Ranking every Hulk Hogan match at WWE WrestleMania from worst to best

I wanted to do this type of column for a while, but a lot of news happened in modern wrestling and this idea got put on the shelf. Lately, modern wrestling has been very boring, and nothing really newsworthy needs my attention, so I decided to actually do it for two of my favorite guys from the ’80s — Hulk Hogan and “Macho Man” Randy Savage.

This one will be about Hogan since he technically has one more WrestleMania match than Savage, and I’ll do the Macho Man column later.

So let’s start this with the worst match out of Hogan’s 12 matches.

12. Hulk Hogan vs. Yokozuna (WrestleMania 9)

This was barely a match, but I’m including it for historical purposes. We all remember the scene: Yoko beats Bret for the title, then challenges Hogan to a title match. Fuji throws salt into Yoko’s face, and Hogan hits the leg drop for the win.

As a teen, I was still a big Hogan fan and popped huge when this happened, but as I grew up, I realized how crappy this whole thing was — especially after learning that Hogan never wanted to stick around past June and only took the belt as a favor to Vince. This was awful and made everybody involved look bad.

11. André the Giant vs. Hulk Hogan (WrestleMania 4)

This was a tournament match and really didn’t stand out compared to their previous bout at WrestleMania 3. André was barely able to move, and Hogan tried his best to work around him. The double DQ ending didn’t help.

10. The Mega Maniacs vs. Money Inc. (WrestleMania 9)

Why did Hogan come back in ’93? While he was still over, it didn’t feel like the peak of Hulkamania, and you could tell Hogan really didn’t want to be there. This was an average tag match with another bad ending (Money Inc. being disqualified after fans believed Hogan and Beefcake had won the belts). It really felt like the end of Hulkamania.

9. Hulk Hogan vs. Sid Justice (WrestleMania 8)

This was supposed to be Hogan’s last match in WWE as Hulkamania was slowly dying, and Hogan wanted to go Hollywood and make movies. They went with Sid as his last opponent, and it made for a very clunky match.

The botched ending didn’t help matters because it forced Sid to kick out of Hogan’s finisher — something that had never happened before — and it made both Hogan and Sid look bad.

8. Hulk Hogan vs. King Kong Bundy (WrestleMania 2)

Nothing against this match, as it was a decent by-the-numbers Hogan bout, but it just felt like they needed somebody to fill that spot and Bundy was available. There was barely any build-up, Hogan won, and that was it. Bundy slowly left the main event scene after that, and Hogan moved on to his next feud.

7. Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter (WrestleMania 7)

While the build-up was strong and came at a time when the United States was at a patriotic high, the match didn’t live up to the hype as both guys didn’t have much chemistry. They tried to hide that fact with a lot of outside-the-ring spots, but in the end, it just fell flat for me.

6. Hulk Hogan & Mr. T vs. Roddy Piper & Paul Orndorff (WrestleMania 1)

From this point on, I feel that these are some of the best matches of Hogan’s run, and they could have been ordered differently. This is such a historic match, being the first-ever WrestleMania main event. Hogan and Piper were natural adversaries and worked really well together.

Mr. T did well for a non-wrestler, and his real-life heat with Piper helped the match. The ending was well done as it helped Orndorff become a big babyface — and without that turn, we wouldn’t have gotten the great feud between him and Hogan a year later.

5. Hulk Hogan vs. Vince McMahon (WrestleMania 19)

For a match that had a non-wrestler and a guy way past his prime, this was a really strong fight. The build-up was well done and played to the long history between the two. Vince showed how crazy he really was as a performer, taking several awesome bumps and making Hogan look better than expected. The follow-up wasn’t great, but that’s a story for another day.

4. Hulk Hogan vs. “Macho Man” Randy Savage (WrestleMania 5)

For me, the last four are all tied for Hogan’s best matches, but I had to rank them somehow, so this one lands at number four. This was a well-done feud that started a year earlier at WrestleMania 4. The slow burn and eventual blow-up were perfectly executed, making this match an all-time classic.

The match itself was well booked, and even in defeat, Savage was elevated as a strong top-tier heel.

3. Hulk Hogan vs. André the Giant (WrestleMania 3)

This is just my personal preference. This match is one of the most iconic bouts in WWE history — the ultimate passing-of-the-torch moment. André needed to give his stamp of approval and cement Hogan as the top guy.

The match itself wasn’t great technically — André was in real pain and had difficulty moving — but Hogan worked around it and made him look like a monster. The beginning and ending moments are what made this match legendary and kept it iconic through the years.

2. The Rock vs. Hulk Hogan (WrestleMania 18)

It’s funny that my top two matches are both losses for Hogan at the SkyDome, but that’s how it worked out. The only reason this is number two is because I don’t have as much emotional attachment to it compared to Warrior vs. Hogan.

Still, this was an awesome match. The fans completely flipped the script, forcing Hogan and Rock to call an audible and change their style mid-match — and it worked perfectly.

1. Hulk Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior (WrestleMania 6)

This, for me, is my favorite match of Hogan’s career and one I revisit every time WrestleMania season comes around. This was the first-ever face vs. face main event in WWE history, and it was a huge deal for fans as we had to choose who to cheer for.

At the time, I was a bigger Warrior fan — and still am to this day — and I wanted Warrior to win. When he finally did, I jumped out of my seat, so happy to see him beat Hogan. The match was incredibly well done, hiding both men’s weaknesses by keeping it as simple as possible.

In the end, Hogan had a really strong career and a pretty good run of matches at WrestleMania. This was fun to go back and rank his Mania matches.