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#3 Hulk Hogan: 1474 days
The Real American, Hulk Hogan makes his second appearance on the list for his 4 year reign as champion. This is during Hogan's initial run in the company, making this only the 10th reign in the history of the title. Hogan defeated The Iron Sheik for the belt on January 3rd, 1984 at Madison Sqaure Garden. He would lose the belt to Andre the Giant on February 5, 1988 at an edition of The Main Event.
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Hogan's persona of a larger than life character developed here, as he exploded into super-stardom with the Rock n Wrestling Connection with MTV. This period saw him have epic rivalries which put pro wrestling into the mainstream. These rivalries were primarily against the liked of 'Rowdy' Roddy Piper and Andre the Giant.
This reign saw the iconic WrestleMania III match against the undefeated Andre the Giant. Hogan's reign was iconic and probably the one that catapulted sports entertainment to the stratosphere.
