Hulk Hogan is one for the greatest wrestlers of all time. Even if you are not a fan of his in ring work, you can't deny he elevated wrestling to previously unseen heights in the 1980's national expansion of the then World Wrestling Federation, also known a when the territories died.
I was a huge Hulkamaniac when I was a kid, but even I became disenchanted with Hogan in the early 1990's and I stand by me feelings that he ruined WCW when he arrived in the promotion. I'll also be the first to admit I popped big time during his nostalgia run in the WWE in the mid 2000's. I was lucky enough to see him wrestle live twice during that run.
One would have thought that Hogan would have wound down his in ring career in the WWE, but sadly that was not the case. In fact Hogan's last match was for TNA and not even in the United States.
Hulk Hogan had returned to the WWE with the NWO in 2002 and by that Summer he had returned to the Red & Yellow as a fan favorite. He left in 2003, wrestled a match for New Japan, and returned in 2005 teaming with Shawn Michaels against Hassan & Davari at Backlash May 1st in Manchester, New Hampshire, I was at this show. He worked more tag matches with Michaels on RAW that summer until HBK turned on Hogan leading to their match at SummerSlam that year.
Hogan left WWE after SummerSlam but returned in the Summer of 2006 at Saturday Night's Main Event setting up a match with Randy Orton in Boston at SummerSlam 2006, I was at this match as well. This would be Hulk Hogan's final WWE match.
On April 27, 2007 Hogan wrestled what could be considered his only ever Indie show in Memphis, Tennessee. It was supposed to be against Jerry "The King" Lawler but WWE pulled him from the event. Hogan would pin Paul Wight to win the match.
Hogan's next series of matches would be of his own doing. November 21, 24, 26, & 28, 2009 in Australia during the Hulkamania Let The Battle Begin Tour Hogan would wrestle and defeat Ric Flair every night. I really can't believe that none of these shows have ever been commercially released, really seems like they dropped the ball on this.
On January 4, 2010 Hogan made is TNA television debut with the thought that he was going to be the savoir of the promotion, truth is he wasn't. He's credited with having TNA move to Monday Nights live to go head to head with WWE, getting rid of the six sided ring, and bringing in a ton of his buddies. In the end Hogan hurt TNA way more than he helped and it took the promotion years to recover from the damage that was inflicted.
However it would be in TNA that Hogan would wrestle his final matches:
March 8, 2010 Universal Studios, Orlando Florida
AJ Styles & "Nature Boy" Ric Flair wrestled "Immortal" Hulk Hogan & Abyss to a no contest
March 8, 2010 Universal Studios, Orlando Florida
No Disqulification: "Immortal" Hulk Hogan & Abyss defeated AJ Styles & "Nature Boy" Ric Flair
October 16, 2011 Bound For Glory Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sting defeated "Immortal" Hulk Hogan by submission with the Scorpion Death Lock
In the build to this match Hogan had turned heel, leader of the heel faction Immortal and was the "president" of now Impact Wrestling. During this match if Sting won Dixie Carter would regain the presidency of the promotion. Immortal would attack Sting post match and Hogan would make the save turning face.
January 26, 2012 Nottingham, England
"Immortal" Hulk Hogan, "Cowboy" James Storm & Sting defeated Bobby Roode, Bully Ray, & Kurt Angle
January 27, 2012 Manchester, England
"Immortal" Hulk Hogan, "Cowboy" James Storm & Sting defeated Bobby Roode, Bully Ray, & Kurt Angle
These were house show matches, and they talent on both teams was stacked, but it's not the final in ring send off that one would expect for someone the caliber of Hulk Hogan. There is a clip from the 27th on YouTube of Hogan doing his post match pose down with James Storm and Sting while Eye of The Tiger is blaring over the sound system.
Hogan last match was released on DVD by Impact on their Hulk Hogan DVD release, so at least any major Hogan fan can own this piece of history.
Until Next Time!
Ric Flair was the same way, had that amazing send off with WWE at WrestleMania 24, then came back for a series with Hulk Hogan in Australia. Then he had his dozen TNA matches, fortunately his last match was with Sting. But yeah he should have stopped with Mania.
ReplyDeleteGood write up. I don't really count house shows, so for me that Bound For Glory match with Sting is Hogan's last match. And, for what it was, it was pretty good. Hogan couldn't move around much anymore, but by adding Flair to the outside they were able to work around that. They told a great story as well, not just in the match itself but with the restoration of the company to Dixie and the resurrection of Hulkamania. Seems like a great final match to end on.
ReplyDeleteHe was supposed to and yet he's still wrestling. He just doesn't know when to stop but honestly maybe that's a good thing. Idk. But if it's going to be advertised as a last match it needs to be a last match.
ReplyDelete