Hulk Hogan winning the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania IX was the right move

Hulk Hogan winning the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania IX was the right move

May 7, 2021

By Ryan Porzl

Originally, I wanted to wait for the 30th Anniversary of Wrestlemania IX before writing this but I'm not waiting another two years so I want to do it now and Wrestlemania 37 just came and went. Wrestlemania IX will forever go down as one of the most polarizing Wrestlemanias of all time as it does have it's supporters like me but it has plenty of critics. One of the main reasons people look down on this was the conclusion of the event which was to see Bret Hart defending the WWF Championship against Yokozuna but instead, it was Hulk Hogan who walked away from the event as a record setting five time WWF Champion. Many fans have hated the moment believing it never should've happened and how it was Hogan "stealing" Bret or Yoko's moment for his ego and how his act was stale. Well, I'm not one of them and not only is it one of my favorite Wrestlemania moments, I feel Hogan winning the WWF Championship was the right move. In this article, I'll explain why I feel Hogan walking away from Caesar's Palace on April 4, 1993 as WWF Champion was the best move.

Hogan's title win helped make Wrestlemania IX more memorable. While it's a memory a lot don't like, I suppose it's better than nothing. An event like Wrestlemania, you want it to be memorable and not something lost to history. WWF was in a transitional period going into Wrestlemania IX as they were beginning to faze out the stars of the 80s for what would be the New Generation era. While Wrestlemania IX was a solid card, it felt "there" at the time and nothing to remember in the years to come. Sure, now it has some memorable stuff as it was the last WM for certain people for a number of years like Hulk Hogan, Tito Santana, "Mean" Gene Okerlund, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, and Jimmy Hart, the last one certain competitors would wrestle like Santana, Ted Dibiase, Mike "IRS" Rotunda, and Brutus Beefcake, The Steiner Brothers one and only Wrestlemania, and Jim Ross' debut but we didn't know most of this stuff back in 1993. By giving the championship to Hogan, it saw history made at Wrestlemania IX as it became the first event to feature the WWF Championship change hands twice in one night. It's sure more memorable than Bret Hart's reign continuing especially since it was flat by this point which will get to in a bit. Yokozuna winning would've made history being the first heel to walk out of Wrestlemania as WWF Champion but he was still relatively new which we'll also get to.

Another reason for the title win was an interesting reason and one Bruce Prichard brought up on his podcast. Wrestlemania IX was one of the first WWF Pay-Per-Views to have a replay air days after the show took place, specifically, the replay aired eight days after Wrestlemania. By having Hogan win the championship and being able to announce it, it gives WWF something to convince either fans who saw it already to watch history be made again but more importantly, it encouraged fans who maybe didn't find Wrestlemania IX's card interesting enough something to perhaps get them to open their wallets and watch it because something big happened that they didn't expect. Imagine the reactions of many fans who maybe missed Wrestlemania IX and the following day expected to hear either Bret retaining or Yoko being the new champion only to find out Hogan is the champion. While some would like it and others wouldn't, it could still get them interested to see how WWF got there and how it all went down.

Hogan winning at Wrestlemania IX eventually led to King of the Ring 1993 which MADE Yokozuna. Yokozuna will go down as one of the greatest super heavyweights in wrestling history and in 1993, had great potential but he wasn't a big star before going to the WWF and even winning the 1993 Royal Rumble and the WWF Championship at Wrestlemania IX, something was still missing. Prior to KOTR, Yoko had potential but he needed that big win or moment to get him over the hump and Hogan's win at Wrestlemania IX led to it happening. People can say what they want about Hogan's ego but Hogan has put wrestlers over and Yokozuna was not only one of them but it should go down as one of the best examples of making a new star. I know people also are not happy the supposed original plan of Bret beating Hogan at Summerslam 1993 didn't happen but this was the right move especially giving Bret's previous run flopped and they wouldn't get many more chances with Yoko. With Hogan winning at Wrestlemania IX, it led to the Hogan/Yokozuna match at King of the Ring '93 which made Yoko into a new star. The match saw Yoko dominate the match and Hogan could never bodyslam Yoko despite trying three times and him bodyslamming super heavyweights is one of his trademarks but he couldn't do it. When Hogan went for the finish, it took three big boots to drop Yoko instead of the usual one, and Yoko became one of the few of the era to kick out of Hogan's leg drop. While the finish wasn't clean as Yoko needed a photographer to shoot a fireball, it did lead to Yoko finishing Hogan off with Hogan's own signature leg drop finisher and then to add injury to insult, Yoko then nailed Hogan with a bonzai drop resulting in Hogan being carried out. This would be the last time many saw Hogan in the WWF for nine years as it was his last televised appearance before leaving so Yokozuna was credited for ending Hulkamania in the WWF for nearly a decade. When Yokozuna got that big win at King of the Ring 1993, you can tell there was a difference. After the win, he came off more a main eventer, more credible, and a dominant monster. He definitely had an aura about him after that. None of this wouldn't have happened if Hogan didn't get the championship. Plus, this also is good in retrospect as the WWF would have a small window to cash in on Yokozuna giving his weight problems later on.

