Today is the 14 year anniversary of the shocking signing of Hulk Hogan in WCW. After being out of the wrestling spotlight for just under a year, Hulk would start wrestling for the WWF's main competitor. Instantly, this made a lot of fans hope for the one dream match that the WWE for whatever reason failed to capitalized on PPV a couple years earlier.
Hulk signing with WCW was a huge deal and would help WCW a lot. Spring Stampede (Ric Flair vs Ricky Steamboat) was the last PPV before Hogan came, it scored a .53. One month later with Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan wrestling in the main event of Bash at the Beach, they scored an impressive 1.02. Hulk Hogan nearly doubled their PPV buyrate in one month!
Besides seeing PPV buyrates increase, WCW saw a few other positive things happen that first year. First, they were starting to run house shows again. Prior to Hogan, their house shows had drawn such lousy business that they scrapped them all together. In 1995, WCW was given the primetime show, Monday Nitro. While things did start to cool off after that, through Hogan, WCW was able to do one last great thing.
In the Summer of 1996, Scott Hall and Kevin Nash jumped ship to WCW. A match was set with Hall, Nash and a mystery third member taking on Lex Luger, Sting and Randy Savage of WCW. On the 2 year anniversary of Hogan's first WCW match, this PPV once again brought in a rise in buyrates, increasing the buy rate 3 whole points from the previous ppv of The Great American Bash. With Hulk Hogan's heel turn, the nWo was created. With the nWo leading the charge, WCW would start an 84 weeks ratings win over the WWF on Monday night.
14 years ago, WCW went from a company that had lost money every year since Ted Turner bought them, to only a few years later of making money and being the most successful wrestling company for a time. All of which can be traced back to one man, Hulk Hogan.
Thoughts on Hulk Hogan in WCW? Any favorite matches?
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