Hulk Hogan: the non-championship years

One of my pro wrestling heroes as a kid was Hulk Hogan.  Every fan in the world of a certain would've felt the same and I was certainly no different.  

My entry in wrestling fandom began in either October or November 1991, when I opened an Argos catalogue and discovered these action figures, one of which was this bronzed adonis dressed in red and yellow.  And at multiple times the Hulkster held the top heavyweight championship in either the World Wrestling Federation (today's WWE), their rival competitior World Championship Wrestling and the lesser-known American Wrestling Association which ran between the 60s until the early 90s.

Hogan did have his moments where wasn't world champion, and those occasions were strange as he appeared almost naked without a title belt.  When they happened it gave another wrestler to have a run as title holder - the company figurehead, the man who effectively drew ticket sales to the shows.  

After he lost his first WWF title to Andre The Giant in February 1988, he would spend the next 14 months teaming with eventual champ Randy 'Macho Man' Savage to feud with both Andre and his accomplice, the 'Million Dollar Man' Ted Dibiase.  Outside the ring, Hulk would turn to acting and feature in the action movie No Holds Barred - a precursor to Vince McMahon's WWE Films project in years to come.  

A high profile match occurred between the two pairs at the first SummerSlam that year but would lead to gradual tension between the duo,  climaxing when a jealous Savage attacked Hogan for incorrectly perceived feelings towards their manager, Miss Elizabeth.

At WrestleMania V, Hogan would defeat the Macho Man to win back the gold.  After holding it for a year and losing it at the following 'Mania to the Ultimate Warrior, another year would go before he'd take the title back.  In between, when he wasn't filming his next movie Suburban Commando, he feuded with the 400lb Earthquake following a vicious attack during a televised interview. 

Teasing retirement while out injured, Hogan returned to a big-money set of showdowns against the former Canadian sumo, whilst last eliminating him to win the '91 Royal Rumble.

After a series of world title exchanges later that year with The Undertaker, Hogan wouldn't taste gold again for another year and a half. A WrestleMania main event with Sid Justice came about again through more jealousy and treachery from the evil rival. Following a disagreement between the two at the '92 Rumble, the future "Psycho" Sid would walk out on Hogan during a tag team match, leading to an underwhelming clash which was Hogan's last for 11 months. Choosing to lay low in the fall out of a recent steroid scandal, Hogan would again resume his movie career by filming Mr Nanny - swapping his wrestling tights for a tutu!

Subsequent years would see the Hulkster scale back as a full-time wrestler, with further acting aspirations resulting in a crack at least his own TV show from the same creators of Baywatch, entitled Thunder In Paradise - with a later cameo in the former resulting in arguably more successful one episode than the flop of a series that preceded. 

A brief WWF title program with Japanese behemoth Yokozuna would later be followed by a 15-month WCW title run, after defeating 'Nature Boy' Ric Flair in July 1994. Upon losing said title, he was back teaming with old pal/nemesis Randy Savage in a rivalry against the "Alliance To End Hulkamania" (not a joke). The main faction was made up of Shark (the former Earthquake), Ugandan giant Kamala, Menu (Haku of WWF fame) and his former best friend Brutus Beefcake, by which time he had turned on Hulk and went under different names such as The Butcher and Zodiac. 

Flair and fellow Four Horseman ally Arn Anderson would assist in the battles, with Anderson even scoring a televised victory over Hogan. This would lead to best-forgotten cage match at the WCW Uncensored '96 event, where Hogan and Savage would win against nine bad guys..

Between the summer of 1996 and mid-'99, Hogan would ditch the red and yellow colours in favour black and white. The newly-christened Hollywood Hogan would dominate the world title picture, until losing the belt to Goldberg on a July '98 episode of WCW Monday Nitro.  

Hogan's next self-appointed project was to apparently run for the US presidency - an admitted publicity stunt which really went nowhere - however one non-title competitor did rear his head twice on pay-per-view: Diamond Dallas Page. A week after the Goldberg loss, a tag match between Hogan and Page saw them team with respective partners, Chicago Bull stand-out Dennis Rodman and late-night chat show host Jay Leno. 

Less than a year later, a more vicious Page would injure Hogan's leg and end his chances to challenge for further gold in a Spring Stampede four-way match. With a change back to the red and yellow colours, Hogan would revisit previous rivalries with Sting, Lex Luger and Ric Flair, before engaging in an unlikely program with cruiserweight hopeful Billy Kidman.

Trading wins and putting the younger star over, Hogan would defeat Kidman in his last WCW pay-per-view victory before creative differences led to him leaving a month later and eventually suing the company. Some of his most famous non-title clashes were still to come: in March 2002, a spectacular WrestleMania fight saw Hogan face The Rock - and a year later against long-time boss Vince McMahon(!), in matches which arguably stole both shows. The Hulkster also made time to lose matches to both Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar, helping their stars shine even brighter.

Two more big pay-per-view fights in the WWE were on the cards for Hulk after his Hall of Fame induction, in April 2005. SummerSlam of that year saw his first and only one-on-one match with Shawn Michaels. Both huge stars of their respective eras in the company, Vince McMahon must've felt he was seeing two ex's go at it. The following year at the same event, he faced Randy Orton in a shameless way of incorporating promotion for his VH-1 show Hogan Knows Best.

Arguably Hogan's best matches came whilst wearing a title of some sort; his matches with The Iron Shirk, Andre, Savage and Warrior are near biblical. However his career in between should not be ignored, unless you include his time in TNA - the highlight of which was his bloody legends' match with Sting in 2011. Can you think of any others worth remembering? Please get in touch to share!