Top Ten Times Hulk Hogan Put Someone Over

Top Ten Times Hulk Hogan Put Someone Over

August 21, 2023
By Ryan Porzl

Love him or hate him, no one can deny Hulk Hogan's success and contributions to professional wrestling. One of wrestling's true larger than life talents, Hogan played a role in both of the last two golden ages of American professional wrestling. He's participated in some of the biggest matches and moments of all time while also headlining the biggest shows of all time from Wrestlemania III to Starrcade 1997. However, despite Hogan's achievements, he does have plenty of critics as he's been known for many things in the industry and one has been as a backstage politician. During his career, Hogan has been accused of selfishness and either not losing matches cleanly or properly when he should've (vs. Sting at Starrcade 1997) or maybe using his influence to stay in the main event during times when he shouldn't have been there. While it is true Hogan won way more than he lost and while he's not known for losing to just anybody, he has shown in his career that he too can do the right thing and lose when necessary. This August 11th marks Hogan's 70th birthday and instead of doing an interesting facts list on him since I think most people know everything there is to know, I decided to do a two parter that look at Hogan and stuff involving him. In this article, we'll look back at the times when Hogan would do the right thing and go out of his way to put over a talent.

Note: I don't own the pictures. I got them off Google.

10. The Genius- The Genius is an interesting name as he is, of course, Lanny Poffo, the younger brother of longtime Hogan friend/rival "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Anybody who's followed wrestling for a long time know the history of Hogan and Savage but Savage wasn't the only Poffo brother to face Hogan. Ironically enough, despite not having anywhere near the success of his older brother, The Genius did not only defeat Hogan but did it on a pretty big stage while Savage largely had to settle for house shows. On November 25, 1989, on Saturday Night's Main Event XXIV, Hogan defended the WWF Championship against The Genius. The match did see Genius get his moments but obviously was no match for Hogan. In the end, The Genius scored the upset win via count out in 7:34 after Mr. Perfect came out and hit Hogan with the championship belt behind the referee's back thus resulting in the count out. In the end, it's not a great put over job and Hogan would get his comeback win the following Saturday Night's Main Event in January but still. For a guy of Hogan's stature, arguably the biggest name in North American wrestling in 1989, to lose to a guy like The Genius on a Saturday Night's Main Event has to mean something.

9. Jacques Rougeau- This one has gotten legendary. A member of the legendary Rougeau wrestling family, Jacques Rougeau is best known for his 80s/90s runs in the WWF under his Mountie persona and as part of tag teams The (Fabulous) Rougeau Brothers with brother Raymond and The Quebecers with Pierre (the future PCO). After originally retiring from wrestling in 1994, Rougeau would come out of it and reunite with Pierre in WCW in 1996 as The Amazing French Canadians. While the WCW run was nothing special, one thing came of it. On April 11, 1997, Rougeau promoted a show at the Molson Center in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The event would see WCW talents on the show with the main event being Rougeau against Hogan. Hogan would famously lose the match and had no problem doing so reportedly due to his respect for the Rougeau family. While the match was never televised and only survives via bootlegs and while it didn't elevate Rougeau's career, it's still a nice gesture of Hogan to do it especially when he probably could've vetoed a proposed loss.

8. Triple H- I know some may read this part and go "I thought Hogan beat Triple H for the WWF Championship when they wrestled" and you be right as they did in fact meet at Backlash and Hogan did defeat Triple H for the WWF Championship. However, that's not the match I'm bringing up. Less than two months after the Backlash match, Hogan and Triple H would enter a battle royal on the June 6, 2002 edition of Smackdown with the winner challenging The Undertaker for the WWE Undisputed Championship at King of the Ring. The battle royal saw them emerge as co-winners due to being eliminated at the same time after being the last two. Ultimately, Vince McMahon would book a match between them in the main event and it would be here where Hogan returned the favor for the Backlash match. In the main event, Triple H would defeat Hogan in 6:43 with the pedigree but not before Triple H kicked out of Hogan's leg drop to earn the title shot. This would be a theme as we would see Hogan largely go on Job Duty in 2002 and seemingly go out of his way to put people over and it won't be the last time on this list someone kicked out of the leg drop before defeating Hogan.

