Gimmick Some Lovin': The Doomsday Cage Match

Sullivan, my son

It's hard to parody wrestling when it delves so deeply into self-parody territory.

Hogan's tenure at the top changed the dynamic of WCW's booking; with Flair as "The Man," the company stayed true to its traditional roots as a "heel territory." Tickets and PPVs were sold on the notion that fans might finally get to see Flair (or the villain du jour) finally get his comeuppance (though he usually would not, albeit just barely).

Hogan, though, was the biggest goldmine babyface the industry had seen up until that point, and, until dire straits forced WCW to explore a nuclear option in the summer of 1996, he needed to be on top and to do so as a good guy. Ergo, WCW needed challengers, and since look always trumped talent in Hogan's eyes, The Hulkster and WCW booker Kevin Sullivan crafted a stable of vaguely-evil WWF castoffs to make Hogan's life hell.

With Sullivan as its "Taskmaster," the Dungeon of Doom formed in late 1995 to, in kayfabe, rid the world of Hulkamania (but, in real life, to try to cajole frustrated WCW audiences to stop booing the yellow-and-red-clad Orange One).

The Shark (formerly Avalanche, who was formerly Earthquake), Kamala, The Zodiac (aka The Booty Man aka The Butcher aka Brutus Beefcake), Meng, and a debuting Giant (later "The Big Show") masquerading as Andre the Giant's long-lost son all followed Sullivan's lead in attempting to destroy Hogan through cheesy vignettes, badly-constructed sets, and weird/awkward/ineffective bearhugs.

This site is PG, which is why this is a still picture and not a GIF.

Giant managed to steal the WCW Championship from Hogan, and the longest stretch of Hogan not holding WCW gold would last from Halloween Havoc 1995 until August 1996's Hog Wild event. During that time, Hogan would fend off his own growing irrelevance, alongside the Dungeon of Doom's army of monsters hellbent on ending Hulkamania as we knew it.