A lot of people also question giving Hogan the championship at Wrestlemania IX but the $64,000 question I have for them is "if not Hogan then who?". I know the knee jerk reaction is "just keep it on Bret" but the problem was that wasn't working. Even Dave Meltzer reported back in 1993 how Bret's first run as WWF Champion was a bust and by Wrestlemania, he'd been the champion for six months so if it didn't work by that point, it wasn't going to work and it was time for a new direction. Not to mention, even Meltzer defended the Hogan win at first and Meltzer is no Hogan fan so when Dave Meltzer is defending Hogan winning the championship in 1993, you know Bret's run failed. The truth of the matter is that Bret just was never going to be "the guy". Vince can say whatever he wants nowadays about how you could build a company around Bret but it's not the case and Vince knew that. How else to explain why Vince always jettisoned Bret when he thought he found "the guy"? Not to mention, Bret's later title reigns clearly left something to be desired as his second title reign never saw him main event a PPV, his third was clearly a transitional reign to get the belt from Diesel to Shawn Michaels and he was mostly used to further the Undertaker/Diesel feud, his fourth reign lasted a day, and his fifth reign saw him play second banana to the Undertaker/Shawn Michaels feud while likely keeping the belt warm for Steve Austin before his (Bret's) departure happened. So, having said all that with Bret, who else was there? Well, not much. "Macho Man" Randy Savage had already had a five month run as champion the year prior and it didn't light the world on fire and it also didn't help he was part time at this point as he was also a color commentator for WWF. Ric Flair had two runs the previous year but they too didn't work out and he just left WWF in February 1993 so he was out. Razor Ramon, Yokozuna, and Bam Bam Bigelow all had great potential but none of them had been in the WWF for a year or in Bigelow's case, back a year and none were major stars or former world champions in other promotions at the time. Lex Luger was a former world champion in WCW which was a major promotion but he'd only been wrestling in the WWF for two months by the time Wrestlemania IX rolled around so he needed more exposure. Tatanka and Crush had potential but both were midcarders and nowhere near world title level and after already trying an untested guy in Bret, it probably wouldn't have been smart to go with either of them since they wouldn't have worked. Shawn Michaels had incredible potential but was not only already the Intercontinental Champion, he was still years away from his peak and really didn't enter the main event picture until 1995. Bob Backlund was a former WWF Champion but his previous reign ended nearly a decade before, he had been back less than a year after being out for eight, and even though he held the WWF Championship for five and a half years, he never was a megastar and many have since long questioned why he even held it that long. Jerry Lawler was a legend but he was mostly a regional draw in the Tennessee area and never proved much as a national draw and he also only been in the WWF for a few months at that point all the while not having done much as a wrestler as he mostly worked as a commentator. Mr. Perfect was a former world champion in the AWA and a main event level talent but he'd only been back six months after being sidelined for fifteen months with a back injury. Ted Dibiase was great but his days as a main eventer were over by 1993 and he was physically beginning to fall apart which eventually led to career ending injuries later in the year. The Ultimate Warrior and The British Bulldog were both fired by that point after having been caught getting human growth hormone from a pharmacy in England. The Undertaker was a former WWF Champion but still untested as his reign only lasted six days back in late 1991 and aside from that was not a huge star prior to his WWF run and it doesn't also help he was in lackluster rivalries at the time having finished up with the aging Kamala and was beginning to work with the dreadful Giant Gonzalez which weren't main event/WWF Championship level rivalries. So who else could WWF had turned to? Like it or not, Hogan was perfect for the time. He had a track record and was a proven draw, he hadn't been champion in a year and a half so he wasn't too stale, and it could give WWF some breathing room until Vince decided what to do next. While it is true business didn't really improve under Hogan during this run, it did give Vince a short term solution as he made his next moves. The move also proved beneficial for the WWF as it opened the door for others in the months to come. With Bret no longer champion, it allowed the WWF to rebuild him which led to a pretty hot 1993 and 1994 for The Hitman as he had his tour de force run in the 1993 King of the Ring tournament which he ended up winning and began his hot rivalries with Jerry Lawler and brother Owen. As mentioned, Yokozuna got to work with Hogan at King of the Ring and picked up the big win which established him as a top star and monster for the promotion for the remainder of 1993 and into to early 1994. It also gave Lex Luger more time to get exposed to the WWF audience and for Vince to eventually give him his "Man Made in the USA" gimmick which made Luger a top star for the remainder of 1993 and 1994 before WWF botched his booking at Wrestlemania X but that's another article for another day.

All in all, if you went into this article not a fan of Hogan's championship victory at Wrestlemania IX, I hope I made some good arguments that either changed your mind or at least show it wasn't such a bad idea and there were justifications for it.