7. The Rock- Outside of The Ultimate Warrior (who we'll be talking about in a little bit) loss, this was probably the most famous Hogan loss and ironically, both took place in the Skydome. What can be said that hasn't been said? Hogan and The Rock are two of the most larger than life wrestlers in the history of, at least, North American wrestling. Hogan dominated the WWF for most of the 80s and early 90s while Rock served as WWF's number two guy behind Steve Austin from the late 90s to early 00s. Both were instrumental in wrestling boom periods and both also became part of American pop culture to where even non wrestling fans likely know who they are. Ironically, Hogan would also be the first five time WWF Champion and would not only share the record with Bret Hart and The Rock, it would be The Rock who would eventually break it with his sixth in 2001. Anyway, as everybody knows, this epic dream encounter took place at Wrestlemania X-8 on March 17, 2002. The match would gain legendary status for the electricity the crowd brought to the point where it's one of, if not, the most famous match in terms of crowd energy as that's the most memorable though the match was good. Hogan gave The Rock a lot including a lowblow, belt shots with his weight lifting belt, and Rock kicked out of the leg drop before finishing Hogan off with the rock bottom and people's elbow in 16:24. Had it not been for The Rock's growing Hollywood career, this could be another case of Hogan attempting to pass the torch like he did in the same stadium twelve years earlier against Warrior. As an added bonus, these two would meet again at No Way Out 2003 and while the match was no where as memorable and featured overbooking, Hogan would again lose to The Rock so he never got his win back and lost back to back to The Brahma Bull.

6. Lex Luger- Hogan and Luger are two guys that are similar. Both were trained by Hiro Matsuda, both have a similar style in the ring, both have larger than life physiques, and Luger was long thought of as "The Next Hulk Hogan" during the late 80s/early 90s. Despite being in the WWF at the same time in 1993, their paths wouldn't really cross until Luger's shocking return to WCW in September 1995 while Hogan was the WCW World Champion. The two would headline the second edition of WCW Monday Nitro and be partners in the WarGames at Fall Brawl 1995. However, things wouldn't heat up for the two until Hogan's heel turn and the formation of the nWo at Bash At The Beach 1996. Hogan would be the leader of the evil invading force while Luger served as the torch bearer of WCW and, along with good friend Sting, served as the top face for WCW during 1996/1997. After earning a title shot at Spring Stampede and chasing Hogan during the spring and summer of 1997, the two men would finally go at it for the championship on August 4, 1997 on WCW Monday Nitro. In the end, Luger would emerge victorious at around 11 minutes. The match saw Luger kick out of Hogan's leg drop and Luger fighting off Randy Savage, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash before defeating Hogan by submission via the torture rack. The loss marked Hogan's first submission loss in at least thirteen years. While Hogan would get his win back five days later at the Road Wild 1997 event, the loss to Luger was a huge one for Luger. It's hard to argue otherwise but it safe to say it'll go down as the biggest win of Luger's career. Not just cause of his submission win over Hogan but the fact that after years of being accused of being a choker and his previous world title win being a vacant title, this match showed Luger could win the big one and should've shed the choker label. Also, kicking out of Hogan's leg drop and fighting off top nWo members in route to victory isn't too shabby.

5. Goldberg- With the exception of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and The Rock, nobody was probably hotter than Goldberg in 1998. The former NFL football player turned pro in 1997 after training in the WCW Power Plant and quickly became a single wrestler version of The Road Warriors as he it didn't take long for him to gain a following with his charisma, badass aura, and chew em up and spit em out style. When Hogan regained the WCW World Championship on the April 20, 1998 edition of Monday Nitro, it seemed inevitable that a Hogan/Goldberg showdown was coming. Sure enough, it came on July 6, 1998 on Nitro in front of 41,000 fans. Obviously, there's been controversy regarding whether WCW left money on the table not doing the match on PPV but nevertheless, it happened. The match would see both get their moments and while distraction from Diamond Dallas Page and Karl Malone led to the finish, Hogan gave Goldberg a lot in resorting to lowblows, belt shots with his weight lifting belt, and chair shots. Goldberg also kicked out of several leg drops as well before finishing Hogan with the jackhammer in 8:11. The win marked Goldberg's one and only run as WCW World Champion but his first of four world titles. Despite his later success, main eventing Starrcades and having big matches at Wrestlemanias, it's hard to argue that the Hogan win will likely go down as Goldberg's biggest win which says a lot given how many times he's won and it was the win that officially propelled him from upper midcarder to main eventer.

4. Kurt Angle- Easily, the most forgettable put over jobs from Hogan which is a shame as it was a good one for The Hulkster and it should go down as one of Angle's greatest wins. Then again, 2002 did see Hogan put his share of people over from The Rock at Wrestlemania X-8 to getting dismantled by the up and coming Brock Lesnar. These two would have a rivalry that would culminate at King of the Ring 2002 which saw Angle win in 12:08 after avoiding a leg drop. The most interesting thing to come about the match would not only see Hogan put over the Olympic gold medalist clean but he submitted to Angle's ankle lock submission hold. The submission loss is one of the few times in Hogan's career that he submitted as a babyface and the most notable time. Meanwhile, it also marked the second to last time Hogan would lose by submission in his legendary career with the last being against Sting at TNA's Bound For Glory 2011. It's one thing to make Hogan submit, it's quite another for the legendary superhero to quit to a heel but it was another good gesture for Hogan to do as Angle certainly deserved the honor.

