The Complete History of the WWE Championship - Part 2

Hulk Hogan (January 23, 1984 - February 5, 1988)

Hulk Hogan celebrates his WWE title victory over The Iron Sheik

Vince McMahon Jr's national expansion began with Hulk Hogan at the fore in January 1984.

Hogan, a star with mainstream recognition following his appearance in the mega-hit movie Rocky III in 1982, was a brand new acquisition by McMahon.

Hogan was slated to be the star to make wrestling mainstream. The Hogan/McMahon relationship was a match made in wrestling heaven.

With McMahon's aggressive expansion plans and booking prowess matched with Hogan's electrifying charisma and box office appeal, the pair turned WWE into the most famous wrestling promotion in the world.

Wrestlemania in March 1985, headlined by Hogan and A-Team star Mr T in a match against Rowdy Roddy Piper and "Mr Wonderful" Paul Orndorff. The event was a celebrity bonanza, and cemented WWE into the consciousness of non-fans.

Wrestlemania III in March 1987 attracted 78,000 fans to the Pontiac Silverdome to see Hogan defend the title versus Andre the Giant. That attraction attracted a colossal 400,000 orders on the fledgling medium of pay per view; a staggering number of orders considering only a few million homes were wired for pay per view in 1987.

So successful were Hogan headlined events that every wrestler in the company wanted to be booked on the same card as him as their payoff would be significantly higher, just by competing on the same live events.

Hogan was the golden goose that kept on giving and his first title run was his most successful. The power of Hulkamania enabled WWE to add a second annual super-card to it's books in 1987, the Survivor Series.

That event, again booked on the back of the Hogan/Andre feud attracted a massive 325,000 buys.

No doubt, Hogan was The Man.