The Positives of the Hulk Hogan era in TNA

The Positives of the Hulk Hogan era in TNA
August 31, 2023
By Ryan Porzl

In 2003, Hulk Hogan would leave WWE and within months, rumors began to circulate of him appearing and competing for the upstart Total Nonstop Action Wrestling promotion (now Impact Wrestling). Ultimately, it didn't happen and both sides did their own things. Fast forward six years later on October 2009, TNA and Hogan would hold a press conference announcing his arrival to TNA which he eventually did in January 2010. At the time, the hope was obviously this would be a game changer for TNA and bring them to the next level like Hogan's arrival did for WCW in the 1990s. Unfortunately, and as it well known, this didn't happen and the Hogan era would last nearly four years which many wrestling fans and TNA/Impact fans would say was a failure at best, disastrous at worst as the promotions fortunes and reputation took tremendous damage that led to a massive decline during the early to late 2010s which left them on death's door by 2016 only to be saved by current owners Anthem. Obviously, there's plenty not to like about this time in TNA: the embarrassing attempt to compete against Monday Night RAW on Mondays to the arrival of washed up names to Hogan bringing in his daughter Brooke who contributed nothing to the product and was only there to try and raise her profile. However, was it all bad? Was there ANYTHING good from the Hogan era to look back on? Well, the answer is no, it wasn't all bad and yes, there were some good here and there. This is the second of a two parter article where we look back at Hogan in celebration of his recent 70th birthday. Keep in mind, I'm not trying to whitewash this era. I acknowledge it was a massive failure that did more harm than good. That said, I do think there were things Hogan (along with Eric Bischoff and TNA) got right during this time. There are things to look back on fondly from their attempts to take chances to coming up with concepts that are still around to this day while others are things people want back. Before I begin, I want to say when I bring up "The Hogan Era", I'm referring to when Hogan debuted in January 2010 to his departure in October 2013. I should also point out, with these examples, I'm not going to credit everything to Hogan and Bischoff as they didn't think of everything. If nothing else, I'm looking at positives from this period that they may or may not have had a hand in.

Note: I don't own any pictures, I found them on Google. Credit to TNA and Universal Studios

9. The Rise of Some Talents While Others Got Another Chance- Usually, when you think of the Hogan era of TNA, you probably don't think of wrestling rising or reaching some big moment in their career. The Hogan era was pretty generous time for a lot of wrestlers and surprisingly, many are TNA originals. Originals like Bobby Roode, James Storm, and Chris Sabin all enjoyed reigns as World Champion while Samoa Joe and Abyss became some of the first grand slam winners (after AJ Styles). Longtime Knockouts like Velvet Sky and Madison Rayne made it to the Knockouts Championship. Meanwhile, other guys like Doug Williams, Brian Kendrick, Robbie E (NXT's Mr. Stone), Zema Ion (WWE's Joaquin Wilde), Mickie James, Winter, and Kenny King all either debuted, returned, or began to rise during this time and all captured TNA gold. This era also saw the redemption of others with Mr. Anderson and Brooke Tessmacher washing out of WWE and getting opportunities to be world champions in TNA. After two falling outs with TNA, Austin Aries returned in 2011 and had a great third run winning the triple crown of World, Tag Team, and X Division gold all the while earning the longevity record for the X Division Championship and main eventing Bound For Glory 2012. Though, her success occurred after the Hogan era ended, Taryn Terrell also came into Impact during this time and would be a bright spot during TNA's dark mid 2010s. After failing to have singles runs in the WWE, The Dudley Boyz/Team 3D would finally enjoy singles success in TNA with Devon earning two runs with the World Television Championship while Bully Ray enjoyed two run as World Champion. Finally, you had Gail Kim return from a lackluster WWE run and take her place as the face of the Knockouts division. All in all, I'm not saying Hogan was behind all of this, the Hogan era wasn't perfect, and maybe could've done better with certain talent but many did get opportunities to shine during this time and took it.

8. Taking Chances- While many of the moves of the Hogan era didn't work out, Hogan, Bischoff, and TNA deserve credit for taking chances. For many years, many thought that TNA, while successful, could perhaps do more or take more chances. While they did travel for their big PPVs and were on Spike TV, they were still doing a month's worth of shows at Universal Studios. During the Hogan run, TNA began taking chances in an effort to grow their product such as going on the road, doing more live shows, and trying to compete with WWE. In the end, the Monday move was a disaster and embarrassment while trying to go on the road probably drained them financially, it was nice to see TNA try to make efforts to grow as opposed to running the risk of dying on the vine. 