3. Brock Lesnar- Fewer wrestlers have been more successful and dominant in the 21st Century than Brock Lesnar. The former NCAA and UFC champion has lay a path of destruction on and off for two decades. In the WWE alone, Lesnar's achievements became legendary from defeating The Rock at Summerslam 2002 which resulted in him becoming the youngest WWE Champion in history to ending The Undertaker's legendary Wrestlemania winning streak at Wrestlemania XXX in 2014. Among many of Lesnar's victims would be Hogan. On the August 8, 2002 edition of Smackdown, Hogan challenged Lesnar for his Summerslam title shot. While Hogan got his hope spots in and Paul Heyman would interfere to prevent a leg drop, Hogan proved little to no match for Lesnar who was in control for most of the match and once again kicked out of Hogan's leg drop. Hogan would eventually fall to the Beast Incarnate after passing out in his brocklock bearhug in 10:05. As if Hogan didn't do enough for Lesnar in the match, the aftermath saw Lesnar get more licks in by plastering Hogan with a steel chair and smearing Hogan's blood on his chest like war paint. While it can be argued his previously mentioned wins over The Rock and The Undertaker were bigger, the Hogan win would be one that would definitely play a big part early in Lesnar's career to establish him as a major player in wrestling, a position he would hold for the next two decades.

2. The Ultimate Warrior- I think we all saw this one coming but some may be surprised it's not number one but keep reading as I believe, there's a better time Hogan put someone over. Like The Rock, there's not much to say that isn't already known. As mentioned, Hogan dominated much of the 80s in the WWF but during this time, The Ultimate Warrior began to emerge towards the end of the decade and by the dawn of the 90s was not only the WWF's number two hero behind The Hulkster but it quickly became clear a clash of the titans would not only happen but was highly anticipated by fans everywhere. The epic encounter would take place on April 1, 1990 at Wrestlemania VI. To make the match bigger, it would be title vs. title as Hogan would defend the WWF Championship while Warrior would defend the Intercontinental Championship. To no ones surprise, the match was pretty even throughout to the point where the winner would likely be the one to capitalize on the other making a mistake. Sure enough, the end came when Hogan hulking up, doing his routine, and hitting the big boot only to miss the leg drop which allowed Warrior to come off and hit a warrior splash for the win and his only world title at 24:51. Following the match, Hogan would take the championship, personally hand it to Warrior, and the two embraced before Hogan left to allow Warrior his moment. While the aftermath wasn't great as The Warrior never became Hogan's successor as he eventually fizzled out a few years later and the two would go on to have a disastrous rematch at Halloween Havoc 1998 with Hogan getting his win back, it can't be denied Hogan did his best to make Warrior look like his successor at Wrestlemania VI. While Warrior never reached the heights some thought he would, the win over Hogan at Wrestlemania VI will forever be his shining moment and the one everyone will remember most.

1. Yokozuna- Well, here it is. Hogan's best put over job and one of the best in the history of the business, in my opinion. Obviously, many longtime wrestling fans are aware of Wrestlemania IX and one of the reasons it's had it's share of haters was Hogan walking out of the event with the WWF Championship in an impromptu match where he defeated new champion Yokozuna in 22 seconds due to a mistimed salt throw from Yoko's manager Mr. Fuji. Many would argue it didn't make either Bret Hart or Yokozuna look good. However, what some forget is Hogan returned the favor to Yoko and more. At King of the Ring 1993 on June 13, 1993, Hogan defended the WWF Championship against Yokozuna in a rematch. Outside of the infamous finish where a Japanese photographer shot a fireball from his camera, Hogan did as good as anyone could to put someone over. Yoko dominated the match, Hogan was never able to bodyslam him despite vowing to which was a first, it took three big boots to drop him, and he kicked out of the leg drop. Perhaps the big moment was the end with Yoko pinning Hogan after using Hogan's own leg drop against him to win in 13:10. As if that wasn't enough, Yokozuna then adds injury to the insult by dropping a bonzai drop on Hogan following the match and Hogan is carried out in what would be his final televised WWF appearance for nine years. While Hogan would get wins over Yoko, they would be during his last matches for the promotion during this tenure during a European tour and the matches ended in disqualification or count out. Nevertheless, as far as most fans are concerned, the last memory of The Hulkster in the WWF for nine years was being beaten by Yokozuna and carried out of the ring. The win undoubtedly established Yokozuna as a main event star, a position he would hold for most of his WWF tenure before weight issues got in the way. A big reason was he was able to do what legends like Roddy Piper, King Kong Bundy, "Big" John Studd, Paul Orndorff, Randy Savage, Sgt. Slaughter, The Undertaker, and even Andre The Giant couldn't do: run Hogan out of the WWF and end Hulkamania for nearly a decade.