Every Hulk Hogan World Title Reign Ranked From Worst To Best

He might have a list of controversies several miles long, but there is no denying just how important Hulk Hogan has been to the wrestling business over the years. Either as a Real American or the villainous leader of the New World Order, Hogan has been a megastar everywhere he’s gone and his popularity and influence have both boosted and sank promotions in equal measure.

During his time in the ring, Hogan won 12 different world championships across WWE and WCW. But which of them were the best? And which of them deserve to be choked out by his 24 inch pythons?

Say your prayers, eat your vitamins and join us as we rank Every Hulk Hogan World Championship Reign Ranked From Worst To Best.

12. WWE Championship - December 3 to December 4 1991

Unlike many of his fellow multi-time world champions, The Hulkster never had a title reign begin and end on the same night. He did, however, have one that started on one night and ended the next, which is also pretty embarrassing.

At Survivor Series 1991, Hogan lost his WWE Championship to The Undertaker, giving The Deadman his first run with the top prize. Unfortunately for Taker, he would lose the title back to Hogan six days later at This Tuesday in Texas.

Both the Survivor Series contest and its rematch suffered from a metric boatload of interference, prompting WWF President Jack Tunney to declare the title vacant 24 hours after Hogan’s victory.

This did pave the way for the exceptional 1992 Royal Rumble that was won by Rick Flair, but we couldn’t really justify putting this reign anywhere but last.

11. WCW World Heavyweight Championship - January 4 to March 14 1999

The reason why this entry is so low can be summed up in three words - Fingerpoke of Doom.

The January 4th, 1999 edition of WCW Nitro was one of the most pivotal moments in the Monday Night War saga. Hogan, who was leader of the NWO Hollywood faction, was challenging the NWO Wolfpac’s Kevin Nash for his WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

Shortly after the bell rang, Hogan jabbed Nash in the chest with his finger, sending the giant flailing to the mat. This allowed Terry Bollea to cover Big Sexy to win back the title, reuniting the two sub-factions in the process.

This ridiculous angle - combined with Mick Foley winning the WWE title on the other channel – really helped turn the tide in favour of Vince McMahon.

The fact that this title reign began in this fashion - combined with its pretty unimpressive 69 day length - is what condemns it to this position.

10. WWE Championship - April 4 to June 13 1993

After Yokozuna cheated to beat Bret Hart for the WWE title in the main event of WrestleMania 9, The Hitman’s “good friend” Hulk Hogan ran down to check on his buddy.

Yoko’s manager Mr. Fuji threw out a challenge to Hogan, which he selflessly accepted. He then effortlessly beat his superheavyweight foe to win his fifth world title and close out WrestleMania in the worst possible way.

This could have all been forgiven had the new champion gone through with the idea of putting Bret over at a later date, like he reportedly promised, but that ultimately never happened. Instead, Hogan held onto the gold for two arbitrary months before dropping it back to…Yokozuna! So the whole Mania 9 ending was essentially pointless.

The only reason this isn’t lower on the list is because it didn’t help kill an entire company, but rest assured, this was pretty awful.

9. WWE Championship - April 21 to May 19 2002

At WrestleMania 18, Triple H completed his redemption arc and defeated Chris Jericho to become the new Undisputed Champion.

But what should have been The Game’s big moment was massively overshadowed by a match earlier in the night - Hulk Hogan’s big Mania comeback against The Rock.

One month later, The Hulkster would ruin Triple H’s night again.

Off the back of his monumental reception against The Great One, Hogan was immediately turned babyface and pushed to the moon. Almost a decade after his last WWE title win, he defeated Triple H at Backlash to become a six-time champ.

Not even WWE were mad enough to keep the belt on Hogan for longer than a month, as he lost the title to Undertaker shortly after in one of the worst world championship matches of all time. The only memorable moment from the match being one of the worst Chokeslams in the history of the sport.

Despite being a relatively “harmless” nostalgia run, this reign reminded all of us that - no matter his age - Hogan was always gonna Hogan.

8. WCW World Heavyweight Championship - July 12 to September 12 1999

We could tell you at least one notable event from most of the reigns on this list just by looking at the dates, but we’ll be damned if we can tell you anything off the top of our heads that happened during this one.

Hogan’s final stint with the WCW Title began on Nitro, when he beat Randy Savage for the belt. He held the gold for 62 days, defended it against Kevin Nash at Road Wild, then lost it to Sting at Fall Brawl. That was just about it.

The only noteworthy thing that happened in those two months was Hogan denouncing the black and white in favour of his old red and yellow attire. However, when you consider that this had almost no bearing on his character and was reversed within a year, that doesn’t really help this reign’s case.

It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t good, it was just sort of… there.

What else can we say? It was WCW in the summer of 99 and people within the company were barely paying attention, never mind the fans

7. WCW World Heavyweight Championship - August 9 to December 28 1997

On the August 4, 1997 edition of Nitro, Lex Luger finally ended Hollywood Hulk Hogan’s year of tyranny as WCW Champion in one of the best feel-good moments in the company’s history.

So, naturally, he lost the belt back to the NWO leader 5 days later.

Why are we not allowed nice things?

Anyway, this began another 141 days of The Hulkster on top, before his title reign came to an end at Starrcade 1997.