7. Leaving the Impact Zone in Universal Studios- While this didn't work out during the Hogan run, this was a good idea and probably one of the first times the Hogan/Bischoff regime was on to something. When TNA launched their TNA Impact TV Show in June 2004, they made their home at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida running the majority of their shows there be it television tapings and most of the their PPVs. Safe to say by 2010, many fans were getting tired of the Impact Zone and the same, stale atmosphere. While it wouldn't happen overnight, it would be during the Hogan era where we started to see TNA make more attempts to go on the road by March 2013. For most of 2013, the promotion went on the road for Impact TV tapings and while they went back to Universal following Hogan's departure, it was nice to see Impact finally on the road instead of the same dull soundstage. On the plus side, despite it not lasting long, Impact would eventually return to the road by 2018 and now do their shows on the road. Hogan and Bischoff had the right idea as TNA could only run at Universal (while not being able to charge for tickets) for so long. Maybe the timing wasn't right or the markets or the buildings were too big. Whatever the case may be, it was a refreshing change that eventually worked out in the long run and showed they were ahead of things. Right idea but maybe wrong time.

6. Jeff Hardy as a Heel- Since 1999, one of wrestling's most popular stars has been Jeff Hardy. Since his career making ladder and TLC matches with brother Matt against Edge and Christian and The Dudley Boyz, Hardy achieved tremendous success and popularity thanks to his good looks, daredevil style, and amazing charisma. Before he was even 25 years old, he was pegged as a future world champion. Unfortunately, at various points, his career suffered due to personal problems and run ins with the law. After leaving the WWE in 2009, Hardy returned to TNA for a second run in 2010, the same night Hogan debuted. To no surprise, Hardy came in a babyface and it looked like it the same old, same old. Then at Bound For Glory 2010, TNA made an interesting choice. In the main event, Hardy, along with Hogan and Bischoff would turn heel and he win the vacant TNA World Title against Kurt Angle and Mr. Anderson. It's obvious, TNA was looking to recreate the Hogan heel turn from Bash At The Beach 1996 (the event was held in the Ocean Center which was the same building Bach At The Beach was held) and while Hogan and Bischoff as evil owners wasn't groundbreaking, Hardy's heel turn did breathe some new life into him and allowed to him play a different character as opposed to the same one he had been for a decade. For his part, Hardy did very well and it could've went far. Unfortunately, we'll never know how far it could've went as everything fell apart five months later on March 13, 2011. On that night, TNA held their Victory Road 2011 Pay-Per-View with the plan being Hardy challenging Sting for the World Title. However, before the match took place, Hardy showed up in no condition to perform which resulted in TNA changing the match on the fly and Sting won in less than 90 seconds. The result was one of the biggest black eyes in TNA/Impact history and 2010s wrestling with fans crapping all over the match and TNA having to try to make it up to fans. Due to the incident, Hardy was taken off TV for several months and upon his return in the summer, he was back to his "Charismatic Enigma" babyface character, a character he still plays to this day. While it didn't last, the Jeff Hardy heel character showed good potential and what we got was pretty good from Hardy. If nothing else, it freshen him up and showed he could be more than his babyface daredevil character. Sadly, personal issues derailed it too soon and even sadder is that Hardy hasn't tried anything like it since which means he's been playing the same character since the end of the last century.

5. Joker Sting- Hardy is not the only legend who went through a character change. Like Hardy, Sting has been one of wrestling's most popular acts for decades. Since 1987, Sting has spent 99% of his career as one of wrestling's best babyfaces and while he has dabbled as a heel in his career, he's up there with the likes of Ricky Steamboat and Tito Santana as one of the great babyfaces. The only real chink in Sting's armor is lack of comfort in playing a heel. Though he played one early in his career, later attempts in 1999 for WCW and 2009 for TNA were largely short lived failures and you can tell Sting never had his heart into it. By the time the Hogan era took place in 2010, Sting had been a regular for Impact for over four years and had been playing the same good guy character for decades. With a heel turn not an option, TNA decided to take Sting in another direction by having him portray a character similar to the iconic Joker with a look similar to Heath Ledger's from The Dark Knight. It definitely freshened Sting up a bit and allowed him to show a goofy side that he did well after playing the same goody goody vigilante since the late 90s. Joker Sting was a fun part of Sting's career and I wouldn't be surprised if Steve Borden, himself, had a ball playing the gimmick. Perhaps, as a testament to the gimmick, AEW would even resurrect it in 2023 with the Stinger.

