Hulk Hogan Wanted To Become ‘Hollywood Hogan’ After Losing To Ultimate Warrior At WrestleMania

Hulk Hogan never turned heel in WWE throughout his first run with the company. This is what made his eventual heel turn in WCW, and transition into Hollywood Hulk Hogan, such a surprise. It turns out that Vince McMahon had that idea on the table years before that, but he never pulled the trigger.

Hulk Hogan once appeared on Corey Graves’ After The Bell podcast for an in-depth conversation about his career. The Hulkster remembered a conversation he had with Vince McMahon before putting The Ultimate Warrior over at WrestleMania 6, and how that whole situation went down.

Hulk Hogan claims that he had no issue letting the Ultimate Warrior win the match. He only wanted to know what the next plan of action was after that.

“Vince and I had a disagreement. Vince had an opinion that Hulkamania had his run. And it actually went back to WrestleMania 6. When he asked me to put the Warrior over, I said, ‘That’s no problem at all, brother!’ but my question always is, if I’m putting somebody over, what are we doing after that? And, you know, there wasn’t really a clear-cut answer for that.”

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Hulk Hogan then pitched an idea for Hollywood Hulk Hogan, or HHH. This gimmick change would have seen Hulk Hogan turn into a bad guy years before he actually did. Sadly, Vince McMahon didn’t want to go that direction.

“I said, ‘Well, how about this. When I put him over and hand him the belt and everybody’s cheering for him, I get halfway down the aisle. How about I just… turn around and just grind him? Just drop him and just drag him around the ring. And I want to be ‘Hollywood’ Hulk Hogan!’ I said, ‘I want to be HHH: Hollywood Hulk Hogan. The ultimate bad guy.'”

Hulk Hogan will never wrestle again, but he certainly left an impression on the pro wrestling business. It’s very interesting to think about what could have been with Hulk Hogan in WWE, but if he would have turned into HHH back then, it might have robbed the world of the nWo, and possibly Triple H’s name as well.

What’s your take on Hulk Hogan turning heel? Did he wait until the right time to finally do it in WCW? Sound off in the comments!