Hogan leaving the WWF and Vince's take on it..

[willywonka666]

Reading the old newsletters I see that Vince wanted to give Hogan a lighter schedule toward the end of his run, but Hulk wanted to keep wrestling full time. However Hogan has stated he was burned out and it was time to go and one of the good things about WCW was a lighter schedule.

So who do you side with on this argument? We know that Hogan has made some questionable claims over the years, and this is coming from a newsletter, but I'm more apt to believe Hogan in this situation. I don't think Vince would admit to any wrongdoing if he could help it.

So did Hulk leave because it was time and got a lighter schedule in WCW, or Is Vince probably lying as to why Hogan left the WWF?

[molson5]

I think Hogan thought the Turner networks and production companies would transition him into a movie star. There was TV/movie deals that were a part of Hogan's contract, I believe. And ya, WCW didn't run very many house shows, they didn't travel as much, and they taped a ton of TV in Florida, which had to appeal to Hogan.

[Hit Girl]

Hogan went for the money, and was right to do so. In the absence of Hogan, WWF were able to give more attention to Bret and HBK, which was better for them in the long term.

[Mayonnaise]

Everything points to Hogan lying, IMO. He was being given time off and pushed as more of a special attraction than main star as Vince moved on to Hart as his guy. Hogan still wanted to be THE GUY and when asked to put over Hart threw a fit and left/was forced out.

[Handsome Halfbreed]

Having creative control of his character also helped tip the scale in wCw's favor.

[The QC Loser]

Well WCW did give him a super secret boat to fight crime with so

[willywonka666]

Jan 4, 2012 16:01:39 GMT -5 Mayonnaise said:

Everything points to Hogan lying, IMO. He was being given time off and pushed as more of a special attraction than main star as Vince moved on to Hart as his guy. Hogan still wanted to be THE GUY and when asked to put over Hart threw a fit and left/was forced out.

Now that does make a lot of sense

[BlackoutCreature]

I don't know how accurate this is, but I remember once reading that during his 1993 return Hogan made an offer to buy a stake in the WWF, but Vince refused. That supposedly went a long way towards Hogan's decision to leave the company.

[Dean-o]

After the trial, Vince pretty much got rid of all the huge muscle stiffs and focused on a lot more smaller guys, especially Bret, HBK, etc.

What else could Hogan really do in the WWF anyways? Plus, WCW promised him TV/movie deals, and he would have a whole new roster to work with. It was a no brainer for Hogan.

[bob]

Jan 4, 2012 17:09:55 GMT -5 The QC Loser said:

Well WCW did give him a super secret boat to fight crime with so

I loved Thunder in Paradise as a kid

[Hit Girl]

Thunder in Paradise, where the Hulkster was upstaged by a boat, brothas.

[willywonka666]

Jan 5, 2012 1:28:23 GMT -5 Dean-o said:

After the trial, Vince pretty much got rid of all the huge muscle stiffs and focused on a lot more smaller guys, especially Bret, HBK, etc.

What else could Hogan really do in the WWF anyways? Plus, WCW promised him TV/movie deals, and he would have a whole new roster to work with. It was a no brainer for Hogan.

Hogan was already gone by that point though. He wrestled Flair in his first WCW match that weekend. But yea, looking back, it does seem kinda weird that Vince didn't have any movie or tv deals for his men like he does now.

[Deleted]

Jan 4, 2012 16:01:39 GMT -5 Mayonnaise said:

Everything points to Hogan lying, IMO. He was being given time off and pushed as more of a special attraction than main star as Vince moved on to Hart as his guy. Hogan still wanted to be THE GUY and when asked to put over Hart threw a fit and left/was forced out.

Bret's world title push happened in October 1992 when Hogan was no longer active in the company (he had been gone since WM 8). Hogan came back in early-1993 to do the match with Beefcake/Money Inc, but then won the title by the end of WM 9. From WM to KOTR 1993, Hogan was basically off TV save for some promos (I believe he did a few house show matches) and his match with Yoko was the selling point to KOTR in addition to the tournament, so at no point was Bret pushed as the bigger star when he and Hulk they were both together in '93.

The only person to claim that Hogan was set to drop the belt to Bret at Summerslam was Bret himself. No one else has substantiated it to my knowledge. Hogan has been pretty adamant that he agreed to drop the belt to Yokozuna and leave after that because he and Vince were having arguments about money (OTR and his radio interview with Peter Rosenberg touch on those things). Considering Hogan dropped the belt to Yoko and left, while Luger got the big babyface push and Bret spent the rest of the year feuding with an announcer, I tend to believe Hulk's side of the story. If Bret had beaten Yoko for the belt at Summerslam then I would have agreed with Bret's take, but the way things happened point towards Hogan's story being more legit.

As far as going to WCW, I agree with what others mentioned here. Money, schedule, and movies/TV. I don't think anything else needs to be said here.

[azrael502]

Jan 5, 2012 4:17:45 GMT -5 Hit Girl said:

Thunder in Paradise, where the Hulkster was upstaged by a boat, brothas.

lol

[Deleted]

Jan 5, 2012 1:31:13 GMT -5 bob said:

Jan 4, 2012 17:09:55 GMT -5 The QC Loser said:

Well WCW did give him a super secret boat to fight crime with so

I loved Thunder in Paradise as a kid

God, so did I. I was a little too young during its initial run, but I did watch it when it was aired on TNT after it was cancelled, lol.

[Mozenrath]

Probably a combination of the contract guarantees he'd get in WCW and the lighter schedule closer to home, though I imagine pride was of course a factor.