What should have been the biggest match in WCW history between Hollywood Hogan and Sting quickly became of the most confusing shambles ever to take place in a wrestling ring with the slow count that wasn’t a slow count.

All you need to know is that WCW ballsed up one of their most important matches ever and this whole title reign gets dragged down as a result.

6. WWE Championship - March 24 to November 27 1991

At WrestleMania 7, his muscular-ness fought for the honour of every single American when he challenged evil Iraqi sympathiser Sgt. Slaughter for the WWE title.

After the Sarge turned his back on the US military - which it turns out he never actually served in anyway - Hogan stepped up to the plate to win back the main prize for Old Glory, buffalo, cheese in a can, and everything else that defines the good ol’ US of A.

He would keep hold of his title for most of the rest of the year, appearing once more on pay-per-view alongside The Ultimate Warrior to fight Slaughter and his cronies at SummerSlam.

Then came Survivor Series and the title loss to The Undertaker we mentioned earlier. You can thank Ric Flair and his chair for that one.

A nice long reign with some memorable moments, this one wasn’t exactly a thrill-a-minute, but it was perfectly acceptable and probably generated another two or three million in merchandise money.

5. WCW World Heavyweight Championship - April 20 to July 6 1998

The way in which Hogan won his fourth WCW title was fairly unremarkable, beating Randy Savage on Nitro in April of 1998.

The reason why this reign is so high up this list is because of how Hogan surrendered the gold later that year.

The July 6th 1998 of Nitro from that year was a truly special night. Not only did it take place in Atlanta’s Georgia Dome in front of 40,000 fans, but this was when Hogan dropped the belt to the fastest rising star in the business - Bill Goldberg.

The thunderous response to Hogan eating a Jackhammer and pinfall might just be the biggest pop in WCW history. This electric reception is enough to push this title reign to the number five spot, as Hogan was instrumental in cementing Goldberg as a megastar.

4. WCW World Heavyweight Championship - July 17 1994 to October 29 1995

At Bash at the Beach 1994, just one month after officially signing with the promotion, Hulk Hogan defeated Ric Flair to win his first WCW World Heavyweight Championship.

What followed was 469 days of Hogan on top, the longest single reign in the history of the championship.

Unfortunately, those days were filled with a lot of old rubbish.

This was the reign in which Hogan defended the title against The Butcher at Starrcade, aka his old pal Brutus Beefcake in search of a payday. It also encompassed his pathetic feud with The Three Faces of Fear, later dubbed the Dungeon of Doom.

It’s also the reign that ended when The Giant and The Yet-ay got together to hump Hogan into submission at Halloween Havoc ‘95.

Whilst it’s important to recognise the historical nature of this reign, it’s also important to recognise that WCW fans had to sit through over a year’s worth of rubbish until the Hulkamania well was dry.

3. WWE Championship - April 2 1990 to April 1 1991

Hogan missed out on being champion for exactly one year by a single day.

Hogan’s second run with the WWE Title was bookended by two classic WrestleMania main events.

He won the title off Randy Savage at WrestleMania 5, after the excellent slow burn storyline of The Mega Powers imploding. The following year, he dropped the title to The Ultimate Warrior at Mania 6, kickstarting his time as a top player.

The Immortal One also won the Royal Rumble during this reign and closed out SummerSlam 89 against the Macho Man and his No Holds Barred co-star Zeus.

Hogan was still popular enough to sustain a long title reign and WWE’s business model meant that he wasn’t overexposed on top. This is easily one of his better world title runs.

2. WCW World Heavyweight Championship - August 10 1996 to August 4 1997

One month after turning heel in one of the most important wrestling moments of all time at Bash at the Beach 1996, Hogan defeated The Giant at Hog Wild to win his first world championship as a baddie.

For the next 12 months, Hogan ruled the roost. The nWo’s power and popularity grew, as did their leader’s mean streak, as he utilised more and more nefarious means to protect his beloved championship.

This reign wasn’t perfect by any means - this was the one where Roddy Piper beat Hogan clean but forgot to make the match for the title - but it was easily one of the best reigns in the company’s history.

It’s the reign that launched the NWO to the stratosphere, that reinvigorated Hogan’s character, and that really put Vince McMahon’s rival organisation on the ropes.

The irony being that, without the Hulkster himself, WWE may not have been in business in the first place.

1. WWE Championship - January 23 1984 to February 5 1988

Yes, after all that, we’ve settled on Hogan’s very first WWE Championship reign as his best.

In January of 1984, shortly after getting poached from the AWA, Hogan defeated The Iron Sheik to win the WWE title in Madison Square Garden. He would then hold on to it for a whopping 1,474 days, which is currently the third-longest reign in the belt’s history.

During this time, Hogan became a national celebrity, the most famous wrestler of all time up to that point and maybe still to this day. This popularity gave Vince McMahon the confidence to put on the very first WrestleMania, which Hogan main evented as champion.

He feuded with Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff, Andre the Giant, and countless others, doing monster business before finally dropping the belt to the enormous Frenchman in the most viewed wrestling match of all time in 1988.

Simply put, this is one of the most important championship reigns in the history of wrestling, and there’s not much you can do about that BROTHER!