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#4 Hulk Hogan - Upstaged Bret Hart to win the WWE Championship at WrestleMania IX
If anybody won the WWE Championship the way Hulk Hogan did at WrestleMania IX, they would be abused to no end. However, 1993 was a different time in WWE. Vince McMahon intended to fully move on from the older generation of superstars, and Bret Hart emerged as the youngest prime candidate to take that spot.
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Since WWE also had to change its image after a steroid scandal, the smaller and leaner Bret Hart fit the bill. He won the WWE Championship from Ric Flair in late 1992 and was set to defend it in the main event of WrestleMania against Yokozuna.
Did you know a top WWE Superstar just wrestled outside the company? More details HERE
Bret Hart recalled being crushed when WWE Chairman Vince McMahon told him that he would have to drop the WWE title to Yokozuna, after which Hulk Hogan would win it. When he asked Vince McMahon whether he was dropping the WWE title because he didn't do a good enough job, McMahon reassured him that he was still WWE's long-term plan.
As it played out, Bret Hart dropped the WWE title to Yokozuna after getting blinded by Mr. Fuji. Hulk Hogan, who lost at WrestleMania 9 in a tag team match, appeared after the main event and captured the WWE title by beating Yokozuna in 22 seconds.
Jim Ross on his Grilling JR Podcast revealed that Hulk Hogan's return to WWE likely happened on the condition that he won the World title at WrestleMania 9. (H/T 411Mania)
“You think Hogan’s gonna come back not knowing he’d be be the champion? Come on. This is that self-fulfilling prophecy. Of course the deal was done before Bret found out about it. I don’t know that, but I’d bet money on it.”
Bret Hart later revealed that Hulk Hogan went back to him and said that he owed him one - something that Hart kept in mind. However, he also accused Hulk Hogan of refusing to face him in a "passing of the torch" match at SummerSlam in 1993.
Hogan would drop the title back to Yokozuna after a short reign and depart WWE for nearly a decade.
