Hulk Hogan was not original plan for WWE's top spot; another legend to have received Hogan's spot, says Hall of Famer (Exclusive)

Hulk Hogan was the big star that most WWE fans wanted to see when it came to the company, where he became the biggest phenomenon in wrestling. However, before all of that happened, there was apparently another star set to take up the position that eventually went to Hogan.

Some felt Dusty Rhodes was not treated well by Vince McMahon when he came, and he was given a gimmick of wearing polka dots. He still got the gimmick over and became a huge star for the company, but as it turns out, there was more in line for him in the beginning.

On this week's episode of The Wrestling Time Machine, Mac Davis asked Hall of Famer journalist Bill Apter and legendary manager Teddy Long about Vince McMahon's plans for Dusty Rhodes. Apter revealed an interesting bit of information that before Hulk Hogan, and even before Bob Backlund became the stars they did, there were indeed plans for Dusty Rhodes to become that huge star for WWE.

Bill Apter acknowledged that originally it was Dusty Rhodes who was supposed to have the big WWE spot. Eventually, Backlund got it, and later, Hulk Hogan took over.

"Yeah, of course. Wow. Dusty was a huge star on cable television and in the magazines. Every month, we had him on the cover. Dusty was huge, I don't mean just bodily, he was a huge star. And yeah, Vince Sr. and Jr. both had him in mind at the beginning. He worked Vince Sr. for quite a long time too before he became 'The Polka Dot guy.' He and Superstar Graham had a feud all around the WWF that just blew people's minds. The charisma of Dusty was just incredible, incredible." (00:35 - 1:18)

Unfortunately, it didn't work out, with Bob Backlund getting that big push and was later succeeded by Hulk Hogan.