketable Brand. Why anyone would ever feel they were screwed or not feel a direction of their character was good enough for them or whatever is just mind-blowing to me! Wake-up call, you wouldn’t have your own Brand, exposure and popularity if it wasn’t for the company who made you. That being said, direction of my character wasn’t going the way I liked and since my contract was for a few extra years, I didn’t have much of a leg to stand on but remained professional and in late 1992 I had several conversations with Vince in regards to the direction of Hulkamania. We both knew it was still the hottest Wrestler Brand on the market by far but he felt it reached a plateau; which was hard to hear at the time but understood but respectfully disagreed. At the time, my in-ring career was slowed down a lot and I did other projects like filming Mr. Nanny and various public relation & community out-reach work for the WWE all around the country.
Storyline-wise, not much was on forefront and Hulkamnia was beginning to be shelved. I took this opportunity of not only being used not the way I wanted but simply not being used period to re-open discussions of Hulkamnia’s future. Vince had his mind made up and so did I and since we are like two stubborn brothers bull headed and banging heads, only to get headaches instead of budging. Even though I felt like I had a lot more to offer and didn’t want to leave the fans, I asked out of my contract since the writing on the wall (so to speak) seemed inevitable to retire anyways. Suprisingly Vince agreed and we began to plan for Hulkamania’s departure and to pass the torch once again.
At the time it HAD to be Bret Hart or Yokozuna. Bret Hart was in his first year being main event status and he clearly proved his dedication to the business and dominated the Tag Team division throughout the 80’s and the IC division for a few years and was just an amazing performer. His work ethic was off the charts and he clearly began to have a following that enabled him to not only be the face of the company but carry the torch successfully. Yokozuna on the other hand didn’t nearly pay his dues like the Hitman did but came in as an overwhelming force that shot him up to main event status almost overnight. Yoko was working a program with this hitman already and Vince & I knew we could get not only get a few extra bucks out of one last Hulkamania Run but also knew Hulkamnia could be instrumental in setting up the next guy.
I was leaning more towards Bret… so much in-fact we did some photo-shoots for a possible feud and even doing a tug of war with the belt looked awesome while seeing the pictures afterwards. However, Bret was a Babyface (good guy) and so was I. The only time a Babyface vs Babyface happened on a grand level thus far was at WM6 which caused a split crowd and even though it was awesome, it kept the crowd divided afterwards. Having a Heel (bad guy) beat the Babyface or vice-versa has always been the traditional format. In addition, Bret was just now beginning to be a major player and to have him go against Hulkamania with the risk of him generating heat over it didn’t make much sense. Just look at Wrestlemania 18, I went against the Rock as a bad guy and even though he was a good guy, the people booed him and pretty much turned him heel in that match if you watch it.
Not wanting to put a damper on Bret’s raise to the top, it was decided that Yoko would beat the Hitman at Wrestlemania 9 and prove himself to be unstoppable and have me come out to win beat Yoko on a whim and take the title from him to become the Champ for the last time and enjoy my final Run; which happened. In this process, it did put Bret on the back burner, but allowed Yokozuna to gain even more heat with the crowd and more established Yoko by giving him the credentials under his belt when defeating me at King of the Ring 1993… This not only eventually gave Bret Hart center stage as the main guy, but a great Heel to work with and no one had to share the spotlight with Hulkamnia anymore. This was my last match in WWE for nearly 10 years.
After Yokozuna won against me, if that wasn’t enough he squashed me like a pancake brothers; which made for an easy & believable send off for me. Vince was happy with the way I put over Yoko and whoever beat Yoko in following years had the bragging rights to say they did what Hulk Hogan couldn’t; so it all made sense. WWE had the perfect bad guy that killed Hulkamania and I got out of my contract to pursue other projects, primarily Thunder in Paradise. I would say enjoy this video of that was believed to be Hulkamania’s last match in 1993 but… knowing the beating I took against this big man.
HH
?
?
" is just garbage. He probably believes it, but bret LOSING to yoko then having HOGAN lose to YOKO then later yoko gets his WIN BACK, makes the heirarchy
