The Complete History of the WWE Championship - Part 4

Hulk Hogan (April 4, 1993 - June 13, 1993)

Hulk Hogan: Lifted the WWE Championship for a record extending fifth time

Hulk Hogan's record extending fifth WWE Championship reign was a calamity in all honesty. In April 1993, Hogan had little interest in the wrestling business.

Hogan had opportunities outside of wrestling and the grind of being on the road as WWE Champion no longer appealed to him.

He wrestled on the undercard of WrestleMania IX - a tag match with Brutus Beefcake (returning following a horrifying injury) against Money Inc. - as a favor to Vince McMahon, who did not feel the card was a strong one and the Bret Hart/Yokozuna headliner lacked pizzazz.

McMahon was right, of course. WrestleMania IX was the worst 'Mania ever at that point (and still is in 2019). Due to Hogan's return, it did fair business on pay per view at around 400,000 buys. Without Hogan, the buyrate would have been a disaster.

However, when Hogan accepted an impromptu challenge from brand new WWE Champion, Yocozuna and squashed him to win the title in 30 seconds, the card ended on a sour note.

Hogan was the past and not the future. To make matters worse, Hogan refused to go on the road as champion and made just a few house show appearances during his two month reign, where he allegedly larked around and did not take his bouts seriously.

Bret Hart has long stated that he believed Hogan was due to drop the belt to him at King of the Ring 1993 to establish Hart as Hogan's successor. If that was true, Hogan turned the bout down. He would also later refuse to wrestle (and lose) to Hart in WCW, five years later.

Hogan would finally make his first title defense at King of the Ring. It would be his last WWE title match for a decade.