Scandals That Ruined Hulk Hogan’s Reputation

The legacy of Hulk Hogan has changed for the worse after multiple scandals exposed things about him to the general public. Hogan was initially viewed as the biggest star in wrestling history after his 1980s run in WWE and 1990s run in WCW each helped change the industry forever in positive ways.

Many fans still view Hogan as the biggest wrestling star, but negative stories about him have become more noteworthy than his success. Hogan always putting himself in the public eye led to his downfall being more high profile. The following scandals caused Hogan’s reputation to take many hits for good reason.

Lying About The Undertaker Injuring Him With Tombstone

Undertaker Was Worried About Losing His Job After Match

• Hogan Lied About Undertaker Dropping Him On Head During Tombstone
• Undertaker Feared For His Job Until Watching Replay Footage Back
• Hogan & Undertaker Had Heat For Years After Hogan’s Strange Lies

Survivor Series 1991 featured a shocking moment of The Undertaker defeating Hulk Hogan to win the WWE Championship within a year in the promotion. Undertaker only held the title for a week, but the match was done to make him feel more credible at the top of the card.

The aftermath saw Undertaker more afraid than anything else when Hogan claimed he was badly injured. Undertaker feared for his job since injuring Hogan would be a death sentence, but he watched the video back and saw his tombstone piledriver was delivered perfectly.

Messy Public Divorce With Longtime Wife Linda Hogan

Both Looked Terrible Dragging Each Other Through Mud During Split

• Hogan Knows Best Ending Saw The Couple Finally Getting Divorced
• Linda Accused Hulk Of Cheating Her Multiple Times During Marriage
• Both Embarrassed Themselves During Sad Public War Of Words

Linda Hogan was the wife of Hulk Hogan for most of his wrestling career and became a public figure as well. The Hogan Knows Best reality show was partially due to Linda wanting to further enhance her fame, but the relationship fell apart around this time.

A public divorce saw Hulk and Linda both accusing each other of terrible things. Hulk being the bigger name to make the story get attention had him looking worse at times. Linda accusing Hulk of cheating put his name out there for all the wrong reasons.

Contract Demands Forcing Sudden End To Mr. America

WWE Found Unique Way To “Fire” Hogan After Tense Negotiations

• Hogan Wanted More Money From WWE To Continue Mr. America Gimmick
• Bad Conversations Negotiating Led To WWE Ending Working Relationship
• WWE Used Footage Of Mr. America Unmasking To Explain Vince Firing Him

Hulk Hogan returning to WWE in 2002 saw him spending a few years under contract. The face run saw Hogan trying to put over new stars like Kurt Angle and Brock Lesnar to prove he was a team player after all his WCW drama.

However, the Mr. America character change saw Hogan starting to make more demands upon being unhappy with his payoffs. Hogan refusing to appear without a better deal led to Vince McMahon “firing” Hogan on-screen and showing dark match footage of him taking the Mr. America mask off to prove his identity.

Hogan’s Racist Tirade Was The Biggest Public Strike Against Him

Tape Revealing Hogan’s Horrible Thoughts Ended WWE Deal

• Hogan’s Biggest Scandal Featured His Reputation Falling Apart
• WWE Almost Ended Working Relationship With Hogan Forever
• He Somehow Profited From This By Suing Company To Leak Tape

Both the pro wrestling world and entertainment world viewed the story of Hulk Hogan’s racism as a big deal. Hogan’s infamous sex tape was leaked with Hogan saying some heinous things about his daughter potentially dating a black person.

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Objectively evil racism was shown by Hogan towards the black community. WWE reacted by firing Hogan a little over a year after he returned to the promotion in an ambassador role. Hogan lost a lot of fans and exposed his beliefs to the world, despite trying to apologize and claim he learned from the mistake.

Randy Savage Felt Hogan Played A Role In His Divorce

Hogan’s Role In Savage & Elizabeth Breaking Up Confused Many Fans

• Hogan & Savage Had Love/Hate Relationship Always Changing Throughout Time
• Savage Blamed Hogan For Playing A Role In Miss Elizabeth Divorcing Him In Real Life
• Hulk & Linda Hogan Claimed They Protected Elizabeth From Savage’s Abusive Ways

The wrestling side of Hulk Hogan’s life saw him having a hot and cold relationship with Randy Savage. Both legends worked for WWE and WCW at the same time, but they went back and forth from close friends to bitter enemies behind the scenes.

Savage accused Hogan of playing a role in Miss Elizabeth leaving him for a divorce. Hulk and Linda Hogan claimed they helped Elizabeth when Savage crossed the line. There are grey areas here, but Hogan’s involvement felt off enough for many fans to question his motives.

Admitting To Using Steroids During The Big Steroids Trial

Years Of Lying About Steroid Use Finally Exposed Hogan In Court

• Was Exposed For Lying About Never Taking Steroids During Major Steroids Trial
• Hogan Didn’t Want To Commit Perjury & Finally Admitted Steroids Helped His Look
• Vince McMahon Avoided Jail Time Thanks To Hogan & Others Vouching For Him

The steroids trial of the 1990s saw Vince McMahon under fire by congress for the use of illegal drugs in the wrestling industry. Hulk Hogan was the biggest witness and had no loyalty since he was now working for WCW after leaving WWE.

However, Hogan did help McMahon by stating Vince never requested or supplied him with steroids. The truth did come out from Hogan that he used steroids on his own accord. Years of lying about using the drugs and the timing of a more innocent world in the 1990s made Hogan look bad for admitting the steroid use.