4. The Rebranding to Impact Wrestling- TNA/Impact has been around for more than twenty years. An impressive feat for a company most have counted out so many times. As is well known, when the promotion first started, it was Total Nonstop Action or TNA for short. During the first decade of the promotion's existence, there had been those in the business and the company or fans who didn't like the name due to it being too similar to T&A and it being a name that could hinder the company's growth or just not be taken seriously. Among those was Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff who also weren't into the name. It would be during this era that TNA began to make the transition beginning May 2011 when the promotion began more and more using the Impact Wrestling name over TNA. While it wouldn't be until March 2017, long after Hogan left and months after the purchase to Anthem, did the promotion fully make the change to Impact Wrestling, a name that's still used to this day, it proved it was the right move in the long run. It took time but the wheels began churning to change the TNA name to Impact during the Hogan era and outside of nostalgic purposes, most would agree the Impact name probably is something that could be taken more seriously.

 

3. Returning to a Four Sided Ring- Another time where Hogan and Bischoff were ahead of things. When TNA first started, it had the traditional four sided ring that you expect in pro wrestling. However, when their TNA Impact! show debuted in June 2004 and the promotion moved their shows to Universal Studios, the promotion switched to a six sided ring which was based off the same ring used by the Mexican promotion AAA which have been a partner for Impact. From 2004-2010, the six sided ring was TNA's ring and it gained a fanbase with many TNA fans loving the uniqueness of the ring. However, it did have it's critics with some wrestlers like EC3 and Eli Drake (the future LA Knight) bringing up that it hurt more to take bumps on it while production people reportedly had issues getting the right camera angles while others thought of it as silly. Hogan and Bischoff would be among those not a fan of the six sided ring and they wasted no time getting rid of it only weeks into their run with the four sided ring returning for the 2010 Genesis PPV. At the time, fans crapped over the decision and it was met with a negative reception. The four sided ring remained for the Hogan era and while TNA would go back to the six sided ring in 2014 months after Hogan left, it proved to be the right move in retrospect as Anthem, along with EVPs Scott D'Amore and Don Callis would also agree and return to a four sided ring by early 2018 and still use it to this day. Unlike the Hogan era, fans were more accepting of the change.

2. Option C- A stipulation that has stood the test of time and become a TNA/Impact tradition. Option C was first created in 2012. The story was that leading up to Destination X 2012, Hogan decided to give X Division Champion Austin Aries an option. Originally there were two options with Option A being Aries can surrender the title in exchange for a world title shot while Option B could see Aries decline the offer and remain X Division Champion. Aries had another solution which was Option C which allowed him to surrender the title for the title shot but allow the stip to be a tradition that others could get every year. Hogan agreed and Aries went with Option C while going on to win the TNA World Championship from Bobby Roode. Sure enough, the tradition has continued with some exceptions (2016-2018, 2020) but for the most part has become a yearly tradition in TNA/Impact Wrestling and while the Option has it's critics who feel it hurts the prestige of the X Division Championship, it has led to big moments and opportunities with the likes of Aries and Josh Alexander going on to win their first TNA/Impact World Championship while Chris Sabin has won his lone World Title. The vacancies have also open the doors for others to advance in the X Division such as Trey Miguel, Zema Ion, Manik (T.J. Perkins), and Tigre Uno who would go on to win the championship.

1, The Bound For Glory Series- As this article has brought up, the Hogan era did have it's bright spots and for those who still aren't impressed, I direct you to a concept that has it's fanbase and one that many are clamoring for it to return and that's The Bound For Glory Series. Created in 2011, The BFG Series was a round robin tournament largely similar to Japanese tournaments such as New Japan's G1 Climax, All Japan's Champion Carnival, and NOAH's Global League/N-1. The tournament would start after Slammiversary and span most of the summer usually culminating in September with the winner getting a title shot at Bound For Glory. The tournament also had an interesting point system with submission wins giving a wrestler 10 points, a pinfall victory would give 7 points, a count out victory would give 6 points, and a disqualification victory would give 5 points while a draw gave both participants 2 points. The main twist was a wrestler would be deducted 10 point for every disqualification loss. The BFG series debuted in 2011 and featured Bobby Roode winning in 2011, Jeff Hardy in 2012, and AJ Styles in 2013. Sadly, the tournament has largely been discontinued following Hogan's exit outside of a single elimination tournament called The Bound For Glory Playoffs in 2016 which EC3 won. Despite an actual BFG Series not having been around for a decade, many fans have requested it back and it's not hard to understand why as it was a fun concept and it added some prestige to the biggest show of the year.