Hulk Hogan's 21-Second WrestleMania IX Match Led To A Flat Title Win

The late Hulk Hogan is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers in the history of the business. A larger-than-life individual who took the World Wrestling Federation to new heights in the 1980s, Hogan was the face of a time that many see as pro wrestling's golden era. From the inaugural WrestleMania in 1985, to the consistent crossovers with celebrities and musicians that took wrestling mainstream, all the way through to his iconic clash with Andre The Giant at WrestleMania 3, whenever there was a big moment in the WWF (now WWE), Hogan wasn't too far away from it.

As the 1980s turned into the 1990s, the wrestling business, but more specifically WWE, was changing. There were some decisions made by the company in order to broaden their fanbase, like the creation of "WWE Raw" in 1993, the first prime time weekly television show that would allow families across the United States of America to see WWE Superstars wrestle every Monday night. However, other decisions were made for more practical reasons, including the move to have smaller, more athletic wrestlers take the spotlight. This was because the US Department of Justice had WWE under a magnifying glass due to allegations of the use and sale of steroids within the company.

By 1993, Hogan had actually been out of wrestling for some time, focusing on his acting career that didn't go as well as he had hoped. Seeing an opportunity to bring his biggest cash cow back into WWE, Vince McMahon contacted Hogan ahead of WWE WrestleMania 9. "The Hulkster" was on the card in a WWE Tag Team Championship match alongside his friend Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake, but they lost their match against Money Inc. via disqualification. With that said, that loss wasn't the last time fans would see Hogan on the WrestleMania 9 broadcast, though a lot of people now wish that he had just stayed in the back.

The main event of WrestleMania 9 was Bret Hart defending the WWE Championship against the winner of the 1993 Royal Rumble, Yokozuna. Before the match, Hogan cut a promo backstage stating that Hart was a Hulkamaniac and was fired up for his bout, but that he needed to watch out for Mr. Fuji on the outside, and for good reason. The ending of the match saw Fuji throw salt in Hart's eyes while he had Yokozuna locked in the Sharpshooter, and the big man took advantage of this by pinning Hart to win his first WWE Championship.

After the match, Hogan stormed to the ring to tell the referee that Yokozuna had cheated, leading to Fuji telling Hogan that if he had the nerve to do it, he could get a shot at Yokozuna right there and then. Hogan consulted with a blinded Hart who gave him the green light, and after 21 seconds of action, Hogan was once again the WWE Champion. The result got a big reaction from the Las Vegas crowd at Caesars Palace, but it was a short-term win with a major long-term loss.

With Hogan being gone for nearly a year leading up to WrestleMania 9, the era of Hulkamania in WWE was over and fans were looking for something new. However, business was declining coming out of the 1980s and despite "The Hitman" being a popular champion, McMahon decided to make a quick fix and put the belt back on Hogan as he felt like business would improve. It did not. The WWE Championship wouldn't be defended until the King of the Ring pay-per-view that June where Hogan lost the title to Yokozuna thanks to Harvey Wippleman disguising himself as a photographer and shooting a fireball at Hogan, and following a European tour in August, Hogan was once again gone from WWE and wouldn't be back until 2002.

As previously mentioned, McMahon thought that business would boom with the return of Hogan and having him hold the WWE Championship again, but that was not the case. It would take another couple of years before business ever reached the levels it did in the 1980s, and by that point Hogan was working for WCW as a member of the New World Order.

Hart has been incredibly vocal about the entire night, getting angry with McMahon for turning a match that would see him retain his title into a title win for Yokozuna on the day of the show. He was angry with Yokozuna as the big man gassed out halfway through the match and took it home early, editing out all of Hart's pre-prepared spots in the process, and of course he was angry at Hogan who had made everything about himself despite all of the hard work that Hart had put in while he was failing as an actor.

The feud between Hart and Hogan didn't stop there as Hart stated that he was meant to get the belt back from Hogan at WWE SummerSlam, but that didn't work for Hogan who opted to lose the belt to a heel, that being Yokozuna, at King of the Ring two months before. Hart has always felt like Hogan never wanted to do business the right way with him for reasons that he can only put down to his ego, while also holding McMahon responsible for allowing Hogan to walk all over him and call his own shots.

As for Hogan, he never believed that he was supposed to drop the belt to Hart, despite claiming that he wanted to drop it to a heel. The beef would then escalate over the years as Hogan would claim that Hart's catchphrase, "The best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be," was originally his line that Hart stole. However, that has never been fully proven. Hart still holds a grudge over WrestleMania 9 to this day, even after Hogan's passing in July 2025, but now that "The Hulkster" is gone, there is no way of knowing what actually went down on that fateful night in a parking lot behind Caesars Palace.