Refusing To Lose To Great Wrestlers By Flexing His Power

Bret Hart & Shawn Michaels Were Offended At Hogan’s Disrespect

• Hogan Developed Reputation For Not Wanting To Put Over Other Wrestlers
• Bret Hart Was Robbed Of Major Title Win Moment Due To Hogan’s Demand
• Shawn Michaels Tried To Embarrass Hogan After He Backed Out Of Rematch

Hulk Hogan had power like no other wrestler in the industry and seemed to take pride in using it. Multiple fan favorite wrestlers had horror stories of Hogan refusing to put them over, but two stood out above all others.

Bret Hart still hates Hogan for refusing to drop the WWE Championship to him in 1993 and leaving the company by having Yokozuna defeat him. Shawn Michaels encountered the same thing years later as a legend by having Hogan back out of the original agreement of losing a rematch to him.

Very Public Falling Out With Longtime Wrestling Best Friend

Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake Started Publicly Insulting Hogan

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• Hogan’s Long Friendship With Brutus Beefcake Helped Beefcake Get Major Contracts
• Falling Out Came In 2010s With Stories About Hogan Cutting Beefcake Out Of His Life
• WWE Made Them Make Peace When Hogan Inducted Beefcake Into WWE Hall of Fame

Wrestling fans are usually aware of Hulk Hogan’s friend Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake since the latter often received pushes working with the former. However, it was a shocking story when Beefcake revealed in his book that he was no longer talking to Hogan.

Ric Flair claimed the falling out was due to Beefcake stealing items from Hogan’s home to sell for profit. However, that was never confirmed, and the two mended fences when WWE wanted Hogan to induct Beefcake into the Hall of Fame.

Faking Presidential Campaign For Publicity Stunt

Hogan Tried To Make Fans Buy Into Ridiculous Storyline

• WCW Set Up Big Moment Of Hogan Having Life-Changing Announcement
• Hogan Claimed He Was Leaving Wrestling To Run For United States President
• Publicity Stunt Lasted Under Two Months Before Hogan Returned To WCW Ring

Hulk Hogan tried to make the world really believe that he was running for President of the United States in the 2000 election. WCW ran a big teaser that Hogan was going to announce something life-changing when he claimed he was running for President.

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Hogan tried to convince news networks and mainstream outlets that he was going on a campaign tour. The cheap tactic for attention was obviously a publicity stunt, and it made Hogan look bad when returning to the wrestling ring just two months later.

Threatening To Body Slam A Female Vice President Was Not A Smart Idea

• Hogan Created More Controversy Speaking At Donald Trump’s Convention
• Comments About Body Slamming Kamala Harris Put Hogan In News Again
• Hogan Blamed Drinking Alcohol For His Ridiculous Comments During Speech

A new group of people outside of wrestling started criticizing Hulk Hogan for his appearance one of Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign events. Trump is controversial enough to make a celebrity receive blowback, but Hogan’s actions caused more controversy.

The Republican crowd reacted well to Hogan and his general antics of cutting his old promos to endorse Trump. However, Hogan went way too far when talking about body slamming Kamala Harris to receive negative backlash.

Abusing WCW Contract Clause To Get His Way Every Time

Hogan Hurt WCW After Helping With His Contract Giving Him Power

• WCW Giving Hogan Creative Control Clause Ended Up Becoming A Major Mistake
• Hogan Changing Plans To WCW’s Biggest Match Ruined The Easy Finish Fans Wanted
• Hulk Walked Out Of WCW In 2000 After Not Getting His Way With Vince Russo Promo

WCW was desperate to sign Hulk Hogan and gave him creative control in his contract to turn down any ideas he disliked. Hogan utilized this occasionally to change finishes when he didn’t want to lose matches against others.

Starrcade 1997 was the biggest night in WCW history for fans wanting to see Sting defeat Hogan, but the finish was changed due to Hulk’s clause to ruin the entire match. Hogan eventually walked out of WCW after the 2000 drama with Vince Russo stemmed from him refusing to lose to Jeff Jarrett.

Snitching On Jesse Ventura To Block His Attempt At Starting A Union

Ventura Still Demands Apology From Hogan

• Jesse Ventura & Hogan Were Friends For Many Years Before Bitter Falling Out
• Hogan Telling Vince McMahon About Ventura’s Union Plans Blocked Any Chance
• Ventura Still Demanded An Apology From Hogan Before Speaking To Him Again

Hulk Hogan was once a good friend of Jesse Ventura when both had important WWE roles, but Ventura felt betrayed in 1986. Most wrestlers agreed with Ventura when he attempted to start a union to help the present and future lives of wrestlers.

Ventura later discovered that Hogan was the one to tell Vince McMahon and helped put a stop to it. Recent years have seen Ventura still holding a grudge and demanding an apology from Hogan. Countless wrestlers dealing with various issues could have seen that improved if Ventura’s plan worked before Hogan stopped it.

Getting Sued Over His Son Nick’s Car Accident, Injuring Friend For Life

Hulk Received Negative Headlines For Role In His Son Injuring John Graziano

• Many Critics Blamed Hogan’s Parenting For Nick’s Tragic Moment Of Reckless Driving
• Nick’s Friend’s Family Had Falling Out With Hogan That Led To Lawsuits Settling Issues
• Hulk Showed Little Respect For Victim When Trying To Blame Him For The Injury

Nick Hogan was involved in a serious car crash driving recklessly after getting four speeding tickets in under a year. Hulk’s car was used when Nick crashed it to injure friend John Graziano and caused him to be under nursing care for the rest of his life.

Phone calls from Nick in prison leaked with Hulk having some terrible comments to make him look worse in the scandal. Graziano’s family sued both Nick and Hulk upon realizing the costs of said home care for many years. Hulk trying to blame John for not wearing a seatbelt showed little accountability for what Nick did to ruin someone’s life.